A Boy and His Corpse Read Online Free PDF Page B

Rovas?”
    “Look, Mr. President,” Mr. Rovas said with a tired voice. “If I may be so blunt, you know absolutely nothing about what we’re doing down here and for good reason. If you wanted to come see what’s taking me so long, then by all means, come down to New Jersey and risk being caught by the media. You’ll be the first President in history to reveal that an organization exists that sends corpses out to kill its enemies. Is that what you want, sir?”
    The President didn’t say a word. Even though Mr. Rovas couldn’t see it, the President scowled intensely.
    “I didn’t think so. If you want to take a backseat and let us do all the driving like all the previous Presidents before you, then I advise that you just trust me and let us do our jobs. Does that sound good to you?”
    The President nodded, even though Mr. Rovas of course couldn’t see that, either.
    “I’ll take your silence as a yes. We’ll get these corpses up and moving as soon as we can, sir, but in the meantime, you’re going to have to be patient. I’m not sending out a defective product.”
    Rosewater pounded his desk in frustration. Mr. Rovas, the tech guy behind the Undead Militia since the very beginning, was running the show here.
    “But isn’t there something I can do to speed up the process?” Rosewater asked. “Do you need more funding? Is that it? Because if it is, I’ll find a way to shift more money your way. There has to be something else we can do here. I need Armand Raad dead now .”
    Mr. Rovas was quiet for a moment again. By the time he spoke, Rosewater was ready to snap the phone in half.
    “Well, there is something you can do to help us out in all this.”
    “Yes, anything. What do you need?”
    “You can talk to Herbert Chandler again personally like you did after our last mission. He will certainly prove to be…difficult…when we reveal to him what we’re planning to do with these microchips. If you can get him to go along with this, it would be a great help. Who knows? He might even work with us if he sees this project has your support.”
    Rosewater drummed his fingers on the desk. He didn’t know much about Herbert Chandler as he, like all the previous Presidents, chose to remain mostly in the dark about the Undead Militia. But he would be an idiot to not be afraid of Herbert after seeing something like dead bodies coming back to life, and the last thing he wanted to do was cross paths with him. But he really didn’t have much of a choice right now. It was either this or go to war.
    “And you’re sure there’s no other way around this?” Rosewater asked.
    “There is, Mr. President, but again, it will take time. Honestly, it would be better if we didn’t have to trick Herbert at all. Half of what we’re planning right now is to keep Herbert from killing us once he learns about our plans. He’s not going to like them.”
    “No,” Rosewater said. “He’s not.”
    “But if he learns that this was your idea…”
    “It’s not my idea,” Rosewater corrected him. “You came up with it.”
    “Yes, sir, but you backed it. And if Herbert knew that you supported the idea, then this could go a lot quicker. He’s very patriotic, after all, and he might listen to you. It’s your call.”
                  Rosewater took off his glasses and tossed them onto the desk. He then rubbed the bridge of his nose. “And his son can’t do anything for us right now?”
                  “Well, ideally, we wouldn’t have to even use the chips.”
                  “But?” Rosewater asked.
                  “But, the son still has a ways to go, and you’re crunched for time. So it’s either this, or you give us more time to plan everything out. Again, it’s your call.”
                  Rosewater hit his forehead multiple times with his palm. He would never have chosen to run for President if he had known the job would require dealing with a