Showdown_Thrilling Post-Apocalyptic Survival series by Kevin Partner & Mike Kraus

Author:Kevin Partner & Mike Kraus [Partner, Kevin & Kraus, Mike]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Muonic Press Inc
Published: 2019-05-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Shanti, the Asian elephant, bellowed as Administrator Chen and her entourage strode into her enclosure at the National Zoo. President Christine Blaise nodded at the pachyderm as if agreeing that the air, pungent enough at the best of times, had just gotten more poisonous with the new arrivals as, in the shadow of his true master, lurked Blaise's former Chief of Staff, the traitor Travers.

This hadn't been Blaise's first choice of location for a meeting, but the Smithsonian Zoo lay close to what had become the front line in the battle for Washington, and its sprawling campus made any ambush next to impossible.

Her assistant Joel Hendrix stood on one side of her, and General Bevan on the other. Behind them, a squad of heavily armed soldiers waited, fingers on triggers.

"Madam President," Chen said, nodding slightly and extending her hand.

Blaise ignored it and fixed her gaze on her opponent's deep brown eyes. "Administrator," she said, not bothering to hide her hostility.

Chen withdrew her hand and nodded again, as if acknowledging that any pleasantries were at an end. "Very well then. We are here to discuss your surrender."

"No, we are discussing a truce."

"They amount to the same thing, Madam President. If you wish a cessation of hostilities, then you must surrender."

Blaise sighed, leaning against an information board and looking across at the elephant chewing happily as the fate of the country was discussed in front of it. Rescuing the National Zoo had been perhaps her greatest single accomplishment, save for the day-to-day struggle to feed the thousands who still sheltered in and around DC. No new refugees had entered the city in the weeks since the Lee Corporation had blockaded the approach roads, but then neither had they received regular supplies. General Bevan had led scavenging raids into the neighboring conurbations, striking where Lee Corp was weakest with an unerring military instinct, but these expeditions had brought only fitful and short-term relief. In truth, the people were starving. And she was starving with them.

"And if we surrender," Blaise said, sensing Bevan stiffening behind her, "what happens next?"

Chen shrugged, glancing over her shoulder at Travers, as if she'd won a bet, then looking back at Blaise. "Then you and your people will be fed. You are thinner than when I last met you."

"And what next?"

"We will discuss the governance of DC and the wider country. You will remain as president, but we shall appoint your staff."

"And Congress?"

"…is not necessary."

"So, we are to be a puppet administration?"

Chen nodded. "Yes. But your people will survive."

"How can I possibly trust you on that? I've heard of your Reapers—they are not a means of preserving the peace."

Now she smiled the smile of a cat contemplating a mouse. "We only deploy our drones when we meet resistance. Thus far, we have refrained from using them in DC, but whether that remains the case is entirely up to you, Madam President. How much do you truly care about the people who didn't elect you?"

"Tell me, Administrator, what is

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