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  The Chief of Staff turned to the Secret Service agent in the room. “Get him out of here and never let him around me again!” he shouted.

  “I don’t think so,” said the President as he rounded the corner.

  The Chief of Staff swung around with his fists balled. “What?” he said as he turned.

  The President calmly walked to his place at the table and set his coat on the chair beside it. “I said I don’t think so,” he said calmly.

  “Sir, these men have been giving you bad advice, and I’m here to set you straight.”

  That had been the wrong thing to say and he realized it as soon as the President’s eyebrows flew up. “Mark, I hired you because Mr. Knowles said you were the best person to have in this job. Since then, I have watched you bully your way around this office. It’s time you learned that I am the President of the United States, not you. I will determine who I listen to, and I will make the decisions on what is political or not,” he said with a determined look. He turned to Captain Butler. “Jim, call in a relief and have someone here tomorrow morning.”

  The Captain got a surprise look on his face. “Yes, sir,” he said. Butler looked over at the Chief of Staff who was standing with his hands on his hips and a smirk on his face.

  “It’s time to make some changes on the staff anyway,” the President said. He turned to Reeder. “Mark you are no longer needed in the White House. Thank you for your service and I’ll accept your resignation immediately.” He turned to Butler. “Jim, beginning this morning, you are my new Chief of Staff. Commander,” he said looking at Hammond, “I’d appreciate it if you could hang around a few days to help us get started. Nice little speech, by the way,” he said as he sat in his seat at the table.

  The former Chief of Staff began to turn red again. “You can’t do this,” he said incredulously.

  “Agent Fry, can you escort this gentleman to clean out his office and then out of the White House?” the new Chief of Staff said.

  Agent Fry, who witnessed the whole affair, nodded. “Mister Reeder, would you come with me please?”

  Reeder seemed to visibly deflate. His head slumped and his shoulders sagged. Without another word, he turned and left the room with Fry. Another agent took Fry’s place.

  “I feel better already,” the President said with a grin. “Hope you two got better sleep than I did.”

  “Not too bad, sir,” said Roger Hammond, taken aback from what had just taken place. He sat back in his chair and seemed to let out a breath.

  “Why me?” asked Butler.

  “Roger said it. This is a war – a military situation. I can’t afford either a politico or a bully around me right now. We speak the same language and think a lot alike. You have your shit together. I need that more than anything. If it gets to be too much, just let me know and you can have your old job back, but I think you’ll manage. As for the politics – well, I’ve been doing it for years anyway. Doesn’t pay to let someone do everything for you,” he said seriously. “Matter of fact, Roger, why don’t you take his place for right now? I’ll sign your new commission at the rank of Captain. I understand you were selected before you retired anyway. I’ll mark the last year down as a leave of absence. How will that do?”

  Butler grinned and Hammond sat and nodded. “I wasn’t really expecting this. All I was hoping for was to get back to sea,” Hammond said.

  “Maybe, but then you opened your mouth and got me talking to people around the world again. Then you opened it again and laid out exactly what I was thinking last night after you left and the Chief of Staff came in. So I guess you did it to yourself.” He reached over and shook Hammond’s hand. “Thanks for the wake up call. Now what has happened since last night?”

  The three got down to business. Coffee was poured and the President even ordered up a real breakfast. By 9:30 a.m. the men went to the Oval Office conference center to speak to the first of the industrial leaders of the nation.

  The men were sitting around the table in various moods. Most of the men looked like they had slept in their suits, even though they spent the night in a local hotel. Most knew each other. Nearly every communications leader and company was in the room. Not too many were talking. An uneasy tension filled the air. When the door opened and the President entered, several men almost jumped out of their chairs from fright.

  “Please be seated,” the President said. He was followed by Butler, Hammond and Red Gross, the FCC Chairman. “I am truly sorry to have to summon you here today, but we are in a crisis. As you may or may not know, our nation was attacked day before yesterday by nuclear weapons exploding high in our atmosphere. This caused an electromagnetic pulse that effectively shut down this country. As of now, we have lost about two million people in this attack. I don’t have to tell you the seriousness of this situation. But you are the people I need to take the first step in getting out of it,” the President said as he stood before the men. There was a fire in his eyes that Butler had never seen before in the man. It was a look of complete determination.

  The President sat down. “You probably all know each other. If anyone can start this ball rolling, you can,” he said. “We need to communicate. I need phones, teletype, radio, and TV. I need satellites back up eventually. But no matter what, I need to be able to talk to the people necessary to keep this nation moving. Now how do we do it?” He sat back and touched his fingers together.

  “We’re already working on the phones,” came one answer from AT&T. Unfortunately, most of the network is digital, but we have some backups. The system is being rewired right now so that I can get some basics up and running. We don’t have the satellites anymore, but I have copper wire and fiber optics. The fiber optics weren’t damaged, but the devices on either end were fried. I really need a couple of weeks.”

  “Same here,” came the answer from Windstream. “Unfortunately, we also use a lot of fiber optics. That’s going to take some time to replace the systems, but we’re doing what we can.” The other telephone institutions were nodding their heads.

  Brad Freeman from CBS chimed in. “Mister President, we want to help, but this thing knocked us all over the map. I have no hookups to keep the networks going. All the networks are in the same boat,” he said. The other men were nodding with him. “I don’t see how we can get anything going for a long time even after we get the replacement equipment.”

  “My wire services are going back to the old teletype system,” said the man from Associated Press. We’ll be back up in three days, but the sources of information will be sketchy. We won’t be back to business as usual for months.

  The arguments went around the table and soon everything grew quiet. No one had all the answers. The President couldn’t blame them; they had been hit hard and were still trying to get their businesses back on line. Everyone was looking inside the box. They needed a little push.

  “Friends, I want to propose something,” said Gross, sitting behind the President. “I recommend that we set aside our differences as far as company boundaries and attack this from a systems point of view,” he said standing. “I propose all telephone communications be our first priority. We do what we can to get this country talking to each other again. That way not only can we get things done from the federal level, but Mom and Dad can make sure the kids are okay. That means everyone starts adding to this piece of the pie. From now on, we share equipment, manpower, services, all those things necessary to let the phones ring. Where are your sources for new equipment?” he asked AT&T.

  “Mexico mostly, some from Canada. The U.S. sources are probably down hard.”

  “Then I’ll get SecState to get word to whomever we need to get those parts to you as soon as possible,” said the President.

  “May not even need that,” this time from Sprint. “We purchased a company that makes the stuff this past year and have a warehouse full of equipment down below Guadalajara. How can we get it up here?”

  The men were starting to talk to each other. Most had equipm
ent in various places. In a few minutes there was enough to get the system back up in a limited way. There wouldn’t be internet, but that wasn’t really a problem, was it?

  Butler stood up. “It sounds like the only thing you need is transport from your sites to the nearest centers. I’ll get some things set up with the transportation department and the military to get that online,” he said. “Just don’t be surprised when some Army trucks pull up to your warehouse.” That brought a few chuckles.

  FCC continued. “As far as the networks go, we’re going to have to rely on the phone system and our friends at AP and UPI. If you guys can get the teletypes running again, then we can get the public in the loop.” He stopped as the Secretary of State entered the room. He quickly walked to the President and with a smile whispered in his ear. The President smiled as well and motioned for him to spread the news.

  “Please excuse me, but I just got off the line with the Prime Minister. Great Britain is coordinating efforts to send over every transmitter they can get their hands on to replace ones damaged during this attack. The Government of the United States has purchased them and will be distributing to strategic stations throughout the affected areas. The transmitters may not be the same power, but at this point we can’t be choosey. The Germans are working closely with them. We should have a couple of hundred here within a few days. These will primarily be radio, since television requires larger sets. But we need to be back up across the country within two weeks. I’ll leave the distribution recommendations to you. They are also sending over new receivers to spread around. I hope to have at least a few television and radio sets in each community in a short period of time,” he said as he sat down.

  “That brings me to another point,” said the President. He stood at his place at the table. “This is not going to be welcomed by many here, but it has to be said. When we get the broadcasting stations back up, I will be instituting censorship on the media until further notice,” he said. Arguments began around the room. The President’s hand went up to quiet them. “I know, freedom of the press and all, but we have a problem.” The men fell silent. “Whoever did this is expecting the United States to be offline for a period of time. For some reason, I believe they will be watching to see what we do and when we do it. I don’t want to give them any free information. Ladies and gentlemen, we are at war. Not some sort of incident, but a full-scale war. I am addressing the Congress this evening to request a declaration, and I am sure you know what the answer will be. What I am asking is that the American media systems not give anything of value to our enemies. By necessity, live remote broadcasts are off. We simply don’t have the ability to support it right now. Plus, live broadcasts can leak information that aids an enemy. Let’s not take that chance. Local news is fine, and some information about what the government is doing will be approved and sent out. But we are going to be very watchful of what is said to make sure whoever did this is in the dark about us. We are going to have to do this together or nothing will work. I’m not asking you to give up your freedoms. I am just not going to tell you very much, and hope you will respect that. Then I request that you ask first before you bring some things up. If it has to do with the military, ask first. If it has to do with the government, ask first. If it’s something someone sees us do locally, ask first. In every case, I will explain as necessary, or just say no until the event is over with. If any of you have questions, come to us and ask. I will tell you and trust the information will go no further. If it does get out, however, I will not divulge anything further to you or your organization. On this point, I am firm. Break my confidence, and you won’t get another chance.”

  “We have to be a team here. Not just the people in this room, but throughout our entire nation. Together, we are going to win this war. Everything you and your company can do to help us will benefit everyone as a whole. So, just as I trust you, I am asking you to trust me,” he said to the men and women around the table. “If there are any questions, please ask them now.”

  It was silent for almost a minute as each person thought through what was just said. The representative from Time Warner raised his hand. “Mister President, may we contact your office if we have a problem with something?” he asked haltingly.

  “Yes, sir. If you want an answer to anything, contact us. I will tell you – and I mean the individuals at this table – anything you want to know. In that way, you will know what is being done and why. If we lose a battle, or win one, I promise I will work with you to get it out. I will let reporters report from the battlefield and from our units – just not live. If you are concerned, let’s talk. We’ll make the decision together, as a team.

  The man nodded. “Mister President, I’ll add to the pot. I trust you are being sincere. As a former military man, I know how sometimes a reporter’s words have messed things up. So the influence of my company is going to back you. Anyone abusing this trust, will have a tough time getting a contract with us when it’s over.”

  “Same here,” said the CEO of DirecTV.

  “Me too,” came from DISH.

  With the three major cable and satellite companies teaming up, the rest could read the tea leaves and lined up as well. A few more questions were asked on coordination issues and the President left for another meeting in the state dining room. This one was with transportation systems. Ford, GM, Chrysler, even Toyota, Honda, and Nissan were there along with major airlines and the train systems. Within an hour that meeting adjourned and things began to happen very quickly. The big event would be later in the evening.

  Capitol Building, House Chamber

  “Mister Speaker, Mister President, Members of the House and Senate. It is with great regret that I find myself before you tonight. Just over 72 hours ago the United States was a nation at peace. For the first time in many years we were in conflict with no one. Yet, an unknown nation state, without provocation or warning, launched a premeditated, cold and dastardly attack against the United States using weapons of mass destruction,” the President said beginning his speech.

  The chamber was more than three quarters full and not a sound could be heard. The men and women hung on everything the man was saying. He had already laid the groundwork. The leadership had been rounded up and meetings held. Butler had even set up a luncheon that day in a private room where the President could sit down with key representatives and give them the whole unvarnished truth about what happened. The President had even given them the “secrecy speech” to stress the dire situation they were all in. It had worked. He already knew there was a bipartisan swell of support for his ideas and actions. This was a mere formality.

  He continued his speech. “This cold premeditated attack was well planned and executed – designed to cripple this nation. It used nuclear weapons to create an energy pulse high in our atmosphere. This pulse expanded out at the speed of light completely obliterating any electronic circuit and most electrical systems. In all, 79 of these weapons were exploded in our atmosphere. We lost all communications, phones, radio, television, our satellites, computers, automobiles and other forms of transportation. If it has a circuit, it was utterly destroyed. In some parts of our nation, electric power was temporarily interrupted. Our military has been crippled, since most of their equipment is based on computers and sophisticated electronics. I won’t get into why this happened. It did, and we must now deal with it.”

  “But the worst part was actually an accident. These weapons were designed to go off high above us where no radiation and no blast effect would kill people or destroy buildings. Yet two of these devices failed to detonate in our atmosphere. They went off when they struck the ground in Dallas, Texas, and Memphis, Tennessee. I sent a task group into each city to determine the damage and casualties. They should arrive shortly. We estimate that casualties exceed 1.7 million of our citizens. We will do everything we can to bring relief to survivors and help those cities in this recovery effort.”

  “At the same time, we lost another 24,800 people who were flying in
aircraft at the time of the bursts and, as a result, lost control and crashed. Others were lost in accidents due to the same cause. But the reason for these deaths is all due to the aggression of the nation that launched these weapons. I tell you now, these deaths will not go unpunished,” he said emphasizing the last four words.

  Applause surged through the gallery as every person stood and expressed their agreement. It was evident that everyone was angry at what happened and was ready to do something about it. The President wondered if it had been the same way during Roosevelt’s speech after Pearl Harbor.

  “All of the weapons used were launched within 50 miles of our coasts. Who did it, we do not yet know. They acted as thieves. They sneaked up on our coasts and struck, then departed, leaving no traces. So, as we speak, we still do not know who did this. But we are not alone. These same type devices were used in the Pacific against our allies Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia and other nations on the Pacific Rim. Someone is intent on eliminating the capabilities of certain nations. Again, we are not alone. Since that day our staunch ally, Great Britain, has come to our aid. They were the first to tell us what knocked us down, and the first to offer their hand in friendship. Great Britain stands beside us.”