Chapter 57 – Supplication
Wednesday Night, Eleven pm, July 29, 2308
Croswell and Ross got some much-needed shut-eye on the three-hour flight to the east coast. They docked in the guest-parking unit and reported to the secret service checkpoint in their battle armor.
The saluting guards fell over each other to admit Major Ross and the Secretary of Defense. Croswell was a common enough sight at the White House, but these guards had never seen him in a fully augmented Black Willow terillium battle suit.
Conway left them waiting in a conference room for almost an hour.
Finally, the guards returned and escorted Croswell and Ross to the Oval Office. The room was empty. Neither man sat down, but waited another hour, standing at parade rest.
Finally President Conway entered, furious. Croswell and Ross both noticed the diplomatic pouch he carried and dropped on his desk. The White House Chief of Staff, John Phillips, followed closely.
“Would you gentlemen explain yourselves please?” Conway asked.
“What’s the issue, sir?” Croswell asked.
“The Issue? The Issue, Sir, is two Black Willow Battle Tanks opening fire on an stateside orphanage?! Enlighten me, Please, Sir?”
“If you know that much, you know precisely what is going on, Mister President.”
“I’d like to hear you say it, Mister Croswell. I’d like to hear your explanation of events.”
“Go fuck yourself, sir.”
Phillips was suddenly screaming, jabbing his finger in Croswell’s face; “That’s the Gad Damn President of the United States…”
Phillips’s assault came to an abruptly halt when Croswell grabbed his finger and broke it. Croswell held the man at his side, like a dog on a leash. “I don’t think you understand who you’re speaking to, Big John.”
Croswell slowly returned his attention to Conway. “Mister President, please know, everything I do is in defense of your person and in defense of this office, as well as the Republic at large.
“Sometimes, I have to make decisions that you might disagree with. For those I ask your forgiveness. As the chief of your generals, there are things that I cannot tell you, burdens I carry, so that you don’t have to.
“What I did today, opening fire on known criminals who had infested a public institution and exploited the youth of this Republic to their own ends, while regrettable, was necessary. And I protected your office from any culpability, as much as I could.”
Croswell looked down at Phillips. “However, it would appear that we also have another problem.”
“James, please let Mister Phillips go.”
“Yes sir.” Croswell released the Chief, who stumbled away.
“What’s this other problem?” Conway asked.
“Sir, it would appear your office has been compromised. Dr. Bergstrom is a known criminal. He’s been a member of the Republic’s most wanted for the better part of a decade. He experimented on children.”
Phillips seemed to have found his voice with his feet, even if he did speak with a bit more trepidation, “Fox is a criminal and he experimented on children too!”
“We both know that’s not true,“ Croswell answered.
“What about the 7982 plant?” Phillips asked.
“You know damn well that was a genetic engineering research project; all done on slides and in Petri-dishes, on a microscopic level.” Croswell fixed Phillips with a glare that could melt glaciers.
Phillips retreated a step, but couldn’t stay quiet. “You’re nothing without him, Croswell. I hope you realize that. You’re a paper tiger.”
Croswell laughed. “I’ve been called a lot of things, but never that.”
The secretary turned to President Conway. “While you left us waiting, I did a little digging of my own. You both know that Major Ross and I are registered Micronix owners. It took us less that a half-an-hour to assemble a paper trail implicating your office in this Bergstrom mess.
“Someone in this office put Deputy Director Von Kalt in touch with Dr. Cedric Bergstrom, with the express purpose of chasing down two unarmed children.”
Phillips snorted. “Consider this an act of goodwill… Why don’t you take a look at Senator Miller?”
“I did, last week. Major Ross and I blew out the Senator’s window and sprayed his office with about three thousand micro-transmitters.”
“That’s illegal,” Phillips objected.
“For just about anyone except me, sure. I hold the Office of Secretary of Defense and as such, am vested with legal powers that exceed those of any commissioned officer, and are second only to the Office of President in the military hierarchy.
“You, Mr. Phillips, are the White House Chief of Staff. You’re just a glorified assistant, and have very little real power outside this structure.”
Croswell smiled. “You see the thing is, I intercepted about a dozen messages between Senator Miller and someone in this office. What would The Public think about sending Bergstrom’s Wolf Pack after kids?”
“There’s a warrant out for those children,” Phillips interjected.
“That doesn’t mean you get to break the law to recover them, Sir. Let me remind you, we are talking about the children of Doctor Andrew Fox. Do you honestly think he’d let you just cut them up?
“Those children are outfitted with one of his most secret inventions. He called it The Failsafe. If they are killed by violent means, an implanted chip will be detonated, releasing a five-kiloton yield, on the spot, decimating whoever might be responsible.
“Now do you understand why I cannot permit them to be taken, under any circumstances?”
Phillips pulled himself upright and narrowed his eyes, “The warrant specifically says Alive, Mr. Secretary.”
“To what end?” Croswell asked. He shook his head. “You can’t take them alive, you know that.”
“The Warrant Stands!” Phillips shouted. “It’s completely legal! It is watertight! Fox Broke The Law! He Endangered Everyone on the Entire West Coast! And this failsafe sounds illegal as hell. What if there was an accident? What gives Fox the right to kill everyone in a twenty block radius because his kid got mugged?”
Croswell laughed. “Because he can.”
“It does sound rather selfish and more than a bit careless.” President Conway interjected.
Croswell paused.
Phillips leaned forward. “Besides, we already had them once, but Ross interfered! That’s Obstruction of Justice!” He gestured with his damaged hand.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ross answered, humbly.
“You were seen at an Angel City Library, obstructing a federal investigation.”
“Oh, you mean those guys who were threatening people with guns? I don’t know what that was about. I saw some idiots who seemed like they were trying to stick-up a public library, yeah. I pulled my badge and identified myself. Two of them grabbed some kids as human shields, but whoever they were, they didn’t have any ID or a warrant. I never did find out what it was all about.”
“You were shot,” Phillips stated.
“That’s right, twice.”
“I heard it was three times?” Phillips said.
“I should know,” Ross replied.
“And the children?”
“Far as I know, they ran out with everyone else. But like I said, I never did find out what it was all about.”
“Why didn’t you wait for the police?!”
“I needed emergency medical attention!”
Conway raised his hands. “Could everyone just calm down, please?”
No one spoke for a few moments.
Croswell broke the silence slowly, clearing his throat before speaking quietly. “I’m sure you recognize what kind of a legal and moral problem this represents for your administration. Either yourself, or your chief of staff, provided material support to this known criminal, Bergstrom.”
The President raised a hand. “Dr. Bergstrom was prosecuted by
the previous administration, Mr. Secretary.”
“That’s absolutely true sir, and with good reason. He has not been pardoned, also with good reason. And believe me, Sir. I really am sorry, but since it would be treasonous on my part, to charge you, or any sitting President with treason, and collusion with such a publicly despised enemy-of-the-state, we are only left with one option.”
Croswell drew his handgun.
Conway stumbled backwards.
Croswell turned to face Phillips.
The humbled Chief of Staff glared back.
Croswell offered Phillips the gun. “Do the honorable thing, for once in your fat, filthy, disgusting worm’s-eye-view of a life.”
Ross smiled, despite his best efforts not to.
Conway stared in dumb-founded shock, as his Chief of Staff seemed to engage in a struggle against himself.
Phillips’s hand shook, his arm and face twitched, but he reached out and took the pistol from Secretary Croswell.
“John, no,” President Conway said.
The weapon gradually came up, pressing against Phillips’s temple. He screamed and struggled to pull the pistol away.
The Secret Service guards, posted at the closed doors, burst into the room and witnessed the President’s Chief of Staff ‘Big John’ Phillips, blow his brains all over the back wall.
Croswell turned to President Conway. “I’m very sorry for your loss sir. I’ll continue to do my best for your office and the Republic of the United States. As for myself, I’d like your permission to collect the ID packet I requested and return to the west coast. I assure you, I will wrap this up as quietly as possible.”
Conway said nothing but lifted the diplomatic pouch from his desk and handed it to Croswell.
“Good evening sir,” Ross said, following Croswell out of the office and past the stunned Secret Service guards.
In the transport, Croswell held the diplomatic pouch.
“What the hell was that?” Ross asked.
“I actually don’t want to give you this,” Croswell said, looking at the republic seal stamped onto the leather document pack.
“Don’t you think you could have gotten Ids in some easier way? I mean, why would you go through Conway, of all people? That seems like the definition of stupid,” Ross asked.
Croswell looked at him. “Thanks for the vote of confidence. Let me ask you, why did you ask me to do this for you?”
“Because I knew, whoever I went to, it was going to set off some alarm bells and that you’d end up hearing about it sooner or later anyhow. There was no point going behind your back.”
“Well, it goes a thousand times more for me and Conway. However I did this, even if it wasn’t until you guys were long gone, sooner or later he was going to have to come to me and ask why I went behind his back. It’s much easier to speak to him like a man and give him the chance to do the right thing. This way his conscience is clear.”
“That’s why you don’t want to give it to me?” Ross asked.
“No. I don’t want to give it to you because I don’t think those kids should have to be made to run for their lives. They deserve better than that. There has to be a better way.”