29.1

You will go down in history

As the greatest politician the world has ever known.

You will bring universal tolerance.

The pressure on the President to go to the front of the White House and state his position was building by the second. But he had some cleaning up to do first.

“Send them in.”

The twelve members of the Committee for Un-American Activities Abroad filed silently into the Oval Office – like sheep to the slaughter.

The President had studied their files. This was the thick cream at the very top of American society, their biographies riddled with connections to the big-ticket items – oil, mining, and munitions. These were the boys with real money.

“What a miserable bunch you are,” he said.

There was a low grumble of dissent, above which the President distinctly heard the comment –

“What about you?”

He pounced on it – tracing it to its source.

“What do you mean by that?” he demanded, glaring at Adam Wilson.

“Well,” Wilson said, with the confidence of a young man who had inherited billions. “The newspapers are inflaming this story without any restraint at all! Someone needs to take control! You’re the one who’s supposed to be showing leadership here!”

“I’ll show leadership when I’m good and ready,” the President said curtly. “But first I want to deal with you lot.”