Removal

by Murphy, Peter

  ‘Indeed they are. Do you have the applications?’

  ‘I have them, Mr. Justice,’ Jeff replied.

  ‘Good. Have a seat while I take a look.’

  Jeff produced a bundle of papers from his briefcase, handed them to the Justice, and sat beside Kelly on the sofa. One of the law school secretaries had prepared them earlier, using forms supplied by the clerk of the local federal District Court. Justice Finnis seated himself nearby in a comfortable armchair, donned his reading glasses and, without undue haste, perused the documents he had been given. Having done so, he gazed into space for several seconds, removed his glasses, set them down on a small coffee table, and sat forward in his chair, clasping his hands together.

  ‘So, if I understand correctly, Madam Director, I am being asked to issue warrants for the arrest of a former President of the United States, a former Attorney-General of the United States, and a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in addition to…’

  ‘A search warrant for the whole of the White House, yes.’

  Justice Finnis rose and, holding the documents, walked slowly around the room towards the window. Outside he could see the dark, cloudy sky and the yellow sodium lights of the city stretching apparently without limit into the distance.

  ‘Off the subject for a moment, I don’t suppose there’s any news about the other…’

  ‘The other Associate Justices are safe, Mr. Justice. They’re on their way to Houston. Of course, the Chief Justice is still in the Capitol. We have no reason to believe he has been harmed.’

  ‘His heart hasn’t been too good over the last few years,’ Justice Finnis said. ‘I hope he has his medication with him.’

  ‘We’re doing everything we can.’

  ‘I know,’ Justice Finnis replied.

  ‘You should be able to sit as a Court in a day or two if you need to.’

  The Justice nodded.‘Realistically, what chance is there that these warrants will ever be executed?’ he asked.

  Kelly rose and joined Finnis at the window.

  ‘Mr. Justice, there are certain aspects of our plans I’m not at liberty to disclose at this time, but I assure you it is my intention to execute every one of them. As to probable cause…’

  Justice Finnis stopped her.

  ‘Oh, you hardly need to persuade me about probable cause,’ he said lightly. ‘Anyone who’s been breathing during the last few days knows there’s probable cause. All the same, you’d better swear to it formally. Based on the information supplied to you, do you believe there is probable cause to believe that the offenses named in the applications have been committed by the persons named, and that evidence may be found at the location named to support the charges against those persons? Do you so swear, so help you God?’

  Kelly raised her right hand. ‘I do, Mr. Justice.’

  Finnis turned, and walked to the writing desk by the window. Picking up a pen, he carefully signed each application. Jeff walked over to the table, took the applications back, and replaced them in his briefcase.

  ‘Please return copies to me when you get the chance.’

  ‘I will, Sir,’ Jeff replied.

  ‘Have I done the right thing?’ Finnis asked, with a smile.

  ‘I believe you have,’ Jeff replied. ‘Thank you, Mr. Justice.’

  ‘No, thank you,’ Justice Finnis replied. ‘Both of you. As a Justice of the Court, I’m not supposed to express opinions about what might become a pending case one of these days but, as an American, I want to say I’m glad for what you’re doing and I wish you God speed. When we spoke earlier, you wouldn’t tell me much about what’s going on, Agent Morris, but I have enough marbles left to figure some of it out for myself. Oh, I won’t say anything, of course. But it seems to me that there may be a certain amount of danger involved in what you’re proposing to do. I hope you will both be careful.’

  ‘We will, Mr. Justice,’ Jeff replied.

  ‘Thank you, Mr. Justice,’ Kelly said.

  They shook hands, left the room, and walked back along the silent carpeted corridor to the elevators, where they stood for a moment without pressing the button.

  ‘Nothing we can do now till Linda calls back,’ Jeff said.

  ‘No.’

  ‘So, where do you want to wait it out?’

  ‘My room,’ Kelly said. ‘That’s where they’ll call as soon as she calls the school.’

  ‘Sounds good, Madam Director,’ Jeff grinned.

  Kelly leaned against the wall and smiled.

  ‘“Madam Director”,’ she mused. ‘That’s the first time anyone has called me that. Was he really referring to me?’

  ‘Unless there was some other woman in the room I didn’t see,’ Jeff said. ‘It sounded pretty good, didn’t it?’

  ‘Yes, it did,’ Kelly said. ‘But it’s going to take some getting used to.’

  ‘Can I still call you ‘Kelly’ in bed?’

  ‘I’ll think about it.’

  She pressed the call button. The elevator in which they had come was still on the eighteenth floor, waiting to take them elsewhere.

  ‘Whatever you call me, Jeff, I’m not sure it’s going to cut any ice with those people in the White House.’

  ‘Maybe it will,’ Jeff said, holding the door for her. ‘Maybe someone still cares about the institutions of government. Our job may be to figure out which one of them it is.’

  51

  ‘AND I’M telling you, I don’t give a damn what your orders are.’

  ‘Easy, Sam,’ Senator Joe O’Brien said quietly.

  He gently eased the Chief Justice back into his chair. O’Brien’s own blood pressure was rising fast, but he remained calm enough to realize that the colonel and lieutenant they had been trying to negotiate with for the last hour were holding all the cards. O’Brien also knew, as did his colleagues, that the Chief Justice’s heart condition was not being helped by the mood of confrontation. The small supply of his medication he had with him had run out, and one or two senators who had medical training were expressing concern. O’Brien had tried to persuade Sam Mayhew to relax, but the feisty head of the Supreme Court was having none of it. Used to picking fights with counsel in the courtroom, he did not seem to appreciate that he could not do the same with the military officers who now sat opposite him. The meeting had not gone well. Like the Chief Justice, the colonel was not a diplomat. The Marines, it seemed, had their orders, and not even the Senate or the Chief Justice of the United States was going to prevent them from carrying them out. Prospects of resolving the situation any time soon did not seem good. And O’Brien was receiving some very disturbing reports from Frank Worley, whose mobile phone was still receiving some messages, about what was going on in the outside world. Unlikely reports, perhaps even unbelievable, but disturbing nonetheless. He sensed that time was of the essence, but he remained powerless. At last, the Chief Justice subsided into his chair. O’Brien decided to try one last time.

  ‘Colonel, I think we at least have the right to know whether your orders came from President Trevathan, or whether she authorized them,’ he said.

  The colonel seemed unimpressed.

  ‘My orders came directly from my Chief of Staff, General Hessler, Senator. It’s not up to me to question a direct order, and you can be sure I’m not about to. In any case, there’s no way I would let you out there right now, because we are not in control on the ground. I couldn’t guarantee your safety.’

  ‘If the only problem is the crowd, I don’t see why it’s such a big deal. Disperse them.’

  ‘We can’t do that, Senator.’

  ‘Why not, for God’s sake. You’re the Marines. You ran up the flag at Iwo Jima. I can’t see why…’

  ‘With all due respect, Senator, this is not a wartime situation. Those people out there are not the enemy. They’re citizens engaging in a lawful protest.’

  ‘Lawful protest, my ass. They’re holding the Senate hostage.’

  ‘Be that as it may…’

  ‘It�
��s not a lawful protest, for Christ’s sake, it’s a lynch mob. They’re carrying guns, and they’re threatening us with violence. Disperse them. Don’t you have water cannon, plastic bullets?’

  ‘Dispersing them would be a police action, Senator. The military doesn’t have police powers unless the President declares a state of emergency and asks us to step in. That has not happened, as far as I’m aware.’

  ‘You need a declaration of a state of emergency, when an armed mob imprisons the Senate in the Capitol?’

  ‘In addition to that, Sir, if we did try to take action, and the crowd resisted, there would be the potential for an incredible loss of life. We have superior fire power, but we are greatly outnumbered. We might not even be able to hold them.’

  O’Brien shook his head in disbelief.

  ‘Can’t you send for reinforcements?’

  ‘I have made the request, Sir. The Washington police are standing by a short distance away. But you have to understand that there are thousands of people out there, many of them armed. The sight of more fire power might panic them. If they get excited and start a firefight, we’re out of options. So, right now, we’re trying to keep the situation calm.’

  ‘Well, it’s not very calm in here. The Chief Justice is not well.’

  ‘I’m fine,’ Sam Mayhew interrupted.

  ‘Sam, let me, please,’ O’Brien continued. ‘Another thing I don’t understand is why the electricity and water are cut off. We’ve already had one or two people take nasty falls down the stairs, we have a couple of staff members trapped in the elevators, and I don’t even want to describe the state of the bathrooms. What are they playing at, for God’s sake? Heads will roll over this when we get out of here, I promise you that.’

  The colonel and the lieutenant exchanged grim glances.

  ‘As I understand it, Senator, some of the demonstrators arranged some pretty sophisticated sabotage. I’m not sure how. But you’re not the only people in town without those amenities right now. I know they’re working on the problem, and I’m sure it will be fixed before too long.’

  ‘We’re supposed to have back-up generators.’

  ‘I understand, Sir.’

  O’Brien looked at his colleagues. None of them seemed to have anything useful to add. Even the Chief Justice seemed subdued. None of it made any sense to O’Brien. His gut told him that there was something very wrong. It should not be this easy to incapacitate the Senate. The crowd had brought the government, or at least part of it, to a complete standstill. Then, a thought came to him. What if this was not an isolated incident? What if they had done the same to the other branches of government? What about the Supreme Court, just a few blocks away? What about the White House? What about the President? Frank had picked up some story about her setting up Headquarters in Houston. Nonsense, of course. Why the hell would she do that? Or was it nonsense? And suddenly, as O’Brien put the various pieces of the puzzle together, the reality of the situation dawned on him with a clarity that made his blood run cold. The presence of so many armed people outside the Capitol was no coincidence. Nor was it a spontaneous protest on behalf of Steve Wade. He was witnessing a coup d’état. Not only witnessing it, but he was also one of its victims. Steve Wade was gone, but who, if anyone, had taken his place? Who was running the United States? Whoever they were, it seemed they controlled the military. And, at least for now, they controlled the Senate. O’Brien sat down heavily in a chair, feeling the eyes of the marine officers fixed on him like the little red dots that mark a target for a rifle. With a massive effort, O’Brien took a deep breath and tried to control himself sufficiently to begin to think of a way out.

  ‘So, Colonel, am I to understand that you have no suggestions as to what might be done to resolve the situation?’

  ‘As I said before, Senator,’ the colonel replied, ‘the only course seems to be to wait it out.’

  He seemed to hesitate.

  ‘Well… I suppose there is one thing I might suggest… But it’s hardly my place…’

  ‘If you have anything to suggest, go right ahead and suggest it,’ O’Brien said firmly.

  ‘Well, Senator, it did occur to my lieutenant and myself… well, it’s pretty obvious that those folks out there are supporters of President Wade.’

  ‘So…?’

  ‘And we were thinking that, if the vote had gone the other way, we probably wouldn’t have the problem we do now.’

  The man’s audacity took O’Brien’s breath away. It was some moments before he could respond and, looking around the room, he saw that his colleagues were having the same reaction.

  ‘Are you…, are you suggesting that we change our vote?’ he asked.

  The colonel coughed awkwardly.

  ‘I’m suggesting you announce another vote,’ he replied. ‘Whether or not you take another vote is up to you.’

  ‘For God’s sake,’ one of the other Senators exploded.

  ‘You asked for a suggestion, Senator,’ the colonel said. ‘I’ve given you one. Whether you follow it is up to you. Frankly, even if you did, there’s no guarantee that the crowd would disperse immediately. They might decide to throw an impromptu street party. But it might increase our chances of getting rid of them.’

  O’Brien held up his hand to restrain the other senators, all of whom seemed ready to weigh in with howls of outrage.

  ‘I think, Colonel,’ he said, ‘that my colleagues and I need to take stock of our situation, and try to figure out what to do next. If you would excuse us.’

  ‘Yes, Sir,’ the colonel replied. He nodded to the lieutenant. Both rose smartly and left the room. Two Marines stood outside the door, waiting to escort them back outside.

  ‘For God’s sake, Joe,’ the Chief Justice began, roused to action again.

  O’Brien restrained him with a touch on the shoulder, and turned to face the other senators.

  ‘Just a moment, Sam. I don’t know whether you understand what’s going on here,’ he began quietly. ‘But I think I do.’

  ‘I’m glad somebody does,’ Senator Alan Boswell replied angrily. ‘Because I sure as hell don’t.’

  O’Brien threw up his hands.

  ‘We’re prisoners, my friends. Prisoners. Those people out there aren’t there to protest. They’re there to seize power. And the Marines aren’t here to keep them out. They’re here to keep us in.’

  ‘What?’ Boswell shouted.

  ‘Hear me out, Alan. Think about it for a moment. Wade is gone. We impeached him. We have several thousand armed people on the street. The Marines won’t lift a finger to help. We’re getting this story about Trevathan getting the hell out of Dodge, and Wade still being in the White House. But we don’t have any real idea what’s going on. And we’re completely cut off. For all we know, the whole of Washington could be in their hands.’

  ‘Of course Wade’s still in the White House,’ Boswell said. ‘There hasn’t been time for him to leave. That doesn’t mean he’s trying to hang on to power.’

  Senator Kate Green shook her head.

  ‘I’m not so sure. Joe may be right. I’m sure your aides got the same story mine did, Alan. Trevathan’s in Houston because she has to be, and nobody knows whether Wade is going to leave or not.’

  ‘That’s ridiculous,’ Boswell protested. ‘How could he not leave? My aides told me all this stuff was coming from Lazenby. He’s a loose cannon. Who knows what the hell’s going on?’

  ‘Well, something is,’ Kate said.

  Boswell turned back to Joe O’Brien.

  ‘Are you really saying that Wade is trying to hang on to power, even though we’ve impeached his ass?’

  ‘At this point,’ O’Brien replied, ‘I almost hope that’s what I’m saying. Because if not, some other people are trying to take power, and I don’t even want to speculate about who they might be.’

  ‘Whoever they are,’ Kate Green pointed out somberly, ‘they’ve got Hessler with them.’

  There was a long silence.


  ‘God in Heaven,’ Boswell said. ‘What the hell are we going to do?’

  ‘I guess we could follow the colonel’s suggestion,’ Kate Green said tentatively. ‘Send word out that we changed our vote. Make up some procedural crap about the first vote being invalid. The press people here would go along with it. They’re in the same boat we are. Once they restore order, no one would hold us to any announcement we made under duress.’

  O’Brien shook his head firmly. ‘Once who restores order?’ he asked.

  ‘Good question,’ Kate admitted.

  ‘Whatever the situation is outside, it might only make it worse.’

  ‘I can’t see how,’ Boswell said. ‘But I don’t think it’s a question for us. I think we should go back to the Chamber and report back on our meeting, and I think we should let everyone know what the colonel said.’

  ‘I’m not sure we ought to bring it up,’ O’Brien said. ‘I really don’t think we should be encouraging our colleagues to think that way. I don’t want to be responsible for it.’

  ‘We could treat it as a suggestion of last resort. Offer it only if no one has a better idea,’ Kate Green said.

  O’Brien nodded. ‘I can live with that.’

  He looked around at the other senators and the Chief Justice, who nodded their agreement.

  ‘God bless democracy,’ he added ironically.

  ‘Come on, Joe,’ Boswell said. ‘You know we don’t have any real choice.’

  ‘OK. Let’s go,’ O’Brien replied.

  * * *

  ‘With all due respect, Mr. President, I don’t see what we have to gain by letting her in here.’

  General Hessler was leaning across Steve Wade’s desk in an effort to make his point more emphatically, but he was not sure that anyone was listening to him. The former President had his head turned to one side. The other occupant of the room, Dick Latham, seemed completely out of it. He was sitting wearily in an armchair, appearing almost to ignore the conversation. The White House’s unreal quietness was getting on everyone’s nerves. The corridors and offices were almost empty. Agents Linda Samuels and Gary Mills patrolled the halls, and marine guards patrolled the grounds, but the occupants of the Oval Office hardly noticed them. The nerve center had shifted to the situation room, some distance from the Oval Office, in which a group of senior marine officers supervised a network of sophisticated computerized tracking devices providing information about military movements throughout the world. In the situation room, printers worked ceaselessly, television and computer screens provided immediate access to news and weather information. But none of this reached the Oval Office, except for the occasional report deemed important enough to require Hessler’s personal attention. The Oval Office seemed strangely detached from reality, a head without a body.