Chapter 20

"All right, show him in and let's get this over with," Sophie said in exasperation.

Armando's wake had been the biggest in Phoenicia's short history, and while the speeches in celebration of her son's life had done much to begin the healing process, especially those by Ramon and Aunt Ruth, she still felt drained. Uncle Jamaal's updated saga of Phoenicia, while handling the death of Armando with a sensitivity she would not have thought possible, practically elevated Sophie to godhood.

Gratifying though it may have been in other circumstances, Sophie saw it causing nothing but trouble for the Presidency while she occupied the office. Still and all, it had been a stellar wake, and she understood Jamaal's purpose in painting her in such a light. She just wished he could have waited until after she left office to do it.

By law, Sr. Sanchez, as the next highest vote-getter after Orlov, was again offered and accepted the vice-presidency. In retrospect, Sophie was relieved that she would not have to offer it to Orlov. That would have been extremely painful, even if she had succeeded in calling him out and getting him to fight her openly. Knowing what she now knew of his plans, it was just as well things had worked out the way they did; except that Armando was dead.

Now back to work, and trying very hard to put the events of the post-election horror behind her, Sophie was trying to work through a backlog of personal requests for meetings, in between signing legislation that had been on her desk for days.

It was difficult to get her mind back on the work. Armando still weighed heavily on her consciousness and her struggle to deal with her own grief had come between her and Ramon. She knew he must be wrestling with their loss in his own way, but she had not been able to find it within herself to reach out to him. Somewhere, deep inside, in spite of all his efforts to be there for her, Sophie knew she feared that Ramon would come to blame her for Armando's death.

Sophie no longer had nightmares about the incident, and though her rational mind absolved her of blame, her heart was still on the fence. How could Ramon not blame her when she could not absolve herself of blame?

Ramon, for his part, when he wasn't hanging out with Kyle Nguyen, was spending more and more time at the local watering hole, drinking beer and playing pool. He never showed any sign of being drunk when she was with him, and though he remained attentive to her needs, had been more and more withdrawn of late.

With an effort, Sophie brought her thoughts back to her duty when Reverend Arnold Murray sailed into her office, beaming, as Linda showed him in, then joined the small group around the President's desk.

Sr. Sanchez occupied the comfortable chair to the right of her desk, and Linda took the one to the left, leaving the straight-backed chair across the desk from Sophie for the good Reverend.

"Madame President," the rotund pastor effused, "so good of you to take time from your busy schedule to see me. I am so deeply sorry for your loss."

"It's very kind of you to say so, Reverend," Sophie replied, shaking his hand. She had learned the formulaic reply from Gav, and while there was nothing dishonest in it, she still wanted to smack the smug bastard for his patently false sympathy. "What can I do for you today?"

"I am embarrassed to bring this up under such solemn circumstances, Madame President," the man replied, mopping sweat from his face, "but perhaps in the wake of your own loss, you have come to a greater understanding of the importance of God in our daily lives."

Sophie remained silent, her ire visible only to those who knew her well. At least she could not say that she was disappointed. She had guessed that this would be the topic of discussion as soon as she saw the preacher's name on the agenda for the day.

"That being the case," Murray continued, as though she had agreed with him, "I and my congregation would like to enjoin you to support legislation that would give religion a greater role in the daily lives of Phoenicians in general. In particular, prayer in our schools, combat exemption for clergy, and protections for religious organizations from these pesky personal vendettas that have become so popular. As you know, I speak for a large and growing congregation and we would be most grateful for your support come next election. So grateful that we would support the bill just introduced in the legislature to waive the term limitation for the office of president."

Sophie leaped to her feet so abruptly that the heavy, solid wood desk rose a couple of inches and thumped loudly back to the floor.

Her voice shook with rage as she replied in a low, deadly voice, "How dare you! I have barely finished burying my son and you come dancing in here with this ... this treason!"

Only Linda's hand on her arm restrained her from leaping over the desk to pummel the arrogant bastard into the carpet. With a visible effort of will, Sophie wrenched her emotions into the background where they simmered, threatening to boil over at any time as she sat and took up a sheet of paper that lay on the desk

Sophie's nostrils flared, and her eyes bored into her victim's until he had no choice but to look away, but her voice was calm as she continued, "I personally adhere more closely to the People's reverence for all life than to the religion you espouse, Reverend Murray. But more to the point, in my official capacity as President of Phoenicia, I strongly adhere to the principles set forth in the constitution of Phoenicia. In keeping with my policy of plain language being used at all levels of government, so that it can be understood by everyone, let me answer your request in this way: There will be snowdrifts in your hell long before I will embroil this government in the same kind of religious nonsense that tied pre-sickness governments in knots! To put it bluntly, you are currently in violation of at least two statutes against the interference of religion with government, first by presenting this request today, and second, by offering me a bribe of votes."

"Furthermore," she continued, her anger only slightly diminished, "if the subsequent investigation into this matter reveals that you have, in your capacity as a religious leader, engaged in trying to sway your congregation on a political matter, you will be stripped of your right to conduct religious meetings in Phoenicia. As a consequence of your blatant disregard for the constitution and laws of this land, you will be tried, and if convicted, subjected to public flogging. Is there anything further that you wish to say?"

The fat preacher's mouth flopped open, then snapped closed, like that of a fish suddenly finding itself on dry land.

"I ... Madame Presid..." whatever protest he might have made died on his lips, and Sophie pressed the button that called security to her office.

"Take this man to detention," she told the two L7's who entered the office before her finger left the button.

"The charge, Madame President?" the senior NCO of the pair asked.

"Attempted clerical intervention in government affairs, two counts," Sophie answered. "My chief of staff will be down to fill out the paperwork, later."

As the two frog-marched the preacher out, Sophie turned her ire on Linda, who had put the man on her schedule.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" she asked sharply.

"I just thought you could use a little light entertainment to get you back in a governing frame of mind," Linda smiled, unfazed. She knew that Sophie's anger would dissipate quickly, and had scheduled the provocative guest with the specific aim of getting her to let some of that emotion out.

"You've got a sick sense of humor, Linda Nguyen," Sophie replied, shaking her head. She, too, smiled, in spite of herself, as she realized that this was yet another version of the ice water to the face.

"All kidding aside, do you think a public flogging is wise?" Linda answered. "He may not be able to legally use the bully pulpit, but religious types are kinda touchy about their martyrs."

"I did a little research on my own," Sophie said, waving the sheet of paper that had been in front of her during the meeting. "The guy's 'large and growing congregation' is one hundred thirteen people, down from three hundred forty-seven a few months ago. That was before he started this crusade about getting legal concessions for religion."

"You'd think he'd have gotten the message from them."

"I'm less worried about his congregation than I am about this bill he mentioned," Sophie rejoined, frown lines creasing her forehead. "Is there really legislation in the works to waive the presidential term limit?"

"You gained an enormous amount of political capital in dealing with Orlov the way you did, Sophie," Sr. Sanchez told her, "the people feel that anyone so dedicated to Phoenicia should lead her as long as she can."

Sophie sighed irritably. She did not need this right now. She could just veto the bill if it reached her desk, but that could be misinterpreted as political grandstanding, and besides, Congress had many other, more important pieces of legislation pending and didn't need to be wasting time on this.

"Sr. Sanchez, please arrange a closed door, joint session of Congress for this week. Linda will clear my calendar for that day. I want to nip this in the bud."

"But, Doña," Sr. Sanchez protested, "it is a great honor that the Congress wishes to bestow upon you."

"And I am honored, Ernesto," Sophie replied, trying to keep the irritation out of her voice, "but it would be a great disservice to Phoenicia to allow this bill to pass. What if, with this as precedent, someone like Orlov were to actually win the election? Would you want even the remotest chance of such a person winning a third, fourth or fifth term? That's what this opens the door for. Honor or no honor, I cannot allow Congress to pass this bill. I'm a little surprised that you support it, frankly. It would mean a longer wait before your next chance at being President."

"Perhaps," Sr. Sanchez shrugged, "but why do I need to be elected when you are doing such a good job of advancing the causes that mean so much to me?"

"Why bother with telling Congress not to do it?" Linda asked, getting back to the discussion at hand. "Why not just veto it if it reaches your desk?"

"If I veto it, that's the act of a single individual within the government. If Congress refuses to pass it, however, it's the entire government sending a much stronger message, which will make it that much harder for the issue to be resurrected in the future. In fact, Ernesto, perhaps instead of me addressing Congress, you and Linda should work behind the scenes to convince people that it's a bad idea. The less my name gets connected with it, the stronger the message will be for future governments."

"I see your point, Doña," Sr. Sanchez replied. "But in light of your previous question, perhaps I am not the best person to try to get it killed..."

"Why would ... Oh I see. Thank you for bringing that to my attention. I do not wish to force you into the position of seeming to work against me. Linda will handle it."

"It's as good as done," Linda said.

"Good," Sophie replied, turning back to her desk, "what's next on the ... One moment."

Sophie's computer monitor, mounted at an angle within the desk, with the recess covered by a glass plate on the same plane as the desktop, was not visible to the others, so they could not see the "Urgent Message" notice that flashed on its screen. It was the name of the person who sent the message, in addition to its urgency, that caused her to interrupt the meeting instead of waiting until was over.

Quickly, she retrieved the message. It took only a few seconds to recognize its import.

"My apologies," she told the other two, "I will need a few moments to handle some urgent business. If I could have a little privacy please?"

Sr. Sanchez did not see the hand signal she flashed to Linda. Both quickly left the room by separate doors; Linda to her adjoining office and Sr. Sanchez through the main door to his office down the hall. The door had no sooner closed behind Sr. Sanchez, than Linda re-entered.

"What's up?" she asked.

"I just got a message from General Carson, and I want you to be here when I get him on the line."

Putting her desk phone on speaker, Sophie hit the speed-dial button that connected her directly with General Carson's office.

"Good," he said as he picked up on the first ring, "you got my message."

"I did," Sophie answered, "I'm here with Linda Nguyen, General. What's this about someone backing Orlov?"

"We don't know who, at this time, but in investigating his little coup attempt, we discovered that many of his followers were Phoenicians who had been citizens much longer than he had, and correspondence that indicated that he had only recently joined them. Apparently, this group had been around for several years, even before Orlov finished his training, and was privately funded. Near as we can tell, they approached him with the idea of taking over the government."

Sophie was astounded. "You mean Orlov had no plans to take over until this group, whoever they are, approached him?"

"No, not quite. He did have plans of his own, but they weren't nearly as far along as the plans these folks had. We found computer printouts detailing the attempt to get their candidate elected, as well as the contingency plan for kidnapping a member of the President's family and forcing abdication. The time stamps on some of these are dated from before you finished L9. Apparently they had another candidate in mind, but something happened about the time you were in Memphis that caused them to scramble around and look for somebody else."

"Do you know who the other candidate was?"

She could almost see General Carson's brows knit as he thought that one over. "Not yet. They use code names, so it's not a straightforward read. Orlov is recognizable as the one they call 'Brutus', just from the context. You, by the way, were code-named 'Caesar'. The only clue we have is that it was someone who was in Memphis at the same time you were. They apparently sent him there. Do you remember anyone who shouldn't have been in Memphis when you were Governor?"

Sophie's head turned from side to side, slowly, as she went over in her mind all of the Phoenicians with whom she had come in contact while in Memphis.

"Mark," Linda said softly, just as Sophie was in the act of shrugging, at a loss as to who it could be.

"No Mark was..." Sophie felt her stomach flutter as she realized that Linda was right. Mark Wyndham had turned up unexpectedly, shortly after she took over her post as Governor.

"Mark?" Carson's voice came through the phone, "Mark who? Wyndham? That's right! He went inactive before going East to join you. I seem to remember him trying to pressure General Lee into assigning him to go with you to Memphis, and when that didn't work, he went inactive and traveled as a civilian. The candidate's code name, by the way, was 'Mark Antony'."

"But you don't understand," Sophie replied. "He came to Memphis to be with me. We thought we were in love, but..."

... but Ramon had showed up and she had fallen for him. She remembered the last interaction she had had with Mark Wyndham before sending him packing - the one in which he tried to blind-side her with a two-by-four and she had broken his arm. Had that been the 'something' that happened? Had Mark been the intended candidate to take over the government?