Chapter Four
The Decision
April 20, 2018

“Mr. President, the governor of California is on the phone.”

Brian was in the Oval Office with the rest of the Joint Chiefs when the call came through on the intercom from Marla, the President’s personal secretary. The protest over the Tax Bill had been going on for a week now and there seemed to be no end in sight. The California governor wasn’t the first to call.

The strategy of waiting for the protestors to tire and go home wasn’t working. The President’s inner circle had been working on a strategy to deal with protests which were now going on in 15 major cities. So far, there were no good solutions. The American people had banded together and were making it abundantly clear that they had enough of their corrupt government. They believed it was time for the country to be about the people again.

“Mr. President?”

“Put him through.” It was the voice of Malcolm Roberts the head of the Stratum Conglomeration. Malcolm had built the largest company in the world and was the real power in the United States. He personally got half the senators elected and McNamara was the fourth President Malcolm had gotten elected. All it really takes to run a country is money.

The President sat at the desk and put the call on speaker phone. “Charles, what can I do for you?”

“Mr. President, you have to do something about these protests. They are getting out of hand and the police can’t control the situation anymore.”

After a brief delay, the President suggested, “Maybe we should bring in the National Guard.”

“Mr. President, the people who are protesting make up the National Guard. There aren’t any people to call up. We must bring in the Army. We need to take control of the situation before they overrun the government here all together.”

Brian had to speak up. “Mr. President I don’t think that is a good idea. It will only enflame the situation. We don’t want things to get worse than they are now.”

“How much worse can they get?” Asked General Simon.

Brian looked at the General. “They can get worse. Right now the enemy is the law. We don’t want to give them someone to fight. We could repeal the law. We could call for an emergency session of Congress. That would calm the situation.”

“That is out of the question,” retorted Malcolm. “That law represents billions of dollars and multiple mergers. John, we need to take control of the situation now. “

The President looked at General Simon and asked, “What are my options.”

“We can mobilize the 83 regiment out of Twin Palms and send them in to take control. We would be ready to move in 18 hours.”

The President turned back to the phone and said to the Governor, “Charles, announce to the public that you are setting a curfew in 24 hours. Anyone still on the street after curfew, will be arrested. We will send in the military in 18 hours.”

“Thank you, Mr. President.”

The President hung up the phone and looked at his advisors. “OK, let’s get it done.”

“Yes Mr. President,” almost in unison from all of the Joint Chiefs as they started out of the Oval Office.

Brian walked out of the Oval Office knowing that this was a mistake and would do nothing more than aggravate the situation. He knew the President wasn’t going to listen to him. He was sure that more trouble would follow this decision, but he had no idea how bad the consequences of this decision would be. Soon the war would be upon us and we would do the unthinkable.