Chapter 33

Henry

Blood is pounding in my ears as we all walk towards the situation room. To some men, being Commander-in-Chief to the United States military is one of the most alluring parts of the job.

But I’m not here to start a war.

And yet if we don’t stop these pirates soon, that is all I will be remembered for.

I don’t want to imagine what would happen if the pirates discover the uranium, so I don’t. I want my first term as president to be defined by my ability to avoid crisis and create non-violent, diplomatic solutions to problems where possible.

And now is my time to prove myself.

With Beatrice by my side, I want to prove myself more than ever. I want to be a man and a president that she can be proud of. I’ve never met another woman who pushes me like this.

I’m worried about her, though. Despite the ongoing crisis, she’s there, in the back of my mind.

She was about to tell me something, and I can’t help but wonder what.

As soon as this is over, I’ll ask her.

We step into the situation room where my aides, generals, and advisers are beginning to take their spaces around the table. Lawrence is at the front of us all, and he has the map of the South China Sea open on the screen in the center of the desk. I take my position and look at Beatrice one last time as she shuffles into the corner, tape recorder on and notebook at the ready.

“The good news is they still haven’t found the special cargo,” someone says lightly.

It’s unlikely that they would have in the last four minutes, but Lawrence’s already stony serious face turns thunderously angry for a moment as he looks towards the speaker.

“Have we spoken to China? Do they know about the pirates?” I ask, placing both hands on the desk in front of me and looking at the map. “What about the Dutch? The ship is flying under their flag.”

“We’ve yet to tell the Chinese about the pirates hijacking the ship. We don’t want to appear weak or to concern them. The Dutch are equally in the dark. But we can bring them on board if we don’t have any of our ships in the area.”

“And what’s our status on that? Do we have any ships in the area that are able to intercept?”

The generals look between each other, and a technician zooms out on the map. The expanse of the blue ocean is painful on the eyes, but I can’t bear to look away.

“Has anyone figured out what course the pirates are now traveling on? Is it possible to remotely access the onboard navigation system or work it out from how they’ve deviated from the previous course?”

So many questions are being fired around the room, and the answers are so few. The sound of the top military brass talking with their people in search of friendly vessels in the South China Sea does little help.

“What time is it in the South China Sea right now?”

“The current time for the pirates is twenty-one eighteen.”

Finally, we’ve got at least one answer.

“So the pirates have had control of the vessel for possibly three hours?”

The whole room hears the anger rising in my voice. Lawrence is quick to turn to me and try to calm my trembling nerves.

“We brought this to you as soon as we realized, Sir.”

I trust that they did. But three hours is a long time when dealing with a potential nuclear fallout. It’s crucial that I handle this before it gets into the wrong hands—the whole world is waiting for me to fail, and I can’t give them the satisfaction.

“At least it means it’s dark over the South China Sea. Perhaps if we have a submarine nearby, we can execute this mission without any casualties.”

I take a breath and look at Beatrice again. She’s listening intently, the tension of the room reflected on her face.

“Exactly how many hostages are there?” I ask.

“The whole crew. Roughly about twenty men,” someone answers.

“And the change in course?”

“The vessel was originally heading east, back towards the United States. However, the vessel has been spotted heading south, towards the southwesterly islands of the Philippines.”

One of the generals nods his head, and the tech assistant begins typing again in the corner. A flashing red dot appears to the left of the screen, following the movements of the vessel as it travels through the ocean.

“We can only assume that, as they haven’t found the special cargo yet, it’s highly unlikely that they’ve checked all the shipments and are likely waiting until they reach land to do so. The bad news is that, as we all know, there is a high density of small islands in the South China Sea for them to land on—the closest of which is within forty-five minutes of the vessel.”

That is bad news.

If the pirates get to land, then they’ll have the advantage of being on their own soil and out of international waters. But the likelihood of us having a ship nearby is slim.

“Sir?” A general addresses the room and interrupts my train of thought.

“What are you thinking, General Teeling?”

“There’s some good news. We do have a vessel within the vicinity of the hijacked ship.”

Things are beginning to look up. But everything is still so fragile. For all we know, the vessel in question is an aircraft carrier, which would be like using a sledgehammer to squish a fly.

“It’s an attack submarine, the Seahawk, with a crew of roughly seventy-five men, including a team of twenty divers.”

Fuck, that’s perfect. I look around the room, my eyes lingering on Lawrence. He knows what I’m thinking.

“How long will it take to come alongside the pirate vessel?”

“If we send the signal now, it’ll take the Seahawk approximately thirty-two minutes to reach the hijacked freight ship.”

“Will the ship be approachable in thirty-two minutes? It could possibly be in a littoral zone by then.”

“It’s a risk we’ll have to take.”

I look back at Beatrice, who looks up from the notepad from where she had been furiously scribbling notes. She catches my eyes and smiles nervously, nodding her head.

I take a deep breath and turn back to the room of generals and Lawrence, who are all eagerly awaiting my signal.

“Send the signal. Instruct the diving team to approach the ship as stealthily as possible. Incapacitate the pirates, but only kill them if you have to. We’re going to bring these men to justice.”

“Are the hostages a priority over the uranium?”

I turn towards the source of the voice, and my eyes narrow slightly. “Hostages are always the priority.”

The whole room suddenly snaps into life. I grab my chair and collapse into it, but I keep my eyes on the red dot at the center of the screen.

Now that the signal has been sent, the Seahawk flashes up on the screen for us all to see as a black dot. It alters its course and begins to head southwest towards the hijacked ship at high speed.

But is it going to be fast enough?

Minutes pass like hours.

The team of divers intercepts the pirated ship after thirty-one minutes and fifteen seconds.

It turns out the pirates weren’t heading to the first island after all. Our brave service men and women neutralized the threat and secured the cargo within fifteen minutes and without casualties.

I’m still in shock as to how perfect the whole mission was orchestrated and executed.

After a short call to the Chinese government, they have allowed us to send a plane and take the pirates so that we can bring them back to the States to face trial.

Though the news hasn’t broken to the press yet—and likely won’t for another few days—this will likely be remembered as one of the defining moments of my career. It’s not every president who gets to solve an international crisis without any casualties or sacrifices.

But I know that to some people, mainly my critics, it still won’t be enough.

I have to be the perfect president, and the level of success that we’ve had here today is what the whole world is expecting of me.

They’re not just expecting it of me, either.

Beatrice walks over to me and places her hand on my shoulder. The engagement ring glints in the light of all the computer screens. Ever since I decided to make her my First Lady, the whole world is watching her, too.

She’s perfect to me, but is she perfect to them?

I hate myself for thinking it, but Beatrice hasn’t been raised into the politician life as I have. It’s partially what I love about her.

But I know that the media won’t.