Chapter 113
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Over the next two weeks Eve watched the news quite a bit. There was seldom any good news, but she wanted to stay informed. The fundamentalists had completed their takeover of Saudi Arabia. They burned churches, stoned people suspected od adultery, were expelling jewish individuals. Israel took these refugees in, drafted them into military service. They needed soldiers for their escalating tensions with Pakistan. Although diplomacy was still being used tensions were high. Both peoples were calling for war, both governments controlled nuclear weapons. Sangala seemed even more violent. One church took in a group of Bawa refugees. When the local radio station heard of this they informed the local Askari militia. They massacred all 600 refugees. The Bawa government retaliated by carpet-bombing an Askari village, killing 3,000. Eve felt torn. A part of her knew the tension was caused by many decades of oppression by the Bawa government. They had practically made it illegal to be muslim. But Eve firmly believed that killing innocents was always wrong, whether done by Bawa or Askari, christian or muslim. But with limited space on their Arks fighting became inevitable. People seemed to find it easier to fight along racial and religious lines. After all this the Zoey Allen scandal actually seemed fun by comparison. It seemed that the charges against her might be dismissed. The main witness against her had died, apparently from a drug-overdose. Some said it was a suicide, that she felt guilty about ratting out her friend. Others believed it was foul play, someone murdered this young woman to protect Zoey Allen. Perhaps a fanatic like Benteen trying to protect the dignity of the oval office. But with a secret service agent trying to murder the president, rumors of the first daughter being involved in that, it seemed like a lost cause. Still, comapred with other news, the Zoey Allen scandal was a good way to keep one's mind off the countdown.
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When Eve arrived at work on Wednesday Febuary 22nd she noticed some tension in the air. She assumed it was over the tension in Saudi Arabia. Prince Tarik had been beheaded by the theocratic government. Mr Dole and his friend Colby were trying to negotiate with the new government, so far this was proving difficult. But Eve's father Zack soon informed her of other news. Her boss, mr Mendez, had been arrested for the murder of his wife. It seemed he and his mistress murdered her to be together. There was some question as to whether Ravenwood would keep Mendez's secretary, namely Eve, employed here. Zack would try to lobby to get Eve transferred to another department. But for now, Eve should go home for the afternoon.