The Devlin Deception: Book One of The Devlin Quatrology (58 page)

“My fellow citizens, I am now fully recovered and rejuvenated
after the collapse from exhaustion that you witnessed in January, and
I'm fully capable of continuing to serve the people of the United
States to the best of my ability.

“Today, I have an extremely serious announcement to make.

“As you may have heard on the news, this morning, at about one
a.m. Eastern time, the People's Republic of China, without
provocation, began an air assault and ground invasion of India. I
have been in communication with both parties and have expressed the
United States' outrage at China's behavior and have assured the Prime
Minister of India that, up to and including active military
involvement, the United States will stand with his country, our ally.

“Therefore, I have issued several new directives, for immediate
implementation. We will have these on the web site __________.gov
within half an hour, so everyone can study them.

“For a brief overview, I have immediately imposed an embargo on
the importation of any goods or materials into this country that
come, directly or indirectly, from China. Ships currently in our
harbors, regardless of their country of registration, that contain or
have unloaded anything of Chinese origin are immediately sequestered,
and no Chinese goods will be allowed into this country. Any ships
with manifests showing Chinese goods will not be allowed to dock.

“Second, all Chinese holdings of US Treasury bonds, notes or
bills are hereby sequestered and may not be traded or redeemed, and
all interest payments on those instruments have been halted. We have
not made a decision as of yet … and I emphasize 'yet' …
as to whether we will declare those instruments null and void,
worthless; that decision will be made after we have evaluated China's
response to our diplomatic efforts. We do have all of the CUSIPs of
those instruments, and any attempt by the Chinese government to move,
transfer, sell or liquidate any of them in any way will result in my
declaring those particular instruments worthless.

“Third, I have ordered CentPac to bolster our naval and air
force presence in the South China Sea and surrounding areas, without
reducing our readiness in the rest of the Pacific.

“Fourth, using our naval and air force presence, I here and now
declare a complete embargo on all goods and materials, including oil,
from whatever source, going into China.

“Fifth, I have, effective immediately, frozen all Chinese
assets, of whatever nature, in the United States or its possessions.

“Sixth, an immediate evacuation of all American citizens within
China is ordered, including embassy personnel, who will remain until
all civilian citizens have been safely evacuated.

“Seventh, all financial transactions of any form between China
and any other party are hereby frozen, including electronic, cash or
any other store of value.

“Eighth, anyone traveling on a Chinese passport is hereby
placed on our No-Fly list and is subject to refusal of entry at our
borders.

“Ninth, any … and I emphasize 'any' … actions by
China against citizens or any interests of the United States will be
considered an act of war against this country and will be dealt with
swiftly and with overwhelming force, strategically and carefully
targeted.

“I have summoned the Chinese ambassador to the White House this
afternoon and will be laying all of this out in great detail
face-to-face in this no-BS, no-ego zone. I will be watching his
responses very carefully and using those to inform any additional
decisions I make.

“With that, I wish all of you watching this as good a day as
you can possibly have.”

Once the camera was off, Donne got up from his desk and shambled over
to the assembled men and women at and around the couches in the
center of the room. He pulled a chair up to them and awkwardly
seated himself in it.

“First, Cody, I know this came on unexpectedly and sooner than
we had anticipated, but have you looked into more of the unintended
consequences of these decisions?”

“Yes, I have, but still not all. I will have a full
spreadsheet for you by this afternoon, including an analysis of the
Chinese ambassador's probable responses, to help inform your
discussion with him.”

“Good, good, Cody.

“Cissy? Hubris?”

“No problems, Gordy. Strong, straightforward and clear. Use
of 'I' and 'we' was perfectly balanced.”

“Thanks, Cissy.

“Eileen? State?”

“We've been getting lots of cables from our ambassadors all
around the world, asking for guidance and giving us reports on local
reactions to China's aggression. After what you just told the world,
I think they'll all have the guidance they wanted, but I'll deal with
the ones that are still concerned or need clarification.”

“Good, good. Tell them all to be sure to stand strong, stay
the course; it's going to get very rocky for a good time. If you
need any further info or guidance from me, feel free to ask for it.
Rosemary will be happy to help. Good.

“Grant? CIA?”

“Our operatives have been and will be reporting as close to
real time as they can, and we'll be collating and passing the info
along as quickly as we can, as well. This is going to get very hairy
very quickly. It's looking like Pakistan and the whole Arab world is
going to come into the fray soon, and India may or may not be able to
fend them all off.”

“Good, good, Grant. Keep me posted.

“Lee, Defense?”

“CentPac has begun moving much of the Pacific fleet into the
South China Sea, and we have gone from DEFCON 5 to DEFCON 3. Do you
want the details on the ship movements?”

“No need, Lee. I just need the macro view for now. If we go
to DEFCON 2, then we can get more granular.”

“Okay, Gordy.”

“Good, good. Anything else, gang?”

“I think we're all set,” Eileen said.

“CIA is okay,” from Grant.

“Ready,” said the SecDef.

“Good, good. Everybody, stay alert and keep me posted. I've
got your live feeds coming in and I'll stay on top of this. Thank
you all.”

When everyone had left, Rosemary, his new chief of staff, hurried
over to Donne and helped him out of the chair and to one of the
couches, where he lay down, coughing and wheezing.

“Thanks, Ro. Could you grab my tablet off the desk, please? I
need to see those feeds. And a soda, too.”

“Sure, Gordy.”

She brought the tablet and positioned it on the coffee table so that
he could see it and handed him the can of soda.

“Thanks, Ro.” He took a long, big gulp from the can, set
it on the table, sighed deeply, lay back and closed his eyes. “Ahhh,
much better.”

“I know this is a bad time, Gor, but you need to get some rest.
It's been over two days.”

“I know, Ro, I know, but I can't afford it now.”

She put her hand on his forehead and said, “You're burning up,
Gordy. I don't think it's all out of your system yet.”

“It's been two months, Ro; it should be all gone by now,
shouldn't it?”

“She screwed up the dosage, so there was more to start with.”

“Yeah, you're right; maybe there is some still running around
in there.” He patted his stomach, winced and then coughed.
“Oops.”

“Still painful?”

“Yeah. But it's getting better.”

“I'll be right back.”

“Okay.”

She left for a moment and returned with a damp washcloth, which she
gently placed across his forehead and scalp.

“Oh, that's good, Ro. Thank you.”

“I don't know why you didn't just stick her in a cold, dark
cell somewhere.”

“She meant well, in her own mind.”

“I hope she doesn't go after Wes.”

“No; he'll be fine. She's got no reason to go after him.”

“He actually likes that stuff?”

“Yeah. No accounting for taste.”

“I've never tasted it.”

“Neither have I, even though I've eaten it … twice.”

Rosemary chuckled.

“Sorry; that was kind of a tasteless joke.”

Rosemary's chuckle turned into a laugh.

“I am worried about you, Gor.”

“It'll work its way through, Ro, really.”

“She's doing okay back at DEI?”

“That's what Wes tells me. She's in the nutritional R&D
division, probably be taking the helm of it in a couple of years.”

“Happy as a vegan on a bean farm, I hear.”

“Or as a – ah, crap; I got nothing. You win that round,
Ro.“

They both chuckled. He dug a new hundred-dollar bill out of his
shirt pocket and gave it to her.

“I thank you very much, Gordy.”

“No problem at all, Ro.”

“I know.”

Then the red phone rang.

-117-

Six Months Earlier

Tuesday, July 2, 2012

12:27 p.m.

Bonita Beach, Florida

”So she poisoned him? That seems pretty extreme.”

“Right. But she just wanted to scare him a little, get him to
think his diet was a problem, so he'd start eating healthier.”

“Don't you mean healthilier? Or maybe healthierly?”

“God, you do have a photographic memory, Pam.”

“Just part of the package, Jake.”

“A package I do love.”

“Me, too – I mean same backatcha.”

“Geez, you almost sounded like JJ there for a second.”

“She sounds like a character. I'm looking forward to meeting
her.”

“Well, it should be soon; she said she'd be here this
afternoon.”

“Except for the rhythm, that was maybe a B poem.”

“What?”

“You rhymed.”

“I did? Didn't mean to.”

“You do that sometimes.”

“If you say so.”

“Anyhow, so that takes care of Emily. What about Lindsey's
interview? Did that get aired?”

“Yeah, but I'm sure not gonna try to write that whole thing and
expect people to read it. I'll just do a lookback on that
somewhere.”

“Okay; that makes sense.”

“What do you think about the China war, Pam?”

“Depends how granular you want to get with that. I mean, that
could be a whole book on its own. I think macro is probably better
on that.”

“Like another lookback?”

“That's how I'd do it. Like you did with the hurricanes.”

“Oh, right; what were – oh, right. Isaac and Valerie.
Yeah, I could do it that way, like stick it in his next State of the
Country speech.”

“Right, like just a quick comment. But how'd you come up with
the names Isaac and Valerie?”

“Looked at the list of 2012 names, and after Debby, last month,
I just sorta looked at the calendar and figured maybe we'd get to
Isaac by late August and Valerie maybe late October. Didn't want to
pin them down to dates or anything, just general, that they
happened.”

“Oh. And have you decided how the China war went?”

“Not yet; still hmming on that.”

“Ah.”

“Heads up, Sharon,” Justin whispered.

“The bitch is coming,” Lindsay added.

“I'm ready, kids,” Sharon rasped.

“Jake Devlin, you sonofabitch!” a strident female voice
yelled.

“Your wish is about to come true, Pam,” Jake sotto voced,
as Pam turned in her chair to see her almost-twin, wearing a bright
red bikini, striding angrily from the boardwalk toward her and Jake.
No flouncing was visible; neither was any sashaying, wiggling or
swiveling.

“Shoot her, Sharon, shoot her,” Lindsay hissed.

“Not yet, kid. Chill out,” Sharon rasped back.

“You're gonna tax nonprofits? What the fuck is that?”

“Hi, JJ. Pam, this is JJ. JJ, Pam.”

“Nice to meet you, JJ.”

“Hi. So what's this with taxing my charity?”

“Hey, JJ, it's just fiction.”

“I don't care. People might actually read it and get an idea.”

“Who knows? But look, the charitable tax credit should offset
that.”

“The what?”

“Oh, you missed that? He sets up a 50 percent tax credit for
charitable contributions.”

“I did miss that. I got bored with all his numbers and shit,
just skimmed the rest. But that nonprofits tax caught my eye.”

“Go back and find that; I think you'll see it should balance
out. And if it were real, it would also give you another selling
point for the CEOs.”

“But --”

“Go back and read it,” Jake said more sharply
(sharplier?). “But for now, give my girlfriend here a nicer
hello, okay?”

Deflated, but only slightly, JJ looked at Pam and said, “Sorry.
Hello. What was your name again?”

“Pamela.”

“Hi, Pamela,” she said, holding out her hand. Pam shook
it, all the while examining JJ closely from behind her sunglasses.

“But you can call me Pam.”

“Okay. Pam.”

“You know, JJ, you're just about as pretty as Jake said you
were.”

JJ immediately perked up. “You think so? Thank you ... Pam.”

“From up here, I can hardly tell them apart,” Sharon
said.

“Two knockouts,” Justin whispered. Lindsay fumed.

“Looks like you don't have to do much work to stay that way,
right, JJ?”

“Ah, a little here and there, just touchup,” JJ said,
running her fingers through her long blonde tresses.

“So, Pam, how do you know my old buddy, Jake?”

“Long story, JJ, but we met about a year ago.”

“Is he any good in bed?”

“Hey, if you two are just gonna do girl talk, I'll leave you to
it.”

“No, no, no, Jake. Stick around; this'll be fun,” Pam
said, reaching out to pat his shin.

“So, JJ, how do you know Jake?”

“Oh, I was down here a couple summers ago, setting up a fashion
show for my charity, and I just bumped into him here.”

“Your charity? Do you own it?”

“Oh, no; it's a big nationwide thing; I'm a senior fundraiser,
hitting on CEOs of big, really big companies.”

“I'd bet you're good at it.”

“Phenomenal, actually. I raised over 28 million last year, 18
so far this year, on my way to 40.”