Under a Tell-Tale Sky: Disruption - Book 1 Read Online Free

they’re NOT here, or don’t contact us, I see nothing wrong with restricting use of our very limited resources to finding and transporting those members of Congress we believe to be most beneficial to the country’s recovery. It’s all about the national interest.”
    “As dictated by us?”
    “Well, yes, sir, but I’d probably avoid that particular verb,” Crawford said.
    “Point taken. Both points taken, actually.” Gleason turned to his Chief of Staff. “Doug?”
    “Yes, Mr. President?”
    “Draw up a priority list of our favorite legislators and render all possible aid in getting them up to Mount Weather.”
    The White House
    Situation Room
     
    3:00 p.m.
    Gleason walked into the room, motioning his cabinet secretaries to keep their seats. They stood anyway and waited for him to settle into his own seat before they sat back down.
    “All right, folks,” Gleason said, “let’s get started. I want a brief, and I stress brief, overview of the situation from the viewpoint of your particular problems and challenges. Is that clear?”
    There were nods around the table.
    “All right, we’ll start with State.” Gleason gestured to a woman sitting to his right. “You’re up, Dot.”
    Dorothy Suarez, Secretary of State, nodded. “Thank you, Mr. President. All of our embassies have hardened backup generators and radio stations. We’ve heard from all of them. In brief, the global situation mirrors our own, especially in the northern hemisphere. Civil unrest is accelerating. Our facilities are all on high alert. Our foreign counterparts are, like us, currently assessing the way forward. Initial indications are the southern hemisphere may have escaped the brunt of the impact. Specifically, the southern portions of both Chile and Argentina, all of Uruguay, Paraguay, much of Sub-Saharan Africa, Australia, and New Zealand are reported to have electrical power. Rio Grande do Sol, the southernmost state of Brazil, may also have escaped relatively unscathed.”
    “Threats?” Gleason asked.
    “I’ve consulted with both the Agency and Defense.” She nodded toward the Secretary of Defense. “Secretary Ballard will touch on that as well, but our consensus is there are no immediate foreign threats. Frankly our biggest concern at State right now is getting our people home.”
    “Understood. Sounds like we should hear from Defense next.” Gleason nodded toward the Secretary of Defense.
    “No one is in a position to launch a conventional attack,” the Secretary said, “and the consensus is a nuclear attack would be pointless, as we would meet it with an overwhelming response from our submarine-based nukes. However, long-term viability of our overseas bases is dependent upon the infrastructure in the host country, and that’s impossible to assess. After consultation with the Joint Chiefs, our recommendation is the repatriation of US military personnel by the most expeditious means, leaving behind only a skeleton force to maintain and secure the bases pending our eventual return. We can start repatriation of both military and State Department personnel and dependents via navy ships.”
    “How about equipment?” Gleason asked.
    The Secretary of Defense grimaced. “Anything we can’t fly or sail home will be at risk, Mr. President. We will bring away all our forward-deployed tactical nukes and as much other equipment as possible. But we’ll have to leave a lot. Armor, missile batteries, or other equipment will be pre-rigged with demolition charges so the ‘stay behind’ force can destroy them quickly if necessary to keep them from falling into the hands of those who might use the equipment against us.”
    “How are you going to resupply the stay-behind force?”
    “The numbers will be small, Mr. President, and we’ll leave them enough resources for several months. We’ll reassess sixty days down the road and decide whether to pull them out or resupply them. We didn’t feel we could in good conscience