JAA Ch. 05: R E R U N

"What the hell..."

"A missile strike," I shouted. "Just kinetic energy from impact though. Wonder what the explosion would have done."

"Killed you," Declen said.

"Okay, we're in lockdown. We can probably expect a full-scale assault shortly..." My phone started to ring. So did Declen's. I nodded and he answered his. When he pressed the receive button mine stopped ringing.

"Hello," he said looking at me. He listened for a short time then handed the phone to me. "It's the President, he wants to talk to you."

I shrugged my shoulders as I took the phone from him.

"Mister President, what can I do for you?" I shrugged my shoulder as I waited for an answer.

"Mister Abernathy what you can do for me it to come out of the building with your hands up and surrender to police..."

"Sure, right after you, explain to the public what's going on. No. Well, I guess we'll just stay inside where we are all safe."

"Mister Abernathy, you are not safe..."

"Want to bet, hold on just a second Mister President," I put my hand over the mic end of the phone. "Declen, start operation underground."

"Right away sir," Declen said turning and walking out of my office.

"Hang on just one more minute, Mister President," I quickly told him then covered the phone again.

Ten seconds ticked by, then a rumble started deep under the building. On one of the monitors across from me, I watched as the building started to sink into the ground. I could hear yelling coming from the phone in my hand. Putting the phone to my ear, I giggled at what the President was yelling.

"Now Mister President is that any kind of language to used in front of all those voters out there in television land?"

Silence greeted my question. The building continued to rumble as it sank into the ground. The President was still silent. As the building disappeared below the surface, large metal blast doors slid into place over the top. When the blast doors closed completely, ten feet of earth was pushed into place over them.

"Now you were saying Mister President?"

Chapter 35

"He hung up on me!" I yelled looking at the phone. "Declen, reroute all arrivals to the south entrance."

"Right away John," he said, taking his phone back and leaving my office.

"Well, you guys can go now, I doubt anyone can get to us through those," I told Stanly pointing at the shutters.

"Of course Mister Abernathy," Stanly replied nodded to his partner.

Both nodded to me and left, gathering the others of their team from the conference room. I sat watching the monitors on my wall. The sound was down, but I could imagine what the commentators were saying. Video of the three missiles hitting the building played over and over. Then a long-range shot showing two F-15's firing those rockets appeared on my monitors.

"We leaked that footage to the news corp. Compelling isn't it?" Declen said from the doorway.

"Yes, it is. I wonder how they will explain that?"

"The President is on line one and the head of ZNN is on line two."

"Ah," I sat looking at my phone.

"Mister..."

"Carmichael."

"Mister Carmichael, if you can restrain yourself I am going to add our new President to the conversation. I would like you to hold all comments and questions until I say your name. Can you do that?"

"Yes, of course." Then I heard muffled, "Start recording when I signal. When I signal we go live."

I punched the button on the phone that would add the first line to the conversation.

"Mister President, you hung up on me sir."

"No, no, it was a malfunction of a cell tower I'm told, hence my calling you on a hard line."

"I see. So what is it that you want sir?"

"Mister Abernathy, we need you to come out and surrender yourself to the authorities."

"Why?"

"You are being charged with the death of the President."

"Really? Even though I was nowhere near him, at the time of his death and the Secret Service cleared me of any wrongdoing?"

"Yes. It is believed now that you facilitated his death."

"And how was I supposed to have done that?"

"Mister Abernathy, I can't go into that..."

"Mister President, of course, you can. Both you and I know that I had nothing to do with the death of the president and Mister Conroy. It was Mister Conroy's weapons that killed the president and him."

"But we found you're fingerprints on the weapons in question."

"No, you didn't. Mister President, do you know who Mister Conroy was?"

"Of course he was a presidential aide."

"I see. And do presidential aides go around armed?"

"Mine don't, who's to say what President Olin let his aides do."

"Here's another tidbit of information for you to try and explain, Mister President. Why has the government been suppressing the discovery of cures for cancer, diabetes, leukemia, and AIDS?"

"You know why, it was explained to you by Senator Heath."

"Why don't you explain it to me again? In your own words so I'll understand the answer."

"As the population grew, we needed a way to control that growth, so certain controls and protocols were introduced to curb the rapid explosion of the population. As that explosion continued, more controls and protocols were put in place."

"That's very interesting, don't you think so Mister Carmichael?"

"Yes, I do. Mister President, tell me why it should be up to the government to kill people as part of population control? Hello, hello."

"He hung up."

"I thought as much, thank you Mister Abernathy, what we have is airing now and will continue to air, along with the footage you provided us of the F-15's."

"Thank you and good luck."

"Oh, they won't try and stop us, not after the public has seen this and heard this."

"I'm glad to hear that. Good-bye sir, I really have to go."

"Good-bye."

Chapter 36

After the airing of the conversation between the president and me, the public rose up as one. Every member of Congress, the President, the Vice President and the members of the Cabinet were all arrested for high crimes and treason. The Supreme Court set a date three months in the future for elections. The Chief Justice became the interim President until the elections.

Of course, this didn't solve the problem, as there were still those in the private sector, like Conroy, who would fight this tooth and nail. The FBI, CIA, NSA and the rest of the alphabet were busy uncovering the vast conspiracy so entrenched within our country...our world. Word was that I was still under threat of death for exposing the key players, as was Senator Heath.

For the next three years, I lived my life amid a covey of bodyguards. There were three attempts made on my life. Five good men died in my stead. I lived alone, in a mansion out in the country, far from civilization. I still owned and ran the company. There were those others who tried to close us down.

Then, there came a time late in my life, when I finally grew tired of just existing. So, one night, I went to the garage, climbed into my favorite sports car and went for a drive in the city. Four hours of watching the hustle and bustle of the nightlife and I am turning my car back to the country and home. It was at a traffic light on a nondescript street, the radio blaring some nonsensical commercial when the shots rang out. I felt the impact of the bullets as I turned to look in the directions they come from.

Standing on the corner is a young man, not much older than twenty, laughing hysterically as he held the trigger down on the weapon in his hands. As I slip into the darkness, I hear his words...

"...because of you I will never know riches, only rags. Because of you, I will never be happy, living in despair as I do. Because of you..."

The blackness closed in on me as I thought about getting to do this all over again.

I wake, but not in the chamber on the bed of gel, but in a plain white room on a slender cot. Closing my eyes I groan, the knowledge of where I am washed over my mind.

"Mister Abernathy, it so good to see you again," the voice, echoes in the room, eliciting another sigh from my throat. "It would seem you have lived many more lives this time around."