Transfer of Power

JACK WARCH HAD decided on a course of action. He wanted to build a consensus among his agents first and then bring his plan to the president. He didn’t want any surprised faces if the president asked them for their opinion. Warch had taken a minute or two with each agent, and all of them had enthusiastically backed their boss’s idea.

Now came the hard part. President Hayes was sitting next to Valerie Jones on one of the couches playing a game of gin.

Before walking over, Warch checked the door one more time.

All indications were that they were running out of time.

Walking across the carpeting, Warch stopped just on the other side of one of the longer couches and cleared his throat.

When the president looked up, he said, “Excuse me, sir. Do you have a second?”

The president looked back at the discard pile and said, “Sure.” Hayes closed his hand up and set it facedown on the table.

“Excuse me, Val.” After getting up, he walked around the couches and join ed warch, who had walked over to the corner by the bathroom.

“What is it. Jack?”

“Sir, I want you to hear me out before you say anything.” Warch gave his boss a stern look that told him he was very serious. Hayes nodded, and warch continued. “I have an idea. One that I think will work, but it’s going to take some balls on our part and a little bit of risk.”

“Okay, let’s hear it.”

“I want to start out by saying that just sitting here is not a good option. Every one of my agents is willing to sacrifice his life for you, so I want you to stop thinking about us. We volunteered for this duty and we all knew what the risks were when we signed.”

Hayes started to shake his head.

“I’m not going to change my mind. Jack. There’s been enough bloodshed.

When that door opens, we are going to surrender peacefully and take our chances.”

Warch snapped at the president, “Let me finish!”

Hayes backed up a half a step in surprise and nodded his consent for the special agent to continue.

Warch composed himself and started again.

“We,” he said, pointing to himself, “are not what is at issue here. You are what is at issue, and not just you as a person but you as the president.

In the big picture, all of our lives”-Warch pointed to the other agents in the room-“don’t add up to one president. The president must be protected at all costs. That’s my first point.”

Warch held up his forefinger.

“My second point is that just laying our weapons down and surrendering doesn’t guarantee us anything. Who’s to say they won’t line us up and shoot every single one of us, including you?”

The president thought about it for a moment and then said, “There are no guarantees. Jack, but I don’t see any other alternative.”

“I have one. It’s a little daring, but it’s a heck of a lot better than sitting around and waiting for them to open the door.”

“What is it?”

“It’s something they’ll never expect. We have nine highly trained agents in this room. Three of them. have served on the Counter Assault Team and have extensive training in hostage situations. My proposal is”-Warch paused and took a big breath-“that instead of waiting for them to get this door open, we open it ourselves and catch them off guard.”

The president frowned.

“Hear me out, sir. We have the firepower to get you out of here, and we’ll have the element of surprise on our side.”

Hayes folded his arms across his chest and thought about it for a moment. Looking at Warch, he said, “Tell me more. If we’re going to do this, we need a game plan.”