Madam President ✓

84. Minister Petrov

For weeks, President Ivanov thought he'd prepared for every scenario. This was the one thing he hadn't taken into account. He paced across his office, wanting to kill something.

The nerve of that woman, ruining everything- he thought to himself. He finally made eye contact with the man who showed him an American news station.

Ivanov was never intimidated, and he never backed down- but one year ago he made the decision to keep this man close.

He'd never planned on having a prime minister, but he felt as if there was no other choice. Petrov rose to power in the health ministry at an unprecedented rate- after every single person above him died off in the span of three months. As much as he hated to admit it- killing Petrov wasn't an option. His advice was too valuable.

  They'd grown up in vastly different ways. As the son of a long-reigning president, Ivanov was sheltered. Government provided security surrounded him for almost thirty years of his life- and of course, resumed when he decided to run.

  Despite this- the Americans made well over fifty assassination attempts the first years. As far as he knew, they stopped sending their snipers when they realized he would always find out.

  He'd faced adversaries and obstacles, but up until this point- his life had gone exactly how he planned.

  Petrov's family could never afford tutors or good schools- they  could hardly keep a roof on the four room house, so it was a miracle he was as smart as he was. He'd quite literally killed his way into college by shooting three people on the admissions committee- thus overwhelming and forcing them to minimize how long they spent on each application. They'd been so tired when they got to his they didn't pay attention to the poor tests scores- he almost never had time to study.

  A few of his professors could see something in his eyes that terrified them: a willingness to do anything to land on top. They would have no idea how accurate their theories turned out to be.

  Fourteen years ago the university burned down during the middle of a Monday with most students and teachers inside. Less than a hundred were able to flee before it spread too much, too fast. Petrov got out unscathed, and a classmate of his took note of the look on his face- like he was proud.

  That classmate made a promise to herself seconds later: No matter where that psychopath's future may go, she would keep her mouth shut. She had visions of her own- working her way up to president of Russia was the biggest, with the last female leader having died over two hundred years ago.

  She swore she would not suffer the same fate.

  Fast forward nine years, and she'd worked her way to a lower level cabinet position under Ivanov: Minister of health. Her medical degree helped her pretend to care about the people, and by 2021 she's gotten so close to a promotion.

  Then an Ebola researcher was promoted to fourth deputy minister  and everything changed.

  She was dead- they all were, before she had a chance to flee the country.

  Ivanov had finally met his match. He gave him the very promotion he was after so he could keep him close.

"Mr.President-" Petrov said. "I know we only have one recent example to go off of but.... American presidents only resign when something big's happened or is going to happen."

"So what are you saying?" Ivanov decided to listen. America was their common enemy, after all.

"I'm saying we should both go into the bunker and not leave it until their guy is out of our airspace."

"Not happening-"

"Mr.President, I know you don't want to hear this but they are more powerful. We won't have this upper hand forever and I'd advise that you don't let the power go to your head-"

"Question me again and I'll have yours cut off." Ivanov angrily yanked him forward by the collar of his shirt. Petrov didn't move a muscle- he found violence quite entertaining. If he was going to die, he wouldn't mind watching the blood flow from his neck for a quarter of a second. "We stick to the original plan- that is final. If they do send people in to rescue him without giving us the code, we kill them all."