2054, Part VI: Standoff at Arlington

From the authors of the New York Times bestseller 2034: A Novel of the Next World War, also excerpted exclusively in WIRED. 18:46 April 15, 2054 Arlington National Cemetery That night in her apartment Julia Hunt ordered in sushi and watched the coverage of Slake’s botched press conference on her living room sofa. They read whole sections aloud, describing the dimensions of the marble-sized mass of cells inexplicably lodged in Castro’s aorta and the excerpted transcript of the autopsy itself, in which the chief internist concluded, “This can’t be the same heart.” COURTESY OF PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE Buy this book at: Amazon Barnes & Noble Bookshop.org Books-A-Million If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. Hunt could hear in Sherman’s voice how deeply he resented a president who while alive flaunted constitutional norms by clinging to power for an attempted fourth term and whose successor, Smith, now flaunted norms again by withholding an autopsy and refusing to be transparent about his predecessor’s death. And don’t even think of trying to place your predecessor in Arlington’s hallowed ground.” Sherman swiveled around, turning his back to the camera, and wheeled himself away.