New Earth: The Search for Justice

By R.D. Pittman

The second book in the New Earth series picks up where the first book dramatically ended. Alex Hanken now must marshal his resources to thwart the conspirators who have seized the government. The nation is in turmoil, and the world is holding it's breath awaiting what could be a nuclear confrontation between the two powers. The irony is that the opposing forces are on their very own soil.

Alex Hanken steps forward in this gripping sequel to track down and prosecute the conspirators while struggling with his conscious. His guilt from his first marriage complicates a new relationship he develops with Dr. Sandra Chenowith. Sandi has a secret past that is laced with intrigue and danger and it could spell doom for Alex.

The story takes the reader around the world as the assembled team carries out Alex's desires to right a great wrong brought on the American people. Join Alex, Sandi, his team of FBI and Navy Seals, and the two Russian spies Elena and Andrade, as they discover the cover-up within the cover-up. Since this is the second book in the trilogy, this book takes another dramatic turn at the conclusion.

• Language: English
• Publisher: eBookIt.com
• Release date: Apr 26, 2016
• ISBN: 9781456604325

Book preview

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Chapter 1

A Dark Day

Alex Hanken felt more than just used, he felt betrayed. Admiral Torrance and his fellow conspirators, whoever they were, would not get away with this insult to all Americans. Coup`d etat’s were something that happened in third world countries, not in the United States. Admiral Torrance had dispatched Marine ground troops to the various survival sites throughout the nation, and put the personnel stationed there under house arrest. Until Torrance could get a feel for the site commander’s level of loyalty to him no one was allowed in to or out of the sites. His biggest concern was Alex, since he had a vast military arsenal at his disposal, which Torrance himself assigned to Hanken just a few months prior. Alex’s command center at Petersen AFB was surrounded by Marines and in essence locked down, so no one could escape. Admiral Torrance didn’t know it, but Alex had command center control from the mountain residence he occupied adjacent to the base.

Alex had chosen to have his son Curt install redundant communication and data systems at the residence; he could command all facilities nationwide from there. More importantly, he had control of all nuclear ground and air forces in the United States; he simply needed to get his backup plan executed to free his other resources.

He had to admit, using the threat of incoming asteroids hitting the earth, and the need to redeploy all troops from overseas to stateside was a well-conceived cover-up. He knew somebody other than Torrance was behind this—without a doubt—they were powerful people. Alex had to operate on several fronts, first, secure the facilities under his control. Second, stabilize the country. Then and only then could he begin the process of ferreting out the conspirators.

Admiral Torrance had devised a two-day operational stress test of the survival facilities, as a cover for the government takeover. The President and all cabinet members, including the Congress, would be in locked down bunkers for the duration of the operational test. That very fact gave Alex pause for concern; the heads of government were out of position…all of them at once. Those concerns prompted him to devise a backup plan in the event of an attack by an unfriendly nation. He would conduct his monitoring of the stress test from the residence with its redundant systems. Next, he would have his entire family and security detail in the residence with him. The secret bunker in the residence could be utilized as an escape avenue if necessary. Admiral Torrance had no knowledge of this, only the President knew of the escape tunnel leading out of the bunker. When they assigned the mountainside retreat to Alex, he discovered the exit tunnel off of one of the rooms in the bunker. The bunker was accessed by elevator, from within the residence.

The third component of his backup plan was to have a strike force on standby at secret locations. Since he was assigned the 101st Airborne and the 1st Special Forces as his assault battalions, he merged the two fighting groups, with their specialized talents, into eight separate brigades of three thousand men each. Each brigade had two hundred Blackhawk troop helicopters, and one hundred fifteen Apache attack helicopters for an airborne assault, if necessary. Alex sent two brigades to a site just north of Whiteman AFB. The B-2 Bomber squadron was based at Whiteman, along with three fighter wings of F-35’s. He sent another brigade to the Coeur d’Alene area where Alex had designed a huge depot of munitions stored in abandoned mines that were converted to survival shelters and ammo bunkers. In addition, the municipal airport had been converted to an airbase, housing thirty F-35’s and two C-17 tankers. He sent brigades to Seattle for Ft. Lewis and McChord AFB protection, and one near Las Vegas to ensure that Nellis AFB was secure with its inventory of tactical nuclear weapons. The remaining two brigades were broken down into ten company sized units and dispatched to other locations near key installations throughout the US, which included NORAD and SAC headquarters, the nerve centers for the nuclear forces.

Alex gathered everyone together in the residence Sandi, her daughter Liz, Curt and his wife Cynthia, FBI agents Evans and Somers, and the ten man Navy Seal team. Summoning the courage, yet cognizant that he had been naïve and thoroughly manipulated, he steeled himself and stared with eyes fixed at his assembled cadre…then spoke.

"No doubt all of you are in shock at what has just happened. You’re probably wondering what does this mean and what will or should we do? I’ll tell you what we will do; we will give up our lives to free this country, if that’s what it takes. Just as a precaution, I had placed several brigades of our assault troops throughout the nation at selected strategic sites. I will shortly give them the go ahead to engage the Marines who have orders to secure those locations for Admiral Torrance. I pray there is little bloodshed, but we must seize the initiative early, with lightning speed and a determined resolve. After I have given the orders to the brigade commanders, I will teleconference the site commanders and inform them of the impending action to take place at their site. But, before that, I must determine the level of commitment these facility commanders have to Admiral Torrance or to the cause of freedom.

Once that has been accomplished we need to execute a plan here at Peterson to free this base. That is where you Seals will come into play, at best there are thirty to forty Marines that have this base locked down, and you will go out under the cover of darkness and compromise their mission. Unknown to Admiral Torrance and all of you, there is a secret escape tunnel out of the residence bunker which leads to a generator room near the airfield. Now, I have some extremely important communications with my field units to conduct, I ask that you all remain calm and give me some uninterrupted time.

Alex went into the communications room and contacted all of the division commanders and gave them their specific targets to liberate. He reminded them that these were Americans who had received their orders from a conspirator, and they may very well not know of the government takeover. Once that had been put in place, he teleconferenced all the site commanders at once.

General Hanken, what on God’s green earth is going on here? General Harlan Monroe asked.

Is this part of the stress test? General Paul Amos added.

"Gentlemen, let me try and answer these questions and then I have a question for all of you. No, this is not a part of the stress test; Admiral Torrance and a group of unknown conspirators, using this stress test as a cover, have seized our country. Admiral Torrance dispatched the Marines you have encountered undoubtedly early this morning shortly after the test began. These Marines may or may not have knowledge of the government seizure. Gentlemen, this country was founded with the musket and flintlock through a revolution. Once those aims had been achieved, we put down our arms and established the Constitution. We put forth the proposition that conflicts internally would be settled at the ballot box, not with bullets, that one man equaled one vote, not all votes for one man.

All of our fellow brothers in arms who have given their lives in conflicts around the world have had their sacrifices desecrated by this action. Every American citizen has had their most cherished right stolen from him or her by thieves coming in the darkness. There can never be a valid justification for this. So I ask all of you the following question, and I want a verbal response from each and every one of you, so that all can hear your response. Are you a patriot or with Admiral Torrance?

Beginning with General Monroe and ending with the last of the fifteen facility commanders, they all emphatically stated that they were opposed to the actions taken by Torrance.

Very well then, I currently have airborne assault troops on their way to each of your facilities. When you’re facility is liberated, call me immediately, I will have tactical orders for you. Are there any questions?

Yes General, did you have a suspicion about this? General Monroe asked.

No, I simply did what any good field general would do, if headquarters is vacant of command staff, you create backup plans in the event of a surprise attack. I will tell you this; the majority of you will go back to your former base and take over as the base commander. Gentlemen, we are going to have to change missions nearly on the run, we must be ready to respond quickly and decisively. Any more questions?

No, just a comment, thank God you are on our team.

I look forward to hearing from all of you soon, Alex concluded the call.

The phone call came twenty minutes after the broadcast finished. Sandi met Alex as he walked toward her, a look of consternation on her face.

Alex, its Admiral Torrance and he says he hopes you will at least hear him out.

All right, I’ll take it in here, what line?

Line three.

Admiral.

Alex, don’t say anything, just hear me out.

Alex had recovered, but the words just wouldn’t come easily right now.

First, Torrance said, I’m sorry I couldn’t bring you in on the truth. It was necessary that you believe in what you were doing in order for it to work.

Admiral, believe me, being kept in the dark is the least of my problems right now.

Okay, but…Alex, you’ve seen what’s been happening to this country for the last ten years. Between the greed on Wall Street, the corruption in Congress and the polarization of the electorate, the greatest country in the world was being torn apart at the seams. Our elected officials are incapable of stopping it, and as a patriot, I couldn’t stand by and do nothing.

"So instead you dismantled more than two centuries of continuous democratic tradition—

Oh, Alex, that’s bullshit. Those democratic traditions almost blew up once before, in the Civil War, and the country reassembled itself into something new and better afterwards. That’s what I’m hoping will happen now. And I’m hoping you’ll join us to help make it happen. We could use a smart, well-organized, loyal man like you.

Alex rubbed his temples. He could feel a massive headache coming on. Admiral—Evan—I am loyal, but I’m loyal to the Constitution, to the government it sets up that answers to the people. Not to a bunch of powerful…oligarchs who think they know what’s best for the nation.

But these people do know what’s best, Alex. Just look at our recent history. Look at the past ten years, even the past twenty. And look where the country is going. We will be able to restart those institutions eventually. We need to fix a few things first. Besides, what’s the alternative?

What? What do you mean?

Right now, we’ve managed to take over the government without the loss of a single American life. All those elected officials you support so strongly are safely, happily tucked away. They don’t even know what’s happening. But if you try to stop us, we will fight you and innocent people will die. I’m hoping you won’t oppose us and we can find a way to work together.

Admiral you misjudged me, on several levels. The people behind you will be found out and exposed for what they really are. Evan you’ve left me no choice, Alex hung up.

Alex turned to find his closest people anxiously listening to the conversation. He told them to have a seat in the dining room and asked the kitchen staff to prepare a dinner meal immediately. While they were waiting on dinner Alex explained what he was going to do, when he was going to do it, and how he was going to do it. Sandi for her part mentioned that she hoped there wouldn’t be bloodshed; the Marines looked to be so young and they may not even know what has gone on. The Seal Team leader spoke up.

We will take extra care not to harm the Marines, we may have to put a few knots on their heads, but we will do everything in our power to bring this to a peaceful conclusion.

During dinner Alex told Curt he needed him to constantly monitor the command center. He could not afford to lose control of the nuclear weapons centers, he needed real time information. Alex asked Sandi, Cynthia, and Liz to inventory food and supplies in the residence. He asked FBI agents Evans and Somers to accompany Curt to the communications center and try and establish contact with FBI headquarters. He wanted to find out where the agency stood on this takeover.

Dinner was nervously quiet, the anxiety on everyone’s part hung in the air. Liz couldn’t eat, agent Evans bit into his fork with every bite, Sandi sat with her head in her hands, Cynthia was close to hyperventilating and all Curt could do was shake his head back and forth and try to console Cynthia. Alex watched as the scene unfolded before him, his anger at Torrance grew as he surveyed the effects it was having on his loved ones. After dinner, he asked the Seal Team to gather their equipment and come with him to the bunker.

Once in the bunker, Alex asked the team leader what he thought would be the best approach to handling the Marines outside? Team leader Lt. Commander Michael Morris spoke.

General, we have little intelligence on their exact locations throughout the base, and we are not sure of the force strength, so our first task will be to reconnoiter the base, then fallback and devise our plan.

That was my thought exactly, what about the other Seal teams that are under guard?

Well General, my first move would be to free them, and then we would have an overwhelming force, but I will have to play it by ear, until we can fully assess the situation.

Commander Morris, God speed, do us proud.

Yes sir.

Alex then escorted the Seal team to a storeroom, and moved a lever inside a cabinet. The cabinet swung open to reveal a hatch, much like one you would find on a submarine, and the Seal team climbed through one by one. Morris led the team down the tunnel to a set of stairs that went down another thirty feet to another walkway that led to the door of the power generation room at the flight line. There was a musty stale odor to the tunnel and it wasn’t lit. Cobwebs were everywhere—Petty Officer Everett Thompson whispered.

Man this place gives me the creeps; it’s like a Halloween haunted house at the K-Mart parking lot. Muffled laughter could be heard. Commander Morris was not amused.

Stow that shit, get your heads straight right now. Silence.

There was a lever on the door itself and Morris rotated the lever counter- clockwise and the door creaked open. He motioned for a forward scout to check the room out, peer outside, and report back to Morris. The scout returned with his observations.

Sir, there are two Marines on guard at the hangars across the runway. Our best approach is to slip outside and go behind this building out of the tarmac lights. There’s a small hill at the far end of the runway and it’s completely dark. Circling around the hangars we can then come from behind and subdue them.

One by one the team moved swiftly out the front door of the generator room and followed the forward scout as he made his way along the path he had suggested. Once they had reached the hangars, Morris reminded them.

These are our brothers, they may not know what has happened, let me go first, if they forcibly resist, then protect yourself, and take them out quietly. Morris stepped out from the shadows.

Young man, I’m Lt. Commander Morris of the Navy Seals, stand down and no one gets hurt

Sir, no sir, I have orders, the Marine countered and pointed his rifle at Morris.

I understand that soldier, do you know what has happened with Admiral Torrance?

No sir, and I don’t care, I have orders.

Before my team kills you and your partner over there, I thought you would like to know that Admiral Torrance is a traitor, and has overthrown the United States government and installed a military dictatorship. Now do you want to reconsider and I’ll have all my team members come out here and verify what I just said.

Hey Joey, you better come here, he shouted to the other Marine.

His companion Marine guard, Lance Corporal Joseph Sebella sprinted toward his fellow Marine.

Holy shit what is going on here, who is this guy?

There was no time for a response, the team descended on the two and subdued them quietly.

Now listen to me you two jarheads we are here to liberate this base from your misguided leader’s orders. You can either join us or give us the layout, or well…you don’t want to know the alternative, Morris said.

Man are you kidding, the Admiral overthrew the U.S. and used us to lock up our own people? Joey complained.

Yes, you see that house up there in the side of the mountain. You know who is in there? Morris asked.

No.

General Alex Hanken.

"The General Hanken, the Desert Storm guy with all the medals?"

Yeah, him, and Torrance wants him locked up so he won’t oppose him with the forces under his control. Hanken is not going to stand by and let Torrance get away with this, do you understand?

Yes sir, what can we do? Joey responded.

You can help us spot where the other guys are, and one of you can come with us, and talk some sense into them so no one gets hurt.

Okay, I’ll go, you stay here Tommy in case the Captain shows up, make up an excuse why I’m not here if he does.

It only took another two hours and the entire Marine contingent had surrendered to the Seal team. Morris marched them to the building where their Captain was enjoying a cup of coffee inside one of the offices of the command center. Morris stepped in through the door in his black garb, with black skullcap, painted face, and slid the auto load hammer back on his MP-5.

Captain, you are hereby relieved of your command, as he pointed his MP-5 at him.

Morris explained to the Captain what had happened and said the General would be down shortly to address everyone. Hurriedly, a loudspeaker system and podium was brought to the flight line so Alex could address all base personnel at one time.

Alex stood before the gathered military personnel and with his family behind him.

Fellow patriots, tonight we begin a journey to take back our country from a group of conspirators who illegally seized control of your country. They denied you your basic rights under the Constitution of the United States, and that is to exercise your prerogative to peacefully disagree with someone else’s position. I am here to tell you tonight that this will not stand, and I will give my life in the defense of this great country. Together we can and will restore democracy to this nation and its people. We have work to do. Now go out and secure this base from outsiders. Go about your normal activities, I will keep you informed of our progress. God bless the United States of America, dismissed.

Alex then turned his attention to the site commanders located throughout the US; his only hope in all of this was that his backup plan was working.

Chapter 2

Arise You Patriots

Alex and his contingent returned to the residence to follow-up with all the other facilities and check their progress. It wasn’t long before the calls started coming in, the first was from Major General Hank Conroe at the Coeur d’Alene facility.

General Hanken sir, I’m pleased to inform you that our facilities are now under our control. The Marines, when confronted with the fact that Torrance had led an overthrow of the government, surrendered to our boys. General, thank God you had the foresight to place contingent units in key critical areas.

Hank, I am pleased that this was carried out peacefully, we enjoyed the same outcome here at Peterson. Now, I want you to activate the three squadrons housed at the airbase. Get the pilots and ground crew in ready status; leave your flight ops guy there. You get back to your original base at McChord and take command once again. All Air Forces are to be on standby alert until further notice.

Yes sir, that is the best news I’ve heard in six months, do we anticipate having to confront our own Air Forces?

Once Admiral Torrance knows that I have activated all of my squadrons, he will have no choice but to stand down his air wings, because I have superior numbers by a large margin, it would be suicide on his part.

That was a fatal mistake on his part; he must have thought that you would go along with this.

Yes, it was a mistake in judgment on his part, and it will be his undoing. My biggest concern is to try and avoid a confrontation of our forces. To lose one American life will be one too many. General Conroe you have your orders, keep me informed, you’re the tip of the spear in the Northwest for our country I’m counting on you.

Sir, understood.

The next call came in from Brigadier General Harlan Monroe, who was facility commander at Mountain Home AFB.

Alex.

Harlan, how are things going?

I’m pleased to say we have had a peaceful resolution to our situation, the facility and airbase are in the hands of your people you dispatched down here. All I can say is thank God you are running this show.

Harlan is the base commander there?

Yes, he is somewhere around here, I can’t see him right off.

Well, never mind, you are to inform him that he is to assume command of his former base until further notice; also inform him that all Air Forces under my command are on standby alert.

Alex what do you want me to do?

You get your butt back up to Ft. Lewis and take over command once again, put your base on alert, get those tank squadrons ready for dispersal to key locations in the northwest. You and I will discuss those locations in the coming days, Alex said.

Yes sir, and thank you sir.

Alex, General Amos from Nellis AFB is on line two, Sandi said.

Paul, how are you?

"General, unfortunately we are counting the dead. There was a fierce firefight that broke out between the Marines surrounding our headquarters building and the group you sent to liberate us. We thought this was going to go peacefully, but one of the Marines got jumpy and fired on your guys, and they opened up with a hellacious burst of fire. They cut those Marines to pieces. Now everyone is walking around in shell shock looking at the carnage. Goddamn Torrance, Goddamn him all to hell, these were young kids with a future, to die this way is more than a shame. I just——

Paul, I know, I am so sorry, and you’re right—Goddamn Torrance and whoever is backing him.

I’m sorry General, our facility is now secure what are your orders?

You are to assume command of your airbase and secure those nuclear weapons, put your fighter wings on standby alert, half of the assault troops are to be stationed at your facility along with their helicopter force. The remaining troops are to be sent back to Ft. Lewis utilizing the C-17 transports the Marines came in on. I was going to have you keep the Marines there for perimeter security, but given what has happened, that is not such a good idea. Send them back with the rest of the troops, but talk to them first and make sure they understand what has happened. This is not their fault. Any questions?

How could I Alex, you think of everything. Oh I almost forgot, what about responding to civilian inquiries as to what the hell is going on?

You have no comment at this time, until I can assure myself that all my facilities are on line. I don’t want to put out something I may have to end up retracting. I’ll contact all of you by conference call within the next twenty-four hours to address that very issue.

Very well Alex, and we lost eight Marines, three wounded, four of your assault troops and six wounded. I guess it could have been worse, again, thanks for all your help and good planning.

Alex sat alone in his command office, staring blankly at a picture of him next to his A-10 Thunderbolt, wondering how it was in the scheme of things that the world sidestepped a disaster, only to have his country shed its own blood in a needless clash of ideals. Where was the equity in all this, the fairness, it all seemed so unbalanced to him. Young men with futures, alive and eager to experience life, so unnecessary, so tragic…such an absolute waste—goddamn Torrance.

Whiteman AFB had a small skirmish, until the Apache gunships showed up and the Marines stood down, no casualties were reported. Over the next four hours each of the remaining facilities that had been seized by Torrance’s Marine units were liberated and reported to him. Alex was beginning to formulate his strategy for consolidating his forces and placing them in key locations throughout the west coast, southwest, and the Midwest. It would take only another week for the rest of the facilities in the eastern US to renounce Torrance and look to Alex for guidance.

Contact with NORAD and the SAC Headquarters confirmed that all was normal and security had been beefed up at all affected satellite sites of those commands. Communications with all facilities was normal and did not suffer any down time. The extra precautions Curt had taken to provide redundant system routing in case of satellite interruption worked perfectly.

Commanders were in place, troops had their missions outlined for them, depots were secured and Alex was still nervous. The west coast had a substantial naval presence and two Marine Divisions; he needed to address that issue quickly. He decided to call in his Navy Seal teams that were transferred to him before the takeover. He convened a meeting at the staff headquarters building on the airbase.

I’m faced with a dilemma; there is a huge Naval and Marine presence on our West coast. I have to find a way to bring them into the fold. Any ideas?

Lt. Commander Morris, the Navy Seal team leader offered a suggestion.

Sir, why don’t you try and reach the Admiral at the San Diego headquarters of the Pacific Fleet?

Any of you familiar with this man, I’ve never met him to date? Alex said.

I just know of him, never met the man, Morris replied.

Let me make a quick land sat call here, I’ve got the Seabee Admiral on my speed dial.

Admiral, Alex Hanken.

General Hanken, I can’t tell you how good it is to hear your voice. I still can’t believe what has happened.

Admiral, I have come down on the opposite side of Admiral Torrance. I intend to oppose him and restore the government. Before Alex could comment further the Admiral interrupted.

General, I am in your corner and a lot of other top brass as well, how can we help you?

Thank you for your loyalty Joe, what can you tell me about the Admiral that runs the show in San Diego?

Felix Hanover? We were at the Naval Academy together. I married his cousin. What did you have in mind General?

Joe, I need to consolidate the west coast of America and get it under my control. I can’t have Admiral Torrance’s units sitting right under my nose up and down the coast.

I talked to Felix just twenty minutes ago and he is fit to be tied over this and doesn’t know what to do. It just so happens I mentioned your name and we both wondered which side you would come down on. Well, now we know, let’s call him right now.

Go ahead, Alex said. The Seal team leaders and Marines in the room with Alex were intently listening to the entire conversation.

Felix, its Joe, and I’ve got General Alex Hanken on the other line.

Joe, please tell me this is going to be a good call, Hanover replied.

The General is aligning himself against Torrance and looking to consolidate the west coast military facilities under his command, Admiral Byers advised.

Well, General Hanken, rumors had it that you had balls bigger than an elephant, and a brain to match. You have my support, and I can assure you that all of the rest of our west coast naval installations will fall in line behind me. I spoke with nearly all of them this morning. Your orders sir?

Admiral Hanover, thank you for your loyalty. My first order to you is to consolidate your officers under your command. I am putting you in charge of all naval operations in the Pacific. Conduct yourself accordingly.

General, I have two aircraft carriers out here in dock. Halsey is supposed to be in charge of naval aviation. He just got here about fifteen minutes ago and he’s sitting across from me.

Felix, are we on a speaker phone?

Yes.

"Admiral Halsey, you will continue to command all naval air operations, but you will