Chapter 1
The crowds’
three syllable chants grew louder. Pickets, banners and posters stuck out from
a sea of heads with the words “CHANGE!” painted on them in red and black. The
protesters occupied the entire width of the road leading up to the State House.
Lights flashed from the cameras of reporters on either side of the road with
each reporter describing the current state of the event; creating a chaos of
words that blended in with the chanting of “We want change!”. The white-washed
walls of the State House seemed to tremble from the voices of the protesters.
Within his office, President Damian sat brooding with his fingers crossed and
elbows on the table; listening to the crowd. His greying hair was neatly combed
to one side parted on the left. His pale, square-jawed face lacked emotion and
the wide broad-shoulder body lacked any evidence of a soul. He slowly closed
his eyes and seemed to shake himself loose of a great weight from his shoulder
and reached over to the telephone beside him. “Get Todd to come in.” he ordered
before cutting the call.
The
door knob clicked and the door opened. A bald man dressed in a fitting grey
suit walked in, his mannerism suggesting a soldier within the shell of a
politician. “Mr. President” he acknowledged. “Shhh…” said the President
“Listen!”. Both of them listened to the protesters. “I want this gone! The
whole country seems to be against me; we need to change something… something
radical. We’re less than 10 months from the next election. And I’m not planning
on giving up this seat. You and I both know I’m going to run again and we need
to win. I need loyalty and that seems like a short supply in this office
nowadays…” Damian broke off and was engrossed in deep thought.
“I’ll
begin putting together a list of people we can sway, sir. Skeletons in the
closet and what not.” replied Todd.
“That
alone won’t do, in order to win the election, we need to win within the House
and the voters’ approval…” Damian thought for a few moments in silence as Todd
waited.
“Sir,
I need not state my loyalty to you. All these years since you’ve been Mayor, I’ve
never wavered. You’ve considered me your own son. I serve you and you alone”
replied Todd in confidence.
“Oh I
have full confidence in you Todd. It’s the rest I am worried about…” Damian was
interrupted by the ringing of the phone.
“Mr.
President sir, Major Dima is here and he says it’s urgent” said an electronic
voice.
“Send him in”
A
large-framed man walked in with his peak cap held in his left arm. His khaki
suit was decorated with multiple coloured bars, medals and pins. His face was
square with fat creeping around it due to old age with a scar near the end of
his right eyebrow, the silvery hair on his head was cut neatly and swept back.
Todd and Dima silently exchanged looks before Dima addressed the President.
“Sir,
I need to brief you on the situation in Aleppo. The rest of the staff have
already assembled in the Control Room”.
The
President got up without saying a word to Todd. The men proceeded out of the
room and moved through a corridor lined with paintings that illustrated the
country’s history and culture. The elevator was already waiting for them when
they arrived, the men got in and went down two floors. The protesters’ voices
seemed non-existent now, in the basement. The corridor was darker even though
it was well-lit, a heavy silence blanketed the entire floor. The men entered
the room on their immediate right; Todd opened the door for both the President
and Dima. The staff in the room all stood up as a show of respect to the
President. “Please, sit down” said Damian as he took his seat at the head of
the large oval table. In front of him was a screen with the satellite image of
a map projected on to it.
Outside
the State House, the crowd grew larger and angrier. The sidewalks were now
scattered with people, young and old taking a break from the constant chanting
and standing on their feet. The police riot squad stood lined up with their
shields behind the invisible barrier between them and crowd. Men with kerchiefs
tied to cover their faces from the nose downwards emerged from behind the
protesters. A total of 5 men dressed in similar fashion with a brown beer
bottle in each of their hands stood silent among the crowd. They exchanged a
look between them and nodded. The cloth at the mouth of the bottles were lit.
The
sound of glass breaking and a loud eruption of flames startled the crowd as
screaming and shouting ensued. The policemen began pushing forward with their
line while being pelted with stones and pickets and glass. The younger men were
now lighting firecrackers to startle the policemen and hurling it onto their
shields, ducking for cover in between throws. The older and weaker protesters
tried to flee the scene of chaos as they were caught in the cross fire. The
loud flash bang from a smoke grenade echoed throughout the avenue as smoke
filled the atmosphere and blanketed the air. People coughed and tears streamed
down from the faces of those who breathed in the smoke.
Men
and women shouting the names of their loved ones in a desperate attempt to find
each other. A lone riot policeman was caught by a gang of five young men as
they forced his helmet off his head and began beating him with sticks and
pelting him with stones. More policemen were dragged away from their formations
as the crowd surrounded them from all sides. When they ran out of sticks and
stones to throw, they resorted to punches and kicks. Dust covered the streets
as blood trickled down into the metal-grilled drains on the sides of the road. A child stood in the middle of the chaos
covered in blood, crying and in shock. A bald man sat atop an officer with his
helmet off grabbed the policeman’s baton and began to beat the man’s face as he
screamed in pain; over and over again. For a moment, the attackers’ faces
seemed to contort into something not entirely human. The avenue became a jungle
and the men became animals where the law was to kill or be killed.
Back
inside the State House, an assistant knocked on the door to the Control Room and
whispered a few words to the General who had opened the door. He turned around
and interrupted Major Dima who was pointing to a place on the map. “I’m sorry
to interrupt sir but the situation outside has escalated.”
Re-enforcement
arrived in large police trucks; the police now outnumbered the
protesters. The crowds began to scatter retreating into the narrow and winding
alleyways. Men in blue and black chasing civilians. The loud wailing of the
ambulance sirens filled the avenue. The smoke had now cleared and bodies lay
scattered on the road. Paramedics began attending to the bodies that still
twitched. A lone flag stood fluttering in the wind on the side of the road;
shredded and covered in blood. The wind picked up ever so slightly and the flag
fell to the ground with a sound that seemed to echo for miles around...
