“You haven’t heard me complaining,” she said.
“No, I guess not,” he conceded. “But I haven’t heard your answer.”
She was quiet for a moment. All he could hear was her soft breathing. He thought she was drifting off to sleep, but then she spoke.
“I want to move in. I want you to be mine and I want to be yours.”
Johnny G was a little surprised, but the surprise was how he found himself feeling about her. Sure, she seemed to be a little off center, but who wasn’t these days? He liked the girl. She was a good-looking woman who did not play female head games and they got along well together.
He’d never been married. Many relationships, but never married. The relationships always seemed to have similar ends; they realized Johnny G was not the marrying type and they’d move on. There was only one woman who he had even thought about marrying, his first love. That was a disaster. A year into their relationship, things went south. She created imaginary problems, accused him of cheating, and left him. She married one of his best friends three months after leaving him. He later found out they’d been having an affair while she was still involved with him.
Back then he’d made an oath to himself to never allow something like that to happen again. A confirmed bachelor. That was years ago, a lifetime ago. Things were different now. That’s what he told himself. And he was fairly sure he believed it.
“This room is a little small for two people. And it’s spartan. There are a couple of offices down the hall that aren’t being used. We can knock down the adjoining wall and remodel it, personalize it, make it ours.”
Riley turned over and faced him. “Really?”
“Yes, really. I think we’re a good pair and I want us to be together,” he said.
Riley responded by grabbing him and hugging him tightly. He hugged her back. She was freshly showered and had a wonderful, feminine scent. Yes, he was a confirmed bachelor, but he had to admit, she felt damned good.
The remodeling would be easy, he thought. He and Jimbo could knock it out in a couple of days.
“You can do all the decorating but keep it sensible. Don’t paint anything pink.”
She snuggled closer and murmured something he didn’t understand. He hugged her tighter and hoped he wasn’t being a fool. What was that old English proverb? There’s no fool like an old fool? He wondered if that applied to him.
He listened as her breathing changed and smiled to himself. The girl could fall asleep in seconds. There was so much swirling around in his mind he doubted he’d fall asleep within the next hour, but he was wrong. The sensation of her body against his calmed and comforted him. He was asleep within a minute.
Chapter 48 – A Discussion of Ouster
There were nine of them. They met in the TOC, a place where the president had never visited. The plan was to meet in a location away from prying eyes, but if anyone walked in on them, all they would see is nine people sitting around a table that held several firearms in various states of disassembly. It would appear to anyone they were having a weapon cleaning session. Something that was common in the TOC.
First Sergeant Crumby waited until the last pair walked in, casually glanced around, and then shut the door.
“Alright, everyone’s here. Grab a weapon, look busy, and we’ll get started. Senator?”
Senator Bob Duckworth took his cue and stood. “First, thank you all for coming. Let me start by saying this meeting is secret. I am going to say some things that might be misconstrued.”
“As in, some people might call it treason,” Jeremiah clarified. That earned a grunt from Norman Marnix, who was wrestling with the lower receiver of an AR15.
“Nobody is jumping up and running toward the door, I’ll take that as a good sign,” Bob said with a smile. “So, here’s why we called this meeting. I’m sure all of you are aware of the purpose of the Twenty-fifth Amendment.”
“Senator, I barely graduated high school,” Joker said.
“No problem, I’ll explain. That particular Constitutional Amendment clarifies, among other things, the ability and power to remove the president from office, if he is deemed unfit.”
“Okay, I got you,” Joker said. “Well, he’s only been in office for a few weeks, and if you ask me, he’s a nut.”
“Yes, but in order to effectively remove him, we’re going to have to be able to prove it. That’s one reason why we’ve put together this little ad hoc committee. We need to be able to articulate how his behavior is detrimental to the country.” He glanced over at his wife, Angela, who had a laptop computer on the table in front of her. She cleared her throat.
“Here is a list of some of the things he’s done since he took office. First is his ongoing fixation on Zach. He is convinced Zach is the assassin, even though there is no proof.”
“The O’Malley brothers told him there’s no proof,” Lois Marnix remarked.
“Yes, they did, but he is still fixated on him,” Angela said. “Continuing, he has ordered the closing of Fort Detrick with no logical reasoning behind it.”
Justin spoke up. “Add this to your notes. I spoke to him later and convinced him that I needed additional time to move equipment and supplies, and to winterize the place. He agreed, but then ordered me to destroy the labs. Don’t ask me why. I asked and he refused to explain.”
Angela nodded and typed the additional info on her laptop while the others murmured amongst themselves. When she was finished, she spoke up.
“Alright, for no apparent logical reason he ordered the closing of Detrick and the labs destroyed. Next, he ordered Marcus Hook to stop scavenging and stop construction on a trading post.”
“I haven’t asked, but has he told anyone in the senate why he did that? Has there been meetings regarding Fort Detrick?” Justin asked.
Bob shook his head. “I only found out about it from Garret a couple of minutes before the meeting. I asked William about it later, but he either could not or would not answer.”
“If I know Roscoe and Johnny G like I think I do, they won’t follow those orders,” Melvin said.
“Probably not,” Bob said. “In fact, I feel like the consequences of our president’s arrogance may prove disastrous.” He gestured at his wife. “Okay, please continue.”
Angela waited until they had spoken and then continued. “Next, there was an issue with the mission to Cincinnati that I believe Melvin or True can explain better than me.”
True gave a slight nod to Melvin.
“I’ll answer,” Melvin said. “As you all know, we’d found the Chinese military contingent in Cincinnati. We were conducting surveillance and watched as they were attacked and became infected. I met with VanAllen and Rhinehart the morning after with the intention of giving a detailed after-action report. It didn’t happen. Once I had confirmed the Chinese soldiers had become infected, which nullified any mission they were on, VanAllen ended the meeting and summarily dismissed me. I tried to tell them there was a lot more, including Dong, but they weren’t interested.”
Melvin sighed in exasperation and looked around. “True and I wrote up a damned fine report. If anyone wants to read it, I’ll give you a copy. We even included pictures.”
“What about Dong?” Bob asked. “Hold that thought. They’ve read Clay’s report where he said the paddle boat left after dropping the soldiers off. Did they inquire about that?”
“No, they didn’t, and they don’t care about Dong. They don’t see him as a possible intel source. But don’t worry, if the little man knows anything, True and I will eventually get it out of him.”
“Don’t forget to tell them about Clay,” True said.
“Yes, Clay,” Bob said and looked again at Melvin.
“True and I have volunteered to go on a resupply mission for Clay. I even suggested we bring him back home, maybe set him up on a farm a few miles out. VanAllen said, and I quote, fuck Clay Fleming. He then chuckled. As far as I know, nobody has even bothered calling to check on him lately.”
>
There were a couple of grumblings of disapproval. Angela waited to see if anyone had any further commentary before looking at her husband. “You should tell them.”
“Alright, I’m not one to spread gossip, but there is an unconfirmed rumor that Gil and Irena Fleming may be more than friends, but I do not know this as fact,” he said. “I won’t say who told me this, but the Marcus Hook people want to create a trading post that will be in the style of an agora. Only a few people knew about this, and all of a sudden Gil is talking about this illegal agora being built. Roscoe and Johnny G believe Irena is behind it and they think those two may be better acquainted than what anyone knows about.”
“Acquainted, as in they’ve been banging each other,” Joker remarked. “Hell, they were probably banging while Rochelle was still alive.”
There was a minute or two of speculation before Angela continued.
“Moving on to another item, I believe Sergeant Lutz has an incident he would like to add to the list,” she said.
“Yeah, hang on,” Joker said. He reassembled a Sig Sauer P365 and gave it a quick function test. “Alright, this happened last night. D-Day gets on the radio and tells me the President has ordered a muster formation of every guard on duty. This was about midnight. We stood in the parking lot for over an hour while the man ranted on and on about conspiracy theories.”
“Was he drunk again?” Lois asked.
“Yeah, he was,” Joker said. “He’d probably been smoking a little too.”
“Wait a minute, who was guarding the perimeter?” Jeremiah asked.
“Nobody. Absolutely nobody,” Joker said.
The first sergeant emitted a disgusted groan. “We were lucky. Damn lucky.”
“Yep,” Justin agreed.
“Alright, Senator, what’re we going to do about this asshole?” Joker asked.
Bob considered Joker’s question. He reached for his wife’s laptop and read her notes. After a few minutes, he slowly pushed it back across the table.
“What are your thoughts, Senator?” Justin asked.
He stared at the disassembled Glock 17 lying on the table in front of him for several seconds before answering. “I don’t think it’s enough.”
Joker snorted. “Not enough? What the hell do you mean?”
“It’s not enough,” Bob repeated.
Everyone started talking at once. Even True had one or two things to say. Finally, Justin raised a hand, silencing everyone.
“I hate to say it, but he’s right. Bob’s right. Right now, everything VanAllen has done can be attributed to poor judgement or shortsightedness. One could argue that he’s a rookie at this job and he’s simply making rookie mistakes.”
There were some thoughtful nods at Justin’s reasoning.
“In other words, he’s going to have to do something more, something that any rational person would look at and agree that he’s batshit crazy,” Melvin surmised.
“Yes, exactly,” Bob said. “Something outrageous. Something shocking to the conscience.”
“Be careful what you wish for,” True muttered. “If VanAllen is put out, Rhinehart becomes the next president.”
Melvin chuckled, but any further commentary was interrupted by the radio’s speaker.
“TOC, this is post five, SITREP, over.”
Jeremiah grabbed the microphone.
“Post five, this is TOC, send it, over.”
“We’ve got five zeds in the wood line. There might be more, but all I see now are five, over.”
“Roger that. Keep monitoring and I’ll send out a team to take care of them,” the first sergeant said.
“I’m on it,” Joker said and quickly loaded his weapon. He pushed his chair back, stood, and then gazed around the room with a slight grin.
“I’ll grab a few people from the QRF, unless any of you want to join me.”
Melvin and True stood, causing Joker’s grin to widen. Justin and Jeremiah stood as well.
“I could use a little exercise,” the first sergeant said.
“That’s what I’m talking about,” he said.
Later that afternoon, the president’s questionable behavior manifested itself again. The announcement was made during dinner in the cafeteria.
“Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention?” Gil asked. The people in the cafeteria immediately became silent. Even the children.
“Thank you. I’m sorry to disturb your meal. I’ll only be a minute. Today, I have signed an executive order authorizing a trial in absentia of Zachariah Gunderson for the murder of President-elect Rochelle VanAllen, Zelida Lillard, Tatiana Lillard, and Shayla Robeck. The trial will begin in two days. Thank you.”
With that, he turned on his heel and walked out. Those who were sitting at the tables near the exit saw the smirk on his face. As soon as the door closed, the cafeteria exploded in conversation.
Chapter 49 – Trial in Absentia
President VanAllen opened the door ever so slightly and stared into the conference room, which had once again been temporarily converted into a courtroom. The overwhelming number of people in the room caused him to emit a smug smile.
“Do you really think this will work?”
The president turned around. Bob Duckworth was standing there. His expression was grim.
When the announcement was made, there were a few who pointed out the illegality of such a move. Bob was one of those people. He was outvoted. It was an interesting, and troubling phenomenon. People who at one time called themselves Zach’s friend were now on board to have him tried in absentia for the murder of Rochelle, Zelida, Tatiana, and Shayla. It was almost like herd mentality.
When Bob realized there was no way to reason with them and the trial was going forward, he volunteered to serve as Zach’s defense counsel.
“This trial has been long overdue,” Gil rejoined.
Bob slowly shook his head. “You simply don’t get it, Mister President.”
Gil scoffed and imitated Bob. “It’s unconstitutional and there is no evidence. I’ve already heard your blather, Senator. Save it all for the trial.”
“Did you ever stop to think that this trial may prove to be your undoing?”
Bob did not wait for a response, and instead pushed by the president and walked into the room. Promptly at zero-nine hundred, Seth Kitchens walked into the courtroom wearing his traditional black judge’s robe.
“All rise!” Ruth yelled as Seth took his seat behind the raised desk. He read something on the open laptop before taking his glasses off and peering at the other court bailiff, Priss.
“Madam Bailiff, are all witnesses present?” he asked.
“They are, your honor. Present and sequestered,” Priss replied.
“Very good. Please show the jury in,” Seth directed and watched in stoic silence as the members of the jury were led in and seated.
He conducted the formalities and swore them in. He did not like it. All the prospective jurors had been supposedly drawn at random, but the rumor was they had been handpicked by Gil. Bob’s voir dire was a little amateurish, but he was successful in getting two of them to admit they had some animosity toward Zach because he had once put them on punishment work details due to laziness. Seth had no problem dismissing them for cause, but D-Day and Ruby were jurors, along with a couple of other VanAllen cronies, including Vice President Rhinehart.
Seth vowed to himself to be neutral and unbiased, but he strongly suspected those three would try their utmost to sway the rest of the jurors to render a guilty verdict. He was worried. Not necessarily for Zach. The man could take care of himself. He was worried for Mount Weather.
He realized everyone was staring at him, cleared his mind and took a deep breath.
“For the record, this is the case of the United States versus Zachariah Gunderson for treason and the murder of Rochelle VanAllen, Zelida Lillard, Tatiana Lillard, and Shayla Robeck.” He paused and then peered at the Senator Connie Nelson, who was once again the acting prosecuting
attorney.
“Does the prosecution wish to make an opening statement?” Seth asked.
Connie stood and straightened his tie. Years into the apocalypse, he still had several custom suits that he wore on special occasions.
“We do, your honor,” he said.
“Please proceed,” Seth replied.
Connie took in the audience before focusing on the jury. “In the third week of November of this year, Rochelle VanAllen, Zelida Lillard, her daughter, Tatiana Lillard, and Shayla Robeck were on their way to Mount Weather whereupon Rochelle was to be sworn in as President of the United States of America. Before they could reach their destination, they were ambushed and brutally murdered. Their bodies were then set on fire in a heinous act designed to cover up the murders. The state intends to prove that Zachariah Gunderson was the perpetrator in this evil act.”
Zombie Rules | Book 8 | Who The Hell Is That? Page 27