Page 125 of Casualties of War
Chapter Twenty-Six
The White House, Washington D.C. Thirty hours later.
Richard Collins, President of the United States, shook Olivia’s hand, then turned to taken Adán’s. Adán swapped the cane to his left hand and held out the right one. “Mr. President.”
“Richard.” He glanced over his shoulder at the agents and Doug Mulray, the deputy Chief of Staff. “Thank you, that will be all.”
Mulraylooked surprised, then concerned, as the agents filed out of the Oval Office. “Mr. President…?”
“I want the room,” Richard said. “If you want Callan’s job, learn the signals.”
“Yes, sir.” He turned and headed for the door connecting the Oval Office with the Chief of Staff’s office.
“Use the other door!” Richard barked.
Mulray froze, his hand reaching for the door. He turned and headed forthe door that passed through the front office and shut it behind him.
Richard waved toward the twin sofas. “I know the two of you landed only an hour ago. Do you need anything?” He pushed up the sleeves on his casual sweater. It was ten o’clock at night, and he had walked down from the Residence to meet them.
“No, thank you, Mr. President,” Olivia said.
Adán navigated the sofa carefully. Hewas still learning how to sit in a way that didn’t bounce him back onto his feet in pain. He lowered himself onto the edge of the striped cushions and leaned forward, with most of his weight on the cane. The damn leg wouldn’t take his weight, yet. The medic who had attended him on the USA Army transport up from Vistaria last night had told him the leg would heal completely in a few weeks if he couldstay off it long enough.
“Olivia, I’m so sorry about your father,” the President said. “It is a personal blow for me, too. We were friends a long time.”
“I know, sir,” Olivia replied. Her face was pale although her gaze was steady. “Sir, I have to ask…is there any chance of anyone listening to us, right now? Any recordings?”
Richard’s lined face worked. His eyes narrowed. “If there is, theNSA will have its collective butt kicked.”
Olivia didn’t relax. She had barely spoken on the flight from L.A., either. Adán figured they both had a lot on their minds and had left her to her thoughts. Now, though, she worked her hands together. “I am aware that when you are meeting with foreign nationals, the meetings are recorded.”
The President lifted his hand. “Not this time. I trust bothof you. Otherwise you would not be sitting in this room alone with me.”
“Thank you,” Olivia said. She straightened. “As the representative of the Presidentprotemof Loyalist Vistaria, I am here to advise you that for now, the responsibilities of the President rest with General Eduardo Peña y Santos.”
“I was under the impression he was leading the offensive upon Vistaria,” Collins said. “Theytook the south end of the island yesterday, didn’t they?”
“Yes, sir. And yes, Duardo is leading the army. Most of the functions of the office are being run out of the house on Acapulco and I have picked up one or two of those responsibilities, myself.” She glanced at Adán. “So has Adán, sir. Which is why we are both here.”
“I see.” Collins sat back, his bushy eyebrows pressing together. “Thisis more than a diplomatic formality, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” Adán said. “We know why you wouldn’t commit American troops to the Vistarian war effort now.”
Collins rubbed the back of his neck, grimacing. “That situation has now been corrected. There is a troop carrier heading at full speed for Vistaria as we speak. They will make landfall by tomorrow night.”
“For which all Vistarians will be grateful,including me,” Adán told him. “That’s not why we’re here. Well, not the only reason we’re here. Learning about the cobalt was one piece of information we have collected in the last few days. When we pooled the information this morning, the picture it forms is alarming. We jumped on the first flight out of L.A. to come here.”
Richard Collins was a superb poker player. Adán had learned that fromthe many times the man had depleted his wallet. Now, though, Richard looked uneasy. “Go on,” he said.
Adán rested the cane against his knee and touched his forefinger. “One of the Vistarians the Insurrectos were using to break down the cobalt escaped. He made it to the city before a grenade launched from a drone killed him. Knowing what I do about the cobalt and your efforts to retrieve it, Iwould have expected a black ops team to parachute in to his location, to find the core. Instead, a drone took him out.”
Olivia added, “Vistaria has no drones. Mexico didn’t know about the cobalt. The legitimate government—you, Mr. President—wouldn’t want the man killed. Whoever took the cobaltwouldwant him silenced. They knew he was irradiated and didn’t want to get close to him. They tookhim out from a distance. They silenced him with a drone from your air base, Mr. President.”
Richard Collins’ gaze focused inward. “It wasn’t only Insurrectos building the bomb.”
“No, sir,” Olivia said.
“When the Insurrectos took me across to Vistaria, they knew the exact timing of the spy satellites,” Adán added. “The bomb makers knew when they could move the core without detection, too. That’sclassified American defense information.”
