This was information Paige definitely needed to hear.
According to the Congressman, if certain states decided to formally file their intent to secede from the union, they could then pull all of their resources.
Paige was more than a little surprised to understand that they weren't speaking about military resources at this point. They were talking about exports. Market. Money.
The real power of government.
According to their calculations, if most of the Western states decided to secede — and it appeared as though they were seriously considering this — then the exports would be removed from the Federal GovernmentActually, you should capitalize federal only when it is part of a proper noun, that is, the official name of a particular or unique person, place, or thing. ... When writing about the Federal Government in its official capacity using the term as an official title, you should capitalize both Federal and Government (pulled from Google).. Without those exports, the United States would have no financial backing for their debts. Without that, the United States would go bankrupt.
"That is how you win this war," Congressman Allen said. "Not with her magick. Not with your political campaign. With the power of money."
In a nutshell, this was why Paige wasn't a politician. She understood how to go into battle with the power she had at her disposal. Money had never been one of those superpowers. She may have wished multiple times that she could do a money spell and have it actually work, but the best it ever did was provide her enough money to get an extra cup of coffee at the coffee shop in a month. Instead of her allotted two, she could get three.
"How do I use this?"
For the next hour, she received a plethora of information she had been desperately searching for in her Google searches. She understood why her Google searches hadn't come up with any of this information. There was power in knowledge, and what she was discovering was that the Federal Government had done a fairly decent job of stripping the American people of the power of information. In a society where the sharing of information was provided, it was a little surprising to discover just how little of it had truly been shared.
Power wasn't simply in keeping money from the dominant population. It was also keeping people ignorant.
According to the people in this room, there were several states seriously considering applying for secession.
The one they were most concerned with was Colorado.
Apparently, Colorado had a bevy of resources that were necessary to a thriving nation. Paige had thought it would be Texas with their oil and gas. However, as the Congressman mentioned, there were several states who could provide that. So, if she managed to collect six of those other states, she could lose Texas and still be fine.
This was where the conversation took a turn she was more than a little uncomfortable with.
They spoke to her as though she were leading this other pseudo-government.
She definitely was not. However, she was leading the negotiations, so she had to at least pretend for a moment.
In this grand pretend, she would be leading a government that would be one third of the current United States. And once the Western states left, the southern states would also go. And one of the things she needed to understand was that Texas would leave with the southern states. There was a very good chance that Texas would attempt to rise on its own, understanding that it had real power in oil production.
"You really don't need to worry about that." Jacobs was quite clear. "This is putting the cart in front of the horse. All you're doing is developing a credible threat that you were then going to hand over to the President and the media."
Paige really didn't understand this part of what they were saying. "So, you do want me to threaten the American people with this, with secession?” With the knowledge that they would be heading into civil war.
"No." Congresswoman Hernandez stood and walked toward them. "You need to address the world. The President needs to understand how much she could lose. Right now, she is the greatest power in the world. However, if this moves forward, then she will lose that power. We need inform her that she is unable to use her armies against you. We are working to file that as we speak. Her powers have already been limited considerably. We just need you to stir the other leaders so that they also inform her of the tenuous position she's in."
Paige realized in that moment that she really wasn't a leader. They all knew that. She definitely knew that. They were using her as a pawn.
That was something she was uncomfortable with. "What is it that you're really hoping to get?"
Congresswoman Hernandez perched on the edge of the table and folded her arms over her slender form. "The President has already overstepped her power. We are voting for an impeachment investigation. However, there are several in the House of Representatives who aren't sure witch way to vote. They believe you’re a credible and viable threat. What they don't know is how the president will react to you."
"We need you," Congresswoman Jacob said evenly, "to show them how far she's willing to go and how willing she is to break her oath of office."
"So, you want me to bait the trap for the President of the United States." Paige just needed to be clear about this.
"If that's how you need to see it." Congressman Allen stood. "We have already called the media. There will be several options for interviews. We highly recommend that you take them."
Paige reminded herself that they were running out of time. "I need to know how legal her terms are."
Congresswoman Jacobs straightened in her seat. "What terms?"
Paige spelled out for them what the President had offered them. How they were being forced to register and how they would be forced to live on risk reservations and incarceration camps. She informed them that paranormal's were already being gathered and thrown into prison against their will.
"So that's what that was about." Congresswoman Hernandez shook her head, her expression filled with astonishment. "We heard there was an insurgent movement on one of the private prisons. But no one had any information. Now we know why. It was a cover-up."
A cover-up? That had to be good. "We can share that information."
Congresswoman Jacobs shook her head. "You need to be very careful about providing and sharing information. It not only shows that the President went too far, but it also shows that you did as well. You basically declared war as soon as you invaded that prison."
That was certainly something Paige didn't want. "Okay. So what do you want me to say?"
Luckily for her, they already had a speech written for her that wasn't too bad. All things considered, it was actually pretty good. It was well thought out and carefully talked about both sides of the situation. There were a few hasty changes to the script. She was given talking points for interviews as well as her rather lengthy speech. She was told what not to say and what could be said.
Paige pulled her phone from her pocket. “As far as traps go, this one is the furthest away from what I expected. I need to let my people know I’m okay, and that I’ll be busy for a while.”
Congresswoman Jacobs nodded. “You should, yes. You’re not out of the woods yet, though. There’s more to it than a speech.”
And then, for the next three hours, she and her entourage were shuffled from one location to the next while a video cameras were put in her face as she talked delicately around explosive points.
The reporters were doing their utmost best to try to get her to divulge more information. They wanted verification of just how dangerous the paranormal's were. The President had proof. And Paige needed to provide proof that they were harmless.
By the end of the three hours, Paige was exhausted. This was the type of war that she wasn't great at. She wasn't good with words, but she was getting better at thinking on her feet. She had wished multiple times that she could pull out her magick and slap a couple of them across the face. However, she stayed to the script and kept things on an even k
eel.
Until one of the interviews was interrupted.
The producers and the investigating reporter were quite upset and let the interrupters know that what they were doing was unconstitutional and that they were impeding on Paige’s rights.
However, the Secret Service came in, gathered Paige and her small entourage, and proceeded to escort her out of the building.
Paige was rather thankful. However, she sincerely hoped they weren't being escorted to jail or detention ward. "Where we going?"
The lead security person just looked at her and said nothing.
Outside,
Naomi was there to greet them in one of the black SUVs. She plastered on a smile, but it was a little thin.
"I hope you're okay." Paige wasn't certain what else to say to Naomi. The last time they had been together, Naomi had almost become a friend. But would she still be a friend? Would she still be friendly?
Naomi focused her attention on Paige. "The president would like to have a word with you. I recommend going in there with an open mind."
Paige didn't have to ask for more information than that. She was about to receive new terms, and it probably would not be in her favor.
Time to see if the information she had been given from the Congressman would be enough to negotiate peace terms that would be livable.
Otherwise, Paige had no idea what to expect. But she was fairly certain they would be less than stellar.
35
Paige didn't know what to expect this time.
This time, when she walked into the oval office, the President was already waiting for her and in a full temper. "I thought when I offered the piece deal, that you would at least think about it before taking it this far."
Paige had been warned about this.
The President was trying to put Paige on the defensive, and in an arena she had no experience in. She had to remind herself not to take the bait. She inhaled for a two count. "If it had really been a peace deal, we probably would have considered it. But I told you what we would and would not accept."
"You didn't even give me an opportunity to take your demands to Congress."
"You weren't going to do that. You held out a false olive branch just to say you did try. Everything you’ve done so far has been through executive orders. You aren’t working with your government. You’re acting for the government."
The president's eyes flared as she came around her desk. "Do you have any idea the magnitude of responsibility of this office?"
Paige really didn't. However, she was getting a sense of the magnitude of the responsibility of being a leader to paranormal society when she had no idea what to do. Was that enough to grow a kinship with this person? "What I understand, is that you are abusing the powers you gave an oath to use to protect the citizens of your country. That's what I understand. And I also understand that you believe you were doing this to protect them because of what happened to you."
"At understanding this approach." The president stopped several arms length away and gestured to Paige in irritation. "Why wouldn't you want to do what is right?"
"I am doing what's right. I think you need to figure out your definition of right a bit better."
The president pulled back as though she had been slapped. "You're trying to tell me that I'm wrong. That trying to go after a rapist is wrong."
"If you were going after your rapist? One man? Sure. But you're saying that your rapist was black, and so all black men are rapists. And so now we need to incarcerate all black people in order to ensure that no one else has to suffer that again." Paige realized she shouldn't have said that out loud. However, she wanted to use a common analogy and easy to understand. She realized how horrible it was but she needed to use the club. She also realized that she had to do what she could in order to ensure this treatment didn't happen to paranormal's.
"You go too far."
"I don't think so.” But apparently the analogy struck. “Because now you can see what it is that you're doing. Do you really think that you're right?”
"Yes." There was no room in her tone that said she had any doubt.
Paige wanted to leave right then and there. However, she knew that this was a fight she had to win. No magick. No powers. Just her intellect and the power of words.
They were so screwed.
"Why? Because we have teeth and claws?"
The President curled her upper lip slightly. "Yes."
"Why? Because we have magick?"
"Yes." The President was getting more defensive. She crossed her arms over her chest and blinked.
"How do you think we have survived this long without being discovered?"
The president shook her head and looked around. "You kill those who get too close to the truth or you turn them."
"Do you have proof of this?"
"No. You have magick. You can make people forget."
"You think you know a lot when you have no idea. It doesn't work that way."
"Except that's exactly what your grandmother did to you. We have it on record that this type of magick does exist and that it is used. How many times? How many times has it been used to Bury situations? Or to make things disappear? Or to make people forget that they even had kids? We won’t ever know. Not until we eradicate the world of your kind."
Paige wasn't certain who was feeding her this nonsense, but it was just rational enough to have basis. Paige could feel it. She could feel that there was some slight possibility of truth to the President's words.
It was time to shift the negotiation. She had to remember that that's what this was. Negotiations.
"You bring actual cases to me, and we will investigate those. We will gather evidence. We will put together trials. But you cannot incarcerate entire population based on the suspicion that a handful of people have committed crimes."
"If we can't get to the truth any other way, then that is exactly what needs to happen."
"Then, what you are saying is that the paranormal's need to incarcerate all humans because you have proven beyond a shadow of doubt that humans are capable of incredible evil. You should be eradicated."
The president's eyes twitched.
That hit. "Who's to say that being bitten or turned or finding out that a person has magick doesn't save them from the evilness of being a human mundane? After all, look at what you’ve done. You have killed, Madam President. You've killed children. All in the name of protecting yourself. When those kids did nothing to you?"
Doubt entered the President's colored eyes. "We never killed any kids."
Paige pulled out her phone. Technically, she wasn't supposed to have it, but this last time, she had managed to get in with it. She wasn't certain how. She only knew that it shouldn't be possible and that someone was probably going to get fired.
The President narrowed her gaze at it as if thinking the exact same thoughts.
Paige went to her documents folder and pulled up the video. She had saved it in case she needed to use it in the interviews or for media coverage.
She pulled up and hit play, handing it over. "That was the attack on the Elven city. Dodo invaded, and killed indiscriminately. Anyone who resisted. It didn't matter how young or how old. And you see that right there?"
The sounds told Paige where the video was. She had played that video over and over again, allowing the reality of their new horror show settle over her. "That’s a pile of children who were murdered for what reason? Because the President of the United States discovered that elves were real and decided to eradicate them? Who did these elves kill? Who did those child elves rape?"
The President watched the video to the end and then stood there.
The room was wrapped in silence.
Had Paige just made an impact? Was the President now realizing that perhaps she had gone too far? Or was she just having a moment of reckoning where she discovered that this was now on video and it could go to the media? Paige couldn't tell
. She tried sniffing the air to see if she could smell the President's emotions. The only thing she could discern was that the President was shocked. Though for what reason?
The President handed back the phone. "You're threatening to take us to civil war."
Paige licked her lips and stashed her phone. "If the President of the United States is willing to kill children in order to prove a point, then your damn straight I'm threatening civil war."
The President met her gaze. "I was told that the casualties were few."
Paige met the President's quiet tone with the solemnity of her own. "On your side. The elves lost thousands of people. And they have a city they can’t return to. When Dodo hit, they infected the lands on the water. The elves will never be able to return to that land again."
The President walked slowly over to the striped couch and sank into it.
Paige decided to push forward a little harder. "Madam President, that city wasn't even on American soil. Dodo invaded another dimension in order to destroy that city. You need to understand. That was an act of war."
"You attacked and invaded a federal prison."
"After you invaded a town and took paranormal's by force. I was in Lawrence. I saw what they did. I have video of that too. You had a private military invade your own country. That too was an act of war. The only difference here is that you decided to attack a group of people who were actively capable of building their own armies to rise up against you. And that is the reason you are so scared right now."
The President met her gaze.
"We are… tribal. For the most part. We have covens and packs and groups. We are not united. At least, we hadn't been."
Something shifted in the President's eyes. More than doubt. Fear.
"The only thing you managed to do was to unite us under a common banner. You thought that you could take this opportunity and bring us out into the light and destroy us."
The President listened quietly, her fingers lightly scratching at her pant legs.
"But what you did was attack women and children and families. And that is what the people of the United States will remember."
Whiskey Storm Page 30
