Chapter 198

TV interviews and rallies, more than I could count. Another week was gone in the blink of an eye - nine weeks to the election.

Iran was progressing, tens of thousands of identity cards were being issued a day. Electrical power had been restored to most of the country. Big generators were brought in to get the supply where it should have been decades ago. They were run off natural gas of which there was an endless supply. There were still more coming to get at least some reserve in the power grid.

There was an endless supply of general labor - without daily military drills and with a promise of a paycheck for working - they were ready. Many were skilled labor; they were put to work getting the country back together.

Four super tankers of oil had been sold: China bought one, France another, the United Kingdom got the 3rd and the 4th was sold to Brazil. Contracts were signed for monthly deliveries to those countries. There was money to pay for the things needed to gradually bring Iran back to the twenty first century.

I had a meeting on Thursday with OPEC group about oil sales, none of us wanted to see the price levels and sales targets destroyed. The last thing needed was an oil war. The Secretary of State and the director of the energy department with the joint chiefs were along for meetings with field commanders. We also brought the usual media detail.

Air Force One landed at King Salam International for the OPEC meeting. After a private meeting with the King I met with the Air Force commanders for a couple hours. Then I took a Greyhound flight to the USS Thomas to meet with Fleet Admiral Montgomery for an assessment of fleet performance.

Hanna was talking with a sailor and Jed was filming on the flight deck as I stepped off the Greyhound flight. They had become so accustomed to the air operations they didn’t notice me until the PA announced ‘‘All hands Commander in Chief is now aboard.” Then they started filming me going through the VIP greetings.

‘‘If you are ready to go home, get your go bags packed,’’ I said.

Then there was a meeting with all the Navy commanders of the war for a first hand update. I addressed the crew while I was there for a job well done.

Then a helicopter ride to the USS Fordson where I had a discussion with Admiral Bramble and Captain McCoy about any ship issues that required an immediate return to base, ‘‘Well, you should be glad to hear that your shakedown cruise will last at least another two months. There are other objectives in the cards,’’ I said.

While I was on the USS Fordson I asked to be guided to Chief Petty Officer Hastings’ work area to see him.

Melinda Schaffer had been on a video call to ZNN below deck. I recognized her voice as we were passing the cabin she was using. I stuck my head in.

‘‘Hey girlfriend, if you are ready to leave here pack your bags - the train is pulling out of the station in thirty minutes,’’ I said and then walked on.

I heard her tell the other end of her conversation, ‘‘The President is on board with our tickets home, got to go. ‘‘

CPO Hastings was at his workstation staring at a flat screen. ‘‘Staring at it won’t make it work any faster,’’ I said startling him and causing him to jump. Melinda was behind me and filming.

‘‘I think the ship has lived up to your letter; you were pouring it on pretty heavy and I am told the Fordson has performed exceptionally well for the first extended shakedown cruise,’’ I said.

We talked a few minutes and I posed for a few pictures with him and some shipmates.

Then I made another helicopter flight to the USS Boxer and met with the command structure for the ground troops, both Army General Irons and Marine General Downs.

With the Joint Chiefs we discussed future plans for Iran and benchmarks that had to be achieved to move to the next troop draw down. It was a ten point plan.

One of the early points was releasing as many of the prisoners as possible and getting some or most of the National Guard troops back home as soon as possible.

Helicopters carried my expanded groups back to the King Salam International Airport. The first thing was to catch up on the important emails and updates, then I was going to bed. I had four hours sleep in the last three days and I immediately had to hit the road campaigning again. A hot shower and the king size bed was going to feel good on the flight back.

I rested a day at home with my mates; we needed time together and I needed them. I needed time with the boys. I rested but not as much as I would have liked to.

The media had finally accepted that the explosion in New York was caused by human or computer error. Twelve hundred people had died in the building collapse and the surrounding buildings, including the twelve members of Soweto’s family and all management of Soweto Investments.

Worse yet was all corporate records were destroyed including electronic servers and backups that were in the basement, also the upstairs safes had been destroyed and contents burned. Someone was going to have one hell of a time trying to reconstruct the accounts to figure out the amounts the millions of investors were due.

Things were no different for Bloomfield Investments. It had taken four days to put the fires out. The building was on the verge of collapse; it was so unsafe the NYFD had refused all attempts to locate the victims’ bodies.

All the streets around the buildings were closed creating a traffic nightmare. Huge cranes were brought in to clear the debris from the Soweto building as fast as possible to look for victims.

Tomorrow was Friday again - eight weeks to the election - and the south-west swing was to start this afternoon. I spent all morning in the Oval Office catching up on reports and the things to keep the country going that a President needed to do.

Face Time and Twit were not pleased with my run for the presidency. I did not have – nor did the girls - a personal account in either and strictly forbid our security employees from having an account.

Both used tracking features that could not be turned off and used algorithms that could be used to out our security teams and protocols. Having an account with them or accessing them on company electronics was cause for immediate termination.