Shaking his head as he opened the door, “It shocks them that people at the top do actual work,” Jackson laughed.
“I didn’t have a choice about taking the job as associate director,” Sutton said, walking in. “The other man for the job could barely tie his shoes.”
“Could almost say the same about some in the room we are about to be in,” Jackson commented as they walked across a large room and a guard opened a set of double doors. Walking down the hall lined with doors, two guards were standing beside double doors.
Seeing the two coming, they opened the doors as Jackson held up his ID card. Reaching down, Sutton held up his ID card hanging on a lanyard around his neck.
The guards nodded as they walked into another room where a man wearing a suit sat beside another door. Not seeing the man, Sutton gave a cry of excitement at seeing a table loaded with food. He ran over as a Secret Service agent opened a door on the opposite wall. Jackson grinned as Sutton put his laptop and papers down and grabbed a plate, loading it with food.
“I take it, you haven’t eaten?” Jackson laughed.
Glancing at his watch, “Fourteen hours ago,” Sutton answered, grabbing a can of soda. “I really want this vaccine and I forget to eat when I’m working.”
Hearing the word ‘vaccine’, the agent tilted his head to Sutton and then stepped over to grab Sutton’s laptop and the folder with the stack of papers. “Thank you,” Sutton said, smiling.
“Pleasure, sir,” the agent said and followed them inside.
The room held a long table almost identical to the one at the White House and Sutton barely gave a glance as he started eating, heading to an open seat. Moving past Sutton, the agent pulled his chair out and set the folder and then his laptop bag down.
With his mouth full, Sutton gave the agent a funny grin and the agent just nodded with a smile. “Dr. Sutton, haven’t they prepared you any food?” the President asked, sitting at the head of the table.
Holding up his hand as he chewed faster, Sutton opened the soda and took a drink to wash the food down. “Sorry, Mr. President,” he said with a dry voice, then took another swig of soda. “I’ve been in the lab and when I took a nap at my desk, one of the guards brought me and my team some sandwiches.”
“That was fourteen hours ago, Mr. President,” Jackson said, sitting down beside Sutton.
Everyone at the table gave an impressed nod as the president snapped his fingers and the aide standing behind him stepped forward. “Sarah, I’m assigning you with Dr. Sutton twenty-four-seven. Your job is to make sure he and his team are fed and taken care of.”
“Yes, Mr. President,” the young lady said and stepped back to the wall.
“Where are we at, Mr. President?” Jackson asked. “I wanted to give him a chance to eat and read over what Atlanta sent because Dr. Sutton’s already told me that he’s headed back to the lab when we are done here.”
Nodding his head, the President grinned as Sutton shoveled food in his mouth, reading a stack of papers in a folder. “The NSA is reporting that they are having problems keeping panic off the internet and several broadcasters are getting antsy about not reporting the deaths,” the President answered.
“We have an actual death toll?” Jackson asked and Sarah ran from behind the president and down the table. Stopping beside Jackson, she handed him a bound report and put one beside Sutton, then ran back behind the president.
As Jackson opened the report, Paterson looked across the table. “As of this morning, over six million, four hundred, and twenty thousand,” Paterson said glumly.
Not looking up, “Shit,” Jackson gasped, looking at the printout in the report that listed areas of the nation. “It’s growing exponentially like Dr. Sutton said, but it’s every other day, not three, and these numbers are much higher.”
“Fuck,” Sutton mumbled with a mouthful and leaned down to grab his laptop out of his bag.
Jackson and everyone at the table turned to Sutton as he opened his laptop up. “Problem?” Jackson said and Sutton’s chewing exaggerated as he turned on his laptop and held a hand up to Jackson. Grabbing his soda, Sutton shook it and gave a depressed sigh, hearing it was empty.
As Sutton pushed his chair back, the President pointed to the door and Sarah took off running. Jackson grabbed a water pitcher from the middle of the table and poured a glass, seeing Sutton needed anything wet so he could swallow.
Grabbing the cup, Sutton downed it and emptied his mouth. “Shit, I can’t eat like that anymore,” he grumbled, setting the glass down and looking at his laptop screen. “Oh, come on!” he cried out, reaching down and grabbing his power cord.
Jackson leaned over and saw the low battery shutdown warning on the screen. He grabbed the plug and stood up, plugging it into a power strip in the center of the table and Sutton plugged the supply into his laptop. “Mine does the same thing. When I need it the most, the battery dies,” Jackson said and everyone around the table nodded and chuckled dryly, not liking the look on Sutton’s face.
“That’s why I bought this one, it has the largest battery available,” Sutton huffed, waving his hand at the computer and then typed in his password.
As the computer came to life, Sarah came back with two cans of soda. Setting one unopened on the table, she opened the other one and set it beside Sutton. “Thank you,” Sutton said, clicking the wireless connection. “The password is not the same here?” Sutton cried out.
Leaning over, Sarah pushed Sutton to the side and started typing on his laptop. When
