Burning Nation Read online

Private Wright, if my operative has succeeded and you are now watching this video, then let me say, I’m glad you’re still alive and free. Be assured that the same is true for me, General McNabb, and the majority of the Idaho National Guard and the Idaho State Militia. The federal government thinks it can keep us helpless, uninformed, and out of touch because it’s shut down Idaho’s Internet and electricity. But the Fed is wrong, as I hope to prove by sending you this message. I’m working with a resistance group called the Brotherhood to distribute similar devices throughout occupied northern Idaho to patriots just like you, who are hiding in the dark and looking for hope.

  “What’s the Brotherhood?” Luchen asked.

  “Probably just some code name. Now shut up! We need to hear this,” said Herbokowitz.

  Take heart. You are not alone, and help is on the way. Private Wright, I wanted to send you this personal message, because from the very beginning, for better or worse, you’ve been at the center of this struggle. Time and time again, you’ve proved your loyalty to Idaho, and many have come to see you as an example of the strength and resilience of our people. That’s why I’m asking you to listen to a very important radio announcement that I’ll be making soon. I know this situation is tough, but hang in there. Idaho isn’t beaten, and we need you.

  He smiled and the video froze.

  “That’s it?” said Crocker. “How are we supposed to listen to his radio message if he didn’t give us the frequency?”

  “His operative did,” said TJ. “I guess they didn’t want to leave the frequency in the message in case the Fed captured the iPod. Maybe if the Fed knew about the broadcast in advance, they could jam it? I don’t know. But the man told me to listen to AM 1040 at noon on Christmas Eve.”

  “You’re sure?” I said.

  “Yeah, I’m sure! He made me repeat it three times.”

  Herbokowitz stretched his injured leg, then stood up straight. “Specialist Crocker, get on the radio and make sure we can pick up that station. It might not come in so good down here, and you might have to rig some kind of field-expedient antenna.” That old grouchy first sergeant sound was back in his voice.

  “Yes, First Sergeant,” Crocker said.

  Herbokowitz put his hands on his hips. “Private Luchen, how’s your ass?”

  “It’s pretty sexy, First Sergeant!”

  The old man held back his smile. “No, dammit. I mean can you move if you have to?”

  Luchen stood up with Sparrow’s help. “Let me stretch out a little, First Sergeant. Then I think I’m ready to go.”

  “Great. Get yourself stretched out and dressed. Then assist Crocker if he needs help with the radio. After that, let’s make sure our weapons are cleaned and ready to go. We’re still in the Army, people! We want to be prepared for whatever the governor asks of us.”

  “Yes, First Sergeant!” I shouted with the others, happy to be back in action.

  “Wait a minute!” Becca said. “Before you all go into battle, it’s Christmas Eve, and we didn’t just bring news from the governor.”

  “We brought some supplies,” TJ said.

  “You bet we did.” Becca pulled a small white box from her backpack. “Cal’s dad smuggled us some amazing treats. Check out this smoked salmon. And I even brought a twelve-pack of beer.”

  They unpacked some basic survival food for us, canned vegetables and a couple MREs. But there was also a jar of real pickles, a can of cashews, a little box of chocolates, and five whole potatoes. Along with the canned ham we’d been saving from Schmidty, it was shaping up to be an even bigger Christmas feast than we could’ve hoped for.

  While we cleaned our weapons, TJ, JoBell, and Becca shared news from the outside, though most of it was really just rumor passed along by Fed soldiers on the street, or by smugglers or the handful of people whom the Fed allowed to drive. The latest rumor was that the federal government was debating dissolving Idaho as a state. Under this proposal, northern Idaho would become part of the state of Washington, while the rest would go to Oregon. There were huge arguments about whether or not that was constitutional and how eliminating the state would help or hurt the Republicans and Democrats.

  “How are the other states reacting to all this?” Kemp asked.

  “Well, we don’t really know,” TJ said. “Like JoBell said, news is in short supply.”

  JoBell pouted. “I miss Digi-Eleanor.”

  The Feds were now using the high school gym for a CRC, or Civilian Relations Center. They’d shipped in food and other stuff that had been in short supply since the blockade, but for people to get any of it, they had to register with the federal government, accept the stupid identification card, and volunteer to have their homes searched for weapons, contraband, and evidence of cooperation with rebels.

  Hearing about the searches and the way the Fed were trying to starve out anyone who didn’t totally obey them made me want to run out of this dungeon, guns blazing, and shoot down as many Feds as I could. If they’d stop holding us all at gunpoint, we could feed ourselves.

  Becca, JoBell, and TJ organized our food for a Christmas Eve dinner while the rest of us cleaned the dungeon. We even did the best we could to clean ourselves. I was grateful for the work, not only because it finally gave us something positive to do, but also because it helped kill time until the radio announcement.

  Finally, we all gathered around the table in the kitchen area. After we had gotten the damned sticky hatch open, Specialist Crocker had risked a trip up into the shop, where he had found enough copper wire to run a big loop antenna all the way up the stairs to the top of the closet. Now he stood by the old boom-box-style radio, smiling.

  “I don’t get it,” Luchen said to him. “What are you so happy about? I don’t hear nothing.”

  “Exactly!” said Crocker. “You don’t hear any static. It’s completely quiet. Someone’s broadcasting on this frequency, but they’re broadcasting dead air.”

  At 12:02 p.m., I started to doubt if the governor was going to pull this off. Finally, there was a crackle of static and a popping sound.

  People of Idaho, stand by for an important announcement from your capitol in Boise. Ladies and gentlemen, here’s Miss Kayla Foster.

  “Who?” Becca said.

  “Shh,” said JoBell.

  Some somber piano notes played and then a sweet voice began to sing.

  Idaho, Idaho

  Land where freedom lovers go

  From fertile plains to mountains tall

  Brothers, sisters one and all

  Idaho, Idaho

  Light of hope in darkness glow

  We will defend our liberty

  Idaho, our lives for thee

  The music ended and a little shiver ran through me, the kind I used to get when the national anthem played before our football games or a rodeo.

  “That’s not the old Idaho state song,” Becca said. “I learned it for a 4-H project once. This is completely new.”

  The governor’s voice came over the radio.

  People of Idaho, I am James P. Montaine. I bring you greetings this Christmas season, a time traditionally dedicated to peace and hope. While the government of the United States will not, at present, allow Idaho any peace, at this time I offer you all a message of hope. Despite the United States federal government’s best efforts, southern Idaho remains free of the US military. Northern Idaho faces a harsh occupation, but even now, the resistance is building, and the time will come when the military forces of the United States are sent back where they came from.

  My people, Idaho survives. Freedom survives!

  Months ago, suspecting that the federal government of the United States was preparing to invade Idaho, I worked in cooperation with the military leadership of the Idaho National Guard to prepare a plan to seize control of Mountain Home Air Force Base and its military assets. Thanks to the excellent preparation and professionalism of Idaho Guard forces, and to carefully placed allies inside the base, Mountain Home was taken with minimal loss
of life the moment the United States military invaded Idaho. In addition to the Idaho National Guard’s A-10 ground attack airplanes and its advanced Apache attack helicopters, our skies are now protected by three squadrons of F/A-35 jets, nearly one hundred of the world’s most advanced fighters.

  On the ground, southern Idaho is protected by Idaho Guard and Militia forces. Infantry soldiers and combat engineers are working with artillery and armored units. Idaho has the advantage of fighting to defend our home on rugged terrain that is familiar to us, but a difficult challenge for a large portion of the federal military. In the dangerous chaos following the federal attack, Idaho forces rallied at the Battle of White Bird. In and around that tiny mountain valley town, we made our stand and held our ground, stopping the federal advance and securing our freedom.

  Since some of Idaho’s electricity is produced out of state, President Griffith was able to order a significant blackout across much of Idaho. However, emergency electrical generators were employed to maintain power to military outposts, hospitals, and other critical installations. Idaho’s electrical grid is being rerouted and restored, and in the future we will rely more on our natural gas resources as well as on solar power. In time, we will even establish our own computer network so that Internet feeds to our COMMPADS and screens can be restored. Despite President Griffith’s and the federal government’s best efforts, we will have the freedom to communicate and once again live our lives as we wish.

  Protecting our freedom has been our only goal since this crisis began. We would not accept the unconstitutional invasion of our privacy when the federal government tried to force us all to use their trackable federal identification cards. We would not allow the federal government to arrest Idaho Army National Guard soldiers who had committed no crime. To stop this government overreach, to stop these violations of our rights, we joined together to use the minimal force required to enforce Idaho’s Constitution, preventing all armed federal agents and military personnel from entering the state. We then worked in good faith with the federal government, doing all we could to seek a peaceful resolution to our disagreements.

  President Laura Griffith’s brutal attack on Idaho has not been without cost. Our infrastructure has been damaged. Many of our soldiers have been killed. Many of our civilians are dead. Many survivors, already endangered by the harsh federal blockade of food and other supplies, are now forced to live with no electricity or information from the outside world, save for false propaganda from the Griffith administration.

  In all of my years of public life, I have always done what I thought was best for the state of Idaho. I loved the United States of America as well. But now, President Laura Griffith has designated Idaho a rebel state. This has given the Idaho state legislature and myself no choice but to declare our home to be the fully independent Republic of Idaho. We hereby dissolve all formal ties with the United States of America and establish our own representative democracy, maintaining the borders and all forty-four counties that our state held before the United States invaded.

  Yesterday, solid majorities from our thirty-five counties that are fully or partially free of United States occupying forces voted to elect me interim president of the Republic of Idaho. We look forward to the day when all of Idaho is free to hold another election for our first president to serve under the terms of our new constitution. To that end, we will, for the time being, continue to abide by the Idaho state constitution with only a few emergency amendments. The people from our thirty-five free counties have voted to allow their representatives in the state legislature to begin drafting a new constitution, subject to ratification by all our counties. This constitution will ensure our freedom and way of life for generations to come.

  And now, I want to speak directly to those of you huddled in the dark, suffering under the tyranny of the so-called United States Federal Idaho Reconstruction Authority. My message to you is this. Hold on. Stay the course. You are not alone, and you are most certainly not forgotten. Help is on the way. And I have a Christmas present for you. Because the scientists and engineers at Idaho Electronics helped develop many of the control and communications systems for military-grade drone aircraft, they were able to devise a number of countermeasures against the federal drones. The Republic of Idaho has already seized control of many of these drones, forcing them to crash, landing them safely in Idaho, or, in some cases, even using them against the US military. With this technological threat neutralized, it is the hope of all the citizens of Idaho that you will have more freedom of movement. It is our hope that you will double your efforts to fight back.

  That is my message to all of my fellow citizens of the Republic of Idaho. Fight back! Fight back against a military intent on destroying you. Fight back against the United States’ intent to enslave you.

  The struggle ahead will be difficult. Freedom is neither painlessly won nor easily maintained. That is why I am currently invoking Article Fourteen, Section One, of the current Idaho State Constitution, in which the original authors of that document wrote, ‘All able-bodied male persons, residents of this state, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years, shall be enrolled in the militia, and perform such military duty as may be required by law.’ The clause continues, ‘But no person having conscientious scruples against bearing arms, shall be compelled to perform such duty in time of peace.’ We unfortunately are not in a time of peace, but in a time of dire war, and so all able-bodied Idaho men will be required to serve the Idaho military in some capacity. Conscientious objectors have the option to serve in noncombat roles. Additionally, though I will follow the law as it was written, I would ask able-bodied women to volunteer to join our forces as well. We need you. We need all patriotic Idahoans in the coming fight.

  This Christmas, we celebrate the birth of our Savior, and we also celebrate the birth of our new nation, asking for God’s help in our struggle to be free. May God bless all of you and the Republic of Idaho.

  The previous announcer’s voice came on again.

  We will continue to broadcast news and information about Idaho and the United States on this frequency. If the United States succeeds in blocking the broadcast, please monitor other frequencies, as those Idaho patriots working with our network of stationary and mobile broadcast equipment will never relent in their efforts to keep you and all Idahoans connected. The news is next, but first, another rendition of our new Idaho national anthem.

  The same girl’s beautiful singing voice came back on.

  Idaho, Idaho

  Land where freedom lovers go …

  Sweeney reached over and slowly turned down the volume on the radio.

  “So, Governor Montaine really did it,” JoBell said. “Declared independence. All-out civil war.”

  “President Montaine,” said Cal. “And it ain’t a civil war. It’s … What do they call it?”

  “A resolution!” said Luchen.

  “Revolution,” said Sergeant Kemp.

  “Only if it succeeds,” said Sparrow.

  Herbokowitz coughed. “It will succeed. It’s our job to make sure that it does.”

  I stood up. “First Sergeant Herbokowitz is right,” I said. “This revolution will succeed. It’s time to fight back. We’ll have our Christmas celebration, and then we’ll start making plans.”

  There was a moment of silence, then everyone started talking at once.

  “Yes! About time we started fighting back!” “What will we hit first?” “We have a fifty-cal rifle. Let’s do some sniper attacks.” “We have explosives, right?” “Sniper attacks will only take out one soldier at a time.” “We could blow up their HQ on Main Street.” “It’s hard enough to rig explosives when you have time and there’s no danger.” “What about the people this will hurt?” “Who cares? They’re Feds. They deserve it.” “I think we’re missing the point.” “Maybe we can contact the gov— er — the president to see what we should hit.” “What if there’s some nineteen-year-old file clerk working the office? Does she deserve to
die too?”

  “This is a military operation!” Sparrow shouted.

  “Yeah!” Luchen cut in. “You civilians let us handle this.”

  “Atten-TION!” First Sergeant Herbokowitz boomed. All of us soldiers and even Bagley sprang up straight with our fists at our sides. “All right, lock that ‘soldier versus civilian’ shit up right now!” He pointed “blade hand” at Sparrow, with his thumb and fingers in a tight vertical line. “Do you want to die, Specialist Sparrow?”

  “First Sergeant?” she said.

  “Do you want to die!?” Deep red splotches flared in his neck and face. He snapped a fast movement so his face was inches from Luchen’s. “How about you? You want to die, Private Luchen? Want to spend the rest of your life in a federal prison? A permanent cell in Guantanamo Bay with your nuts wired to a car battery?” He moved to the middle of the room, rubbing his bad thigh for only a moment. “We can rot in this basement, we can rot in a federal prison, or we can fight back. To fight back, we will have to attack United States soldiers. We’ll have to kill them. We can’t fight them head-on, so what does that leave us? IEDs, sniper attacks, sabotage, and hit-and-run stuff. Those are our options, and we’ll have to make the best use of them we can.” The first sergeant came to the position of attention. “Now, on the command of ‘fall out,’ fall out and engage in a reasonable discussion. Fall out!”

  We all laughed and relaxed our postures.

  “First Sergeant, what you describe sounds like terrorist tactics,” JoBell said.

  Herbokowitz frowned. “Terrorists. Insurgents. Whatever you want to call them. Their methods are effective, the only tactically sound option when facing a vastly superior force. Trust me, I know. My company lost a lot of good guys to IEDs and snipers and shit during our year in Kandahar Province.”

  “So you’re okay with becoming one of them?” JoBell asked.

  I closed my eyes and shook my head. That wasn’t going to go over well.