She was holding Frank’s hand and thinking about the last few weeks. She was close to the site of a nuclear explosion, could have been killed if she were just a small number of miles to the west, and considered herself lucky to be alive. She met a man, did a few impulsive things for once in her life, and was now engaged. She was sitting here talking to the President of the United States and may soon be engaged to the Vice President. Life was certainly different than it had been.
She felt guilty about all of this. All of those dead people and the result was her life changed in this fashion making her happy. But if she had this kind of luck she vowed to herself to just appreciate it. She would try to find a way to be worthy of it, help her country, and support her fiancé.
“So Frank, what do you say? Will you?” asked the President.
“Yes sir. But I have one request,” said Frank.
“What is that?” asked Scott with a smile.
“Can we have a small wedding at Camp David?” he asked his poker face expressionless.
“You know what, I have actually never been there, but sure, I don’t see why not?” said the President.
“Then I am in, as long as Sandy says yes,” he answered.
“My sister, or mother, will still never believe me, but I am in. Where you go, I go,” she said and leaned over to kiss Frank on the cheek.
She thought for a second then added, “I would have asked to have it here at the White House, but Camp David is good!”
The President looked at Sandy and asked, “Would it do any good for me to call your mom about all this?”
Everyone laughed. They were rapidly on their way to becoming friends.
AP NEWS FLASH: The President, The Chief of Staff, the First Lady of the United States, along with an unknown pair of guests had a private dinner this evening in the residence of the White House. Speculation as to the reasoning for this visit ranged from Vice Presidential Nominee to the news coming out of Iran concerning the identity of a US military member being covered up by the administration. This would be an attempt to allow their actions in the War to go on without oversight by the House or Senate. The former President calls the actions of President Press outside of the normal decorum of Washington DC.
AP ECONOMIC NEWS FLASH: In an effort to stop the continuing selloff in the markets Congress introduced legislation to give a tax break to investment income. Stock futures for tomorrow instantly turned positive upon release of the news. Some economists say this is a good start, but does not go far enough to cure the problems facing the economy. Some skeptics say this move will only help those already wealthy accumulate more wealth. <STORY DEVELOPING>
Chapter Thirty-One
Frank stood up and looked at Sandy. He felt bad for having to put her through everything that was about to happen. He was not exactly sure what this was going to be like, so he wasn’t all that sure how to make her feel better. He was absolutely certain that he wasn’t looking forward to it, but she had done nothing to thrust this madness into her life other than consent to be with him.
He was wearing his dress uniform for the morning and nervously waiting in the office of the White House Press Secretary for his debut press conference to begin in about ten minutes.
“Sandy, I just realized something that could give you an out if you want it. Your name doesn’t appear on the agenda. I know we were going to have you stand in the background, but you don’t have to,” Frank offered.
“Oh, it’s ok. They won’t be asking me anything,” she said.
“They might. That is the White House Press Corps out there. They could do anything. This is the major leagues,” he warned.
“That is true, however as Mr. Waits told me, I don’t have to answer. I can just shake my head, smile, and wave if they try to throw some questions at me,” she said.
“Ok, well does it make me seem like a little bit of a wimp if I admit that you appear to be far less nervous than I feel?” he asked with a smile.
“No, because you have to talk to a bunch of inquisitive people. Then, of course, there will be so many more watching on television. All I have to do is look cute, smile, and wave. However, I am sure that if Warrant Officer Choi were here, he would call you a pussy,” she teased him.
“Well, that is a fair point, and yes he would, if not something a little worse than that,” the entire conversation was just to bide time until things started, and hopefully to keep the butterflies in his stomach at bay. Never in his life had he sought out public attention. If it weren’t for her he would be pacing the office.
Frank took a deep drink of water knowing it would be his last until this press conference was over. He knew that the people on staff here were not going to let the questions go longer than fifteen minutes. He assumed it would be the longest fifteen minutes of his life.
Finally, it was time.
He walked down the hall passing numerous desks and cubicles. He could not get over just how normal some parts of this building looked when you forgot the address. In places it really was just an office building. In those parts there was no real difference between it and so many others. The work being done by these people may be different subject matter, with the impact of that work being felt across a wider array of people than other offices, but the basics mechanisms for performing that work were the same.
He listened to Scott Waits from just outside the view of the reporters, “Ladies and Gentlemen, now that you know the basics of what has happened, and you have your press kits with the details, I present to you Captain, and soon to be Major, Frank Banner.”
He walked up to the podium amidst the lights and camera flashes. His eyes instantly dilated and he realized he couldn’t see very much. Damn, he should have expected that. He wondered how the professionals did this every day. He hoped his eyes would quickly adjust so that he could see people to call on to ask a question soon. The Press Secretary had given him the first name to call, but after that it was free form.
“Thank you Mr. Waits, Ladies and Gentlemen, I really have no additional specific details to add beyond what Mr. Waits has already given you. I am just here to answer any questions you have, provided they don’t cross operational security lines,” he said exactly what had been scripted for him.
The room exploded into what seemed to be chaos with everyone calling his name at once.
“Mr. Henry from CNN,” he said knowing the first question was planted with a cooperative reporter. It had the added bonus of being a question he very much wanted to answer for the record. They did this to make sure his nerves could calm down and get in the groove of speaking to the press.
“Captain Banner, the reports from Iranian sources are that you and your men were in that country specifically seeking retribution for their unprovoked nuclear attacks. They claim that your team went in there with a ‘score to settle.’ They are saying that you killed a large number of civilians including women and children, acting as part of a ‘kill squad,’ to use their words, while also completing another mission. Can you respond to their claims?” asked the reporter.
“Yes I can. I can say with all honesty that I personally witnessed every shot, except one, that was fired on the ground and I saw the location of a missile strike from the air. All shots fired were in self-defense, and no women or children were killed, or seen actually, while we were on the ground.
“The United States has more sensors on the battlefield today than I can possibly explain. We have more in the air over every combat engagement for a variety of reasons, serving to extend the reach of those carried by soldiers. They are on platforms extending from the drones above our heads, to satellites covering the region as a whole, many in high definition. From those sensors we get a huge number of video feeds, still images, and other types information. None of that is news to anyone within the sound of my voice. From those sensor feeds we can see what really happened, and after reviewing all of them, just to be sure no accidents occurred, we are able to say conclusively that there were zero civilian casualties up until the time our helicopters, drones, aircraft and warfighters left the area.