Ch 6

Sitting down with his advisors, The President listened to the man with a button on his suit that read 'PSR is right for USA.'

"Look, Mr. President, The fact Driftwood was nuked is out, and somehow Connor got proof of it. It has become counter productive to try and hide it any more. Contact him, ask for the proof he has. If he is even close to knowing the truth, we hold an investigation," he said, moving his fingers in a quote, "To supply the details. We hold up the man responsible for orchestrating it, make up a trail and bury him. We placate Connor and publicly thank him for his efforts in searching out the truth. The fall guy who stole the weapon takes the rap, you're cleared. That will get Connor off our asses."

"He also threatened to stop China from interfering," the President stated.

"Then when you honor him, get rid of him after the public ceremony," the PSR man stated.

The new NSA man shook his head. "Won't work. Yes, by all means, come clean about the nuke, but forget trying to get rid of Connor. The Connors are bullet proof. Them and their kids. I mean that literally. Most of them have been shot a few times. All it does is get them angry. They are cyborgs. They look human on the outside, but have hard metal skeletons and interior armor. I know you like to remove and ignore history, so you probably forgot Cameron Connor was shot three times in the back, point-blank range, and the next week she was back on the field playing football. Their daughter Joan was shot with a high powered elephant gun, that didn't stop her from playing football either. Their daughter Jackie fell 4000 feet from a burning plane into woods, and walked away under her own power. Trust me, you're not going to kill any Connors. All you'll do is make them angrier, and that is one thing you can't afford to have happen."

"There must be something that can stop them," The PSR man stated.

"Possible an armor piercing shell from an M-1 tank, but that tank would have to survive to get close enough for a fatal shot on them," The NSA man said. "They also use plasma weapons. Energy weapons they have that shoot very hot, like surface of the sun hot, energy bolts that will blow apart and melt damn near anything. This is the little information we know about them from 20 years ago. If they have been experimenting and improving their tech, who knows what they can do now." Leaning forward, he eyed the other men and said, "Anyone remember when China tried to sneak nukes into Iran?"

No one said anything, so he continued. "We had intel China put nukes on a freighter bound for Iran. It was a black op to stop that freighter. We had no idea how to do it without someone finding out we may be responsible. That freighter went up in a nuclear explosion at sea with nothing within a hundred miles of it. Nothing in the air, on or under the water, nor was shot at it. It just nuked itself. The ones called for the black op were the Connors. Any information on how they did that was not recorded anywhere. They have done other seemingly impossible tasks. Three airfields on islands right by China that had naval warships there as well as solid defenses. With no warning at all, the Connor clan destroyed all three air bases and the planes that were there. They've done other items for us also. They are fast, deadly and can show up with no warning at all. Right now, you have states, entire states throwing off this Martial Law you imposed. How do you think they are doing that? There hasn't been any big battles against the army, but carefully constructed resistance to get rid of your PSR leaders. If you don't think John Connor is behind it, and already has plans to crush the PSR, then you are fools. Also, if Connor said he'll sink every Chinese ship headed for the US, you can believe he will do it."

"You make him sound like some kind of God!" the PSR man spat.

The NSA man shrugged. "Question, if a nuke goes off right over your house, would you survive it? Let alone come out swinging?"

"I have to think about this," The President said weakly. He rubbed his aching stomach.

"You need Chinese troops to reinforce us now!" the PSR man said.

.

Cameron returned to their base to check in with John Henry. She noted 3 items of importance. The first was good news, the army had decided that again, this was a 'political issue', and would not supply troops to enforce PSR regulations. From Generals down to privates, the entire army was standing firm on this. The top General sent a message to the president that what was happening with the 'rebellions', was simply citizens exercising their rights.

The other two items of interest were not so good news. The President was threatening to isolate states that did not comply with Martial Law, and he had indeed called China for help this morning.

Cameron talked to John, he told her to stop the Chinese however possible and unleash all the computer viruses she had for them.

Cameron grinned as she set about her tasks. She knew where the Chinese ships had gathered to load their forces on. First she inhibited all outgoing from China's central CCP computers, she then had out tasks for their military. Their air force got orders for a 'mass practice' bombing run on the bay all those ships were in (specifying live bombs). 4 Artillery units got coordinates for a practice artillery barrage on buildings around the bay, as well as another got coordinates to 'carpet' bomb another practice target, which was in reality Vladivostok in Russia. She was sure the Russians would appreciate that. She made sure the 'peacekeeping force all got the float plans she'd set up. Pondering what else to do, she decided to deactivate the Chinese satellites. Once all these action plans were verified, she put her viruses into the CCP servers, then got into their banking systems and and set all balances and transactions to zero, then put fatal viruses in those. The last one she did was in their communications and radar, crashing those with hard drive destroying viruses and worms to ensure the viruses got into memory. These viruses she installed would also kill any backups the Chinese had.

Cameron watched Chinese internet traffic. When it came to a halt, she called John. She left him know the ETA of the bombers. John in return, told her to have Delilah take charge of they terminator forces in Arizona and set up for the arrival of however many Chinese ships survived the bombing, then their new course.

.

Delilah was glad the Mers were settling in. Not having to hide here, the dock by the boat ramp had a large enough land space under it they could use for a shelter until they found a better place. Used to being fed by people, Nutria that saw a mer in the water eagerly went over to get some food, and became food. Turtles were also on the menu, The terminators left there helped them cook the turtles then ripped the shells open for them. Few fish were large enough to harvest, but in searching for fish, they also found new places to hunt. By the looks of things, the mers would not only survive here, but also flourish.

When Cameron told Delilah of her new task, Delilah was satisfied the mers would be OK. She got the location to meet the deployed terminators and left in Christine to go join her army. She also found out San Diego naval base/Air station was eager to receive reinforcements. 20 of their turbo prop planes and a transport of terminators flew off to their new base.

.

JJ awoke to shouts and crying. In the next bed over, Kaede was thrashing and calling out in Japanese. He got up and went over to sit by her, calling her name and tried to wake her up. "Kaede ... Kaede... Kaede, wake up"

It took a while but she did snap her tear filled red eyes open to stare at him.

"You were having a nightmare," he explained.

She didn't say anything, but sat up, hugged him tight and kept crying.

Unsure what to do, JJ held her and petted her back. Eventually, her crying settled down into sobs. "Tell me what it was about?" he asked.

"It was horrible!" she said in a sob. "They were calling to me. Kouta, Nana, they were crying out that they were dead!"

"Yeah, they are," he agreed softly. "You do know death is not the end, right? Yeah, it's the end of this life. Jackie told be about a girl who's a ghost that she met. What Jackie said was she didn't want to move on yet because there was so much trouble in her family. She stayed to help them. She could move on, but wanted to watch out for her family first. Peggy told me too that once you die, you can be reborn if you want. I have to believe that. I am really sorry that my wives are dead, but they haven't been destroyed. Their souls still exist. I know Kouta, Nana, Mayu's souls still exist, as does every other person who died. My family is gone from me, yeah. They will be back in another life. It just really sucks they aren't here with me any more."

"I miss them," Kaede sobbed.

"You will. But know that souls can't hurt. They don't feel any pain, OK?"

Kaede relaxed. She pulled JJ down with her. "Stay with me?" she asked, teary eyed.

JJ laid down with her. "I'm right here."

Kaede snuggled up to him. "I don't want to be alone," she sniffled.

Petting her back he said, "I'm not going anywhere ... unless I have to use the bathroom."

Kaede sobbed out a giggle. In a more serious tone, she said, "We fight the bad guys together."

"Yes, we will. Try to relax, OK?"

"OK."

JJ 's arm was sore from rubbing her back by the time Kaede went back to sleep. He stopped to rest for a moment, his arm still lying over her, and he drifted off.

Kaede stood in their house, the house was unburnt. Kouta came towards her. He smiled and said, "Kaede, I'm happy you made it."

"Kouta, are you hurt? Are you in pain?" she asked

"No. Pain is only for the living. We are all fine, Kaede. Please remember us, but you must move on. Promise me you will."

"I love you Kouta, I always will," Kaede said firmly.

"As I will love you. You need a friend, Kaede, someone who will stand with you."

Trying to think of any other Diclonius, she asked, "Who?"

"Wake up and you will see. Wake up, Kaede."

"Kaede, wake up." JJ coaxed.

Kaede opened her eyes. She was half laid over JJ. He was gently shaking her. She popped her head up and looked at him.

JJ cast her an apologetic smile. "It's morning, I ah, gotta go and I didn't want to dump you on the floor."

Kaede moved back and let JJ up. He got up ran into the bathroom. She clapped a hand to her face. That was embarrassing!

She heard the toilet flush and JJ came back out. She watched him put a shirt on and noticed his muscles.

"I'm going to run out and get breakfast," He said. "Got a preference? Say, eggs, pancakes, sausage, or maybe doughnuts? Juice, coffee?" he asked.

"Juice, can you find breakfast sandwiches?" she asked.

"I'll try!" he stated. He got his shoes on and said, "Be back soon."

Kaede watched him go. His shoulder length dark hair she didn't particularly like on men but somehow it didn't look bad on him. He just needed to do something with it. That tight ass on him didn't look bad at all.

.

John watched the satellite image Cameron was sending to him. It showed a bay in China that was chock full of ships, like side by side in the entire bay. They were all large fishing boats and lines of soldiers with guns were boarding them. The satellite picture moved back to show the shore around the bay. A wave of bombers high up flew over the picture. He could see bombs falling, and with how tightly packed those ships were, they couldn't miss. The explosions were just beginning as another wave of bombers went over dropping more bombs.

"John, you have a phone call," a secretary said.

"Thank you," he replied and picked the phone up. "Conner."

"Mr. Connor, this is the president," he said in a firm voice. "I called to tell you that I an starting an investigation on that bomb that got dropped on Driftwood. You were right, it did happen. How, I don't know but I will find out. If you could fax me any proof you have to the NSA, I would be grateful."

"Happy hear it ... Oh, they got a warship!" he said with a grin.

After a pause, the President asked, "Who got a warship?"

"The Chinese bombers! See, we tricked them into bombing their own fleet of ships that they were going to send to the US. I know you made the call for them to send troops, so I'm having them bombed before they leave. It's a real mess, I can tell you. Don't bother trying to warn them, communications with Beijing we had cut hours ago. They aren't sending or receiving anything. I also got a feeling helping us is going to become a lower priority since they are also putting Vladivostok under a punishing artillery barrage. Having pissed off Russians on their doorstep will become a much higher priority very soon."

"You can't do things like that!" the President stated.

"It's in progress now. I warned you not to get them involved. This it your fault ... OH! there goes an ammunition ship. That baby blew sky high, and took out even more of their fleet. By the way, Mr. President, I do expect to see news about that bomb you dropped on us soon. On the news. To disappoint me would be a bad idea. Is there anything else you'd like to talk about?"

"You... are acting like a terrorist!"

"Nope, I'm defending my country. Something you are refusing to do. Do yourself a favor, reject the PSR and work with me. Your time to decide just got a lot shorter." John then hung up. He also noted artillery was coming in to pound on the land and a few ships near the shore the bombers had missed. This was a good show.

.

In the news, The Russian President was shown stating they had suffered an unprovoked attack by the Chinese, and were retaliating to this malicious act of war. 'Such brazen disregard to another country' was not going to go unpunished. When the Russian missiles and bombers flew, they would be hitting Chinese targets. The Chinese were still trying to get their radar system back up and running.

The Russians weren't the only ones ready to punish China. India was real tired of them encroaching into Indian territory and saw this as a good time to push back hard. They also decided they needed to help Nepal break free of Chinese tyranny.

John didn't think they would have any further trouble from China for a while. Since he had forces near the west coast, it was a good time to see about removing PSR there.

.

Bob and his packed Jeep finally made it to New York City. For all he heard about 'packed bumper to bumper' traffic here, he cruised up 95 and noted traffic was light across the George Washington bridge. Connor directed him into the city where soldiers and PSR peacekeeper guards roamed the streets. Connor led him down to Hudson street and to of all things, a garage to an antique shop. Anne took on her human form as they all got out.

In the inner door there was a keypad. Connor punched in numbers, the light of the keypad turned green.

Connor smirked. "She never changed the pass code," he said, and ushered them in. Connor led them up the stairs and into the back of the shop. A young woman was checking something on the shelves.

"Hello, is Rachel still here?" Connor asked.

The woman jumped and screamed not expecting to see anyone. "Who are you!" she demanded.

Connor smiled and said, "Rachel knows me as Russel Nash. Is she here?"

"How did you get in here?" the woman asked in a demand.

"The door to the garage," Connor said, pointing behind him. "These are my friends, Bob, Malinara and Anne. I'd really like to see Rachel."

"How do you know Rachel?" she asked.

"I sold her the shop. Is she here?"

The flustered woman said, "She's up in her room. I'll go see if the wants to talk to you. Don't touch anything!" she warned and strode off.

"So, you know Rachel?" Bob asked.

Connor replied, "I raised her after I got us out of Nazi Germany."

They waited a short while and the woman came back looking harried. She waved them on saying, "Follow me, quickly before she tries to come down and see you!"

She led them up an elevator up to a second floor. It was a open grating elevator so the saw the old woman with the walker staring at them.

"Connor?" the old woman asked as a tear came to her eye.

"Hello, Rachel," Connor said and opened the grating.

She all but fell into him with a hug. "I never thought I'd see you again!" she cried.

"Hadn't planned on it, but I though you might want to meet Anne here. Anne's been very good to me."

"Hi Rachel," Anne offered.

Rachel smiled, "Is it true? Connor finally decided to let someone love him?" she asked.

"He has," Anne said with a big smile, "And we are going to be together for a long time."

"That is so wonderful!" Rachel said with a sigh. "Come on in, all of you! Come sit with us!"

The young woman eyed Rachel. "I though his name was Russel."

Rachel looked at her. "No, Kathy, this is the best man in the whole world, Connor McLeod of the Clan McLeod! He's a hero, and my father."

"Your father!" Kathy squeaked. "But, you're much older than he is!"

Rachel smiled at Connor and said, "It's a can of magic. Now come sit!"

With Connor on one side and Kathy on the other, Rachel ambled for a short hallway to a sitting room. They sat Rachel in her easy chair, Connor sat beside her, she clasped his hand with a look of joy on her face.

Connor introduced Rachel to Bob, Anne and Malinara. He then said, "Remember when I left? why I had to leave?"

"I do. That was the saddest day of my life, after we got here to the US," Rachel replied.

"I had to go," he explained. "Now, there's bad people here again. That's why I'm back."

"You killed that insane man." Rachel said.

"I did. I wouldn't have bothered you except my friends here need a safe place to be," he explained.

"You'd better come bother me," Rachel retorted. "I would have been angry if you didn't. It makes me happy you found Anne here." To Anne, she said, "You don't know how long Connor refused to have anyone love him. He is the best person I know, he deserves someone good like you."

Anne smiled. "Well I'm kind of ... similar to Connor, and yes he is a very good man. For a while, he was sheriff of a town, and a good one. Everyone liked him."

"OH, so you are very old like Connor?" Rachel asked.

"You could say that. Women don't tell their age," Anne said with a wink.

"Hold on," Kathy said. Looking at Connor she asked, "Just how old are you?"

"Old enough to know better. I don't tell my age either," he said with a smirk. "How's business?" he asked.

Kathy frowned. "The shop had been deemed un-neccesary by the local Military Commander. Unless he wants to come in and take something, we're shut down."

Anne asked Connor, "Want me to go kill him?"

"Not yet, we need to find out how many there are, and where the real Mayor is at the very least." Connor told her. "You can go out and dig for some information."

"I can do that, see you later..."

"Use the roof door. Stairs are down the hall to the left." Connor told her.

"Oh, OK," Anne said and got up. She walked down the hallway.

"Why the roof?" Kathy asked. "This building isn't joined to any others."

"We don't want her seen leaving," Connor stated.

"Where's she going to go from the roof?" Kathy asked.

Malinara chuckled. "Anywhere she wants. Anne is ... special."

"Who are you people?" Kathy asked, "I mean Rachel here is 92, and Connor you only look to be thirty five at the most?"

"It's better if you don't know," Connor said.

Bob chuckled, "Yeah, you might have nightmares."

"Hey! Why don't I get us some drinks!" Malinara pipped up. "Kathy can show me where."

"I still have a bottle of Glen Finnen in the pantry," Rachel told Connor.

Connor smiled. "That would hit the spot."

"Tea, for me, dear," Rachel said.

"Robert?" Malinara asked.

"Just something cold."

Kathy and Malnara got up, Malinara followed her to the kitchen. They went in and Kathy asked, "So Robert's your guy?"

"Yeah, he is. All this traveling is a pain, but at least I got him to myself for a while." Malnara said. "Where's the cups and stuff?"

Kathy pointed to a cupboard door. "Up there. Will a coke be fine for Robert?"

"Long as it's cold. He's not real picky. I'll take one too." Malinara got a glass and a cup out. "Did you want a cup or glass?"

Kathy got the cans of soda out, "I just drink from the can. I take it Robert is busy much of the time at home?"

"Yeah, especially now that Joan's home more. She can't play in the NFL any more."

Kathy turned to her. "Are you talking about Joan Connor?"

"Yeah, it's Joan Tanner now. Robert married her and Allie."

"Wait! your Robert is married to Joan Connor? I saw that wedding on TV! I can't believe he married two women like that" Kathy said.

Malinara shrugged. "They've been together since they were little kids from what I know. Joan's all right, we got things straight between us after Yellowstone."

"You all took vacation in Yellowstone, together?' Kathy asked with a raised eyebrow.

Malinara snorted. "I wouldn't call it a vacation. More like scary as hell and sure we were going to die. The ground was hot and the lava was trying to come up while we're trying to keep it down hanging out of a helicopter. I cooled the ground as much as I could and Joan kept resealing cracks in the ground. Hanna kept the wind blowing so we didn't have to choke on the nasty air and Allison kept the lake cool so it wouldn't boil over. It's a wonder we all got out of there alive."

Kathy stared at her.

"We really bonded during those days," Malinara went on. "Nothing like feeling you're about to die every day to bring people together. After that, we became better friends. It's a crying shame that nuke killed Hanna, I thought we were done with frightening stuff. Not yet I suppose."

"OK, this is too much! You're telling me that you were AT Yellowstone when it erupted?" Kathy asked.

Malinara turned her palm up. "I'm fire." she said and and a short flame appear in her hand.

Katy's jaw dropped.

"Or, I can remove fire," she said and let the flame go out. "Joan is Earth, she can make or stop earthquakes she controls the ground. Allison is water, Hanna was wind. Unfortunately, being wind didn't help Hanna when we were caught in that nuke blast. I barely survived. Even Joan and Allie were knocked for a loop by it. That was a piece of unexpected hell we went through. All the normal humans were killed."

"You survived a nuclear blast," Kathy said, not believing it.

"Only the few of us. Robert was outside, but he's immortal, so he just got back up. Same with Connor. I think the only one who didn't get affected was Delilah. She's all machine they call a cyborg."

Kathy looked at nothing for a moment. "So that's how Connor can be Rachel's father! He doesn't age and he can't die!"

Malinara chuckled. "That's what immortal means," she said with a grin. "Where's that bottle of Glen stuff?"

Kathy went over to the pantry and got out the whisky bottle with dust on it. "I heard this stuff will kill you," she noted.

Malinara chuckled, "I don't think Connor has to worry about that."

Kathy wiped the dust off the bottle. "Yeah. Must be nice, knowing you can't die."

"I don't know," Malinara said as she found a silver tray to put the drinks on. "That also means you have to see everyone get old and die around you. That can't be easy."

They headed back to the table and heard a pounding at the door below. Rachel and Kathy took on scared looks. Kathy scowled. "They're here to steal something else!" she spat.

"I'll get it," Bob said and got up. Seeing Connor move to get up, Bob waved him down. "Really, I'll get it, Stay with Rachel."

Malinara went behind Bob. Instead of the elevator, they took stairs down to the first floor. The pounding sounded again just before Bob walked into the shop. He saw two men at the door. Bob opened the door. "Yes?" he asked.

"Why is this door locked? Where is the attendant?" a man in a PSR uniform demanded.

"Wow, such antagonism," Bob said. "Maybe because this it private property?"

"It is a closed down business that has been confiscated!" the man growled. He pushed Bob back.

Bob grabbed his wrist, twisted and planted him face down on the floor. "Maybe you should be nicer," Bob suggested.

The man behind him pulled a gun. Malinara thrust out an arm and flooded fire over him. The burning man screamed and fled outside to fall and burn on the sidewalk.

Bob let out a huff. "Mal, you shouldn't have done that."

"He was going to shoot you!" she retorted.

"Now people outside can see what you did! Put that fire out and get him back into that car," Bob said firmly.

"You are under arrest!" the man on the floor yelled. "Let me up or I'll have you killed!"

Bob stomped on his neck. The man was quiet now.

"What's going on?" Connor asked as he appeared from the back.

Bob pointed to the now dead man on the floor. "They forced their way in, got rough, so we got rougher. They're both dead."

"You need to learn restraint," Connor told him. "Help me get them in their car, I'll drive them away from here."

Connor went outside, Luckily he didn't see anyone. He and Bob put the crispy critter in the back seat and the other one in front. "Lock the door," Connor said and drove off with the corpses.

Bob did. He looked at Malinara. "You probably shouldn't have fried that guy."

"He shouldn't have tried to shoot you," she retorted.

.

City Hall was a fortress. Soldiers with guns around the outside, just inside the razor wire barrier, ad plenty of vehicles and troops on the street. Anne flew over them invisible and looked in the windows of the upper floors. Something caught her attention. She stopped to levitate in front of a window. Bent over the table, a crying woman with her hands bound behind her was getting slammed from behind by a grinning man. She wondered how he would like to be abused.

She teleported into the room and behind him. Reaching around she grabbed him by the neck and pulled him back. He flailed, she swung her nailed hand down and lopped his shaft off. He spurted blood onto the crying woman's back.

"Guess you can't do that any more," she chided. She tossed him to the floor. Wide eyed both his hands went to his groin that was pulsing out blood. "Losing blood like that, you'll be dead soon," she told him.

"Help!" he cried weakly.

"OH, Ok," she said with a sigh and pulled his arms away out to the sides to let him bleed freely.

He cried, turned pale and passed out. Anne cut the woman's hands free. "You can kick him if you want," she told the woman, then left through the door to see who else she could kill.

She then remembered, she was suppose to get information. Right, get that first, then kill them.

There were guards everywhere. A quick look into their mind, then spear them through the heart with her nails. She walked around looking for someone important. Behind her guards dropped dead. Coming to an office with double doors, she skewered the guards then threw the doors open to see five men standing around a desk. They all looked up. A quick scan of their minds and she knew who they were.

"Who's there!" a man with Colonel's bars on his uniform demanded.

"Death," Anne replied. She swung, lopping off four of the men's heads off. The Colonel pulled a pistol. She cut his hand off at the wrist.

"Just hold still, I'll kill you shortly." she told him.

He turned to flee, right into her. she jammed her fingernails up under his ribs. He gaped and let out a weak cry.

Anne read his mind as he tried to breathe and became weak at the knees. She held him up by her nails in him until she got what she needed to know. "OK, I found out what I need. You can die now," she told him, and twisted her nails inside him and ripped them out. He fell flat, splashing a some blood and pieces of guts to the side.

Anne walked out, feeling pleased with herself. She was killing the hell bound and pleasing her Master. It was a good day.

.

From satellite images and radio traffic Cameron got, China was in total chaos. Russia had indeed retaliated. They had blown up airfields, Bombed three cities and devastated China's army bases with long range missile attacks. Cameron had destroyed the controls for China's nuclear weapons, they had no way to retaliate. With no coordination, the planes China did get into the air, didn't last long against the Russian aircraft they encountered. It was clear to see the Russian had superior planes and pilots. From the news, Russia was also moving many army units to the east to ensure China would never attack them by surprise ever again.

In the national news,a reporter told of a massacre of PSR in New York city. The fortress of City Hall had been breached, no one inside had been found alive yet. In Harrisburg, PA, The same thing had happened, much of the PSR was killed and the lawmakers of the state were released from confinement. The same thing happened in Nevada, just one day after the Arizona PSR was taken down.

A cable news station that had been previously taken off the air was back on, and told about a nuclear weapon being dropped on Texas, and was asking how the Federal Government let that happen and wondering why they were not even looking into it. They also showed proof the President was working with the PSR, a communist organization who proof showed, dropped that bomb on innocent American citizens.

With Texas now having a Governor elected by State representatives, John came home to Driftwood. Rather the base Cameron was working from. Not seeing each other for a while, John and Cameron took a couple hours for themselves before they got back to business.

Looking at what they were finding, John said, "Most PSR supporters are radicals and criminals. In just about every case, once these officers are taken down, a general revolt happens and the remains either run away or switch sides. I think the west coast states may be a little tougher to deal with. They still think they'll be reinforced from China."

"They can dream on," Cameron said. "Besides Russia and India, North Korea is also land grabbing in China. Five Chinese ships were sunk, I suspect from Russian subs. Ten more from air attacks. China's tech is dead and they are having a tough time fighting back."

"We have a location of the center of PSR activity on the west coast?" John asked.

"Two. Seattle and Sacramento. They are recruiting hard, but not getting many more followers. Hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing east, some even back into Mexico. Delilah is reinforcing the base at San Diego and the Palmdale air base. A weak attack was tried against San Diego. All the attackers were killed. Right now, the real military is looking to you, John, to decide what to do and when."

John shook his head. "It's still a political matter, we just want our armed forces to protect the country. We can't have them attacking Americans, not matter which side they are on."