Twentieth Century Limited Book One - Age of Heroes. Jan David Blais

      Cover design by Nieshoff Design, Lexington, Massachusetts. Published in eBook format by Highpoint Press, P.O. 50 Watertown, MA 02471. Converted by http://www.eBookIt.com

      eBook ISBN-13: 978-1-6234-6355-7

      ALSO BY JAN DAVID BLAIS

      Twentieth Century Limited – A Novel. Book Two ~ Age of Reckoning. Highpoint Press 2012. Available as a trade paperback and in electronic versions.

      Flight Path - A Novel. Highpoint Press, 1996. Reissued as a trade paperback and in electronic versions, Highpoint Press 2012.

      For Barbara, Annie and Andrew

      Author’s Note

      A number of people were kind enough to comment on the manuscript and provide advice. Andrew Blais, Annie Blais, Ed Dence, Richard Griffin, Dennis Hanlon, Jamileh Jemison, Susan Keane, John Laschenski, Nicole Malo, Willa Marcus, Lindsay Miller, Larry Pettinger, Michael W. Settle, Peter Steiner, and Charles Tuttle. And a special thank you to John S. Corcoran for review and editing above and beyond. Also Mary Sullivan and Chris Walsh for editing and copy editing, Pat Nieshoff of Nieshoff Design for cover and book design, and Nina Johannessen of Blue Iris Webdesign for website design and construction. And Paula Blais Gorgas for her suggestions and enthusiasm throughout. To everyone, named and unnamed, who encouraged me in this enterprise, my heartiest thanks. Needless to say, the author is solely responsible for any errors the book may contain.

      In writing Twentieth Century Limited, numerous books, articles, online and other resources were helpful. A list can be found in the Works Consulted section at the back of Twentieth Century Limited Book Two – Age of Reckoning. Other invaluable resources included Wikipedia, Britannica Online, the New York Times Online Archives, delanceyplace, and search services of Yahoo and Google.

      Disclaimer

      This is a work of fiction. It is entirely a product of the author’s imagination. Except for obvious references to known individuals, existing institutions and companies, and publicly-reported events, any resemblance to actual individuals, institutions, companies, or events is entirely coincidental. Because of the nature of the story – featuring print and television journalists who report the news – of necessity it makes reference to the real people who made that news, and events they were involved in. Where such newsmakers are quoted or paraphrased, the author has attempted to report their quotations or the gist of their remarks accurately. In some instances, interviews of real people by fictional characters are depicted in the story, as well as other interactions. These interviews and interactions and the dialogues they relate are entirely fictitious; the words, quotations, thoughts and impressions related are solely the invention of the author. Even here, however, the author has attempted to ascribe positions and remarks to these real newsmakers consistent with those they were reported as making in other contexts.

      Watertown, Massachusetts – June 2012

      “ Q. Why did God make you?

      A. God made me to know Him, to love Him, to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in the next.”

      The Baltimore Catechism

      “ No experience of the failure of his policy could shake his belief in its essential excellence.”

      Said of King Philip II of Spain. Quoted in Barbara Tuchman, The March of Folly.

      “ Compliance wins friends; truth, hatred.”

      Proverbial. Quoted by William, Archbishop of Tyre in “The Problems and Motives of the Historian,” from A History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea.

      PROLOGUE

      Prologue

      SOMESVILLE, MT. DESERT ISLAND, MAINE. SEPTEMBER 2003. The old man replays the tape for what, the tenth time? The twentieth? Bright sky and desert plain, blue and beige, plumes of dense smoke in the distance. Pan left to a reporter holding a microphone. In khaki pants and open shirt, he is hatless in the brutal mid-day sun. As the camera closes in the viewer is drawn to the eyes, dark as the behind.

      “To wrap up,” he is saying, “another insurgent attack. How many fill-ups did the desert take back today? How many SUVs will run dry? Not long ago George Bush assured us a rejuvenated Iraq would pay for this trillion-dollar adventure of his, but like many of his promises, this one’s fading fast and will be forgotten unless we ask the tough questions.” The reporter’s head and shoulders now fill the screen, a faint smile crossing the familiar face. “Rest assured, ladies and gentlemen, we will continue to ask them. Paul Bernard, ETVN News, reporting from the desert outside Basra, Iraq. So long for now.”

      The man jabs the remote and the VCR whirs to a stop. He slips in a second cassette and the screen fills. Vehicles at crazy angles, the smoldering carcass of a Humvee, a light truck with a red cross, an SUV, more Humvees, a med-evac helicopter. Uniformed personnel stand around. Two choppers hover above the scene, heavy with dust.

      “All but one person in the Humvee were killed,” a voice is saying, “airlifted out within minutes of the attack. DOA on arrival at the medical facility in the Green Zone. Paul Bernard was one of them. Unbelievable. I can’t find the words. ETVN’s Middle East Bureau Chief survived but is in critical condition with burns over eighty percent of his body. They say he has a remote chance of pulling through. An officer riding in the lead vehicle told ABC News the attack came from over that hill,” the screen shows a rise behind the road. “Most likely a rocket-propelled grenade commonly used by the