Active Threat - Part 3
"Mr. President…" Ron said,
entering the oval office.
"Yes Ron? What is it? Please not
another security drill, or safety measure…" Jed replied, still
looking at a report.
The threat (or promise) was now two days old, and ever since then, Jed had been enduring the secret service, not to mention constant reminders of the seriousness of the situation.
"Sir, just wanted you to meet the new agent that will be assigned to you…" Ron replied, knowing all too well how this was going to go over.
"Isn't there enough of you?" Jed
asked, finally looking up.
"Do you want to meet him?" Ron
asked, pretending he didn't hear the question.
"Do I have a choice?" Jed whispered to himself. "Sure, bring him in…" Jed replied, Ron waving the man who was clothed in black just beyond the doorway.
The young man entered.
Yup, an agent alright, Jed thought to himself. Clothed in black and expressionless, …or maybe that's nervousness…
"Sir, this is Agent Lee Jacobs," Ron said, introducing Jacobs who stepped closer. Jed was now able to see tiny beads of sweat on this man's forehead.
Jed stood up and extended his hand over the grand desk.
"Good to meet you sir…" Jacobs
replied, giving a nervous nod.
"So, you are going to…?" Jed
asked, looking to Ron for details.
"He is your new personal agent; he will be by you whenever you go out in public," Ron replied, saying it as fast as he dared, not wanting to show that he was slightly anxious at how Jed would take it.
Jed gave a nod to Jacobs, a motion that did two things at once: welcomed him, and showed he accepted what was being done was for his own protection, whether he liked it or not.
- - -
They all knew it was only a matter of time until the Order would carry out their 'promise'; they just didn't know where, when, or how.
Jed was in the residence when the news of the happening reached his ears.
The TV was on and he was just out of the room when a reporter came on the air.
'Nearly fifteen minutes ago a large explosion occurred in the street, shaking buildings and shattering many of the windows along the street.'
When Jed entered he saw a reporter in front of a barricade, police and paramedics all over the place beyond it. Broken glass, small bon fires and twisted pieces of metal were all over, and dust was just beginning to settle.
'Officials believe that it was a bomb, though what kind and where it was positioned exactly is pending investigation.'
The street was a wide city street, shops and businesses on either side of it.
Just then, on the bottom of the TV screen scrolled the words:
Two more explosions have occurred in: DENVER AND SAN FRANCISCO
Jed didn't stay there to hear or read the rest, he immediately set off to the situation room.
Entering the situation room the advisers were already there.
"What have we got?" Jed asked,
looking at his top General.
"The Order. It has their signature
all over it," he replied.
"What information do we have about
the explosions?"
"We believe the one in Dallas was a car bomb, parked on the right side of the street. It obliterated the shop to its right and shot shrapnel and glass all around. To put it simply sir…it was packed," another General stated.
"What about the other two?" Jed asked.
"The reports on those are just coming in sir. We do know the one in Dallas was set off first, followed closely by the one in Denver and then San Francisco."
"Casualties, wounded?" Jed asked, dreading any numbers at all.
"Right now the Dallas numbers are 7 and 56…" one of the men on the far side of the table informed him. The number seven being casualties.
"Denver and San Francisco?"
"We don't know yet sir."
"In other major cities, what are they
doing?" Leo asked.
"Governors and Mayors are ordering for the streets to be cleared. The FBI are sending crews right now to search for any more bombs…"
"Were these bombs detonated by timers
or by triggers?" Jed asked.
"We can't be sure, we believe there
were on timers, but triggers are not out of the question."
"When will we have more information?" Jed continued, wanting desperately to know every possible detail, for he would soon need to make an address to the nation.
"Probably in an hour we will have clearer numbers and have a better picture of everything overall…"
Jed nodded, getting up.
"I need to go and address the nation, before this turns into an all out panic…" he said, exiting.
Hopefully it isn't already… he tried not to think.
- - -
