Chapter 341
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Almost immediately after breakfast Eve began her first shift as secretary. President Mason brought her to a meeting, where she would take notes. There were other secretaries here, they said nothing about the new girl. Geberal Gardner was discussed, as was Ms Wynter. Eve remembered Ms Wynter from her days at Ravenwood, although they probably never actually talked. During the war Wynter turned over her Ravenwood resources to the loyalists, now it seemed she was Gardner's lover and part of the coup, seemed to think she'd be the first lady of an Ark, although Gardner seemed to have other lovers as well. Mason and his cabinet also discussed efforts to bring the chosen to the Arks. This was becoming more difficult between the coup and areas controlled by local warlords. Some considered getting them to be a waste of resources. Gardner was still in D.C., was barely hiding his involvement in the coup. It was strongly suspected that he still had spies in the White House. Some felt he was still needed to protect the Arks before impact. Eve hoped to stay out of their crossfire, she just sat silently and took notes, trying not to be noticed, although her tattoos did stand out a bit.
After the meeting Eve was assigned a specific desk. It was next to a cot she could sleep in at night. Most of the secretaries' desks had these, many were refugees, put to work in one function or another. This cot suggested that they'd be working every day and on-call 24 hours. It was May 2nd, 2036, 79 days until impact. Eve didn't mind being on-call all the time. At least she had a place to stay, the White House no less. There had been rumos that Mason had a special shelter here for himself, his family, military leaders and cabinet members. Even if that were true, it was unlikely that Eve could get into this shelter. Eve would be calling the White House her home for the rest of her life, which would not be much longer.