Trent Reedy - Divided We Fall

The connection ended. I fired up the Beast and then turned around to head out of town toward the armory.

I always hated flying, but as flights went, the trip to the governor’s mansion was at least better than my last flight to Boise. Even Staff Sergeant Meyers was quiet, sleeping off a hangover the whole way. We all basically agreed to say yes to whatever the governor wanted — whatever it took to get out of there as fast as possible.

As the Chinook descended, I could see the governor’s mansion out the back hatch. It was an enormous house at the top of a hill above Boise. One of the largest American flags I’d ever seen fluttered in the wind on a pole that must have been at least a hundred feet high. Even before the helicopter landed on the massive brick circular driveway, a ring of soldiers had set up a security perimeter around it.

“Is all this really needed?” Luchen asked next to me. I hoped not.

We exited the aircraft and followed Lieutenant McFee, who had dark circles under his eyes and chapped lips. He looked like he hadn’t slept much lately. A different lieutenant led McFee toward the house. The Chinook took off again as soon as we were clear.

“Classy,” Specialist Stein said as we were led through the double front doors with arched tops. We entered a room with a carpet version of the Idaho state flag on the floor. In the center of a dark blue field was a circular image with food, some kind of miner or pioneer guy, and a woman in a white dress. The picture was framed by a gold band with the words Great Seal of the State of Idaho . Straight ahead, between an American flag standing on the left and the real Idaho flag on the right, a fancy stone staircase rose halfway up to the second level, stopped on a landing, then split into two stairways for the rest of the way.

Governor Montaine came to the second-floor railing and looked down at us. “Great. You’re here.” He took the steps two at a time to join us on the flag carpet and shake all our hands. “General McNabb is upstairs in the office. Follow me.”

Sergeant Kemp shot me a look like, Is this for real? Staff Sergeant Meyers only yawned and led the way after the governor. Lieutenant McFee was supposed to be our leader, but he trailed behind us and faded into the background like a ghost. The guy had hardly said a word this morning and wouldn’t meet anyone’s eyes. I tried to act the way everyone else seemed to be handling all of this — like it was no big deal to be following Governor Montaine around his mansion to meet with the commander of the Idaho National Guard — but I couldn’t get over how crazy this whole situation was.

We entered a busy office with officers and civilians sitting and standing around half a dozen tables. People worked on big screens at the tables or stood around typing things into their comms. Montaine pushed aside a comm and took a seat on the edge of a desk. “Darlene, can we get some chairs for these soldiers, please?”

“Right away, sir,” said a dark-haired woman at a table in the corner. She started pulling every free chair in the room for us. We sat down. General McNabb remained standing, speaking quietly to an officer whose three large screens all showed different maps of Idaho’s borders.

“Thank you for coming,” said the governor. “I know you probably have other plans today, so I’ll get right to the point. We’re concerned that we’re not going to be able to keep your involvement in the Boise incident a secret. The general and I have been discussing contingency plans in the event that someone leaks your identities to the Fed or to the press, or in case new evidence links any of you to the shooting. In that event, what I’m concerned about is safety and security for you and your families.” The governor frowned a little when General McNabb’s comm rang, and the general hurried out of the office with his comm to his ear. “I’m assigning local law enforcement to step up patrols near your homes, to keep a closer eye on you and your families to make sure you’re all safe. What I’ll need from you today are the names and addresses of any extended family we should be concerned about protecting. Grandparents. Siblings. That sort of thing.”

Wait a minute. What was he saying? Did he really think someone was going to hurt or arrest our families? It was just Mom and me on our own. I think she had like one sister who lived in Arizona or New Mexico or something, but they hardly talked to each other. “Excuse me, sir,” I said. “The federal government wouldn’t go after our families to get at us. That’s illegal, right?”

The governor smirked. “It seems like the Fed changes what’s legal and illegal whenever it suits them. But I’m also worried that if your names are discovered, regular angry citizens might try to take revenge of some kind.”

As soon as I was starting to think life could get back to normal, now I had to worry about people coming after my mom? What if they tried to take it out on my friends? On JoBell?

Sergeant Kemp leaned forward in his chair. “Sir, do you know of any credible threats? Has anyone found out we were there that night? And what about the other units involved in the incident?”

“We don’t have specific information on any leaks yet, but people are poring over all the photographs and video footage, so it’s a real possibility. I’ll be meeting individually with each of the units who were at Boise that night, including the rest of the squads in your platoon. That way, any soldier who might disobey my order to keep quiet can only sell out his own unit, not all the others.”

My cheeks grew hot when I thought of how I’d told Sweeney about Boise. Well, the governor would never find out I’d told him. I trusted Sweeney more than just about anyone else.

“Also on Monday,” said Montaine, “I’ll be issuing a call for volunteers among all Idaho Guardsmen, asking any interested soldiers to come work full-time for the state. You all would be most welcome and encouraged to take advantage of that opportunity. We’re going to take some steps to make sure the federal government can’t launch any surprise incursions into—”

“Excuse me, Governor!” General McNabb burst back into the room. “Code red!”

Six men in black suits poured into the room, all of them carrying handguns. They took up positions around the governor. My squad and I jumped to our feet.

“Sit rep!” said the governor.

“The situation is two Chinook helicopters are flying in from Hill Air Force Base in northern Utah,” said the general. “They’ve ignored our request for identification and mission and are headed directly for us.”

“Maybe they’re on the way to Mountain Home?” the governor asked.

“The base isn’t answering our calls and the birds have already passed it. They’ll be here in about ten minutes,” said McNabb.

The governor’s comm went off, playing “Hail to the Chief.” “That’d be the president calling,” said Montaine.

“All right, everybody, let’s clear the room,” said the general.

“No, that’s okay, General. I have nothing to hide. I want everybody here to know exactly what we’re dealing with.” The governor tapped his comm. “Good morning, Mr. President.”

“James Montaine, I need you to immediately begin enforcing the federal ID card law, and I need you to give me the names of all those soldiers involved in the shooting at Boise. I need you to do those things right now.”

“Well, President Rodriguez, I didn’t realize we were on a first-name basis now, or that you had become so disrespectful that you no longer address me by the title of the office to which I was elected. But to make this easy for you, I’ll get to the point. The answer is no. And ‘no’ is something that you boys in Washington better get used to hearing.”