Empire (Empire 1)

“Or maybe somebody really wanted the President and Vice President dead and they didn’t care who was next in line.”

“LaMonte only became Speaker about three months ago, right?”

“There’s been a lot of turnover at that job.”

“How long do you think this assassination was planned?” said Reuben. “They had to drill those guys. They did not stop to think about anything. They had practiced hauling up the watertight cases and opening them and assembling everything. They knew down to the footstep where to place those launchers, exactly what angle to point them at. They did it like machines. How many months do you think they’ve been practicing that?”

“I don’t know,” said Cessy. “How long ago did you finish your plan?”

Reuben thought and couldn’t remember. He opened his PDA and she scoffed. “Oh, come on, you can’t be that paranoid.”

“President’s dead using my plan,” said Reuben. “It’s not paranoia.”

“All right, I’ll look up the exact date when the previous Speaker stepped down.”

Reuben followed her to the computer. “March fourth is when I started showing around a draft that had the Tidal Basin plan in it.”

“March tenth,” said Cessy. “That’s when the job came open. March thirteenth LaMonte got the nod.”

“So he wasn’t put in as Speaker of the House until they had the plan they’d use to make him President.”

“No,” said Cessy. “No.”

“How do you know?”

She looked at him with defiance. “The same way I know that you had nothing to do with the assassination plot, even though you wrote the plan they used, even though you’re always gone on mysterious trips and late-night meetings and you can never even hint what you’re doing. Do you want me to trust that instinct or not, Reuben?”

It took him aback. It hadn’t occurred to him that it might actually be hard for her to be certain of him. He knew he had nothing to do with the assassination—not deliberately, anyway—but when he thought of how all his activities must look to her, it said something that she believed him. Why should she believe him?

Would I believe me, if I didn’t know what I know?

He put his hand on her cheek. “Trust it,” he said. “And I’ll trust your instinct about LaMonte Nielson, President from Idaho.” He forced something like a laugh. “It’s really kind of like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Farm boy makes good.”

“No,” said Cessy. “LaMonte is the consummate insider. He’s no Jimmy Stewart. But he doesn’t cheat. And he doesn’t kill. And he liked the President. Liked him before he was elected. LaMonte is solid.”

“And yet it was you, not me, that made the connection between Alton’s attitude and what Nielson said to you on the phone.”

“You haven’t yet thanked me for turning down the coolest job I will ever have offered to me.”

“I thought you already had the coolest job.”

She pursed her lips.

“You mean doing meals and dishes and errands isn’t cool?”

“It’s the most important job in the world. That’s why I turned down the coolest job in order to keep doing this one.”

Reuben’s cellphone rang. One of the new ones. “Cole,” he said to Cessy. And then into the phone he said it again. “Cole.”

“Please tell me I didn’t completely screw up,” said Cole.

“No, you did great,” said Reuben. “Kept your cool. Just enough fervency to show you care. Guys out there who might be wavering about joining this coup, I think you might have persuaded some of them not to do it. Maybe a lot of them.”

“Or maybe I started some mutinies. Maybe people will die.”

“People do what they do,” said Reuben. “What you did was remind them of honor.”

“Yeah,” breathed Cole. “I didn’t know for sure they were going to have General Alton on until right before.”