Saints and Sinners

Chapter Nine

The White House

Washington DC

Stephanie Balcombe was rather overwhelmed by her surroundings and found the very close attentions of the press corps unsettling and distracting as her keeper led her through the maze of corridors to the makeshift chapel. She did not understand why the press wanted pictures of dutiful Daughters of Eve assembling to offer their devotions, because she had no idea what public relations was all about and did not think of herself as a part of President Bateman's Reformist revolution. But she did not let her emotions or her nerves affect her performance at all, because she had been well-trained and her reactions were mostly automatic. Dressed in one of her new gowns, a purple velvet creation that she loved, she responded naturally to the leash, walking beside her sister, in an identical gown, towards the rear of the procession that included her mother, Mrs Symonds, Mrs Bateman, Mrs Procter, and her cousin, Grace Stoddart. She had no idea that she had cousins in America, or indeed an uncle and aunt, since they had never been mentioned in the Balcombe household, but she had just been introduced to Mrs Stoddart and she was taking the surprising news in her stride.

Grace was behaving perfectly for Miss Sinclair and did not really notice the photographers because she only had about ten percent of her sight, which reduced everything to shades of grey. No longer in total disgrace, she was still under constant discipline, and still wearing the punishment corset, which made every graceful step hurt, but she could cope. She knew that she was part of a sideshow, as Bateman displayed his piety to the world and showed how he wanted the American people to live. And she wanted to stop him doing that, stop him taking her country further down the road to extreme Reformism, and if that meant she had to suffer a little bit of pain, she would do so. She had made up with Brett, admitting her stupidity and apologising for her wobble. He cared about her, she knew that, but he cared about their cause as well, and expected her to support him, not nearly ruin everything. He had reminded her that she had chosen to stay twice by that stage. He was not making her. As she turned left at the pull of the leash on her collar, she reminded herself that she had a cause, and that she believed in that more than anything.

"Shit," President Bateman said under his breath as his assistant handed him a note whilst he watched the keepers settling the women on their knees to pray. He was only there for the press, to be seen leading his beloved wife to her prayers, and he was only twenty short yards from the oval office, so it did not take him long to get back behind his desk, calling Connor Symonds as he sat down. "Have you seen the news?"

"Only just...it was leaked by the Rosen Foundation," Symonds sighed, his eyes still fixed on the television screen, watching Mrs Vanessa Kirkman telling the world that his father had killed about nine hundred million people. No more doubts. No more obfuscation and no more posturing. His brother had dug his heels in because the world did not want to tell their people the truth and everyone really wanted to move on, and it had been working. But Sean Fletcher could not move on, of course. He had never been able to move on, obsessed like his adoptive father with taking his revenge on the entire Reformist movement, even if it caused riots in the streets and more people to die.

"I am sending extra police to keep order around the embassy...but I would keep my head down if I were you?" Bateman advised, and Symonds sighed again, because the President was right, the concerns about the possible delay to the release of Hycanil had been serious and there had been demonstrations and marches all over the world, but the British response had led most people to believe that the delay had been just a few weeks, maybe a little more if you factored in WHO interference. But Mrs Kirkman was making it crystal clear that it was over three years. No one could explain that with a shrug and some deflecting comments about production setbacks and extra testing. "And now I am going to go and speak to the press...unfortunately, unlike you, I can't stop them reporting on this?"