Читать книгу The Protectors of the Saltire - William Speir - Страница 8

January 30, 5:05 AM

Washington, D.C.

President George Irwin Sheppard hit the snooze button on his alarm clock and lay there in the early morning stillness, wishing that he could go back to sleep. Every morning since becoming President of the United States of America, as soon as the alarm sounded, his mind immediately picked up where it left off the night before, denying him the pleasure of occasionally sleeping in. The long hours were taking their toll on him, but there was still so much to do and not enough hours in the day to get it all done.

It had been just over a year since former President Sanborn was impeached and Sheppard was sworn in as President during one of the worst crises in American history. Sanborn had murdered his predecessor, President Hampton, and ordered a number of terrorist attacks to be committed against Americans in an attempted to turn the United States into a police state. He created a federal police force, known as the Homeland Security Force or HSF, established detention camps for political prisoners, and had hundreds of prisoners executed. He had even attempted to declare martial law and disband Congress to prevent his impeachment. It was only when the military refused to obey Sanborn’s illegal orders that Congress successfully impeached Sanborn and began dismantling his administration.

Sheppard’s first year as President had been nearly overwhelming. The economy was on the verge of collapse when he took office because of trade embargos and similar sanctions that other nations had implemented to protest Sanborn’s treatment of U.S. citizens. Sheppard had to act quickly to prove to these nations that he was serious when he promised to restore the civil and human rights that Sanborn had violated. Slowly, the sanctions had been lifted, and the ports were once again moving goods in and out of the country, although not at the same levels as before the crisis. The economy was beginning to stabilize, and America’s industries were rebounding from one of the worst financial years on record.

U.S. military forces were also being allowed to return to Europe and Asia, though not with as much enthusiasm as Sheppard had hoped. The world was being cautious about welcoming the U.S. back into the community of nations. Still, the Navy had redeployed part of its Atlantic and Pacific fleets to their former duty stations, and Sheppard hoped that the U.S. forces in Europe and Asia would return to their previous levels by the end of the year.

Sheppard had traveled to a number of countries to repair diplomatic relations with key military and economic allies around the globe. Diplomatic missions that had been recalled during the crisis were beginning to return, and Sheppard was optimistic that relations would continue to improve. One of the biggest indications of improvement was from the United Nations. During the crisis, the U.S. delegation had been barred from key meetings because the meeting topics concerned sanctions against the United States. Now the U.S. delegation was being allowed back into meetings as the United Nations dealt with other world issues.

Sheppard’s advisors had started to pressure the President about running for another term. The primaries were only a few months away, but the election was the last thing that Sheppard had time to think about. It wasn’t lost on him that he was only the second President to occupy his office without having been elected either President or Vice President. The first was Gerald Ford, who had been appointed as Vice President in 1973 when Spiro Agnew resigned. Less than a year later, Ford became President when Richard Nixon resigned.

Sheppard wasn’t even certain at this point whether or not he wanted a second term in office. He saw it as his primary job to correct the mistakes of his predecessor, and once that was done, he doubted that he’d have anything left to offer the country.

At the end of his first year in office, Sheppard knew that, while he had made progress abolishing Sanborn’s policies and practices, he still had a lot of work left to do. There were hundreds of executive orders that had to be reviewed and either repealed or modified. Some of these orders were popular and had contributed to a very low unemployment rate during Sanborn’s time in office. Sheppard knew he needed to be careful that he didn’t throw out the good with the bad. He worked very closely with the Congressional leaders from both parties to identify the good executive orders and have them replaced with legislation that accomplished the same goal legally.

The biggest issue that still plagued Sheppard was bringing to justice those who were responsible for the crimes committed against American citizens during Sanborn’s time in office. Sanborn, his Secretary of Homeland Security and the Director of the HSF were dead – killed while resisting arrest or trying to escape. Sheppard had ordered all HSF officers arrested and detained until it could be sorted out which ones were guilty of murder and other crimes, and which were innocent of these crimes. The HSF internment facility guards had been captured when the Navy liberated the prisons, and those involved in the executions had either been killed during the liberation or had been tried and executed shortly afterwards. Most of the HSF officers arrested had already been released due to a lack of evidence that they had been directly involved in the executions or other acts of violence against U.S. citizens.

However, there were still numerous HSF officers who hadn’t been arrested or tried for their crimes. No one knew where they were hiding, but they had managed to elude the Army, the FBI, and the state and local police forces for over a year. This concerned Sheppard. He didn’t like the idea that so many criminals from the Sanborn administration were still on the loose. He was worried that it could give rise to vigilantes who might take justice into their own hands against the wrong people, and he was worried that so many HSF officers in hiding could be plotting something. They’ve already proven they have little regard for innocent lives.

In Sheppard’s inaugural address, he had asked Americans to be patient and let the system work to bring these criminals to justice. And he had promised to apprehend and prosecute all who had committed crimes against U.S. citizens during the crisis. He knew that he needed to keep his promise, but he felt that the people’s patience was wearing thin. He needed for these HSF officers to be found soon.

The alarm clock went off again and Sheppard reached over to turn it off. There was no fighting it. It was time to get another day started. He sat up, got out of bed, and walked slowly to the bathroom to take a shower. As he crossed the bedroom floor, his mind fixated on a single thought: Where are they hiding?