Parallelogram : Day Two : Chapter 62

Five Days, Ten Hours, Ten Minutes

Stoddard couldn't believe what he was hearing.

Leaving the doctor to continue his work at decrypting the entire contents of Chloe Vandemark's letter to the press, he didn't understand how everything had spiraled out of control so quickly. Not long ago – once the White House had recovered use of the satellite defense network – he had experienced a brief elation ... only to have it quickly snuffed out with the lose of the Basilisk, the latest in the long line of tactical weapons for a new century. Then, he poured himself into the job, strategizing with the President what their next response should be to the new development, and, in work, he always found consolation. He always found himself. He always found some stability ... only to have it even more succinctly destroyed once he learned about Chloe's traitorous actions. He refused to accept that she had collaborated with Pendley, despite the evidence in front of his own eyes. She had worked so hard and so long to get into a position of prominence within Campbell's staff. Stoddard had personally witnessed her abilities, and he believed so strongly in her that his acceptance to the President's request to join the Administration was tied directly to bringing Chloe with him. How easily was it for her to betray her country? How easily had she betrayed him? What possibly could Pendley had promised her?

Now, this development gave him a diversion from the work he had Dr. Mentnor had started – trying to get to the bottom of an unanticipated leak to the press – and he was near the breaking point. Storming into the conference room, he glanced up at the President on the viewscreen. Campbell was shuffling some papers, having a conversation with Secretary Montoya also in seclusion, but Stoddard brought that to a close quickly.

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" he shouted.

The President turned on the screen to face his chief of staff. "Now, Ethan, take it easy ..."

"Mr. President," Stoddard began, "I will not – under any circumstances – allow you or any person to return to the White House, sir ... not while this madman sits with his finger on the trigger."

"Ethan, calm down," Campbell tried. "Let me explain to you what I believe."

"I protest."

"Get in line behind the Joint Chiefs."

"Mr. President ..."

"Ethan!"

The chief realized he had been behaving entirely out-of-line, and he dropped, exhausted, into the chair that had given him very little comfort over the last several hours.

"Ethan, listen to me," Campbell began again, this time with more poise and control. "You're running on fumes. Every one of you there must be at this point, and you need me there."

"What about Pendley?"

"Pendley isn't going to attack the White House," the man reasoned. "He needs some way to communicate with us. Now that you and Dr. Mentnor have severed his control over the House's communication systems, he no longer has the Red Phone. That means he'll be left with far more conventional means of contact, which leads me to believe that he'll do as he did earlier. He'll call us. He'll go through the White House switchboard. That means, Ethan, that we'll have the ability to trace his call with the satellites, and we'll know where he is. Now, the Secretary of Defense assures me that, given what we know, we can't conclude that Pendley is in direct contact with the weapon, but it's indisputably clear that he's in charge. He's calling the shots. If we learn where he is, then we'll be in a position to exert some leverage over him. If necessary, we'll have the Secret Service take him out. In any event, my place is there, at the White House."

"Mr. President," Stoddard countered, "I have technicians working on locating the senator via his telephone call right now. Unfortunately, he was using some form of encryption technology. It seems to be leading us on a goose chase that always ends at Chloe Vandemark's telephone. Now that we know that she was working with him, it doesn't come as much of a surprise, but he still has the upper hand in this negotiation."

"This is not a negotiation," the President countered. "He's trying to extort control of this country, of our resources, for whatever his personal whim is, Ethan, and I'll not allow it. He's not going to attack the White House." After a pause, the man added, "I think we're all in agreement that he's going to do everything possible to make good on his threat – the next target will be a public target – but, right now, that's hardly my concern."

"Then why must you come back here?"

"Because of that email," Campbell explained. "You know quite better than I do, Ethan, that once the American people find out about this, they're going to demanding some answers. When I give them – whenever I say whatever it is I intend to say to them – I'm going to do it as President from the Oval Office. I will not give in to Pendley. I will not appear weak to the people that put me in that office. I will not issue some statement through one of my staffers when I should be delivering it directly to our citizens from the home that they've given me."

"I understand what it means symbolically, sir," Stoddard countered, "but we're talking about survival."

"I'm not talking about survival, Ethan," he said. "I'm talking about showing Pendley that, regardless of his threats, we have no intention of backing down."

"But, sir ..."

"That's the end of this debate," Campbell announced. "I've made my decision, Ethan. I'm not asking you for your agreement, and I'm certainly not asking for your permission. The Cabinet will remain here in the event that Pendley does throw all caution to the wind and prove me wrong. We'll need to maintain some ability to lead our great nation if worse comes to worse. But I'll be on my way shortly. The helicopter has already landed, and I'll be in the air within five minutes."

Stoddard closed his eyes. He desperately needed some sleep. His body didn't have the strength to argue the logic any longer.

"I understand, Mr. President ... and I apologize. I didn't mean to speak out of turn, sir."

"There's no need for any of that, either," the man stated with a slight grin at the corner of his mouth. "You've been carrying the lion's share of the workload, son, and now the Calvary's coming to provide you the support you've so badly needed. Get the House ready. I'm coming home."

END of Chapter 62