The Unraveling by Charley Hogwood

Author:Charley Hogwood [Hogwood, Charley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Independent
Published: 2019-01-28T22:00:00+00:00

15

Chapter 15

Monday, January 8th (early evening)

Washington, D.C.

President William Jackson was sitting behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office. His aides were swarming around and the staff cosmetologist was dabbing on the last bit of foundation to his face to prevent his skin from shining in the bright LED panels. The teleprompter built into the camera before him flashed with the latest version of his speech to the American people. The speech had been changed five times in the last five hours due to changing conditions and conflicting information flowing into the situation room. He finally had to demand the speech be presented as-is. New information could be released later, as needed.

President Jackson had been in office for about a year on this cold January evening. His administration had been hampered with challenges to his authority since he won the election by complete surprise. The country was more divided now than since anyone could remember. Talk of civil war had recently been trotted out by the fringes and several states were seriously considering secession. Texas always boasted independence but now there was this CALEXIT thing and they seemed to actually be gaining ground. If California were to secede the entire national landscape would be permanently altered–both culturally and economically.

The South was up in arms over Confederate statues peacefully in place for a hundred years, North Korea was being a serious pain in the global ass, and China seemed on every side of every geopolitical argument. The only constant seemed to be Vladimir Putin. He was just as much a crap-stirrer as ever. It was as if he would do things just to watch the Americans embarrass themselves trying to figure out if he was a good guy or a really bad guy. Putin probably spent a lot of his days belly laughing at the American Congress over things they thought he did but could not really prove.

With everything this president was dealing with, the last thing he expected was an outbreak of disease that he would have to address. Maybe President Reagan was right when he made the speech about it taking something so universally dangerous to the people, like space aliens, to bring the world together for the benefit of mankind. Even in his mind he was paraphrasing, and hoping for the best at this point. All of the political operatives lived by the saying ‘never let good crisis go to waste,’ and they were always chasing the political angle. People hated it but that was how Washington works. This situation was no different.

From what his cabinet was saying, this influenza pandemic could be that alien force that might bring down the civilized world. He thought they were overreacting but prudence dictated he listen to the so-called experts.

The man with the headset next to the camera told the President to get ready, “30 seconds.”

Everyone cleared out of frame and he took a big sip of water from the clear glass on his desk. He made a joke to lighten the mood a little, “I thought this was supposed to be vodka, cancel the address.

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