CHAPTER 37

CHAPTER 37

TED JOHNSON

— MISSED YOU, DID YOU KNOW?

— Today I am here as your attorney.

— I know I'm in good hands — he smiled — I just wanted to say that I missed you.

— I admit you are unrecognizable.

— Just some setbacks I had to put up with, it's the price I have to pay, this here will heal soon.

— Good, I just wanted to say that you are being prosecuted for crimes against humanity.

— Based on what?

— In acts in which the company appears to be connected.

— It's ridiculous.

— Then you'll have to tell him where your father is.

— As if I know where the old man hides.

— He must have said something.

— The only thing he told us was to bear the pressure until he came back, nothing more.

— I understand...

TED HAS ENDED ONE MORE SESSION of torture when the President came to him again after a few months.

— So, Ted, when you're going to collaborate with us, your brother has already been released.

— Based on what?

— In information.

— Type...

— You told us about the Omega Virus.

— If you had asked me about the Omega, I would have gladly answered.

— What could you tell us?

— Contrary to what you believe, it's not a virus, but a vaccine, it's called Omega — Red, it's an alteration in the immune system that can reverse or combat any threat that is known to humans, for example, AIDS, Cancer, etc. genetically modified can make a reverse effect, it can speed up cancer cells, or the process from HIV to AIDS in minutes.

— And you own this technology?

— My father stops her, he can do tests with me if he wants, inject any disease you have in the laboratory, nothing can hit me, even your tortures, it's a matter of minutes for my body to react and heal completely, remember the movie Highlander, the Immortal? Let's say that we are making great strides towards becoming that, for now we can only make us live 120 years with the appearance and vitality of 40/50 years old, more than that we have not yet arrived, but we are advancing in this purpose.

Jennie sat up trying to absorb this.

— Believe me, Madam President, my father really wants to form a new humanity and he has the power to do so, but you can't do it with the eight billion existing at the moment, it was necessary to reduce so that no person in the future will suffer from diseases, whatever they may be, maybe what my father did to get the financial power he has escaped him.

— You supply weapons to several countries.

— Not only that, we do research, we control diseases in all third world countries, we produce the most diverse viruses so that presidents and even dictators remain in power, we produce financial crises and wars, all in the name of the new humanity that will come., Madam President.

— Sorry, but it is impossible for me to accept that you do evil in the name of good.

— But you didn't do anything to stop it either, even though you had the power to do so, presidents before you also knew, but for a price they kept silent, maybe you're not corruptible, but even for honesty you have to pay a price.

— So you mean you don't regret what they did?

— Made? The fact that I know doesn't mean I've accomplished it, maybe I don't know my father's obsession with power, he would never share his glory with us, even if they were his children.

— But to build an empire, you need succession.

— Not for my father, because his focus is not on the present, but on the future, as we all won't be there, he doesn't care about us.

— But he won't be there either.

— Is that what you think, or do you really believe that our brothers are dead?

That was quite a stab to Jennie's heart.

— What do you mean about our brothers?

— Well, you're David Heringer's sister, I'm Ivy Johnson's brother, apparently they're not dead.

— What nonsense, I went to their wake.

— Since ancient Greece, theater has been celebrated, and nowadays it is no different, or do you really think that the theaters that the government makes to prevent people from knowing certain things that you believe are state secrets go unnoticed?

— What about David and Ivy?

— Secret in State, Madam President, but know that they will meet our father in the future, after all, we have the same blood.

— Don't give me that shit now, you brat.

— Does the truth hurt, Jennie?

— Don't call me that...

— Because? Is your title more important than your blood? Will you kill me for this?

— It should...

— You can't, you know that… you couldn't look your parents in the eye with blood on your hands, you're not a coward, I'll admit that, but you have a psychological brake that stops you.

— I wouldn't feel any guilt in killing you, after all, it would simply be blood for blood, I have an obligation to humanity.

— But you also have a moral obligation from which you cannot escape, the people themselves elected you because of your morality, to corrupt it by lowering yourself to our level is to betray the desire that the nation has placed in you.

— Don't think you can speak for me.

— Well, I told you about the Omega Virus, our brothers and our father, what else do you want to know?

— Why did you choose David and Ivy? — What is the purpose of all this?

— That's something I can't answer for you, but I know your adoptive parents might...

***

TED WAS BEING heavily escorted to his audience, being largely responsible for all the crimes that humanity had been committed, to his great surprise, his brother was along, in as bad a condition as his.

— Glad to see you, little brother.

— I can't say the same — Victor replied dryly.

They entered the courtroom and sat in the dock.

— Where's my lawyer?

The man arranged the documentation on the table and said calmly.

— Unfortunately, she disappeared.

— How did you disappear?

— I think you'd better be aware of what's going on in your audience and not with someone who betrayed your father.

— She would never betray my father.

Victor cleared his throat.

— Whatever, but as soon as we're out of here I'm going to want a full report of what happened to her, and of course, I'm going to want heads rolling.

THE JUDGMENT COULD NOT BE as unfavorable as possible, there was no argument to support the non — participation of the Brothers of Death, as they became known by the media and the sentence was unanimous, Death in the Electric Chair.

Ted looked at Jennie and she mixed a satisfaction in doing justice and despair in having to betray some principles, but as in every power game described in Machiavelli's The Prince, true power is demonstrated behind the scenes, where the people don't see the atrocious things that great leaders do, and Jennie H. Wilkinson was so equal and predictable in that respect, people expected her to be an executioner and I just find an executioner to do the job, simple as that.

TED AND VICTOR WERE in the same cell and each stayed in a corner.

— He was always visiting me — Victor began, breaking the ice of silence — that bastard said that you were free and that you just needed our information.

— She must have read As Long as There's Tomorrow by Sidney Sheldon, when Tracy plays chess with the two champions.

— What did you tell her?

— Would it make any difference?

— I don't think so... in the end, our father will get all the glory alone.

— Let's have a little more faith.

— What kind of silly talk is this?

— Let's have a little more confidence, is it better? Life has always smiled on us since the day we were born, we are heirs of the man who will change the course of humanity, it is not a little girl who will change it.

— Our own sister… what an irony of fate.

— Johnson vs. Johnson.

Ted tucked his pillow under his neck and thought about Alicia, she would be a much better company than her brother, and they had already been through a lot together.

— Our mother isn't mad at you, you know that?

— She's crazy, I don't know why you defend her so much.

— Because she's one of us.

— She's weak, when are you going to understand that? — She wouldn't survive a minute in the future we're creating, she's totally dependent on you to bond with me, she's dependent on our father for strength, she's dependent on that skinny doctor to succeed, she's dependent on Ivy to dream of something...

Victor turned around, annoyed.

— When are you going to wake up, Vic?

— You choose your whores and I choose mine, you chose your side to defend and I chose mine, I don't think we can change that anymore, even showing irrefutable evidence of their crimes.

— Just choose the winning side, I would hate to have to fight you, as much as I don't like many things you did and do, you're still the best brother I have.