It took Thomas Jefferson Osborn several long seconds to pass from the depths of his slumber to near consciousness. It took him even longer to appreciate the fact that it was the phone next to his bed that was the agent of this unwanted intrusion. Through the fog of semiconsciousness Osborn reached out and smacked the face of the phone panel in an effort to activate the speaker phone. “What is it?”

“Tom, this is Lou. They’ve hit the capitol building.”

Still groggy but waking up fast, Osborn propped himself up. “They’re here? In Boise? I thought the tank division stopped at Mountain Home?”

“They did,” Garvey explained. “I think the people here are Rangers, or Special Forces. They were able to clear the building before anyone knew what was going down.”

“The governor?” Osborn asked as he threw his legs over the edge of the bed.

“Tom,” Garvey stated, making no effort to hide his concern, “I think he’s planning on making a public statement on television. One of the men who made it out of the building alive said something about the soldiers having journalists and a TV camera with them.”

The Attorney General looked at the time. It was almost seven A.M. Eastern, a fact that Osborn appreciated was no accident. “God damn that two faced bastard,” he screamed as he grabbed his pants. “I want you to get a hold of every swinging richard you can lay your hands on and stop him. You need to get in there and sort this thing out.”

“How?”

“Attack, you fucking idiot,” Osborn yelled. “I want you to force your way back in there and kill every last one of those bastards if it costs you every man you have.”

THE CAPITOL BUILDING, BOISE, IDAHO • 0455, NOVEMBER 12

The first counterattack was a hasty, thrown together affair. They came on without any semblance of a plan, with no fire support whatsoever, and no clear idea what they were going against. With everything happening too fast for the amateur soldiers to deal with, they were slaughtered by the heavy fire raining down on them. In all the confusion none of them took note that the most devastating fire came not from the capitol building itself but from a building behind them where Sergeant Lightfoot and the 3rd Squad had taken up positions after knocking out then restoring power to the capital building.

From his vantage point Nathan watched as the paratroopers with him went about their task with ease and precision. The militiamen below were cut down before a single man reached the other side of the street. “It won’t take long before they figure out what happened,” Nancy stated dryly.

“How soon before they try again?”