Kyle Pratt - Through Many Fires

The nurse hung the chart on the bed. “I’ve got to notify the doctor.” She hurried from the room leaving the door ajar.

Caden could see that Maria and Adam were fine, but he asked, “Was anyone else hurt?”

Maria nodded. “Yes. The pilot has two cracked ribs, the Governor’s wife dislocated her arm, there were lots of bruises and some cuts, but you got the worst of the injuries.”

Caden sighed with relief. There had been so much death these last few days. He didn’t want to mourn anyone else. “I want to see…”

“Everyone else has already been discharged. The Governor and his staff have gone to Olympia and Turner and his men flew to Fairchild. I’m sure they enjoyed getting on a plane so soon after that landing. I don’t think I’ll ever step on a plane again.”

He reached up and felt the bandages and his sore head. “What caused the plane to crash or land hard or whatever?”

“Seattle.”

His head pounded again. “Seattle caused our plane to crash?” Then he understood. “Seattle is gone?”

“Yes, well, part of it. The bomb was on a boat in…what do they call all that water?”

“Puget Sound?”

“Yes. The terrorists were out on Puget Sound and the authorities found out about them. Their boat must not have been in position when they detonated it. The wave from the blast caused a lot of damage to the port area, there were fires and radiation but fortunately the damage was less than in other cities.”

“Oh.” He looked at the electronics beeping and blinking in the room.

She seemed to anticipate his question. “The plane was still a couple thousand feet in the air. You might remember, we saw a flash when it happened.”

He shook his head.

She moved toward the door. “News reports say there was only limited damage in Tacoma, mostly in the port area, and people in Olympia didn’t even see the flash or get hit by the pulse.”

Checking along the rails he found the controller and inclined the head of the bed. He gently propped himself up and discovered, through pain, bruises on his legs and torso.

“I’m really glad you’re okay,” Maria shut the door. Again her face flushed. “Ah…I suppose you want to know why the nurse thinks we’re married.”

“I’ve got to admit I’m a bit curious about when that might have happened.”

“When they brought you in, I came along.” She grinned sheepishly. “I guess I was pretty frantic. They asked me to sign some papers and I realized they thought I was your wife. I didn’t want them to wait while they sorted things out so I signed as Mrs. Maria Westmore.”

He felt he should be annoyed by her deception, but all that emerged from him was a laugh.

“And besides as your wife they let me stay here.” She looked about. “This room is warm, they have clean, running water and the food in the cafeteria is good.”

He shook his head. “If hospital food is now considered good, then the world as we know it is finished.” He rubbed his chin. “And David and the Governor? They think we’re married?”

She nodded. “Did you ever say otherwise?”

He thought for a moment. “No,” he said slowly, “but I’m a bit embarrassed.”

“Why?” she said with irritation in her voice and eyes.

“When Lieutenant Turner escorted you to the plane at Fort Rucker, they must have thought we were having a serious marital quarrel.”

She smiled enigmatically. “We were.”

Caden flipped through the channels. New York had been spared and was once again the nation’s capital, but of much more significance to him at that moment was that the city was the home of several news networks and they were all back on the air.

“Turn it down some, please.”

Caden glanced at Maria.

She pointed to the baby sleeping on the cot. “It’s going to wake Adam.”

He pressed the volume button.

Someone knocked on the door.

Adam cried.

Maria sighed.

Caden looked at her, a portrait of exasperation and shrugged. “Come in.”

Governor Monroe smiled as he stepped into the room. “I hear you’re recovering well.”

“Thankfully I have a hard head,” he said, muting the television. “I thought you had gone to Olympia.”

Maria took the crying baby from the room as Governor Monroe pulled up a chair and sat beside Caden’s bed. “I did, but I wanted to see you before you were released and headed home. He made small talk for a minute and then said, “On the plane you spoke of North Korea and China working together.”

Caden nodded.

“You also said that the Security Council resolution to allow Chinese technicians and troops into North Korea would pass.”

“If my theory is right then yes, it should pass.” Caden sat up more in the bed. “Did it?”

The governor nodded.

“Then I expect North Korea to attack the south very soon.”

“Why?”

“That was the price North Korea extracted from China.”

The governor moved his chair closer. “I’ve got to admit, I don’t follow.”

“China is behind all of this, but they need plausible deniability, so they tell the North Korean government to supply the fissionable material.”

“But the North has sold nuclear technology before, why do you think China is behind these attacks?”

“The North has a reputation for selling to the highest bidder, but they’re not stupid. They know if the material is used for attacks against us it’ll be traced back to them and we would certainly retaliate.”

“So why would they do it?”

“The North’s economy is in a shambles.” Caden gestured with his right hand for North Korea and his left for China. “They need the money that China would pay for their cooperation, but I’m sure they demanded two more things.”

Monroe looked confused. “What?”

“First, the protection they get from this U.N. resolution.”

“How does a Chinese invasion protect them?”

“It’s not really an invasion. The Chinese are probably retrieving nuclear processing equipment they loaned to the North, but the Chinese can state to the world that they are there by request of the United Nations and assisting UN inspectors. However,” Caden wagged his finger, “we can’t attack the North without killing Chinese troops and U.N. inspectors who are there by authority of the United Nations.”

The governor nodded. “I see.”

“And since we can’t attack North Korea without killing Chinese soldiers and U.N. personnel, the North is free to attack South Korea.”

Monroe swore and rubbed his chin.

“It’s really just an educated guess. I could be wrong about….”

He held up his hand. “No, no. I think you are right. North Korea has been cooperating with China and the United Nations, but they have been protesting alleged incursions by South Korea for the last two days.”

“I haven’t heard this on the news?”

Monroe looked Caden in the eye. “President Durant declared martial law in much of the country. News is being censored.”

“The first amendment….”

The Governor shook his head. “Officially the ‘Homeland Security Advisors’ are there to keep the media from reporting anything helpful to terrorists, and I guess they do that, but nothing that puts Durant or what is left of the federal government in a bad light gets past them.”

Caden shook his head. His country was dying in more ways than he had imagined.

Maria entered the room holding a sleeping Adam, and sat on the cot.

Monroe smiled at Maria as she sat down. “Durant is right to restore the federal government,” he said turning back to Caden, “but not at the expense of liberty.” He looked Caden firmly in the eye. “Things will change when I’m elected in November.”