A Heartbeat Away - Michael Palmer [122]
In the few moments Tilden was retrieving the metal tube, Ellis cut the plastic ties securing the door using a knife she had purloined from the food service. By the time Tilden reached her with the tube, she had already kicked the pieces of the temporary handcuffs under the door.
“If Townsend is right,” she said, “you’ll be taking the oath of office in a few hours.”
Gladstone readied himself as Ellis held her breath and pulled open the doors. Tilden hesitated at the threshold, clearly taken aback by the commotion and the stench.
But it was too late.
Gladstone shoved him brusquely into the vast room, and Ellis quickly closed the door behind him. Then she slipped the tube through the door handles. They could hear Tilden screaming and pounding from inside.
“Open up! For God’s sakes, Ursula! Open the door! Help!… Hey, let go of me. Let go of me, dammit!”
No patrols. No guards. No worries.
With Gladstone holding the tube in place and keeping his shoulder hard to the door, Ellis pulled the chain from the bucket and looped it through the handles. The door bucked as Tilden, still crying out, continued to push against it from the other side.
And then, quite suddenly, his screaming stopped.
CHAPTER 55
DAY 6
7:00 P.M. (EST)
Ellis gave her aide a decent head start and then followed him back to the House Chamber. Her thoughts were consumed with how close she now was to taking over the reins of leadership for the most powerful nation in the history of the planet.
The House Chamber itself had degenerated into chaos. There were clusters of people facing off against one another, exchanging verbal threats, childish insults, and furious looks. Rows of sleeping cots, which had taken the place of many of the rows of chairs, were tipped over and their bedding ripped and tossed about. The floor was littered with food cartons and was slick to walk on from spilled drinks. But even in the din of that commotion, Ellis could still hear people coughing.
She had prepared a simple explanation for her whereabouts if pressed, but she found the door through which she had reentered the chamber unguarded. Capitol Police and Secret Service agents were still too busy with crowd control. Some had their weapons drawn, though most of the security force looked bewildered and incapable of restoring order.
Ellis knew exactly how to rein in the unruliness.
It was time to bring her bill to the House floor.
The time had come to expose America to Jim Allaire’s unforgivable lies.
Ellis felt she had proved herself every bit the leader that Allaire was not. She had proof now that Harlan Mackey had been executed because of the lethalness of the virus. Surely, the president had other options for dealing with the aging senator, but those options would have required him to admit his deception. In doing so, he would have made it clear to the American public that he did not trust them, and in doing so, they would learn that he was not trustworthy himself.
In contrast to Allaire, Ellis had solid reasons for what she was doing. Negotiating with Genesis and locking Vice President Tilden inside the Senate Chamber were justifiable acts under these extreme circumstances. She was born to lead, and leadership not only demanded sacrifice, but a willingness to change the rules of the game. She had done what needed to be done. True leaders, she knew, were the ones who made the hard choices and never looked back.
After a time at the rostrum working on details and watching the melee finally wind down, Ellis summoned Gladstone to her side. Her aide was pale and bleary-eyed. Never robust, he was starting to look frail. His weakened state was understandable given the hours he had spent crafting the bill and incorporating her edits, to say northing of the stress of working to elevate her to the presidency.
“Are we ready?” she asked him.
“I believe so,” her aide said. “I’ve made copies of the bill for