Cry Havoc by James P. Sumner

Author:James P. Sumner [Sumner, James P.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-12-20T16:00:00+00:00

22

President Schultz sat behind the Resolute deck, stunned silent. He rested his elbow on the arm of his chair and leaned on it, clasping his hand over his mouth. His eyes stared blindly at a paperweight next to his phone, wide and unblinking.

Sitting across from him, Julie and Jericho watched patiently as the president processed everything they had just spent an hour telling him. They both felt sympathetic toward him. It was a lot to take in, and they had barely had enough time to wrap their own heads around it.

“Mother of God…” muttered Schultz absently.

Julie cleared her throat. “That’s pretty much where the rest of us are at, sir, yes.”

He refocused and stared over at her. She had hastily thrown on a business suit and tied her hair up. She looked smart. But she also looked uncomfortable. She was sitting rigid and upright, hands clasped on her lap. She shuffled in her seat every couple of minutes, awkward and restless.

“How in the holiest of hells did that son’bitch build a goddamn rocket ship without anyone noticing?” he asked. His voice rose with each word, until he was almost shouting.

“To be fair, sir,” said Jericho, “we’ve been a little busy lately.”

Schultz’s gaze snapped to him. They locked eyes for a moment, then the president looked him up and down. The man was the polar opposite to his girlfriend and boss. He wore a T-shirt, stretched over his hulking frame, and GlobaTech’s black and red camo combat pants.

Never been one to stand on ceremony, mused Schultz.

“Haven’t we all?” replied Schultz. “But even so… by all accounts, it’s a pretty big rocket. You’d think someone might have seen something before now.”

Julie sighed. “Sir, it’s in the middle of the desert. We stayed mobile during the rebellion, but we stayed as near to civilization as was safe. Hall was also sitting in your chair, which meant every satellite network in the country was under his control. There was simply no one around who would think to look, sir. And there was no way to see, even if there was.”

“Almost like he had this whole thing planned out from the start,” added Jericho. His flippant tone didn’t go unnoticed, as evidenced by the glance both Julie and the president cast his way.

Schultz got to his feet gingerly. He reached for his cane, then limped over to the large window to the left of President Lincoln’s portrait, which hung on the wall behind his chair. He stared out across the Rose Garden in silence.

Despite the limp, Julie thought he looked well. He had already regained some of the weight he had lost in captivity. His pressed, navy suit jacket strained across his chest and gut. The cane worked for him. She thought it made him look more distinguished and less like a Texan redneck. She let slip a small smile to herself.

Finally, he turned to face them both. He let out a deep, tired sigh, which rumbled up from his stomach and shook his jowls.

“Okay,” he said with a resolved nod.

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