Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

     The President spent Thanksgiving evening with his staff in the underground city. After dinner he went to bed. Wolfe could not sleep because he felt infuriated. He wasn’t even aware of such a place. He would have made a bigger and better one.

     This felt like a prison. At least it looked like one. Suddenly the walls shuttered. He opened his eyes. The room shook again and there was a rumble.

     A red light turned on in the corner of the room. He sat up and saw that Lena was wide awake. She looked at him and then turned over in her bed and pulled her blanket over her head.

     “What was that?” Ronald whispered.

     “Whatever it was it’s too late,” Lena grumbled.

     Ronald opened the door to the corridor. People were rushing from room to room. Thomas approached him shaking his head.

     “You’ll need to stay inside and wait,” Thomas told him.

     “Why? What’s going on?” Wolfe raised his voice at him.

     “Our nation’s capital was just bombed, Mr. President,” said Thomas. “Everyone is checking for damage down here and making sure that everything is functional. For now you need to stay here until we know that you are safe.”

     “What kind of a bomb?” Wolfe asked.

     “We are not sure,” said Thomas. “We suspect that it was a nuclear bomb since due to the high readings of radiation.”

     “I don’t understand,” he said. “We are underground and we can’t see what the hell is going on out there. The only thing you can do is assume that it was a nuclear attack.”

     “The facility is well equipped. We understand what is happening out there and when it is safe to leave,” said Thomas. “We need to make sure that everything is okay and everything is running the way it is supposed to.”

     Wolfe's’ military advisor peaked through the door, “There is something you need to see, Mr. President.”

      Ronald nodded his head, “Okay, I’ll change and be out in a moment.”

     He changed into the same suit that he wore the day before. He met a group of people standing next to his door and they rushed down a hallway to a door that led to a giant control room. The room was full of television monitors and people.

     The military advisor led Wolfe to one individual sitting in front of a monitor. The individual stood to salute Wolfe and quickly sat down. The man flipped some switches and turned some knobs.

     “We were lucky to recover the Internet so quickly,” he said. “So far, we have videos that were playing online when the attack happened. We have videos from here, Manhattan, and Los Angeles. There were a few attacks from what I could tell. We have yet to contact military bases or other political officials. We have received some news from Canada that they were bombed.”

     “Was it North Korea?” asked Wolfe.

     The man shrugged, “Right now, we only have the footage of an atomic bomb being dropped in American soil. We are currently verifying the authenticity of the video.”

     Wolfe took out his cell phone, “I have a signal here?”  

     “Unfortunately,” the man muttered.

     “Greg,” the advisor warned.

     Wolfe searched his social media feed. Online activity appeared to be scarce and the only thing he saw were posts about Thanksgiving and political statements the day before. Then he found it.

     Joowon Yoon: HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

     Wolfe showed his advisor, “It’s suspicious that he is wishing us a happy Thanksgiving.”

     “You don’t know that this is him,” said the advisor. “How do you know that he has an account?”

     “He gets my messages doesn’t he?” said Wolfe as he began to type.

     His advisor placed his hands over the screen of the phone, “Sir, I would advise against this. It’s foolish to antagonize someone when we have been bombed with nuclear weapons.”

     Wolfe glared at him, “I’m the president and can say whatever I want.”

     Wolfe: I’m online, you fool!

     “Put the phone down!” Lena’s voice boomed through the room. “How can you let him on there like that?”

     The advisor looked at her, “I’m sorry, Mrs. Wolfe.

     Wolfe: We will prevail against these cowards!

     She crossed her arms, “Can’t you wait and see if anyone else survived besides us? For all you know civilization has fallen.”

     “I’ll apologize later,” said Wolfe.

     “No you won’t,” said Lena. He started to type on his phone again. “Stop it!”

     “I’m sending my condolences to Beaulieu,” he told her.

     Wolfe: I’m sorry for all the loss of lives of men and women in Canada.

     Beaulieu: Thanks….

     Wolfe: I’m going to need a favor. We are going to send troops to fight North Korea.

     Beaulieu: We will be fighting, but not alongside with you.

     Wolfe: They attacked us not you.

     Beaulieu: You are the idiot who instigated this. We must recover no thanks to you.

     Lena grabbed the phone from his hands. Wolfe yelled and tried to retrieve the phone from her. She rushed away and everyone else in the room shielded her from him.

     “You have no right!” Wolfe yelled.

     “You have no right to endanger America!” Lena shouted back. “Why don’t you focus on our country first instead of causing more issues with world leaders?”

     “I’m president and I’m your husband,” he said. “You give me my phone back or there will be hell to pay!”

     She held up the phone, “So, you’re starting something with Beaulieu? I will give this back once I know what is going on.”

     “We just received a message from Lackland air force base,” said the man at the computer. “They lost their internet connection and now it is back. They are ready for your first orders for retaliation.”

     There was a moment of silence. Wolfe stood there and looked at the chaos and disorder on the monitors around the room. Thomas entered the room with a sense of urgency.

     “What is it?” asked Wolfe.

     “I received a message that we could not find your sons Ronald or Derrick,” said Thomas. “Manhattan was also attacked. We are still looking, but they are presumed dead.”

     “What are you being paid for?” Wolfe screamed at Thomas. “They need to be found!”

     Thomas was about to say something, but Lena’s icy glare stopped him. He took a breath and left the room. Lena glanced at Wolfe and his face was red with rage.

     Wolfe approached the military advisor, “Send them to North Korea. We are to nuke the hell out of them.”

     The advisor turned to the man at the computer, “Wolfe has order for them to ready for retaliation. They are to strike North Korea with nuclear bombs.”

     “They need to send their best men,” said Wolfe.

     The man relayed the message. Lena shook her head with disgust and handed the cell phone back to Wolfe. She left the room while Ronald remained to wait for the result of his action.