Chapter 11 – Political Games and Deadly Games

If being President of the United States was the most powerful position one could ever hold in their life time, the United States Secretary of Defense was arguably the third. Overseeing the vast branches and resources of the United States Military, the Defense Secretary wielded an extreme amount of power over the armed forces, second only to the President. As such, and with recent events doubling the pressure on her, President Eggert put every other position she had to fill out of her mind and focused on that one spot. She didn't even have a Vice President yet.

"We need to do something to reign our control over the Intelligence and Military Agencies," the new Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nathan Klein practically screamed into her ear as President Eggert sat in her secluded office aboard the USS Ronald Reagan, "You need to let them know that this will not turn into a pissing contest between two out of three of the branches. I want this done Madam President, do you hear me?"

President Eggert rolled her eyes and sighed, the new Speaker was gung hoe about his new job. He was the most Senior Official left in his party and the newly reconstituted House must have elected him Speaker based on that qualification alone, but there was one little area that caused her to dismiss the kid. He was thirty five and this was only his second term in Congress.

She had spent fifteen years as a Congresswoman, been elected Majority Leader and she would have quite possibly become the Speaker in the very next election if she didn't decide to resign and run for Senator in her own state. She had served in the Senate for twelve years before serving as Secretary for multiple departments and multiple Presidents.

She had become the Secretary of State with unanimous consent from the Senate and her party was in the Minority in the chamber at the time. It's because she had threatened to expose her enemy's secrets if they didn't give her a yes vote to become Secretary of State. That's how she had survived long enough to become President of the United States.

Albeit on the coattails of a travesty like the Terrorist Attack on the Capital Building, but she had become President none the less. She had survived and remained in Washington long enough to know where all of the bodies were buried and she used that to her advantage.

This kid of a Speaker didn't know that he was messing with a lifelong politician who knew how to play the game better then her successor. She had enough dirt on her opponents to get anything through, and that's why she knew that once everything settled down, she'd be one hell of a President.

"Mr. Speaker," President Eggert began gingerly, getting up from her chair and pacing the length of the box like room, "Do you know what happened to the previous speaker when he threatened to derail a peace agreement with Jordon that I had been working on for months, last year?"

"I remember you got ended up getting a vote of three fourths of the house, when the news projected that it would get nowhere-…" His voice trailed off.

"Because, you see, I've been in this town long enough to learn two things," She smirked and sat on her desk, "If you don't get what you want, you either make life a living hell for the person resisting, or you dig up and use as much crap as possible on that person and I did that to the Speaker. I shouldn't talk ill of the dead, but he had affection for taking large amounts of money in exchange for tax incentives back when I was Majority Leader."

"So what? You have nothing on me," The Speaker franticly reasoned.

This is where her evil side came out and it came out with smile, this evil side of her was known as the real side of Jennie Eggert who knew how to play the game of Politics, "That's right, because you're just a kid and the American Public has no faith in someone as young as you being Speaker of the House. Here's how I can make your life a living hell, want to hear it?"

"If you're so smart," He sounded like an indignant child by this point.

Jennie smirked again, "A lot of my friends and enemies are up there under the pile of rubble that used to the be the House Chamber right now, but be aware, Mr. Speaker, that I still have friends and enemies who can be persuaded or forced to make your life a living hell unless I get what I want."

"And what is it that you want?" His voice dropped at her plan.

"The Senate is no problem, that plane took out 63 Senators and I have fifty friends in certain Governorships who will be more than happy to appoint replacements who are friendly to me," She gushed, she didn't like that fact that while that was true, she had last 63 of her close friends, but the messily little speaker didn't need to know that, "But until I can get them all vetted, the House will be deciding my replacements, first of all, unless you want to become Speaker again in two years, which I am assuming that you do?"

"I do," The Speaker confirmed.

"Good," She nodded, "Well here's all you'll have to do to make sure that you will be re-elected Speaker and not sent back to the back benches again. In twenty four hours, I will be presenting my nominee for Defense Secretary, he or she is to be confirmed in one session, no questions asked, got it?"

"Bu-but-…people will start to question-…?" He babbled at her.

Again, Jennie smiled, "Basic rule of Politics, Nathan and even though it's a morbid one, President's typically take advantage of it. FDR did it with Pearl Harbor, George Bush did it with 9/11 and I'm doing it with this. You can pretty much get away with anything on a bump like this, you will do this."

"Fine," He sighed, "I really don't like it, but fine, is there anything else?"

"Yes," She nodded, "I will be selecting my nominees for the Supreme Court next week, and I expect them all to be confirmed by the end of the month."

"Yes …Madam President," Speaker Klein growled, "Is that it?"

"Have a good day," President Eggert sneered sarcastically into the phone.

Hearing the scoff of the Speaker one more time, Jennie smiled and hung up the phone before setting it back down on her desk. She never imagined that she'd get to this position and even though she had inherited this office through the deaths of four other people, she'd do it to the best of her ability.


"A standard issue Glock," Rose presented the gun to the crowd of her fellow Intelligence Agents, "This will be your hand gun that you use when you need it, and these are special design, brought to you by the CIA. They are equipped with classified internal silencers and range increasing devices."

Johnny raised his hand and Rose smiled before she called on him, "What?"

"That's impossible, internal silencers and range increasing devices," He said.

Sighing, she walked forward and handed the gun to her son in-law. Rose watched in amusement as his eye's slowly widened to the size of saucers as he explored the weapon, "This is incredible, when did this happen?"

"About ten years ago, we had a breakthrough with technology with the silencers, and we kept it seriously under the rug," Rose said, putting her hands on her hips and smirked at the other international intelligence agents as they stared slack jawed at her and that gun, "Sorry, we didn't tell."

"Why is it that every time that there is a technological advancement in the avenue of guns, it's always revealed to be in the possession and created by the Americans?" MI6 Agent Luker scoffed and rolled eyes at them.

Rose's smirk grew heavier and it was directed very bluntly at the Agent of the British Secret Service, "It's because we're the Superpower and when the world distracts itself from scrutinizing us for a time, we tend to busy ourselves with actually doing something like inventing new technology. This is what you get."

"I have to admit," Mossad Agent Baer grasped the weapon, he was genuinely impressed with the design of the gun, "When American's set out to do something they usually do it in style and in a big way, impressive."

"Thank you," Rose nodded, "The Silencer and the Range Extension Device can penetrate the standard bullet proof vests of the Chinese Military. Our own bullet proof vests have been designed to take hits from Shotguns. It'll hurt like hell when it hits you, but it won't blow a hole through you and kill you."

Johnny set the glock back down on the large table and looked back up at his Mother in-law, "What are we going to use for a heavy weapon?"

Rose winked at him and turned around to a large wall, she was in the Armory of the USS Ronald Reagan and the good thing about these Military Ships was that they were almost identical to every Armory in almost every Federal Building in the Country. It was purposely designed that way, so that when the Feds and the Military worked together, there wouldn't be any confusion on how to run things. That's why she knew exactly where to find the weapon.

Opening up a panel in the wall, she gripped the heavy barrel of the M-16 Assault Rifle and held it in both of her hands before turning on her heel and to the curiosity of the other Intelligence Agents, "The M-16 Assault Rifle, and standard issue of the United States Military. Over 8 Million in use today, it will be our special friend for this mission, do we all know how to use it?"

There was a unanimous nod from all of them and Rose nodded once more before turning around and placing it back on the rack and closing the panel on the wall up. That was essentially all that we needed before the mission, all they had to do was wait for the German Agent to arrive, they brief him and then they could leave. But the thing that concerned her was the fact that the German Officer, Agent Burkhart was supposed to the first of all of the agents to arrive. Expect he was three hours late.

Leaving her fellow Agents to start arming themselves with spare clips, the bulletproof vests and glocks, Rose walked to the entrance of the room and grasped the handle of the phone. Dialing the command centre of the ship, she sighed as the dial tone set in. It seemed even when you were onboard a US Navy Aircraft Carrier, Government phone calls took days to get through.

"Command Centre," A voice answered and Rose slapped her forehead in the realization that this was probably the fastest a Government Telephone Operator had ever picked up from her. She owed the guy a drink later.

"This is Agent Rose Long with the CIA in the Armory," She said, taking a quick look back over to the others, "I'm running out of patience for Agent Burkhart, now did he come? What is the deal, I'm running out of time too."

"Agent Long, I'm sorry that we didn't tell you sooner, I think Admiral Peters was going to give you the phone call," The phone attendant, or whatever he was, told her, "The Helicopter that Agent Burkhart was picked up was hit and vaporized by a Chinese Air to Surface Missile. The Russians just informed us."

Rose rubbed her forehead, "Damn it, can you patch me through to POTUS?"

"Yes, Agent Long," The Attendant said.


President Eggert was in the middle of writing a statement on Zhu De's death, that the extent to how much confidence she had in Agent Long and the other Agent's ability to get the job done. She would tout the death humbly, even though she would snicker at the death of the son of a bitch. When the phone rang, she sighed and sat the pad down. Leaning forward, she picked it up.

"Yes," She said tersely, "What is it? I'm busy?"

"With all due respect ma'am, so am I. I'm about to launch an attempt to assassinate the President of the People's Republic of China," Rose bit back her anger severely out of respect for her Commander in Chief, "I was just told that the Agent Burkhart of Germany's helicopter was shot down on the Russian Chinese Border. I just wanted to let you know that…"

Jennie leaned forward and ran her hand through her hair, "Shit, ok. I'll place a call to the German Prime Minister and President, offer the condolences of our Government. Since you speak for the CIA in this matter, anything words?"

"Tell them, the United States Central Intelligence Agency is upset and saddened or something by his death," Rose droned on, it sounded insincere to the common listener, but she was saddened by the death of Germany's top Spy, "Tell them that our killing of Zhu De is retribution for his death."

"You are valuable," Jennie chuckled, "Thanks for the heads up."

"Not a problem Madam President, and if the death of one of our team members worry the world leaders your working with, don't worry. If worst comes to worse, I'll shoot the fucker in the face," Rose reported cheerfully.

"That's what I like to hear," Jennie nodded.


"Ok," Rose said, hanging up the phone, "Agent Burkhart's Helicopter was shot down on the Russian/Chinese Border a few moments ago. That means we have some serious alterations to our plans. Any suggestions, we're the greatest Spies that the NATO Alliance could produce, let's think it over."

MI5 Luker nodded, "Since the even number is broken, one of us stay on the roof and keep it clear, while the other four of us take the lower and top halves of the building. This way we have a way to keep the roof clear for our escape."

"I like it," Rose nodded, "Luker and Baer will take the bottom half of the building, Gulin and I will take the top half and hopefully Zhu De. Johnny, you'll take the roof and keep it clear incase they try to cover our escape."

Johnny nodded, but he quickly turned his head the sound of the disgruntled noise from the British MI6 Agent. If anything, they all expected to know what her complaint would be. It would be something along the lines of why the Russians and the American's would get credit for the assassination of Zhu De.

"Why do the Americans and the Russians get the kill?" Luker shouted.

Rose put her hands on her kids and shared a bemused glance with the Russian Agent. They understood each other and their motivation. The Russian, Gulin, sighed and regarded the MI6 Agent with a stoic glare, "Did the Chinese actively have a role in the designing a plan to destroy the British Economy?"

"Well no, however-…" She sputtered for a moment.

"Did they give money to a domestic terrorist to pay some thugs to hijack and airliner and fly it into Parliament or Buckingham Palace or whatever the hell building the British regard as a National Symbol?" Johnny growled at her.

"That would be Parliament, Agent Sindacco." She responded tersely.

"Did they kill your Prime Minister and three fourths of your parliament?" Rose asked, she didn't like to stoke fires between countries. Don't get her wrong, like loved the UK, but there were some things that needed US Control.

"No," She bit back, she felt cornered.

"Did MI6 give you a brief on Project Iron?" Gulin asked the woman.

"Yes they did, what do you think we do? Charge in with guns blazing like the yanks?" Luker shouted indignantly, this was really starting to irritate her.

"Hey," Rose yelled, glaring at the MI6 Agent. She crossed a line when it came to name calling, those were fighting words, "Might I remind you, limey, that if it were not for us, Yanks, not to mention the Reds, pardon the phrase-…"

She turned to Gulin, who regarded her with a bit of smirk, and then looked back to the smoldering British Secret Service Agent, "…The Island of Great Britain would have eventually become part of the Nazi Empire. The British and French might well be speaking German right now if it were not for us charging in with 'Guns blazing'. Now I'm not one to flaunt the fact that we, as well as the Russians, quickly overtook the British as Superpowers, but-…"

"You Americans," She sneered and crossed her arms over her chest, "You're all so arrogant and you all think that you have some self importance that the rest of the world cannot see. Not the mention the unbridled stupidity."

Rose threw her head back in laughter, "Says the woman from a country that couldn't even defeat the Egyptians without our help. Oh, wasn't it humiliating? Well I know it wasn't personally for you, but it probably was for your parents, you know. Having finally realized that there beloved England couldn't defeat a third would country without the permission and support of the 'stupid, arrogant, ignorant, self important yanks' how laughable."

"Watch your mouth-…" The other woman warned.

"You wanted to play the name calling game, I'm playing it," Rose smirked and got closer to the woman. She was good at pressing buttons, this woman's tough act was laughable at best and Rose was not at all intimidated by it, "Tell me, has the sun finally set on the British Empire?"

Gulin smirked at Baer behind them, "I think Agent Long finally just said what we've been dying to say to the British for half a century now."

"Tell that to my parents," Baer noted, "My mother still curses America for not assisting us in the Suez Crisis. She worships the British and the French."

"With the exception of Switzerland, I believe that the UK and France are two of the most ungrateful countries in the world," Gulin shrugged and watched as the British Secret Service Agent and the United States CIA Agent approached each other slowly, "But I was raised to hate them both."

"That's true," Baer nodded, "After all, you were raised a Communist, they were both raised to be Capitalists, you were trained to hate both of them."

"Good point," Gulin snorted.

The pressure was running high and all three of the bystanders began to approach the two women. Rose had both of her hands on her hips and she stared the woman down, "I'm going to tell you what many Great Americans have told the British Government in the past. Shut the hell up, do as I say, not as I do! Or was that too stupid for you too understand, huh? Bitch?"

Rose pushed the woman's shoulder, in return the other woman pushed Rose's shoulder and from there it kind of …exploded.


Authors Note: I was nervous about writing the last section for a number of reasons. The chief among them was that I have a number of readers that are from the countries that I sort of…well…trashed and emasculated.

Let me make something clear, I don't have these feelings in reality (The exception being the Government and some RUDE people of France) I love Britain, I've been there three times in my life and enjoyed every visit. The people were wonderful and it's a beautiful country (with the exception of the food – I firmly believe that some of the restaurants over there serve dog, but that's just my opinion). We'll always be two peas in pod, honorary cousins.

The Russians and the US will always have an … interesting relationship spawned from the years of 1945 to 1991. I've been to Switzerland and I'm only saying something about them because I mentioned them, that's a gorgeous country. Egypt, two thumbs up!

The only countries that I hate in reality are: Cuba, Vietnam, North Korea, Iran, Burma, and roughly one quarter of the population of France.