Dyna-Mike

11

February 2010

Much had happened in the previous nine months. President and Commander in Chef George W. Bush had been elected to his third term in office. Since the inception of the new, single Republican-Democrat Party had created a one-party electorate system, he ran unopposed. Had he received a single vote, he would have won reelection anyway. In January 2010 President reinstated the military draft, requiring all male citizens between the ages of 18 and 45 to register for military service. The majority of the male population had been called into active military service within a year of registration. This left most homeland jobs unmanned, so the female population of the United States were left virtually running the business of America.

I was sitting in the hotel living room anxiously with Kareem. He had been in daily contact with the Secret Service for the last several weeks, and they had advised him to keep me close because they were about to reinstate me into active duty, despite my reluctance to return to work. I had no choice, so I put all my plans on hold and waited to see what would happen next.

The winds of war were all around. I had begun to make a daily habit of keeping CNN tuned in on the hotel television to keep track of the rest of the world.  We were both sipping tea and watching the monitor when the news broke. There were images of massive military activity near Israel. I looked around for the remote control to turn the volume up. Kareem found it first, and we listened intently.

“….we have late breaking confirmation that Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt have joined with the tattered remnants of the PLO and have collectively declared war on Israel. We take you now to Tel Aviv with our correspondent…..” the female announcer was visibly shaken. Kareem turned the volume down.

“Kareem, this means Israel is now completely surrounded by its enemies! In the Bible this is the last sign before…” I trailed off.

“The end of the world, Sir,” Kareem finished quietly. We looked at each other in silence. “Sir, Washington has asked you remain here until further notice. It may be several months before they get your orders to you, but you will be reinstated. I’m sorry, but there was nothing I could do about it. Any refusal will be seen as desertion, and possibly treason.”

“I know, Kareem. Don’t worry about it. I’ve waited this long, I’m sure I can be patient a while longer. I guess there’s nothing else to do but sit tight and wait for the time being.”

“Yes, Sir. We wait.” Kareem nodded solemnly.

* *  *

Christmas Day, 2010

“Merry Christmas, Kareem,” I said to my young companion. I handed him a small wrapped gift.

“Thank you, Professor. Marry Christmas to you too.” Kareem nodded over to the desk, where a medium sized box was wrapped. As he started unwrapping his present, I walked over to the desk.

“Sir, come quickly!” Kareem shouted suddenly.

I ran over to him. He had the television remote control in his hand, and had turned the volume up. There was an aerial shot from a helicopter zooming in on a wasteland of destruction. It looked like the World Trade Centers after they had been destroyed, but hundreds of times larger. Twisted metal and smoke was all over the horizon. Then the footage switched to a similar view, clearly in a different place. The announcer was talking rapidly.

“…again, Los Angeles and London have both been destroyed by a nuclear attack. The loss is in the millions of lives. The terrorist groups Al Quada and Hamas have claimed responsibility, and have also threatened all major US and allied cities if the US-led coalition does not withdraw all military operations worldwide to their home shores. Commander-In-Chief Bush is currently airborne in Air force One, which is serving as his military command center for the indefinite future. We return again to Nevada for…….wait, just a minute, another urgent bulletin coming in…., let’s go to our Tel Aviv bureau for more details….”

The footage switched to downtown Tel Aviv, where people were furiously rushing around with air raid sirens blasting in the background. The local announcer, visibly shaken, began to speak.

“In a surprise announcement, Israel has declared they have activated a massive nuclear arsenal, and are preparing to annihilate all their enemies. To reinforce their claims, they have just launched simultaneous nuclear attacks on Beirut Lebanon, Damascus Syria, Amman Jordan, and Cairo Egypt. Satellite photos show the missiles are currently in flight and……..wait a minute, there’s….” the picture went to static interference. After a moment, the American announcer was on screen.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we have confirmation that Israel has detonated nuclear warheads in the Capitals of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt. Combined with the destruction of London and Los Angeles, this is a minimum of six nuclear warheads deployed within the last thirty minutes worldwide. We’ll be back in a moment.” The announcer choked on her words and fell silent. The screen faded to black, then a header flashed across the television. “The Terrorist Wars of 2010”. I looked at Kareem, who had gone pale.

As we stared at each other in amazement, the phone rang. Kareem answered it.

“Yes?” he asked. “Mmm-Hmm, yes, I understand. I’ll tell him straight away. Yes, thank you. Goodbye.” He looked at me.

“I’m reactivated?” I asked.

“Yes.” He answered.

“You’d better get in touch with Majid and tell him to put our plans into mothballs for the time being. Ask him to be ready to reactivate with very little notice.

“Will do, Sir,” Kareem agreed. The room fell silent. We just sat there, shaking our heads in bewilderment. The Terrorist Wars of 2010 had begun.

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