Chapter 39
Adam paced back and forth inside his office, going over the latest from the trial. Opening statements had been made—Simon was representing himself so far. Witnesses had been arranged, and were set to begin statements this afternoon.
The protestors had remained outside the courtroom, and were gathering a lot of attention. John had called him, and insisted they be removed, but Adam had refused. Until they became violent, he could afford to leave them there. Or at least he had been able to. Again and again they called out the alleged 'injustice' of these proceedings, and urged people to free Simon. This database nonsense wasn't going away, it seemed.
Adam had looked over it himself, and found it to be a monument to arrogance. Simon had gone to great lengths to free his wife, and had succeeded in the end. His ego was so big he simply refused to accept that everyone had to follow the law. Even people connected to him personally.
While all that was true, Adam had grudgingly admitted to himself that the database was impressive. So many details had been filled in that sometimes he'd found himself regretting he didn't know more. For a fictional series of documents, Noah had really outdone himself. He might have made a good author, if he hadn't been programmed as a caretaker for them.
But these people seemed to believe the database was true. They were protesting outside a courtroom right now, and blaming their President for imagined offenses instead of realizing the truth of the Word of God. They'd even accused his government, however obliquely, of attacking a reporter!
Adam lifted his phone, which displayed Hippo's initial examination of Walter's condition. He was still out, with some pretty powerful drugs seeping through his veins, as Hippo and his medical assistants worked to keep him alive. The last update suggested that he might pull through, though Adam doubted that would stop these baseless accusations against him.
This was the first time in New Eden's history that one person had intentionally harmed another! Sure, there had been some scuffles growing up, but they'd just been boys letting off steam in their limited living space. This was something else entirely!
Adam had ordered an investigation right away, and the closest thing to a forensic scientist, a fourteen-year-old named Francis, was at Walter's apartment right now. He'd found no signs of struggle, which suggested Walter's attacker had greatly outclassed him in height and weight. Unfortunately that didn't narrow the field much.
There was a knock at the door, and Adam looked up. "Yes?"
Alex entered; his eyes lowered politely. "Sorry to bother you, sir. You asked to be told when the proceedings ended for today?"
"I did, thank you." Adam pulled up the camera feed of the hallway outside the courtroom. He saw Bez try to shake Simon's hand, but the guards prevented it and kept moving him away. Adam shook his head. He wasn't sure how much more strife New Eden could take right now. "This is getting out of hand," he said quietly.
"Yes, sir," Alex responded, and there was something in his voice that made Adam look over at him curiously.
He gestured to one of the seats, and took another one for himself. Looking extremely honored, and yet uncomfortable at the same time, Alex sat across from him. "What do you think about all of this trial business, and the database itself?" Adam asked quietly, hoping for an outside perspective to help.
"They're ingrates, sir," Alex said with complete confidence. "All of them. They can't, or won't, accept you for who you are, and so they have to try and slander you."
That was an unusual way to describe people opposed to him. "Ingrates? What exactly have I done for them, outside of my duties as the President?"
"You kept us together. You kept us alive, sir! You organized the defense against Cain, and then put an end to him! That was barely two weeks ago, and they've already forgotten it! Talk about ingratitude," he added darkly.
Adam smiled slightly. "It's nice to know someone appreciates me." He stood, stretching slightly, and Alex immediately stood to attention as well.
"You'll always have my support, sir," he said fervently. He gave a formal salute, in the old American style, and Adam returned it.
Though... Alex's hand was bruised. "Are you all right?" He gestured to it. "I can spare you, now that the trial's over for today. You can head down to the clinic if you want."
"No, sir!" Alex responded quickly. "I mean, I'm fine, sir. I just bashed my hand on something. I iced it, and it's already healing."
Adam was all set to commend him for his dedication and dismiss him, but something was nagging at the back of his mind. The reports Hippo had sent on Walter's injuries had included what had probably been kicks and punches. A few of them had been to the face, where bones were closer to the surface.
Slowly, almost unwilling to even think of it, Adam spoke again. "Did you... have anything to do with Walter's injuries, Alex?"
Alex let out a breath, but it wasn't of amusement or alarm. It was relief! "So you know, sir. Of course you know. I was foolish to try and keep it a secret."
A cold chill ran down Adam's back. "You did this?" He held up the screen, showing pictures of Walter's battered form.
"Of course," the man answered proudly. "He disrespected you sir, right to your face! I went there to have a conversation with him—maybe scare him a little—but then I saw what he was writing next! He had a list of lies, just like Simon, but these were all about you! I couldn't just let him get away with that, so I did my job."
"Your job??" Adam let out, flabbergasted. "Your job is to follow my orders, Alex! Do you have any idea what you've done? If he wakes up, and I sincerely hope that he does, he'll tell people what you did! The head of my own Secret Service, beating up an unarmed reporter? No one will believe I didn't order it. It'll make this whole nightmare a hundred times worse!"
A slight flash of indignation appeared for just an instant in Alex's eyes. "I wore a mask, sir. I'm not stupid."
Adam switched camera modes and pointed at the phone again. "There's an investigator at the crime scene right now, Alex! Did you leave any fingerprints? Any blood? Anything that could lead back to you?"
"I didn't leave any trace, sir. I'm absolutely sure of that."
The President just stood there for a moment, feeling completely lost. He was investigating his own man—a loyal one more than willing to lay down his life for his President! How could Adam justify any of this to anyone?? "You'd better pray you're right, for both our sakes," he ground out. "Now get out, and don't breathe a word of this to anyone. As far as we're both concerned, we have no idea who attacked Walter, or why."
His back stiff and his face angry, Alex nodded curtly and left.
Adam's desk intercom trilled, and he slapped at it. "What!?"
The voice on the other end spoke hesitantly. "Uh, sorry to disturb you sir, but we've found something in the courthouse you need to see."
-.-
The trial had been recessed for more than half an hour now, so the hallways were clear. Adam didn't have to see any of the protestors as he stalked down the passage. His mind was still on Alex's actions.
How could Alex have been so reckless? Didn't he realize that attacking these dissidents only gave them more ammunition to use? Even if Walter died, or wasn't able to identify his attacker, Diana and her ilk would certainly use this incident to stir up more trouble. And for once, Adam couldn't even blame her!
He was partially responsible, too. As President, he was supposed to have a keen eye for behavior in his people. He'd known Alex was fanatically loyal, right from the start. That was part of the reason he'd been chosen to lead the security detail. Adam should have predicted that he would take Walter's question personally. He should have ordered Alex to leave the man alone, before any of this had happened.
Strangely, his security people were leading him past the main courtroom entrance, and to a service section to the west. Tom, his most insightful and skeptical agent, had been the one to make the call. Adam was seriously considering making him the first head of NESA, or New Eden Security Agency.
Once he went down the service stairs past the courtroom/theatre, he found himself beneath it. Tom was there, standing over a patch of concrete that had been dug open. Inside was a device of some kind, which Adam didn't recognize.
Tom glanced in his direction, and gave a nod of deference. "During the trial, I picked up a radio signal from an unknown source. I couldn't trace it, but I figured it was being sent to someone inside the courtroom. After they recessed, I did a whole search of the building. A metal detector picked this up under the floor of the basement. As you can see, we had to dig it up just to see what it was."
Adam wasn't sure he had time for this. "It's probably one of Noah's drones, lost here when the city was first being put up. This is far enough down to be inside the foundation."
Tom shook his head. "It's a bomb, sir. I've studied enough Earth engineering to know the difference, and I got Sidney down here to examine it, and he agrees. Don't worry, he disarmed it. He separated the explosive from the radio receiver, so it's harmless right now. He's out looking for any others that might be in the building."
All thoughts of the Alex situation fled from Adam's mind. "That's good to know," he said faintly, wondering what other tests God had in store for him today. "How the hell could someone have planted a bomb in the building without you or Alex knowing it?"
Tom gestured around the excavated area. "This is quick-dry cement. Easily manufactured by anyone who has access to Noah's formula. This bomb was planted recently, maybe even yesterday, just before the trial started. The only way they could have gotten it down here... is if they have people on our own staff, sir."
His own staff. Traitors in his own security force? No, it wasn't necessarily that. "We don't know for sure that this bomb was planted by Diana and her dissidents, Tom," he said softly.
"Who else could it be?"
Unwilling to explain that it could have been another misguided soul like Alex, Adam shook his head. "You said it was supposed to get a radio signal. So there wasn't a timer or anything?"
"No, sir. Sidney was sure about that, and I concur."
"Then whoever planted this is probably waiting for the trial to end. When the verdict is announced, if it's not a verdict they like, they'll blow up the building just to send a message. Or they'll try to, anyway. Does anyone else know about this?"
"Just you, me, and Sidney, sir. I ordered him to keep his mouth shut for now."
"Good thinking. When he gets back, assuming there aren't any other bombs, have him remove the explosive entirely. I don't want it to go off by accident." Tom nodded immediately, and Adam started walking away slowly.
There were at least fifty people who were attending the trial during the day. Factor in the protestors outside, the security forces, and the observers outside the building... this bomb could have easily killed half of the people living in the city! He wanted to believe that it was just one of Diana's fanatics—that this was just another example of their disregard for the law—but he couldn't afford to! This had to end.
He made up his mind right then and there. Making a beeline for the nearest caretaker, he got its attention as soon as he found one. "Noah. I need to make contact with Diana, as soon as possible. I don't care what you have to do, or how many of your directives you need to break. Just do it, understood?"
The caretaker nodded, and then went still again. Right now, drones were probably buzzing out of Noah's construction center and flying out all over the city. He'd held them back on Adam's orders before, but Adam no longer cared. If this continued, he wouldn't have any people left to lead!
It took maybe twenty minutes for Noah to get a hit, during which time Adam paced uncomfortably. His advisors wouldn't like this, and John would probably be livid. Not that he was much of anything else, these days. When Noah finally got back to him with a report, Adam had workshopped out what he was going to say. Noah started to explain how he'd made contact, but Adam raised a hand. "I don't want to know. As long as it's her on the other end, that's all that matters."
In answer, Noah's caretaker took his phone, tapped in a few keys on it too fast for his eyes to follow, and then handed it back to him. Diana's face popped up on the other end, and her eyes were a bit wide. "Well, this is a surprise. What do you want, Adam?"
There was no sense beating around the bush. "Just minutes ago, my people found a bomb buried underneath the courthouse." He watched her carefully, and her surprised reaction was immediate. It seemed she really hadn't known. That didn't mean it wasn't her people, though. "Don't worry, it's disarmed. Still, it was powerful enough to take down the whole building and kill hundreds of people, yourself included."
"My God!" She said softly, looking bewildered. She hesitated for a few seconds. "Do your—I mean, have you told your people?"
"No, and I'm asking you to do the same. This has gone too far, Diana. Much too far. We have to put a stop to this while we still can."
"What are you suggesting?" She said suspiciously. "We won't just accept the Faith Doctrines now, bomb or not."
"I'm suggesting we meet," he put in, trying to ignore his anger at that. Stubbornness was in their blood, it seemed. "Publicly, under the eyes of both of our supporters. We sit down at a table and hammer out an agreement. A compromise that both of us can live with. Otherwise, we might end up starting another war. Are you willing to live with that? We just finished one, for God's sake!"
Diana was silent for what seemed like an eternity. She looked past the phone, probably to Bez, or whoever else helping her. Finally, she nodded. "My people will be armed, you know. We're not just going to walk into a slaughter, whether you order one or not."
He shrugged impatiently. "I didn't expect otherwise. My own security people will have their guns, too. But it's imperative that we both convince our people to not fire, unless the other side does first. Can you make that guarantee?"
"We're not the ones who tried to kill Walter," she said sourly.
Adam glowered at that. She didn't know for sure it wasn't one of her own people, trying to drum up support for the cause. He did know, though, and she was right. "Can you guarantee it? For myself, I'll order my Secret Service and every civilian who shows up to not make any aggressive moves unless your people do first. I'll send out the broadcast right now, if you want. Call it a gesture of good faith. But there's no reason for me to do that, if you don't agree to meet with me, peacefully."
Diana glanced past the phone again, and then nodded. "You have a deal. I suggest the gymnasium dome. It's not far away, and big enough to hold anyone who wants to attend."
Letting out a slight breath of relief, he went on. "I was going to say the same. I'll make sure my people know yours are to be left alone on the way out there, and hopefully on the way back. Do you want people listening in to these discussions, or kept at a distance?"
"Does it matter? It'll be recorded, and Noah has lipreading software. Even if everyone's at the very edge of the dome, they'll still be able to know what we're saying. I say put it all on the table. Everything we know, down to the last detail."
That could cause problems down the road, if his plan worked out, but Adam would have time to deal with them. "We have an agreement then. Tomorrow, at noon? I'll leave your people alone, to take the maglev out there and send it back. Then we'll join you, and we can get to work."
"God willing," she said, and signed off. Those last words had sounded like both a prayer and a threat, if things should go sideways.
Adam let out a huge sigh. This was actually happening! He'd had significant responsibility on his shoulders before, notably when Noah had been disabled. Still, he couldn't blame Noah if this went badly. If this succeeded or fell apart, either way it was all on him. He tried to look presidential as he walked back to his office to make the announcement to his people. Time to write the mother of all speeches.
