The Oval Office ✓ (Book One)

Chapter Eight

                                  Kyle's P.O.V.

  This time, I do not take questions from the press. I walk straight out, allowing Ryan to deal with the endless stream of questions that are certain to come after that statement. Even though that last part was one hundred percent true, it probably wasn't the best thing to say in front of a hundred cameras. My approval rating is at ninety-ish percent in most polls, the highest any president has ever had- but now, I can almost see it dropping.

  I'll do my thing with words. Any controversy I've had goes away in less than a day- mostly because people compare me to the last president we had and go "well at least he's not that guy." And besides, my approval rating isn't a priority right now.

"Yeah, this is bad. Really, really bad." I overhear Kylie and Joe talking around the corner.

"It'll blow over just like everything else. The people understand that he is a human being and everything he said was true."Joe replies.

"That's besides the point! If he doesn't explain what the hell that was about back there his approval ratings could drop." Kylie yells.

" For fucks sake, Kylie- the mans wife could very well be dead by now and you're worried about approval ratings? What kind of a monster are you?"

"A realistic one. My job is to worry about all of the staff and him and his re-election chances and helping with the investigation. I don't have room for emotion." She sighs.

"He's going to win. We all know that."

"He won last time because his opponent was a fuckface. This time it's different- the people aren't voting based off of which candidate supports basic human rights, Hell- his opponent's more liberal than him if that's even possible."

  "We're prepared for every possibility- but come on, this is Wells we're talking about." Joe responds.

  Neither of them are wrong. I've got a ninety percent chance of winning the election- which means a ten percent chance that I don't, but I take everything day by day.

  "Ethan!" I accidentally startle him in command opps. "What do you have for me?"

  "Three things, Sir. First, I got you the list of the terrorists they're demanding be released. All of them are from Ordaia. Second, I looked into your grandfathers banking statements and there are multiple multi million dollar anonymous transfers. He also transferred two million dollars to another anonymous account holder. And third, we found our smoking gun." He pulls out a cell phone with a gloved hand. "This was found in a bush across the street, approximately a hundred feet away. A bystander filmed the explosion and managed to catch..this." He zooms in, and clear as day- you can see James attacking two fellow agents, my wife, knocked out over his shoulder. "My guess is that he saw.. that happening and didn't want to commit suicide by getting involved."

"Standing by while you watch the First Lady get kidnapped is as bad as doing it yourself. Bring him in." I sigh. "Of all people I never wanted to believe it would be James."

"Right- Sir, you're gonna have to hold another press conference because... if they know about the school board thing it's only going to be a matter of time before everybody else does too." Ethan responds.

"I'll have Ryan prepare a statement. Aileen? Any luck with Prince Ahmad yet?"

"His plane checks out-There's.....nothing there. Sir, we have no hard evidence. We can't keep him here." Aileen states.

"Every terrorist on that list being from his country isn't hard evidence? Come on, Aileen, I know you can do better than this. What more do you need?"

"Unrestricted access to everything you have on every single one of them. His finances, relationships, his daughter."She says.

"No." I shake my head. "His daughter is five years old. She is the one thing he cares about and beyond that she is a child. We're not involving her in this."

"We wouldn't have to actually involve her. He might talk if he thinks we've got her."

"I'm not stooping to that level. You will not use her, that is an order."

"Sir, the witness is in the Roosevelt room." An aid informs us. Aileen and I both start walking so fast that we nearly trip over a couple of people.

"You have exactly thirty seconds to explain to me why the hell you took off instead of doing something while you watched my wife get kidnapped." I try to remain calm, but internally, I want to rip his head off.

"I was... scared. I figured, something like that probably took months to plan and if I wanted to live I probably should've stayed out of it. I saw him..take out two secret service agents with guns in less than five seconds while he was carrying an entire human. I weigh a hundred pounds, there's no way I would've been able to fight him off."

"Mr.President?It's your call." Aileen says after I've spaced out for a few seconds.

"Get him a non- disclosure form and send him out of here. We're gonna need to keep your phone,too." I say. I excuse myself to the bathroom- I need one single minute. Just one-or I'm actually going to lose my mind.

  I can feel myself getting hungry, but there's no way in hell I'm sitting down for ten minutes to eat after all of the information that was just dumped on me. Thirty Seconds. I have thirty seconds left.

  You know what, no, I don't. Lauren wouldn't sleep at all, would live off of things she could eat while walking when she was working on an important case, and she would get them solved in less than a day. I owe her the same. "Ryan! Is the statement ready yet?"

  "Yes, sir." He replies. "The Wells administration has gone above and beyond to be honest on all matters possible. With that being said, the president is currently in emotional distress. He misspoke, like all humans tend to do in times of distress. The individuals responsible for the explosion will face a fair trial by jury without any interference from the White House."

  "That's good." I say. "But we need to talk about the school board election. Check the least barbaric thing off of their list."

  "It has come to the White House's attention that the president's grandfather, who was on the board of elections at the time he was elected to the school board, had millions of dollars from unknown sources and was paying others millions of dollars anonymously. The White House is currently investigating and does not condone bribery in any way, shape, or form."

  "Put it out-" I say. "I've got  somebody else to deal with.

  "Sir, you asked for hard evidence- we've got it now." Aileen bursts in, barely able to breathe.

  "Fill me in when we get there.  I want to see the look on the son of a bitch's face."

  He's lucky I'm the president and not a private citizen; because if I were he wouldn't still be alive. "Well Ahmad, you're pretty good at covering your tracks. Not good enough, though."

  "Excuse me, Mr.President?" He acts confused.

  "The palace has seven thousand employees. For the past ten years you've paid the salary of Nine  thousand and thirty four people. I found a bank transfer directly from you to James. So- you have about sixty seconds to tell us where the hell the First Lady is!!"Aileen slams her hand on the table.

  "These are outrageous lies." He crosses his arms in front of him.

  "BULLSHIT!" I say. "Aileen, I changed my mind. Do whatever you have to do to get the information out of him." I slam the door- and hear Ryan and Joe talking again.

"Joe- come look at this." Ryan gestures to his phone.

"Oh god." The look on Joe's face says it all.

"This is bad right? I mean, I know it's 2023 and all but-"

"Yeah." Joe sighs. "This is bad. Really, really bad."