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The Secret Service agent carefully examines her identification and gives it back to her.
“I’m sorry, ma’am, but we’re on lockdown,” he says. “No one’s getting in today.”
Fool,she thinks,I’m trying to stop a goddamn war and you’re stuck on procedures!
Hannah forces out a smile. “This is a national emergency, and I need to get in. Look, I know you have your orders. Understood. But contact Carlton Pope. Get him down here and we can sort everything out.”
“Ma’am, I—”
“Please,” she says, reaching out to touch his arm. “This is incredibly important.”
He waits, and she waits, and if she lives through this day and tomorrow, a cynical part of her thinks this little showdown will rank at least a chapter in her memoirs.
The Secret Service agent nods.
“I’ll give his office a call.”
“Thank you so very much,” she says. “You won’t regret it.”
He enters a guard station and next to her Jean says, “You think you can convince Pope to let you in?”
“I’d better,” she says, “or I’ll have to go to Plan B.”
“Which is?”
“Shooting our way in.”
But ten minutes later, there is no need for a Plan B, as a confident and smiling Carlton Pope comes down the paved driveway on the North Lawn. To Hannah he looks like an over-muscled parolee, walking to freedom with a strut in his walk, already planning his next crime.
He stops in front of the open window and says, “Director Abrams.”
“Mr. Pope.”
“I understand you want to see the president.”
“Urgently,” she says.
“This is quite the surprise,” he says, cocky smile still on his face. “Why didn’t you phone ahead?”
Hannah thinks,You bulky creep, you know exactly why I couldn’t call you.
“My cell phone battery died,” she lies. “Just one of those things. Please, Mr. Pope, it’s vital that I talk to the president. I know theWhite House is on lockdown, but it’ll just be me and my deputy, Jean Swantish.”
He leans down, looks over at Jean, stands up. Scratches the back of his head.
“Oh, I guess I could get you in,” he says. “But do you mind stepping out so we can talk about it?”
CHAPTER 128
LIAM GREY STEPS to the door, with Lin and Benjamin following him. He’s carrying one of the Agency’s M4s slung over his shoulder when Lin says, “Be careful. He’s smart, tough, and very tricky.”
“I just want to hear what he has to say,” Liam replies.
Benjamin says, “Suppose he shoots you on the spot?”
Liam puts his hand on the doorknob. “Why, Benjamin, I expect you to avenge me. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
It’s a late, cool afternoon and as Liam walks down the dirt driveway, he’s filled with memories of old Westerns, when the good guy and bad guy met in the center of town to hash things out. Difference is, of course, that while this place does resemble the American West, the bad guy approaching him has about twelve other bad guys backing him up.