Indivisible (Overlooked by Liberty) by Blair Smith Read Free Book Online Page A

party anyway, but Bennett felt responsible for keeping them in their camp.  He had introduced Nancy Atherton of CBS news to Clifford.  It had been the longest extramarital affair the President had had.  During a time of national turmoil, favorable news coverage could be hard to find.

 
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 4
     
           In the hall, General Paz caught Thomas and spoke in a low voice.  "Captain, I want you to know, I'm with you on this.  Everyone is at fault here."
           "Yes, sir."
           "Charles, don't 'Yes sir,' me.  You've been through too much."
           Captain Thomas looked away to a distant place.  "They were all young boys.  Gut shot, most of them.  General Beaudock ordered me to leave a wounded one.  A boy about the same age as my son."  His eyes began seeping.  "I have trouble sleeping.  I'm sure the others on my team feel the same.  No one talks about it, General.  The President doesn't have to worry about any of us saying anything.  It isn't something you brag about."
           "This isn't over," said Paz.  "I'll keep in touch."
     
           The helicopter whirled and turned out of control, plunging downward toward certain death.  Raindrops hit like darts on Billy's face through the broken cockpit's windshield.  North winds bit to the bone and stirred him to consciousness.  He yanked the controls of the helicopter upward.  In his eleven-year-old fantasy, William Winifred could hardly feel his arm from the gunshot wound he received during his escape.  The bullet numbed his left side all the way to his fingertips, but he could move it, if he willed.  He continued through the storm-drenched cold, feeling nothing but the spectra of death chasing him.  Then something flashed from the foothills below, it had to be a Stinger missile, Billy thought.  He popped the decoy flares and cut right, narrowly averting the Sung vase on a stand next to the wall in the corridor.  He gently landed the toy helicopter safely onto the red carpet before his father's private office.
           William Winifred had never had an episode so close.  That could have been the end of Government Operative 440, Billy Winifred--and the 1031-year-old Sung vase in the hallway.  He pulled out the two-inch pilot from the toy helicopter and adjusted his helmet and arms.  He checked the rotor; that was the weakness of this model.
           The office door flung open and CBS Correspondent Nancy Atherton walked out as she chatted with the President.  It was another private interview.  She nearly stumbled over the boy's back as he crouched over his model.  "Shit.  What the--" She caught her balance with a hand on his back.  "William, what are you doing?"  Her face flushed.
           "Checkin' my copter.  See, they got to be serviced every thirty-six hours."  It surprised William, too.  His brown, innocent eyes gazed upward without allegation.
           His father came to the door.  "William, you need to play some other place.  Lots of people come and go here."  He turned to Nancy, "Are you all right, Ms. Atherton?"
           "Oh yes.  I'm fine."  She skirted around the child, "Thank you for the interview, Mr. President.  We'll have to finish it another time," she let the words dangle as she continued down the corridor.
           The boy looked up at his father and lifted the helicopter to be admired.
           The gesture startled the President from his view of Ms. Atherton leaving.  "Oh, nice gadget, son."  Winifred looked at his watch.  "Oh!"  The news conference .
     
           Journalists packed the White House Press Room.  They jotted down notes on pocket computers; some gave preliminary commentaries to viewers from where they stood in the crowd.  Nearly a third of the Press Corps were young, pretty women.  They played to the President's partiality to blondes.  In the past, the color red attracted the attention of some