Unbroken

Chapter Twelve:

"All that we see and seem is but a dream within a dream."

Edgar Allen Poe

Aaron's Viewpoint: 

Walking into the Oval Office with Emily was a unique feeling. One that I didn't think that I have ever experienced.

Standing in the middle of the room with Emily by my side, I knew that there must have been something wrong to warrant such a visit from us to the President.

The man soon barreled through one of the doors that was hidden in the wall of the Oval Office. I looked over at him as did Emily as he walked around his desk and sat down, putting his iPad and whatever else he had on the side of the desk. He then clasped his hands together before setting them down in front of him on his desk. He cleared his throat before speaking. 

"I know that you are both wondering why I requested your presence here in my office at a time where you are considering looking for my director as well as reopening an investigation that would put everyone's jobs at risk of termination with no severance packages and no way to turn to for help from anyone in the DOJ. That is why you are here though," He said.

"So, why go to all the trouble to close down an investigation only to reopen it hours after the fact. Why close it in the first place?" Emily asked.

"Because there is someone who threatened you in someway. They used a weak spot in order to get what they want from you in order to be able to get a head start on the game of hunting her down. Who is it?" I said.

"I cannot speak on it at this time because it would crumble everything that we hold dear in this investigation," The President said.

"Was it Olivia Pope? Was it her, the only woman who you have always loved, the one who made your career here in the Oval Office? The one who made your campaign the best that it has ever been when you ran the first time. Aren't you about to run again with her as the head of it?" I said. 

"Don't you dare bring her into this! She knows nothing of this," the man replied.

"Ah, well there's your weak spot. Mr. President, if I was able to profile that from a few pinpoints in your behavior, then Hiram Lodge was able to do the same exact thing when he came in to force you to forgo the investigation against him in order for him to protect his interests and to be able to get a head start on where your director as well as the woman that I love could potentially be. If you want to keep denying it, then keep going with it, but I will not let a woman lose her life over a mistake that you chose to make. Is there anything you want from us before we walk out of here and hunt down the bastard that just tried to take the life of one of the best directors that you ever had and will ever have. Because if you keep fighting us, then I will happily destroy your campaign in the process while I'm looking for her, so do the math!" I said as I was soon at his desk, putting my hands on it, gripping it as I leaned down to be directly in his face. 

I was waiting for a reaction as he was thinking things through before he quietly said, "Fine, do what you must do, just keep Olivia out of it. If anyone questions you about what you are doing, have them come to me. I'll happily tell them that you are legally allowed to do whatever it takes to get her back. I need her back."

"That is exactly what I thought. Have a good day, sir," was all that I said as I backed away from the desk and began to walk away from the room with Emily following after me soon after, looking nervous, but she knew damn well that this was the best outcome that we are able to get and that it was completely worth fighting for. 

It wasn't until we got our weapons back and were out of the building, walking down the path towards the parking lot to get into the car that Emily spoke. 

"What did I just witness in there, Aaron?" She said as she catches up to me and putting a hand out to stop me. 

"A simple profile from me that I knew that I could use to exploit what weaknesses the President has and use it to my advantage. I knew that there is only one reason why he would keep Ms. Pope so close to him through not only his campaign, but throughout his time in the White House. She is his main weakness. The photos on the table behind him didn't show a single picture of his wife with him, but only with the children and if there was a photo that they were together in, they put the kids in between them in order to stay apart. He fell out of love with her years ago. But Ms. Pope...now she is a different matter that I shall deal with later. All I know is that there is a reason why Missy has him as a boss. She was in constant contact with not only him but her. She knew. She knew damn well what was going on, and was keeping that information private in order to protect them until she has no use for them anymore.'

"If I was able to figure that out from just the photos, then Hiram Lodge, being the narcissistc psychopath that he is would have been able to do the same in a matter of mere seconds with the President. He knows how to manipulate the situation to give him the best advantage against someone else. So, I'm not surprised that that is how the investigation got shut down in the first place," I explained.

Emily sighed as she realized exactly what happened as well before saying, "Do you think Missy knows?" 

"She would be pretty stupid to not realize it. I think that she also knows what exactly happened and I have a feeling that there was someone who betrayed her to that bastard all too soon," I said. 

"Let's go and find her then, before it's too late," Emily said as we began to walk again towards the car. 

I knew that it was only a matter of time before Lodge found her again and begin his final plan of destroying all that Missy loves before she loses her own life when all that mattered to her was taken away from her. I knew that there was only so much that could be done before it would only be too late and I could only hope that we would be able to make it there in time.