3
The White House security guard stood at the Pennsylvania Avenue entrance and stared in puzzlement at the man approaching on the sidewalk. He was short yet walked with a bold stride, his chest out and chin up, with an air of command. With fire-red hair and matching goatee, he reminded the guard of a bantam rooster stalking the henhouse. But it wasn’t his appearance or demeanor that most caught the guard’s attention. Rather, it was the large unlit stogie that protruded from the man’s lips.
“Charlie… isn’t that the VP? ” he asked his companion in the guard box. But his fellow agent was on the telephone and didn’t hear him. By now, the man had approached the small entryway alongside the guardhouse.
“Good evening,” he said in a gritty voice. “I have an eight o’clock appointment with the President.”
“May I see your credentials, sir?” the guard asked nervously.
“I don’t carry that nonsense around,” the man replied gruffly. He stopped and took the cigar out of his mouth. “The name’s Sandecker.”
“Yes, sir. But I still need your credentials, sir,” the guard replied, his face turning bright red.
Sandecker squinted at the guard, then softened. “I understand that you are just doing your job, son. Why don’t you call Chief of Staff Meade and tell him I’m at the gate?”
Before the disheveled guard could respond, his partner stuck his head out of the guard box.
“Good evening, Mr. Vice President. Another late meeting with the President?” he asked.
“Good evening, Charlie,” Sandecker replied. “Yes, I’m afraid this is the only time we can talk without interruption.”
“Why don’t you go on in,” Charlie said.
Sandecker took a step, then stopped. “See you’ve got a new man on the job,” he said, turning to the numb guard who had stopped him. The Vice President then reached out and shook hands with the man.
“Keep up the good work, son,” he said, then turned and ambled up the drive to the White House.
Though he had spent the better part of his career in the nation’s capital, James Sandecker was never one for official Washington protocol. A retired admiral, Sandecker was well known within the Beltway for the blunt manner in which he had administered the National Underwater and Marine Agency for many years. He’d been startled when the President asked him to replace his elected running mate, who had died in office. Though he lacked a political bone in his body, Sandecker knew he could be a stronger proponent for the environment and the oceans that he loved and so had readily accepted the offer.
As Vice President, Sandecker tried his best to shun the trappings that came with the office. He continually frustrated his Secret Service contingent by ditching them at will. A physical-fitness fanatic, he was often seen out jogging solo along the Mall. He worked out of an office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building rather than utilizing a similar space in the West Wing, preferring to avoid the political haze that enveloped all White House administrations. Even in poor weather he would stroll down Pennsylvania Avenue for meetings in the White House, preferring a dose of fresh air to the underground tunnel that connected the two buildings. In good weather, he was even known to hike up to Capitol Hill for congressional meetings, tiring the Secret Service agents assigned to keep up with him.
Passing through another security checkpoint at the entrance to the West Wing, Sandecker was escorted by a White House staffer to the Oval Office. Shown through the northwest doorway, he crossed the blue-carpeted room alone and took a seat across from the President at his desk. It wasn’t until he was seated that he took a good look at the President and nearly winced.
President Garner Ward was a mess. The populist independent from Montana, who bore a passing resemblance in character and appearance to Teddy Roosevelt, looked like he hadn’t slept in a week. Puffy sandbags of flesh protruded beneath his blotchy red eyes while his facial skin appeared sullen and gray. He stared at Sandecker with a grim demeanor that was uncharacteristic of the normally jocular Chief Executive.
“Garner, you’ve been burning the midnight oil a bit too much,” Sandecker said in a concerned tone.
“Can’t be helped,” the President replied in a weary voice. “We’re in a helluva state at the moment.”
“I saw the news that the price of gasoline has hit ten dollars a gallon. This latest oil shock is hitting quite hard.”
The country was facing yet another unexpected spike in oil prices. Iran had recently halted all oil exports in response to Western sanctions, while labor strikes in Nigeria had reduced African oil exports to nearly zero. Worse for the U.S. was the suspension of oil exports from Venezuela, orchestrated by the country’s volatile President. The price of gasoline and fuel oil quickly skyrocketed while shortages erupted nationwide.
“We haven’t seen the worst of it,” the President replied. He slid a letter across his desk for Sandecker to read.
“It’s from the Canadian Prime Minister,” Ward continued. “Because of legislation passed by Parliament that drastically curtails greenhouse gas emissions, the Canadian government is forcing closure of most of the Athabasca oil sands operations. The Prime Minister regrets to inform us that all associated oil exports to the U.S. will be halted until they can solve the carbon emission problem.”
Sandecker read the letter and slowly shook his head. “Those sands account for nearly fifteen percent of our imported oil. That’ll be a crushing blow to the economy.”
The recent price surge had already been felt hard across the country. Hundreds of people in the Northeast had died during a winter cold snap when fuel oil stocks ran dry. Airlines, trucking companies, and related transport businesses were driven toward bankruptcy, while hundreds of thousands of workers in other industries had already been laid off. The entire economy seemed on the brink of collapse, while public outrage swelled at a government that could do little to alter the forces of supply and demand.
“There’s no sense in getting angry at the Canadians,” the President said. “Shutting down Athabasca is a rather noble gesture, in light of the accelerated global-warming figures we keep seeing.”
Sandecker nodded. “I just received a National Underwater and Marine Agency report on ocean temperatures. The seas are warming much faster than previously predicted, while rising at the same pace. There seems to be no stopping the melting of the polar ice caps. The rise in sea level is going to create a global upheaval that we can’t even imagine.”
“As if we don’t have enough problems,” the President muttered. “And not only that, we’re also facing potentially devastating economic repercussions. The global anti-coal campaign is gaining real support. A lot of countries are considering the proposed boycott of American and Chinese goods unless we give up burning coal.”
“The problem is,” Sandecker noted, “coal-fired power plants are the largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions — but they also provide half of our electricity. And we have the largest coal reserves in the world. It’s a painful dilemma.”
“I’m not sure that our nation could survive economically if an international boycott gained momentum,” the President replied in a low voice. The exhausted Chief Executive leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. “I fear we are at a tipping point, Jim, in terms of both the economy and the environment. Disaster awaits if we don’t take the right steps.”
The pressures of the situation were building, and Sandecker could see that they were clearly taking a toll on the President’s health. “We’re in for some tough choices,” Sandecker replied. Taking pity on a man he considered a close friend, he added, “You can’t solve it all yourself, Garner.”
An angry fire suddenly lit in the President’s tired eyes. “Maybe I can’t. But I shouldn’t have to try. We’ve seen this coming for a decade or more yet nobody had the will to act. Prior administrations spent their time propping up the oil companies while throwing peanuts at renewable-energy research. The same goes for global warming. Congress was too busy protecting the coal industry to see that they were setting the planet up for destruction. Everyone knew that our economic reliance on foreign oil would someday come to haunt us, and now that day has arrived.”
“There’s no debating the shortsightedness of our predecessors,” Sandecker agreed. “Washington has never been a town known for its courage. But we owe it to the American people to do what we can to right the wrongs of the past.”
