Friday, February 13, 2015

A Pius Stand by Declan Finn - This is War!

If you want peace, work for justice."--Pope Paul VI

Weaver cursed. "Tell me again why President Barry didn't
veto this? Oh, that's right, because we were being 'sued' by
the ACLU--Barry's good friends giving him something to
hang his hat on. Damn it."
The Deputy Director for Intelligence, Patrick Cochran,
shook his head. "A veto may not have worked, sir."
Weaver glared. "And why not?"
"Because, Director," DDO Grant answered, "even if we
vetoed it, it would go to the General Assembly. You know
what they'd say. It's the same reason they passed the
Resolution equating Zionism with racism, 242."
Charles Weaver, the Director of Central Intelligence, was a big man. As a former Navy SEAL, that had come in handy. At the moment, he looked incredulously at his Deputy Director of Operations. "The bastards are doing what, exactly?"
DDO David Grant sighed. "They're mobilizing troops. We're seeing movements of a few hundred people in the Sudan, as well as Russia and China. North Korea doesn't seem to want to move just yet, although you can bet they'll be at it next."
...Weaver rolled his eyes. "For God's sake, why are we being held hostage by petty dictators who like to play dress up? How many people in that assembly room would like to see real human rights, coming soon to a theater near you?"
Cochran sighed. "Less than half. Maybe. In Africa, Kenya, South Africa, Egypt on occasion. In the Middle East, Turkey, Iraq, Yemen, the United Arab Emirates. The others? Consider, sharia is still popular with some of them."
"Remind me to have some of the Saudi royal family assassinated," Weaver muttered to himself.
DDO David Grant made a note. "In any event, what do we want to do?"
Cochran shrugged. "I don't see what we can do. Unless you want to nuke Turtle Bay, then I'd say we're in a stalemate. We can't move, but they can. And it's not like President Barry is going to do anything against the UN."
Weaver ran a hand over his scalp as if through hair. "What are the chances the Vatican will hold out?
DDO Grant looked down and sighed. "They're mainly priests and nuns, and only a hundred or so Swiss Guards. I wouldn't give you two changes for their survival. They have mostly nonlethal weapons, a few lethal ones, but that's it. As for the attacking forces...If North Korea decides to send as many as the French can airlift, the enemy could easily escalate to the ten-thousand mark. Thankfully, these guys have no force projection, or it'd move faster.
Weaver nodded, mostly to himself. "True. North Korea can have a million-man army, but it isn't worth a damn if they can't move it anywhere. Korea and China have worthless navies, and their armies can't really go anywhere without one."
Grant pulled out the projections and handed out copies. "Unfortunately, this is the Vatican. Tanks and bombers and navies aren't required; all they'd need are a lot of guys with guns who are having a bad day. They don't even need assault rifles; just bring in handguns, you're covered, game over. Throw in a few shotguns if you want heavy artillery."
Weaver grimaced. "War on the cheap."


A Pius Stand:
A Global Thriller

By Declan

This final book, for me, was a life-altering experience... I am old enough to have lived through the time that prayer was removed from school. I didn't understand it then, as a child who remembered the early school openings with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance... When I started to work, we were required to sign a "loyalty oath" which was later eliminated...Then, of course, separation of church and state took effect and my job at that time was involved in scheduling and use of State facilities for activities. I was constantly making decisions about if and how an event could be scheduled on campus. Many of them bothered me...a lot...to say yes to one and no to another based upon religion...

When a child is raised in a Christian home environment, it is hard to understand how it became bad to be a Christian...For surely, that was the only reason for these changes... ??? Since then, I have seen the U.S. go into war after war on behalf of a nation, who no longer considered God as part of it, it seemed... Anybody who reads my blog knows that I abhor war...and any form of violence... I also hate prejudice of any kind, for any reason... So, no, I'm not a Catholic, nor do I feel that every religion is wrong if it is not mine... Don't ask me how I came to believe as I do--I don't know how or why...

Until I read Declan Finn's A Pius Stand... I would never have supported going to war...again...

Now I would join the army... I could, you know, answer phones and keep the evil people from harassing His Holiness, at least...LOL


"You failed us," the Sudanese ambassador barked. "You let the
Pope escape!"
"Indeed," the rep from North Korea added. "Our Glorious Leader
is--"
"A schizophrenic moron!" Ioseph Andrevich Mikhailov barked,
not even turning around. "You ingrates have tried to turn my
successes into failures since I began. You will either allow me
to run this operation, or you'll all pay." He turned to face them.
..."When the Vatican first repulsed us, they did it with a show of
pyrotechnics. A shootout in the Vatican, on the Spanish Steps,
even in Da Vinci airport. Then, after 'slaughtering' a whole team
of French commandos, they tracked down and broke the Pope
out of jail."
...The Korean glared, unafraid of the Russian mercenary. "Yes,
you allowed them to take the Pope right out from under you--"
"Yes, I did," Ioseph barked..."Now the Vatican looks like it can
take on a fully-armed force. Instead of merely 'arresting' the
Pope, we have to invade, and arrest everyone for
'harboring a fugitive'..."
~~~
Seriously, Would you defend a church? Would you defend the right to worship? Often I have felt that there is now prejudice against Christians. Yes, there are historical reasons for that, I agree. But I also believe that those actions were born out of a desire for power or money by those who were inherently evil.

But I believe even more that there are more good people that those who are evil. We just have never learned to speak out in a way that would ensure action...At some point, Love is not enough, Prayer is not enough... War is required...
This man has been accused, arrested, put on trial... The United States has refused to get involved... Now that's almost unbelievable since past presidents have placed our soldiers directly into the front lines... But, there is no other way to say it, President Barry has proved to be a wimp, a man with no principles, who allows personal hate to affect his professional decisions. Other presidents have moved America into war... This time, NO from the White House...

Who needed him anyway?

While Sean Ryan seems to be the main character--you might call him the General leading the events--he certainly does not play the main role in this last book, except that he put together the total defense plan for...the Vatican...


Everyone was going to die in the first "legally" sanctioned case of mass murder.
After all, when the United Nations had already declared the Catholic Church an outlaw entity guilt of war crimes--against women, Islam, gays, pick your poison--and had declared all their properties forfeit, any action in support of that was going to be legal in the eyes of the "International community."

While everybody within the Vatican, including the Pope, were thinking about what should or could be done, Sean was already beginning his planning...

"Don't forget power," Kovach told her. "No annoying Pope to say 'bad Sudan, no genocide for you.' No more 'bad Korea, feed your population.' Or telling the Chinese 'look up a civil right every few years, you godless pricks.' Or going after US politicians like Nancy Pelosi, who claims Catholicism, but practices demonology, if what she says is any indication?"
...Indeed," came a soft voice from a corner of the room. No one had seen him enter, but Father Francis Williams stood off to the side of the door. "The priest seemed small and unimposing, even more than Kovach, since Fr. Williams was shorter. His silver hair made him look older than he was, even though he wasn't out of his thirties yet. All that hid the fact that he was a former Special Forces soldier...
"Hey, Frank," Goldberg said. "You're not with XO or the Pope?"
...You must realize that my input would be useless to Bishop O'Brien and His Holiness...
McGrail cocked her head. "Och? And what did it all boil down to?"
Fr. Frank flashed a quick grin. "You have to know when to hold 'em. Know when to walk away, and when to run."
Goldberg laughed. "You're running, right?"
Fr. Frank spread his hands, as though it were up to anyone but him, and he wouldn't know what happened even if they decided.
"Really? That's your best answer?"
"What else can I say?" he said softly. "We have no army. If we send out a call for assistance, would that help our cause if people arrived, or hurt us? If no one came, would that support our cause? Honestly? We haven't called for a crusade in over 1000 years. We haven't had a warlord-Pope in centuries. We keep the peace. We're always for the peace. Always. And what would peace entail here? Surrender? Holding the line? Retreat? I can't imagine. Can you?"
Kovach leaned back in the chair. "Oh, I can imagine what surrender looks like."
~~~
The Pope looked out at them as though gazing at something in the distance. "I am not certain. Matthew 10:23 states that when you are persecuted in one place, flee to another...I still have trouble believing they're coming to kill us. Can they honestly think they can go through with it?" He sighed. "But then again, why not? What's going to stop them? Us?
"Yes. Us."
~~~

And when the Pope finally got around to openly ask the question of who could stop them from coming, Sean Ryan was right there to say, "Yes. Us." And the rest, as they say, is history...

The majority of the final book has to be the single, best, holy war, that was ever fought! The Pope declared that the only overriding goal would be to prevent as much bloodshed as possible. Sean's answer was to use rubber bullets, and all the training in martial arts that had been ongoing, plus a lot of the tricks of his trades... It's fun to read, hilarious to watch and visualize the action, fake or not... Just imagine being in a fight and stopping to think, "How can I do this without killing the guy?!!!" (Wouldn't that be a wonderful thought to hold?!)

But most of all, the cast of characters will absolutely blow your mind! Well, maybe not, none of them surprised me, but I loved the reaction of those reps from countries who were sending thousands of troops and how even the troops going into battle were picked. It may be a fantasy war but it was absolutely fantastic in exciting thrills, surprises, and good ole fashion "fun stuff." This thriller trilogy gets away with satire just because it's soooooo good!
 








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And guess who "got the girl?"

Declan Finn lives in a part of New York City unreachable by bus or subway. Who's Who has no record of him, his family, or his education. He has been trained in hand to hand combat and weapons at the most elite schools in Long Island, and figured out nine ways to kill with a pen when he was only fifteen. He escaped a free man from Fordham University's PhD program, and has been on the run ever since. There was a brief incident where he was branded a terrorist, but only a court order can unseal those records, and really, why would you want to know? He is currently hard at work on a vampire novel called "Honor At Stake." His political ramblings can be found at the-american-journal.com, while his rantings on writing can be found at apiusman.blogspot.com

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