Exactly. Ill do the same, as will other covens and clans.
The call ended.
Helena waited for a quiet moment with Rebecca. Sasha will coordinate with your assistant on the details of all your appearances. We can handle the pre-recorded message here, but Im adding two more people to your personal security and more to your home.
Rebeccas mouth tightened a moment.
I know youre an incredibly powerful witch. Im personally totally sure you can handle pretty much whatever comes your way. But you have a family. You have a right to be safe in your home, as do they. Youre our public face and you need to be as safe as possible. Dont make me frown at you, itll give me wrinkles.
Rebeccas mouth curved into a smile, and not for the first time, Faine realized how good she was at gauging people and how to approach them.
And what about you? Hm? Who protects you, Helena?
I do. Faine bowed to The Gennessee.
One regal brow rose. Is that so, Lycian?
Yes, maam, it is my honor.
You and I clearly need to have a long lunch and catch up, Helena. In the meantime, I will assent to more security and I appreciate your attention to detail. Its a weight off my shoulders to know how adept you are at this. Rebecca paused. Im going to need you to come up with some contingencies to eradicate Hayes and Powers. Theyve declared war and we already have. We will not allow this nonsense to continue.
From the corner of his eye, Faine watched Helena square her shoulders and stand straighter.
Yes, maam.
Keep me posted on that and everything else. This eradication is on a need-to-know basis. Keep it quiet.
Helena nodded.
The room emptied and Helena turned to Faine with a sigh. I was going to see if you wanted to grab a coffee. I can see that is not in the cards now.
Do your work. Ill bring you some shortly. He pulled her close and held her for long moments. She sighed, holding on, and he felt better.
Thank you.
Your wish is my command, so keep that in mind when you want really dirty stuff. He kissed the top of her head and stepped back, heading for the door.
She blushed and he liked it a lot.
* * *
TOSH waited to see President Sullivan. Hed met her on many occasions, and while he wouldnt say they were friends, he thought her heart was usually in the right place.
She had a big job, he knew that. But this situation was far overdue her guidance and presence.
Joe Porter, her chief of staff, stepped into the room. Im sorry, Toshio, but shes been called away and asked me to take the meeting on her behalf.
Tosh stood. Im afraid thats not going to work for me, Joe. You know why.
Porter sighed. Its Marlon Hayes. The damn fool has just done a public statement. Shes got to put out some major fires. Tens of thousands of calls have just crashed the phone lines and the servers are overwhelmed. Shes got to deal with all that.
What on earth did he say? Tosh had turned his phone off when hed come into the room as was polite. He had no idea what had happened.
Joe blew out a breath. Hes taking the Domestic Safety Act to the floor this week. He urged people to call in to get their senators to support it. Off the record?
Tosh nodded.
There were some very thinly veiled calls to execute Others. The president is concerned about violence and retaliation.
Tosh scrubbed his hands over his face. Is she going to take a position at least?
Shes going to call for calm and nonviolence. She wants the people to be heard on this. If she takes a position, shes cutting that off.
Oh bull. Come on, Joe! The time for that has passed. Shes the president and this is her job. This is insanity. A United States senator calls for extermination of American citizens? And shes not going to get on television right away and condemn that as un-American? Hes whipping up violence. She needs to be a leader right now.
Porters mouth flattened into a line and Tosh knew hed overstepped, but he didnt care.
I want a meeting with her. Please call my office when time opens up. And pray its not too late.
Senator Sato, you can tell me your concerns and Ill forward them to the president.
No offense intended, Joe, but I dont want to meet with you. I want her to look me in the eye when she tells me shes got no intention of protecting the citizens of this country she was duly elected to represent. This has gone on long enough. Time is running out. Ive got to go and deal with my constituents. Please do let me know when shell be available.
He turned and left before Joe could argue, anger coursing through him as he did.
The hallways were far busier than usual. There was an undercurrent of not just gossipy Did you hear what Hayes said, but anger and, he was sad to hear, not all of it directed at Hayes and PURITY.
His assistant started to speak when he got back to his offices. I know. I want to see the footage right now.
Its queued up in your office. Go on in and Ill get you some coffee. Youll need the caffeine.
He thought what hed heard would have prepared him for what hed see. But nothing could have. Nothing in the world could have prepared him for seeing a United States senator not so subtly call for the extermination of a sizable minority of the American population. It was more than sickening, it was outrageous.
Worse, that the president wasnt on television immediately afterward was even more outrageous.
Get me some time on the shows. He didnt look up from his screen as he spoke to his assistant. Well need to get a statement up on the website within the hour, condemning any calls to violence and encouraging a real dialogue that includes listening instead of threatening. Get me Meriel or Molly from Clan Owen.
On it. Oh, and Senator Sperry is here.
Well that was one nice thing at least. Send her back. Get me immediately with the rest of this.
He stood as Delilah swept in and sat in a chair across from him. I suppose youve heard.
I was waiting to meet with the president when it happened. Porter came out to tell me she had to cancel and why.
Delilah only barely managed to stop from rolling her eyes. Tosh could see the effort it cost her to do so. Whats her story then? Did I miss her speaking on the issue?
The president believes that taking a position cuts the process of input from Americans short.
Did Joe say that to you with a straight face? Because he should be ashamed if he could.
Hes got a job to do. I understand that.
I dont. Come on, Toshio, they called for our extermination! How is the fact that anyone can stand there with a straight face and say the president wont condemn such a thing an acceptable job? Huh? Thats not a job. Thats something to be ashamed of.
I refused to meet with him instead of the president. I want her to look me in the eye when she says shes not going to stand up for all Americans.
Well, good luck to you. I cant even get my calls returned.
Are you kidding me?
Do I sound like Im joking? This is how it is now, Tosh. From a lot of people. That a colleague would stand up and call for my extermination in front of cameras without any sense of shame is telling. Im here to let you know I will be on the floor tomorrow. I may get ejected. Her smile made him a little sweaty, in good and bad ways.
Should I set aside bail money?
She laughed and took the teacup his assistant handed her with thanks. No, I dont think Ill be marking that off Marlons Christmas list. He wants us to be that. But what I will be doing is calling this what it is. I will not wear a yellow star. I will not let them send me to a camp or exterminate me if Im difficult, and I will say out loud to the American people that if they support this bill thats what theyre doing. This is not going down the way it did in the thirties in Germany. I am a motherfucking werewolf and if Im going down, I will take as many as I can down with me.
He nodded. I agree. Ill be saying the same. Well, not the werewolf part.
Yeah? You stepped out of the middle then?
I was never in the middle, Delilah. I have always been on your side. But I will not be silent about this. This is unconscionable.
His assistant popped a head in. Senator Sato, I just sent the text for the press release to your email if you want to look it over. Im also going to place a call to Molly Ryan in five minutes. Shes on another call right now.
Great. Thank you. Tell everyone weve got a long night ahead of us. Order in some dinner and lets get this show on the road. He looked to Delilah. Want to combine efforts?
Yes. Lets get some others in on this too.
Chapter 20
THREE hours after the press conference, Helena found herself in front of the Defense arm of the COO, whod called an emergency meeting after the speech. Familiar faces showed up on the screen, but she found herself shocked by what Lex Warden had just said.
Can you repeat that?
Lex Warden smirked but it was gone in moments. Damn he was pretty.
I said weve elected you. Youre now in charge of this body. You know, you make the decisions as to all the military and defense coordination between Others.
Why?
Ive watched you do your job. Ive watched you do a job in what have been extraordinarily difficult times. You consistently make good decisions. Your judgment is sound. You are vicious, but not without reason and logic. You are well trained and fully capable of training others. You understand what it means to delegate and yet you do not hesitate to take responsibility when you need to. Now, more than any other time in our history, we need to work united. And to do that, we have to make use of our best. You are one of those. As Meriel will run the main body of the COO along with Cade, you will run this body.
She kept her sigh inside her head. There were no other choices to be made. She would accept, of course. But fear trickled through her veins. The stakes were so high she just decided to pretend not to think about it.
All right. I accept.
Lex tipped his chin. Good. Now, what do you need?
Thank heavens shed already thought in detail on this. This is how its going to be. Our current teams of three will go to teams of five. These teams will be mixed with at least two witches. I believe the mix of different skills and gifts will be best used in that combination. The magickal backup is imperative, especially on any type of sweep or investigative work. Each enclave will have constant security. At least one team at the gates and another to sweep through the neighborhoods. Thats twenty-four hours a day. All leadership, wolves, witches, cats, Vampires, whatever, needs to have added protection. I can help with that should you want my assistance.
She knew how tricky that part was. Others had been on their own for so long, they really hated to take direction from anyone outside their group. Plus, there were so many alpha males that it was difficult to tell them they needed to be protected.
Still, before Lex became the Alpha of Cascadia, hed been his brothers Enforcer for years before Cade went on to lead National, so she hoped that gave him perspective from her side of the table.
Within three minutes of the end of that speech Hayes made, the first official death threat came in. Senate, House and White House servers went offline due to the overwhelming traffic. The phone lines were choked. Not all that was negative, I want to underline that. It is not our belief that a majority of humans feel the way Powers does. But there will be movement after this latest stuff. Our leaders need to be kept safe. Every public appearance should include a team that goes to the venue first and does a sweep and then locks it down until arrival. If they dont like it, too damned bad. We cant trust anyone else to keep us safe.
Youre right. Im happy to start out and set that example. Tegan has been on me to up my guard anyway. Ill get the news out to the rest of the Packs.
Gibson agreed to do the same for the other shifters. She was meeting with The Gennessee right after this so shed tell Rebecca then.
The Vampires will do as you ask.
Okay then.
Im working with Owen and the other Clans to make our people available to send to Others who need them for their security teams. The new enclaves have begun to consolidate our populations, which is helpful on many levels. But for areas that may not have a lot of Others of different types, we want to be sure theyre being protected. My assistant, Sasha, is keeping the list so please have your people contact her directly and well get on that. Lark will continue to work on cross-training programs. The wolves and cats are particularly good at tracking and we have a great deal to learn from them. Faine and Simon Leviathan have graciously volunteered to continue to help train on all things battle and combat.
She went over a few more things before everyone signed out and went their own way.
Lark stayed on the line. Excellent job.
Yeah, maybe. Let me know if you need anything. Im sending some people up to Oregon later today. Theyre going to hook up with folks from Pacific. Are we covered in Idaho now?
Yes. Were good. Cascadia land includes Idaho and theyre pretty organized. Most of their people already lived in close quarters and we were able to connect them with contractors and security people to get the place walled and hooked up to cameras and all that. We dont have many witches out that way, but about seventy percent of them have opted to move into the enclave with the wolves. The rest will stay where they are, but have acknowledged the dangers and volunteered to call to check in twice daily. Its the best we can do with Others in far-flung places who decide to remain out of the enclaves.