Autumn (Four Seasons Book 1)

by Robert Sullivan

  “He didn’t tell anyone about that either,” Julia said bitterly. “I was already in Kansas City when that happened.”

  “That was actually fortuitous that he kept that one close to the chest,” Liam said. “Because of the Continental infiltration into the Black Hand at that point. It might have blown the whole secret open before we were ready.”

  “Jared didn’t tell anyone about us working for the Globalists either,” Julia said.

  “He’s a secretive man. Not hard to read though,” Liam said.

  “He was a dangerous man,” Julia said. “I was scared to work for him for so long. I was really glad when he sent me away to Kansas City where he wouldn’t be harassing me all the time.”

  “Did he hit you or anything?” Liam asked, frowning.

  “No, he never hit anyone,” Julia admitted. “He just shot people to death instead.”

  “Any Black Hand people?” Liam asked.

  “Probably. I know he definitely had Vincent killed,” Julia said, her eyes glazing over.

  “Who?” Liam asked.

  “Some guy I never met that apparently was Jared’s second before I was,” Julia said. “He let Stan get ahold of him after that Continental ambush in September.”

  “Stan?”

  “Some PI that tortures people Jared took on,” Julia explained. “He freaked me the fuck out. He acted normal all the time, but at any minute he would be carving people up and not breaking a sweat over it.”

  Liam looked uncomfortable. “I really don’t like that we associate with them. I justify it by thinking of what’s to come.”

  “What exactly are you planning?” Julia asked. “Jared was never really clear, other than that you said that you would let him continue to terrorize people.”

  “There’s some truth to that,” Liam said. “I’m going to use him as a police force to enforce our policies. You see, there are going to be a lot of people that aren’t going to fit into our system. I’m planning on having Jared round them up for reeducation if possible. If that doesn’t work…well, let’s just not talk about that right now.”

  Julia nodded. “I’m just glad I won’t be directly involved with the Black Hand anymore.”

  “I’m glad too,” Liam said gently. “It’s good that you are away from Jared given how he treated you.”

  “Aren’t you worried that Ryan will be treated badly too?” Julia asked.

  “No, he can handle himself. I expect him to be able to keep Jared in line,” Liam said confidently.

  “I wish him luck,” Julia said bitterly.

  “Hey, don’t worry about it,” Liam said, rubbing her shoulder.

  Julia turned towards him, tears glinting in her eyes. “You have no idea how much it means to me that you got me away from the Black Hand.”

  Liam had not wanted to get emotionally involved with anyone during the campaign because he thought that it would distract from his goals. But the pity he felt for Julia in that moment was too strong for him. He wiped away Julia’s tears and kissed her gently on the lips. “You’re safe now,” he said.

  “Thank you,” Julia sobbed.

  “I won’t involve you with the Black Hand when I have to make dealings with them,” Liam said. “You won’t have to see any of them again.”

  Julia could not help herself. She continued to cry into Liam’s shoulder and he let her do it until she was done. Julia wiped her eyes and said, “What are you going to have me do?”

  “How good of a hostess are you?” Liam asked.

  On the East Coast, the time was 6 pm. The polls were beginning to close in parts of Indiana and Kentucky and at long last, the election was ending. All over the country and indeed the world in places where they had the time to spare it, people were tuning in to news stations to watch the results come in live. One thing was for sure, no one was going to forget this night for as long as they lived.

  Liam and Julia were still in the command room, but now they were joined by Ryan, Abby, and other leading personnel that made up the Globalist campaign. In the adjacent hall, the room was packed with whoever could get in, eager to celebrate as they believed that their candidate was primed to win the Presidency.

  The Conservative watch party was in Richmond, Virginia, where Felicia Hall hailed from. The mood was not nearly as festive as it was in the Globalist hall and people were looking glumly at the news as it began to pour in, severely disappointed that their chance had been ruined at the last second.

  The Progressive, Center, and Evangelical parties had small gatherings in various locations around the country. As with the Conservatives, morale was low as they held little hope in stopping the Globalist from winning the reins of government. For the Center Party, it was especially hard, for they were poised to lose the White House and their plurality in the House and Senate. Even Tom Green had finally toned down his talk about a massive come from behind win as it became clear he was not even likely to win a single state.

  Though Liam had every station on in his command room, from the big three networks to the three cable networks, the only one that was playing sound was NBC, where Henry Cable was hosting an election night results show along with three other panelists named Ben Trask, Logan Ballard, and Delana Young.

  “Welcome to this very special Election Night in America,” Henry Cable started. “The setup for this night began nearly four years ago and now at long last, we can declare winners and losers in this monumental 2040 election season. Obviously the most important race of the night will be the Presidential election, but besides that, there are 435 seats up for election in the House and the 34 Class 3 Senate seats are being decided tonight and we will be covering that as well.”

  “While the polls have begun to close in a couple of states, we are not ready to declare winners or losers yet as doing so will discourage people from going to vote in areas where polls are still open…”

  “Yeah, you wouldn’t want a repeat of Florida in 2000, now would we?” Ryan said sarcastically.

  “I wouldn’t mind if it advantaged us,” Liam said, to some chuckling.

  “…but we can still report numbers from the areas where polls have closed and we can tell you that Conservative candidate Felicia Hall has an early lead in Kentucky with its eight electoral votes. In previous years, that would normally be dismissed, but in such a diverse race where it is that much harder to get to 270 electoral votes, every state matters in this election.”

  “We turn now to our panel to talk about what we can expect on this election night. Now, is it going to be a washout in favor of Liam Hensen, or will there be some surprises as the night goes on?”

  “I think that most people believe that Hensen will win,” Delana said, “The exit polls that have come in so far seem to lean towards him, though those have proven to be unreliable in the past, so I would take those with a grain of salt.”

  “Now, Hensen can win the White House and he is probably the most likely candidate to do so,” Logan interjected. “But he may have a hard time getting his proposals through an intransigent Congress, which could very well end up in any party’s hands tonight, and obviously no one is getting a majority in the Senate tonight. Whoever does end up being President, they will have their work cut out for them since no one party is going to have clear cut control of Congress.”

  “Having control of Congress isn’t necessarily a guarantee of anything,” Ben countered. “Ever since Barack Obama in the 2010s, Presidents have increasingly tried to operate without the control of Congress as they are starting to view that the legislature refuses to do anything and that it’s actively interfering with the management of the country.”

  “So out of all the candidates, which one do you think would be most likely to act unilaterally?” Henry asked his discussion team.

  “Probably Liam Hensen,” Delana said. “His plan is definitely the most aggressive and would have the hardest time getting his ideas through an uncooperative Congress.”

  “Now that’s not fair,” Liam said. �
�I’m planning to have Congress work with me. It’s not my fault they’re probably going to need some persuading.”

  There was some guffawing in the room, though Julia only smiled weakly. She did not want to hear any mention of her previous employers.

  “I think Liam would have the hardest time as well…” Logan started, before Liam muted the TV.

  “I think we can do with some silence until the polls start actually closing,” Liam said.

  There were some grunts of agreement through the room. Despite the confidence that exuded in the hall next door, there was a growing level of nervousness in the command room. Now that the moment had arrived, the Globalist campaign leaders were beginning to feel nerves setting in as they watched votes begin to tally up on their TVs and laptops.

  At 7, Liam unmuted the TV as Henry said, “It is now 7 o’ clock on the East Coast and polls have closed in five states. We are going to start declaring winners in this Presidential race. In Kentucky, NBC news can project that Felicia Hall will win the state’s eight electoral votes based off of exit polls. NBC can also project that Hall will win West Virginia and its four electoral votes. In Vermont, NBC will project that Progressive candidate Javier Sanchez will win the three electoral votes available there.”

  “Polls have also closed in Indiana, South Carolina, and Georgia, but those three states are too early to call at this point, as the vote totals in those states are very tight to start off with,” Henry finished.

  Liam turned the TV down, not muting it this time so they would know when they updated their state calls. “Okay, is anyone surprised so far?”

  “I’m not,” Ryan said. “Except for Indiana. Trent, cue up that state, I want to know why they haven’t called it for Hall.”

  Trent pulled up Indiana’s results on his laptop and said, “That’s because we’re winning based off of the early vote result.”

  “We are?” Liam asked, stunned. “We were even competitive there?”

  “We didn’t run any internal polls there, so I honestly don’t know,” Ryan said. “Look at it this way; Indiana was not part of the victory path we laid out. If we take it, that just makes it easier for us, but if not, it’s no big deal.”

  Quiet filled the room again as time began to creep onwards. A half hour later, Liam turned to TV as more polls were about to close. “It’s now 7:30 and polls have closed in three more states,” Henry said. “In all three states, Ohio, Virginia, and North Carolina, it is too early to call a winner in the Presidential race in each state. However, we are ready to call South Carolina for Felicia Hall…”

  Liam sighed. “They’re going to keep us waiting forever.”

  “We’ll be lucky if they call it tonight. We didn’t know that Hoch won for two days last time around,” Ryan said wearily.

  “Any up for guard duty?” Liam joked weakly.

  Trent looked up from his computer and said, “The AP is calling Indiana for us already.”

  The worried mood suddenly lightened considerably as they watched NBC say the same thing shortly thereafter. “We’re going to pick up points with the 8 o’ clock closings,” Ryan said. “Most of our victory path is among those states.”

  “I hope they call it quickly,” Liam said. “It’s been a long year.”

  The time crawled on until the polls closed in the states that had most of the electoral votes. “It’s 8 pm on the East Coast and the polls are closed in seventeen states and the District of Columbia. NBC can project that Javier Sanchez will win the states of Delaware, Rhode Island, Maryland, New Jersey, and the District of Columbia. NBC can also project that Felicia Hall will carry the states of Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. Lastly, NBC can project that Globalist candidate Liam Hensen will win the states of Maine, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania.”

  The command center broke out in thunderous applause. Not only had they taken many of the states in the Northeast that they were gunning for, they had taken them immediately upon the polls closing. Liam was now in the lead in the Electoral College as well, something they had not expected so early.

  “So,” Liam said after the tumult died down. “Do you think they’ll call the race tonight now?”

  “Hell yeah, I do,” Ryan said. “We might get that rare 11 o’ clock call.”

  “What would that take?” Liam asked.

  “The rest of the Northeastern states, some of the South, and the West Coast,” Ryan explained, looking at the electoral map.

  “Is that something that’s feasible?” Liam asked.

  “I think it’s likely,” Ryan said. “We’re overperforming by a wide margin.”

  The mood steadily rose as the 8 o’ clock hour stretched on. Arkansas was called for Felicia Hall immediately upon closing, but they also called Virginia, North Carolina, and Ohio for Liam during that hour. The inevitable was beginning to rapidly approach as Liam’s electoral count reached 144, more than halfway to the requisite 270 electoral votes.

  “Why haven’t they called Florida yet?” Liam demanded suddenly.

  “Nobody EVER calls Florida early,” Ryan said. “Everyone’s too afraid to call Florida until almost all of the vote is in because of the 2000 election.”

  “That was forty years ago,” Liam said, “I’m sure they’ve fixed that by now.”

  There was laughter throughout the room. Florida had been at the center of controversy in the 2036 election, which had been why it had taken so long for the election to be called. At 9 pm, the next set of polls closed, mostly in Midwestern states.

  Liam turned the TV back up as Henry started rattling off the states they were calling at that time. “NBC is projecting that Felicia Hall will win the states of North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, Wyoming, and Louisiana. Liam Hensen is projected to win the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, while Javier Sanchez will win New Mexico and Colorado.”

  “We’re 92 votes away,” Liam said with bated breath. “Where do those votes come from?”

  “Georgia and Florida have a combined fifty-five electoral votes between the two of them,” Ryan explained. “That would put us thirty-seven votes away from the White House.”

  “Do you think we can pick that up out West somewhere?” Liam asked, regretting that he had not gone out there to campaign more actively.

  “Trent! Find me some California polls!” Ryan said.

  “That’s impossible!” Trent protested. “No one conducted a poll there and I mean no one. If we win it, then it’ll come as a complete surprise.”

  The time crawled on. The command center was much more at ease, now three hours into watching election results. “This is really exciting,” Julia said to Liam.

  “It’s coming together,” Liam said, barely holding his excitement in at this point. “Did you ever think that you would become the First Lady?”

  “No,” Julia said. “I never even dared to think about something like that.”

  “Revel in it,” Liam said. “I think you’ve been through enough and you deserve something like this.”

  Julia kissed Liam on the cheek. “Thank you.” She said quietly.

  Liam smiled at her gently, but noticed that Henry looked excitable and turned the TV back up.

  “NBC is now ready to project that Liam Hensen will win the states of Florida and Georgia,” Henry suddenly said. “That puts him within a state or two of the Presidency and I would think that, at this point, that a Globalist Presidency would be a foregone conclusion.”

  “Well, he is only thirty-seven votes away from the magic number of 270, but he still may not get that,” Logan protested. “There aren’t that many votes left on the board that would be friendly towards Hensen, unless a huge surprise turns up in the Western states.”

  “I would not dismiss that idea out of hand, because Hensen is not only winning in the states that he was targeting in the Northeast and the South, he’s winning them by wide margins,” Logan explained. “He’s picked off stat
es that would normally go towards the Progressive and Conservative candidates in a year with a weak Center candidate, which means that he could just as easily get those states on the West Coast that normally would go Progressive.”

  “Hold on for a moment, because we have some calls to make,” Henry said. “It’s 10 o’ clock on the East Coast and NBC will now project that Felicia Hall will win the states of Montana and Utah, while Liam Hensen is projected to take Iowa, and Javier Sanchez will win Nevada, which won’t come as much of a surprise, given its heavy Hispanic contingent in the desert state.”

  “That’s also why I would think that California would go for Sanchez, but we will have to see. It would appear that Hensen has made huge inroads with the Hispanic vote, which is why he won Florida,” Ben said. “He may have taken enough of the Hispanic vote to where he could take California, but we will have to see how that goes when the polls close there at 11 pm.”

  Abby walked up to Liam and said, “I have your victory speech ready for whenever you’re ready to give it.”

  Liam nodded and said, “Thanks Abby. I’m going to wait for some concession calls first.”

  “Felicia won’t concede,” Ryan said. “The other three should though.”

  “Felicia can’t win now though. Like the most she can get mathematically is 244 votes and even than she would need to take literally every remaining state to get that high,” Trent explained. “She’s not going to take the rest of the states.”

  “Obviously,” Liam said.

  “At this point, you are going to have a plurality of electoral votes,” Trent continued. “If you somehow don’t get to 270, you’re going to have a strong argument for why the House should pick you since you’d have the most electoral votes.”

  “Have they called the House yet?” Liam asked suddenly.

  Another campaign staffer who was watching the House races spoke up at this question. The young woman, whose name was Noelle, said, “We’re going to have a plurality there at least. They’re not ready to say that we’ll get the majority, but it’ll be close.”