CODE NAME: MOONLESS

The Post

In complete darkness, Charlie woke up with a black hood over his head. He heard some noises coming from his lower right side and realized he was no longer handcuffed, but still sitting in his throne chair. Charlie decided to lift up just the lower right portion of the hood and there was Frank, Mister Washington, kneeling on the floor organizing some sort of equipment. He decided to take off the black hood, but very slowly as to not alert Mister Washington. Charlie looked around the council chambers and there was no one else. Mister Adams and The Committee were gone. So Charlie decided to stand up, grabbed the statue bust of George Washington and smashed it on Frank's head. Then he also grabbed the statue bust of Abraham Lincoln and smashed that too on Frank's head. They were both made of plaster and shattered against Mister Washington's body, which promptly dropped to the ground unconscious.

Charlie had to get over to the Post, The Washington Post, and get over there quick to break this maddening story. Charlie bent down over Frank's body and turned him over. He started to search Frank's pockets and found the keys to Charlie's car. No, Charlie was not going to die in a car crash tonight, but Charlie was going to use his car to tell the truth to the World. Charlie got back up and tried to find the room's exit. 

As he searched in the dark for the exit, Charlie started to wonder where he was. Maybe he was a thousand miles from Washington DC, maybe he was in some long abandoned nuclear war underground bomb shelter or bunker from the Cold War, or maybe there would be guards all over the place. Then by a miracle he found a door, opened it, and fell out clumsily into a bright hallway. Charlie got up and started walking. He didn't see anyone in the hallway, which had government looking pictures on the walls, then it hit him, he wasn't a thousand miles away from the District and wasn't in some secret bunker leftover from the Cold War, he was in the basement of the United States Capitol Building!

Charlie started to run trying to find his way out of the basement onto the main floor. It took Charlie some time to find his way out, but finally he walked upstairs and found himself in the grand rotunda of the Capitol Building. He decided to ignore and run past all the grandeur and beauty of America's most luxuriously designed architecture. Charlie stopped at the top of the Capitol Hill steps and looked around. It was night time and he didn't see any security guards. He didn't see anyone. The place was dead, but very well lit up in the middle of the night's darkness. Then he noticed parked by itself at the bottom the Capitol Hill Steps was Charlie's car. His car was parked right in front of the Capitol building. No one gets to park their car at the very bottom of the Capitol steps. Who Cares! Charlie shrugged it off and started running down the steps and once he reached his car, Charlie naturally looked at the windshield for parking tickets, none! Then he bent down on the ground and looked under the car to see if there were any bombs and he then proceeded to open the hood, where he checked the engine area for bombs. Nothing! Charlie closed the hood, got into the car, started the engine, and drove like a mad man out of the Capitol Hill grounds.

At the top of the Capitol Hill steps, Frank, Mister Washington, stood rubbing the back of his head as he watched Charlie drive away.

Charlie was driving like a bat out of hell and he was planning to drive straight to the Post and park right in front of the main entrance. He had to get to the Post now! He kept driving recklessly and was almost there, but then he noticed out the corner of his left eye a huge garbage truck was on a collision course for the driver's side of his vehicle. Charlie hit the gas to escape the garbage truck, but it was not enough. The garbage truck hit the rear driver's side panel of Charlie's car, which now escalated in speed like a cruise missile accelerating to its chosen target. Charlie was in front of the Post's building, but he had lost control of the vehicle, which was flying over the sidewalk and straight for the lobby entrance of the Washington Post. Charlie pumped the brakes, but it was useless, the car went crashing into the lobby with a huge boom and the breaking of glass.

The car horn kept blaring away continually as if something heavy was lying on the steering column. The garbage truck stopped and then just drove away. No one ran over to investigate the accident. No one was around. The street was empty. The American flag and the District of Columbia's flag each attached to the building's front, both waved indifferently above Charlie's smashed up car. Up in the night sky it was pitch black, for this night was moonless.