Trent Reedy - Divided We Fall

Mr. Morgan came out of the office, and of course he spotted me right away.

“Daniel? What are you doing out here?”

I rubbed my eyes and held up my comm. “Call from the Army.”

Morgan straightened his tie. “Yes, well, I trust it was something important.”

What did he expect, that the Army called in the middle of the day for no reason? What an idiot. “I’ve been ordered to active duty,” I said. “I’m supposed to report to Fairchild Air Force Base Wednesday morning.”

“Oh. Well, surely they’ll understand that you are still a high school student. I’d be happy to contact them to explain the situation.”

“That was some hotshot officer personally calling me to issue my orders. I’m not sure they’re interested in listening to a high school principal.” Then, realizing I probably pissed him off, I added, “No offense. I think every soldier or at least most of the soldiers in the Idaho Guard are being activated. Probably to leave Governor Montaine with no Guard forces to protect him.”

“Well, maybe that’s for the best,” said Mr. Morgan. “Put this all behind us.”

Before he said that, I might have felt that way, but hearing the idea come out of his weasel mouth made it sound sickening. Nobody wanted things in America to go back to normal more than I did, but after the FBI had almost run us off the road trying to arrest me, after Governor Montaine did everything he could to protect us when the president wanted us in jail, after all that, I was supposed to go to their side? I was supposed to leave home and school and my friends and JoBell and report for Army duty? I was supposed to trust that after I gave them two years of my life they’d pardon me? At least Governor Montaine had given us a choice when he called for volunteers to work full-time Idaho National Guard duty.

But then another part of me remembered that I had sworn an oath to obey the president, and these were the first direct orders he had sent me. And if he was serious about the pardon, maybe this was my only way out of all this.

“Daniel?” Mr. Morgan said. He fiddled with his tie tack. He was real fidgety about his ties.

If he had been talking, I hadn’t been listening. Morgan was the kind of guy who was easy to tune out. I shook my head and focused on him. “What did you say?”

Mr. Morgan put his hands on his hips. “I said, if you’re through with your Army call, you should go back to class.”

Why not? It was better than hanging out here in the hallway with this clown. I stood up and started back to class.

“Hey, partner! You got a big conference call coming in. You wanna check this out?” Digi-Hank.

Mr. Morgan huffed. “The Army again?”

I checked the screen and shook my head.

“Well then, Daniel, if it’s not urgent, you know school policy is no calls during—”

I held up the comm to show him the screen. “It’s the governor calling.” As often as I had wanted my involvement with the standoff between the governor and the president to be over, I was glad right then to show this pencil-pushing jackwad that he wasn’t the highest authority in the world. Morgan frowned and took a step back. A message came on-screen when I tapped ACCEPT.

“He put me on hold?” The direct line to the governor was spoiling me.

Mr. Morgan stood up straighter. “Well, why don’t you take that call in private?” He led me down the hall to his office and closed the door behind me, leaving me alone.

If I was going to have to wait in the principal’s office for this call, I might as well make myself at home. I went and sat down in the high-backed swivel chair behind Morgan’s big wooden desk. “Comfy.” I put my feet up, crinkling some of his papers under my shoes. He’d be pissed if he saw me like this, but what was he going to do, kick me out of school? I had to be in the Army in two days anyway. Mr. Morgan could deal with it.

Finally my comm beeped. The message disappeared and the screen went black. Then an image came on-screen. The governor stood behind a podium in the entryway to the governor’s mansion. I could see the staircase behind him.

“Soldiers and airmen of the Idaho Army and Air Force National Guard. Greetings. I’m James Montaine, governor of the great state of Idaho. I’m told that about 73 percent of you are watching this announcement live, but for those of you unable to join us at this time, as well as for those who may wish to watch this broadcast again, this announcement will be recorded and available in your inbox at the conclusion of my remarks.

“By now, most of you have received or are about to receive orders to report for federal active duty in the United States Army or Air Force. To be sure, this is a legal order, effectively signed by the president of the United States. But at this time, I would ask each of you to consider why the president is issuing these orders. President Rodriguez has a disagreement, not only with me, but with the entire state of Idaho.

“First, despite the fact that both houses of the Idaho state legislature strongly voted to nullify the Federal Identification Card Act on the grounds that the act represented an unconstitutional invasion of privacy, the president insists that his signature law be implemented everywhere. Given his way, he would do away with government by the consent of the governed and force us all to live under his new surveillance program.

“Second, he has demanded the arrest of Idaho Army National Guardsmen who committed no crime except to obey lawful orders given to them by their chain of command. He wants to punish those soldiers, your comrades in arms, for doing their duty.

“Third, in order to force me to sell out and surrender honest, loyal Idaho Army National Guardsmen, the president has repeatedly demanded that I release those soldiers’ identities. As a veteran of the Battle of Fallujah in Operation Iraqi Freedom and as governor, I will never betray soldiers under my command. I will do all I can to support Idaho’s men and women in uniform. With the help of the state legislature, I made sure that Idaho Guardsmen deployed in Iran would not experience a pay freeze due to the recent federal government shutdown amid their budget dispute. In Idaho, we take care of our own!

“The president could not accept this, however, and despite my best efforts to protect those involved in the Boise incident, some names of soldiers at Boise were leaked. The president then sent federal operatives in an attempt to arrest them. That attempt was foiled when I directed local law enforcement to detain and deport the armed federal agents. The president may try to act like he has your best interests at heart, but why then do aerial drones — some of them possibly armed, in violation of the law — constantly monitor Idaho Guard positions? And would a president with his soldiers’ interests in mind order FBI agents to risk one of his soldiers’ lives in a deadly high-speed chase, as he did with seventeen-year-old Private First Class Daniel Wright?

“Fourth, under the mistaken belief that removing me from Idaho will cause the people to give up their love for freedom and their respect for their rights, the president has broken the law as set forth by the Idaho state constitution and sent armed forces into this state in an attempt to arrest me, as well as the Idaho Guardsmen who were involved in the incident in Boise. You men and women have already worked hard to construct a barrier to prevent further such incursions, and I thank you for it.

“The president has made no effort to explain to you soldiers and airmen why he is calling you away from your homes and loved ones. There is no pressing threat to national security. There has not been a simultaneous federal activation of every member of a particular state’s National Guard forces in over sixty years, not since President Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas National Guard so that Arkansas soldiers wouldn’t be used in defense of school segregation. The Idaho Guard has not been called upon for any such evil purpose. On the contrary, you’ve been hard at work, protecting our freedom at home and abroad. The president would seek to stop that work, and by his attempt, he has shown that he has no concern even for Idaho’s need to maintain a force to help the state in the event of dangerous floods or deadly wildfires.