Chapter 43

McGowan looked at the destruction he did to his property and winced. He, the most powerful person in the world, had been outfoxed, again, by Stone and Danders. They were in the wind, after having given away the invention. And now he learned that the president was in possession of it.

Can this get any worse?

Then, he had a reversal of thought.

Stop being a wimp. Find out what the birdbrain is doing with it. Is he going to use Stone and Danders to enhance it?

He called the president’s chief of staff.

“It’s McGowan. Can you talk?”

“Yes. I’m in my office. I know why you’re calling, almost as if I was reading your thoughts. He wants me to find Stone and Danders. He wants to meet with every staff member to determine loyalty. He thinks he’s god. Sure you’re not twins?”

“Funny guy, you are. Stone and Danders are in your area. They have eluded my detection. Use clandestine forces if you have to; they must be found. I need them. The hell with the president.”

“You pay me a lot more than he, but in this matter, he is far more powerful than you. No way they will be found without him knowing right away. Whoever captures them will turn them over to the president.”

“Monitor what’s going on. I think they are heading back to Connecticut. As soon as they are found I will have people there.”

“To do what, take pictures?”

“Who you talking to?”

“I’m not trying to be a wise guy, but what are your people going to do, take them away from heavily armed forces?”

“Yes. And another thing: don’t let him interview his staff while wearing the lens. He’ll wind up firing all of them and I’ll have to rebuild my network.”

“No can do. He ordered me to set up the interviews. You may be the most powerful person in the world but he controls the armed forces.”

“He does?” McGowan replied ironically.

McGowan had two thousand officers among the branches of service on his payroll. No one had any idea how much military power was at his command; the government of the United States would be toppled by in-fighting between him and the president if this information became known.

“Let me know where those two are,” he ordered before hanging up.

Forty military aircraft and drones were aloft searching for Stone, Danders, Murphy, Summa, Chen, and Lis. Two hundred military and police vehicles were blanketing the roads from D.C. to the area around Brassville, Connecticut, doing the same thing.

In addition, McGowan had twenty of his drones looking for them. Stone and Danders knew that if people with unlimited resources want to find you, they will.

“They will be found. Why is it so hard for Stone to understand that?” an exasperated president asked Chief of Staff Jeffries. “Why don’t they just turn themselves over to me?”

“Mr. President, clearly they don’t see working as captives as something desirable. They are going to avoid getting captured as long as possible. Maybe they have a safe place to hide, where they will remain undetected for weeks.”

“It is their patriotic duty to serve me, not hide from me, goddamn it!”

“Serve their country, you mean?”

“Do not be insolent; I will fire you.”

“Then fire me. I know you think you are the ‘chosen one’, but you need me to do your bidding. My suggestion is to let your armed forces find them, and until they do, come up with an alternative plan to move the invention forward if they don’t. And stop acting like a spoiled brat.”

“You’re fired!”

President Strump fumed for half an hour before acknowledging that he had no good options. Most people would have to eat some humble pie and apologize; this president would find the concept unfathomable. He dialed Jeffries to tell him to get his ass in here, but he didn’t answer. Furious, he called his cell. The call went to voicemail.

Where the hell is he?

For the first time in his presidency, he had to get up from his desk and walk around the inside of the White House. He had no idea where anyone’s office was.

Beginning his journey outside his door, he passed Ms. Waterhose’s vacant desk before passing two empty offices belonging to senior advisors, then the desk of the Chief of Staff’s secretary. It, too, was empty, for he had been let go fifteen minutes earlier amidst an emotional goodbye with his boss and other staff. The Chief of Staff’s Office also had no one in it. The president tried his cell again; the call went to voicemail again.

For someone as certain of himself as a person could be, this neurotic president needed constant reinforcement of his worth. He needed to hear and read people’s praises every day or he’d turn sullen. The next office down the corridor was the vice president’s. The president had no intention of telling him about the invention, and was relieved to hear the vice president’s mousy voice assuring someone that God is good and asking the caller to vote for the president in November.

The president had fired the National Security Advisor two weeks earlier because he didn’t like his bushy mustache or his disagreements about why Iran couldn’t be nuked or why China couldn’t be nuked because, well, they were China; his office was therefore empty.

The president completed his walk around the corridor and returned to the Oval Office. Isolated, a neurotic, probably psychotic possessor of the invention with the determination to modify it so that people’s thoughts could be controlled sat down and fumed.

No one understands or appreciates me.