The Oval Office ✓ (Book One)

Chapter Forty One

                                 Ethan's P.O.V

  One of my assistants that has just a few years less of experience  will be taking over my position temporarily. She's a damn genius, and certainly won't ever have a problem finding a job after this, but the position is only temporary- a few months at the most.

"Here are all of the files we have on both of them." Joe hands me a stack about as big as my torso.

"You don't have the clearance to be handling those-"
"Oh clearance schmerance I'm on first name basis with the president and I was just delivering them to you." Joe shakes his head.

"Joe, come on- you're a White House legal advisor... are you doing okay?" I don't really have to ask, it's written all over his face. He's drunk. Sober Joe, in the three years I've known him, has never done anything even the slightest bit illegal. The events of this week are breaking him like they are many other people.

"Gee, thanks for asking." He rolls his eyes. "But I'm perfectly fine. Yeah, I just found out my girlfriend of two years is a murdering terrorist psychopath but I'm great."

"Joe-"

"I mean I might as well just fucking quit because I have a goddamn psychology degree and I didn't notice-"

"Joe!" I interrupt him. "You were not anywhere close to the only person hurt by her. Stop being selfish, get your shit together, and do your damn job like everybody else."

I walk off, not giving him a chance to respond. I've got two waste of oxygen's to attend to. On level one of the basement, I nod at the guards in front of an interrogation room. We've both worked here long enough to have memorized each other's faces. The "man" inside looks shocked to see me- I guess he was expecting Aileen. God I want to punch him, but I also would prefer to keep my job.

  "Where's Aileen?" James asks.

  "She's fucking dead, just like the first lady's mother." I state. "I'll be filling in, so I suggest you cooperate fully with our investigators if you ever want to see the sun again."

  He sits back, considering this for a second. "Before I answer anything I want it to be on the record that I am not suicidal. I never have been, never will be. If I die I was murdered."

  "Okay-" I say, turning on  my work phone that's connected to a few others. "Can you repeat that for me?"

  He does, and I click the send button. If he's still worried for his life after the second massive security crackdown, this has to run even deeper than we thought. It must feel odd now, for him to be treated a a detainee by people he used to be the boss of. How sad.

  "Who was the leader of... whatever you want to call that group?" I ask.

  "Well Princess Ariyah and Prince Ahmad were just about tied for the second in command's. But... I never met the 'big boss'." He looks around, still worried for his life.

  "James." I say. "Come on, you're safe here now. You've got twenty four seven protection."

  "See that's the thing-" He nervously laughs. "I'm not safe anywhere. I never will be again but I suppose I don't really have much to lose anymore."

  "No, you don't." I say. "Nothing except for your life if you don't start talking."

  "I'm dead either way-"

  "James! We can protect you- get you some sort of prison for life instead of being executed deal if you start talking."

  "I'd rather go out humanely at the hands of the United States." He looks away, not paying attention to the last thing I said. "Look, I'll name the three hundred something people directly involved in the kidnapping. But I'm not naming the boss- I might as well just kill myself if I do that."

  "Okay-" I nod, sliding paper across the table to him. "Start writing those names down."

————Kyle's P.O.V———-

  "That's not mine to consent to!" I shake my head at the doctor. "She's fucking unconscious."

  "Which is exactly the problem-" Troy interrupts. "If the semen is still relatively fresh we can dna match and find out exactly what "Adrian's" real name is and the name of the other dude. The photographic evidence can wait until she's well enough to consent to it but semen only lives up to five days so if we want to get the sample that we need to identify the man without showing her pictures of the possible suspects and traumatizing her even more, it'd be better to collect the samples while she's unconscious."

"Do you even hear yourself right now-"

"Mr.President-" Ella grits her teeth. "Do you hear your fucking-self? Fine, if that's what you'd prefer, we can wait until she wakes up and politely ask your wife, who was raped multiple times by that Goddamn waste of oxygen and a four hundred degree branding iron. Adrian is dead. The Princess is dead. Kylie is dead. Commander Cyrus is dead. Ahmad and James are refusing to name the 'boss' out of fear- even though we are detaining every single person on their lists as we speak. From the little information we've been able to get out of James, the other guy that... raped her was able to get away in the chaos. We are currently performing a nationwide manhunt but it would be easier to identify him if we use his dna to find his real name."

God this feels wrong, no matter how necessary it is to find that fucker. "Make sure... make sure she stays out the entire time."

"Of course, Mr.President." Troy runs back over to her personal doctor, psychologist, and investigative doctor. I sit down, my head lending back and forth like a bobble-head figure. My brain's been fighting my body on sleep for days now, and I feel like it wouldn't be fair to give in.

But my hand-eye coordination is almost nonexistent. It takes everything in me to focus on what people are saying. My entire body's begun to shake constantly and my speech has slowed down.

"Mr.President."Ella holds out a sleeping pill and glass of water, standing alongside the psychologist now.

"I've been told by your head of security that you haven't slept in multiple days?" He asks, and I nod. "Regardless of your situation, it is my duty and hers to make sure that every aspect of your health is taken care of. Mr. President... I have been authorized by your security team to make you take it if you won't do it yourself."