19

We missed his first few words. “Quiet!” that blond woman yelled sternly, and all conversation stopped. The kitchen crew came out and stood behind the counter, looking up. The cook was distractedly wiping his hands on his stained apron. Dusty raised the sound just in time for us to hear the president announce “arrests in the attempted assassination of President Wrightman and the murder of Treasury Secretary Farber.”

“Yes!” the boy’s father blurted and was immediately hushed.

The president said he refused to “give these people the political platform they want. The attention they were willing to kill for.” He paused to let that sink in. “Therefore, I am not going to announce their names or provide any details about them. But I can tell you their participation was part of a larger effort against the American people, and their apprehension makes all of us safer tonight.”

The president put down the papers from which he had been reading as the camera dollied in for a close-up as he obviously began reading his heartfelt remarks from a teleprompter. “The evidence against these people, there are two of them, is overwhelming. And when confronted with it they confessed. The question that I had to answer is: What are we going to do about that?”

He paused and looked at his hands, which were clasped prayerfully on the desk. “Rather than put the country through that turmoil, God knows we’ve got enough on our plate right now, we convened a military tribunal. Our finest military leaders gave these people every opportunity to defend themselves, but they were unable to do that. So after a hearing these two people were convicted, unanimously convicted…” I couldn’t help but admire his TV presence. After a pause and a deep breath, he finally looked directly into the camera and continued: “… and sentenced to death. And just like President Abraham Lincoln did at another time of great turmoil, I have decided to accept the recommendation of this military tribunal and order that these people be hung.”

I was stunned, absolutely stunned. Just like that he was throwing out the Fifth Amendment. He was ignoring more than two centuries of precedent, destroying what was left of the American legal system. Due process? Habeas corpus? Trial by a jury of your peers? Miranda warnings? Gone. Welcome home, Star Chamber.

Laura reached across the table and took my hand. I let her. Maybe even needed it.

“Believe me,” the president continued, shaking his head in dismay, “what I am about to say brings me no pleasure. But after consulting the Justice Department, I have made the determination that for the first time in the history of this great country these executions will be televised.” He paused again, and Leo’s erupted into a smattering of excited responses.

The kid had wiggled out of the family booth and was standing by the counter, looking up at the president with adoration.

“We aren’t quite certain yet when this will happen. This is America, and under our laws these two people are entitled to all their possible legal remedies before being executed, so it will be at least another day or two.”