A Boy and His Corpse Read Online Free PDF

past few months, and both your intelligence and mine shows that he’s currently running this new branch of Al-Queda. I swear, I’m going to burn down all of Pakistan until I get to him, with or without your support.”
    “Please, Eli, just think about this rationally.”
    “Over two hundred people, Rosewater. Raad killed over two hundred of my people and injured thousands of others! Lines have to be drawn in the sand and they have to be drawn now .”
    “I know you’re angry,” the President continued, “but let me just get support from the U.N. first before you do anything drastic. You don’t want to make this another October War, or another Gaza incident. The rest of the world is behind you this time, Eli, and we will help you. You have to trust me on this. As your ally, America stands behind you 100% and—”
    “You have three days to help us or we’re launching an attack ourselves.” Then the phone went dead.
    That was four days ago, and Israel still hadn’t made a move. But everybody and their mother knew they were just planning things out. After centuries of fighting, Israel didn’t just plan on bombing Pakistan. They planned on wiping them off the face of the Earth. All it would take was one nuclear missile to get things started. And the minute that missile launched, Raad would have exactly what he wanted. The rest of the Muslim populated Middle East would counter-attack until every last Israelite was annihilated. Being Israel’s ally, America would be forced to get involved. If not, the ramifications would spread beyond Israel, as no ally of the U.S. would trust them. Rosewater was stuck no matter what he did.
    The President put his hand on Tom’s shoulder.
    “Tell them that I’m working on it.”
    “But that’s not good enough, sir! I—”
    “Dammit, Tom, it’s the best I can do right now. We have to see how this plays out.”
    “And if it plays out with nukes?”
    “I have to believe that President Lampel won’t go to such drastic lengths.”
    Tom Mitchum sighed. “If only Armand Raad would burn up in a kitchen fire like Park Ji-Hoon, we wouldn’t even have these problems.”
    Rosewater bit his lip and didn’t look his advisor directly in the eyes. “Yes, well, we can’t always be so lucky. Now, please, leave me to my thoughts. Lord knows I have a lot of them.”
    His advisor nodded and then grumbled something before he left. President Rosewater stepped into the Oval Office. The bald eagle woven into the design on the carpet stared up at him from the floor. In the past it had always brought him a deep sense of pride. But today, he only felt another set of eyes looking to him to make a decision. He sat down at his desk and pulled out a phone from the top drawer. The sun beat down on Rosewater’s back from the giant window behind him. The call he made had only six digits, and it spelled out the word, “Undead.”
    The phone rang once.
    “Yes?” a sickly voice said at the other end.
    The President leaned into his desk and spoke as low as he could. “How much longer is this going to take?”
    “Things like this take time, Mr. President. It will get done. I promise you that.”
    “ But when ? Give me an estimate.”
    “Probably two more weeks, but that’s being generous.”
    “Dammit, Jim, we don’t have two more weeks. I thought you said everything was ready.”
    The man at the other end of the line was eerily quiet. So quiet, in fact, that Rosewater began to sweat.
    “Hello?” Rosewater said after a time. “Jim? Are you still there?”
    “First of all, sir, it’s not Jim. It’s Tim. Tim Rovas. Secondly, I already told that you it would get done, and it will. But again, things like this take time.”
    “But why is it taking so long ? You said the chips were basically done.”
    “The chips are done, but it’s more than just that.”
    “ What do you mean ?”
    There was silence again, and the President felt pressure behind his gray eyes.
    “Hello?! Mr.