Read The Beginning of the End (Book 2): Toward the Brink II for Free Online

board.”
    The president sat at the Resolute desk. He looked like a new man after his victory against Shaun Hadlee earlier in the day. Still, it was no time to gloat. He had renewed hope based on CDC Director Higgins’s assessments. He had invited Raymond Astor, the attorney general, into the Oval Office to discuss the provisions which gave executive power to Hadlee. Astor, to the president’s delight, had informed him that unless the US was under a direct nuclear attack, “then no one but the elected president retains full executive power.” Good news indeed, but it would have to wait. There were more pressing matters at hand. He believed Idaho and nearby states were a lost cause, but the chance to halt the disease with the potential of a serum to reverse or prevent the contagion gave him new hope. He was ready to grab the bull by the horns.
    “Sir.” Tom greeted the attorney general.
    “What have you got there, Tom?” The president stood and reached out.
    Transky took a moment to look around. Hadlee was nowhere to be seen.
    “He sulked off somewhere with his tail between his legs, Tom.”
    Relief swept across the face of the White House chief of staff like a cool breeze on a hot day.
    “These were taken about an hour ago, sir. It’s believed to be a National Guard unit from Idaho, short of the Utah border.”
    The president opened the folder and looked at the images. He gritted his teeth when he saw them. It was nothing less than repulsive.
    “What the hell happened, Tom? Do we know?” The images of the bloodbath were disturbing on their own, but the bloodstained children in shorts who appeared to be cheering sent a chill down his back.
    “We have no idea whatsoever, sir, none at all,” Transky said.
    “These look like kids, why would they gather around like this?” Astor got up and looked over the pictures.
    “They remind me of a primitive tribe.”
    “My thoughts as well, Mr. President.”
    “Hadlee and Stodge were wrong on so many counts, but the proposal to seal off the area is valid,” the president admitted.
    “But if everyone with a steady diet of potatoes—particularly French fries—over the last few years is a potential sufferer, how much good will that do?” Transky took over Holmes’s role as devil’s advocate.
    “We can’t stand around and do nothing, Tom. We can’t!”
    “I agree, sir, but with Hadlee …”
    “Never mind Hadlee.” The president dismissed it with a wave of his hand. “I’d like you to remain as a witness, Tom.”
    It was now the president who looked like the rat that made off with the cheese.
    “Certainly, sir, can I ask what this is about?”
    The intercom buzzed, announcing the arrival of Secretary of Homeland Security Shaun Hadlee, with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Stodge. The president went over to his desk without answering Tom’s question.
    “Send in General Stodge, that’s General Stodge only. Understood?”
    The president stood by his desk until he received confirmation that his orders were understood.
    “Take a seat, General.” The president gestured toward the two couches in the center of the room, before the Great Seal of the United States and the Resolute desk.
    The creases in Stodge’s uniform were as sharp as a knife, and with his cap under his arm, he wasted no time.
    Astor sat next to the general while Tom sat with the president on the couch opposite. No coffee, tea, or cold drinks were offered. It was down to business.
    First the attorney general explained the legalities of Hadlee’s claim to power, or rather, lack of one. When the president saw Stodge swallow hard, he knew he could work on him.
    “You see, General,” the president began, “the real reason Hadlee wants to go through with this tactical strike, as he calls it, is to give him a pretext to claim power. But as has been explained to me, such an act would be considered treason and all those associated with him will also fall.”
    It was a thinly veiled