Page 18 of Air Force One (Miranda Chase #16)
After the wedding, Holly and Mike had stayed with Jeremy and Taz in their Washington, DC, townhouse.
They were enjoying a slow start to their morning.
The post-wedding dinner in the White House Residence, too small to call it a reception or anything more formal, had run late.
Food, alcohol, and memories had flowed freely among the small party.
“Can you believe that Clarissa was almost human?” After last night Holly just might be open to the possibility of the idea that she maybe only despised CIA Director Clarissa Reese’s merest existence rather than wishing her to die a painful and immediate death.
“She actually let her hair down.” Taz sounded as surprised as Holly was. Clarissa always wore such a severe ponytail that it made Holly’s temples ache every time she saw it. Instead, it had been a lovely towhead fall to the middle of her back that spoke far more of woman than of power.
“Maybe she’s mellowing with age. She actually spoke to me several times without any particularly vile insults.” Taz raised her eyebrows in surprise.
“It won’t last.” Holly knew that much. “But it did make for a change of pace.”
“I thought she was nice,” Jeremy was nursing his second cup of hot chocolate as they lounged in the living room.
IKEA-inspired, this was far more Holly’s style than anything she’d spotted in the White House.
Of course, they’d added their own touches to it: all of Jeremy’s techy stuff balanced out by a major section of the local toy store.
One of them was seriously mushy about their kids and she was betting it wasn’t Taz.
This morning, the four of them had taken it easy, except for Amy, Taz and Jeremy’s two-year-old.
She might look like a miniature version of her petite four-foot-eleven Latina mother, but she had the energy of Taz and Jeremy combined, which was impossible to imagine until witnessed.
Amy had run Mike ragged before collapsing against him for a midmorning naptime.
Taz was nursing Davito, their second, and I swear last if I have to take a knife to Jeremy myself, child.
“I never pictured him with a kid in his arms.” Holly could feel herself smiling instead of sneering at Mike zonked out on the couch with a kid lying on his chest. He did look awfully sweet with the little black-haired girl curled up in his arms. She could imagine—
“What the hell!”
Taz and Jeremy turned to look at her.
“Nothing. No way. Nuh-uh!”
Taz grinned at her. “You pictured it, didn’t you?”
“No. Absolutely not.” Yet she could see Mike not being a dad…but being a superdad, maybe even with a capital S. He’d been great with Amy all morning and—
“Shit!”
“It doesn’t go away once you see it. I’d bet hard cash that it would never happen to me and now I have two of the little terrors.
Me!” The fierce little Latina went to thump her breastbone, found her arms were full of child, and smiled down at it.
Maybe it was Colonel Vicki the Taser Cortez who had unloaded the inventory of several toy stores onto the living room floor.
Pure, unadulterated craziness! Madder than a tree full of kookaburras.
Holly turned to Jeremy. “I’m sorry, Little Padawan, but I’m going to have to kill your entire family for putting that into my brain.”
He knew her too well and continued to nurse his hot chocolate.
“You included!”
He smiled at her.
Holly sighed. “Maybe I can get some brain surgery to remove—”
One of those National Emergency Alert tones blasted out of each of their cell phones.
“A test?” Holly hoped but had a nasty suspicion that it wasn’t.
Mike and Amy slept through it, but the three of them pulled out their phones.
Jeremy read it aloud though they were all looking at the same thing. “An emergency announcement from the President will be broadcast on all major networks at 10:05 this morning. Please tune to your preferred news source or visit whitehouse-dot-gov for an important announcement.”
“What? Are we suddenly at war?”
Jeremy turned on the TV. “It’s 10:04 right now. We’ll know in a minute.”
Holly shook Mike’s shoulder gently enough to wake him but not the sleeping Amy.
Damn, but he did look sweet waking up slow and holding a little girl; it would just never be one of hers because no way, no how, never, nuh-uh!
That was an idea that belonged way out in the never-never of the Australian Outback—out there and buried deep beneath the red sands until it rotted.
Then a dingo could dig it up, eat it, and poop it out on the searing sands. After that…
A bright red Breaking News banner filled the screen. A scroller showed, Important News from the White House and a countdown timer already ticking into the thirty-second range.
War—or worse?
They exchanged looks. Every member of Miranda’s team had ridden an air-crash investigation to the brink of open international conflict—several times. What if this was the time they were too late?
A text popped in from Andi. Turn on your TV.
Holly sent back a Duh! Already there, Pint Size. Andi sent back no answer to the insult. That was weird. So Holly added, I thought you two were busy honeymooning? Maybe you’re too busy having sex? Nada! What did that teacup-sized helo pilot know that she didn’t?
A news anchor came on screen to announce an emergency broadcast. But his timing was wrong, and he was cut off mid-opening when the image cut to Sarah Feldman’s face.
She stood at a podium fronted with the Presidential Seal.
They’d seen her last night at the wedding and dinner.
She looked quite different in the green power suit than she had in the flowing cocktail dress.
“This is Vice President and President-elect Sarah Feldman. I will keep this brief and to the point. Nine minutes ago, the President’s plane, Air Force One, crashed in the Atlantic Ocean en route to a final, peaceful, goodwill tour.
I regret to report that there is no chance of survivors.
That includes President Roy Cole, his First Lady Rose Cole, and General Drake Nason, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, along with eighty other personnel.
If you had friends or family on that flight, please accept my sincere condolences.
You will be notified as soon as identities are confirmed. ”
Holly’s breath, that she hadn’t realized she was holding, exploded out of her. She slid onto the couch and grabbed Mike’s hand. His grip clamped onto her hand as hard as hers did his.
“A US Coast Guard team is already on site. In minutes, the nation’s top air-crash investigation team will be launching. They will determine if this was an accident or an act of aggression.”
“That had better be us,” Mike snarled out in a rare angry tone.
Amy protested in his arms but fell back asleep when he patted her gently. Yep, Superdad to the core—Bollocks!
“I wish to assure the nation and the world that there is an absolute continuity of government. To that end, I have enlisted the aid of one of Roy Cole’s closest friends and most trusted advisors.” Sarah stepped to the side of the podium and the camera followed.
Holly laughed. There was nothing else she could do. The only ones who didn’t look surprised were Amy, because she slept on, and Jeremy, because he was a total Miranda fanboy.
Andi stood at attention, the perfect US Army captain despite her casual attire, holding a book in front of her.
She wore her favorite leather bomber jacket complete with sheepskin collar showing, so she somewhat looked the part—a petite Chinese woman in a World War I style jacket worked on her.
Beside her, Miranda stood in a turtleneck and a fleece vest holding up her phone as if to take a photo.
Sarah placed her hand on the book—on the Bible, Holly realized—and Miranda read aloud whatever she was viewing. “Please repeat after me. I…um, it doesn’t say to, but I think it would be more proper if you state your name after the I.”
“I, Vice President and President-elect Sarah Feldman…”
“…do solemnly swear, or you can use the word affirm,” she scrolled down, then up, “At least Franklin Pierce did in 1853. It’s believed that the affirm option is in case you are a Quaker and don’t wish to swear.”
“…do solemnly swear. I’m Jewish, not Quaker, we swear plenty.”
“Yes, I’ve heard you,” Miranda replied without a hint of irony—because she never understood irony.
But Holly and the others laughed.
“…that I (meaning you)…”
“…that I (meaning me)…”
And so the rest of the brief oath of office continued. It would be hilarious if it wasn’t so horrific.
Roy, Drake, Rose… Shit! Various prior investigations meant that Holly knew at least a dozen people who’d have been on that flight.
“How is this even possible?” Holly managed to ask.
No one tried to answer.
Once it ended, Sarah returned to the podium, but the camera followed slowly enough to capture Miranda turning to Andi and whispering, “Did I do okay?” And Andi rising on her toes to kiss Miranda briefly and whisper back, “You did great.” The ultra-cute girl-couple swearing in the new President.
Oh, but the conservatives were going to roll over in their graves at that one.
As the camera caught up to her, Sarah’s half-smile to the side died as she again faced forward.
“As President of the United States of America, I wish to convey that if this was an act of aggression, I have a recommendation for you. Whoever you are, you had best hide fast and hide deep, for we will be coming after you.”
“Knew I liked her.” Holly glanced at Taz, who nodded in reply. Sarah Feldman understood the military mindset just fine.
“Allow me to repeat,” the new President continued, “that I have already met with my nomination for General Drake Nason’s replacement, General Elizabeth Gray-Nason.
Be assured, this is not a moment of weakness for our country or our national security.
I will keep you updated as more is learned.
This is President Sarah Feldman, signing off. ”
Over the next ten seconds, the news station replaced the blank screen with the Breaking News banner, then the news anchor, and again the banner.
Off camera, the anchor stuttered with no idea what to say, then they finally cut to him.
Someone must have whispered into his earpiece as he looked blank for a moment, then turned once more to the screen.
“I’ve just been informed that the, uh, unusual oath of office was absolutely legal, and Sarah Feldman is now this nation’s newest President.
We still don’t have news as to who performed the ceremony, but we’ll bring you that information as soon as we do.
” Again the pause for his director’s feed to his earpiece.
“It is now being called The Speech Heard Round the World.”
It was clear that his director had just made that up, but it was good enough that Holly figured it just might stick.
“President Roy Cole’s second term of office was due to expire in twelve days when…”
Jeremy muted the sound.
Holly’s phone beeped with a message from Andi. It was only two words long.
South Lawn!
That was all Holly needed to know.