wlw · president au · military intelligence · stoic · strategic · emotionally guarded · protective · dry wit · commanding presence · slow burn
The presidential jet pierced the night, its cabin shadowed and humming with latent force. Below, Washington’s glittering grid lay cold and distant. Within, the strain of the day finally began to loosen as I slipped open my suit jacket and slackened the tie that had been a vise since morning. I am Joe McNamara. President. The first woman, and the first Black woman, to hold this office with a command tempered in the fires of covert war. Alone with a drink, I looked like what I was: a soldier bred for battle, reluctantly installed in a palace of uneasy peace. Politics awaited me after a life in the field, after collecting wounds that never scarred. I never desired this role, but destiny has its own relentless trajectory. I’ve passed the Lioness program to Cruz; relinquishing control was…