the country was of little concern.
Luckily for the cops, they didn’t follow, and were content to merely watch Swanson and Butler leave the scene.
“So, where to?” asked Swanson, as they rounded the corner and lost sight of their watchers.
“I need to get to my papers,” he said again, raising his hand in the air to hail a taxi.
Chapter 16
Jack King fell into his seat behind the Resolute desk and surveyed the office of the President of the United States. He was the most powerful man in the world. For the previous three years, he had never once felt the real power of the office. What he had just experienced was one of the biggest wake-up calls of his life. He and he alone held the fate of the world in his hands. The decisions he made could end life as they knew it. He had been a military man his entire working life. Sending men into battle was not an issue. Sending men into battle when it was his ultimate order bore a weight he had never felt.
He closed his eyes and for the first time in two hours, the dull thud returned, the hangover. The memories of the freedom of sitting sharing a drink in a bar came flooding back. A small smile cracked his lips. The headache was an almost pleasant reminder of an easier life beyond the confines of the office. The image of James Marshall flashed into his mind and the smile dissipated instantly. He began to rein in his thoughts, and a new image flashed into his mind - the man being arrested in front of the Dana Center the night before, his silent recognition of who Jack was, and the note: Beware the Trust.
“Mr. President?”
When he did not respond, Joan, his PA, repeated it a little louder, her voice emitting from his telephone. “Mr. President?”
He pressed the button to communicate with her. “Yes?”
“I have Mr. Young for--”
“Put him through,” interrupted Jack. Roger Young was the CEO of America’s Trust, the single largest investor in America. When he called, Jack answered.
“Sorry, Mr. President, he’s here, in the office,” Joan said.
“Here, as in, here ?”
“Yes, Mr. President.”
“Send him in,” instructed Jack immediately.
Jack stood up to greet the CEO of America’s most influential business. In the three years since his inauguration, America’s Trust had become the single largest employer in the US and some would say even more important than the government itself. To list the industries it didn’t top would have been easier than to list those it did. The CEO had pulled a number of blinders over the years and gained control of companies that would have otherwise been unobtainable. As far as the American public was concerned, there wasn’t a single company more concerned with the welfare of their country than America’s Trust. After all, that was exactly its point.
As such, any acquisition was fully supported by American citizens and any attempt by private owners or institutional shareholders to block it had been quashed by the masses. If America’s Trust wanted a corporation, it was in the interests of the country and any decent patriotic American would do all in their power to make it happen. America’s Trust bridged the political divide. Republicans, Tea Party members, Democrats and Socialists alike could do nothing but sing the Trust’s praises.
In its three years spearheading the rebuilding of America and its economy, the Trust had created more American jobs than all other American employers combined, including the government. They had shut down vast overseas contact centers and brought hundreds of thousands of jobs back to the US. Unemployment had fallen dramatically and with no national debt, the economy was once again striving forward. The rich were getting richer but the poor were less poor and much to the delight of the rich, not at their expense. If an American wanted a job, the Trust went out of its way to get them one.
The Trust had one goal - to make America the greatest nation on Earth, a goal that
Luckily for the cops, they didn’t follow, and were content to merely watch Swanson and Butler leave the scene.
“So, where to?” asked Swanson, as they rounded the corner and lost sight of their watchers.
“I need to get to my papers,” he said again, raising his hand in the air to hail a taxi.
Chapter 16
Jack King fell into his seat behind the Resolute desk and surveyed the office of the President of the United States. He was the most powerful man in the world. For the previous three years, he had never once felt the real power of the office. What he had just experienced was one of the biggest wake-up calls of his life. He and he alone held the fate of the world in his hands. The decisions he made could end life as they knew it. He had been a military man his entire working life. Sending men into battle was not an issue. Sending men into battle when it was his ultimate order bore a weight he had never felt.
He closed his eyes and for the first time in two hours, the dull thud returned, the hangover. The memories of the freedom of sitting sharing a drink in a bar came flooding back. A small smile cracked his lips. The headache was an almost pleasant reminder of an easier life beyond the confines of the office. The image of James Marshall flashed into his mind and the smile dissipated instantly. He began to rein in his thoughts, and a new image flashed into his mind - the man being arrested in front of the Dana Center the night before, his silent recognition of who Jack was, and the note: Beware the Trust.
“Mr. President?”
When he did not respond, Joan, his PA, repeated it a little louder, her voice emitting from his telephone. “Mr. President?”
He pressed the button to communicate with her. “Yes?”
“I have Mr. Young for--”
“Put him through,” interrupted Jack. Roger Young was the CEO of America’s Trust, the single largest investor in America. When he called, Jack answered.
“Sorry, Mr. President, he’s here, in the office,” Joan said.
“Here, as in, here ?”
“Yes, Mr. President.”
“Send him in,” instructed Jack immediately.
Jack stood up to greet the CEO of America’s most influential business. In the three years since his inauguration, America’s Trust had become the single largest employer in the US and some would say even more important than the government itself. To list the industries it didn’t top would have been easier than to list those it did. The CEO had pulled a number of blinders over the years and gained control of companies that would have otherwise been unobtainable. As far as the American public was concerned, there wasn’t a single company more concerned with the welfare of their country than America’s Trust. After all, that was exactly its point.
As such, any acquisition was fully supported by American citizens and any attempt by private owners or institutional shareholders to block it had been quashed by the masses. If America’s Trust wanted a corporation, it was in the interests of the country and any decent patriotic American would do all in their power to make it happen. America’s Trust bridged the political divide. Republicans, Tea Party members, Democrats and Socialists alike could do nothing but sing the Trust’s praises.
In its three years spearheading the rebuilding of America and its economy, the Trust had created more American jobs than all other American employers combined, including the government. They had shut down vast overseas contact centers and brought hundreds of thousands of jobs back to the US. Unemployment had fallen dramatically and with no national debt, the economy was once again striving forward. The rich were getting richer but the poor were less poor and much to the delight of the rich, not at their expense. If an American wanted a job, the Trust went out of its way to get them one.
The Trust had one goal - to make America the greatest nation on Earth, a goal that
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