Shorts

A collection of Marathon Torres short stories told between books.

By Keith E. Burns

These short stories are works of fiction.  Names, characters, and events are works from the author’s imagination and reside solely with the author.  Any resemblance to real events, people, living or dead is coincidental.  The setting may involve historical events and real places, but portrayed in a fictitious manner.

Part 1

After the Events from Discarded
Oval Office, White House
December 15th, 2019
Evening


        “Mr. President.”
	“Yes, come in.”
	The President of the United States sat behind The Resolute Desk in the oval office dressed in his typical business suite with a long red tie draped down towards his executive style chair.  
	“The report from New York is in,” he said as he entered the room.  The President held out his arm without looking up.  
	“It’s about damn time...  And?” The President asked grabbing it from his Chief of Staff.  The report was lengthy and the President didn’t have time to read the entire document.  He looked up demanding a quick summary.  
	“Looks like we’ve got a bigger problem than just New York City.”
	“How big?”
	“Potentially global, but it seems to have originated in the Middle East, Sir.”
	“Recommendations?”  
	“We sit on it, let things play out.  We don’t know all the players involved.”
	“I don’t like sitting around,” The President said.  “Other options?”
	“We leverage Saudi Arabia, Dubai for information.”
	“No, they’ll turn on us in a heartbeat.  We need to find out who is involved without them knowing we’re interested.”
	“CIA.”
	“Who do we have?” The President asked.  
	“A team,” he responded.  
	“Loyal?” 
	“They’ll get the job done.”
	“Okay, send them in.  I want names, got it?  Names.”
	“They are already in Dubai,” he responded.  
	“Good.”
	The Chief of Staff turned to leave the oval office, but The President held up his hand requesting that he remain.  He stood there silently as The President briefly scanned the report as if he were looking for something.  
	“That woman, who joined the CIA, the cop from New York involved in this mess.  What’s her name?”
	“Detective Torres,” he answered.  
	“Yes, Marathon, right?”
	“That’s her.  She’s currently in training at Langley,” the Chief of Staff said.  
	“I want her on the team.”
	“She’s not an operative yet.”
	“Promote her,” The President responded sounding annoyed.  
	“Yes sir.”
	The Chief of Staff then turned to leave again, but The President held his hand up once more as he continued thumbing through the report.  He made it to the end and then looked up at his Chief of Staff.  
	“Recommendation for New York?”
	“Go after the Mayor,” the Chief of Staff responded.  
	“Not yet.”
	“Sir.” 
	“We’ll get him soon enough.  We need to know more information before we aggressively start swinging.  Who’s working the case now?”
	“FBI.”
	“No, not good enough…” The President Responded.  “Get the CIA on it.  I need oversight here.  More eyes the better.”
	“We risk leaking this to the press,” The Chief of Staff responded.  
	“Who from the CIA can we trust?”
	“The Agent that originally worked the case.  Macron Esposito,” he said.  
	“Make sure he is on it.”
	“Copy that,” he said.  This time the Chief of Staff waited for The President to dismiss him.  He sensed there was more on his mind.  His patience paid off.  
	“When’s my next meeting?”
	“Thirty minutes sir, update on that virus out of China,” the Chief of Staff responded.  
	“Prep my notes on the way,” The President said.  
	“Copy.”
	“You can go.”
	“Sir.”

To be continued...