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Chapter Forty-Six
“Liv, wake up,” Stephsaid bursting into Liv’s room.
“Oh, my god, Liv,” Ben said. “You have to get up.”
“Wha...what time is it?” Liv said, rubbing her eyes.
“Early,” Steph said. “You’ve got to see this. Come on! You’re not going to believe it.”
“I’ve gotta pee,” Liv said, flipping her legs onto the floor.
“Can’t you wait?” Ben said.
“No.”
“Do it fast,” Steph said.
When Liv stumbled out into the living room a few minutes later, Steph handed her a cup of coffee.
Liv stared at the T.V.
“What is this?” she said, stretching.
“Shh...” Ben said, turning up the volume.
“This is a special breaking report. I’m Pam Jordan, and you’re watchingFirst News Today,” Pam Jordan said. “A stunning series of events unfolded during the night on Capitol Hill. We’re going live with our White House reporter, Tom Carrington. Tom, what’s happening?”
“Thank you, Pam,” Tom said, standing in front of the White House. “You are right about the stunning series of events. Late in the night, the United States Navy Seals extracted the fifteen prisoners of war from Torovia. During the extraction, they found another forty-seven soldiers who had been missing in action. All of the soldiers were rescued safely. We are being told they landed in Germany moments ago and are being assessed by a medical team.”
“Just stunning...We have some images from inside the White House,” Pam said. “These pictures show the President watching the live feed of this raid. He’s surrounded by Vice President Dixon, Secretary of State Zimmerman, Secretary of Defense Melville, and Secretary of Homeland Security Breyer. His brother, Senator Will Sterling, is also present.”
“Yes, Senator Sterling has been working for years trying to get a prisoner exchange, but it looks as though they decided to go a different route,” Tom said. “You can really see the tension in these photographs - which will surely be in history books someday.”
“This was a real gamble for the President and his brother,” Pam said. “If this mission had failed...”
“Indeed,” Tom said. “Their political careers would have been over. It seems; however, that this has worked out spectacularly. This is like nothing we’ve seen in modern American history.”
“The President must have been heavily relying on his brother for this plan to work,” Pam said. “We had been hearing for weeks that Senator Sterling had killed his own Clean Water Bill in exchange for support for a prisoner exchange - it is clear now that was just a red herring. The President needed to conduct this raid without any suspicion - if Torovia thought the exchange was coming, they would not be expecting this.”
“Not at all,” Tom said. “No one was...really incredible strategizing between these two brothers. They managed to pull this off in complete secrecy.”
“Thank you, Tom,” Pam said. “I’m sure we will be returning to you again shortly, but for now we are going to go over to Paige Morrow, who covers Congress. Paige, what’s the news?”
“We are hearing that the Senate will vote this morning on the Clean Water Act,” Paige said. “My sources say they have the votes. Everyone thought this vote was dead in the water, but it turns out it is possible to keep a secret in Washington, and this is one of the best-kept secrets in decades.”
“A historic day on Capitol Hill,” Pam said.
“Absolutely,” Paige said. “The Clean Water Bill will impact millions of Americans. It bans the use of BV90; it also expands free cancer screenings; and support for those already diagnosed.”
“A big win for this administration, and I would say the Sterling brothers in particular,” Pam said.
Steph muted the television. Liv continued to stare at the blank screen.
“Liv, you did it!” Ben said.
“Wha...what?”
“The bill...didn’t you hear?” Steph said. “They are voting this morning. You did it.”
