Destroyer 131: Unnatural Selection by Warren Murphy & Richard Sapir

Author:Warren Murphy & Richard Sapir
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

By the eleven-o'clock news cycle, reports of new cases of feral behavior among humans had begun to die down. News reports were focusing mainly on New York, with mention of a handful of other cases in the Northeast.

In the family quarters of the White House, the President of the United States watched the late news with deep concern.

It was an hour past his normal bedtime. This President preferred to go to bed early and to rise early. He trusted in the old "healthy, wealthy and wise" adage. It seemed to work for him. Although the wealth didn't matter so much-he was from a well-off family and had taken a substantial pay cut to become President-his health was fine.

As for wisdom ...well, if the late-night shows were to be believed, he had none. According to the media, the folks from the other side were always the brilliant statesmen, the towering intellects. It was accepted as gospel that those on the President's side of the aisle were busy frantically rubbing their two brain cells together trying to make fire.

The thought always gave him a chuckle. This President was confident enough to not let such nonsense rattle him. It didn't matter to him what a handful of comedy writers in Los Angeles or anchormen in New York thought of him. Besides, he avoided network news and was normally in bed long before the latenight comics were on.

Not this night. This night there was a crisis and the President of the United States was staying up past his bedtime watching the late news.

The scenes shown were gruesome, the eyewitness accounts frightening, if true. The President had poured himself a drink, but it sat sweating in his hand. He watched the news recap with pursed lips and furrowed brow.

When it was over, the President get up from the sofa.

Walking briskly from the living room, he headed down the long hallway to his private bedroom.

His wife was away visiting family in Texas. There was no one to bother him as the President sat down on the edge of the bed and removed the cherry-red phone from his bottom bureau drawer.

He hated to make this call. He had been using this phone far too much in the past year. But the weight of the world had been dropped on his shoulders only eight months into his fledgling presidency.

With a deep appreciation for what it meant, he lifted the red receiver.

There was no need to dial. As usual, the phone was answered on the first ring.

"Yes, Mr. President?" said the familiar lemony voice.

"Hello, Smith," the President said. "The situation in New York and New England."

"Yes, sir," Smith said. "We are already working on it."

"Oh." The President was always impressed by the older man's efficiency. In a way, the lemon-voiced man reminded the President of his own secretary of defense.

"It is a complicated situation, but we believe we know who is behind the product tampering. My people left here an hour ago to put an end to the source.

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