"Is she alright?" Thomas asked as Stephen ca back and put the coffee and whiskey mix in front of him.
"Yeah, I think so." He answered as he sat back down, though Thomas knew sothing was up with it, because it was rare to hear Stephen’s voice that low and uncertain... not just that, but there was a hint of anger in it.
"I hope..." Thomas sipped so of the coffee. "You didn’t use force." He held eye contact with him as he sipped more.
Well, it was known from Stephen’s earlier days that he used his hands to knock so sense into his agents who were on the brink of ntal collapse and well, it worked... and sotis it just pushed the agent more into the collapse and then to... death.
"I just gave her so pills." Stephen answered, though his voice was still strange. "But I know she’s going to throw it into the trash or sothing." He sighed. "Those are expensive, I don’t even know why I even gave them to her."
As he said it, Thomas froze for a mont, just for a second, because until now, he was the only one who knew that Stephen was taking pills, and back then... Odin too and now Stephen just said he offered them to Linda.
"I think she’s soone who likes to fight everything inside her... and well" He looked at Stephen. "...she’s a woman."
"Yeah, but if she dies because she can’t handle the reality of the situation, we’re fucked." Stephen replied, holding the connection with Thomas’s eyes.
And as much as Thomas hated to admit it, Stephen was right.
The literal voice of the National Ergency, the voice people listen to when everything else is falling apart is Linda herself. Her speeches aren’t just words, they carry hope, a kind of promise that things will get better, that their sacrifices an sothing. She has beco a symbol, almost like a light in a world that has forgotten what light is.
But what happens if that voice, the one that guides the broken and gives them sothing to believe in suddenly ends her own life?
It doesn’t just destroy morale... it shatters whatever fragile belief people still have left.
Because Linda isn’t just a politician or a figurehead. She is the voice of the people, the voice of the future.. and if that voice dies, the world around her collapses with it.
And there’s sothing else that makes it all even heavier.
She is a woman.
A woman in power that alone carries aning. Especially her, an independent, fearless, and strong person. She stands in front of caras representing sothing much bigger than herself, the idea that even in a ruined nation, a woman can still rise, lead, and fight for a better tomorrow.
If she dies, it isn’t just the loss of a leader. It is the loss of an image, a symbol of strength that no one else can replace.
Thomas knows it. Stephen knows it.
If Linda falls, everything they built around the national ergency, every lie, every sacrifice, every drop of blood will fall apart with her.
"But you... gave her pills that are made out of two types of drugs... you gave her four of them." Thomas said, still eyeing Stephen.
Yeah, the pills aren’t normal ones, but made out of two types of drugs that are actually reactive to each other and make a person numb, almost like a sedative pill but stronger and more effective. Though Stephen is already used to it, that’s why he can take four with alcohol... but for soone who’s never used it, that’s a bit too much... way too much.
"Don’t worry, I just gave her a symbolic thing, to see what it takes to be ." Stephen smiled. "But if she actually takes it and gets a seizure or sothing, I have this." He pulled out an inhaler from his pocket. "I’m not a dumb drug addict."
"Oh, you are a clever drug addict."
"Exatly." Stephen smiled. "Though... why is everything black?" He asked as he looked up at the monitor.
"We had a problem." Thomas said as he leaned back in the chair. "The Operational Supervisory Committee... they asked to broadcast them the live feed... so we shut it down, saying there is a severe issue."
"Oh, they’re acting how they’re supposed to, huh?" Stephen sighed. "Or do they want to save so people?"
"The second. They wanted nas, more importantly, nas of politicians." Thomas said as he finished his coffee.
"And what did you say to them?"
"In short and well-mannered, I said they have no right to see the footage as it is a covert joint mission with the agencies and we are only answering to Linda and the President himself."
"So you told them to fuck themselves?" Stephen laughed.
"Yeah, but our lovely technician is working on to broadcast the live feed to us only, right?" Thomas asked, looking to the side.
"Actually, we’re already done, sir." The technician said as he typed sothing on his keyboard, and there it was, the live feed ca back, and with it, a surprise, to say the least.
The mont it ca back was the mont Linda too stepped back into the room, looking like she had a hangover, her hair a ss, her makeup ruined, and her whole look being like a zombie and nothing else. And at the sa ti, the live feed popped back from a drone view, and what they saw was... surprising.
"God... is that Tium’s convoy?" Stephen asked as he stood up, just unable to believe what he was seeing.
"Well... they did their job, didn’t they?" Thomas said as he looked at Linda, who just stood there with her mouth open, realizing the making up a reasonable report for what she was seeing would be a fuckery... and it would’ve been better if he had taken the pills... much better.
On the screen was the Transportation Minister’s convoy... burning.
Like the five cars literally blown up and burning, with two Little Birds on the road and two JLTVs parked on the side... but the most bizarre part about it was the bodies.
There were at least ten bodies on the side, just laying on the road dead while the light of the burning cars lit up the whole scene... it looked like sothing out of an action movie, though it was the reality.
But there was one more surprise to it.
"Uhm... sir." The sa technician spoke as he looked at Thomas. "The person laying on the far right side got recognized by ATLAS and he... one of them."
"Them?" Thomas asked back.
"The Sinatra Cartel."
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