Serenierre
Established Nation
I N T R O D U C T I O N
Benjamin Martinique, husband of the Premier, fell with a thud, a bullet lodged in his chest, one meant, undoubtedly, for his wife. He looked around confused, from the corners of his eyes, he saw a pool of blood forming next to him. He could hear the crowd screaming in terror, the security detail scrambling to surround the injured man and his wife, who sat beside him, crying. And then he blacked out.
He woke up, he didn't know when or where, lying down, connected to tubes and a painful I.V stuck to his hand. The heart monitor beeped monotonously. He looked around, no one was in the room. He tried sitting up but as soon as he did, the sharp pain came back again. Reminding him of the shooting. He fumbled around, looking for the button to call a nurse. Though he found a button, he found the one that released the morphine from the IV and soon he was blacking out again.
Away from the quiet room, in the waiting lobby, Shahrazad sat nervously talking to the doctor. "So he's fine now? When can I get to see him?"
"Madame Premier, he's been waking up intermittently but we've been keeping the morphine steady for the past three days. His body has taken a hit... its a miracle he survived. But I assure you, by tomorrow, we'll start to bring down his morphine dose... we'll call you before we do it so you can be present."
"And he's not in any danger now?" she asked concerned.
"Yes, he's stable."
Famous for being tough as nails, since the shooting three days ago, the entire country had seen the woman covered in her husband's blood and crying, a very rare display of emotion. Now she was much calmer but still worried, she had been carrying on with the duties of her office, finishing all of her work in the morning and spending the rest of the day at the hospital. At times, she would walk over to the other family members, equally concerned at times for their loved ones, and at times she would speak to the patients themselves, if the doctors permitted.
At that moment, she wasn't Premier of Belmont, all she was a woman, a wife, worried and scared of losing someone who had been with her for thirty years.
***
It had been six days since the shooting. Thomas was awake and talking and Shahrazad was angry, back to her usual form. Sitting in her office in the Château de Lamorciérre, she was on the phone, talking to the Director General of the ISE, Belmont's main intelligence agency.
"You and I, both, know that the bullet was meant for me... the stupid bastard sent to do the job messed up and hit poor Thomas. The breach of security, Major-General, is unacceptable."
"Yes, Madame Premier... it is. I have my-"
She interrupted, "I want the preliminaries within this week... no buts, I want the dossier on my desk. Fail to do so, I expect to receive your resignation instead."
He remained silent for some time. He knew that he and his men had failed. He'd have resigned himself had he not felt it his duty to unmask the perpetrators before doing so. "Well, Madame, the investigation so far has suggested two possibles; Vangala and Coronado... the only ones with any motive to harm the Government... though I'd advise not to say anything to the press until some concrete proof comes along."
"Yes. With all those damn sources roaming around the place, I'm not even telling my secretary... just to be safe."
"That would be best, Madame."
"Now I won't hold you on any longer. And remember," she said before hanging up, "One week."
***
"Good Evening, this is Channel 10 news, I'm Juliette Marc and this is the breaking news."
The introductory music began and the teleprompter began rolling.
"The Premier's Office has announced that Mr. Martinique is doing well and has been conscious for almost twenty four hours, though he remains in the ICU. Mr. Martinique, Premier Martinique's husband for the past thirty two years, was shot at a ceremony in Paris, commemorating the birth anniversary of the famed author Pierre Leblanc. According to Doctor Sant-Pierre, the surgeon who operated on Mr. Martinique, a bullet was fired and was lodged in his chest and barely missed the heart.
Premier Shahrazad Martinique had continued with her duties even as the fate of her husband was uncertain and she spoke to the families of other patients in the hospital. Almost universally, her conduct during this trying time has been commended even by her former political rival, George Bettancourt, who went and met with the Premier, personally.
The Minister of the Interior has informed the media that the Government is certain that the shooter aimed to assassinate the Premier and that the intelligence community of Belmont was working hard to trace the perpetrators and bring them to justice.
For now this is all. More news tune back in twenty minutes. Now we continue to our regular programming."