Rescind Order

by Natasha Bajema

  “I know,” Grace said firmly.

  Arjun’s eyes widened. “You know I didn’t do it?”

  Grace nodded. “Well, Morgan and I checked the event log. We know you didn’t do it because you’d need a Fed to authorize access to a non-classified internet connection to use the backdoor. It must have been your CEO or someone working for him who reverted the ARC system. I assume Mr. Warren gave you instructions to put all the changes into a single update?”

  Arjun nodded sheepishly. “If only I had…”

  Martinez clapped him on the back. “Arjun, you were operating under the orders of your CEO. Anyone in military service would understand the extreme pressure you faced. And despite that, you decided to do the right thing. That took enormous courage. I’ll make sure the chairman becomes aware of your actions when the investigation begins. And I’m sure Major Lim will back you up as well.”

  Grace nodded, inhaling slowly. Arjun had come through in a major way. Not just anyone would have been able to write code with the threat of nuclear war hanging over their head.

  Just as long as Dietz gets what’s coming to him.

  “What are you going to do about your boss when he finds out?” she asked.

  Arjun flinched. “I’m pretty sure Mr. Warren will be too distracted by his own trouble to bother with me. Also, he’s no longer my boss.”

  “You quit?” Grace asked.

  “I should have done it a long time ago,” Arjun said, his face falling.

  “Don’t worry, Arjun,” Martinez said, giving him an encouraging smile. “Once the dust settles on the investigation, you’ll get snapped up by another contractor in no time.”

  Grace’s smartphone buzzed. She looked down to see a text from Zach and nearly jumped out of her skin.

  Crap. I forgot to call him back.

  Then she read the latest text, and the blood drained from her face.

  This isn’t working for me anymore

  I’ve packed up your things and set them in the hallway

  Please leave your key at the front desk

  Grace stared at the words for several moments, trying to absorb the development. She frowned briefly at the thought of being homeless and shrugged. There wasn’t much that could bother her after a brief flirtation with the end of the world.

  “What happened?” Arjun asked.

  “Oh, my boyfriend just broke up with me. On a text.” The corners of Grace’s mouth turned upwards as a huge wave of relief filled her chest.

  54

  Reunited

  SUSAN

  1815

  Executive Residence

  The White House

  Susan lay sprawled across the couch in the West Sitting Room with her eyes closed, the weight of her body sinking deep into the cushions. She focused on her breathing and tried to release the tension from the day. Penny had nestled herself in between Susan’s legs, providing a comforting warmth. She couldn’t remember a day when she’d felt more spent and aware of every bone in her body.

  Today, we almost started a nuclear war for no reason.

  “Are you finally going to tell me what happened?” Blake asked tentatively.

  Right after the crisis had passed, Susan rushed down to the bunker to collect her family. After several rounds of bear hugs from Blake and her daughter, Lucy went up to her bedroom for a much-needed nap. Blake had asked her this question then, but she was unable to answer him. She wasn’t ready to process everything that had happened.

  With Lucy tucked into her bed, Susan and Blake had headed down to the White House kitchen to grab a small bite for dinner. Despite her extreme hunger, she was unable to down a thing. While she sipped some hot mint tea, Blake had regaled her with stories about his harrowing experience in the bunker. Apparently, he’d fielded hundreds of questions about the Yooks and the Zooks and their eclectic arsenal of weaponry.

  In retrospect, Susan was rather glad that he had a special language to explain to Lucy what was happening in a way she could understand. She had half a mind to force her advisors and military commanders to read the Dr. Seuss book and report back their findings. They might learn a thing or two.

  Now back in the West Sitting Room, Susan’s eyes fluttered open, and she turned her head to gaze at her husband’s handsome face. She smiled faintly and said, “Well, we almost launched our entire nuclear arsenal at Russia and China today. So, there’s that.”

  Hearing the words pass through her lips made the entire experience feel surreal. Perhaps she’d endured a horrible nightmare and had just woken up on the couch. Or maybe she’d gone through the most intense trial of her political life. Either way, the terrible moments she’d spent in the Situation Room, looking down the shafts of hundreds of ballistic missiles, seemed a million miles away.

  Blake furrowed his brow. “But I thought we were in a conflict with China.”

  “It turns out we were in a conflict with no one but ourselves,” Susan said wryly. Recalling the last few moments when she thought a nuclear war would be starting shortly, she took several deep, calming breaths. “NORAD confirmed there were zero inbound missiles heading for targets in the U.S.,” she added grimly. “And then our early warning satellite system came back on… just like that. Our blind faith in a machine nearly led us into nuclear war. There’s really no other way to say it.”

  Her thoughts about the ARC system and everything that had gone wrong kept going round and round in her head. Until now, she’d not fully understood the true implications of maintaining the ability to retaliate against a nuclear attack. For better or for worse, keeping that capability conceded some value to fighting a nuclear war. Because if all countries decided it would never be worth fighting such a war in the first place, no country would need the ability to retaliate.

  There’s nothing worth fighting a nuclear war.

  A strong sense of determination rose in her chest. Someone desperately needed to break the chain of such thinking before it was too late. When she became VP, she never imagined herself playing an important role in solving questions about nuclear weapons. That was understood to be Harrison’s territory. Here and now, she resolved to use the remainder of her presidency to focus on ridding the world of such a dangerous scourge. But first, she had a big mess to clean up with Nightfall, the ARC system, and Harrison’s assassination.

  “I took the ARC system offline today,” Susan said wearily.

  Blake raised his eyebrow. “Oh really?”

  “Yep,” she said, sighing heavily. Now she regretted bringing it up because she didn’t have the energy to tell him the reasons for her decision. “I also ordered a full investigation into Centoreum Tech and fired General Burke.”

  Blake sat up straighter and stared at her with round eyes. “You fired Burke? How did he take it?”

  Susan grinned broadly. “Not well, as you can probably imagine. This whole time, he’s been vying for the VP slot and undermining my leadership behind the scenes. I called him right after the crisis was over, and he berated me for my decision-making in the Situation Room and taking the ARC system offline… I couldn’t believe it. If it were up to him, we’d have started a nuclear war. And for what? I realized in that moment that in order to do this job right, I need to clean house.”

  “Do you think it’s wise to create such a forceful enemy on the outside of your administration?” Blake asked, his forehead wrinkling.

  “I know the saying… keep your enemies closer. But it’s harder for Burke to put a knife in my back if he’s farther away from me.” She grinned at Blake. “Plus, I plan to surround myself with stellar people who are capable of protecting the agenda I want to set for my presidency.”

  Blake nodded.

  “You know, if it weren’t for some super smart women on my staff, we’d all be nuclear toast by now.”

  “Promote them all,” Blake said, giving her a playful smirk. “They’ve definitely earned their paycheck today.”

  That and much more.

  She went silent for a moment, thin
king again about what she should do about Morgan. The woman had surprised Susan with her loyalty. Clearly, there was more to Morgan than Susan initially thought. She’d asked the Secret Service to keep Morgan in custody until she got a chance to talk to her. But now it was getting late, and it was unfair to torture the woman any longer. Reaching into her pocket, she felt for the encryption key drive and turned it over in her hand a few times.

  If this is what I think it is…

  There was a soft knock at the door, and Elise stuck her head in. “Madam President?”

  “What now?” Susan asked a bit too sharply.

  Elise’s face twisted up slightly. “Sorry to interrupt, ma’am… the Chinese ambassador is here to see you.”

  “Donghai?” Susan perked up right away, coming to a seated position on the couch.

  “I figured after everything that happened today, you’d want to speak to him,” Elise said.

  “Yes, of course,” Susan said, getting up off the couch. “You were right to bother me. I’ll speak to him in the Oval Office in a few minutes.”

  Elise nodded and closed the door.

  “What do you suppose he wants to talk about?” Blake asked, frowning.

  Susan paused in front of the wall mirror to straighten her hair. “Not sure. Maybe he finally has permission to speak freely about those pesky submarines that started this whole mess.”

  Blake got up out of his chair and walked over to her, his eyes twinkling. Before she could resist him, he grabbed her into his arms as if they were dancing. He dipped her gracefully and kissed her deeply.

  Then he lifted her gently back up, caressed her face, and pushed a stray hair behind her ear. “I don’t know if I’ve told you this lately… but you amaze me. And I don’t know how I got so lucky.”

  Susan pressed her lips together and kissed him, moisture filling her eyes. “Right back at you, babe.”

  55

  Disclosure

  SUSAN

  1830

  Oval Office

  The White House

  Susan sat on the couch across from Donghai with her legs crossed and a hot mug in her hand. They were both sipping green tea and munching on fresh-baked buttermilk cookies from the White House kitchen. Susan was glad the staff was oblivious to what had happened earlier that day. And not just because her appetite had returned so she could enjoy some warm cookies.

  Her old friend was dressed down compared to their lunch earlier, wearing a long-sleeved oxford shirt, light beige trousers, and a leather belt. Donghai smiled at her warmly, and the crow’s feet around his gentle eyes reappeared. “I’m sorry about earlier today. I was on strict orders not to say anything. At least not until my leadership had a handle on the situation. I know you must have been gravely disappointed. And for that, I’m sorry.”

  If only he knew how close we came…

  “But you can tell me now?” Susan asked, sipping her tea.

  Donghai nodded. “You were correct about the hack of the Chinese news handle and the deep fake videos. We experienced a series of cyber incidents throughout the day and will be investigating them thoroughly. When we have better answers, I will share them with you.”

  “Thank you. That would be much appreciated,” Susan said carefully. She was still feeling blindsided by their lunch and not yet ready to resume familiar conversation as longtime friends. “My staff is also conducting its own investigation. I believe they have discovered the identity of the hacker and some potential connections to Russia.”

  Donghai raised his hand, signaling that he was not finished with his earlier statement. “I must explain the other part of the situation which led to a complete lockdown by my government,” he said. “You asked about our two nuclear-armed submarines in the Northwest Passage at lunch…”

  Susan sat up a bit straighter.

  “I couldn’t say this to you before… but one of the two submarines was unmanned. Due to some faulty programming, it went haywire. And for a time, we lost positive control over the submarine, along with all of its nuclear weapons. The other nuclear-armed submarine was manned and went after it, to make sure we didn’t lose track of it. We sent a team of divers to retake control of the submarine.”

  Susan’s mouth fell open. “You’re deploying autonomous submarines carrying nuclear warheads?”

  Donghai shook his head. “Not yet. This was meant as an initial deployment test, which failed with potentially catastrophic results for the plan.”

  “You had no way to recall the submarine when it went off track?” Susan asked.

  “No,” Donghai said. “We designed the submarine as fully autonomous to avoid the usual cyber vulnerabilities associated with network connectivity. Fully autonomous submarines can stay operational for much longer periods, are harder to track, and are better at evading anti-submarine weapons. We did ensure that the submarine was designed to return to the flotilla if there were any software errors. But apparently, that programming didn’t work as intended. Anyway, we were too embarrassed about the matter to tell you earlier today.”

  Susan shuddered internally. Embarrassed? China’s attempt to save face could have been very costly.

  Still, she couldn’t bring herself to tell him how close they’d come to blowing up the entire planet with nuclear weapons as a result of their embarrassment. If the Chinese had been more transparent about what was happening from the start of the day, Susan would have immediately taken the ARC system offline when it recommended taking offensive actions in response to China.

  Donghai bowed his head to her. “I sincerely hope this didn’t cause your government too much alarm. We did notice some recent mobilization activity, indicative of a higher alert status. For this reason, my government decided it was imperative to notify you right away. So there would be no misunderstanding.”

  Better late than never?

  “Did you launch missiles from your submarines in the Northwest Passage by chance?” Susan asked.

  “While we searched for the submarine, we wanted to keep up the appearances of our war game activities and conduct two test launches,” Donghai said.

  Keep up appearances…

  Susan took a deep breath and was silent for a moment. “Thank you. I do appreciate the clarification,” she said with a warm smile. “I hope that we continue to see value in full transparency between our two countries.”

  Donghai nodded.

  “I do have one more question if you don’t mind,” Susan asked, touching her chin. There was something still nagging at her.

  “Please ask,” he said.

  “You said that your unmanned submarine failed due to a programming error. You’re certain it wasn’t hacked.”

  Donghai stiffened his posture. “As I indicated earlier, we eliminated cyber vulnerabilities of the design through minimal communication.”

  “Yes, of course. I just wanted to be sure.” Susan studied his face for a moment but couldn’t detect any obvious signs of deception. Donghai had always been skilled at holding his cards close to his chest. And she’d already gotten more information than she expected.

  Elise walked into the office with a deep frown. “Ma’am, I’m sorry to interrupt again, but Drew Hudson and Tori Scott from The Counter View are here for the interview you promised. I’m so sorry. It totally slipped my mind.”

  Crap. The interview.

  Susan felt the blood drain from her face. She’d also completely forgotten about the autonomous weapons bill sitting on her desk, waiting for her signature. Susan rose from her chair, and Donghai followed suit, a wistful look in his dark eyes.

  Although she understood the difficulty of his position, she wasn’t quite ready to return to their friendship as it had been before. But she wasn’t worried. They’d been friends for a long time and would overcome the small bump in the road.

  “Thank you for stopping by this evening,” Susan said. “It means a lot.” She reached out to shake Donghai’s hand. “I’ll call your office soon to arrange a playdate between Lucy and Nia
nzhen, if that’s okay.”

  “That would be lovely,” Donghai said. “And thank you for seeing me. I know you might not have agreed to the impromptu meeting if it were not for our friendship. Please do not think for a second that my behavior today did not weigh heavily on me.”

  “I didn’t think any such thing,” Susan said, bowing her head.

  Donghai bowed his head and took his leave.

  56

  Terminator Conundrum

  DREW

  1915

  Oval Office

  The White House

  Drew gazed at the famous Resolute desk standing in front of him, still in utter disbelief at his surroundings. His chest tingled when he thought about how he’d started out the day—he’d gone from sleeping on the pavement outside the White House to having a sit-down with the president inside the Oval Office.

  Of course, none of it would have happened if it weren’t for Tori Scott interviewing him and making him famous with the video clip. She’d reminded him of that several times. And her huffy tone gave him pause about her real motivations for dragging him into all of it.

  The Oval Office was even more grand than he imagined, and the pictures didn’t do it justice. The cameraman situated a light stand behind President Tolley’s empty chair and then turned on the camera that was facing Drew. The large, round black lens stared back at him, sending a shiver up his spine. Even though he’d spoken into one several times that day, he wasn’t sure if he’d ever get used to the eerie feeling of being watched by millions of people.

  At least this interview isn’t live like the last one.

  When they’d arrived at the White House, Tori had pushed the president’s chief of staff hard for a live interview, claiming that was the deal she’d struck with her executive producer. But Elise Russell wouldn’t back down, forcing Tori to accept a recorded interview or deal with a cancellation. She’d also insisted on having the final say on how the video was cut before it was released. Drew had heard Elise mutter something about the hack job The Counter View had done with Drew’s interview earlier that morning, and he’d smirked.