Chapter 75

 

 

-Rome-

 

 

There’s less than 30 hours to go before Halkias must follow through on his threat to launch another missile and the tension in the villa is beginning to mount. Up until now, the remaining members of The Last Resort have been able to rationalize the consequences of their actions as justified collateral damage for the greater good of America as a whole. What they’re planning to do if they don’t get their way pales in comparison. Mass murder is a lot harder to rationalize, no matter how just one thinks the cause is. It’s estimated that the current population in Washington D. C. is 617,996, not including the non-residents that work there. That’s a lot of dead bodies.

 

Hollingsworth voices what he thinks is probably in the minds of others in the room. “Basil, perhaps we should back off on carrying out our threat if the President doesn’t give in to our demands. We’d be killing a lot of innocent people. There must be other ways we can bring sufficient pressure to bear on the decision makers to get what we want.”

 

Feldman exploded. “That’s out of the question! We’ve come too far to back down now. It would be construed as a weakness to be exploited by the swine that have sullied the American dream. We must do what we said we would do if we want to ever be taken seriously. Besides, those swine deserve to be slaughtered anyway.”

 

For the first time Hollingsworth realizes that Feldman isn’t quite right in the head. “This guy has no conscience. He can rationalize anything he wants to do no matter what the consequences might be.”

 

Zadikoff sided with Hollingsworth and said, “I think we should seriously consider what James is suggesting. We can always use the missiles if nothing else works.”

 

Baltzinger said, “The way I see it, the odds of success are even whichever way we go. When I’m faced with those kinds of odds, I never bet the farm on the outcome, too many variables. I’m with James and David on this. Let’s save the artillery for another day.”

 

Feldman is beside himself. His face is turning beet red with anger and he is having trouble speaking coherently. His cussing is easy to understand though as he accuses the three of them of cowardice and a lot of other incomprehensible things. It’s obvious to everyone in the room that Feldman has lost it.

 

During this entire encounter, Halkias has been quiet, letting them vent their concern about what might lie ahead, but the atmosphere in the room has now reached a point where he must

intervene. Since everybody is yelling, trying to be heard, Halkias starts pounding on a coffee table to get their attention. That’s as far as he gets. He’s interrupted by the sound of a deep voice coming through a megaphone from somewhere outside. Everyone hears it and shuts up to listen to what is being said.

“This is Lieutenant Morrelli of the Rome Police Department. You are completely surrounded by my officers and soldiers of the Carabinieri. You are under arrest for illegal entry into Italy and after due process will be extradited to the United States to be prosecuted for crimes against the American people. Come out with your hands on your head and walking backwards. Now!!

 

“Feldman shouts, “Son of a bitch. How the hell did they find us?”

 

Hollingsworth say, “It doesn’t matter. The jig is up.”

 

Feldman violently responds with, “The hell it is.” He runs over to a slightly open window and yells, “Listen up out there. The annihilation of a major American city is just a finger tap away on my keyboard. Get off this property and let us leave or I’ll do it I swear.”

 

The Captain has been advised as to the capabilities of these people and knows he must be careful about how he handles the situation. The Captain says, “Don’t do anything rash. Give me fifteen minutes to get instructions from my superiors. Okay?”

 

Feldman shouts back, “Not a second more.”

 

Feldman turns to the others and says, “They’ll do what we say. We hold all the cards.”

 

It’s now Hollingsworth’s turn to explode. “Bull shit. There’s no way they’re going to let us walk out of here. We’ll be better off if we surrender and cooperate. That way we have a chance of negotiating some leniency when we go to trial.”

 

Baltzinger and Zadikoff quickly agreed, but Halkias wasn’t buying the argument. “What fantasy land do you guys live in? They’ll lock us up and throw the key away or sentence us to death. If I’m going to die, I’ll do it my way not theirs. When we all bought into this venture, it was with a do or die attitude. Spending the rest of my life in prison doesn’t appeal to me.”

 

As much as Hollingsworth disagreed with him, he had to begrudgingly respect him for his dedication to the cause and intestinal fortitude. There was more to the man than tough talk. “You do what you want to do and we’ll do what we want to do.”

 

This put Feldman into another emotional dither and he came at Hollingsworth swinging. Of course Hollingsworth’s temper flared even higher than it was already and they got into it hot and heavy.

 

Hollingsworth got in a couple of real good punches, putting Feldman up against a wall with a bloody nose and a gash over his left eye. For a minute everyone thought it was all over as Feldman made no attempt to strike back, but suddenly Feldman reached down to his right ankle and came up with the gun everyone had forgotten he always carries in an ankle holster. In one smooth motion, the gun was in his hand, aimed at Hollingsworth’s chest and fired twice. Hollingsworth fell to the floor dead.

 

Before Feldman can point the gun at anyone else, Zadikoff grabs a heavy lead crystal glass vase setting on a nearby table and swings it at Feldman’s gun hand, sending the gun flying. Baltzinger picks it up and uses it to hold off Halkias and Feldman as he and Zadikoff follow the instructions and surrender.

 

When they are apprehended and cuffed, the Lieutenant asks about the shots that were fired. When he hears what had happened, he calls the President immediately for instructions. He relays the information that Baltzinger and Zadikoff gave him and says, “Sir, it sounds like this guy is primed to blow up a city. What do you want me to do?”

 

“Giving into these cretins is out of the question. Is there anything you can do to prevent this Feldman from tapping that key?”

 

“We can’t see inside the villa very well so a sniper can’t get a clear shot. We don’t know where they’ve positioned themselves. The only thing I can think of that might work is we break some windows, toss in some tear gas and flash grenades and storm the place through those same windows as soon as we toss in the grenades. The villa has no second story so there’s no place for them to run to avoid the tear gas. We’d have to enter through the windows because the doors are too thick and we don’t have a battering ram. The tear gas will make it difficult for them to breathe, the flash grenades will blind them and the police and soldiers clambering in through the windows shouting at them to get down on their bellies and put their hands on their heads will scare the daylights out of them. They should be overwhelmed, disoriented and distracted long enough for us to grab them or shoot them before this guy remembers to tap the key or can even find his keyboard.”

 

The President response was silence. The lieutenant said, “Sir, did you hear what I said?”

 

“I heard you, Lieutenant. I’m just kissing my ass goodbye in case I make the wrong decision.” There was another silent pause and then the President bit the bullet and said, “Do it.”

 

The lieutenant couldn’t help laughing and said, “Your country is lucky to have you as their leader, sir. A lot of men would fold under these circumstances. I don’t think I’d like to play poker with you. You’d always play the cards you’re dealt and call everyone’s bluff.”

 

Unfortunately, the pot in this game was enormous and the President felt like he was holding two pair, aces and eights, the dead man’s hand. If this doesn’t work, I’m going to have a lot of blood on my hands.”

 

Five minutes later, the assault begins. Seven minutes later a whimpering and quivering Basil Halkias is subdued, but disaster strikes when Feldman refuses to surrender. Feldman picks up the vase Zadikoff hit him with and starts to toss it at a soldier coming through a window and the soldier shoots him twice in the chest. As he is falling to the floor, he slaps one hand to his chest in agony and he reaches out with the other and slaps the keyboard, hitting the key that begins the launch sequence for six LGM-30G Minuteman-III nuclear missiles in silos at Minot AFB, North Dakota. He’ll never know the outcome of his last ditch effort. He’s dead seconds after his hand slides off the keyboard and follows his collapsing body to the floor.

The President is notified by the commanding officer at Minot AFB of the launch and the President asks, “Can’t they be intercepted?”

 

“This is being done as we speak. Our Ground-Based Midcourse Defense system has launched anti-ballistic missiles to intercept those launched from here. However, there’s no guarantee that we will be able to intercept all of them.”

 

“Where are they headed?”

 

The commanding officer hesitated and the President said, “Spit it out man. Where the hell are those damn things headed?”

 

“Towards our East Coast, sir. That’s all I can tell you right now. I’ll know for sure in about five minutes.”

 

“Shit! Those missiles travel so damn fast when we do know what their targets are there won’t be enough time left for a warning to do any good.”

 

A few minutes later the President has his answer. Two of the missiles are headed for the White House, two for the Pentagon and two for the Capitol Building. The ABMs take out five of the missiles, but one gets through to its target, the Capitol Building. Unfortunately, the Congress is in joint session with no absentees. In the aftermath, nothing can be found to indicate what was there. The city has been decimated. Structural damage throughout the city is wide spread and the civilian death toll is horrendous. Those that survived the original blast will have serious radiation exposure problems to deal with. Many more will die in the coming days. The fallout will spread to neighboring states, Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia for sure, adding to the calamity.

 

The President and his family, his cabinet and other advisors were able to flee to a bunker beneath the White House that is designed to withstand a nuclear attack. They are uninjured, but the nation’s capital and the country as a whole is in serious need of healing. The road to recovery is going to be long and hard. An entire new legislative branch of the government has to be established and new political alliances have to be formed and battles fought. The President’s thinking, “Maybe this time we’ll get it right.”