Echo

inexcusable not to provide the best medical care to those that could afford it. Let the masses languish in the bureaucracy of socialized managed care. He paid plenty to avoid being lumped in with them. But even he must admit, getting access to government vaccines was wishful thinking. Like the one for polio. U.S. distribution is mired in red tape, inefficiencies and incompetence. And the virus did not discriminate.
    He glanced at his watch, noting the time approached for his wife’s injection. She must be getting very jumpy by now. He must remember to avoid her until she got her next shot. He detested his wife, especially when she begged for her fix. Her revolting behavior offended his sensibilities. He chafed at the demands his handlers required of him in their quest to insure he becomes the Socialist Democrat Party’s nominee for the Presidential Office. He agreed with the Imams, he needed a proper Anglo Saxon wife and child for public consumption. And Jane did come from a solid American family, one well known in the bread basket of the country. Her family owned a very successful produce and cattle farm passed down through the generations, keeping it in the family. Best of all, they didn’t rely on government farm subsidies. That made them very popular with the common folk and good for his career.
    The fact that his heritage was Middle Eastern was no longer the obstacle that it once was, thanks to the emergence of the Muslim Brotherhood Party. But the Socialist Democrat Party controlled the power and the country. Some thought they always would. Which is why, decades ago, the Brotherhood prepared for this eventual possibility; with him. Yes, the Brotherhood’s Manchurian Candidate. He smiled ironically. To the world, he appeared as the rising hope of the Socialist Democrat Party; the party that always bent over backward to their own detriment, constantly displaying their ridiculous political correctness and obvious hypocrisy. The party that believed keeping their constituency down and perpetually needy was the way to control them. The radical Brotherhood’s constituency is huge. Out of fear, the Social Democrats decided they could do an end run around the Brotherhood by offering their own Muslim candidate. He is Muslim, but not too Muslim, dark, but not too dark—with a socially acceptable blond American wife from the heartland of the country; an easy win over the Muslim candidate that would be offered by the Brotherhood. A candidate they planned to cleverly insure would lose the election, handing the victory to him.
    But even his handlers were not aware of his deepest commitment to the actual agenda of the real power behind the Brotherhood. With his election, the Socialist Democrat Party would be secretly headed by non-other than The Salafis, the deepest, darkest enemy of the west; even feared by their own radical Muslim supporters. They would finally be in a position to destroy the evil in the west as they had long sworn to do; of course, blaming another country in the process .
    He heard laughter coming from the pool. The sounds diverted his attention back to the present. He saw his daughter execute a perfect dive off the board. He decided he would have lunch served out on the terrace where she could join him. He enjoyed taking more of an interest in her, now that she no longer chased after her mother’s skirts like a child. He actually enjoyed watching the development of the person she showed signs of becoming. Yes, he could admit it. He nurtured a deep fondness for her. He had not expected that reaction when Brooks delivered the infant to them over a decade ago. She had been such a good baby. Knowing they could not lose her to another polio epidemic surely helped. For one of the many requirements he gave Brooks, was that the mother must have survived a bout with polio while pregnant. The gestating infant would then have the antibodies that would give it immunity. He had not been concerned with the details of obtaining such a child. That was up to his men. Brooks knew never to disappoint. Interestingly, the report indicated the search for a child reached beyond U.S. borders to countries where the incidence of the virus was more prevalent. Looking at his daughter, none would suspect she had been born anywhere but in sunny Florida .
    He picked up a phone and ordered lunch for two on the terrace. He preferred his wife not join them. Their relationship had evolved over the years. In the beginning it had been