Read Online State of Emergency: Jack Emery 2 by Steve P. Vincent - Free Book Online Page A

command.
    There was nothing else she could do.
    ***
    Richard indicated, turned the wheel slightly and eased to a stop outside his home. As he killed the ignition, he looked out of the window and stared with pride at his house – a fashionable and perfectly restored colonial in the heart of Georgetown. After another second of indulgence he grabbed his briefcase from the passenger seat and climbed out of the car. He locked the vehicle and crossed the sidewalk.
    “Evening, Administrator.” The Metropolitan Police Department officer standing at the bottom of the stairs greeted him the same way as always.
    Richard stopped at the base of the stairs. “Good evening, Frank. How are the wife and kids?”
    The officer smiled beneath his cap. “They’re great, Administrator.”
    Richard fumbled with his keys. “Good. I’ll be staying in for the night.”
    “Okay, sir.”
    Richard nodded. He climbed the stairs, unlocked his door, entered the house and closed the door behind him. He knew that the police guard was probably unnecessary, but since the attacks had started all department heads in Washington had been given similar protection. From tomorrow, he’d also have an armed driver picking him up every day. He’d miss driving to the office himself.  
    He keyed in the code to the alarm and then pressed another button on the same console. On cue, the curtains started to close, the climate control fired up, some of the lighting came on and soft classical music started to play. He locked the door and hung his keys on a hook beside it, then walked through to the open-plan kitchen and living area.
    He paused at the entry to the living area and smiled as he took in the scene before him: a large corkboard that covered two whole walls in his living room, which he otherwise kept sparse. He’d started the corkboard years ago. He couldn’t remember when exactly, except to say that it was at the point when he’d started to feel like America was off the rails and careening out of control. It had been an outlet for frustrations he could share with nobody.
    But it had become more than that. Since that moment, he’d watched the leadership of the country flounder and fail, being all too easily led by the nose or bought off or sidetracked. Instead of being a diligent servant of pragmatic governments, Republican or Democrat, he’d instead watched with dismay as good public administration made way for partisan bickering, a deadlocked Congress and federal debt and deficit nearing catastrophe.
    One full wall of the board was covered in a color-coded history of the past few years – news clippings, FEMA briefings and a map. It told a story of American dysfunction. Many of the more recent clippings were the fault of Michelle Dominique and the Foundation for a New America. He’d hoped that the near miss America had experienced with that lunatic would recalibrate the system, but many of the same problems remained.
    As the years passed and as Richard entered the twilight of his career, he’d come to realize that his hopes for a leader to emerge in the mould of Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt or the other greats were false. No great politician was coming to wash away the filth that was clogging the gears of effective governance. The country just lurched on, served by mediocre government, as it ever gradually approached the precipice.
    Once he’d decided he needed to act against – rather than just catalogue – the dysfunction, Richard had tried to make himself available to President Kurzon and, later, President Morris. He’d offered innovative solutions to some of the deadlocks facing the country and his experience in managing disasters should have made him an invaluable support to a president. But he’d been ignored and pigeon-holed as the guy who cleaned up after cyclones.
    This had forced him to take matters into his own hands. It had become clear to Richard that if no leader stepped forward, and if the incompetents already in power