Interview

This is a work of fiction.

“Just tell me. Whatever you came here to tell me, just say it.”
“It’s not that easy. It was a mistake to come here. They’re probably waiting for me outside.” The man pulled off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, “I have to go.”
“You have a duty to tell me.” The young female reporter reached forward and snatched her tape recorder from the table. She flicked it off and slipped it into her pocket, “Is that better?”
“Not really.” He said, “Do you have a cigarette?”
The reported fished a cigarette and matches from her purse and held it out to him. He took them and quickly lit the cigarette.
“Look, you called me out here. You wanted to tell me something. This is your show. So tell me.”
The cigarette smoke was swirling around the man’s head like a halo. His eyes were watery and blood shot. He was clearly terrified.
“All right. I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you everything.” He took a drag of the cigarette, “I work at the White House. I was brought in by my uncle to work an internship after I graduated from college six months ago.”
“Before the war began.”
“One week before. Just in time I guess.” He gave a weak chuckle and took another drag, “Everything was fine in the beginning. I basically just delivered coffee. A glorified waiter pretty much. But it was the White House. I was working in the White House,” He lowered his head and closed his eyes, “Two months ago, I was asked to meet with Chambers in a private conference room.”
“Calvin Chambers? The Secretary of Defense?”
“Yes. He told me I was going to be given some new responsibilities. I was going to be asked to do some other, more lucrative jobs. I can only guess I was picked because of my uncle. I mean why else? Anyway, he pulled a small file from a briefcase. He removed a paper from it and put it in front of me.
He took another drag on the cigarette.
“It was some kind of confidentiality agreement. I didn’t read it through completely. I was jazzed to be in the circle or whatever. I signed it and he put it back in the folder. He got up and left without a word.”
“He just left you in the conference room?”
“Yeah. I waited a minute and then just went back to what I was doing before. A week later I was approached by a Secret Service Agent. I was told I had been asked to pick up a visiting diplomat at a small airfield in Pennsylvania. I was provided a car and told to leave the following morning. I followed my instructions clearly. When I arrived it was raining. One person was waiting. It was a man standing next to the road. I remember thinking it was weird for a diplomat to arrive in some tiny airfield. I dunno. Anyway, the guy got in and I drove off.”
The reporter stood up and walked across the dim room to a cabinet. She pulled out two glasses and filled them with water from the tap. She walked back to the small table and placed one in front of the man.
“Thanks.” He said.
She nodded and sat down, “Do you know who the diplomat was?”
“Oh yes. I knew as soon as he got in the car. My heart just about stopped beating.”
“Who was it?”
“It wasn’t a diplomat at all. Here on his own free will. To meet with the President of the United States.”
“Who was it?”
“Abdel Muhammad Akben.”
“Are you telling me the alleged mastermind behind the bombing of the Empire State Building was flown into Pennsylvania for a meeting with the President? The leader of the single largest terrorist organization in the world today was going to meet with someone who is hunting him down?”
“Yes. I found out why later on. I found out a lot of things later on.” He sighed and finished the cigarette, “About two hours into the trip back I came upon an accident in the highway. It was a head on collision blocking both sides of the freeway. It didn’t strike me as odd at that time that the entire road was empty besides my car and these two involved in the wreck. I just didn’t think about it. They came out of nowhere. Three men. One yanked open my door and pulled me from the car. One opened the back door and put 5 bullets in Akben’s face. The third was dumping gasoline on the car. It was over in seconds. Before I knew it I was in the back of another car with a pistol jammed into my side. The guy was talking to me but I was in a daze. I only remember one thing he said: ‘As per your agreement, you will say nothing.’ They dropped me off at my apartment.”
“This is unbelievable.” The reporter was shaking her head, “Why would you be used to set up an assassination? None of this makes sense. Why would the man behind one of the worst attacks on American soil in history come here to meet the president?”
“Because the president invited him! The president welcomed him here with open arms. He was an ally not an enemy.”
“Now I know you are crazy.”
“Chambers came to see me the next day at my apartment. I was a mess. He sat down across from me and looked me dead in the eye and told me I did a service to my country. I asked him why he used me. He said because I was a civilian. Because I didn’t look like an agent so Akben wouldn’t be nervous around me. After I calmed down a bit, I asked him why Akben was there in the first place. He told me that I didn’t need to know that. It was classified. I just came out and asked him. I had heard rumors…internet speculation that sort of thing. I never really believed it but I asked anyway. I asked him if we were involved with the bombings. If we helped Akben to bomb the Empire State Building. Chambers looked at me. At first I thought he would deny it. Laugh it off something like that. But he didn’t. He just said: ‘Things have been set into motion.’ That’s all. He said I will see you at work tomorrow and left.”
The man took a drink of water.
“So you’re implying that the current administration was in cahoots with a terrorist to bomb their own country.”
The man reached into his bag and pulled out a piece of paper. He placed it in front of the reporter.
“Here is your evidence.”
The reporter picked up the document. The presidential seal prominently displayed at the top.
“This is signed by the president.”
The man nodded.
“I took this last night. It is an executive order from the president authorizing Operation Red Dawn, the assisting of the Scorpion Crusades attack on the Empire State Building.
“How did you get this?”
“I took it from Chambers office. He left me alone. I broke into his locked files and stole it.”
“Do you realize what this means?”
“It means our president helped kill nearly two thousand people. It means this war we are fighting is just a way to keep him in power.”
“Why vote out a president who is fighting a war to protect and avenge his people…” The reporter looked down at the document, “Can I keep this?”
He shrugged.
“You said before that Chambers told you things have been set into motion…what did that mean?”
“I think it means the end of America as we know it.”
The reporter slid the document into her briefcase. When she pulled her hand out, it held a gun.
“As per the terms of your agreement.” She said and shot him.
The man fell to the floor. His eyes wide with terror, he died. A moment later the door opened and a man entered.
“He knew everything?” Chambers asked.
“He knew enough.”
Chambers sighed, “Get cleanup in here. Burn this place down.” He walked to the door.
“Mr. Chambers?”
He turned his head back to the woman.
“Who is his uncle?”
“The President.”
And he left.

End.

excellent story!!!! this is a really good competition.

Thank you. I appreciate that a lot. It was the first thing I have finished in a while. I've been in a major block for several years. I actually wrote this in one sitting. ATS has inspired me! haha...since I finished this short story i also finished my first screenplay and am now in the process of shopping it around. ATS helped me break my writers block. Go figure...haha...but anyway, thanks again for the compliment. I agree this is a great contest...I'm eager to see who the winner is!

Nice story Garon. After reading your story I am not sure whether to submit mine, because it is surely going to lose to you.

Now that was good. Are you sure its fictional ?

Originally posted by Pisky
Now that was good. Are you sure its fictional ?

That's need to know information.

thanks for the compliments guys. I appreciate it a lot.

Originally posted by surfup
Nice story Garon. After reading your story I am not sure whether to submit mine, because it is surely going to lose to you.

I woulnd't say that! Submit it, i'd like to read yours as well.