Chapter 396: Georgetown
Wednesday, February 8th, Morning
Walking through the front door of the Georgetown Townhouse, Izzy looked up the stairs and stepped aside to let Kari come in behind her. Nodding, Izzy walked upstairs with her bag. In her room, she dropped her bag on the bed.
Slowly, she unzipped the bag and unpacked it. Her dirty clothes were thrown into a laundry bag for pick up. With a pause, Izzy looked at her dresser. Izzy took a deep breath and let out a sigh. She studied her worn and tired face in the mirror.
Her eyes fell upon a framed picture on the dresser. The simple wooden frame held a picture of Izzy and Keith on one of their trips. Slowly, she walked over to the dresser and picked up the picture, studying it. It was London in the spring, and someone took their picture on the steps of the Albert Memorial.
They were walking through Kensington Garden after a lovely evening out. Izzy nodded and put the picture back on the dresser. Izzy turned back to the bed, and she collected her clean clothes and started to put them away.
"How was the funeral?" Skye Gregory asked from Izzy's bedroom door.
"Has there ever been a good funeral?" Izzy asked.
"I've been raised Catholic; there's never a joyful funeral," Skye said.
Izzy sighed, "The National Guard did their best," she said, "They were impeccable; they carried him to his final rest and did all the rest."
"Sounds like it was tough to witness," Skye said.
"Double tough, not just the funeral, but it's a friend's funeral, and especially how he died," Izzy said.
"I can't imagine going through it," Skye said.
"Even with your dad being in the army?" Izzy asked.
"As you know, my parents kept us away from all that, especially me being the baby. The first memory I have of something bad happening was when my dad got chopped up," Skye said.
Izzy nodded, "I don't, well, god, I don't know what to say, Skye," she said.
Skye shrugged, "There's nothing to say. It is what it is; if these things were meant to be easy, they would have no impact," she said.
Izzy nodded, "Yeah, so what's been happening here?" she asked.
"That highway bill passed out of committee, we got our copy, and we're checking it over," Skye said.
"Remind me, am I for or against?" Izzy asked.
"I believe it's been proposed by a party member, and leadership has been tacit about it," Skye said.
"Well, let me know," Izzy said.
"That's my job," Skye said.
"Anything else?" Izzy asked.
"The usual debate, but the worst has been the debate about what to do about the incident," Skye said.
"Yeah," Izzy said, "That's what we're calling now?"
Skye shrugged, "Hopefully, they don't want to use force," she said.
"I agree," Izzy said, "Boy's and their toys."
There was a loud sound of footsteps on the stairs. Kari came into Izzy's room a moment later, roughly brushing past Skye and looking at Izzy.
"Turn on CNN," Kari said.
"What?" Izzy asked.
"Turn on CNN," Kari said.
"Why?" Skye asked.
"Just do it," Kari said.
"Okay, Nike," Izzy said and reached for the remote. The CNN image showed an older man in a Walberg Military Uniform. The man spoke in his native language; someone was translating for this man. Izzy listened and roughly believed that it was some dialectic form of German.
"I am here to report that forces of NATO engaged forces of our army. More specifically, elements of the American Army. The overwhelming forces destroyed approximately five tanks and several personal carriers the American Army brought to bear.
"Approximately thirty citizens of our proud principality were murdered by these butchers who hide behind honorable uniforms. This was a blatant act of Imperialistic Aggression by an Arrogant Nation. We will not rest until our countrymen are avenged and the criminals are brought to justice. Not this fake International Court of Justice justice, my fellow citizens, but Walberg Justice," The Older Man said, through the translator, and nodded, leaving the podium.
"Who was that?" Skye asked.
"That's General Graf Von Grasland-Schaften, the Minister of Defense, Command-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, and brother-in-law of the Crown Prince," Kari said.
"Those are strong words," Kari said.
"My sources tell me he would be described as a classic hardman," Kari said.
"Is it an act?" Izzy asked curiously and turned down the TV.
"He can back it up," Kari said.
"How so?" Skye asked.
"Remember the last coup that put the current Crown Prince in power?" Kari asked.
"Yeah, vaguely," Skye said.
"The Graf Grasland-Schaften led that coup, personally. I was shown footage of him in the front leading from a tank," Kari said.
"Oh!" Skye said.
"His tank was right behind the lead elements that breached the palace gates," Kari said.
"Yeah, well, that speech doesn't help with the tensions," Izzy said.
"You think," Kari said.
"When a hardman meets another hardman, the results are never good," Izzy said.
"That's history, Izzy," Skye said.
"Yeah," Izzy said and watched as the CNN anchor went on talking about the speech.
Izzy shook her head and looked towards Skye and Kari. With a sigh, Izzy stretched out. "Well, this changes a bunch of these things for us," she said.
Kari nodded, and Skye shrugged.
"How so?" Skye asked.
"When people talk like this, it usually means talking as failed," Izzy said.
"That means shooting will begin," Kari said.
Skye shook her head, "Yeah," she said.
Izzy nodded, "Yeah, our mission now is to prevent it getting to the level of shooting," she said.
"That's a little late now," Kari said.
"Well, keep it from us starting to shoot at each other again," Izzy said.
"Okay, I know what I have to do," Kari said and left.
Skye looked at Izzy. "Are you sure we could do this?" she asked.
"We have to," Izzy said.
"Why are you so into this? Is it because you knew Segreant Garrison? Because of Keith?" Skye asked.
"All of that and more," Izzy said.
"More, what more could there be?" Skye asked.
Izzy sighed, "It was something your dad told me," she said.
"What did he tell you?" Skye asked.
"Not to let garrison be the first causality of another ill-thought-out war," Izzy said.
"That sounds like my dad," Skye said.
"So, one other thing, Skye," Izzy said.
"Yes?" Skye asked.
"What do you know about Winter Overton?" Izzy asked.
Skye shrugged, "Not much, she's our age and graduated with us. We weren't in the same social circle," she said.
"Okay, thanks," Izzy said.
"If I recall, she was in your sister-in-law's social circle," Skye said.
Izzy nodded, "Thanks, Skye," she said.
"No, problem," Skye said and left.
Izzy nodded and turned back to her dresser. She reached back for the picture, picked it up, and looked it over, again.
