Chapter 79

The next day it was first announced the Vice President would survive his heart attack. A short time later the President added his running mate was going to retire. It seemed even the man’s most staunch supporters were fleeing like rats from a sinking ship.

During all this it was revealed the electronics in the VP’s pacemaker were totally fried. One commentator had a scientist from MIT explain that there was too much physical damage for it to have been the result of EMP (electromagnetic pulse). He also noted no other electrical items in the room had been affected. When the man from MIT was pressed for a scientific explanation he answered, “I’m not a believer in God, or any kind of Supreme Being, or at least I wasn’t. Now, I’m not sure what to believe. The one thing I do know, at this point, is there’s no scientific explanation for what happened to that pacemaker. When placed in the context of the man’s curse I can only say something supernatural is a distinct possibility.” The media grabbed on this idea, and speculation filled the airways. As a result phones rang, commentators commentated, bloggers blogged, and preachers preached. Within hours everyone in the country had formed an opinion, and for the majority, that opinion was God had passed judgment upon the Vice President.

A secondary action led to a movement that attempted to pressure the President to name Jason as the new Vice President. This idea was quickly ended when Jason refused the job, citing the current administration had enough problems without him being on a rampage over injustice and corruption. The President and his administration’s approval rating fell lower than any administration in history. When even the conservative talk shows compared his administration to that of Grant there was no doubt in anyone’s mind the man’s power was broken. Unless he resigned he was doomed to two years of being considered totally irrelevant. To add to the President’s problems stories of corruption, misuse of his office, and secret vendettas against opponents began to come, seemingly, out of the woodwork. The President’s problems expanded when a Boy Scout troop sued over the loss of their camp near Myrtle Beach. The land where the camp was located had been granted to them during the days of Jimmy Carter. Citing the rules included in the Interior Department’s appropriations bill the district court ruled the scout’s claim was valid. The ruling caused an angry developer, with the promise of immunity, to come forth with facts and figures of how he was promised the land if he made a donation of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to a certain PAC (Political Action Committee). It didn’t take long for articles of impeachment to be issued by the house, and after realizing even a Republican Senate couldn’t save him, Doofus resigned.

The nation’s capital was in an absolute shambles, and to make matters worse the Speaker of the House, an extremely liberal woman, was sworn in as President. The old conservative Republican workers in the administration were fired, long before anyone was hired to replace them. As one commentator stated, ‘the inmates are running the asylum, ‘ while another asked, ‘is anyone steering this ship?’

Wall street plunged during the turmoil and uncertainty, and the overall economy quickly followed. Hispanics from all over the lower Americas took advantage of the lack of direction and confusion within the Border Patrol and poured into the country. Even among many of the liberal Democrats the sentiment was something had to be done about the immigration problem. As the media and public clamor increased about the illegal immigration, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) offices, along with other offices in close proximity, were attacked electronically by a small group of people who appeared to be Hispanics. The attack wiped out over ten thousand government computers. Four days later the new computer developed by Hawk’s people was announced. There were so many initial orders the backlog was projected at seven months, though that would be quickly reduced by the nine new production facilities about to come on line.

The bright spot to many was the presence of Jason Magill, whose status with most of the country was higher than that of anyone in Washington. So when he added his endorsement to the new movie, ‘Chato - Hero in Prison Walls, ‘ virtually the entire country planned on seeing the movie, in one form, or another. They watched, and they were touched. They cried over the injustice done to the hero of the story, yet they cheered his steadfastness in wearing his medal, and refusing to curse the government that betrayed him. The American people’s anger was stirred even more as documentaries came forth concerning other betrayals and injustices - not just against the Apache, but against nearly all of the other tribes.

Hawk and his wives watched the events unfold, surprised at how much a house of cards their enemy was revealed to be. On the Monday morning when the information of the Vice President’s problems began to leak out Dan sold every investment they had in the market. By that Friday the value of the stocks they’d sold had dropped more than forty percent in value. It wasn’t that they were trying to enrich themselves on others’ misfortunes, but no one required them to be stupid either.

Finally, when confusion was at its highest, and the nation’s sentiment toward the Indian had reached a peak the head of the history department at Arizona State, flanked by two highly respected colleagues from the east coast, announced the release of historically shattering documents which had been discovered in a trunk in the back of an old mine. The documents related to the duping of John Wilkes Booth by Northerners motivated by hatred, greed, and political ambition. It was obvious to everyone these new facts would change textbooks almost overnight. The notes concerning these traitor’s goals in the reconstruction period opened new awareness and avenues of study of a period of American History that had been conveniently swept under the rug for several generations. The final revelation concerned a Land Grant from Abraham Lincoln to the Apache People for their assistance in restricting the efforts of Confederate forces in New Mexico and Arizona, and for not taking advantage of the war in the east to attack the white settlers in the Northern areas of the two states. The land that was granted had been originally purchased from Mexico, and was known as the Gadsden Purchase. The most important aspect of the Grant was this wasn’t a new treaty, nor was the land intended to be a new reservation. Instead, it called this land a new nation - an Apache Nation. The Grant also called for the new nation to act as a barrier for raiders and immigrants from South of the border, keeping them away from the heartland of the United States. When a former Speaker of the House who happened to also be a history professor came forth and acknowledged he and others within the Presidential chain of succession had been told of the existence of such a Grant the new Administration didn’t have a clue what to do.

As soon as the Grant was revealed to the public Jason and the Tribal Council began a series of phone conferences discussing some of the obvious issues that could become problematic in dealing with Washington. After each of these telephone meetings the Council would meet with many of the other tribal members to discuss the ideas and issues among themselves. Finally, after three days, Austin Manning, the head of the Tribal Council, called Jason.

“Longbow,” he said, “I think we’ve covered everything as well as can be expected, and a large number of the tribe has given us their thoughts and comments. The general consensus is for you to follow the things we’ve discussed, make the fairest agreement you can for all of us, and we’ll go along with whatever you recommend. Most of us here believe that without you this would have never happened.”

“I’ll do my best, Austin, but I suspect it’s going to take a lot of compromise.”

“I don’t doubt that, but where do you see the biggest problems? The cities?”

“No, I think they’ll eagerly accept our proposed compromise, as they’ll consider much of the land they’ll be trading away to be relatively worthless. It also minimizes the impact on the current population. Actually, my biggest concern is how they’ll react to an Apache form of government. On the surface it looks too much like socialism and communism, and those carry extremely harsh connotations within this country.”

“I guess I never thought about our differences like that. Is there any way I can help?”

“Yes, there is. As soon as the negotiations begin would you start checking with the leaders of some of the surrounding tribes to see if they’re interested in joining us? If so, they need to contact my office in DC.”

“I can do that, but what should I tell them?”

“Austin, the emphasis should be the current Federal programs and restrictions will eventually end, but new jobs and freedoms will replace them. Also, make a point we don’t expect them to become Apache, but we do expect them to honor our leadership. We’ll do our best to eliminate favoritism, but we’ll not tolerate tribal conflict.”

That evening, after an outstanding diner of roast chicken and gravy, Jason and Hawk sat at the kitchen table where Jason said, “Hawk, I want you and your family to visit Prince Rashid. He’s sending his plane for you, and it’ll be here in the morning,”

“Are you sure?” asked a dubious Hawk.

“Yes, and for several reasons. There needs to be more planning about that special project in Mexico, and you’ll need to begin negotiations with the Mexican Government.”

“Is there that much of a rush?”

“Hawk, the way all this has fit together we’re more than a year ahead of schedule. I think we’re going to need that oil, power, and water a lot sooner than we projected - and remember, a decision today doesn’t put a drop of anything in our hands in less than three years.”

“Jason, I’ve managed software projects before, and a long-term one was considered six to eight months. I still haven’t got my head into construction projects, and their related time requirements.”

“I understand, and that’s why I’m giving you this little push. That’s also why Dan is working hard to find you the right project manager to work under you.”

“That would be a big help.”

“This will all fall apart if you try to manage it yourself, but there are other reasons I want you to go at this time. As you can tell, things here have accelerated beyond any of our expectations. The Prince and his people need to be encouraged over the long-term stability of our markets, and I think that message coming from you, as my representative, will have tremendous significance.”

“So, you’re not just trying to keep us away from the action?”

“Of course I am,” laughed Jason. “This place is on the verge of anarchy, and I don’t know what might happen once the new administration decides how to react to the Grant. I’ve just been informed the first meeting will be tomorrow afternoon, and that’s why I want you out of here, now. As soon as Talon is born, and he and his mother can travel I’ll have them in a very secure environment, too.”

“Do you really think it’s going to be bad?”

“I don’t know, son. I suspect we’ve won the war; now we need to negotiate the peace. The problem is it could become bloodier than the war.”

The next morning, as Benny carried Jason to Capital Hill, Joel Cameron delivered Hawk and his family to Landmark Aviation, at Dulles Airport. There they boarded a beige 777 with a red, green, white, and black flag underneath the pilot’s window. The plane only had two engines, but they were the biggest jet engines Hawk had ever seen.

Before Hawk and his family were near their half way point, Jason was meeting with the new President, some of her advisers, and key members of both houses of congress. Due to the nature of the meeting it was being broadcast on live television. The President said, “Senator Magill.”

“Yes, Madam President?”

“I think the first thing I’d like to discuss would be your thoughts on the newly discovered Grant.”

“Madam, I’m still too shocked to initiate such a discussion. Especially after the revelation from your predecessor that every President, Vice President, and Speaker since the days of Andrew Johnson has been informed such a document supposedly existed, and I’m assuming that includes you. How could you, in good conscience, learn the truth and not act on it?”

Hanging her head, the President answered, “Because no one before me had said anything, and there was no copy of the document remaining. It was just easier to maintain the status quo.”

“Does that include assisting the administration in continuing to humiliate and destroy my people?”

“There were more important things to deal with - Iraq, Afghanistan, health care, the economy. There’s only so much time and resources to get things done.”

“So, these other things were more important than the human dignity of millions of your fellow Americans? People who have been beaten down and treated as less than human for longer than there have been blacks in this country? Where was your concern for their human rights, and how can you, by your lack of action, call yourself a liberal?”

The woman bowed her back and shouted back, “All right, dammit, I blew it. I failed to deal with this when it was brought to my attention, and I failed to stand up to the Administration’s actions against the Native Americans. What do want me to do?”

“First, don’t try to be politically correct and call us Native Americans. I can promise you that none of my people coined that name. If you want to be precise, call us Ndee, spelled N-D-E-E, which means the people. This is the name my people use for all tribes collectively, and were using it before Columbus arrived on this continent. Now, I’m sure some other tribes had their own names for ‘the people, ‘ but that name seemed to be universal.”

Note: there was some poetic license involved in this. Most Tribal groups, especially those of the Western Plains, considered themselves ‘the people’ while other groups were considered ‘others.’ For various reasons I’m expanding that to allow for more tribal interconnection, rather than tribal conflict.

“Thank you for that correction, I’ll issue a memo on the use of the name this afternoon.”

“Thank you. Now, secondly, discussions about the Grant are moot if it’s going to spend generations being fought over in the courts. So, my question is, will the administration fight this in the courts?”

“In principal, Senator, I don’t think so. I’ve been advised with the precedent of the recent ruling in the district court it’s doubtful the Supreme Court would invalidate the claim. Also, though there’s some concern in Arizona and New Mexico, as well from the Mexican Government, the overall public opinion is vastly in favor of allowing the nation to be formed. The idea of it being a buffer with Mexico is also highly popular. Beyond that, I guess it’s up to negotiation.”

“I agree, and from looking at the boundaries of the Gadsden Purchase on the map, there are plenty of issues to discuss.”

“Are you empowered to act for the Ndee?” asked the President.

“Madam, that would be a conflict of interest, as I’m still a Senator from the State of Arizona. At the same time, if I recommend a fair compromise I’m sure the Council will respect my opinion on the matter.”

“That’s acceptable.”

“Good, but I do need to clarify one point, Madam President. This Grant wasn’t to the Ndee as a total people, but to the White Mountain and Chiricahua Tribes specifically. Since there’s no longer an official Chiricahua tribe, then the White Mountain tribe will represent both groups. This doesn’t mean that we won’t welcome our Ndee brothers into the new nation, but in these meetings and the formal agreements it should always be kept in mind we’re dealing with this one tribe.”

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Mike Lowe aka The Scot

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