George Bush’S Great America [EN]: Chapter 183

< Episode 182 >

They had taken refuge in a bunker provided by France, as a disorganized escape could lead to greater disasters. As heads of state, the death of even one of them would not simply be an unfortunate accident for France or their respective countries.

In simple terms, it was a diplomatic issue. While it might not escalate into war, a misstep could turn the world into a powder keg, easily detonated from its path of peace. In this era, if major powers were to engage in war, it wouldn’t end with mere occupation.

In any case, among those who took refuge in the French government’s bunker was the President of the United States. He wouldn’t admit it, but he was uncomfortable being in someone else’s bunker, one that even smelled musty. But it wasn’t unbearable either.

However, it was frustrating to hear about everything secondhand. This was partly because most conversations were conducted in French rather than English, but also because there was only one communication line connecting the bunker to the outside world. In other words, all external communication was essentially cut off.

“What on earth is going on?”

So, it was only natural that he found it hard to believe the news he was hearing.

“A hijacked plane returned safely on its own?”

“That’s what they’re saying.”

‘It’s something to celebrate, but…’

He couldn’t figure out what had happened, so he was more perplexed than pleased. Still, he offered a composed congratulation.

“Are there any Americans on the remaining two planes?”

“It is estimated that there are some, and we are currently investigating.”

As the conversation continued, the congratulations from Bush and other world leaders were properly conveyed to French President Jacques Chirac.

President Jacques Chirac’s expression was stiff in the briefing room as he received the congratulations, but that was a minor matter. After all, only one out of three issues had been resolved. Jacques Chirac unconsciously grabbed his thinning hair, then quickly took his hand away, startled. It was his precious, dwindling hair. The terrible act of tearing out his hair should not be allowed under any circumstances.

What frustrated him the most was that there was little he could do in this situation. He was already overhauling the security laws and reinforcing or replacing the cockpit doors of all aircraft with thicker ones, and then this happened.

When a hijacking occurs, the government’s basic actions are to control the media and deploy counter-terrorism units. The problem was that media control only reduced the aftermath, not the fundamental solution to the problem itself. The counter-terrorism units, which could be considered a solution, could only be effective when the plane landed at an airport, and all they could do in the air was negotiate with the terrorists.

‘This is driving me crazy.’

Perhaps the withdrawal of EU forces from the Middle East could be a solution, but resolving it this way could give terrorists the impression that terrorism works.

Besides, France couldn’t just say, ‘Let’s withdraw from the Middle East!’ and expect other countries to follow suit. It might have been slightly easier to strategize if it were a personal negotiation with France. But even if those two planes were about to crash into the Eiffel Tower, he had no intention of actually withdrawing from the Middle East.

‘Damn it. I never thought I’d be envious of Russia.’

If it were Russia, things would have been easier. It would be one of two things: either the planes would have been shot down by fighter jets and become stars in the sky, or they would have been shot down by surface-to-air missiles and crashed safely to the ground. If not, they would have somehow guided the planes to the airport and immediately deployed counter-terrorism units. Unlike the sense of justice or loyalty of the counter-terrorism units, their policy didn’t consider the safety of the hostages.

“This is terrible. There’s no way.”

He unconsciously stopped his hand from reaching for his hair and ran it over his face. He had already pulled out a large clump of hair from squeezing his head earlier. If the situation weren’t like this, he would have been horrified, regardless of appearances.

Even as he sighed, time passed, and eventually, the situation changed.

“Mr. President?”

“What is it now?”

Like the earlier news that a plane had regained control and landed at the airport on its own, he hoped for good news this time, but unfortunately, it wasn’t the good news he wanted.

“A distinctly different movement has been detected.”

That meant they were no longer circling over Paris. Depending on the perspective, it could be considered good news. Because even if they were shot down, the plane wouldn’t fall on Paris.

“It doesn’t sound like a positive change.”

Since the incident occurred, the negotiation team had been consistently trying to guide them to land at the airport. Logically, the EU forces couldn’t withdraw in a few hours, and they didn’t have much fuel left, so the argument was to at least refuel, but they weren’t listening.

‘Could they be aiming for something else?’

At this point, it was very suspicious. There were too many inconsistencies and contradictions in their words and actions. But then again, criminals have different ways of thinking. Here in the quiet bunker, the parliament, both the House and the Senate, was in complete chaos.

“Yes, they are heading back towards the Middle East from Paris. We don’t know exactly, but at least they seem to be trying to get out of France.”

“We need to establish separate measures.”

Even with separate measures, there wasn’t much to do. The plane would eventually have to make an emergency landing when it ran out of fuel. It would either land at an airport, or they would try to recreate 9/11 somewhere, but Jacques Chirac wasn’t the kind of person to just stand by and watch.

Rather than letting it crash into a city and increase the damage, it might be better to shoot it down in a deserted area. Isn’t that why the fighter jets were there? To sacrifice the few for the sake of the many.

‘Sacrifice the few for the sake of the many, it’s the trolley dilemma itself.’

He would be grateful if they landed at the airport for refueling like Flight 8969 nine years ago, but given the precedent, they wouldn’t land willingly. Even if they did land, it was clear that they wouldn’t land in France.

“We should send a GIGN [Groupe d’Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale] dispatch request to each expected route.”

GIGN is a French counter-terrorism unit, and compared to others around the world, it was a very outstanding counter-terrorism unit in terms of training and performance. If they could be deployed, something might be done.

He stared intently at two points on the digital map where the aircraft were moving in real-time. The aircraft were slowly moving southeast. On the first of these planes, this was happening:

“We’re going according to plan! It’s a shame the leader’s team didn’t make it, but there’s nothing we can do.”

The terrorist, with a harpoon gun slung over his shoulder, loudly encouraged his comrades. He didn’t know exactly what had happened, but the leader’s Eiffel Tower collapse operation had failed.

“The leaders at least died fighting. They went to Allah’s side. Let’s rejoice in that.”

The remaining two, including himself, were to land in Iran with the hostages, refuel, and then go to the Philippines and Ghana, respectively. There were several Al-Qaeda hideouts in the Philippines and Ghana. In fact, it was more accurate to say that there were many collaborators and the government’s power was weak.

The initial plan was for all three hijacked planes to strike major facilities in Paris. However, it didn’t take long to realize that this plan was unrealistic.

Frankly, how many people would want to participate in a suicide bombing? Many Al-Qaeda fighters wanted to live long lives, but few wanted to become martyrs. Of course, there were quite a few such people higher up.

But just because there were such people didn’t mean that everyone in Al-Qaeda was fanatical. The leader knew this, so only volunteers went with him, while the rest were assigned to a general plane hijacking mission.

To be precise, the goal was for the leader’s team to carry out a suicide attack in Paris after refueling was negotiated and the plane took off again, while the rest would go to their respective destinations and negotiate with the hostages to get the EU and its allies out of the Middle East.

‘Only one is missing.’

Frankly, as long as the final goal was achieved, the process didn’t matter. Once the EU was driven out of the Middle East, the long-delayed plan would proceed. They were planning to declare the revival of the ‘Ottoman Empire.’

“There’s no major disruption to our plan. Are we in good contact with our comrades in Iran?”

“They say the negotiation preparations are almost complete.”

What is this negotiation? It’s about planting bombs in several locations in Iran and threatening to detonate them if they don’t refuel this aircraft. France would absolutely say not to, but frankly, what does Iran have to do with France? Besides, Iran and France already had a poor relationship and severe diplomatic conflicts.

Furthermore, there was another reason why they were likely to comply, even though they were a bit wary, and that was that Iran was an Islamic country. Iran, which was feeling a sense of crisis in the increasingly shrinking Islamic forces, had the excuse that the safety of its citizens was at stake, so there was nothing to hold them back.

‘It’s a terror of terror.’

There was no guarantee that it would go according to the theory of the now-deceased leader, but it was certainly the most likely method to succeed.

‘The leader had a good head on his shoulders. And his charisma for co-opting people was considerable.’

Wasn’t he himself one of those drawn to the leader’s charisma? Suicide was impossible, but a suicide attack was planned if things went wrong. After getting out of Paris, they threatened, ‘If that fighter jet follows us, we’ll kill one hostage every 30 minutes,’ and surprisingly, the fighter jet backed off. The problem was that this time, the Italian Air Force was following, as if taking turns. It was because they had crossed the border.

“If things go wrong, we’ll have to threaten to crash into the Vatican.”

And he actually wanted to do it. He couldn’t do it with a sound mind, but what couldn’t he do when cornered?

“But is that what Italian Air Force planes look like?”

He thought Italy was using the new Eurofighters, but somehow it looked similar to the planes used by the hated US Air Force.

“Leader, more importantly, the identities have been confirmed.”

Because there were no computers, they had no choice but to manually compare passports and personal belongings with a pen on paper.

“There are some big shots.”

That was good news. Having big shots was advantageous for negotiations.

“There’s an American politician. His name is… Karl Rove?”