The people in the National Mall had got accustomed to helicopters flying overhead so it didn't surprise them when four flew to the center of the crowd quite close to where the drone strike had taken place. The helicopters took positions and hovered, at first without doing anything. Still no-one took much notice until they started dropping tear gas canisters which quickly created a large cloud of the noxious gas. The down blast from the rotors of the helicopters spread the tear gas out through the crowd but the soldiers on-board kept dropping more of it to ensure the power of it did not weaken at the center.
The crowd start moving away from the worst of the repellant gas and this rippled outward as the news spread that they were under attack. As the crowd moved, so did the helicopters and they moved slowly away from each other while continuing to drop more tear gas canisters. The cloud of gas got progressively larger and more widespread on the ground.
Some started to chant Stand Your Ground but the tear gas was too strong to defeat that way. All had dreaded this moment could arrive but they had come to be fairly optimistic that it would not. The optimism was now fear but there wasn't too much panic as there were no sounds of gunfire.
Four more helicopters came to join the others and they too started dropping tear gas, never letting the cloud diminish so there was no way anyone could resist it to stay in the center. At the same time additional helicopters flew to the perimeter of the crowd and broadcast repeatedly over loudspeakers, "GO HOME. YOU WILL NOT BE HURT AND YOU WILL NOT BE ARRESTED. DO NOT RUN."
There had never been such an enormous crowd in the National Mall, even during the Civil Rights demonstrations of the sixties. No-one had any good estimate of how many people were down there but the crowd stretched from the remains of the Capitol Building all the way to the Lincoln Memorial at the other end. Whether such a crowd could be dispersed without injury remained to be seen.
The helicopters moved very slowly but what they were doing was quite deliberate and they were observing the efficacy of their maneuvers continuously. They were under strict orders to avoid causing a stampede and they were reporting every few minutes on their observations of the crowd as the operation proceeded.
About twenty minutes into the operation, the helicopter pilots were notified, "Park Ranger Command. Go to Phase 2."
Additional helicopters which must have been stationed nearby flew to the National Mall and descended into the center between the original helicopters and Marines began rappelling to the ground. They were outfitted in full body armour and wore gas masks. All were heavily-armed and looked absolutely terrifying. They were under strict orders not to engage unless they started taking fire but there was no way to discern that from looking at them. As each new wave of them arrived, they pushed their line outward making an impenetrable perimeter.
Another helicopter was doing a slow orbit around the entire crowd while reporting back to the Pentagon. "Park Ranger 1 reporting. Crowd moving away. People moving quickly but no sign of stampede. Over."
As he heard the report, General Forsythe said to the Joint Chiefs, "It is imperative we keep this under control. Masterson will have all of our heads if we start a stampede."
The contingency plan for a stampede was an immediate wave-off of the mission but the damage would already have been done. Forsythe was satisfied with progress thus far but the mission was far from complete.
None of the other generals had any comment. There was really nothing any of them could do except observe now that they had set it in motion.
A steady stream of helicopters flew more and more Marines to the center of the National Mall and their perimeter extended steadily outward while helicopters continued dropping tear gas ahead of them. In fairly short order, the area the Marines had cleared was large enough to serve as a Landing Zone and helicopters could bring in more Marines without the need to rappel to the ground. Their numbers expanded even more quickly from that point forward and the Marines pushed steadily outward from the center.
Two groups of men who were dressed in civilian clothes but armed with handguns entered the Oval Office. They walked directly to Mark and Frederick who did not look surprised to see them. The men identified themselves as members of a Navy SEAL team and the leader said, "Sir, under the authority of the NDAA, I am placing you under arrest. Do you have any weapons," asked the sergeant.
"No," answered Malcolm.
"Will you be taking us to Guantanamo," asked Frederick with some unwilling fear in his voice.
"You will be placed in military confinement. I am not at liberty to say where," replied one of the MPs.
General Masterson said, "You will have representation from lawyers who are well-versed in military law and you will subsequently face a military court for crimes against the United States."
Malcolm looked square at General Masterson and said with the darkest cynicism, "Whether it's a civilian court or military, it's all just politics, isn't it."
Malcolm then looked at the President and after a moment said disgustedly, "Take me away."
At The Refuge, everyone watched in horror as the assault on the National Mall progressed. The helicopters kept coming and it was obvious the will of the crowd was broken. The only saving grace was that there didn't seem to be any weapons fire. There was a cold resignation to how the crowd moved away but there didn't seem to be any casualties.
Harrison looked over to his mother and saw tears streaming down her face but she had a steely expression. Like everyone else, she said nothing. Around the room expressions ranged from outrage to horror but there was nothing to say as the inevitability of this response sank into everyone.
The video image cut to Rachel Hawkins in Atlanta. "Ladies and gentlemen, you have seen the Marine insertion into the National Mall in Washington. We also have reports from New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles to report similar actions but the crowds in those cities have been reacting by throwing bottles and breaking store windows. We have some early reports of fires in some locations. There are no reports as yet of casualties but details are thin at this time. From what we have seen there is a steady flow of people away from the protest area in Washington but, at least at the National Mall, it appears to be peaceful."
"Washington police report people are taking the subway or going to the cars or buses that brought them to the city center and are moving steadily away. There is an enormous traffic jam building but police are starting to direct cars down both sides of certain streets to assist in getting them moving. The Highway Patrol has stopped northbound traffic south of Washington and southbound traffic on the north end so vehicles can move out of town as quickly as possible. There are still a great many people on the National Mall and it will likely take quite a long time to get them to disperse."
After a brief pause, she began a summary, "For those who joined us late, at 9:45 Washington time this morning, the United States Marines began a joint military operation for insertion into the Washington National Mall for the purpose of clearing the city. Thus far there has been no statement from the Pentagon or the White House but we can observe the progress of the operation. We will continue to provide coverage for as long as is necessary. All previously-scheduled programming is canceled."
The image cut back to the National Mall and, even after that short interruption, the Marine presence in the center was clearly larger and there was a seemingly endless line of helicopters flying in more troops.
"I need to see what the dogs are doing," said Gill. It looked like there might have been tears in his eyes but he turned away to leave too quickly to be sure. Hoffman got up to follow him. Campbell and Sweeney thought about it for a moment and then they got up to go out there with them. It wasn't long before everyone was walking down to the exercise area.
They didn't say anything for a few minutes but it was impossible to be unaffected by the enthusiasm of the dogs. They were all scampering about, saying, "Hi, Hi, Hi."
"Screw the science," said Gill and he got down on the ground and started wrestling with Aisha. Pretty soon Flummi and Mister Robert got into the pile and Gill was buried in Scottish Highland Terriers.
"First it was soccer and now it's wrestling. I'm game," said Hoffman and she soon had her three dogs piled all over her. Laughing she said, "I think I could get to like wrestling."
One by one, all of them got into it and they made a pile of humans and dogs so dense you couldn't tell where anyone started or ended. They were all laughing and the dogs were spouting whatever words popped into their heads. For this moment, Washington couldn't have been more distant and no-one was in any rush to bring it close again. After playing like this for a while, all of them lay back on the grass with the dogs cuddled around them and relished the purest kind of happiness one could find at that moment.
The dogs weren't ones to lie about for very long and soon a chorus started growing, "Food, food, food."
Reluctantly everyone got to their feet and busied themselves with feeding and watering the dogs. There wasn't much to do while they ate so there was nothing for it but to go back to the common area, dreading what they might see on the television next.
They got back to the common area to discover the now-familiar Rachel Hawkins was already talking, "riots in multiple cities. Reports are coming in slowly but we know there is rioting in Kansas City, Cincinnati, Denver, and many, many others. We will run the list of cities on a roll at the bottom of your screen. Here in Atlanta there are multiple fires in the downtown area and firetrucks can make little progress because of all the people. The police are using armoured vehicles with water cannon but the crowd just moves and then fills back in behind them. We are advised it may be necessary to evacuate this building but that has not been ordered as yet. We will broadcast for as long as possible."
Hawkins looked down to the monitor on her desk, aware of the look of horror on her face but not even trying to mask it. All she wanted was to relay whatever news was available to the television audience following it. The stream of information was rolling quickly with city after city reporting their downtown areas going up in flames from the riots.
"We are seeing so many cities afire," said Hawkins, trying to sound as calm as she could. She wanted to contain her panic so she didn't make the problem any worse although it didn't seem like that was possible.
"Police are reporting they cannot contain it and have withdrawn to try to prevent the riots from expanding from the downtown areas. There has never been anything like this before in American history and ..."
The video feed cut suddenly to the Oval Office where the President was about to speak. He was obviously severely shaken but he still hoped calming words could be of some benefit.
"My fellow Americans, I pray for this violence to stop. The action in Washington was necessary to retake America and I ask all of you to do your part to preserve this grand country. Please return to your homes and stop this destruction. May God be with us all in this terrible time."
General Forsythe at the Pentagon called General Masterson and asked, "Your orders, sir?"
Masterson replied, "We must hold Washington."
Forsythe said, "I'm not sure we can, sir. The crowd seems to have heard the news and is turning around."
"Do not engage. Keep trying to bring it under control but do not shoot unless we receive fire."
"There has been no shooting, sir. They are starting to chant again with the same words as before: Stand Your Ground."
After a long silence, Masterson said with infinite resignation, "Heaven help us all. We must withdraw."
General Masterson walked over to the President and said in a low voice, "Sir, I have ordered my men to withdraw."
"You overstep yourself, General. This crowd must be brought under control," replied the President angrily.
"That won't be possible without a tremendous death toll, Mister President. I cannot give that order, sir."
Burying his head in his hands, the President said wearily, "I see. I see."
Masterson said then, "I have lost, Mister President. The battle could be won but the country will still be lost. I have failed you and I have failed America."
In full view of the viewing audience, Masterson very deliberately withdrew his service revolver from his holster, lifted it to his temple and fired.
"My God," exclaimed Susan. "Could they not predict this. How could they possibly expect to contain what has been happening."
"We made a fatal mistake," said Roger.
"What was that," she asked.
"We believed they would base their decisions on reason," replied Roger.
Susan stood and then turned to Roger, "I need some fresh air."
They walked together to the entrance of The Refuge and the doors slowly opened to reveal the early evening. Two of the dogs came with them. There was a light snow falling and Roger held his wife close to him while the dogs ran out to play in it. She nestled her head against his shoulder and they stayed like that with no sound but the shimmer of the snowflakes as they came to ground. Eventually she said softly, "It's going to be a long, cold Winter."
The crowd start moving away from the worst of the repellant gas and this rippled outward as the news spread that they were under attack. As the crowd moved, so did the helicopters and they moved slowly away from each other while continuing to drop more tear gas canisters. The cloud of gas got progressively larger and more widespread on the ground.
Some started to chant Stand Your Ground but the tear gas was too strong to defeat that way. All had dreaded this moment could arrive but they had come to be fairly optimistic that it would not. The optimism was now fear but there wasn't too much panic as there were no sounds of gunfire.
Four more helicopters came to join the others and they too started dropping tear gas, never letting the cloud diminish so there was no way anyone could resist it to stay in the center. At the same time additional helicopters flew to the perimeter of the crowd and broadcast repeatedly over loudspeakers, "GO HOME. YOU WILL NOT BE HURT AND YOU WILL NOT BE ARRESTED. DO NOT RUN."
There had never been such an enormous crowd in the National Mall, even during the Civil Rights demonstrations of the sixties. No-one had any good estimate of how many people were down there but the crowd stretched from the remains of the Capitol Building all the way to the Lincoln Memorial at the other end. Whether such a crowd could be dispersed without injury remained to be seen.
The helicopters moved very slowly but what they were doing was quite deliberate and they were observing the efficacy of their maneuvers continuously. They were under strict orders to avoid causing a stampede and they were reporting every few minutes on their observations of the crowd as the operation proceeded.
About twenty minutes into the operation, the helicopter pilots were notified, "Park Ranger Command. Go to Phase 2."
Additional helicopters which must have been stationed nearby flew to the National Mall and descended into the center between the original helicopters and Marines began rappelling to the ground. They were outfitted in full body armour and wore gas masks. All were heavily-armed and looked absolutely terrifying. They were under strict orders not to engage unless they started taking fire but there was no way to discern that from looking at them. As each new wave of them arrived, they pushed their line outward making an impenetrable perimeter.
Another helicopter was doing a slow orbit around the entire crowd while reporting back to the Pentagon. "Park Ranger 1 reporting. Crowd moving away. People moving quickly but no sign of stampede. Over."
As he heard the report, General Forsythe said to the Joint Chiefs, "It is imperative we keep this under control. Masterson will have all of our heads if we start a stampede."
The contingency plan for a stampede was an immediate wave-off of the mission but the damage would already have been done. Forsythe was satisfied with progress thus far but the mission was far from complete.
None of the other generals had any comment. There was really nothing any of them could do except observe now that they had set it in motion.
A steady stream of helicopters flew more and more Marines to the center of the National Mall and their perimeter extended steadily outward while helicopters continued dropping tear gas ahead of them. In fairly short order, the area the Marines had cleared was large enough to serve as a Landing Zone and helicopters could bring in more Marines without the need to rappel to the ground. Their numbers expanded even more quickly from that point forward and the Marines pushed steadily outward from the center.
Two groups of men who were dressed in civilian clothes but armed with handguns entered the Oval Office. They walked directly to Mark and Frederick who did not look surprised to see them. The men identified themselves as members of a Navy SEAL team and the leader said, "Sir, under the authority of the NDAA, I am placing you under arrest. Do you have any weapons," asked the sergeant.
"No," answered Malcolm.
"Will you be taking us to Guantanamo," asked Frederick with some unwilling fear in his voice.
"You will be placed in military confinement. I am not at liberty to say where," replied one of the MPs.
General Masterson said, "You will have representation from lawyers who are well-versed in military law and you will subsequently face a military court for crimes against the United States."
Malcolm looked square at General Masterson and said with the darkest cynicism, "Whether it's a civilian court or military, it's all just politics, isn't it."
Malcolm then looked at the President and after a moment said disgustedly, "Take me away."
At The Refuge, everyone watched in horror as the assault on the National Mall progressed. The helicopters kept coming and it was obvious the will of the crowd was broken. The only saving grace was that there didn't seem to be any weapons fire. There was a cold resignation to how the crowd moved away but there didn't seem to be any casualties.
Harrison looked over to his mother and saw tears streaming down her face but she had a steely expression. Like everyone else, she said nothing. Around the room expressions ranged from outrage to horror but there was nothing to say as the inevitability of this response sank into everyone.
The video image cut to Rachel Hawkins in Atlanta. "Ladies and gentlemen, you have seen the Marine insertion into the National Mall in Washington. We also have reports from New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles to report similar actions but the crowds in those cities have been reacting by throwing bottles and breaking store windows. We have some early reports of fires in some locations. There are no reports as yet of casualties but details are thin at this time. From what we have seen there is a steady flow of people away from the protest area in Washington but, at least at the National Mall, it appears to be peaceful."
"Washington police report people are taking the subway or going to the cars or buses that brought them to the city center and are moving steadily away. There is an enormous traffic jam building but police are starting to direct cars down both sides of certain streets to assist in getting them moving. The Highway Patrol has stopped northbound traffic south of Washington and southbound traffic on the north end so vehicles can move out of town as quickly as possible. There are still a great many people on the National Mall and it will likely take quite a long time to get them to disperse."
After a brief pause, she began a summary, "For those who joined us late, at 9:45 Washington time this morning, the United States Marines began a joint military operation for insertion into the Washington National Mall for the purpose of clearing the city. Thus far there has been no statement from the Pentagon or the White House but we can observe the progress of the operation. We will continue to provide coverage for as long as is necessary. All previously-scheduled programming is canceled."
The image cut back to the National Mall and, even after that short interruption, the Marine presence in the center was clearly larger and there was a seemingly endless line of helicopters flying in more troops.
"I need to see what the dogs are doing," said Gill. It looked like there might have been tears in his eyes but he turned away to leave too quickly to be sure. Hoffman got up to follow him. Campbell and Sweeney thought about it for a moment and then they got up to go out there with them. It wasn't long before everyone was walking down to the exercise area.
They didn't say anything for a few minutes but it was impossible to be unaffected by the enthusiasm of the dogs. They were all scampering about, saying, "Hi, Hi, Hi."
"Screw the science," said Gill and he got down on the ground and started wrestling with Aisha. Pretty soon Flummi and Mister Robert got into the pile and Gill was buried in Scottish Highland Terriers.
"First it was soccer and now it's wrestling. I'm game," said Hoffman and she soon had her three dogs piled all over her. Laughing she said, "I think I could get to like wrestling."
One by one, all of them got into it and they made a pile of humans and dogs so dense you couldn't tell where anyone started or ended. They were all laughing and the dogs were spouting whatever words popped into their heads. For this moment, Washington couldn't have been more distant and no-one was in any rush to bring it close again. After playing like this for a while, all of them lay back on the grass with the dogs cuddled around them and relished the purest kind of happiness one could find at that moment.
The dogs weren't ones to lie about for very long and soon a chorus started growing, "Food, food, food."
Reluctantly everyone got to their feet and busied themselves with feeding and watering the dogs. There wasn't much to do while they ate so there was nothing for it but to go back to the common area, dreading what they might see on the television next.
They got back to the common area to discover the now-familiar Rachel Hawkins was already talking, "riots in multiple cities. Reports are coming in slowly but we know there is rioting in Kansas City, Cincinnati, Denver, and many, many others. We will run the list of cities on a roll at the bottom of your screen. Here in Atlanta there are multiple fires in the downtown area and firetrucks can make little progress because of all the people. The police are using armoured vehicles with water cannon but the crowd just moves and then fills back in behind them. We are advised it may be necessary to evacuate this building but that has not been ordered as yet. We will broadcast for as long as possible."
Hawkins looked down to the monitor on her desk, aware of the look of horror on her face but not even trying to mask it. All she wanted was to relay whatever news was available to the television audience following it. The stream of information was rolling quickly with city after city reporting their downtown areas going up in flames from the riots.
"We are seeing so many cities afire," said Hawkins, trying to sound as calm as she could. She wanted to contain her panic so she didn't make the problem any worse although it didn't seem like that was possible.
"Police are reporting they cannot contain it and have withdrawn to try to prevent the riots from expanding from the downtown areas. There has never been anything like this before in American history and ..."
The video feed cut suddenly to the Oval Office where the President was about to speak. He was obviously severely shaken but he still hoped calming words could be of some benefit.
"My fellow Americans, I pray for this violence to stop. The action in Washington was necessary to retake America and I ask all of you to do your part to preserve this grand country. Please return to your homes and stop this destruction. May God be with us all in this terrible time."
General Forsythe at the Pentagon called General Masterson and asked, "Your orders, sir?"
Masterson replied, "We must hold Washington."
Forsythe said, "I'm not sure we can, sir. The crowd seems to have heard the news and is turning around."
"Do not engage. Keep trying to bring it under control but do not shoot unless we receive fire."
"There has been no shooting, sir. They are starting to chant again with the same words as before: Stand Your Ground."
After a long silence, Masterson said with infinite resignation, "Heaven help us all. We must withdraw."
General Masterson walked over to the President and said in a low voice, "Sir, I have ordered my men to withdraw."
"You overstep yourself, General. This crowd must be brought under control," replied the President angrily.
"That won't be possible without a tremendous death toll, Mister President. I cannot give that order, sir."
Burying his head in his hands, the President said wearily, "I see. I see."
Masterson said then, "I have lost, Mister President. The battle could be won but the country will still be lost. I have failed you and I have failed America."
In full view of the viewing audience, Masterson very deliberately withdrew his service revolver from his holster, lifted it to his temple and fired.
"My God," exclaimed Susan. "Could they not predict this. How could they possibly expect to contain what has been happening."
"We made a fatal mistake," said Roger.
"What was that," she asked.
"We believed they would base their decisions on reason," replied Roger.
Susan stood and then turned to Roger, "I need some fresh air."
They walked together to the entrance of The Refuge and the doors slowly opened to reveal the early evening. Two of the dogs came with them. There was a light snow falling and Roger held his wife close to him while the dogs ran out to play in it. She nestled her head against his shoulder and they stayed like that with no sound but the shimmer of the snowflakes as they came to ground. Eventually she said softly, "It's going to be a long, cold Winter."
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