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Forged in Iron and Ambition (Web Novel) - Chapter 834: Fear and Terror
Chapter 834: Fear and Terror
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The Latin American countries south of the United States border, or what had once been its border, were quick to assemble for an emergency meeting after the fall of Cuba.It was one thing when the United States was on the verge of collapse. But now, one of their own had fallen to a German invasion. One that had concluded as swiftly as it had begun.
The President of Mexico, once one of the fiercest and most ardent puppets of the United States, now sat there in dismay, seemingly the leader of this coalition.
The representatives from Canada, along with the British and French governments in exile that were living within its borders were not present for this meeting. Neither were the representatives from Australia and New Zealand.
Only the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking nations of the New World had sent representatives to this gathering. And the president of Mexico could only sigh and shake his head.
Wiping sweat from his brow with his handkerchief, which was by now completely drenched in the filth. He nervously wrang his hands together before finally breaking out into blunt, but restrained panic.
"There is no other way to say it. In less than twenty-four hours... In less than twelve hours, Cuba fell to the Central Powers and their expeditionary forces... allegedly Batista was gunned down by rebels. But I have to ask, who here hasn’t been dealing with insurgencies for the last decade? And who here has a military stronger than Cuba’s?"
The room was dead silent. Nobody knew how to answer this, because they were all too aware of giving voice to such a truth would mean for them all.
Cuba had been one of the two strongest nations among them. Its vicinity to the United States and, by extension the strategic position that provided them meant that the United States had invested significantly in the nation’s defenses.
And those investments were obliterated in the span of a single night. Few here doubted that the Germans had brought with them all the military might they were capable of mustering for an invasion.
In fact, reports stated that the bombing was actually conducted with precision strikes against military targets by what appeared to be fighter craft, and what could at best be described as "light tactical bombers."
And yet that was enough to completely obliterate Cuba’s air defenses before the Central Powers amphibious landings had even truly begun.
Finally, the representative from Chile spoke.
"I believe it’s time we cut our losses and formally surrender. If the Germans can take out Batista and the Cuban Army in the span of a single night, then they can do much worse to the rest of us. This war was never ours to begin with. Roosevelt lied to us, coercing us into siding with him after the British and French provoked an enemy they could not beat. Truth be told... The Germans already approached us with an offer that Chile is no longer capable of rejecting...."
The eyes of many of the representatives quickly darted among themselves. How many of them had sold each other for a better bargaining price? After all, Chile was not the only nation that was promised leniency for giving actionable intelligence against its allies.
And many of them had covertly begun acting as spies for the Germans. But if Chile had done the same, and was now opening up official dialogues for peace, what did that mean for them?
The room quickly broke out in protest as various representatives began cursing out one another as traitors, spies, moles, rats, snakes, or whatever euphemism you could come up with for a backstabbing cunt.
The president of Mexico remained silent while watching the scene unfold around him in abject horror. In their anger, many of the representatives outright admitted to betraying the alliance and others around them, all so they could get those they were arguing with to do the same.
He realized then something terrifying, a prospect so terrible that he dared not believe it. The internal rebellions, the insurgencies, and the various acts of terrorism across the new world that popped up over the course of the last decade.
Could that have all been sponsored and supported by the German Reich? If they could get these nations to turn against one another so easily, when they had pledged an alliance to defeat the ultimate tyranny across the Atlantic, and committed so many young men and resources to the cause.
Then why couldn’t they have engineered the fear that gripped all of their hearts so fiercely, and compelled them to turn on each other without the slightest hesitation?
When the President of Mexico had this thought, a chill went down his spine. Paranoia set so deeply it began to infect his bones.
He quickly stood up while the other representatives were arguing and fled the scene. Caused them all to cease their fighting and stare in disbelief.
Why had their host just run off with a look of existential dread in his eyes? He didn’t just run; he was sprinting. As if he were running from hellhounds chasing him....
Did he know something they didn’t? Were they about to come under attack? Fear... Terror... Chaos... It is contagious, and when not properly combated by the powers that be, like an immune system does a pathogen, it has the ability to turn into a pandemic.
Once the President of Mexico had run off in fear for his life, paranoia shattering his sense of logic and reason, so too did another representative of the remaining allied powers, then another, and another.
But their reasons were different from the President of Mexico’s. While he ran away thinking that they were all about to be attacked after gathering in one place, the others fled the scene to be the first to contact the Germans with a request to surrender, fearing that their allies would sell them out and get the best deal before they could.
The allied powers had died not in a grand explosion, or a massive campaign fought to annihilate the new world and bring it under heel.
It had died sobbing with a whimper in the face of fear and its own inability to find the courage to overcome it.
