Chapter 122: < Protect – Episode 121 – New York Catastrophe [1] >

The ghost of elections

Shadow President

Popular Culture Strategist

Scott Davis had many nicknames.

In order to know more about him, the Davis family had to be asked. The current President Allen didn’t have any blood relations with Scott. That was because Scott was his brother in law. He used to be a Darrell but changed his surname to Davis instead. It was true that he had a lot of ambition, but he mainly did it because he loved his wife—Charlotte—so much.

Jina Davis was given birth to after two difficult miscarriages. He still remembered how touched he felt when she was born. In addition to that, she grew up in the most beautiful and proud way. He had a beautiful heart and dreamt of achieving world peace.

‘You’re a gift given to me by God.’

An angel bestowed by the Heavens.

He was willing to do anything for his daughter.

“Thank you, Scott. You’ll be a great help.”

“I’m glad, Mr. President.”

Scott smiled at Allan. He was currently in the same car as the American president, who was on his way to New York. The security team was against him visiting New York. After being traumatized by his daughter’s death, Scott visited the White House as soon as the New York terrorist attack took place. He then exhibited great leadership and led Allan to go to New York.

“This country will be born again after today, Mr. President. So you need to show your confidence and class to the world as the American president. We need a strong message if we want to intimidate a hostile country.”

“Won’t the assembly hate this?”

“Don’t worry about what they’ll think. This is a state of emergency.”

“What about the media?”

“No one will worry about the Sao Paulo scandal for the time being. If we stress the fact that another free country is being attacked after the terrorist attack in Rome even the Americans will agree.”

In response to Scott’s calm explanation, the president just nodded. Allan smiled as if he was relieved. It was hard to meet another amazing advisor like Scott. He wondered how better things would have been if he followed his advice during the Sao Paulo scandal as well.

New York Central Park was very tense.

It wasn’t just the president’s security team that was busy, but other agents as well. In contrast to the press conference that claimed that they would end the terrorists, they hadn’t finished anything just yet. They had never looked into who was responsible, to begin with. They were just talking the talk. But it was already too late to do anything now.

“Five minutes until the eagle arrives!”

It was 5 minutes before the president’s arrival.

While the secret service team inspected their security plans, the others dispatched agents over divided districts. Half of New York police was dispatched to Central Park, which was at the highest risk, and the national guard bureau protected New York from the skies.

“We don’t have to check people’s belongings!”

“We need to at least tape the surrounding areas!”

“Use the heat detector!”

“What do we do about the speaker’s stage?”

It wasn’t just the president who was visiting New York. All sorts of powerful people with ambition such as senators, governors, and mayors all swarmed in. And what determined their worth was how close they could sit next to the president.

In the end, politics was a war of seating.

“If the president butts in, we won’t get a good picture, Sir.”

Fitzgerald’s aide expressed his disappointment.

“Be careful of what you say. You could get a backlash for saying bad things about the president here.”

Fitzgerald—who greeted other attendees and sat at his assigned seat—calmed his aide down. His seat wasn’t close or far from the president. He was considered a presidential candidate, but the election hadn’t started yet, and he had made a lot of enemies at the Senate hearing as well. Fitzgerald was at a disadvantageous position.

“You’re here early, Fitz.”

“Nancy.”

The woman sitting next to Fitzgerald was a Caucasian woman. She was also a senator who was aging well for her age.

Nancy Brown.

A person whose 50 years of age was considered young for senators. She had strong political influence, but she was elected in Virginia. Virginia was originally dominated by the Republicans, but they switched to being Democrats before changing to Republicans again following the Sao Paulo scandal.

The reason why she was able to become a senator was that the senator of the democratic party was accused of corruption. And it was quite difficult for a newly-elected candidate to win the election. So after she accomplished that, she had a lot of backlashes as well.

If Fitzgerald was the star of the Senate hearing, she was popular for being a female leader who used to be a prosecutor. During her years as a prosecutor, she had put many big criminals in jail. Among those were criminal organization heads, terrorists, as well as influential politicians. It was actually surprising that a feminist with many enemies was nominated by the Republicans, and it was almost a miracle that she was elected.

“There’s a bad rumor going around, Fitz.”

“Rumor?”

“According to my friend in law, there’s a rumor going around claiming that you have something to do with a murder incident.”

“Rumors are just rumors.”

Fitzgerald made sure to keep a straight face. She was still going around being on top of things as a former prosecutor. The concealment that the president and senator committed was an illegal act that even a grand jury would agree upon. It was buried under the word “national security”, but the suspicion would chase them until they died.

‘Do I have to give up the presidency…?’

If she knew about it, that meant all his competitors knew too.

“The president has arrived! Please rise!”

The president’s arrival made them stop their stressful conversation.

Clap, clap-

In response to the Americans who were clapping for the president who was visiting New York for its citizens, President Davis responded with a smile. The president was even accompanied by his wife and children. It was as if he was stressing that the terrorist attack was no big deal. He took over 20 minutes to rise to the podium.

In response to the continuing applause, President Davis looked very pleased. Central Park was filled with people. Among them were refugees who were hiding out as well as Americans who were volunteering to help.

“Thank you, America! Thank you!”

Following the president’s loud voice, the clapping quieted down.

“New York and its citizens will not fall because of this! Also, our strong nation will not surrender to evil!”

He managed to make their enemies into villains! What the Americans wanted was clear revenge against their enemies. They wanted to use America’s strongest weapons to attack them, and they also wanted to send the special forces to hunt them down like animals.

America longed for revenge. They no longer cared about the Sao Paulo scandal. That was because if a war broke out, casualties were bound to happen. Since America rose due to gunfire, they knew better than anyone that sacrifice was needed in order to win. Whether they liked it or not, the ones who were sacrificed were going to be presented as patriots.

Allan Davis felt the heightened vibe. Today’s disaster was going to make Americans band together, and he would lead that America and write a new history. The clear solution was always war. After their domination following World War II, America started a war at least every 10 years.

The Korean war was like that, so was the Vietnam war, and Cuba, Iraq, and Afghanistan as well. War never ended in America. That was their essence.

‘Okay! It’s now time to give them hope!’

It was time to talk about how superior and strong America was, as well as talk about their shining future.

Bang-

It was the sound of a gunshot.

“Agh!”

Something that wasn’t supposed to happen took place. Central Park, which was surrounded by security and the military, was like an impenetrable fortress. However, it was the president’s security guards that dominated the president’s security guards, and it was the FBI agents who threatened the FBI agents.

“Back off! Back off!”

Once the gunshots went off, the whole place turned into chaos. At this point, the secret service should have risked themselves to take the president to a safe place, but he was already taken by unidentified assailants.

The politicians, businessmen, and other influential people were scared because of the gunfire.

Those who couldn’t run away from what happened almost instantaneously were seized by agents who were either in disguise or had switched sides. Before they could take a few breaths, everything ended.

“What’s this?”

What surprised President Davis even more, was the calm face that he saw.

“Scott?”

Scott Davis frowned when he heard his name.

“You despicable bastard.”

He then raised his gun at the president and something unexpected happened once again. The unidentified assailants’ heads started to get blown off. They all fell over as if they were dominos. The agents who were looking for an opportunity tried to make a move, but James suddenly stopped them.

“Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!”

When people were going crazy at the shocking events, the person who stopped Scott’s gun was none other than Captain America. The mask was a little different, but everyone knew that he was the same person from Macy’s Department Store.

“What are you doing? Shoot that traitor! Shoot… Ugh!”

Fitzgerald gathered up the courage to yell at the top of his lungs, but his showmanship didn’t last long. Instead of shooting Scott, Ahn Soo Ho shot Fitzgerald in the foot.

“Shut up, Fitz. Before I shoot you in the mouth.”

As soon as Fitzgerald sank to the ground, Ahn Soo Ho looked back at Scott.

“Why did you do it?”

He changed his voice a little bit, but Scott still recognized who was behind the mask. As far as he knew, there was only one person in the whole world who could kill dozens of agents all by himself.

“Why? Do you really have no idea?”

“Was it because of Jina?”

“Yeah! Those hypocrites killed my daughter!”

His screaming rang through Central Park through a loudspeaker. Did Jina Davis not commit suicide? People started to mumble. Ahn Soo Ho suddenly pulled his trigger multiple times. James didn’t see where it was pointed at, but he had a feeling. He grabbed those responsible and oppressed them.

“Don’t shoot, you bastards! Put down your guns right now!”

Ahn Soo Ho shrugged his shoulders.

“I’m listening, Scott.”

They didn’t know which direction, but they tried to pull the trigger. It was impossible to catch a sniper using a regular handgun. In case of strange circumstances, the VIPs were supposed to be taken to safety, but no one could lead the president away.

“Jina… was heartbroken that she was the only survivor. And then, when I heard that she ran in front of a car… yeah. I thought that could have been possible. However, I knew right away that Jina didn’t commit suicide.”

“How?”

“In her will, there wasn’t a single word of goodbye. My daughter wasn’t a girl with no manners.”

Ahn Soo Ho nodded. He first met Jina in Brazil, but from what he heard, she was a kind-hearted girl.

“Did you investigate?”

“Yeah! And that’s how I found out! That incapable president and a greedy political scumbag used my daughter as a scapegoat!”

Scott waved his gun and pointed it at Allan Davis and Fitzgerald.

“You fucking assholes! I made you into the president, and I helped you enter politics, but you both targeted my daughter and killed her! Go to hell, you sons of bitches!”

He was swearing at them with all his rage and hatred.

“After I made them into politicians, they insulted my daughter! Do you know how that feels? Huh?”

Scott’s rage and hatred were pointed at them as well as himself.

“In my life, I’ve participated in many elections and succeed too! Scandals, negative rumors, blackmail… I committed all sorts of lowly things in my life! But I wasn’t embarrassed to do them! That’s because democracy does include evil! Freedom teaches us those horrible things are also our right!”

Elections were the final decisions of those horrible things. Scott showed the people the end result of ambition and stressed choices that leaned toward evil. It didn’t matter if people picked good or evil. Under democracy, all that mattered was if one were selected by the public or not.

“Dumb Americans! Rich people don’t pay taxes! You know why? Because the politicians who take all the bribes made the laws that way! Democrats? Republicans? Liberal? Conservatives? Those things don’t matter if you have money, you stupid fools! The American Dream is dead!”

Scott ridiculed all Americans in front of American television.

“The White House? The National Assembly? Those punks in DC aren’t asking for your thoughts or opinions! They just want your checks, damn it! Don’t you get it? They evade all those taxes while taking all of yours! ‘We can do it? Let’s change America?’ That’s bullshit that even my old mom can say!”

How great would it be if people could change the world with words alone?

“And I’m the one who put those assholes at the top in the first place!”

Scott despised politics while also believing that the essence of politics could win over evil. He believed that if he could look into evil, he could make sure that justice would prevail. However, he acknowledged his own failure today.

“I failed! I… was wrong.”

And he was so ashamed that he couldn’t handle it.

“Sacrifice… Sacrifice can’t be comforted with a commemorative event. I found that out way too late.”

He found out after he lost his beloved daughter.

“My daughter… Jina. She was a blessing that I didn’t deserve. I thanked God for her.”

She was a precious treasure that he got after two miscarriages.

“Sacrifice… Sacrifice isn’t a given. It’s wrong for society to think that’s a given. The American way of living was over when the Vietnam War broke out. Racism? Antiwar movements? Protecting animals and the environment? Gender equality? We needed a new way of living after that. And we found it. The new rule of terrorist attacks.”

The system of gaining profit from burning the world down in flames.

“Greedy capitalists! They always started wars! 911? The New York attack? Look around! This all has to do with money! Today, we fight over oil, and tomorrow, we’ll fight over water! I guarantee it! One day, we’ll even fight over air! And even then, we’ll get tricked by the politicians and go to war for it!”

The precondition of the strongest country in the world was the power to start wars.

“I’m ashamed. I’m so embarrassed. And you should all be embarrassed, too.”

Scott not only pointed at the politicians but at the public as well.

“Fucking America! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”

Americans were no longer superior.

Scott took a breath and looked at Captain America who was just listening. ‘Fucking America’ and Captain American was paradoxical. Ahn Soo Ho smirked behind his mask.

“Do you feel better now?”

“Yeah. I feel like I’ve been born again.”

Scott smiled brightly for the first time in a while.

“Do you still want to kill those two, Scott?”

When Ahn Soo Ho pointed at President Davis and Fitzgerald with his chin, Scott shook his head.

“No. Maybe living on with the shame is better than just dying. It’s too bad I can’t see their last moments though.”

It wasn’t just the people at Central Park who were watching. Since the cameras kept rolling, everyone was watching and hearing this shocking sight.

‘The American Dream is dead!’

There wasn’t a better headline for a newspaper’s front page.

“Did you have to do all this?”

“I… can’t live without my daughter.”

“What about Charlotte?”

“She doesn’t know anything. Can you take care of her for me?”

Ahn Soo Ho shrugged his shoulders, and Scott—who took that as a yes—smiled brightly once more.

“Thank you.”

His last words couldn’t be heard because along with his smile, he pulled the trigger on himself.

Bang-

“Agh!”

As soon as people screamed, the secret service pulled the president and others off the podium and pulled them to safety. It was as if time had stopped, and it had started again.

“Agh!”

The world was awake, and it was shocked once more.

< Protect – Episode 121 – New York Catastrophe [1] > The end.

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