“Not yet. A few people hospitalized.”
“We need everyone to calm down,” Clay said. “The panic is worse than the problem.”
“Yes, sir,” Keevers said. “We think you should address the nation.”
“This afternoon?”
Press Secretary Archer said, “We’ll get better coverage this evening.”
“Just a brief statement,” Keevers said. “Prepared remarks. You are personally overseeing all attempts—”
“Efforts,” Archer said, “not attempts. Personally overseeing all efforts during this difficult time.”
“A season of adversity when Americans must come together—”
“—to demonstrate the spirit of resolve that defines the national character, et cetera.”
“The National Guard has your highest confidence, and so do the people of Cleveland, Tulsa, and Fresno.”
“Meanwhile, no stone is being left unturned in the hunt for those who vilely attacked our nation.”
“Excuse me,” Cooper said.
The rhythm of the room was broken, everyone turning to look at him like they had forgotten he was there. He smiled affably. “You said ‘statement.’ Shouldn’t he take questions?”
“No,” Keevers and Leahy said at the same time. Archer said, “Absolutely not.”
“Three cities are in chaos,” Cooper said. “There are food shortages and looting and the fear of riots. Why wouldn’t the president answer questions?”
Keevers’s face was tight. “Mr. Cooper, I don’t think—”
“Actually,” President Clay said, “he has a point. Why not take questions?”
The other three looked at one another. After a moment, Archer said, “Because, sir, the questions will be, who are the Children of Darwin? Where are they? What do they want? How close are we to stopping them?”
“Why not come out strong?” Clay asked. “Say that the situation is under control, that the COD will soon be neutralized by actions covert, swift, and final.”
“Because intelligence suggests more attacks may be coming,” the secretary of defense said. “If you say we’ve got it handled and an hour later something blows up, it looks like we’re asleep at the switch.”
“So tell the truth,” Cooper said. “Tell people that you don’t have all the answers yet. Tell them that the full force of the US government is being brought to bear. That terrorism won’t be tolerated, and that the Children of Darwin will be caught or killed. And that meanwhile, you need your citizens to put on their big-boy pants and calm down.”
A silence fell. It had a weight and a texture. It was a silence that spoke volumes; a silence filled with at least three people wondering just how dumb he was.
So much for “the truth shall set you free.”
After a long moment, the president spoke. “All right. No questions.”
Cooper leaned back in his chair. Fought the urge to shrug.
“But Nick raises a good point,” Clay continued. “It’s important to preserve people’s confidence that the buck stops with the president, and if I make a statement and don’t answer questions, it suggests we’re hiding something. Holden, on the other hand, can defer and deflect. He’ll do the briefing.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And, Owen, I want answers about the Children of Darwin. Not next week, not tomorrow, now.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good.” Lionel Clay circled behind his desk, put on his reading glasses, and began to flip through a file folder. His attention was absorbed immediately. A side effect of Cooper’s gift was that he tended to categorize people as shades of color; hotheads felt red to him, introverts landed in shades of gray. Lionel Clay was the smoke-stained gold of café walls, comforting and sophisticated.
Which is great. But I wonder if right now we don’t need a man who patterns like polished steel.
He stood up, buttoned his suit jacket, and followed the others out of the Oval Office. Marla Keevers waited until the door closed to jump him. “Big-boy pants?”
“Big-girl pants too,” he said.
Her smile was thin and cold and died far from her eyes. “You realize all you accomplished was to get him excited about something he can’t do.”
“My understanding, he can do pretty much anything he likes.”
“You’re wrong. And now instead of the president telling the nation not to worry, we’ll have the press secretary bobbing and weaving. Holden is good, but what we need is the leader of the free world telling his people that everything is okay.”
“Even if it’s not.”
“Especially then.”
“See, that’s where we disagree. I think that the president’s job is to protect the country. And telling them the truth is the best way to do that.”
“Oh, Christ.” She rolled her eyes. “I’d say that I hope you know what you’re doing, but you clearly don’t.”
“We’ll see,” Cooper said.
“Yes,” Marla Keevers replied. “We will.”
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Con$piracy around murder of DAR director
El Chupacabra
“Why is it called ‘common sense’ when it’s so rare?”
User ID: 493324
You guys gotta hear this.
You know how three months ago, DAR’s Drew Peters takes a header off a DC high-rise? The cover story is that he’s overwhelmed with guilt about his role in the Monocle, so he uploads the video of him and Walker planning it, and then swan dives.
Crazy to begin with, because the dude was the head of Equitable Services, and that division killed God knows how many people, so why is he worried about the 73 in the restaurant?
But here’s the wacko part. I’ve got a buddy in the DC police, and he told me that that same night, in that same building, there was a firefight in a graphic design studio. Apparently it was shot to shit, monitors blown up, glass broken. He says there was a lot of blood but no body.
My guy got to the scene and was turned away by the men in black. He thinks maybe DAR agents. And later that night, he gets a call from the police commissioner telling him that he’s mistaken, there was no blood, no firefight.
Obviously something else went down. My take, Peters didn’t release the video, it was actually whoever shot up the graphic design studio.
Which means that Peters was murdered. And no one is talking about it.
So the order had to come down from on high. Someone with juice was moving pieces behind the scenes.
Stay locked and loaded, guys. Dark days are coming.
Re: Con$piracy around murder of DAR director
Benito the Mighty
“Be still and know that I am God”
User ID: 784321
You just putting this together?
There had to be more people involved. Walker was the president, and Peters a director at the DAR. It’s not like either of them did the wetwork at the Monocle. And no one has been able to find the shooters, which means they were whacked too.
And you’re surprised that others are involved?
There’s a whole shadow government at work here. They go on TV and do the magic show for us. Get us worked up because a mayor sends some girl a picture of his dick, or a senator says something racist, or an aide smokes crack. And we ooh and ahh and judge, and meanwhile, we never look at what they’re really doing.
The decisions that drive the nation are made in dark rooms. Records are not kept, and press releases are not issued.
It goes a lot deeper than the Monocle. There’s a cabal of people who are pulling all the strings, and they aren’t afraid to drop bodies. Your cop buddy better be careful.