"I don’t know what is going on, but trust , Doctor Athena, I never sent the gang mbers after you right after you called! What would I gain by doing that? I am the president of the country, for godsake! Why would I want to sabotage the mission? That’s unthinkable!"
President George declared hotly, in the face of the accusations being thrown at him by the team, now seated around the table down in the president’s secret office.
While they-the team-had been waiting in the van, communicating with Old Mr. Thorne about the situation on ground, the president’s n had arrived at the site.
These governnt agents had looked surprised about the turnabout of events and had sent information to the president, who had in turn demanded the presence of the team and their honest reports.
Monts later, after their arrival and recap of the day’s events, the president looked so red in the face that he might as well have been spitting fire.
"My chief aim as the president is to take care of the people, the amicable citizens who voted into office. Why would I trash that noble duty to dust? Have you seen the news? Have you seen the statistics of deaths occurring on a daily basis?" He asked, his eyes flashing with barely contained fury and disgust.
"How in the hell can I be behind that?!" He shouted, finally losing it, hitting the table and causing the people surrounding him to jerk away, having not seen him like this before.
Sandro, who had made the accusation earlier—"Mr. President,theyarrivedrightafterthecallwithyou. Whatdoyouhavetosaytothat?"—shrank into his seat, hoping that his earlier words hadn’t earned him a day in state prison.
He looked at Ewan; the latter seed to be having second thoughts too, about the president being behind the gang’s premature invasion. Could it be that Aiden was right when he spoke of a second player in motion?
Athena cleared her throat then, getting everyone’s attention, including the fuming president.
"We are sorry for levying such a heavy accusation against you, Mr. President," She started, giving Colt a gratifying glance, observing the latter’s restlessness and the urge to send the team scurrying out of the room and into a prison.
"But you can’t bla us. Earlier, when we discovered the room containing the drugs, it had been a tug of war even deciding to let you know. As you know, all the mbers of my team are not ordinary citizens, per se. They are n who have a role or two to play in the nation’s economy, vital components to the smooth running of the country; therefore, they’ve had their fair share of betrayal, to so extent."
A pause. "Hence, when we finally let you know about the situation on the ground, and then got visited by the gang re minutes later, it was a natural flow for every hand to point toward you. Mr. President..."
Another significant pause.
"If Ewan hadn’t had a backup plan up his sleeve, we would have been dead at. And we might have died believing that you had sold us out for re profit. Of course, I understand your anger, especially if you are innocent..."
"He is innocent." Colt interrupted sharply. "There is no probability of a lie otherwise. The president is innocent, and you all will do well to..."
"Colt, that’s enough." President George announced, shutting Colt up. He turned to Athena. "I understand. Please continue..."
"Thank you, Mr. President." Athena nodded before gesturing to the mbers of her team. "We apologize for our misstatents, and I also suggest that we move past this and get into the troubling matter looming around us. Since you are innocent of this allegation, it ans soone else has betrayed us, betrayed you. Can you attest to the hundred percent loyalty of your n?"
President George tucked his lips in, ruminating on this question. After a few beats of silence, he finally gave his answer.
"My answer a day ago would have been yes; I would have said that the n are a hundred percent loyal. But then, how else can we explain what has happened? Obviously, soone has sold us out..." He ntioned, looking around at his people, including the minister of health.
"But rest assured, Doctor Athena, that traitor will be found out. Colt will make sure of that."
Colt nodded imdiately, his steely countenance offering Athena so sort of solace. The man will do his job. If there was any agent with a hundred percent loyalty to the president, it would be him.
"Since that is decided, I apologize once again for what happened hours ago..." The president said, his hands clasped together, eyes darting to the mbers of the team. "I am also happy that you all have given the chance to prove my sincerity to my people. I promise that you won’t be disappointed."
Ewan nodded alongside the others while checking the ti on the large wall clock right opposite him. Another late night? He reined in a cuss, especially when a pain darted through his head.
He was hours late from taking his drugs and from eating too. He couldn’t wait to be done with this eting; after all, he would be doing his own research by himself. He won’t leave all of it in the hands of the governnt; that would be playing stupid.
"So, about the containers you found—do you have any idea how best to dispose of them?" The president asked, drawing Ewan’s attention from his thoughts.
"They should be destroyed, obviously. I will send my friend, Aiden here, the guidelines to do that. If I may, I would hope he would be the one in charge of the operation." Athena started, to Aiden’s chagrin, who wasn’t exactly interested in another workload or butting heads with Colt over so duty.
"Okay, that’s a done deal then," The president agreed before Colt could voice his displeasure with Aiden’s new assignnt, seeing as the latter was still a new hire, no matter his years of good service in the military.
"What about the cure...the ones we found?" The president continued.
Athena shrugged. "We can keep it, and better still, we can use it to track the locations of the other areas where there are similar hideouts as we encountered today."
The president nodded slowly, taking his seat, any trace of anger vanishing from his face and body. "Do you think that is possible? Can we really do that?"
The hope shining in his voice brought a wholeso amount of relief to Ewan. Maybe the man was actually a good man—naïve, but good nevertheless. But if Athena was right, then half of their problem was as good as solved.
"Yes, it is possible. The main difference between this cure and mine is the residue that the forr has... a residue that leaves so sort of heat signature, which I think can be easily traced by thermal imaging techniques. If that works, I think we have significantly weakened our foe. We can even extend so manner of help to other nations who are plagued with the advent of this disease too," Athena ntioned, staring at the president keenly.
The president paused whatever he had to say, trying to decipher the look in Athena’s eyes. After a while, he nodded. "That’s a great proposal, Doctor Athena. We will work with that and get back to you. Is there anything else?"
Athena shook her head, pleased with the idea that had taken root in her mind. Ti will tell the fruition of it. If things went as she predicted, then there would be another eting soon, this ti to discuss the punishnt of the traitor.
With that, she decided it was ti to go ho. She had promised the twins she would be back earlier tonight to tuck them into bed and read them bedti stories, but looking at the ti, it seed she would be doing a lot of apologizing the following morning.
She held back a curse when she rembered that the following day was a workday; so much for having a restful Sunday.
"Okay then, if that’s all, I suggest we call it a day... but be close to your phones, another eting will be called up soon," The president ntioned, his eyes darting to every person in the room, finally resting on the team. "And thank you too for your patriotic work today. The state is proud of you."
Zane huffed softly, hoping all this was worth it. He looked at his phone as it rang for the twentieth ti, a furrow marring his forehead. What did his old man want? Did sothing happen at the house, or in the company?
His thoughts were disintegrated by the next words of the president.
"Alright then, everyone, until we et another ti. Thank you so much for today, and I hope you all have a good night."
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