7-The President

The President

 

 Washington D.C.-The White House situation room.

The President of the United States was surrounded by his chief of staff and members of the leadership from both sides of the isle. He didn’t sit at the head of the table. That spot was shared by two men in black suits. On their lapels they each wore matching pins; that of a single eye.

“Gentlemen, a point of motion, to order. Can we put this to another vote? Is there no other way? There are twenty seven million people in California. “

Silence greeted his question.

Then, one of the two with the eye pins stood. These were the guys that had a nice little meeting with whoever got elected as president; they told them the facts, showed them the Kennedy film and quietly directed policy. Nobody knew their names.

“Forget California,” he said. “There is more. “ These guys made the secret service guys seem jovial. They had hard humorless eyes. The secret service worked directly for them and the president knew now that the secret service was as much about confining him as it was protecting him. “We want you to resign. “

This greeted the room of men with an unarguable air and they were all speechless.

“It is time that the world’s governments unite. The time of nation states is over. Only by accepting a one world government can the Chinese be stopped from invading. They, in fact, work for us. “

The men exchanged glances. They knew something bad was coming, but not this; nobody had imagined that it would actually come to this.

The President was the one to speak. “Who will take my place? And why now?”

“Why now? Because we say the time is here. “He produced a dollar bill. “ See this, on top of the pyramid? That is us. The base of the pyramid? That is the working class. You men, occupy the middle, because it suites our purpose. Be sure, that you serve our purpose.

“As for who; we want Arnold Schwarzenegger. He will be the next President of The United States.”

There was a moment of stunned silence and then the men around the table burst into laughter. It was loud, but nervous. Only the President didn’t laugh. He stood.

“The American people will never accept this. They know he was born in Austria. That makes him not legally qualified to be elected! Hello? “

“Sit down, “the second of the two men in black suites said. “ They will accept it. They have before. Remember Obama? His suicide notwithstanding, the American people overlooked obvious evidence and accepted the idea of hope and change despite of it. Maybe because of it.

“They will again. “

The two men stood, gathered their papers and brief cases and started towards the door. The secret service men flanked them.

“Wait, “said the president. “ Wait. “

They turned back but did not sit at the table again.

“What if we say no? “ The president was a grandfather. He had made many compromises and mistakes but still dreamed at night about laying his hand on the Bible and swearing that oath.

The two men exchanged a glance. “We are prepared for that. Think about it. Motion capture. CG. We can resurrect John Lennon and make him president. Who are you? You are president because we say so. Don’t overestimate your importance. “

The president looked around the room. That none of the men would meet his eye inflamed his emotions. He slammed his hand on the table and demanded of them, “are you going to stand for this? Have you no spine Goddamnit, I say no! “

The Secretary of Defense tried to shush him, “Sit down Hank. This is the way it is. The ways it’s always been. “

“No. You are the one that needs to stop talking. You men swore oaths. You represent the public for Christ’s sake. Have some balls! “

The men in black suites looked at each other. The left one shrugged. The other nodded at the secret service agent and they exited the room. The agents removed Uzi machine pistols that they carried always. The room erupted in staccato burps and blood began to spray. Some fell face first on to the table, dead instantly and others because to scream. There was the smell of feces as terror made the ones not killed outright panic.

The results were the same. It took about three minutes. The fluid ran across the floor and into the heat register.

A portrait of George Washington loomed over the room and the president locked his eyes on it as he faded and then it was done.

The secret service agents walked out and grabbed the secretary’s cell phone. She had been on Facebook trying to post about what was happening. She looked up at the gun barrel in disbelief.

In less than one second twelve nine millimeter rounds unzipped her face like a cheap red suit. They deleted the post and smashed the phone.

In the hallway the two nameless men were already on the phone with Arnold. He of course, agreed to their offer. And thus, the fifty second president of The United States was sworn in. The shorter of the two turned to the agents.

“Prepare the press room. The announcement has already been recorded and it’s ready. We suspected from his social media posts that it would be like this, so we are prepared. “

The taller one caressed his eye pin and said in a monotone voice, “Fuck him. Non-compliant bitch. “

They never noticed the sparrows sized quadrotor drone hovering outside the window, filming and relaying the scene in real time to the Chinese command. It whirled away into the darkened sky to begin transmission of the data it had collected.