There were murmurings of objection among the Cabinet members, which were quickly squashed by a reprimanding glare from Posey.
‘Until further notice, nobody in this room, nor any member of their immediate family, is to leave Washington without my written approval. This meeting is adjourned to a date to be confirmed. I repeat and very, very strongly emphasize that it is adjourned, not cancelled,’ Posey added, much to Themison’s relief.
**
Back in his office in the FBI building less than a mile down Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, Ari Kratos was receiving an update on the attempt on Secretary Paul Dias’s life.
‘There is some doubt as to what happened, sir. But the limited CCTV footage we have, suggests that the Tesla might, and I stress might, have deliberately swerved into Dr. Dias. We are trying to find any bystanders who filmed the incident. When the Tesla pulled up, the two so-called bodyguards jumped in the car, which then sped off. We haven’t managed to trace it…’ SAC Carl Rutter began, but he was interrupted.
‘Couldn’t you follow it on the CCTV network?’ Kratos drawled.
‘Only until it reached Pennsylvania Avenue, sir; all cameras in the avenue have been compromised. We don’t know where it went,’ Rutter said.
‘Goddammit! I thought all those cameras were made secure from cyber-attack after that fiasco at an inauguration a few years back,’ Kratos snapped.
‘Apparently not, sir,’ Rutter replied. ‘We are reviewing the Department of the Environment and Agriculture’s internal security footage to find out more about the bodyguards. Nobody in the building seems to know anything about them. And we have every available ghetto-bird in the air scouring the whole city for the Tesla.’
‘And have your helicopters seen anything?’ Kratos asked sarcastically. He hated slang synonyms like “ghetto-birds”.
‘No, sir, not yet.’
‘Which suggests it’s already undercover, and that is going to make life damned difficult unless we get lucky with an eyewitness.’
‘I think we need to go public with this one, sir, and as soon as possible. Someone, somewhere must have seen something?’
‘I agree. Leave that one with me, Carl. You get back to the building and take control. I don’t know what the hell Dias was going to talk about, but he sure as hell has got the White House in a spin.’
**
Meanwhile, President Posey had retired to the Oval Office accompanied by Vice President Peta Hopeit, Attorney General Adam Themison, and the president’s chief of staff, Jake Jefferson.
Themison knew that Posey considered the little group now sitting nervously in front of the president’s desk, to be his inner Cabinet, his highly trusted friends, at least, to the extent that a politician can have highly trusted friends. The group usually included Paul Dias. Sometimes Adam Themison wondered just how trustworthy even this little group was.
‘Right, so who do you think it is?’ Posey asked, spreading his hands wide as if opening the floor for discussion.
‘Are you for real, sir?’ Peta Hopeit asked. ‘You seriously think someone in the Cabinet is attempting to de-rail this whole project?’
‘Oh, come-on girlie,’ Posey said.
Themison knew the ploy well; he had seen the President use it many times. Posey wanted to stir up his vice president with unseemly familiarity because he knew that, when mad, Peta Hopeit would say exactly what she felt.
‘We’re all politicians, girlie; we do what we think is necessary to achieve our ends…whatever the cost,’ Posey continued.
‘I think that is highly cynical and offensive, sir…’ Peta began.
‘Yeah? So, who do you think it is?’ Posey asked again, ignoring her objection.
‘Haden Ploutonos,’ she replied without hesitation.
‘Why?’ Posey asked.
Themison smiled inwardly at the president’s intuitive success; he knew Posey loved being right.
‘Because he hates any suggestion of change that is not instigated by him. It’s either him or Eve Até…’ Peta said, but she was interrupted again.
‘Eve! She’s not even in the Cabinet…’ Jake Jefferson was about to defend his principal secretary when he too was interrupted.
‘Don’t be so goddamned naive, Jake. Ploutonos has being screwing her for years; why do you think she is on your staff? And we all know that she loves making mischief,’ Posey said with a knowing glance at the Attorney General.
‘This is far more than making mischief, Mr. President,’ Adam Themison said quietly, yet he couldn’t hide his embarrassment. He didn’t think anybody knew about his one brief indiscretion with Eve Até at a Party conference many, many years ago. If Posey knew, then who else now had that potentially fatal piece of intelligence about him?
‘Indeed, it is, Adam. Indeed, it is,’ Posey said, rubbing his eyes with the tips of his fingers. Themison realized that the president was very tired from all the stress that his office entailed, despite his bluster.
‘This could completely destroy our grand plan; or should I say Paul Dias’s grand plan that we in this room have wholeheartedly endorsed,’ the attorney general said quietly. ‘And Paul is the only one who stands the remotest chance of convincing the rest of the Cabinet that we need to dramatically change America’s course and take the rest of the world with us,’ Themison added.
‘Then what do we do? Sit back and hope Paul Dias recovers?’ Posey asked.
‘Hope? Pray, more like,’ Peta said with feeling.
‘Do you want me to fire Eve Até, sir?’ Jake Jefferson suddenly asked.
‘Hell no! We can use her to spread misinformation if we need to. Watch her carefully though, Jake, and be very careful what you say in front of her. And let us continue the way we have been thus far – no sending anything to do with Operation Olympus in any electronic form including email, Twitter, Instagram and phones, cell or otherwise,’ Posey said. ‘In the meantime, we just sit tight and let the FBI do its job.’
‘They might turn up more than we want them to, Mr. President,’ Themison said.
‘That is your bailiwick, Adam. It’s up to you to keep a lid on their investigation. Take a direct interest. Make Kratos report to you daily and keep us posted,’ Posey added unnecessarily.
**
In a private room in one of Washington’s largest hospitals, Ann Dias held her husband’s hand and wept silently. In the following weeks, she would spend many hours in that room hoping, praying, listening, and becoming increasingly distraught by her husband’s seemingly neurotic mutterings.
But she was not alone. Her old friend Mary Themison, wife of the attorney general, was with her literally holding her hand.
‘He’s in a deep coma, Mary, and they have no idea how long...or...or even if my Zeus will come out of it,’ she whispered illogically fearing that she might wake him.
‘Oh, so that is what the initial Z stands for in Paul's name, is it? I have often wondered,’ Mary said hoping that talking about it would somehow help her friend.
Ann smiled a sad yet engaging smile. ‘Oh, that goes back to our early childhood together. Now Paul’s passport just has “Z” period as his middle name. But back then, when we were very young, I said he would