The producer interrupted again, and he answered, "Of course locally."
Another pause and "You got it. The big Q right here in the Low Country. Wouldn't put it past QuellCorp to whack him if they discovered he was feeding me stories. And if I can tie one of the Gwinnett's to this, we've got a major story." Gordon hoped the producer would open up his budget to pay for the research and was very pleased with their response. "Yeah, it smells bad. And yeah, I'll owe you if I'm wrong."
08/03/2047 10:12
"Mr. President, Mr. Hagin is here and says he has an urgent can't-wait message for you, Sir."
"Thank you Gladys, please send him right in," said Barrett.
Five seconds later, the Oval Office door swung open and Hagin walked in to stand in front of the seated President.
"You look harried Jack, that's never a great sign. What part of the sky is falling on us now?"
"Mr. President," said Hagin, and paused.
Oh shit, thought Barrett, I don't like the tone of that. He cocked his head, looked at Hagin and wondered what it would take to get the man to continue.
"Sir, the Secret Service phoned to say that Vice President Jackson is dead. It appears he keeled over during his morning run, and he was dead before he hit the ground."
"Really? He was a fitness freak, always exercising and running," said Barrett. He stopped, looked at Hagin, took a few seconds to think about his next question. "Do we have a doctor's report?"
"No sir, simply that he's dead. An autopsy has been ordered as per standing orders but there was nothing outside of the ordinary. He just went down and couldn't be revived. Doctors called it about 10 minutes ago now," said Hagin.
"Hutchins." Barrett said and waited. He motioned Jack to the chair. The soft system-working tone played in his ear.
Two seconds later the tone stopped, and Press Secretary Richard Hutchins said, "Yes, Mr. President."
"Vice President Jackson has died. Heart attack apparently. Get something appropriate written up, set a formal announcement and press conference with Gladys for as soon as possible."
"Yes, Sir, we've already got his obituary on file so I'll update that and get something for you immediately. On it, Sir," said Hutchins.
Barrett turned to Hagin, grimaced, shook his head and said, "Never rains but it pours. Well, I for one won't miss that son-of-a-bitch. He was always undercutting everything I tried to do and setting himself up for a run. All smoke and mirrors. But he could get his vote out on polling day." He paused, looked at the stack of file folders, pursed his mouth, and turned back to Hagin.
"That puts the 25th Amendment into play. Correct? I get to nominate outside of the command succession; there's nothing automatic about this."
Hagin nodded. "And that means the long knives come out for real. There'll be blood in the hallways and meeting rooms in Congress before the day is over. The in-fighting is going to be legendary and it should spark a few books and tv shows. Got any ideas who'll you pick for VP?" He slumped down in his chair, crossed his legs and waited.
Barrett shook his head. But a thought snuck in the back door and he smiled. "Maybe. But let me get back to you on that," he said. "For now, let's get the bastard buried, New York City fed, and then we can deal with the bloodbath in the hallowed halls of Congress."
"Yes, Mr. President," said Hagin pushing himself upright and out of the chair. "I see you've got something cooking in that political skull of yours, want to share?"
"Jack, you'll be the first to know." Barrett smiled for the first time that day.
09/03/2047 13:45
Leaning against the wall beside his big Whitehouse office windows, Barrett had a resigned look on his face as he absorbed the questions from his fundraising chairman, Tom Cunningham.
"Mr. President, I understand you called in the military and ordered wheat from Canada. Sir, did Congress approve this use of the military?"
Barrett understood Tom knew the answer already but wanted to make his points early in the meeting. "Tom, you know the death of the Vice-President, the lack of food and imposition of martial law in New York has combined into a political mess of gigantic proportions. And you know I'm taking that seriously, perhaps too seriously for some folks." Barrett paused, looked across his desk at the faces sitting on the couches staring at him.
"Mr. President, did you consult your cabinet on this?" asked Cunningham.
"No, and you damn well know there's been no Congressional approval for either of those two actions and if you're smart, you'll get our supporting networks to develop approval ratings for them before the day is over," said Barrett. He knew the best defense was often a good offense - at least at the beginning of the discussion until he had to back down and apologize.
"Mr. President, I talked to three presidents of our major grain corporations today, and Sir, they are not pleased," said Cunningham. "These were major supporters of yours in the last election and there's a great deal of money at stake here. They preferred that you place those orders through them rather than a government to government deal, Sir. They're feeling as if you've betrayed them to avoid paying a few cents more per bushel. Sir, they do control the distribution of grains and annoying them isn't a good idea."
Barrett hesitated and decided he'd like to end this conversation as soon as possible. He wasn't going to win it anyway, and there were bigger problems sitting on his desk. He nodded at Cunningham.
"You're right of course, I should have put the order through them. We'll need more grain so tell them it won't happen again and apologize for me. I decided the fastest way to get the grain moving to New York was to do it directly, but I should have taken the extra time. I don't care what you tell them or how you do it but that should just about cover my apology," Barrett said.
The political operative took a breath to respond and took a quick look at Hagin. With a single raised eyebrow, Hagin indicated he should back off and so instead of pushing home the point, he said, "Yes, Mr. President. I'll make it work."
George turned to the Chiefs of Staff who were also included in this meeting.
"General Stillwater, let me continue with the apologies to you and the other Chiefs. I should have consulted with you before I committed the troops and made it official. But there's a time for direct action and as Commander-in-Chief, I decided to exercise the rights of this office. Politically unwise perhaps, but effective nevertheless. My apologies."
"Thank you Mr. President."
"Are there any other feathers I've ruffled this morning needing to be dealt with? Or am I now fine?"
There were no more, or none willing to speak up after gaining a few concessions. All were very experienced and capable political animals and knew there was a time to push and a time to bend. They'd pushed, the President bent. But he was now giving clear signs of straightening back up. This rare ability to bend and then come back quickly, almost blending the two emotions into one made him a fearsome politician. Those who thought they had him cornered into multiple concessions or decided they could push him around found themselves buried so deeply in the Washington political swamps, few ever rose to bother him again.
"Let's deal with New York then," said Barrett.
10/03/2047 06:00
"Marines, listen up. Full combat gear, draw full rations and ammo packs. We're headed to New York City and it isn't for a holiday. You are now under full battle situation readiness in an area of martial law. You are authorized to return fire and to do so with overwhelming force. Armed resistance is expected and will not be tolerated.
If fired on, you are expected to destroy those firing on you. You will have, and fully employ, air support. We have the new Venoms to augment the Cobra-X's. They're carrying armor-piercing loads and we have authorization to use whatever means are necessary to subdue resistance. This includes property damage. If we can't shoot them out, we'll blow them out. Avoid civilian casualties whenever possible, but do not jeopardize yourself or your team."
This order went out through all levels of command and mo
re than one marine had concerns. One conversation was carried on after the troops had been dismissed.
"Sarge, do we obey an order to gun down civilians?"
His sergeant took a careful breath before answering, "Corporal, when you signed your enlistment papers, you swore an auth to uphold the Constitution. Right? Do you intend to break your word?"
"No Sergeant Palmer, I do not."
"Then your question is answered," replied the Sergeant.
10/03/2047 16:05
Ed heard his producer's voice in his earbuds, licked his lips, glanced, for the tenth time in the last two minutes, at the unlit red light on his camera drone hovering a few feet away, and got ready to speak. He assumed his serious, news look and counted along as his producer counted down his time, "One, two..." On his silent count of three, with the red light now shining, Ed began.
"Folks, there's a big storm warning today for lower Savannah, and flooding is expected along the northern end of the Truman from the Savannah Golf Club over to the Old East Broad Street School apartments. This includes most of Wheaton St. This warning also extends west from Highway 16 to 25 and north to the river.
Low lying areas outside of those zones, particularly on the South Side are about to go marsh-sloppy so get out the waders and watch for alligators. There are confirmed reports of really big gators moving into the South Side off the marshes so keep your pets and children indoors tonight if you're out there. Those big boys are hungry and this bit of weather wrecks their regular food sources.
Governor Dillon has been quoted as saying if this storm takes out Highway 80 again, there isn't any money available for rebuilding. This means if you're on Tybee and points east of the causeway, you should either get to the mainland now or make darn sure your boat isn't damaged by the flooding. Tybee Mayor George Rothwell said the last time they rebuilt it all they did was truck in more gravel and level it out. He pointed out no road in a tidal area will survive for long if you only lay down a few feet of gravel, and he wants it rebuilt properly. In response, the Governor's office said they were more than willing to turn over the road to Chatham County and the Island and would do so if local council made the formal request for ownership or full repairs.
Folks, let the politicians fight this one out. You get yourself to safety right now. The storm's centre will pass around 11 tonight and the tidal surge should come ashore at 3:15 this morning. The storm surge is expected to be 22 feet, which is about 10 feet above normal tide.
And finally, tonight is my last broadcast. Penny and I are moving to Washington D.C where I've been promoted by the network to take over political stories for ZeeVid. That'll include New York City and everything else out on the east coast so you'll still see a lot of me. We'll miss all our friends and I wish you nothing but the best. And do keep great barbecue cooking. I'm looking forward to my first holidays and coming back down.
This is Ed Gordon for Savannah News."
The red light went out and Gordon took a deep breath. He shivered, the air was chilly tonight ahead of the storm, unseasonably so. His mouth became a straight line. There is no more "unseasonable" any more, it's always screwed up no matter what month it is, he decided.
He shook his head and patted his shoulder. "Come to papa," he said. The drone took its accustomed spot for charging.
15/03/2047 12:01
There was no answer, Sip3r had disconnected.
Luv3luv: "You in love with that guy?"
Coffee mug in hand,
16/03/2047 15:01
"ZeeVid has learned today the entire Thomas Jefferson precinct in New York City is taking bribes from two different criminal organizations. We have names, scrolling below on your screen, with the amounts they're paid beside their name. This data is also now posted on our site and the original files forwarded to the Attorney General's office. Neither the Mayor's office nor the Police Commissioner will respond to these allegations. We have also listed the names of those giving the bribes. This is Ed Gordon for ZeeVid in New York City"
Ed took a deep breath. Well, not bad for a first story in the big leagues, he thought smiling.
His ear feed chimed. His producer's voice said, "Good, short and sweet. Big guy says there's a bonus in your account. I'm telling you to watch your back."
Ed's smile disappeared. What's next he wondered.
18/03/2047 09:17
"Gentlemen, excuse me for interrupting but we're going around in circles here. Let me summarize. We know few of the presented options are one hundred percent useful in their current state," said Gwinnett.
"There are one hundred and sixty thousand troops on our worldwide bases. We need more but we have no place to train new recruits or upgrade skills. We'll have to make changes no matter where we go." He looked at each of his executive team. Raised an eyebrow. "Is that a fair assessment?" he said.
He received silent nods from the men sitting at the board room table. The large overhead fans turned slowly, the massive windows occupying two sides of the room were wide open and the thrumming of diesel engines prevented the men's hearing the whine of mosquitoes congregating on the window screens.
"What's clear is we have to go. The South is just too damn hot to live, and given electricity is off as much as
on, we can't run city scenarios here any more. The fuel bill is now unprofitably in the six-figures every month." Gwinnett gestured towards the open windows and continued. "And we need to run them to maintain the urban guerrilla training. Let me note this is difficult when much of the base, the so-called city, is now marsh-soft half the time. The base here is fubared. Have I summarized the situation accurately?"
He looked around the table and one by one, he received a nod from each of his team.
"Sarah, speed this up. Focus on Grand Forks and Grand Rapids." He flicked a laser pointer at the wall screen that occupied one entire wall, highlighting the two lucky communities on the map.
"We want a bidding war to see which state will give us the land. I don't want to buy it because it'll cost us twenty million just to move our first set of troops never mind the support staff. I suspect Minnesota will give up enough park land pretty quickly for all the jobs we're bringing. Sarah, talk to the governors and mayors and see what they'll come up with.
We'll need to replicate this inner city security setup and forest training." He waved and an architects drawing appeared on the screen. See how we've combined our support people into the city - we'll train around them for added realism. Mix the bad guys into our good guys. Low-power training lasers only."
"You understand what we need. I want it yesterday." He put both hands flat on the table and looked around at each of the men.
"Get us out of here in the next two months. Done and gone and no excuses," said Gwinnett. "Understand I am not giving you an option. Yes, it's a complicated operation but that's why you're hired. You're the best at what you do, and now, I need you to prove it and backup Sarah with whatever she needs. Sarah, one thing to keep in mind, I want to offer every good person on our staff, no matter the position, a place in our new team. The more folks we take north with us, the faster we'll be back making money and the cost of moving them is far less than the cost of training new people. We're in danger of losing contracts now because we don't have new troops coming online fast enough.
2047: Hell In A Handbasket Page 6