Trent Reedy - Divided We Fall

—• and nine wounded, and the president is calling for calm pending his investigation? What kind of leadership is that? Americans want unity, and they want answers. And he’s offering none.”

“Speaker Barnes, don’t you think it’s appropriate to grieve? Does this situation have to be reduced to party politics already?”

“Grief and mourning are important, Kathy, but President Rodriguez should know that he doesn’t get a break. He has a job to do. He’s not doing it. Were I president, I’d have more to tell the American people about this tragedy.”

“Mr. Speaker, is this an announcement of your presidential candidacy?”

“Whoa there! I’m flattered, but we just had an election. It’s too early for that kind of talk. I’m merely pointing out the president’s obvious indecisiveness and ineffectiveness. •—

I spent all weekend trying to avoid the news on the living room screen. It wasn’t too much of a lie to say I was sick, and except for going to church on Sunday, I hardly left my room.

I left the radio off Monday morning when I went to pick up JoBell for the first day of school. Music wasn’t what I needed, and I damn sure didn’t want any more news. Parked in the street in front of her house, I still felt miserable about Boise. I closed my eyes and let the Beast’s low growl rumble up through my body to soothe me. Apart from JoBell, nothing felt better than a tough motor.

“You got yerself… a text from JoBell.”

I reached over and grabbed my comm, tapping the screen to silence Digi-Hank, and checked JoBell’s message.

I’ll be out in a second.

Finally she came out onto her porch wearing little jean shorts and a brown shirt that fit just snug enough. Her long blond hair blew back off her shoulders in the breeze, and sunlight glinted off my class ring, which dangled from a chain around her neck. The chain was new and had cost a ton of my basic training money. For probably the first time since Friday night, I smiled.

“Feeling better?” JoBell climbed up into the Beast. She closed the door and strapped herself in.

“Yeah, I guess so,” I said. The acidy feeling deep in my stomach had made me wonder if maybe I really was sick. I could have stayed home from school, but I needed to get out of the house and think about something besides Friday night in Boise.

JoBell ran her soft hand down my face. “You sure you’re all right?” I nodded. She leaned toward me and kissed me, hungry and wet. No simple “good morning” kiss. “Mmm.” She licked her lips. “I missed you this weekend, Friday night especially,” she said. “But don’t worry. That bikini will be back.”

Any other day, it would have been pretty hot to see JoBell all worked up like this. Today, though, I couldn’t focus, especially knowing the news I had to give her. The governor had ordered us all not to say anything about the… disturbance… in Boise, but JoBell was different. We’d grown up together, been dating since freshman year. She knew about my mom and her fits. She knew everything about me. The hell with the governor’s orders. If I didn’t tell my JoBell about something this big in my life, what kind of relationship did we have?

I put the truck into gear and hit the gas hard. The tires spun out in the gravel at the side of the road.

“Danny!” She giggled, leaning forward. “You know my dad hates it when you do that.”

“Listen, JoBell, about Friday night—”

She waved my words away. “It’s okay. I understand. Your mother needs help sometimes.” She slid her comm out of her bag. “Eleanor?”

“Good morning, JoBell. With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.” JoBell had chosen the Eleanor Roosevelt digi-assistant.

“Will you pull up my updated news feeds?”

“It would be my sincere pleasure to do that for you.”

JoBell squeezed my arm. “So it’s okay if you need to take some time to help her. You and your mom are two of the most important people in my life, and I love you both for the way you look out for each other.”

“No, it’s not that.” I was picking at my dry lips before I realized what I was doing and forced my hand back to the steering wheel. “I mean, I really wanted to be with you at the lake.”

“If you’re worried about TJ, you can relax. Ugh, I spent way too much of Friday night trying to stay away from him. You’d think he could keep his eyes off my chest for five seconds.”

“TJ was there?” I hadn’t been thinking about that jackwad, but I was now.

JoBell tapped at her comm without looking at me. “He showed up at Eric’s pontoon on his own Jet Ski with a whole case of beer. The guys couldn’t send him away after that.”

I’d deal with TJ at football practice. “Actually, I have to tell you something else about—”

“Geez, would you look at this? Can you believe it?”

I almost crashed the Beast into a tree. Her comm showed CNN’s prime image, a photo of me in my gas mask, holding my M4, crouched over the dead redheaded girl as she lay bleeding in the street. The headline over it read MASSACRE!

“This is disgusting,” JoBell said. “I wish more than that guy’s gas mask had been broken. All of these murderers should be in jail right now.” She flipped through news feeds until she settled on her favorite, the NPR site. “Not even one of the soldiers has been arrested!”

My throat felt like it was closing up. “You know…” I swallowed and cleared my throat. “We don’t have the whole story and—”

“Shhh, hang on, baby. I want to hear this. That scumbag governor is speaking live right now.” She tapped into the feed. I kept my eyes on the road, wishing I could avoid hearing the governor’s speech too.

“Cynthia, you’ve got the first question,” Montaine said.

“Governor Montaine, you’ve made it clear that you do not plan to prosecute any of the soldiers involved in the shootings regardless of the results of the investigations. What do you say to reports that President Rodriguez has asked for disclosure of all the shooters’ identities, and to widespread speculation that the federal Department of Justice may arrest the shooters on charges of civil rights violations?”

“First,” the governor said, “the ‘shooters,’ as you call them, are American soldiers, Idaho National Guardsmen. And let me make one thing absolutely clear to you and to the rest of America, including the president. As governor of the state of Idaho, I was well within my rights to activate the National Guard soldiers under my command. I gave them a lawful order and they followed it. I will not, under any circumstances, allow my soldiers to be punished for following my orders. When I spoke with President Rodriguez on the telephone Saturday morning, I made it clear to him that I will absolutely not provide the identities of any soldiers involved in Friday night’s incident. I’m Governor James Montaine, and I never abandon the soldiers under my command.”

I gripped the steering wheel tight. The president wanted us arrested? Montaine hadn’t said anything about that. Maybe he didn’t abandon soldiers under his command, but how could he protect us if the president of the United States came after us?

“Ugh,” JoBell said. She tapped out of the feed. “I can’t believe that asshole Montaine is going to let those murderers get away with this!”