by Van Torrey
“We’ll use as many of President Braxton’s people as are available who didn’t make the trip...fill in with mine. We’ll sort all that out later. Get my Chief of Staff to the White House right away. And, gentlemen, thank you...I know this is a tough blow. Many of us gave him our best and admired him greatly. We’ll get to the bottom of this, but first we need to have a transparent and dignified transition for the whole world to see. Also, get the word out in a low-key way, Mr. Worthy; the emphasis is to be on a sense of dignity, respect, and calm control of the situation at this end.”
“Yes ma’am,” continued Worthy. “There’s one more thing of the moment. Somewhere on Marine Two is an Air Force officer with a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist.”
“Yes, Mr. Worthy, I see him.”
“I assume you know what that is,” he continued.
“Unfortunately, I do, Mr. Worthy. The nuclear codes. Thank you.”
“One last thing, Mr. Worthy; get the Chinese Ambassador over to the White House right away. I want a personal meeting with him, and tell him I expect some current information and straight answers!”
*
As Marine Two began its change of course back toward the White House and Rachel Hunter’s appointment with a destiny she momentarily dreaded, her mind wandered back to the developments that presaged today’s terrible events half a world away in China, and suddenly propelled her against her will to this position of lofty power and terrible responsibility.
Unknown to any of the parties to the Asian Arms negotiations, General Fhang’s strategy of sending his Foreign Minister to Beijing to be the lead negotiator for the DPRK had not been based on his sincere desire to reduce tensions in the region or to denuclearize the Korean peninsula. Indeed, General Fhang had no intentions of giving up his nukes or the ability to build more, and develop smaller warheads. He fully intended to increase his warhead-missile delivery capability. But he had to show a more conciliatory hand than the previous intransigence of the now defunct Chongs in order to gain some credibility in these stalled negotiations. Seth Bainbridge and his negotiating team had viewed Minister Lee’s recent proposal as at least a tenuous beachhead. Although all negotiators are wary of the fundamental intentions of their adversaries, it is necessary for both parties to set forth a position that gives the other party some hope that success may be achieved. The North Koreans had opened the door slightly in conjunction with a recent change of regime to move the chess pieces in such a way that gave the Americans, South Koreans, and Japanese some hope that the current impasse could be overcome. That movement was what had driven President Braxton and his cabinet to plan an aid package consisting of agricultural equipment, seeds and fertilizer, auxiliary supplies, and technical assistance Braxton and his administration would offer North Korea to advance the Nuclear Talks to the point of, if not total success, at least to a stage where North Korea could find motivation to continue to bargain in good faith toward an end game of denuclearization. This was the hope that had driven President Jonathon Braxton on his noble mission that had just ended so tragically.
For a fleeting moment Rachel Hunter was taken back to the hotel room in San Francisco where President Braxton had offered her the Vice-Presidential nomination. She remembered remarking in response, “In accepting this nomination I am effectively preparing myself to become President of the United States, one way or the other,” and Braxton had nodded in agreement, “Yes, one way or the other.” How prophetic his response had been.
*
The clatter of the helicopter rotor blades as Marine Two made the approach to the White House released Rachel from her momentary flash-back and her thoughts about the antecedents to the terrible events that had suddenly swept her into the position of the most powerful political figure on Earth. She could not yet know Braxton’s last presidential journey had been the first of many missteps in a long process that would have dangerous implications for many before it played itself out.
*
Two minutes later Marine Two, followed by another helicopter loaded with staff and security, landed on the South Lawn of the White House and disgorged Rachel Hunter along with a hoard of confused and bewildered support personnel who were in serious need of leadership.
The vice-presidential entourage was greeted as it landed by a White House photographer, and two other still and video photographers from the press pool. These historic images would be the only ones available to all networks and media outlets until after the swearing-in to ensure the dignity of the moment and eliminate any disruptive and undignified competition from the rival networks during these moments of national loss and reestablishment of leadership continuity.
As Rachel Hunter entered the White House she asked for a meeting with FBI Director Clayton Wheatley, DNI Raymond Rollins, CIA Director Marilyn Mitchell, and Secret Service Director Christopher Worthy, all of whom were furiously working their cell and satellite phones seeking the latest information about Braxton’s assassination. This group, along with a stenographer and two military aides met in the White House Situation Room for maximum security.
“Gentlemen, perhaps we can put off the ceremony for thirty minutes until we get the ball rolling on this investigation,” began Rachel Hunter. “Let’s start with what facts are available. I want to know if there are any executive decisions to be made based on those facts. I realize it is a fluid situation...my God, this is beyond belief!”
Clayton Wheatley spoke up first. “Ma’am, Director Worthy and I have been on the sat-phone with the head of the President’s Secret Service detail for the past forty-five minutes. Here’s what we know as of five minutes ago...”
He was interrupted by the single telephone in the Situation Room buzzing twice with startling authority as one of the military aides answered. He listened for a moment and replied, “Yes, sir. I’ll tell her.” Rachel Hunter knew the message was for her. “What is it Colonel?”
“Ma’am that was House Speaker Sturgis calling. He and the Chief Justice think it would be best if you took the oath of office right away. The Chief Justice thinks it would be better if there was no delay since everyone is assembled and executive decisions will have to be made soon.”
There was a moment of silence during which Rachel knew the suggestion was probably appropriate. Briefly she wondered if she wasn’t trying to subconsciously delay the inevitable. However, this was a historic moment and anything beyond decisions of a purely personal nature would need to be rooted in the fact they had been made after she had been sworn in officially as President of the United States.
“Gentlemen, I think at the moment I still have a boss, maybe even two. We don’t want to keep Chief Justice Fleming and the Speaker waiting. Would you care to join me in the East Room while I accept the burdens and privileges of this office? Unfortunately, today I think it may be more of the former. We’ll reconvene back here later today.”
Juxtaposed against the images Rachel had in her memory about Presidential transition via traditional inaugurations, this transition was more real because it was happening with little preparation, and under nightmarish circumstances. In modern history only JFK had been assassinated, with Lyndon Johnson subsequently assuming the presidency on Air Force One with a traumatically dazed Jacqueline Kennedy looking on in a state of incomprehensible disbelief, while her husband’s casket lay within feet of the impromptu swearing-in of a sitting Vice-President.
Rachel fought back shock and old memories in order to remain in the moment and lucid as she took in the unusual scene unfolding before her in the East Room of the White House. Members of Congress, Supreme Court Justices, current and past members of various administrations, high ranking military officers, cabinet members, and senior journalists formed a strange-bedfellow amalgam of shocked mourners who wanted to be present, under historically unique circumstances, to watch a sitting Vice-President assume the Presidency of the United States.
Rachel placed her hand on a bible appearing seemingly out of nowhere and looked through sorrowful eyes into
the stoical face of the Chief Justice of the United States, who was prepared to administer the oath of office. “I Rachel Margaret Hunter do solemnly swear...”
In less than five minutes Rachel Hunter had completed an improbable journey from the cloistered life of academia, via the Vice-Presidency, into the office of the most powerful political figure in the world. Her first thought after completion of the oath was to utter a silent prayer asking God to help her be worthy of the responsibility. As she looked out over the crowd quietly clapping in respectful approval, she saw former President Braxton’s butler, Maurice, show a subdued thumbs up as he made eye contact with her through his tear-stained eyes.
CHAPTER 11
PICKING UP THE PIECES
“Keep calm and carry on.”
Motivational mantra of the British during the German Blitz. (1939)
*
President Rachel Hunter finally flopped into bed in the Lincoln bedroom of the White House at 11:30 p.m., exhausted and confused after the first day of her presidency. The Lincoln Bedroom was a compromise based on the fact that President Braxton’s belongings had not yet been moved from the President’s private quarters, and sending her back to the Naval Observatory residence was deemed too risky at the moment. Rachel had lobbied to go back to her own bed in the Vice-President’s residence, but quickly found even the President of the United States is frequently at the whim of the ubiquitous and ultra-conservative protocols of the U.S. Secret Service. In the still poorly understood aftermath of President Braxton’s assassination in Beijing less than twenty-four hours before, the Secret Service was in a state of locked-down paranoia not been seen since President Reagan had been shot. Access to the White House was now limited to absolutely essential personnel only and those with ‘A’ level badges. One reporter waggishly opined that security was so tight even the Second Coming would have been postponed.
Blessed sleep would be long in coming as Rachel’s mind raced remembering the whirlwind events of the day.
The first event had been the swearing-in officiated over by Chief Justice Fleming and witnessed by as many senior Members of Congress, Cabinet Members, and White House aides as could be assembled and accommodated in the East Room, the largest room in the White House. There had not been even enough time to get her elderly mother to Washington from California.
Rachel had wanted to avoid a “LBJ Moment”, of course referring to what later appeared to be a photo-op event filled with pathos as a visibly shaken Jackie Kennedy looked on dumbfounded as a man who had lusted to become President for many years took the oath of office from a Texas judge before the man he had served was even cold. Rachel had always felt this could have been handled with greater dignity, sensitivity, and respect for those involved and the nation as a whole.
With the administrative and legal imperatives of the United States’ Constitutionally driven presidential transition firmly in place, the word went out through United States’ diplomatic channels to all the capitals of the World validating what had been witnessed electronically by perhaps billions, that Rachel Hunter, was now officially President of the United States. Once again, the Constitution of the United States had been honored as an enlightened, if not perfect, document guiding the Republic in time of trial and uncertainty.
Now it was down to the considerable amount of serious business facing the new Chief Executive.
In the early afternoon President Hunter assembled those close advisers who had remained in Washington, and not been part of Braxton’s entourage to China. Among them were FBI Director Wheatley, Senior Members of Congress, CIA Director Marilyn Mitchell, DNI Raymond Rollins, and, fortunately, the Secretaries of State and Defense, Alexander Randolph and Justin Roberts, respectively. They met in the White House Situation Room for maximum security. President Hunter began the meeting shortly after 2:00 p.m.
“Gentlemen, Ms. Mitchell, thank you for your support and for the dignified way you have all conducted yourself in this difficult time. It is important that we present a strong and united front for the citizens of the United States and everyone else watching, friends and adversaries alike.”
“I have just spoken to Philip Johnson for an extended period on a secure line. He is, of course, devastated by this loss as he was not only President Braxton’s Chief of Staff, but a close personal friend as well. This is very difficult for him on many levels. He has graciously accepted the responsibility of managing the logistics of bringing President Braxton home and arranging the State funeral with the help of the White House and military protocol chiefs. Of more long-term importance, he has accepted my request to become my Chief of Staff, to be assisted by my former Chief, Julia Bennett.”
“Before we get started I would like to make an unusual request, and one I feel necessary for government continuity in this difficult time. I am asking everyone present in this meeting to consider staying on in their present capacity for the foreseeable future. As you know, I am no politician, although I am sure I will have to become one very soon. I also have no strongly held political ideology nor do I have a legislative agenda, as it were. I was brought here by the late President Braxton to help in problem solving and now I have that in spades,” she said with a sense of gallows humor.
“Finally, I have no loyalty to, and I do not use this term in its pejorative sense, any cronies I want to bring into this orbit to support me. Right now the best interests of the United States and how we move forward as a united nation should be foremost in our minds. Please give me your answer as soon as possible.”
“Now I want to turn over this meeting to Mr. Wheatley and my intelligence people who will brief us on what they know about the situation surrounding this gruesome assault on our President and, by extension, our nation.”
FBI Director Clayton Wheatley took the lead strictly from a law enforcement standpoint. He had been working closely with Christopher Worthy, the head of the Secret Service who was conspicuously absent from the meeting.
“There have been many conflicting reports about the situation in Beijing. I hope to clarify the situation with the facts as we know them from our people close to the scene. President Braxton was seated on the dais between Premier Zuan Ling of the Peoples Republic of China and Usaki Yamamoto, the Chief Arms Negotiator for Japan. The North Korean Foreign Minister and Chief Negotiator, Mr. Lee Rho-yim was not at the head table, but was seated at a table near the dais with his back to President Braxton.”
Wheatley paused to clear his throat and continued. “Toward the end of the dinner one of Minister Lee’s aides, who had been present at the conference and was well known to the U.S. Secret Service security team, approached the security people watching over the dinner and said he had a note for the North Korean Minister. He asked if one of the security team would give it to Foreign Minister Lee. One of the Secret Service agents took the envelope to Mr. Lee who opened it at the table. It was written in Hangul, the dominant alphabetical language of Korea, and the Minister read it showing surprise. He scribbled a response to the note and gave it back to the Secret Service agent who, in turn, returned it to the aide. The aide showed it to an interpreter who then told the Secret Service agent that the note indicated Mr. Lee wanted to speak briefly to his aide. The Secret Service agent wanded the aide for metal he let him go to Lee’s table. As the aide leaned over to say something to Minister Lee, the aide retrieved a firearm strapped to the bottom of the table with some hook-and-loop material, finished his brief conversation with Lee, then turned and fired three shots in the direction of President Braxton, hitting him twice. The gun jammed and as the aide fumbled to chamber another round and he was quickly subdued by Secret Service personnel. In the ensuing struggle, more shots were fired and the aide, the President’s assailant, was severely wounded. He died on the way to medical treatment. One of our Secret Service agents was also killed in the struggle. President Braxton sustained wounds to his throat and left temple and died within two minutes before any significant medical treatment could be brought to bear. The preliminary conc
lusion is President Braxton was at least the primary target as no one else was hit, but we will never know for sure since the weapon jammed while it still had shots in the magazine, and the shooter is dead. The weapon was a nine millimeter automatic pistol manufactured in Yugoslavia of questionable vintage with no serial numbers. That is what we know about the facts concerning the actual shooting itself. Those have been confirmed by many eye-witness statements.”
The elite executives of the Federal Government in the Situation Room sat in stunned silence as the FBI Director concluded his remarks. Wheatley looked around the table as if asking for questions or comments from the distinguished group of peers. Their countenances reflected feelings of shock and outrage at Wheatley’s revelations.
President Hunter broke the silence by saying, “Okay, Director, I could say thank you for the information but it’s nothing to be thankful for. I think I can say with confidence the next thing on our collective mind is motive. Why and where does this go? Sounds like the shooter was a low level bureaucrat, an errand boy for someone else.”
“It gets worse, Madame President...”
“Excuse me for a moment,” Rachel Hunter quietly interrupted. “We’re breaking new ground here. I would like to establish protocol we can all be comfortable with,” she smiled.
“I hope never to be a madam, even in my dotage,” she continued. “If it must be, I would be comfortable with Ms. President in every respect. Let’s just get that established and let it filter down from here. I’m not big on formality, but I understand there is precedent and dignity involved. I won’t tell you what my mother used to call me as a child,” she offered lightly.
“Please continue, Mr. Wheatley.”
“There is no doubt the shooter was working as an aide to the North Korean Foreign Minister. In the confusing aftermath of the shooting, the Minister, Mr. Lee, left the dining hall and he was found dead of what we assume was a self-inflicted gunshot wound moments later. He was holding a pistol in his hand with a single round discharged. The Chinese are doing forensics to make sure this was the gun, and they are looking for any other prints. We should know today for sure.”