Chapter 23- The Ides of March

Chapter 23

The Ides of March

Washington, D.C

A trio of men in smart suits walked quickly down the hallway.  All around them there was activity, people on the phones, people writing or talking.  The Whitehouse was traditionally a hive of activity.

The man at the front of the trio, the senior man in the group, walked with purpose, checking his watch every now and again.  The second man watched the movements of the first man every now and again.  The third man walked with his hands in his jacket pockets and affected an air of casual indifference to the situation that might have been described by some as a crisis.

“Crisis?  It’s a fucking catastrophe,” is how the President had responded.  Hayden McDonald, the President’s chief of staff and political advisor had tried to calm him down but the President had needed to go through the emotions of it, the shock, the anger and the betrayal.

The trio finally reached the office; the first man opened the door and walked straight in.  He sat down at the head of the table.  The other two followed in behind him.

“Should I make sure the others know where we are?” asked Jack Krane, the deputy chief of staff.

“Anyone who cant find us shouldn’t be here, it’s not a public meeting,” replied Peter Bierko.  The third man was the Whitehouse Counsel, the chief lawyer for the Whitehouse and the President.  His name was Richard McCoy and much like Peter Bierko, he was also a college friend of the President.

Richard sat down at the other end of the table to Peter.  Richard had his old, beat up brief case with him.  He sat down and took out his notes.  Richard’s hair had less grey in it than Peter’s but he carried it better, he had a tan, a genuine tan.  Richard sat back in his seat and began looking at a memo.

“Who else are we expecting?” asked Jack Krane, who looked nervous.

“Anyone that the President and the Chief of Staff trust,” replied Peter.

“That’s a short list of guys then,” quipped Richard McCoy.  Peter raised an eyebrow at that.

“Oh come on Peter, you know that the President had to make a lot of compromises on who made up the cabinet, in order to get here,” said McCoy, his tone superior as ever.  Peter shook his head.

“I didn’t know that, you’re the politician,” replied Peter.

“You are too, now.  You’re the Director of Homeland Security,” said McCoy.

“And the President trusts you,” added Jack.

Peter said nothing to this.  He knew that both Jack and Richard were lawyers, they knew how to talk and how to get something for nothing.  Peter had some understanding of the law but he wasn’t a lawyer or a professional politician.  So he armored himself in silence.

“We cant afford to wait much longer,” said Jack.

“Well we’ll have to.  The Secretary of State has constitutional authority here and we need his say so if we’re going to do anything drastic,” said McCoy.

“How bad do you think this will get?” asked Jack.

“It depends,” replied Peter, carefully.  McCoy raised an eyebrow at this but said nothing.

There was a sharp knock at the door.

“Come in,” said McCoy.

“This place is impossible to find,” came the nasal tone of the Attorney General.

Peter shook his head, it was just what the room needed, another lawyer.

Attorney General Henry Finch sat down next to Peter.  He was a small, crumpled man in a sharp black pinstripe suit. He wore gold-rimmed glasses and was, to Peter’s knowledge, the richest man in the room.

“We need to get on,” said Peter.

“Yes we do,” said Henry.  “So far this story hasn’t broken but when it does it will become impossible to get anything done about it,”

“Then it best not break,” said McCoy bluntly.

“Don’t look at me,” said Henry.  “I’m not going to leak anything from here,”

“We’ve got to come up with a solution to the problem and we’ve got to do it fast.  We cant involve anyone in the decision making who isn’t in here.  And we’ve got to do it all with the Executive Order the President signed without getting him further involved,” said McCoy.

“Unless we’ve got no choice at all,” added Jack.

“Indeed,” said Peter.  “The way I see it, we’ve got two problems.  We’ve got the outbreak of Arctic Blue in Venezuela.  And we’ve got a rogue military officer giving orders from somewhere in Virginia,”

“I should have retired years ago,” said Finch, cleaning his glasses.

“Well you didn’t so you’re going to have to suck it up,” said McCoy sharply.

“Okay, two problems but a common theme,” said Peter.  “We’ve lost control of something and need to exercise control over it before it spreads out,”

“That’s possibly over simplifying it but fair,” said Henry.

“First question, do we have the legal authority over this?” asked Jack.

“Yes we do,” said Henry, putting his glasses back on.  “Anything military we have ultimate legal authority.  All the chains of command end at the President’s office and we’ve got that authority.  It may be necessary to draft the President in on this at some stage though,”

“If we can avoid it, we should,” said Jack.  “I’ve got to think about political containment of this,”  Peter shook his head.

“Now?  Now you’re thinking about political containment?” he said, his disbelief showing clearly on his face.

“This is the show that never ends,” said Jack bluntly.

“Let’s hope so,” said Peter.

Villa Cyranno, Venezuela

Oscar lead agent Wharton and Captain Dietz to the crowd that had now gathered.  Don Brazzo stood in front of them, of course.  Oscar stopped in front of the crowd and spoke in Spanish.

When he was finished he turned around to speak to Dietz.  There was a flurry of questions from the crowd but Oscar tried to blot them out for a moment. 
“Captain, I’ve explained the situation, that we need to keep everyone in full view and that everyone is to present themselves.  They don’t like it very much but they’re going to comply,”

“That’s good news,” said Dietz.

“Yeah except there are five people missing right now aren’t there?” came Wharton’s voice.

“Yes, yes they are saying that five people are not here,” said Oscar.

“Father Castillo among them?” asked Dietz.

“Yes so that’s four to go,” said Oscar.

“Right so we need to find these people and round them up,” said Dietz.  “I’d feel better if knew what was going on at the chopper,”

“The Major’s got that in hand,” said Wharton.  “If I’m right, he’s wasting a trip”

“You don’t think Jones was….”

“No I don’t,” said Wharton.

“Then why didn’t you say something?” asked Dietz.

“Because I wasn’t sure if the Major was one of them,” came the blunt reply.

“This doesn’t help us,” said Oscar.  “You need to focus on what’s going on here,”

“What’s going on Oscar?” asked Don Brazzo.  “Why do they make us prisoners?”

“It’s for your own protection,” explained Oscar.

“What did you tell them about us?  That we’re small minded mountain folks?”

“No, of course not,” replied Oscar.

“You’ve caused this haven’t you?” said Don Brazzo.  A couple of other villagers began shouting at this, following Brazzo’s lead.

“I didn’t have anything to do with it, I’m just trying to help you,” exclaimed Oscar.

“You liar, you’ve always thought you were too good to be here,” cried Brazzo.

‘Why, why does it always come back to this?’ thought Oscar.  He took a step backwards and a villager reached down to pick up a stone.  Oscar covered his face as a stone flew threw the air and bounced painfully off his arm.

There was the sudden bark of gunfire and the crowd shrank back as a group.

Wharton’s pistol was smoking.

“We’ve got no time for this shit,” he said in fluent Spanish.  “You people are all in danger.  If you want to get out of it, you’ll stay put and do nothing until I say so.  If anyone makes another dangerous move, I’ll put a round in your heart, I swear to God,”  Oscar looked at him and saw that if he didn’t mean it, he hid his intentions well.

“Oscar, find out who is missing and where they were last seen,” asked Wharton.

Oscar began talking to the crowd.

“Dietz here,” said Dietz into his radio.

“This is McPherson, we’ve got a fatality here,”

“What?” replied Dietz.  “Who?”

“Hunter, he was one of them.  Look, we’ve got no way of knowing who is still human or not.”

“It was  your job, you and Chung, to find out how we figure out who is who,” said Dietz, exasperated.

“Yes but we need more data before we can judge,” came her reply.

“Brilliant.  Then what do you suggest we do?” asked Dietz.

“For now, just keep everyone visible and we’ll go from there.  Captain, I’m not sure if the Major is clean or not,”

“Repeat your last,” said Dietz.

“We don’t know if Major Dalton is one of them or not,” she said plainly.

“Don’t say that sort of thing over the radio Lieutenant.  I’ve known Peter Dalton for fifteen years,”

“Yes sir,” she said back.

Oscar finished talking to the crowd a second time, the sullen stares still burning into him.  He rejoined the soldiers for a moment to explain who was missing.

“Don Javier, Miguel Uttero, Madam Lucas and Madame Gris.  She’s more than seventy years old, I don’t think she’s going to give you too much trouble,” said Oscar.

“We’ll see,” said Wharton.  “You know, Captain, I think I know how to cut this Gordian knot.  But it’s not a great solution.”

“What is it?” asked Dietz.  Oscar watched them carefully as Wharton looked back at him, he then walked Dietz away from Oscar.  Oscar watched them carefully from a distance.

“What’s going on?” asked Don Brazzo.

“They are deciding how they figure out who is safe,” said Oscar.

“I assume you are safe aren’t you?” said Brazzo, bitterly.

“I guess we’ll find out soon enough” replied Oscar.