Chapter 2
The Bunker
The Trumps were not actually alone in this small walled area of this tropical island. Guantánamo was a naval base, but this one compound had been appropriated to the army. The President and crew were being monitored from a bunker inside one of the barracks that had once been occupied by enlisted soldiers. It was a big compound but there were not many barracks as the area had been mainly designed for officers. But officers needed underlings so there were several now empty barracks on the property. The bunker was inside a barracks building and did not stand out. Usually only one or two men pulled short duty assignments in the bunker.
There were computers but the building was shielded to prevent the Trumps from using phones or computers by connecting with the post wi-fi. The Trumps had their phones and Jared had an Apple watch but no computers had been packed. For the most part, the observation team (guards) listened to the families more than they watched. They really had no desire to see the sights they might see.
There were four men on the team so they could spell each other: John Bingham, Dwight Eisenstadt, Michael “Rocky” White, Nelson Court – code names – Swimmer, Old Man, The Rock and Rockefeller. Old Man was currently on duty while the family slept. He heard noises in the foyer of the main house so he went to video and watched the family’s possessions being unloaded. Then he saw the same activity in the junior house. No one in either house heard a thing as far as the Old Man could tell.
A meeting had been called for 0600 of all four guards and the commander. The commander was Colonel Harold Masters and no one was aware that he was a Trump sympathizer. It had never seemed very important until right now. But he intended to play it cool. He would try to win small concessions for 45. This meeting was about providing Trump with some closed-circuit in-house video while making sure no signals could go out. They couldn’t give him real news because the news was all about the rebellion and the new inhabitants of the White House. Perhaps they could find a soldier who could broadcast fake news several times a day. Trump without TV or social media would not be pretty. His frustration and boredom might actually kill him.
0600
They met in the bunker although it was a bit crowded with the five of them. Masters told them about the newest project “Operation Fake News,” a bit ironic, but the other men probably wouldn’t see it that way. He needed to find two soldiers who could patch together some TV programming; a mix of old movies and news shows they either invented or cut from old news broadcasts.
There was a tunnel underneath the barracks that went down from the bunker and then under the wall. This is the way soldiers from the base outside the wall were able to enter and exit the bunker. Food was wheeled in from the DFAC or “chow hall.” When it arrived, the Colonel ordered a breakfast break to give the men time to toss around some names.
Michael (The Rock) White thought that Daisy Mellon used to be stationed in Hollywood and did some work in the movie business. Michael was pretty sure that Daisy would know who else would be good for this project.
Breakfast over, they all took their original seats to see what else was on the agenda. It turned out that the Colonel was worried about Trump’s health. He said that he did not want 45 to die on his watch. Since NY had sent no doctor they would have to provide one from within their ranks.
He was hoping for someone who knew the brain and the circulatory system since Trump tended to have fairly frequent TIA’s. Nelson “Rockefeller” Court knew a doctor from his last posting who was at Guantánamo now. He thought he was a “heart” doctor. But his name was Hunter, Hunter Grant. Rockefeller reasoned his name might call up bad associations for the President.
“Well,” said the Colonel, “we can just call him Doc or Doctor Grant or we can find out his middle name and use that to introduce the doctor to Trump.”
“Let’s wrap this up and I will issue orders to these soldiers to see me and get the ball rolling. Thanks, men. Who’s on duty now?”
“I am, sir,” said Swimmer.
The Colonel rose, “Dismissed,” and a salute.
The Colonel’s salute returned, every one exited the bunker except for Swimmer.
Sign up to get an email in your inbox.