Wanted

By C.M. Rich (Magnetman)

Episode 12 - For Our Country

May 31st, 20XX, 4:49 PM , Eastern Standard Time

His fingers were intertwined with each other tightly, turning his knuckles shades of white and purple. It was only a tiny glimpse of the kind of pressure this man felt as he sat on the couch within the circular-shaped room, surrounded by a handful of his cabinet members.

“So…Where do we go from here?”, he asked dejectedly, snuffing out his fourteenth cigarette for the day amongst a growing pile of its similarly-fated brothers.

The room was uncomfortably silent; a theme that had persisted since yesterday.

Finally, the president of the free world stood up violently, angry.

“Alright…Someone want to tell me what the hell is going on? And cut out the bullshit this time.”

“Jim…”, his trusted ally and long-time supporter, John Avery, said empathetically under his breath as he placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t ‘Jim’ me…I want…I need to know what you’re hiding. What all of you are hiding. How the hell are we going to fix this mess if we can’t even be straight with each other?”, the second-term president shouted towards the other members of his cabinet.

“Sit down, Jim.”, Avery said, gesturing towards the couch. “Let’s talk.”

“Let’s”, James Weaving said, simultaneously relieved he was finally going to get some real answers, and worried about what they were. After all, some of his best friends were intentionally keeping them from him- none of them could be considered good at this point.

“To get right to the point…We’ve been at war.”

“Yes, of course. We’re still in the Middle East , cleaning up.”

“No”, John corrected, “not that. That’s nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“Yes. The war I’m talking about is one we’ve been fighting privately for the past decade. A war within.”

The president leaned forward, his hands interlaced in front of his face once again. He knew a cigarette wouldn’t be too far away.

“Since the early 1990s, the United States government has been actively engaged with members within.”, John continued. “It’s a civil war, Jim. One that we hope the history books never talk about.

They call themselves the ‘Four Horsemen’. I believe you know them better as the Ryder family; Vincent, Whitaker, Fabian, and Dane. Firstly, they’re not really blood related- their bond goes deeper than that.”

“Bond…?”, Jim echoed again.

“They’re the last remnants of our top black ops unit from the 1980s. It was a unit so secret, so hidden by miles of paper work and back door funds that only a handful of people know they even exist. You’re the first president since Reagan to even hear their name: The Pale Riders.

As you’re well aware, public assassinations are subject to extreme criticism and possible out casting from the UN if found to be backed in any way, shape, or form by a major government. But…Let’s just say that there’s always another Saddam out there, only if we catch it early, we can avoid such messy situations as the Iraq War. Or Vietnam , for that matter.

That was what the Pale Riders were there for. They did the dirty work and took none of the credit, knowing they were providing the most important service for the United States . You wouldn’t believe the situations these men have prevented from ever becoming public knowledge. Situations that would make the Bay of Pigs look like the Geneva Convention.”

“…Dirty work, huh.”, Weaving muttered, his teeth now gnashing down on a cigarette. “So, how do we get from being dark patriots to private enemy number one?”

“The Riders, or the last remaining four after the Chernobyl incident-“

“… Chernobyl ? You mean…?”

John merely nodded quickly, as if it should have been common knowledge by now. “Yes, well…The Soviets weren’t completely incompetent, you know.

Yes, after that incident, the Horsemen, as they were then designated, retired from active duty relatively young due to radiation poisoning. In retrospect, that would have been the best thing for us- to let them die so quietly and out of the way. Instead, perhaps out of sentimentality, a few of us felt they deserved the best possible treatment, and they all managed to escape death. After which, they were given new identities, and as a reward for their hard work and willingness to self-sacrifice, they were handed top-level jobs, two of which were within the Pentagon, the other two were presiding over secretly government-owned public companies.

They were different after that, however. It wasn’t long before they started making requests. Big requests. And if we failed to deliver, certain…secrets would be leaked to the media. We had to comply.”

“Extortion of the highest level.”

“Yes, unfortunately. We don’t know what made such fine patriots turn so bitter towards the country they nearly died for, but they did. Things quickly escalated out of hand, so action was taken to completely cover up their past. Within the past decade, there has been a…power struggle. In short, the Horsemen want to take control over the United States , but do so out of the public eye. They want to run a puppet government.

I’m afraid you’re considered one of their puppets, Jim. You were picked because of your blessed ignorance of this entire situation.”

“…What do you mean ‘picked’?”, Weaving scoffed. “Do you actually mean to tell me that these…Horsemen managed to rig the most important election in modern society?”

“Yes.”

“This is…unreal.”

“I’m afraid its very real, Jim.”

The two men stared down at the paper-littered table before them for a few seconds.

“…And you’re certain the Horsemen were responsible for what happened in Los Angeles ?”

“Affirmative.”

“…What was it?”

“…We don’t know. Some sort of new bomb the Horsemen contracted using extortion funds. They’ve hidden everything from us, right down to who was working on it and where. We literally know nothing about it.”

“…Are you lying to me?”

“What?”, a stunned Avery blurted.

“Are you lying to me? Answer me.”

John sat in silence for a few more seconds, realizing his old friend was in the right for asking such a question after being lied to for so long on a daily basis.

“No Jim…I’m not. We don’t know what it was, but we have reason to believe this was a test for the weapon.”

“A test? What makes you think that?”

“The Horsemen were seen departing towards the Western Coast two days ago, before the blast. It’s rare to see them leave in a single group. We had a hunch something big was going on, but we lost track of them shortly after they arrived there. Our spies were all found dead within hours.”

Weaving stood up and slowly walked towards the window facing the lawn of the White House. Perhaps lost in thought, or just plain lost, John knew the inevitable action Jim would come up with.

After half an hour of silence, James Weaving came to an understanding.

“ Nuke LA. ”

“You…You can’t be serious.”

“I’m deadly serious. What have we got to lose at this point? Los Angeles is lost, John. Gone. And if there’s any shadow of a doubt that the Horsemen are near there in one place at one time, we have no choice but to take it.”

“Jim…Think this through. We can pass off this whole disaster as…As a terrorist act. The Mechanical…Menaces are already prime candidates for a scapegoat.”

“A scapegoat? You think passing on the blame to an innocent party will solve any part of this?”

“…They’re hardly innocent.”

“I know who they are! I know they’re not the most upstanding citizens out there. I know some of them don’t even qualify as citizens at all, if any. But I also know that we have no reason to believe that they had anything to do with this, especially if it’s a FACT these Horsemen’ are involved.”

“Jim, listen to me. We can’t publicly acknowledge the Horsemen. Revealing just that alone would, without a shadow of a doubt, unravel the United States as we know it. There’s so many dirty little secrets that they were involved in that we’d never survive the media maelstrom.”

“…You’re worried about your job? You honestly think keeping a job is so important to you that you’d intentionally ruin lives and hide the truth from the people you serve to save it?”

“It’s not like that….Not at all. You’re missing the point. If the public finds out about this, the entire government collapses. We’re not talking about jobs…We’re talking about the collapse of capitalism and democracy. Not only would we go down, but our allies…Yes, our allies, whom the Horsemen have done ‘favors’ for, would also be dragged down into the muck.

Jim…Its not in our best interest to be honest at this point. Mistakes have been made…BAD mistakes…But I’m not willing to call it a day on them just yet.”

The President looked his ally dead in the eye for his next response: “You can’t keep covering up lies with more lies. It has to stop somewhere.”

“I know…We know…But you have to understand…We’re protecting the legacy of the United States , and everyone who relies on it.

Jim…We can’t use a nuclear weapon on our own soil. We just…can’t.”

“Well then…What do you propose we do, then?”, Weaving said, wearily.

“Watch. And wait.”

“…And that’s it? You say we should take no action?”

“No, I’m saying we hold off on taking action. At least…Wait until we know more about what happened. Once we can confirm the exact location of the Horsemen, then we move in, and take them down as quickly as possible. We can’t afford to go in blind on this one, however.” , Avery said, blankly.

“…The Maniacs. Should we count on them?”

“I wouldn’t. However, they may be useful. I’ll call the director of the CIA, come to think of it. He may think of something for them.”

“Please do so.

And John…”

The President addressed his trusted ally as he swiftly made way for the door.

“…No more secrets.”

Avery merely gave a shallow, yet sincere smirk, exiting and leaving the President alone for the first time in many, many hours.

President Weaving sank deeply into the leather office chair before the grand desk of the Oval Office.

It was time for another cigarette.