Adultery Cheating and Rivals by xleglover-COMPLETED

[Ramesh_Rocky]

But then Mike thought of the 2 girls. They were running out of time. They needed to find them now.

Mike clenched his eyes shut. He gathered himself. Mind over matter. He willed the demons away. He forced himself to take that step forward. And then the next step. And the next.

People turned to look at Mike as he walked into the room. The room went silent.

With everyone looking, Mike picked up the yellow tennis ball.

Everyone looked scared. Desperate. Mike needed them at their best. And people weren't at their best when scared.

So Mike gave them a cocky grin. It felt unfamiliar on his face but he faked it. Forcing levity into his voice, he said "I've done stuff a lot harder than this. Got me thrown into jail. Place called CATF. You might've heard about that."

People chuckled and laughed. The tension in the room eased down a notch.

"We're going to solve this problem with binary trees," Mike told them. "We're going to run the data through recursive if-then statements. We'll filter the data down to get our focus, the tells. We'll use the tells to find the girls."

"You want to use conventional code?" Maria said skeptically. "Mike the data set is huge. This is the ultimate Big Data problem. We need a Big Data solution."

Mike shook his head. "No, we don't," he said. "Not if we have infinite computing power."

"How do we get that?" someone said.

"We've already got it. The combined computer power of the US government," Mike told them. "We drop the firewalls, link them together, suspend all other programs, run the computers in parallel." Mike looked at Colonel Banks and JJ who were standing across the room. "Can you get authorization? We need it now."

Colonel Banks was looking at the yellow ball in Mike's hand. "I think we can manage that Mike," he said with a satisfied grin. He gave JJ an "I told you so" look. JJ nodded grudgingly.

Alan Bigebers (Mr. Big) stood in the shadows, away from everyone else. He looked curiously at Mike but didn't say anything.

Mike turned back to the team. He forced that cocky smile again and said "Okay, this is what we're going to do ..."

*********************

"This is a Constitution crisis," Leo whispered to Jen as they both worriedly looked at the President and his team across the room. "The President cannot do his job with a gun to his daughters' heads."

Jen understood immediately. "He'll do whatever ISIS wants," she whispered back.

"Exactly," Leo said glumly.

"So what do we do?"

"Well," Leo said thoughtfully. "There's the 25th amendment ..."

*****************

"The 25th amendment won't solve anything," JJ hissed to Colonel Banks. "The VP has lived with those girls for 8 years. They're his kids too. Transferring power to him won't solve the problem. We have to implement the Independence protocol."

"That protocol's theoretical," Banks said gravely.

"It was designed for exactly this situation," JJ told him. "The Big 4 is unanimous. We go with Independence."

"I'm a member of Big 4," Banks reminded him.

"Then what say you Ethan?" JJ said challengingly. "We can't allow the President and VP's decisions controlled by ISIS. You know that's unacceptable. We must implement Independence."

"What's Independence?" Mike asked as he entered the room.

"I thought that door was locked," JJ said frowning at Mike.

Mike shrugged. "What's Independence?" he asked again.

"Where are we Mike?" Colonel Banks asked, avoiding his question.

"We should have something soon," Mike said. "We have the tells. Now we're running the Willy code. So what's Independence?"

"You're not cleared for that," JJ scoffed dismissively.

Mike sensed this was important. Pressing, he said, "You said we can't allow the President's decisions controlled by ISIS. So we have to implement Independence. What is it?"

"Okay Mike, you want to be brought in?" JJ angrily said. "Protocol Independence is a contingency plan. We try to save the girls. But if that's not possible, we make sure they can't be used as hostages against us."

Mike's eyes grew wide. "You murder the girls?" he said shocked and horrified.

JJ glared derisively at him. "What? You think we're playing games here? Grow up Mike. Freedom has a price. Are you really that naïve to believe this doesn't happen?"

***************

"You can't do this," Mike said as he rushed after Colonel Banks. "Independence isn't freedom. It's evil."

"I need to get ready Mike," Banks said, entering his quarters. Mike followed him in. He watched as Colonel Banks weaponed up.

"You're leading the mission?" Mike asked.

"It's what I do," Banks said with a shrug.

"You can't do this Colonel!" Mike said. "You can't kill those girls! That's murder! It's evil!"

"I do MY job to protect our country!" Colonel Banks yelled defensively. "Now you do YOUR job! Find out where those girls are!"

"Take me with you!" Mike said.

"On the mission?" Banks said with an incredulous laugh. "Mike do you own a gun? Have you ever fired a gun?"

"Let me try to save them!"

Banks stared at Mike. What was this frail, college professor type going to do? Get in the way of a bat? In the way of a runaway truck?

Banks looked down, glaring at his feet. Mike's show of courage shamed him. The purity of his ideals shamed him. Once Banks had been idealistic, like Mike. But that was a long time ago. Looking troubled and frowning, he said "The world's dangerous Mike. Sometimes we have to do things ..."

"This isn't right Colonel. It's evil!" Mike pressed. "The means don't always justify the ends."

Another frown passed Bank's face. But the decision had been made. Shaking his head, he took his gun and pressed it into Mike's hands. He said "Take this. If you're going to stay in this business, you should learn how to use it." Giving Mike a fierce grin, he added "You know you're doing the right thing when they're shooting at you."

There was a knock at the door. It opened and Mitch looked in. "The team's in the briefing room," he told Banks. Mitch looked as troubled as Banks. He looked at Mike. "Phantom," he said with a nod of his head.

Mike nodded back. Then the men were gone. Mike stood there for long moments, holding the gun but feeling powerless.

*************

Mike was back in the bunker, feeling disoriented. What was he doing here? Locating the girls, just so the government could kill them? Who were the good guys and bad guys? Where was the line?

Mike looked at one of the big screens on the wall. It was a live feed from Jasmine's rally. He saw the President and First Lady, looking worried. Did they know what was about to happen? Did they know about the Independence protocol? Or was that something government lifers like JJ and Banks kept to themselves?

Mike watched as Jen and Anna came into view on the big screen. He was surprised they were still there. But then, probably Jasmine was supporting the President, so of course then Jen would stay to support Jasmine.

Then Mike saw something else and his whole world turned upside down. Behind Jen, in the distance. He saw Ricky.

Mike staggered into a chair, barely able to think. Jen was with Ricky. She lied again. Again! And Anna was there. She was with Ricky with Anna there. Jen wanted to be with Ricky so much, loved him so much, she was with him, even with Anna there.

Suddenly Mike felt like his marriage was over. Maybe not suddenly. Maybe it'd been building. Maybe it was inevitable.

There was only so much a man could take. Yes, he had cuckold fantasies. But even he had limits. How could he stay with Jen after this? After all the lies? All the betrayals? All the countless lies?

But the thought of life without Jen made him numb inside. That wasn't life. It was death.

And then there were JJ and Banks, and Independence. That was another betrayal. Not against just Mike but the whole country. Against the idea of America. It made Mike feel even more dead inside.

Mike wanted to be alone. He wanted to go away, far away, and not be bothered by anyone. Fuck JJ and the government. Fuck everyone. Fuck Jen too. He didn't care anymore.

So Mike pulled his iPhone from his pocket. He placed it on the table. He whispered "Siri - upload and execute."