She shook her head, “That doesn’t seem to be the case.” Not knowing what to make of this aspect of the strange state of affairs to which she was now part, Nancy let this thought drop as she reached for the map. Despite her confidence, she appreciated that it would be difficult, at best, to find a platoon of paratroops that was determined to stay hidden. They would need a healthy dose of luck if they were to succeed.

BOISE, IDAHO • EVENING, NOVEMBER 2ND

Using techniques perfected during Operation Desert Storm, the Adjutant General of the State of Idaho conducted a televised update every evening for the benefit of the media and his own political aspirations. A sharp, young female officer wearing too much makeup and sporting a hairdo that would have been totally out of place anywhere else in the military started the update. She listed the activities of those Guard units which had been mobilized, significant incidents, and other concerns. All in all the data and information provided by this perky briefing officer was rather pedestrian and, under other circumstances, would have been passed off as totally unnewsworthy.

But this briefing was being held in Boise, Idaho by the military representatives of the “embattled” citizens who had stood up to the “tyranny” of the Federal government. For journalists who had never covered an armed conflict before this was their ticket into the big time. This was “their war” where they would be able to demonstrate their abilities to capture all the agony, all the sorrow, all the drama of war while placing themselves in mortal danger. It didn’t matter that this was a civil war involving their fellow countrymen. This was the news event du jour. Everyone who was anyone or wanted to be someone was there, sitting in their assigned seats and listening to a National Guard spokesman rattle off a laundry list of mundane events and occurrences.

Jan Fields was among them watching, listening, waiting. After a shaky start, she had managed to rise to the top of the media pool. Even now, as the State Adjutant General himself came up to the podium to address the gathering of journalists he cast a nervous glance over in Jan’s direction. Major General Earl Saunders was not an easily intimidated man. A person doesn’t achieve political office such as his unless he has both the intestinal fortitude and savvy to play hardball politics with the best of them.