Land of the Gods

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

“Stand down, marine!”

The US Marine sentry outside the Oval Office looked nervously at the Vice President of the United States and the men behind him. Faulkner held his ground, knowing what the young man must be thinking. Along with the Secret Service, he was charged with the responsibility of protecting the life of the President, and yet here was the Vice President and several members of the US Cabinet, and they were accompanied by their own Secret Service and other marines.

“You were told to stand down!” barked General Patterson.

In the face of an angry four star general, the marine folded like a deck chair, standing down and lowering his weapon.

Without waiting another second, Faulkner opened the door of the anteroom and marched through into the Oval Office. Flanked by Patterson and several other senior military personnel he made an awesome sight as he approached the President.

A startled Jack Brooke stood up behind the desk and fixed his eye on Faulkner. “What the hell is this?”

Patterson stepped forward. “Get away from the desk and raise your hands, sir!”

Special Agent Suzie Matsumoto was standing behind Brooke. She unholstered her gun in a flat second and pointed the muzzle at the general, simultaneously standing in front of him. “Drop your weapon and step away from the President!”

Brooke reached out and gently pulled her arm down. “It’s okay, Agent Matsumoto. To say we’re outgunned is the understatement of the year.” Ignoring Patterson, he walked out from behind his desk and squared up to Faulkner. “Now, as I just asked, what the hell is this all about, Davis?”

Faulkner puffed his chest out and looked Brooke in the eye. “Mr President, under the powers given by the Twenty-Fifth Amendment, I have assembled the members of the Cabinet and we are here today to remove you from the Office of the President of the United States.”

Brooke was speechless. He stared up at the men and women gathered in the Oval Office and tried to judge just what the hell they were thinking. He knew these people well. He had personally appointed all of them to their cabinet positions, including the Attorney General. Hell, he’d even lifted Faulkner out of nowhere to be the Vice President, and yet here they all were in the middle of his morning talking about invoking the Twenty-Fifth? It had to be some kind of nightmare.

“I don’t understand what’s happening.”

“All of that will be explained to you, sir,” Faulkner said. “But as of this moment I’m invoking Section 4 of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment, and…”

“Section 4? What the hell? I’m not unable to discharge the powers and duties of this office! What game are you playing?”

Faulkner stood his ground. “I’m sorry, sir, but you are hereby removed from Office of the President of the United States under the powers given to us by the Twenty-Fifth Amendment, Section 4 and I am assuming the position of President in accordance with the Constitution. The cabinet and I have sent written notice to President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. It’s over. I’ll inform the people in an address within the hour.”

“This is insane!” Brooke marched around the desk and confronted Faulkner. “I don’t know what the hell you think you’re doing, Davis, but you’re not going to get away with it.”

“The members of the Cabinet are witness to this,” Faulkner said, turning to the Attorney General. “Please proceed.”

The AG stepped forward with the Bible he’d been holding throughout. “I will now administer the presidential oath. Are you ready, Mr Vice President?”

Faulkner never took his eyes off Brooke. “Go ahead, please.”

The AG held out the Bible. “Please put your left hand on the Bible and raise your right hand, sir.”

Faulkner followed his instructions.

The grand prize was so close he could taste it. It rolled in his mouth like honey.

“Now, repeat after me…I, Davis Jefferson Faulkner do solemnly swear…”

“I, Davis Jefferson Faulkner do solemnly swear…”

“That I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States…”

Faulkner’s voice was as cold and strong as steel. “That I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States…”

“And will to the best of my ability…”

He slowed his breathing. “And will to the best of my ability.”

“Preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Faulkner felt a swell of pride and achievement. “Preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

“So help me God.”

“So help me God.”

The AG removed the Bible, but there were no congratulations today because they all knew what was coming next.

President Faulkner squared up to Jack Brooke. Stripped of his office and all his political power, he looked smaller now. “Jack, I’m putting you under arrest for treason.”

Brooke was aghast. “For treason? What the hell are you talking about, Davis?”

“You know damned well what I’m talking about, Jack.” He glowered at Brooke, hate filling his eyes. “And it’s Mr President, not Davis.”

Before Brooke could reply, Faulkner turned to the marine sentries. “Get him out of here and make sure you get his daughter too. She’s got to be part of this outrage, this national disgrace!”

“What the hell?” Brooke struggled in the arms of the marines who moments ago had been protecting him. “You leave Alex alone, you son of a bitch!”

“How’s the team doing over in the Residence?” Faulkner asked Muston.

“No word yet.”

“I want Alex Reeve out of this place right along with her father.”

“You’ll pay for this, you bastard!” Brooke said.

“I think not.”

General Patterson took off his peaked cap and tossed it on one of the couches. Ignoring Brooke completely, he turned to Davis Faulkner and watched as he walked over to the Resolute Desk. “Congratulations, Mr President. You saved America today, sir.”

Brooke struggled in the marines’ arms.

Faulkner traced his fingers along the edge of the desk, almost in a dream as he thought about all the mighty figures who had sat right here and directed the fate of the world. Now it was his turn. Without a second thought, he turned to Patterson. “All right, General. Give the order to put the ECHO team on the Most Wanted list. I want them hunted down and arrested if possible. If they resist them take them out. Pay particular attention to Iraq.”

“Iraq?” Patterson seemed shocked. “What the hell are they doing in Iraq?”

“Just do as I say, General. Tell your men in Iraq to be on the lookout for the ECHO team, and if they find them it’s just as I said — arrest them or kill them.”

“No!” Brooke said. “You can’t do that!”

“I can do whatever I want, Jack. I’m the President of the United States. I’ve been planning taking over this office and throwing your traitor ass out of here for years. Who do you think ordered ECHO’s Caribbean headquarters to be smashed the year before last?”

Brooke’s mind snapped back two years ago to when his daughter had been badly wounded in an aerial assault on ECHO’s HQ building on the island of Elysium. “Oh my God! That was you? You nearly killed my girl you son of a bitch!”

“Cool it down, Jack… cool it down. We’ve had this in the pipeline for years, only you were too dumb to see it coming. You and your little friends in ECHO running your terror campaigns around the world!”

“This is insane! They’re not terrorists — they fight against terrorists!”

“You would say that, but while your little friends were trying to set a nuke off on Alcatraz, who was trying to stop them? Me. When they were trying to destroy Atlantis, who tried to stop them by blowing up their island? Me. Without me who knows what they… and you would have gotten away with.”

“This is crazy. I can’t believe I’m hearing it.”

“No, it’s totally sane, and now I’m ending what I started all those years ago. You and ECHO are going to be arrested and tried for various offences ranging from treason to terrorism and there’s nothing you can do about it. I’ve waited a long time for this, Jacky boy — ever since you first made me VP all those years ago, and as the gods are my witness, I’m going to enjoy every second of it. Now, take him away, and her too!”

The soldiers grabbed Jack Brooke and Suzie Matsumoto and dragged them out of the Oval Office.

Brooke struggled to twist his neck and look over his shoulder at the new Commander in Chief. “You’re making a big mistake, Davis!”

“Goodbye, Jack.”

Faulkner watched his men bundling Jack Brooke and his loyal Secret Service agent out of the Oval Office and along the corridor outside. “The door, Josh.”

Muston gently closed the door and blew out a deep breath. “My God, we did it.”

The tired, weary general picked up his phone in a temper. “Tucker.”

“General Braxton Tucker?”

Now he recognized the voice. Secretary of Defence Kelvin Beauregard. “Sir, yes sir!”

“Relax, General. Are you sitting down?”

Tucker furrowed his brow. “Sir?”

“You are hereby informed that there has been a change of leadership in the United States.”

“A change of leadership? I don’t understand.”

“President Brooke has been removed from the Office of the President of the United States. The Cabinet invoked the Twenty-Fifth and took him out. Davis Faulkner is the President now.”

Tucker collapsed back in his chair. “What the hell happened? There’s nothing on the news.”

“About to break. Treason.”

“My God!”

“Right, and it’s going to be a serious shitshow when it all comes out.”

Tucker scratched behind his ear. “This is one of those where were you moments, right Mr Secretary?”

“Sure is.”

“President Faulkner, huh?”

“Yeah, and you just got your first Presidential order direct from him, too.”

“I don’t get it.”

“According to CIA records, the passports of three known fugitives just got swiped through your security.”

“Three fugitives?”

“Josiah Hawke, a British citizen, Lea Donovan, an Irish citizen and Vincent Reno, a French citizen. Am I right?”

Tucker was dumbfounded. “Yes, sir. They were here a few moments ago representing some sort of archaeological institute from England. We put them through the usual security protocols, fingerprints and passport scans and they came up clear. The Pentagon ordered me to assist them.”

“Not anymore,” Beauregard said flatly. “President Faulkner personally put them on the Most Wanted list. They’re terrorists and they are to be detained immediately — is that clear?”

Tucker felt his mouth dry up and his heart start pounding. “Yes, sir — just as you say.”

“How long since they left you?”

“They left my office a few minutes ago. As far as I know they’re still on site. I guess they’ll be about ready to leave any minute and then they’ll be on their way.”

“As I say, not anymore, General. You let them get away and the President will personally burn your commission and he’ll use your pension papers to light it. Am I making myself clear?”

“Sir, yes sir!”