Swan Song (Book Three of the Icarus Trilogy) by Kevin Kauffmann Page A

Thomas didn’t have a choice but to confront his student.
    “I mean, why the hell are we going after an armory?  Just for a few more weapons?  We have plenty of those, Tom.”
    “It’s to show that Jasper doesn’t have as much control....”
    “Then why don’t we fucking just take down his tower, Tom?  It’s ridiculous that we’re still working on such small operations.  We keep on taking little outposts and bullshit victories that are doing NOTHING to sway popular opinion.”
    “Templeton, we can’t ignore the benefits of these operations,” Atlas said, talking over the black man still opposing his every word.  His voice was declarative and stopped his student mid-rant.  “We have to weaken the system and weaken their support before we can bring this war to an end.”  He had expected that to be the end of it, but Templeton slammed his fists on the nearby table, shocking Abrams to his left, but Goldstein was merely smiling at the revolutionary standing above him.
    “If you want to end the war I have a suggestion for you.  Why don’t we just storm that damn tower of Montgomery’s and end it with a bullet in the bastard’s head?”  There were murmurs at that, but Atlas merely crossed his arms and breathed out heavily.
    “It’s not that simple, Darius, and you know it.  Right now that’s suicide.  We just have to wait-”
    “I’m tired of waiting, Tom, and so is everybody else!  We’re bleeding out of our side sitting down here underneath the dirt and waiting for the EOSF to have a pang of conscience.  How about we use our fancy satellite shutdown, get a small group of assassins and kill the old man in his sleep?  He doesn’t deserve an honorable death, Tom.  You know that as well as I do.”
    “That’s enough!” Atlas shouted, seeming to grow taller as he confronted his student.  “We are not assassins, Darius, and we don’t go into people’s houses at night and slit their throats.  That’s NOT how we operate!”
    “Why the HELL not?!” Templeton shouted as he slammed the table again.  “We could end this war with one fucking old dead man!”
    “No, we WOULDN’T, Templeton,” Jenkins shouted from his position two tables down from the shouting revolutionaries.   “Are you fucking stupid?”
    “What did you call me?” Templeton asked as he walked over to the messiah figure, but Jenkins held his stance firm and breathed out sharply.
    “Fucking stupid.  You can’t win an insurgency like this by killing a leader.  That’s how you create a martyr.  We will lose ALL popular support and you know what would happen?” Ryan asked the angry man in front of him, but he turned to face all the men and women in the room to make sure they knew to listen. 
    “There’d just be another new head of the Trade Union.  As much as we say that this is about ending Montgomery’s reign of terror, it’s really all about ending the Trade Union.  There’s always going to be rich, greedy men in power, and killing one won’t make a difference.  We’re trying to kill the system, and killing Jasper will only grant them the excuse to say what a lot of people are thinking.”
    “What’s that?” Templeton asked, his face centimeters away from Ryan's rage-filled eyes.
    “That we’re terrorists.  It’s already the company line, but if we kill an old man in his sleep there is no way that we’d be able to convince people otherwise.  So, get your back up against the wall.”
    “You fucker....” Templeton said, his artificial eye shining crimson light.
    “Get.  Your back.  Against the wall.  You approved these plans yesterday, Darius.”
    “You didn’t listen to anything I said,” he said, realizing that he had already lost his audience to a better speaker.
    “Yes.  I did.  But almost everything was just as stupid as what you said just now.  So get back to your wall and shut the fuck up.  Unless, well, you have anything productive to add,” Jenkins said as he stared