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The President had a late lunch in the White House with his CSO Wednesday afternoon; he was grim faced as he stabbed at his crab salad. Harvey, I just heard from Sheridan. [FBI Director] Two more agents were killed today; one of them was shot down at Quantico, right in the middle of the God damn Marine base!
Shit! On Quantico? Did they catch the shooter?
Are you kidding? They dont even know where it came from. And you want to hear something bizarre? The guy who was shot was the FBIs chief sniping instructor! Hows that for ironic?
Damn! How manys that make so far? asked the CSO.
Counting Reston, or just since the fed list came out?
Reston? That was different, that was a raid. How many from after the list?"
Twelve new ones, but theres no way to tell if they were already targeted, or if they were only killed because of the list, said the President. Harvey, its getting bad, real bad. The more we go after these militia types, the more the gun nuts are going crazy! And now with this list
But theyve stopped the list, havent they? I mean, people cant get it on the internet anymore can they?
Thats what they tell me; they say the NSAs got a handle on it. But the genies already out of the bottle! We have to assume that every lunatic with a rifles got a copy of the list already, or that they can find it somewhere.
Any luck tracing it?
Not yet, replied the president. New England they think, maybe. But at least weve managed to keep the fed list story out of the media, weve had nearly 100% compliance with our, uh, request not to report it. Thats been just about the only bright spot in all this whole fiasco: those media controls, or, uh, I should say guidelines, they seem to be working. Thank God for the Patriot Act! The media, the networks, they all understand how important it is not to endanger federal agents by spreading this story around and of course they dont want to get their FCC licenses yanked.
But the storys already on the internet; didnt the Sledge Report run it?
He did, but he pulled it after the AG talked to him. Anyway, as long as its just on the internet it doesnt matter, it cant get any real traction.
What about talk radio?
So far so good. The shootings are still just being handled as local stories, thats what Im being told.
Crandall said, But weve got to plan for the story to break sooner or later. Patriot Act or not, the whole fed list storys bound to get out. He speared another chilled jumbo shrimp from his sterling silver bowl, dunked it into the special White House cocktail sauce and gobbled it down in one bite. Did you ever think it would get this far?
What? No. Honestly, I never even considered the possibility that it would spin out of control like this. But hey, they started it! They started it right at that God damn football game! It all started there, so everything since the stadium massacre is on them! Everything!
But who are they? Whos them? The people behind the stadium massacre, or all of the maniacs that are taking pot shots at our agents now?
The gun nuts, the militias, the right wingers, the Constitution fanatics, all of them! exclaimed President Gilmore.
The CSO shook his head wearily. Thats a lot of people. Thats millions of people.
Well they started it! I didnt ask for this crap! They started it, God damn it! President Gilmore threw down his silver salad fork; it clattered off of his china plate and bounced onto the parquet floor. An unsmiling Navy petty officer in a starched white uniform swooped in, picked it up and replaced it with a new fork in one fluid movement. The President waited until the sailor was back at his station by the galley service pass-through, and then he leaned forward and lowered his voice, regaining his composure. Look, Harvey, Ive got a lot of confidence in Sheridan, hes good at his job, but lets face it the FBI just cant I mean, it just isnt set up, institutionally I mean, to handle this kind of situation. They cant move fast enough, they dont have the right mind set. They just cant do the kind of dirty work thats needed to stamp this fire out. You follow me?
I think so.
The only ones Ive seen who know how to fight this kind of war are in that ATF group. Whats that guys name? Malone?
Yes sir, Walter Malone.
Thats the man! Burning out that militia nest in Virginia, that was terrific! That was great television, pulling those assault rifles and bazookas out of the ashes. That was fantastic! I mean, face it, this is just as much a media and PR war as anything else, so we need lots more TV like that! We need to send a strong message to the whole country! We need to shift the whole debate The president sipped his tall iced tea and continued.
Harvey, the way I see it, its not enough just to crack down on these gun nuts, we need to do it on TV. We need to discredit them; we need to disgrace them even while were wiping them out. We need to make the rest of the country hate their stinking guts, so theyll call that 888-GUN STOP number and inform on their own fathers and brothers if thats what it takes! I swear to God, I think this Malone is the only one who really understands just what kind of media war were in!
Yes sir, I agree, but theres an element risk as well.
Harvey, harsh times call for harsh measures! Well never get a handle on this thing fighting by the Marquis de Queensbury rules; we have to fight fire with fire. Ive gone over Malones paper again. I want you to pass the word to him that hes got the green light directly from me. Give him a free hand in Maryland and North Carolina as well as Virginia as of today. Give him whatever he needs: budget, personnel, everything. I mean, its a small group; the whole thing cant cost more than one F-22, right? And those gold-plated pieces of shit crash every week, and were still buying them! So keep it black, keep it off budget, keep it deniable, but get Malone whatever he needs.
Yes sir, its already set up for deniability at every stage. No matter how far anybody digs, it cant reach here.
Good, good. Thats essential, obviously. So tell Malone to put it into high gear and start kicking some more ass like he did down in Virginia! Tell him I think hes doing a great job, and tell him I want to see more of it on TV right away. Tell him I want gun collector to be a dirty word, a national obscenity!
All parts were ordered during the Florida recount.
7.62 PING!