He was about to come back with something in his defense when two large men wearing very nice suits entered the room, “Gentlemen, please stay where you are and keep your hands visible.”
“What the f…” Frank stopped mid curse word as the President of the United States entered the room. He wished someone had given him a little warning that this particular visitor was coming. He was so shocked that he didn’t notice the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the Secretary of Defense come in behind him. Not the sort of group a mere Captain wants to see without warning, before showering.
The two soldiers immediately snapped to attention. The President said, “As you were, gentlemen,” and the two men relaxed slightly.
“So that is the infamous Dr. Joba?” asked President Press, skipping introductions.
“Yes, Mr. President,” Frank replied quickly, nervously. He had to take the lead in this case, according to protocol.
“You are the two men who led the team to bring him to us?” asked the President.
“Yes, Mister President. I am the team Commander, Captain Frank Banner, and this is my Warrant Officer, Peter Choi. Officially, I led the men, but these teams are really run by the enlisted soldiers. They deserve all the credit, Mr. President,” the Captain answered hoping he wasn’t rambling or speaking too quickly.
He finally noticed the Chairman was quietly standing back and wished that the man would step in and take over the conversation. Peter chuckled audibly causing the President to smile and ask, “Chief, I assume you disagree in some fashion?”
“Yes, Mr. President. The Captain was the first on the ground, and the last off. He reacted to hostiles as fast, or faster than any of us and with just as much lethality,” Peter responded.
“Well, Captain, it looks like you have been officially ratted out. As a thank you for a job well done I want you, your men, and all of the spouses or girlfriends over to my new house for dinner. From the conversation I heard while I was walking up the hall, you aren’t married, but bring that girlfriend I heard something about along with you,” he said to Frank with a wink directed to Peter.
“Uh Mister President… She isn’t a girlfriend, she is just a woman I met, and only recently. We haven’t even been on a date or discussed it,” the Captain was talking much faster than he should have been. He suddenly realized, that the President was having some fun at his expense, but had no idea how to respond to the obvious ribbing.
“Well Captain, it appears as though you have a dinner date to ask her to. Would you prefer I have someone from my staff, or maybe even my wife, give her a call? Then how would you look? I think the Chief here used the word, what was that word again, oh that’s right, pansy. I am sure you can handle it without any help,” he turned to look at the prisoner and quickly changed the subject, “Do you gentlemen know who this man is?”
“Well Mr. President,” he stammered, “he is a nuclear scientist or something. I assumed he could tell us what their capabilities are, or perhaps figure out where they store their devices so we can get in there and destroy them, but that was just us guessing. They only give us enough information to accomplish the mission we are assigned. We needed to know his general information so we could grab any intelligence we might find on site. That way if we are captured we can’t possibly give too much away. For the most part while on a mission we don’t care. It isn’t our job to question him. We just brought him in. We treated the mission as if it was a downed pilot rescue, for the most part,” he felt like a school kid trying to answer a tough oral exam question.
“Oh, he is much more than what you were told. From what the intelligence agencies are telling me he led the design and fabrication teams for the bombs they used on us. He was probably close to an efficiency and optimization breakthrough that would have allowed them to build more nuclear weapons much more quickly, not to mention with much larger detonation yields.
“Without him it is unlikely they can even build any more of the type they already used. So you see, Gentlemen, you saved us a lot of trouble by getting this guy. You may have opened the door, so to speak, for us to take any conventional action that makes sense, and not have to worry about additional nukes showing up on the battlefield. That was a real fear for once we back them into a corner,” answered the President with a gleam in his eye.
Both of them were shocked. It was Peter who first responded, “Sir, we appreciate the chance to perform this mission. We are just glad to have been of service. I don’t want to speak for the Captain here but, we are Soldiers. This is our job. We need no special thank you. I, for one, appreciate the dinner invitation but it is not necessary. I am sure you are busy with a War to run, and preparations to repair the damaged infrastructure.”
“Nonsense. You have struck a strategic blow. Besides, I have to eat and it’s either you guys or some Congressperson, or worse a Senator who is pissed off at me for something. Usually it is because I haven’t nominated him or her as Vice President yet. So, you see, you will actually be doing me a favor.
“Go, get your team, get that woman,” he pointed to Frank, “and I will have my Chief of Staff work with the Secret Service to arrange it so you can all avoid the press that always hangs around. That way you guys can stay safely anonymous, as Special Operators prefer,” insisted the politician.
“Don’t worry about the formality of the White House. We will keep this one relatively informal and we will surely have an open bar. This will be a small get together, just me, my wife, the Chairman here and the Secretary of Defense with their spouses. I am sure your group Commander will want to come. Consider this an order,” the President said with a smile.
“Now gentlemen, I have to go let some people explain to me why I’m not allowed to go in there and ask him some questions myself. I thought my presence would freak him out, and maybe get him to talk, but they all seem to disagree,” the President and the rest of the group left as quickly as they had arrived.
Peter could only smile, “Looks like you have to ask her out now. Even soldiers at war have to eat, at least according to our Commander in Chief.”
They left Dr. Joba to his cell.
They both had a phone call or two to make. Frank could not imagine what he was going to say to her. How could he get a woman he just met to a dinner with him that would involve air travel and some intense focus that was not what he would want for a first date?
AP NEWS FLASH: The former President claims he knows who in the CIA launched attacks into Iran with the intent of seeking revenge. The current President and the CIA Director refuse to engage in these discussions by merely giving an official response of “no comment.” Members of his own party, who are regarded as extreme are regarding the former President as a parasite at this point. The current President’s job approval has climbed slightly to 55 %.
AP ECONOMIC NEWS FLASH: A quick check of various sectors has shown that defense and health care are dominating the market. Many other sectors have been decimated, especially transportation, given the lack of available oil. Unemployment numbers have come out for the first time since the attack and have risen sharply going from 5.1 % to 8.3 %, which is considered to be a number that will continue to rise. This has added to the fear that the world may be heading into a global depression. European countries’ unemployment rates show similar increases with companies quickly streamlining based on the new world conditions. Worldwide energy costs are thought to be the main reason for these massive increases in job extermination.