Well, Threads had the right of it. In a post-exchange hellscape, you pay in calories, and you don't waste calories on problems.
Protect & Survive Miami: End of Watch
- Thread starter wolverinethad
- Start date
Excellent work. Really enjoying this - thank you, writers look you are what gives the site value.
mortonofski
Donor
Um...holy fuck. Hell of a great twist, wolverinethad! Going to miss Cardenás. Charlton's actions, I think, speak to how cheap human life seems to have become post-Exchange - with billions dead, what's one more?
Much as I enjoy this as an example of post-Exchange random chance...when I saw Charlton speak of his past exploits as a CIA paramilitary in Angola, I couldn't help but think that he might have ties to some ex-Company men down in Miramar, and that his anti-Cuban bent was a bit of a ruse...
Much as I enjoy this as an example of post-Exchange random chance...when I saw Charlton speak of his past exploits as a CIA paramilitary in Angola, I couldn't help but think that he might have ties to some ex-Company men down in Miramar, and that his anti-Cuban bent was a bit of a ruse...
Um...no. No. No. Not at all. The USA has the tradition of individual accountability and individual responsibility.
Fortunately the author has provided us the get out of controversy free card of the thug having no known family ties. But seriously now, do you really believe you are properly legally liable for anything your brother, sister, father, or mother does? (I left child off the list because there are complications there--but if you have an adult child, do you really think you have proper legal liability for choices they make?)
It is legitimate to investigate close kin and associates to see if they have any complicity in a crime someone commits, to see if they aided and abetted that person's crime. Under well established principles of Enlightenment influenced societies, the choice to assist someone else's crime, before during or after the fact, involves one as an accomplice. And family ties, close friendship or strong business association all raise the likelihood that a person would take risks and burdens that they would be crazy to undertake for a stranger. So it would be reasonable to investigate associations.
To presume such complicity, and apply extended punishment to third parties not actually involved, for exemplary reasons? There are societies on Earth that have such models and I respect the right of human beings to have different systems, and in vague armchair theory such a society might work out to be overall as just and enlightened as our own (not that I regard that as a terribly high bar to clear either) perhaps. Devil is in the details! But I can't see a member of an Enlightenment heritage society advocating adoption of collective responsibility like that and am very shocked you seem to here. It's just contrary to our whole concept of what a human being is, to call for that!
Does the wartime emergency situation do a damn thing to change it? The author could have set up the case so the authorities and public majority supporting them could be tempted but darn if I see a single hook for you to hang that on here. The simplest and most charitable explanation for your post I can imagine is that you are understandably outraged by Luis's sudden, untimely, and stupid death and are looking for ways to make punishment piled deeper somehow.
There is no amount of punishment that can set the policeman's death right. Anyway directing it at bystanders is clearly a cure worse than the disease. In a different scenario maybe I would understand your reasons better, and a majority might plausibly endorse collective responsibility and write it into law, but I don't think that would make it right!
Anyway we have the opposite of such a scenario. Just some stupid thug-American doing something intolerably stupid and mean.
The issue of summary execution is another discussion entirely. My personal Zen of the issue is that the thug was lucky that the nearest cop or soldier present didn't execute him right there on the spot--and rule of law in Fort Myers and Florida generally is damn lucky that did not happen too. Kudos to have the discipline to hold the fool and hare him before the designated regional magistrate under martial law. I have no gut feeling issue with the Major making the judgement he did. If I were him I might want to suspend the execution pending an investigation to make sure there isn't some gang of thugs of like mind organized to systematically provoke incidents to pick off law enforcement one by one, but that would be a very stupid sort of conspiracy--if they have the numbers and firepowers such a gang ought to overwhelm the barracks in the middle of the night, attempt to recruit like minded types on probation and massacre the rest, then impose their reign of terror at gunpoint. This incident has the look and feel of a stupid and mean person acting stupidly and meanly and the matter seems settled with their death. That's justice and example enough I think.
Part of my acceptance of this is that Charlton pulled this stunt in broad daylight, in the line of sight eyewitness of lots of people and plenty of nearby ear witnesses with no known agenda drawing him together. Just as it would be stupid for a gang of thugs with guns to trade life for life with the established military-police establishment, so it would be insane to suppose the innocuous Mr. Charlton was the victim of some vendetta of the establishment and lured into a setup where he was framed, if the cost of setting the stage included the death of poor Cárdenas. The thing happened openly and there would hardly be time for various factions and counterfactions to organize. Major Ewing's decision that 1) there was no controversy as to the facts nor did Charlton offer an explanation that could possibly raise issues of justice in this case, and that being the case, the inevitable conclusion of any sanely conducted court trail was plain and incontrovertible, and 2) there were no mysteries or ambiguous background issues to ferret out to explore the full ramifications of the matter, then there was no reason not to fast forward to the inevitable conclusion. Florida as we have remarked before is definitely a state which in 1984 of OTL and thus here, has a fully operational death penalty going, Supreme Court approved. Death was the inevitable outcome and no reason in justice to delay, so bang. After the duly appointed chief magistrate reviewed the facts and not before is the key thing making this a matter of civilized justice and thus maintenance of enlightened order.
I really really hope however that when a case comes before Ewing that is more complex and ambiguous, that he does not act summarily before making a reasonable and proper effort to resolve it. One aspect of summary law is that precedents are not a thing; just because the matter was open and shut in this case does not make it a virtue to handle every case like that. I should hope, quite aside from issues of just how much elaboration the postwar society can afford, that they settle on something faster than the appallingly slow progress of typical modern American justice, which can leave people remanded to provably undeserved custody for years before they get their trial, and instant on the spot shootings by whichever cop happened to be closest for any alleged offense. If another person, even a cop or soldier, turns up dead in the middle of the night with a bullet in their head but no witnesses, I trust Ewing will take care to follow decent police procedure, provide the accused with counsel if there is any uncertainty about their guilt, appoint a duly proper and rigorous and open trial procedure, and should there be any mitigating factor consider lesser sentences, balancing the cost of maintaining a convict into the decision. As pointed out convicts might be expected and required to do dangerous things or even things certain to lower their life spans in these harsh conditions, but I trust a middle ground providing for punishments less stringent than death will emerge. It might amount to state slavery, which by the way is Constitutional, as long as it is not private and for punishment of properly adjudicated crimes, but justice I trust shall not always be a matter of a second shot to the head within minutes of the crime. But when it is appropriate that it shall be--in cases where unbiased witnesses can be called upon to confirm the certain facts of the case, like this--it is not wrong to be that quick and simple about it.
Part of my acceptance of this is that Charlton pulled this stunt in broad daylight, in the line of sight eyewitness of lots of people and plenty of nearby ear witnesses with no known agenda drawing him together. Just as it would be stupid for a gang of thugs with guns to trade life for life with the established military-police establishment, so it would be insane to suppose the innocuous Mr. Charlton was the victim of some vendetta of the establishment and lured into a setup where he was framed, if the cost of setting the stage included the death of poor Cárdenas. The thing happened openly and there would hardly be time for various factions and counterfactions to organize. Major Ewing's decision that 1) there was no controversy as to the facts nor did Charlton offer an explanation that could possibly raise issues of justice in this case, and that being the case, the inevitable conclusion of any sanely conducted court trail was plain and incontrovertible, and 2) there were no mysteries or ambiguous background issues to ferret out to explore the full ramifications of the matter, then there was no reason not to fast forward to the inevitable conclusion. Florida as we have remarked before is definitely a state which in 1984 of OTL and thus here, has a fully operational death penalty going, Supreme Court approved. Death was the inevitable outcome and no reason in justice to delay, so bang. After the duly appointed chief magistrate reviewed the facts and not before is the key thing making this a matter of civilized justice and thus maintenance of enlightened order.
I really really hope however that when a case comes before Ewing that is more complex and ambiguous, that he does not act summarily before making a reasonable and proper effort to resolve it. One aspect of summary law is that precedents are not a thing; just because the matter was open and shut in this case does not make it a virtue to handle every case like that. I should hope, quite aside from issues of just how much elaboration the postwar society can afford, that they settle on something faster than the appallingly slow progress of typical modern American justice, which can leave people remanded to provably undeserved custody for years before they get their trial, and instant on the spot shootings by whichever cop happened to be closest for any alleged offense. If another person, even a cop or soldier, turns up dead in the middle of the night with a bullet in their head but no witnesses, I trust Ewing will take care to follow decent police procedure, provide the accused with counsel if there is any uncertainty about their guilt, appoint a duly proper and rigorous and open trial procedure, and should there be any mitigating factor consider lesser sentences, balancing the cost of maintaining a convict into the decision. As pointed out convicts might be expected and required to do dangerous things or even things certain to lower their life spans in these harsh conditions, but I trust a middle ground providing for punishments less stringent than death will emerge. It might amount to state slavery, which by the way is Constitutional, as long as it is not private and for punishment of properly adjudicated crimes, but justice I trust shall not always be a matter of a second shot to the head within minutes of the crime. But when it is appropriate that it shall be--in cases where unbiased witnesses can be called upon to confirm the certain facts of the case, like this--it is not wrong to be that quick and simple about it.
As a general principle I oppose the death penalty. I think it is smart to "keep your friends close and your enemies closer," and that people who have done terrible things may know terrible things, things that might help justice in other cases if not their own. We should not silence sources of information prematurely. This is also a safeguard against corrupt administrations--if execution is not an option for the authorities (and decent minimum standards of conditions of incarceration keep us from turning sentencing into torture) then they are deterred from committing corrupt or lazy judgments since sooner or later a change of administration might give a railroaded victim of injustice a platform to prove their innocence and thus cast the alleged crime they were sentenced to back into play, either to find the true culprit or expose the crime itself was a fabrication, and also reveal the new crime of the act of wrongly locking up an innocent person, which I am appalled our society does not seem to take seriously enough. Because of our lax and lenient attitude to authorities who screw up such an important duty as punishing the right people who actually committed the crime, they are encouraged to be corrupt and figure they will get away with it. The more falsely accused people they can execute and silence permanently the wider the door to arbitrary corruption of justice swings open. There is no practical way to guarantee justice, but starting by refusing to let anyone be silenced can push it pretty close to shut. Meanwhile bad guys we damned well know are guilty by incontrovertible evidence still might be useful witnesses or sources in other cases.
So I say a good society does not execute anyone for anything. That said, the practical economics of the matter come into play. I certainly think our society can afford the stringent standards I would set. Perhaps the P&S survivors even of relatively fortunate Florida cannot? They seem to be doing remarkably well so far though.
So I say a good society does not execute anyone for anything. That said, the practical economics of the matter come into play. I certainly think our society can afford the stringent standards I would set. Perhaps the P&S survivors even of relatively fortunate Florida cannot? They seem to be doing remarkably well so far though.
BarbaraChandler
Banned
Yep, I think it’s fine. Stops others getting the same idea that they can take out a handgun and execute an authority figure.
Why do you figure a selfish and violent person would be deterred by ties to other people when the prospect of their own swift execution does not deter them? I will grant that it might be effective on some people but it clearly won't with others.
So, since you seem to be unclear on the downside of your incentive concept, you yourself are quite OK with the idea that if some close kin of yours, say anyone in the second degree--uncle, aunt, grandparent, grandchild, niece or nephew or first cousin--or anyone known to be a close friend of yours, or a business associate--boss, trusted employee, major partner with whom your financial affairs are closely mingled--should commit some felony, that you be liable for a partial and permanent penalty just because you were associated, even if you can prove definitively that you had no knowledge of the crime (therefore no opportunity to either advise against it nor report it to the authorities in advance nor take personal measures to prevent it)? You would bet your life on having enough influence on anyone that close to you to steer them clear of any infamous felony and thus protect yourself, and accept the risk of being punished and disgraced as the cost of the necessary level of deterrence?
If so does this imply you think we have hopeless weak deterrence in nations that stick to the standards of the Enlightenment, and hold individuals accountable for their actual actions and choices but not for mere association, and we ought to adopt this more far reaching standard right here and now, without needing the excuse of a global war to force us into it? That people in such nations, such as any nation inheriting British common law or deriving its laws from the Code Napoleon, are constantly exposed to worse crime and violence than if the kin of criminals were held liable, and that the obvious costs to innocent people of collective liability would be more than worth it from a reduction in violence?
Because I can see you seriously asserting that the general violence level of the USA must be reduced (without agreeing about your solution). But the USA is an outlier in terms of violent crime. Plenty of nations that have one or another European derived individual accountability only traditions, common law or otherwise, have much lower rates of violent crime without having to hold kin hostage, and indeed the elimination of kin responsibility is deemed a major step forward for rational justice, ending feuds and so forth. It seems to me the violence level is low enough in a number of nations that trading off any personal freedom for the sake of theoretically and perhaps lowering it further is a bad bargain indeed. Nor does it seem to me like a very rational, thought out way of deterring crime, and I suspect if we really think it through, for every case where a would be murder or maiming is deterred, in at least one other case violence is instead catalyzed, perhaps by the "as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb" principle, or by the knowledge that a relative's misdeeds doom one to punishment anyway, so one might as well have their revenge on a neighbor, compensate for social and legal disabilities with the proceeds of theft, or whatever.
I don't think you have fully thought it out in short, and am very very skeptical you would seriously wish the liabilities this would impose on everyone on yourself. Perhaps you think highly of your family and have every confidence none of them would put you in jeopardy, but perhaps if you were privy to really frank discussion about things your siblings or parents or children may have gotten up to without your knowing about it, you might have that confidence shaken! I know I have, and I wasn't even worrying about my liability! (As the oldest sibling, I have worried about my influence in the moral choices of my younger sisters and brothers, but looking back I pretty much discount that. They made their own choices!)
It sounds to me like one of those things that seem like a great idea as long as it applies only to other people, and people who unconsciously hold themselves privileged can easily indulge these--fingers crossed because clearly I am better than the people who are problems, right? But bring it home and figure you and your family are not in the privileged category, that there are others in the community with more power and prestige than you who look down on you and yours, and considering life from that point of view, would you seriously accept the liability, knowing that it is not your kin and your friends making the formal judgements but some cronies of the people who hold themselves better than you and have the wealth and power to prove it? Not only do they judge the crimes, they also get to determine who is associated with whom! Now how sensible does the notion seem, knowing that the administration of justice in this world is imperfect? Does it really seem smart to knock down the kin and friends of someone who might be falsely accused and remove their effectiveness as advocates?
Aside from inherent weakness as an effective overall deterrent then, it strikes me as another sort of invitation to abuse of power. How many times in history does great tragedy come down to people being "in the way?" In these cases, the authorities have only to trump up, or provoke, a handful of crimes by a few members of a targeted group, and then holding the entire group accountable use the disabilities imposed on them legally by collective accountability to shove them all aside.
In truth, such groups, and many individuals even those higher up the social ladder, will feel when someone close to them is convicted, rightly or wrongly, that they have less to lose by acting out of bounds themselves, and I think any movement toward this system would be looked back on as an aberration leading to an age of anarchy before the mistake is corrected!
Hi everyone!
I just enjoyed a second surgery and a full week's stay in the hospital, a hospital whose firewall blocked this lovely website and kept me from commenting, let alone posting another chapter. I see there's been some lively debate while I was gone, and some of what's been brought up will be somewhat covered in the next chapter.
FWIW, I'm almost done reading 1983: Reagan, Andropov, and a World On The Brink, which just came out, and I urge all of you to get a copy. A thoroughly good read, and for everything I'd watched and read, I learned new things, some through the author's interviews with former Soviet officers at the time, who offered new insights into the situation. The paranoia level amongst the Soviet leadership was even worse than I'd thought it before. They were completely ready to launch at the first provocation. Andropov literally stayed up all night on November 9, and Ogarkov had gone to the bunker that P&S so memorably nuked to hell. There's so much more in there to read, and yeah, any fan of the P&S verse needs to own this book.
I just enjoyed a second surgery and a full week's stay in the hospital, a hospital whose firewall blocked this lovely website and kept me from commenting, let alone posting another chapter. I see there's been some lively debate while I was gone, and some of what's been brought up will be somewhat covered in the next chapter.
FWIW, I'm almost done reading 1983: Reagan, Andropov, and a World On The Brink, which just came out, and I urge all of you to get a copy. A thoroughly good read, and for everything I'd watched and read, I learned new things, some through the author's interviews with former Soviet officers at the time, who offered new insights into the situation. The paranoia level amongst the Soviet leadership was even worse than I'd thought it before. They were completely ready to launch at the first provocation. Andropov literally stayed up all night on November 9, and Ogarkov had gone to the bunker that P&S so memorably nuked to hell. There's so much more in there to read, and yeah, any fan of the P&S verse needs to own this book.
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Chapter 54
Chapter 54
Gainesville, Florida
March 10, 1984
0600 hours
The morning briefing had become almost monotonous, Graham thought as he prepared for the latest one. Same massive fallout line, same lack of communication with anyone but the Georgia government at Valdosta State, no word on Pensacola. It was believed that the issues with westward communication were caused by a massive energy spike by the ICBM that detonated at the Eglin/Hurlburt complex, where antennas and satellite dishes were prolific in number. Same thing for anything south of the central part of the state, where the loss of MacDill, Orlando, and Cape Canaveral, all heavy communications hubs, further contaminated the atmosphere and ionosphere.
Graham was wrong this morning. It would not be monotonous.
Lt. Colonel Castillo opened the briefing in place of General Ensslin, who’d begun to delegate this task more in the past week. Castillo didn’t mind the pseudo-promotion, and Ensslin appreciated the extra hour of sleep he got by not having to assemble the briefing papers. Castillo chose to lead with the exciting news first. “Governor, I want to start off by notifying you that we’ve confirmed two areas of intact survivors in the southern part of the state,” Graham nearly jumped out of his chair at that, as Castillo continued, “both via air-to-ground transmissions. The first is a small group in Ft. Lauderdale, older CAP folks and some Air Guard pilots who landed at the airport post-attack with nowhere else they could get to. There isn’t a whole lot of them, and they’re mainly short on food, it seems. They’ve got plenty of JP-8 from an underground tank there at the airport, and have even flown some surveillance runs.”
“What’d they find? They’re close enough to Miami and the rest of the metro area to get a good look,” asked the governor.
Castillo took a deep breath. “As of their last run three days ago, the situation is grim where they surveyed. Miami and the immediate suburbs are still burning. It’s a giant, charred, burning area with God knows what keeping the flames going, but there’s still smoke and fire. Homestead is half melted, like, literally melted, according to the description we got from them. They also went down to the Keys, and outside of Key West, which they didn’t approach, things looked pretty decent. Even saw a few people on fishing boats, though I question how safe the fish are for those folks. Not our responsibility, though, they ignored the order, and survival is on them.” Castillo didn’t say anything about what the Marathon Key sheriff left behind, but that’s because the pilot and the CAP folks didn’t include it in the report, which they’d transmitted by having the pilot take a TA-4F Skyhawk trainer (VA-45, which had been based at NAS Cecil Field in Jacksonville, was scattered around the state of Florida during the three days of war prior to the Exchange, with its Skyhawks to be used as emergency tactical recon planes) up to 55,000 feet and fly racetrack over the state until he locked on to a signal. When signal lock was confirmed, the pilot verbally transmitted his report.
“Okay, Colonel, so Fort Lauderdale, at least the airport, is running operations and wasn’t hit. That’s wonderful news. What isn’t wonderful is everything has gone to hell around there…for that matter, why haven’t they made contact with other survivors? Why aren’t civilians coming to them?” Graham’s question made Lt. Colonel Castillo very uncomfortable. How do I even explain…He’s going to think we’re mad. Fortunately for Castillo, Ensslin arrived just then, and Castillo deftly redirected the question to him. “General, sir, the governor wishes to know why the recon group at Ft. Lauderdale International didn’t make contact with any outside survivors yet?” Graham’s gaze fell upon his Guard commander. “General, why are they so alone there?”
“We mined the airport perimeter, sir. If civilians try to get through, they’re going to get blown up. I suspect that a few have already and the lieutenant that filed this report chose not to include that sad bit of information,” Ensslin replied. Bob Graham looked aghast. “Why the hell did we mine an airport to where our own citizens can’t enter to receive assistance of any sort, General?” “Governor, we had Soviet bombers over Miami and Ft. Lauderdale just ain’t that far away. We were defending against paratroop attack and that was my prerogative as the man in charge of this state’s defense. If they had soldiers parachuted in, mines protect that airfield from ground siege and allow us to get our assets off. We didn’t know what the fuck was going to happen and I took the measures I saw fit. I’m not changing that, either. That is valuable real estate with a valuable window into an area we have zero control over and cannot reach yet. The mines stay, sir.” Ensslin stared into Graham’s eyes. Graham didn’t blink. “General, you can keep the mines, but the next time you choose to do something like this, you’d damned well better inform me first, because I am your commander-in-chief.” The governor grabbed his briefing papers and pad and stormed out in search of breakfast.
Castillo mumbled, “I didn’t even get to tell him about Fort Myers…."
*****
Fort Myers, Florida
0740 hours
The mood in the apartment was bleak. The Simmons family had moved back into their camper for sleeping at night, so it was back to Rosa’s parents, Luis’ parents, Jan, Rosa, and Adriana inside the apartment. Mr. and Mrs. Cárdenas were numb with grief, while Jan kept blaming himself for walking away. He’d found a fifth of whiskey, and drank most of it the previous night before passing out. He was up now, eyes bloodshot, pacing the parking lot and trying to figure out how he hadn’t spotted this Tucker Charlton bastard in line.
Simmons came out of the trailer a little after eight, and made a beeline for his subordinate. “Jan, son, you’re taking the day off today, and we’re gonna talk through this,” the deputy chief told him. “No, sir, I need to work, I can’t be wallowing in it,” Klima replied. Simmons grabbed the younger man’s arm. “Let me say it again. You are taking today off. You know why? We cannot afford to lose you! This is wartime. You lost your friend and your partner in one shot, and if you don’t get your head straight, then you’re not going to be any good, and I’m not gonna have that. Your wife, your kid, and this town needs Jan Klima to have his shit together! You did so much, you saved us all from death because of your instincts. That’s important, all of that. There aren’t too many combat-trained, intelligent men like you. So, I’m going to get some coffee and we’re going to walk across the street to that park and talk this through.” Simmons ducked inside the trailer and came back out with a thermos and two cups. They sat at the picnic table nearest the sidewalk.
“Okay, son, tell me what happened,” Simmons poured Klima a cup. Jan took a long gulp of the coffee. “Everything had been quiet, boring like. I wanted to see what the arrangements were on the other side, make sure everything was fine. I mean, as important as the ration coupons are, the actual supplies are even more important, so I figured it was worth a look. Things were under control, it seemed. Luis, Rodgers, and Quinn were all there, I didn’t think…” Klima’s voice cracked, and then he continued, “I didn’t think anything would happen. I chatted up the officers down there, asked a few questions about the mall, just bullshitting a bit, and when I was about ready to turn back, I heard the shot echo. The people on the supply side panicked and started running towards the exit. I ran back fast as I could, and Quinn had already tackled that fucker, and I tried to revive Luis….and I couldn’t…” Now Klima started crying. Ron put his hand on Jan’s shoulder as Klima cried, “I wasn’t there…if I’d just stayed down there, if I hadn’t been so curious, that racist prick couldn’t have gotten the drop on Luis. He shouldn’t have been out there! Why did we let him go out before his arm was back to normal?”
Simmons sighed. “You know there’s no way we could’ve kept him from doing it. He loved policing, and he loved being with you. You were his friend, his partner, and you’d saved his life already. That Charlton bastard was Army-trained, just like you. Combat is a different way, you know that. You get that slightest extra edge, which is why we try so goddamn hard to recruit veterans for the force. Yeah, maybe you could’ve stopped it if you were there, and maybe you wouldn’t have. There’s no way to know. You didn’t do a damn thing wrong, Jan, not one thing wrong. Luis died serving this country, and Charlton died in front of a brick wall last night, executed like the dog he was. We’re in a whole new, awful world now. People like that Rivera fella we were chasing...they’re going to be out there, and looking to take advantage of things. It’s up to people like you and I to stop them. You have to let this go, and you have to carry on. Luis would want that. He wouldn’t want you moping around.” Klima nodded, staring at the table. “Now, we’re taking the day off. I’ll radio the chief, I’m sure he’ll understand. Tomorrow, we go back in, and you get your shit together, and we keep this town safe. This is all we got, son, and I’ll be damned if some racist pricks or gun runners or whoever else may be out there tries and takes it from us.”
Jan looked at Simmons. “Sir, what’s the law now? If that guy got executed last night….are we even supposed to arrest people? That’s an awfully slippery slope if we’re just outright executing folks.” “Son, we are still arresting people. Major Ewing from the Florida National Guard is the authority right now for any capital crimes. For the pettier stuff, we’re going to get the court going again, I think. Since everyone locally survived, we’ve got judges, prosecutors, and I’m sure a couple defense lawyers will become public defenders. It’s gonna be different, though. State of emergency means quick, short bench trials. No juries or anything like that for a long while. The major agrees with the thought. He doesn’t want to be God on a daily basis. I will tell you this, though. Anyone who shoots or stabs someone else, or murders in any other way, they go before Ewing, and if they ain’t got a good reason, they get a bullet in the courtyard. It ain’t how we were taught, but like I said, it’s wartime, and he’s running the court-martial.”
Gainesville, Florida
March 10, 1984
0600 hours
The morning briefing had become almost monotonous, Graham thought as he prepared for the latest one. Same massive fallout line, same lack of communication with anyone but the Georgia government at Valdosta State, no word on Pensacola. It was believed that the issues with westward communication were caused by a massive energy spike by the ICBM that detonated at the Eglin/Hurlburt complex, where antennas and satellite dishes were prolific in number. Same thing for anything south of the central part of the state, where the loss of MacDill, Orlando, and Cape Canaveral, all heavy communications hubs, further contaminated the atmosphere and ionosphere.
Graham was wrong this morning. It would not be monotonous.
Lt. Colonel Castillo opened the briefing in place of General Ensslin, who’d begun to delegate this task more in the past week. Castillo didn’t mind the pseudo-promotion, and Ensslin appreciated the extra hour of sleep he got by not having to assemble the briefing papers. Castillo chose to lead with the exciting news first. “Governor, I want to start off by notifying you that we’ve confirmed two areas of intact survivors in the southern part of the state,” Graham nearly jumped out of his chair at that, as Castillo continued, “both via air-to-ground transmissions. The first is a small group in Ft. Lauderdale, older CAP folks and some Air Guard pilots who landed at the airport post-attack with nowhere else they could get to. There isn’t a whole lot of them, and they’re mainly short on food, it seems. They’ve got plenty of JP-8 from an underground tank there at the airport, and have even flown some surveillance runs.”
“What’d they find? They’re close enough to Miami and the rest of the metro area to get a good look,” asked the governor.
Castillo took a deep breath. “As of their last run three days ago, the situation is grim where they surveyed. Miami and the immediate suburbs are still burning. It’s a giant, charred, burning area with God knows what keeping the flames going, but there’s still smoke and fire. Homestead is half melted, like, literally melted, according to the description we got from them. They also went down to the Keys, and outside of Key West, which they didn’t approach, things looked pretty decent. Even saw a few people on fishing boats, though I question how safe the fish are for those folks. Not our responsibility, though, they ignored the order, and survival is on them.” Castillo didn’t say anything about what the Marathon Key sheriff left behind, but that’s because the pilot and the CAP folks didn’t include it in the report, which they’d transmitted by having the pilot take a TA-4F Skyhawk trainer (VA-45, which had been based at NAS Cecil Field in Jacksonville, was scattered around the state of Florida during the three days of war prior to the Exchange, with its Skyhawks to be used as emergency tactical recon planes) up to 55,000 feet and fly racetrack over the state until he locked on to a signal. When signal lock was confirmed, the pilot verbally transmitted his report.
“Okay, Colonel, so Fort Lauderdale, at least the airport, is running operations and wasn’t hit. That’s wonderful news. What isn’t wonderful is everything has gone to hell around there…for that matter, why haven’t they made contact with other survivors? Why aren’t civilians coming to them?” Graham’s question made Lt. Colonel Castillo very uncomfortable. How do I even explain…He’s going to think we’re mad. Fortunately for Castillo, Ensslin arrived just then, and Castillo deftly redirected the question to him. “General, sir, the governor wishes to know why the recon group at Ft. Lauderdale International didn’t make contact with any outside survivors yet?” Graham’s gaze fell upon his Guard commander. “General, why are they so alone there?”
“We mined the airport perimeter, sir. If civilians try to get through, they’re going to get blown up. I suspect that a few have already and the lieutenant that filed this report chose not to include that sad bit of information,” Ensslin replied. Bob Graham looked aghast. “Why the hell did we mine an airport to where our own citizens can’t enter to receive assistance of any sort, General?” “Governor, we had Soviet bombers over Miami and Ft. Lauderdale just ain’t that far away. We were defending against paratroop attack and that was my prerogative as the man in charge of this state’s defense. If they had soldiers parachuted in, mines protect that airfield from ground siege and allow us to get our assets off. We didn’t know what the fuck was going to happen and I took the measures I saw fit. I’m not changing that, either. That is valuable real estate with a valuable window into an area we have zero control over and cannot reach yet. The mines stay, sir.” Ensslin stared into Graham’s eyes. Graham didn’t blink. “General, you can keep the mines, but the next time you choose to do something like this, you’d damned well better inform me first, because I am your commander-in-chief.” The governor grabbed his briefing papers and pad and stormed out in search of breakfast.
Castillo mumbled, “I didn’t even get to tell him about Fort Myers…."
*****
Fort Myers, Florida
0740 hours
The mood in the apartment was bleak. The Simmons family had moved back into their camper for sleeping at night, so it was back to Rosa’s parents, Luis’ parents, Jan, Rosa, and Adriana inside the apartment. Mr. and Mrs. Cárdenas were numb with grief, while Jan kept blaming himself for walking away. He’d found a fifth of whiskey, and drank most of it the previous night before passing out. He was up now, eyes bloodshot, pacing the parking lot and trying to figure out how he hadn’t spotted this Tucker Charlton bastard in line.
Simmons came out of the trailer a little after eight, and made a beeline for his subordinate. “Jan, son, you’re taking the day off today, and we’re gonna talk through this,” the deputy chief told him. “No, sir, I need to work, I can’t be wallowing in it,” Klima replied. Simmons grabbed the younger man’s arm. “Let me say it again. You are taking today off. You know why? We cannot afford to lose you! This is wartime. You lost your friend and your partner in one shot, and if you don’t get your head straight, then you’re not going to be any good, and I’m not gonna have that. Your wife, your kid, and this town needs Jan Klima to have his shit together! You did so much, you saved us all from death because of your instincts. That’s important, all of that. There aren’t too many combat-trained, intelligent men like you. So, I’m going to get some coffee and we’re going to walk across the street to that park and talk this through.” Simmons ducked inside the trailer and came back out with a thermos and two cups. They sat at the picnic table nearest the sidewalk.
“Okay, son, tell me what happened,” Simmons poured Klima a cup. Jan took a long gulp of the coffee. “Everything had been quiet, boring like. I wanted to see what the arrangements were on the other side, make sure everything was fine. I mean, as important as the ration coupons are, the actual supplies are even more important, so I figured it was worth a look. Things were under control, it seemed. Luis, Rodgers, and Quinn were all there, I didn’t think…” Klima’s voice cracked, and then he continued, “I didn’t think anything would happen. I chatted up the officers down there, asked a few questions about the mall, just bullshitting a bit, and when I was about ready to turn back, I heard the shot echo. The people on the supply side panicked and started running towards the exit. I ran back fast as I could, and Quinn had already tackled that fucker, and I tried to revive Luis….and I couldn’t…” Now Klima started crying. Ron put his hand on Jan’s shoulder as Klima cried, “I wasn’t there…if I’d just stayed down there, if I hadn’t been so curious, that racist prick couldn’t have gotten the drop on Luis. He shouldn’t have been out there! Why did we let him go out before his arm was back to normal?”
Simmons sighed. “You know there’s no way we could’ve kept him from doing it. He loved policing, and he loved being with you. You were his friend, his partner, and you’d saved his life already. That Charlton bastard was Army-trained, just like you. Combat is a different way, you know that. You get that slightest extra edge, which is why we try so goddamn hard to recruit veterans for the force. Yeah, maybe you could’ve stopped it if you were there, and maybe you wouldn’t have. There’s no way to know. You didn’t do a damn thing wrong, Jan, not one thing wrong. Luis died serving this country, and Charlton died in front of a brick wall last night, executed like the dog he was. We’re in a whole new, awful world now. People like that Rivera fella we were chasing...they’re going to be out there, and looking to take advantage of things. It’s up to people like you and I to stop them. You have to let this go, and you have to carry on. Luis would want that. He wouldn’t want you moping around.” Klima nodded, staring at the table. “Now, we’re taking the day off. I’ll radio the chief, I’m sure he’ll understand. Tomorrow, we go back in, and you get your shit together, and we keep this town safe. This is all we got, son, and I’ll be damned if some racist pricks or gun runners or whoever else may be out there tries and takes it from us.”
Jan looked at Simmons. “Sir, what’s the law now? If that guy got executed last night….are we even supposed to arrest people? That’s an awfully slippery slope if we’re just outright executing folks.” “Son, we are still arresting people. Major Ewing from the Florida National Guard is the authority right now for any capital crimes. For the pettier stuff, we’re going to get the court going again, I think. Since everyone locally survived, we’ve got judges, prosecutors, and I’m sure a couple defense lawyers will become public defenders. It’s gonna be different, though. State of emergency means quick, short bench trials. No juries or anything like that for a long while. The major agrees with the thought. He doesn’t want to be God on a daily basis. I will tell you this, though. Anyone who shoots or stabs someone else, or murders in any other way, they go before Ewing, and if they ain’t got a good reason, they get a bullet in the courtyard. It ain’t how we were taught, but like I said, it’s wartime, and he’s running the court-martial.”
badfishy40
Banned
I guess this story is over...been since June since last post. Please notify readers if your done writing.
That agonized howl you just heard was from all the people who thought there was an update to this excellent timeline...
I don't think this is called for at all. Authors create stuff and give it to us for free. They don't owe us a schedule. Please back off! Perhaps you recall some bad stuff happened?
Thank you for this, @Shevek23.
I have struggled to write this chapter. Some of it has been dealing with post-surgical stuff, some of it me catching up at work (I've spent half of this week in a lab, trying to fix code that wasn't working), and a lot of it finding the right words for a tough storyline. I have about a third of it done. I haven't forgotten, it isn't over, but this is taking longer than normal.
Sorry your recovery remains painful. The story is worth waiting for.
Rudest comment I've seen on here for some time dude. Consider apologising please.
Burton K Wheeler
Moderator
It's way more annoying for people to see a thread bumped by someone who's not the OP than it is to just let a story go a while without updates, dude.
Awaiting the next post with great anticipation!! RL issues are a bitch, but they're RL!!
