Page 115 of The Pacifist
“Okay, we found a bunch of super old stuff that Christina says people will pay fortunes for.”
Christina got the wooden box and gently uncovered the vase. “May I present to you, this ancient Egyptian amphora from the later part of the eighteenth Dynasty, created somewhere between year 1350 and 1321 before the common era.”
Khan reached for the vase but Christina pulled back. “This vase is almost four thousand years old. You can’t touch it.”
Lowering his hands, Khan studied the vase. “Yes, I can count, but are you sure? How do you know it’s not a replica?”
“Because we found a certificate in the box that explains its origin. Before the Toxic War it was in a museum but one of the executives moved here after the war and brought several artifacts with him.”
“We also found a lot of gold and silver.” Freya took her father’s hand and pulled Khan a few steps further into the storage room.
“Whoa.”
“What is it?” My dad was quick to follow and the way his face lit up when he and Khan saw the fortune we had found made me reach for Jonah’s hand and squeeze it.
“Now, are you okay with us calling you out of your meeting?” Christina was grinning with the brothers, who were touching everything.
“You found all of this down here?” Magni’s hands ran through his hair and his tone was full of disbelief. “I can’t wait to tell Laura.”
“Remember you promised that Mila and I could donate the money we could get from selling everything in the storage room.”
Khan opened his mouth to protest, but Jonah stepped forward. “Actually, Freya has a brilliant plan to help the people and secure you more votes.”
“She has?”
“Yes.”
“We’re going to build community homes where people can work and live. That way no Nman has to be homeless or lonely.”
Khan frowned. “Sounds like the Motherlands. Our people aren’t used to a safety net like that. They won’t like it. It’s humiliating to have to accept help.”
“Which explains why far too many who need help choose to commit suicide as a way out of their misery,” I argued. “We just have to sell it to them in a way that doesn’t hurt their pride, and I have an idea.”
“I’m listening.” Khan locked eyes with me.
“You know how I’m always talking about creating animal shelters. What if we created community homes and advertised that we needed live-in caregivers for a group of pets?”
Christina had put away the vase and walked to the door. “I’m happy to hear all your great ideas, as long as it’s over lunch.”
“Lunch? We should have a fucking feast with this kind of amazing news.” Magni winked at me. “Why don’t you tell Sheriff and Jimmy to find some good bottles of wine and do a bit of their food magic?”
CHAPTER 25
Outrage
Jonah
All morning I’d been talking to Khan, Magni, and Pearl about upcoming events that would help shine a positive light on Khan as the future President. Everyone had jumped at Freya’s idea to have film nights, and the first was already planned to happen the following Saturday night.
Tasks were delegated to a small army of people and I was proud when Magni, Khan, and Pearl praised me for my idea of a meet and greet booth called Friends of Khan. By making a few calls, Pearl had added Salma Rose, Willow Darlington, and Shelly Summers to the list of celebrities who would volunteer to campaign for Khan.
Magni had arranged for a security meeting this afternoon and assured us all that his special forces would guarantee our safety.
There were times during the meeting when it was hard to concentrate because I still felt high from the three nights that I’d spent with Mila. Flashbacks of making love to her made me smile at random times and when I remembered our naked play-fighting from this morning, I accidentally chuckled. Magni, who was discussing the logistics of moving the line along fast enough, stopped and gave me a funny look.
When we broke off the meeting, I went straight to find Mila and found her in the entertainment room where she was talking with Anne.
