Into the Shadows (10 page)

Senator Stevens could see the crowd behind the
bright lights. A few butterflies bounced around his stomach, but he
pushed the feeling aside.

This is it, he thought, can’t get nervous now.

Jeff Clancy first gave the introduction of Stevens’
challenger, the Liberal Party candidate Moira Kelly. She was quite
popular and had run a good campaign. But Stevens knew even her
great successes couldn’t stand up to his plan.

“I would like to welcome Senator Wendell Stevens to
the stage,” announced Jeff Clancy.

There was applause, but not quite the same energy as
when his opponent was introduced.

Senator Stevens walked across the stage and waved to
the crowd, smiling. He made his way over to Moira Kelly and shook
her hand.

“Good luck, Senator,” she offered politely.

“Good luck to you as well,” he replied, thinking she
would need it more than him.

The debate began as the others had. Jeff Clancy
provided the questions, giving Stevens and Kelly their last
opportunities before the election to express their positions. There
were questions on welfare, the environment, healthcare, and the
economy.

At last it came.

“Our next question deals with our national security.
Senator Stevens and Ms. Kelly, in light of the seemingly
uncontrollable terrorist attacks across the nation, the public
would like to hear what solutions you offer for this problem. Ms.
Kelly, you may answer first.”

“Terrorism is something we have been dealing with on
a daily basis and it has touched everyone’s lives. I myself lost my
dear cousin Georgie in the Starbucks bombing this past June in
Boston. He left behind a wife and three small children.” She paused
as her voice caught in her throat. Taking a deep breath, she
pressed her hand to her heart and closed her eyes. A tear rolled
down her cheek.

It was everything Senator Stevens could do to
refrain from rolling his eyes. Moira Kelly had used cousin
Georgie’s demise to win herself countless points in the polls. He
put a solemn look on his face in order to appear sympathetic as she
continued.

She quickly regained her composure.

“I feel that the only way we are going to get
anywhere is if we set up peace talks with the Righteous Front, or
the RF. For years we have been fighting violence with more
violence, and what victories have any of the monies spent on
defense and intelligence gotten us? Just more innocent citizens
killed. Terrorist attacks didn’t stop, even after we destroyed one
of their main camps in Montana. The terror continues everyday. It’s
time to go in a different direction and make an effort to end the
violence once and for all. I have already secured a meeting with RF
commander, Malcolm Davis, on December 1
^st
.”

The applause in the auditorium was not as loud as
when she was introduced. Many people were still quite nervous that
Moira Kelly’s plan was not vigorous enough and doubted it could or
would stop the terrorists.

“If you would, please, give us your response,
Senator Stevens,” asked Jeff Clancy as the applause died down.

“Thank you, Mr. Clancy. For a long time, the United
States has been dealing with the scourge of terrorism. In the
beginning, the attacks were on a grand scale, hitting major targets
to make a point, and did not happen very often. After the formation
of the Righteous Front, the attacks have become increasingly more
regular and employ tactics that have been used by Hamas in Israel,
the IRA in Great Britain, and ETA in Spain. Now, every grocery
store and every shopping mall are targets. We can’t even keep our
schools safe, as we saw in the Lincoln Elementary School
bombing.”

People in the audience lowered their eyes, somber at
the thought of the loss of so many lives. The attack had occurred
almost a year ago, when a group of terrorists overran and
elementary school, and blew up not only the children inside, but
had car bombs rigged in the parking lot that killed numerous
parents as they flocked to the school to find out if their children
were okay. 863 lives were lost that day in Topeka, Kansas.

“However, I propose a different path. Ms. Kelly may
choose to negotiate with terrorists. I, on the other hand, refuse
to negotiate with people whose only way to get a point across is to
blow up innocent children.”

The crowd roared to life. Members of the audience
jumped to their feet, applauding, screaming. Some were even in
tears.

So far, so good, he thought. He could feel the
energy in the room.

This will be mine.

He continued.

“In the past few weeks, I have been working with
some very reliable intelligence informants. I have received some
valuable information, which will help in our fight against these
terrorists. The intelligence suggests that there are people in
these United States, our own citizens, who knew about these
terrorist attacks, and have knowledge of future attacks. And yet
they have chosen to keep this information to themselves. They have
chosen not to speak, allowing innocent men, women and children,
people like Ms. Kelly’s own cousin George, to die horrible deaths
which could have been prevented.”

There were gasps and whispers throughout the
crowd.

“In this day and age, silence is complicity, and at
this point, should be punished as treason. These people have
betrayed you, betrayed those who have been killed, and betrayed
their country. Now, what I propose is a committee including the
Senate, the State Department, the FBI, CIA, and the U.S. Army to
deal with these Enemies of the State. This is so important to the
nation’s security that I chose to begin the committee before the
election takes place, because I feel your safety is more important
than your vote. However, if you do vote for me, as your Commander
in Chief, I will be able to work towards punishing the traitors and
eradicating the Righteous Front from our shores.”

He pulled the small flash drive from his pocket.

“This contains a list of the traitors who live among
us. To prove just how dangerous these Enemies of the State are, let
me share a few names with you. Monty Larkin, an RF lieutenant, who
is currently in the federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas for
planning a bombing in Detroit last February, is on the list. Also
on the list is Elizabeth Sanchez, an RF operative who is on the
FBI’s Most Wanted List for a bombing in Miami in last August. The
remainder have been living among you, keeping their terrifying
secret from the good citizens of this great nation. I feel it is
our duty to begin identifying these people as soon as possible and
take them in for questioning.”

“This is preposterous!” shouted Moira Kelly. “If
this is a matter of national security, as you say Senator,
shouldn’t you immediately turn it over to President Hartman?”

“Madam, as a member of the Senate, my committee will
report directly to the President, of course. However, in order to
protect the public, the committee must be hand selected to ensure
that the information doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. As the
original recipient of the list, I already know who can and cannot
be trusted.”

The audience was silent, watching the exchange
between the candidates.

“How do we know we can trust you, Senator Stevens?”
Moira Kelly could hardly contain her fury.

“Well, obviously, Madam, if I were one of these
traitors, I certainly wouldn’t be trying to punish my own. Are you
certain of your own status? You wouldn’t happen to be on this list,
would you?” Stevens shot her an analyzing glance.

Moira Kelly lost her cool at that point, charging
across the stage at the Senator.

“How dare you accuse me of being a traitor, you
filthy, slimy scumbag!” she screamed.

Members of the security staff and both candidates’
staffers ran out to attempt to pull the two apart as Moira Kelly
attempted to choke the Senator, but had no success fitting her
small hands around his fat neck. She pulled her arm back, setting
up to punch the Senator in the face as a security officer grabbed
her around the waist. Jeff Clancy ran up on stage as the curtain
fell on the melee.

“Well folks, this brings us to the end of this
evening’s debate. Please join us on ‘Good Morning’ tomorrow for a
full analysis. And please, don’t forget to do your duty as
Americans and vote on Tuesday. Good night.”

* * *

There was a stunned silence in the Anderson’s family
room.

“I don’t know what just happened,” said Crystal as
she stared at the screen, her jaw dropped. “What was that all
about?”

“He can’t do that. Marking people as traitors! What
evidence does he have? This can’t be allowed by the Constitution!”
Jason raved.

“Well, hopefully this whole thing will just blow up
in his face. I can’t wait to see who is on that list. It’s probably
all Liberal Party members. He’ll just use it to get rid of people
he doesn’t like,” speculated Paivi. “I guess this will give us
something to talk about in Dr. Hasenpfeffer’s class tomorrow.”

Paivi’s leg bounced anxiously through all of her
classes, finally calming down when she arrived to Current Events.
Only two more periods until basketball tryouts, not that she was
worried. She was confident she’d easily make the freshman team.

She could hear the students whispering as she
plopped down in her seat. Most of them hadn’t watched the debate,
which was bound to disappoint Dr. Hasenpfeffer, who seemed more
frazzled than usual. She knocked an entire stack of tests off her
desk, sending them flying in a flutter to the floor. A girl who sat
near Dr. Hasenpfeffer’s desk jumped up to help her pick up the
mess.

When everything was in its place, Dr. Hasenpfeffer
settled herself into her leather chair. Paivi noticed a large
coffee stain down the front of her ruffled cream blouse and her
hair was haphazardly pinned down by a large gold barrette on the
top of her head.

“Good afternoon, class,” she began, finally getting
herself together. “Let’s get right to it. How many of you honestly
watched the debate, or at least saw some news coverage about
it?”

Paivi looked around the room. Aside from her hand
and those of the few students who had come to her Debate Party,
very few others had done their homework.

“Now children, I could understand why you might not
finish a worksheet, but seriously, this is an assignment that might
just be helpful to you in real life.” Dr. Hasenpfeffer sounded
exasperated at their apathetic response.

Stefan Jarvis, a student who normally spent the
class drooling into his sleeve, had his hand raised.

Dr. Hasenpfeffer looked to be in a bit of shock,
pressing her hands to her heart. “To what do we owe your glorious
contribution, Mr. Jarvis?”

“Well, I just wanted to, you know Doc, put in my two
cents,” he responded.

“By all means,” she offered.

“Well, I just don’t get what the big deal is. I
mean, who cares about these old, rich politicians. It’s always the
same crap, isn’t it? All they do is lie, cheat and steal. I can’t
vote now anyways, and even if I could, it doesn’t seem like our
votes count for anything.”

“Well, Mr. Jarvis, I am sure you plan on attaining
the wonderful adult age of eighteen?” queried Dr. Hasenpfeffer.

“Yeah, next year,” he said with a smile.

“In that case, you should know what you’re in for.
You have to take driving lessons before they give you a driver’s
license. Perhaps you should take the time to learn more about
politics before you can vote. Otherwise you have people voting for
some idiot because he or she has cool hair!” She sucked in a
breath, having expended all of her air on her rant.

“Okay, okay!” conceded Stefan. “You win!”

The class laughed.

“Those of you who deemed it uncool should be sad
that you missed such a monumental debate. If anything, the most
important part was not the debate at all!” She looked around the
classroom. “Those of you who saw it, can you please tell the class
about it?”

“The part about the list of ‘Enemies of the State,’
or the part where Moira Kelly tried to punch Stevens in the face?”
asked Jason.

“Let’s focus on this list. For those of you who
missed it, Senator Stevens informed the nation that he has access
to a list of people who he is referring to as ‘Enemies of the
State.’ These people, according to the Senator, could have stopped
terrorist attacks. Some of them are, in fact, terrorists. They
formed a committee and will identify the people, who will be
brought in for questioning. What do you all think about this?” she
asked, glancing around the room.

A few hands went up.

“Ah, Mr. Jarvis!” Dr. Hasenpfeffer gestured for him
to speak.

“I think if it’s true that these people on the list
helped terrorists, then they should be punished,” Stefan said.

Paivi raised her hand.

“But Dr. Hasenpfeffer, is it constitutional to just
round people up because of some list? I mean, how do we know this
thing is legit?” she asked.

“Legally, you can be charged with a crime of
omission if you know the details of a crime that is at some point
committed. Usually it’s a misdemeanor charge, something pretty
minor in terms of the law. But the punishment can be more severe if
someone dies. They would have to prove that the person knew about
the crime, and I am not quite sure we know how they plan on
determining that,” Dr. Hasenpfeffer explained. “But you are right,
they won’t release any information on where the list came from. I
think they are all hoping we will put our trust in them.”

“Hey, Dr. H., you’re old, so you would be a better
judge. Should we trust them?” asked Jason.

Dr. Hasenpfeffer pretended to be offended. “Old!
Old! I am not that old!” she protested.