The Survivalist - 02 Read Free Page B

President, surely you recall our discussing their need for operational autonomy.”
    She thought hard. “So?”
    “The only way we could ensure that the VDC didn’t get squeezed by political agendas was to have them operate in the black.”
    “What the hell does that mean?”
    “It means,” said General Carr, “that Vice President Pike issued orders in your name for the VDC to operate with zero base contact for a period of six months.”
    She spun to face the vice president.
    “You did what!”
    “We discussed this,” he said in a calm voice.
    “Like hell we did.”
    He shrugged. “I recall the conversation quite clearly.”
    She pressed both her hands against the table to keep from strangling him.
    “You will leave this room immediately to draft the necessary paperwork to cancel the executive order.”
    He nodded with a smug grin.
    “Of course, Madam President. I’m here to serve.” He stood up and walked slowly from the room.
    When Vice President Pike was gone, her face softened as she turned to face General Carr.
    “Can you find a way reach the VDC soldiers?”
    “The VDC consists of three hundred specialized teams dispatched all across the country. They are essentially sovereign forces. To track them down would require a force ten times their number. We no longer have that kind of manpower available. One by one, they’ll eventually check in. And when they do, we’ll deactivate them. Until then . . .” He shrugged.
    She put her hand on his.
    “General, do what you can. Even if it takes months to complete, let’s stop this.”
    He nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
    “Will that be enough to get us out of this mess?”
    “No, ma’am. I wouldn’t think so.”
    “What else then?”
    “The level of discontent with the government is growing all across the nation. Ordinary people are killing one another for supplies and overthrowing any local authorities that still remain in power. Unless things change, social disintegration will only accelerate.”
    “The uprising you mentioned.”
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    “So how can we reverse this . . . disintegration?”
    “I’m not sure that we can. Not only is the average citizen acting out of desperation, we also have a large population of convicts, paramilitary survivalists, anarchists, and separatists. The only thing they have in common is that they either don’t want, or no longer believe in, the United States of America. Madam President, our enemies are many.”
    She turned to Dr. Jack Fry, the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Jack had been a close friend and confidant for more than ten years. Just after President Glass took office, he had been in a car crash that left him unable to walk and confined to a wheel chair.
    “Jack, can we accelerate our relief efforts?”
    “On paper, yes. In practice, no. We have warehouses full of all sorts of supplies, MREs, bottled water, blankets, medicines, you name it. The problem is that there’s no viable way to efficiently distribute them. The roads are congested with cars, making ground transportation difficult. Commercial airports are inoperable, making air transport even more difficult. Distributing by train requires—”
    “Okay, okay,” she said, holding up her hands. “Who can we get supplies to?”
    “The big cities are all but lost. We’ve tried to truck in supplies, but the shipments are either attacked by those infected by the virus or hijacked by violent opportunists.”
    “What about the smaller towns?”
    “That’s where we’re beginning to focus our efforts.”
    “So things will improve then?”
    “For some communities, yes.”
    “You don’t sound optimistic.”
    He sighed. “I don’t want to oversell this. The truth is that we’re losing ground each and every day. People are dying of dehydration and starvation, and I’m not able to stop it.” His voice broke slightly as he struggled to keep from getting emotional.
    President Glass offered a heartfelt smile.
    “Jack,