Aligned

by Jaci Wheeler

  “That’s true, but people would still be unsure and not confident. The magic part is that you cared they were all on the same page. You didn’t want them to listen to what you said and enforce it; you wanted them to believe. Most presidents wouldn’t have cared if they liked it or not. My father would have informed them of the changes and expected them to be carried out, which they would have been, though not with the assurance and understanding in which they will now be. That is why people respect and admire you, because you don’t give orders—you make people believe. You make me believe.”

  It’s so sweet of him to say that and I can tell he means it too. I only did what was right; giving orders doesn’t earn trust. I need to listen to people when they don’t agree because they might have a valid point. Too many people are too caught up in thinking about what they are going to say next to actually hear the other person.

  “I’m glad we finally came to an understanding. I think it helped when I told Ronan I wanted him to take the lead on the monitoring issue. I think it will help give others in the Ministry confidence when they see him on board.”

  He laughs. “That and you didn’t want to do it.”

  I laugh because he’s right, but I still hit him for saying so.

  “You are going to go far, Rosaline Thatcher. Your love for people and your honest heart are going to serve you well. I’m glad I will be around to see it.”

  “Thank you, Dex. It’s very sweet of you to say that. I’m glad you’ll be around too; you’ve been a huge help in all of this, and your insight on the OC today saved us.”

  It really did. He was able to talk down several people after informing them of the ins and outs. Since Dex is unbiased and accepted by both sides, it really helped our cause.

  “Well, off to bed with you, you look exhausted. Go run a bath. Luckily for you tomorrow is Saturday so you can sleep in.”

  “Can’t you?”

  He raises his eyebrow. “You really think the little mouse is going to let me sleep in? I’ll be lucky if she lets me sleep through the night.”

  “She has gotten better with her sleeping though, hasn’t she, since she settled in and made some friends?”

  “Oh yes, she’s really improved, and school is wonderful for her now; thank you again. She and Hope are inseparable. I think it’s only a matter of time until she starts talking. They have already made up some secret hand signs to communicate. A friend like Hope is exactly what she needed.”

  “I agree. Okay, have a great night, Dex.” I give him a quick hug and practically run to my bathtub.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Monday morning comes and the first order of business is to meet with Masters to go over security for when we tell the Ministry. I highly doubt we will have another uprising, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. I am surprised when I finish all my morning messages and Masters still hasn’t shown up. I look at the clock and realize he is an hour late for our meeting. That is unlike him so I send him a message. When another half hour goes by and I still haven’t heard anything I start to get worried and decide to track him down.

  I go down to the Department of Defense and make my way through the sparring men when I notice Jeff Adams. I can’t help but stop and watch him spar with someone. He is very good; he has the guy down so fast I can’t blink without missing it. He isn’t exactly hard to look at either. When they’re done, he looks up to see me gawking, open-mouthed, I’m sure.

  “Hey, Roz, what brings you down here? Besides watching me be all manly and everything?”

  I’m sure I turn ten shades of red at his comment but I try my best to play it off. “Masters didn’t show up for our meeting this morning and isn’t returning my messages. I got worried. Is he here?”

  Adams cringes and takes me by the elbow, leading me away from all the guys.

  “He’s a bit indisposed at the moment.”

  “Is he okay? What’s going on?”

  “He’ll be fine. He’s beating the crap out of Green right now.”

  “What are you talking about? Why would he hurt Green? Where are they? Take me there right now!”

  “Calm down, Roz, Green is fine. Seriously…it’s a guy thing.”

  “So Green gave his permission for Masters to beat the crap out of him?” Adams looks relieved, like I’m finally getting it, which of course I’m not.

  “Why would he do that?”

  “Masters came in today in a horribly black mood. I’m not sure what happened, but he needed to work it out, so Green offered to spar with him.”

  I will never understand men no matter how hard I try. Why not offer to talk it out with him, which seems a lot more productive? How can beating up your best friend make you feel better? I can’t imagine having a bad day and going up to Molly and punching her.

  “Can you take me to them please?”

  Adams looks conflicted for a moment. I can tell he doesn’t want to take me, but he also isn’t really allowed to tell the president no. “Adams, I don’t have all day and I need to make sure Green hasn’t lost too much blood.” This snaps him out of it and he leads me to one of the back sparring rooms. There are a few guys standing outside watching them. If I didn’t know any better I’d swear Masters was trying to kill him.

  “For heaven’s sakes, Adams! Get in there now and break it up or Green is really going to get hurt!”

  Adams scoffs at me. “Yeah right. If I go in there the only person getting hurt is me.”

  “Well I’m not going to stand around while Green gets knocked out.”

  Another guy standing nearby speaks up. “Green’s fine. He lets him get a few good punches in, and then he dodges him or brings him in close; nothing to worry about.”

  I glare at him and take in his appearance. “Says the guy with a black eye and swollen lip.” He grins at me.

  “Out of my way, boys, I’m going in.”

  I walk into the room and in my best mommy voice I yell, “All right you two, that’s enough! Break it up right now!” They are either ignoring me or too caught up to care. I put my fingers in my mouth and whistle as loud as I can and instantly they both stop and look up. I thought it was useless when Molly made me learn how to whistle with my fingers in my mouth when we were in sixth grade. After all these years it finally paid off.

  “Anyone want to tell me what’s going on here?” Masters glares at me and Green shrugs. He wipes his split lip on a towel he snatches from the stool nearby. I walk out the door and tell all the guys to leave. I then tell Adams to put up the privacy block on the window and I go back inside, shutting the door behind me.

  Masters is chugging some water while Green tries to stop the bleeding. I sigh in frustration and look at Masters.

  “You missed our meeting and I was worried. Did you and Green get into a fight about something? What happened?”

  “I am a good friend,” Green says, “that’s what happened. It’s no big deal, Roz; he needed to blow off some steam so I volunteered to help.”

  “What happened?” I ask Green since Masters is apparently pretending I am invisible.

  Green laughs. “What do you think happened? There is only one reason why men get so angry they have to beat something…women!”

  Masters glares at him.

  “Natasha? Did something happen with Natasha?”

  Green shrugs. “That’d be my guess.”

  “You mean to tell me you let him beat the daylights out of you without even knowing why?”

  “Of course I did.” He points to himself. “Good friend, remember?” He grabs his towel and some water and goes to the door. “Men hit each other, women talk. Since you aren’t strapping on the gloves, that’s my cue to leave.” He walks out.

  I have a feeling this is going to take a while. I sit down and lean against the wall, waiting for Masters to talk. For a long time he doesn’t say anything, just sits there. He finally looks over at me. “Have you talked to her?”

  “No. Did you break up?”

  He laughs bitterly. “W
ho freaking knows?”

  “Did you get in a fight?”

  “Because that would make sense? No, Roz we didn’t get in a fight. I asked her to marry me!”

  My mouth drops open. I’m not sure what has me more shocked, the fact he proposed or that Natasha didn’t say yes, which I guess by his reaction she didn’t.

  “She said no?”

  He barks a bitter laugh. “Of course not; nothing that straightforward from Natasha Starr. She didn’t say no, she didn’t say anything at all. She spun around and walked away!”

  “What? That doesn’t sound like her at all.”

  He raises his eyebrow.

  “I’ll get to the bottom of this. You need to promise me you won’t beat anyone else up, and get on the security for the speech next week all right?”

  He nods once, which is all I am going to get from him. I race to the Career Department so I can talk to Natasha. I am much too busy to play couples therapist right now, but they have both done so much for me this past year I owe them at least this much.

  I head for Natasha’s new office and realize I’ve never been there. I find her behind a stack of files on her desk, typing frantically on her computer. I know they have a massive amount of work on their hands right now, especially with this new development. I walk in and clear my throat. She looks up from her stack and smiles.

  “Hi, there. What brings you by today?” she asks cheerfully. If I hadn’t just seen Masters taking his rage out on Green I would never have believed anything was wrong. She is either amazing at hiding it, or isn’t fazed by what happened between them. Both are hard to believe.

  I give her a stern look. “Anything you care to tell me?”

  She laughs. “I see you’ve already talked to Kevin.”

  “No, we didn’t talk. I did watch him beat the ever loving crap out of Green and then he gave me a few grunts but that would be it. Care to explain?”

  “He proposed.”

  “And?”

  She gives me an impish little shrug. “And what?”

  “Are you going to say yes?”

  “Of course I’m going to say yes!” she says, looking at me like I lost my mind to question otherwise.

  “And you didn’t think this was important information to share with Masters?”

  “Oh, it’s good for him to wonder a bit. How many times do you think anyone has said no to him? Everyone bows down to him and it’s time he learns he can’t intimidate everyone. I’m only letting him squirm a little; then I’ll tell him ‘Yes.’”

  I can’t help but laugh. Poor Masters is going to have his hands full, but I don’t think he’ll mind one bit.

  “He really loves you, ya know.”

  “I know.”

  The smile falls from my face. “He’s really upset, Tash. I think you should go talk to him, and maybe bring Green a treat or a steak for his eye,” I say seriously.

  “I will, but I’m completely swamped right now. I won’t have a chance until later.”

  “It’s up to you, but I wouldn’t wait until later. Call him and tell him to come up here, or better yet, announce it on the loudspeaker.”

  I am only joking but her eyes flash with mischief.

  “Or we could have an official dance party. It might not be an Act but it is pretty important.”

  “You want me to announce to the whole Ministry that you are engaged and hold a dance party?”

  “Yes.”

  “And this is how you want Masters to find out? Along with everyone else?”

  “Exactly!”

  “And they say I’m immature.”

  She laughs. “Well, are we doing this or what?”

  “I thought you are swamped.”

  “I am, but you’re the president. You can order me to have a dance party. It’s been known to happen.”

  “All right, but if Masters asks, you blackmailed me into it.”

  “What would I have to blackmail you with?”

  “Who knows? Although if anyone has the dirt on me it’s you, and I honestly never want to know what all you know.”

  “Well, let’s stop wasting time and get to it,” she says. “I have an engagement to announce and a groom to piss off.”

  “I feel bad for your future children.”

  We run up to my floor and tell Judy to get the music ready. She is so used to my random dance parties by now she doesn’t even bat an eyelash. I push the intercom so that it broadcasts to the entire building.

  “Good morning! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. As is customary around here we always celebrate with a dance party. Today I am happy to announce that we are about to have a celebration on our hands. To announce the happy news, here is Natasha Starr.”

  “Good morning, everyone. It is my pleasure to announce that this morning Kevin Masters asked me to be his wife, and this is me saying yes. So, Kevin, you better get up here because we are about to have us a party. Everyone is welcome to join in and celebrate with us. Thank you.”

  Judy brings up the music and in one quick movement Natasha takes our hands and leads us into the common area. We are dancing when Molly comes running out of her office, head bouncing and hips swaying, followed by a grinning George.

  “Please tell me you didn’t answer Masters’s question to the whole Ministry?” he says. He is going for disbelief although he looks proud of her guts.

  “Of course I did.”

  He shakes his head. “She-devils, the lot of you.”

  I grab his hand and he twirls me around. More people come to join us and I am worried Masters won’t show up when I see him leaning against the wall glaring at us.

  I wave him over and he slowly walks our way. He points at me. “You are a bad influence.” Then his face softens when he looks at Natasha. “Did you mean it?”

  She giggles. “Yep. Now you better get moving, we have a wedding to practice for.” He picks her up so fast I almost miss it and twirls her around, then sets her on her feet and plants a huge kiss on her mouth. This is the most I’ve ever seen of him with his guard down and from the looks on everyone else’s faces I’m not the only one. Green comes up next to me. “Ya did good, kid.”

  I smile. “So did you, although my way hurt a lot less.”

  “Meh, what’s another war wound? Look at his face. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him that happy.”

  “Being in love can do that I hear. You should try it out. You never know, you might like it.”

  He shudders. “That’s the thing with women; they always think they can change a guy. They think he just hasn’t met the right girl yet, and once he does it will be all wedding bells and bliss. Of course they always think they are the right one. Nah, I’m happy being a bachelor and you know it.”

  “You never get lonely? Never want to fall in love?”

  “I’ve thought about it. I’m happy with where I am right now. I date, I have a ton of female friends, I am my job, as you are yours. You know better than anyone you can’t split your focus when you are doing work as important as ours. I’m not saying you can’t be good at your job once you settle down, but your focus splits. You think Masters is going to be big, bad and scary once he has a tiny little girl wrapped around his finger? Never gonna happen.”

  What he says makes perfect sense, although it sounds like a lonely life to me. I want the happiness that comes with kids and a family. I want the consistency of loving and fighting with only one person. Of course, I am way too young to be thinking of that now, and I refuse to let anything derail my focus from the country right now.

  Once the dance party dies down and everyone goes back to their offices, Masters comes up and surprises me by giving me a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks, little one,” he whispers in my ear, then leaves with Green to go back to work.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  The rest of the week is spent trying to finalize the speech I will give the rest of the Ministry, and getting the heads of the departments up to speed and trained on how to deal with any fallout that might
occur. In the meantime, Wes is working in the Career Department trying to find the best most unobtrusive ways to monitor, and Molly and I are working closely with George trying to find the best areas in which to put the new compounds. Since there are about four Zones per region, I think one compound per region should be enough to make a good sized compound and not be overcrowded. I am going to have to go to the head of the Agriculture Department to get a feel for the best places to put each compound.

  The original compound instituted by former President Vaughn, also lovingly dubbed the OC, was designed purely to be as far and out of the way as it could get. I, on the other hand, want to make sure citizens in the compounds will have good food sources nearby and favorable weather conditions, which means I am going to have to tour the Ag Departments and the Zoning board.

  My phone rings and I pick it up on the first ring.

  “Hi, Miss Thatcher, this is Karl. The Council requests your presence. Are you available to meet with them?”

  How nice of them to give me some warning. I have many other things I need to do, none of them including meeting with the Council, but I guess those things are going to be put on hold.

  “Sure, Karl. Do they want to see me now or later this afternoon?”

  “Dexter Vaughn said if you are available, the sooner the better. It can wait if you are in the middle of something.”

  “No, now is fine, you caught me just in time. I will be up in five minutes.” I hang up and go tell Judy of my plans. She looks up and smiles when I walk in.

  “Sorry, Judy, duty calls, so it looks like I’m going to be in a meeting with the Council this morning. I was about to set up a meeting with the Ag Department. Do you think you can do that for me? And hold all my calls please.”

  “Of course I can, Miss Roz. I’ll leave your messages on your desk and put the Ag Department meeting in your calendar.”

  “Thank you, Judy, you are heaven sent.”

  I head straight to the Council offices. The sooner I get this over with the sooner I can get to work on rebuilding this country.

  I scan myself in and head straight to my chair.