Foster said, “It seems the assumption is this rock has magical powers. Aren’t we getting ahead of ourselves?”
Garland jumped on the HHS Secretary. “Madame Secretary, let me remind you, it’s my job to get out ahead of all possibilities to protect and inform the president. And frankly, whether the meteorite has any mystical qualities or not is immaterial. I guarantee you, if the meteorite is released, millions will want to—”
The president flashed a palm and spoke, “Peter has raised the possibility of having the meteorite tour the country. I know it poses challenges, but it would make it available to millions without taxing our resources, should they want to view it. How do you see it, Paul?”
“I understand the objective, Mr. President. It is a noble idea, and though it poses significant challenges, merits consideration. I’d have to consult with DOT on suitable and securable routes before I’m in a position to make a determination.”
Garland said, “If you could make this a priority, it would be helpful to the president.”
The Homeland Secretary Chief nodded and Garland spoke again, “Now, Secretary Rogers, the president would appreciate your assessment.”
The defense chief was a close ally of Baxter’s, having served as secretary of state in his first administration, and usually came out on top when policy differences emerged. Garland always fought to orchestrate the unveiling of Rogers’ viewpoint till the end.
Rogers said, “We must consider our actions on a global basis. Our approach, our handling of the meteorite, assuming it has some long-term hold on the public, has the potential to be the most powerful tool ever known to mankind.”
Foster winced. “Tool?”
“Indeed! A political tool to be brandished boldly.” Rogers moved to the edge of his seat. “Imagine the concessions we’d wring from our most hateful enemies. Damn, I’d be in favor of using it to get some of our so-called European allies in line.” The defense chief snickered. “Deployed properly, we could support our friends and isolate those that wish us harm.” Rogers nodded. “And do it all without firing a bullet.”
“So, peace and world unity. You make it all sound so easy.”
“Easy, it’s not.” Rogers shot a forefinger in the air. “Our enemies and even our friends will plot to control the meteorite, of that you can be sure. Our intelligence surveillance has already picked up significant chatter about the meteorite from friend and foe alike. Think for a moment about what a powerful propaganda tool the Islamic Jihadists would have if they controlled the meteorite. They could easily—”
A knock on the door sounded. The president glared as Garland’s secretary stuck her head in.
“Please excuse my interruption.”
“Please give me a second,” Garland said, and closed the door behind him. “This better be good.”
“I’m sorry, sir, but I thought you’d like to know there is a rather large crowd assembling outside.”
“Here? The White House?”
“I’m afraid so, sir.”
Garland rushed to a set of windows which framed hundreds of people, many of whom were brandishing placards about the meteorite.
***
“Patty, it’s me.”
“Hi Jack. How you doing?”
“Pretty good, look, I need some info. Can you help?”
“Hope so, what’s up?”
“I need to know where the meteorite is exactly.”
“What do you mean? Hey, wait a minute, you mean it’s not at Andrews? The Feds lied again?”
“No, no, it’s at Andrews. What I’m looking for is the exact location on the base itself.”
“What do you want that for? You’re not gonna do anything crazy, are you?”
“Of course not, this is for research. Can I trust you?”
“Come on, Jack! Of course you can.”
“Okay, okay. I’m trying to nail down the exact area affected by the meteorite. You know, how far its aura projects. I thought it was maybe a fifteen- to twenty-mile circumference. It wasn’t so important when it was in small cities, but in metropolitan areas it’s huge.”
“You’re really buying into the power of this thing.”
“It’s irrefutable, Patty! The data is piling up, and I want to see what limitations there may be.”
“I didn’t think of that. So, like when sometimes it only rains on one side of the street, you think the meteorite’s effect has a strict limit.”
“Exactly, I’m sure they’ll figure it out, but it’d be nice to break it.”
“Uh, let me make a call to our military correspondent. He owes me one.”
***
Jack made scores of calls and verified that deaths had plummeted in Alexandria, a city of two hundred thousand and only eight miles from Andrews Air Force Base. However, there seemed to be no effect in Arlington, which was twenty-one miles away. He was about to publish an article when a news item scrolled across his screen. The breaking news announced that a senior advisor to the president had died at his desk from a heart attack.
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
“Jack! I’m surprised at you. Watch your language!”
“I, sorry Lor, but did you see, Harry Griess died at his West Wing desk?”
“Yes, did you know him?”
“No, but don’t you see? How could he have died of natural causes? The White House is only seventeen miles away from the meteorite.”
“So the radius has to be smaller then, that’s all.”
***
Jack and Laura were jogging along Connecticut Avenue when Jack suddenly halted in front of an electronics store.
“I can’t frigging believe it!”
He pointed at a bank of TVs in the window, where Patty Pet was giving a live report on Fox. As the captions rolled by, Jack muttered, “Bitch, what a dirty little bitch.”
“Shush! What’s the matter?”
“She stole my story.” Jack shook his head. “I thought I could trust her.”
Within an hour of Patty Pet’s breaking the news that the meteorite’s effect on death was irrefutable and that to benefit you had to be within fifteen miles, the nation’s capital was choked with traffic.
Chapter Ten
Garland set aside the reports on the meteorite. The evidence had mounted, forming an opinion by the government’s scientific community that it somehow stopped natural death. This was like science fiction, he thought. How was this happening? Was this some elaborate plot, a Trojan horse of some kind? Backpedaling his thoughts to see if anything in the past could be pieced together as a scheme, he became fixated on the why now.
Couldn’t this damn meteorite have come six months ago? Dad would’ve been saved, and Mom wouldn’t have died of heartbreak. Even if this gift of immortality was not a plot of some kind, it certainly had played the dirtiest of tricks on the recently departed. Garland couldn’t stop thinking how unfair and arbitrary the timing seemed. I worked my entire career managing events and the timing of them, which was in most cases the most important component, he thought. And now this? His rising anger was interrupted by a phone call requesting his presence in the Oval Office.
It was six o’clock, and, though the president’s shirt was heavily wrinkled from his long day, he appeared fresh when Garland entered the Oval Office. The last rays of the sun disappeared as Garland waited for the president to finish reading.
Baxter said, “Did you get to Andrews yet?”
“Not yet, it’s been a little busy around here.”
“Make it a priority. Who knows when this might end?”
“I’ve asked the networks for time for an address at eight tonight. You’ve got to get things calmed down before we have a major crisis on our hands.”
“Major? What do you call this?”
“It could get much worse if cooler heads don’t prevail.” His voice trailed off.
“I’m getting reports from Berlin, London, Paris, Milan, you name it, and people are demanding access to the,” he fingere
d quotation marks, “cure.”
“I know, every corner of the earth is calling.” Baxter held up a stack of phone messages.
“I’m telling you, this could really explode. We could have massive public unrest. We’re on the cusp of nastiness. Here’s a draft of what I think needs to be in the address.” He handed a file to Baxter. “But the main theme has got to be that we need just a little more time to be sure there is no threat from this. That we need to discern where it emanated from—”
“That’ll make people feel like this is some extraterrestrial plot to take over Earth.”
“Look, they can believe what they want. If they think some Martians may come and take over, so be it. We need time. NASA said they had a couple more tests to run. We’ve got to be absolutely sure.”
“Then what?”
***
A chanting mob, numbering in the hundreds, marched down Washington Street breaking car windshields along the way. As they approached Georgia’s capital building, a police car intercepted the throng. The officer tried to get out of his vehicle, but the mob rushed the car and flipped it onto its roof.
The crowd began climbing the stairs of the historic landmark, which was modeled after the US Capitol, and began defacing its Corinthian columns. Two Atlanta police officers came onto the portico and drew their weapons. The mob responded by throwing rocks and bottles at the officers, who quickly retreated into the building.
Sirens, heralding the arrival of a contingent of police cars, did nothing to quell the crowd, who were chanting for access to the meteorite. Frontline protesters began shouldering the building’s doors, and, as they gained entrance, screeching tires announced the arrival of a riot force, sending the demonstrators running.
***
Jack’s grandmother and three of her neighbors leaned toward the TV as the eleven o’clock news played.
“We’re here tonight with the man who started it all, Jack Amato.”
Seated against a background of the White House, Jack smiled into the camera.
“You watched the president’s address. What effect do you think it will have?”
“I give the president high marks for attempting to quell the uprising, but he didn’t go far enough.”
“Uprising?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what we have on our hands. What else would you call hundreds of thousands of people across America protesting about being denied access to the meteorite? Look at the riots in Atlanta and Baltimore.”
The reporter nodded. “Jack, you said Baxter didn’t go far enough. What do you believe needs to be done?”
“Clearly, the president’s address did nothing to calm the country’s anxiety about the meteorite. And when my next article is published, it will only increase the public’s desire to get the benefits it offers.”
“Can you give us some details?”
“Sorry, but you’ll have to read it.”
“Let’s get back to what you believe the president should do.”
“Well, I can appreciate he feels he is between a rock and a hard place, but only a lucid, believable plan to allow the public access will calm things down.”
“It sounds like you think it should be on exhibit.”
“No, not exactly.”
“Can you expound on it? I’m sure the president would be interested.”
“I don’t think he wants to hear from me, but I have thought a lot about this.”
“Time is running out, but please share a quick overview with us.”
“Well, I think the meteorite should go on a tour of America. By a tour, I don’t mean to suggest two nights in Boston, then onto New York for a couple of nights. What should be done is to keep it in motion, in say a guarded caravan over the country’s roads or even on a low-flying drone. That way the highest number of people could be within the meteorite’s effective range in the shortest amount of time.”
***
The morning’s headlines skewered the president over his continued failure to allow public access to the meteorite. There wasn’t a major paper’s editorial page that sided with the administration’s position on safety concerns, and some insinuated the delay was to allow the political class unfettered access ahead of everyone else.
A large protest was scheduled for noon at the Washington Mall featuring prominent religious leaders, including Billy Graham Jr., a great-grandson of the famed preacher. The White House was approaching panic mode as events threatened to overrun them.
Garland was in his office preparing for a crucial meeting in the Roosevelt Room. He knew decisive action had to be taken and soon. The chief of staff was engrossed in a fresh report from the surgeon general that all but confirmed the meteorite’s power to halt death when his phone rang. Garland pressed the do not disturb button and continued reading when a knock on his door preceded his secretary’s head.
“Sorry, sir.”
“Damn it, Alice! I told you I don’t want to be disturbed.”
“I, I realize that, but Pastor Beasley’s office is on the line.”
“Give it to Brown!”
“Uh, I think you better take it.”
“Geez, how am I gonna do my job with all these damn interruptions?” Garland threw his hands up. “Give me the frigging call.”
***
Garland hung up and collapsed into his chair, blindsided by the news that Pastor Beasley, a friend of Baxter’s who had given benediction at every White House state dinner was going to speak at the protest against the president’s position.
Beasley was widely known to be the president’s spiritual consultant and was America’s leading religious figure. Garland pulled himself out of his chair and paced his office. This is bad, he thought, we’re losing control of the situation. Beasley and others like the pastor counted half the nation as followers. This was trouble and required swift action, he decided, and headed to the door.
“Alice, the meeting scheduled for one has gotta be moved up. Get everybody, and I mean everybody, there by ten. But first tell the president I’m heading over now.”
***
Vice President Victor Johnson was a menacing figure but an effective legislator, like his namesake LBJ. Six foot six, with a dark complexion, Johnson had tremendous establishment support, but his brusque manner was not favored by the public. When Johnson was around, he ran the meeting, and today was no exception.
“Pete’s screwed with our schedules again, but this time I agree with him.” He leaned his big frame forward. “We don’t handle this goddamn meteorite the right way, we’ll have no shot of holding the White House next time around.”
Garland interjected, “The Veep’s right. This is as high as the stakes get, folks.”
Johnson said, “Now that Beasley’s stabbed us in the back, we gotta roll out a plan, pronto-mundo.”
Garland added, “And it has to be sold. The message may be more important than the plan itself.”
The vice president said, “Pete’s dead-on. I’ll get Congress on board, but most of the public’s damn oblivious and we’ve got to force feed ’em. The president agrees the meteorite must be released as soon as possible. The question is, how do we make it available to as many as possible, in the shortest time?”
Garland cautioned, “Access and speed are important, but safety cannot be compromised. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but with the evidence the meteorite does halt death, tens of millions of people will clamor to see it.”
Homeland Security Secretary Rosario said, “That reporter, Amato, he said the radius was fifteen miles, but unless I missed it, I never saw a confirmation in any of the reports.”
Johnson said, “It turns out he was right. I don’t know how the hell he measured it, but NASA needed a bunch of high-tech crap to confirm it.”
Garland said, “Speaking of that reporter, he mentioned a couple of ideas last night, and several of them have merit. We should consider them.”
“Hold on now, Pete, this guy’s a reporter, for Christ’s sake. We’ve
got experts with real experience.”
Garland said, “Sometimes you got to go outside the Beltway. Much as we like to think, we don’t have all the answers in DC.”
Defense Secretary Rogers said, “Maybe, but keep in mind we’ve got to be prepared for an outright attempt to grab the meteorite by a foreign power or terrorist group. And if we’re not careful, we’ll be overrun by foreigners trying to get in to see the meteorite, opening ourselves up to all kinds of scum entering.”
Garland said, “Thank you, Bill. I don’t want to discount anything, but let’s settle on a plan first. Then let Homeland and Defense vet it. If they agree it’s safe, we’ll present it to the president. Now, we discussed the use of convention centers and the like. Where are we on them, Secretary Rosario?”
Rosario said, “The beauty with a convention site, and for the first one we’re focusing on Dallas, is we know how to secure it. We’d set up a perimeter line as far away as necessary and screen attendees as they progress through the line. The downsides are the largest sites are not evenly distributed throughout the country, leaving us open to charges of favoritism.”
Garland said, “Favoritism? That seems harsh.”
“Maybe, but tell me, why should Dallas be the first city to get the life-saving benefits?”
Garland said, “Why not? What about the people who died before the meteorite? Who’s sticking up for them?”
A red light flashed on the communications console in the center of the table and Garland reached for the handset. Garland listened and his color and demeanor darkened, resembling his vice president. Garland drew a deep breath as he hung up.
“State Department says Mexico’s not going to secure their border crossings or stop people from heading up to Dallas.” Garland glared at Rosario as he said Dallas, suspecting him of leaking the possible site.
Johnson said, “That’s outrageous. What possible reason could he give?”
The Final Enemy Page 6