24 Veto Power Read Online Free PDF

of a painful divorce court and a scar on his neck made her former husband relent. She got alimony and custody of their baby daughter. With her newfound freedom, she’d moved from New York to San Francisco decades ago. It was hard at the beginning— very hard—but with her newfound strength, she’d gotten on her feet and, after a few years, she’d entered local politics. Now here she was, arm wrestling with one of the most powerful men in the world. She loved it.
    But Quincy didn’t explode. His voice was, in fact, cold and calculated. “I may just use the media, now that you mention it. But I did want to give you one more chance. The New American Privacy Act gives us the power to root out terrorists no matter how they try to hide. The Justice Department needs to be able to dig into records, set up phone taps immediately when we identify a suspect—”
    “The only problem with your theory—no, one of the many problems with your theory, Mr. Attorney General, is that the current administration and the FBI both seem to consider anyone who disagrees with them a suspect. If I remember right, last year you investigated people just for going to an anti-Barnes rally.”
    “The individuals we focused on had ties to—”
    “If you want to debate, let’s go on Sunday morning television,” Drexler said impatiently. “Otherwise, accept the fact that my vote is going to be a no. And I’ll tell anyone who listens to me to vote the same.”
    There was another pause on the line. Somehow, Drexler didn’t like it. Quincy wasn’t the kind to give up, and he certainly wasn’t the type to let someone else get the last word in. His calm demeanor put all her empathic sensors on alert. He wasn’t giving up. He was coiling like a cobra.
    “Senator, I strongly recommend that you reconsider. Otherwise you may end up regretting your decision.”
    Drexler snorted. “You’re not the first man to say that to me.”
    4:14 A . M . PST Greater Nation Compound
    As the Senator hung up her phone, five hundred miles to the south, Jack Bauer threw open the door of the black SUV. He grabbed Brett Marks by one handcuffed arm and pulled him out of the car. Marks grunted—he was belted into his seat. Bauer barked as though it was the militia man’s fault. He unbuckled Marks, then pulled him, stumbling, out of the car.
    “What the hell is this?” Jack said, holding up the notebook from the munitions house.
    Marks squinted. There was just enough light from the houses around for him to see the cover of the notebook. He smiled. “Ah, that’s Operation Backup.”
    Bauer tapped the notebook against Marks’s head. “That doesn’t tell me anything.”
    Marks looked amused by Jack’s loss of composure. “It’s not that complicated, Jack. There is a terrorist cell operating around Los Angeles. Since the Federal government wasn’t doing anything about them, we decided that we would. After all, that’s what the militia is for, if you want to read the Second Amend—”
    “No sermons,” Jack rumbled. “Tell me about these terrorists.”
    The Greater Nation leader nodded at the notebook. “It’s all in there. We got a tip from some contacts overseas that some terrorists had slipped past the border. We started snooping around a little and we found out how they were connected here. We were going to take them out before they did any harm. See, Jack, it’s like I was saying when you were pretending to be part of the cause. We are patriots.”
    “My hero,” Jack mocked. “Wouldn’t it have been simpler—and legal—just to inform the authorities?”
    Oddly, for the first time in this whole affair, Brett Marks actually looked surprised. “We did. We called Homeland Security. We called the FBI. They wouldn’t listen to us.”
    “Imagine that,” Jack snorted. He flipped open his cell phone and speed dialed the office. “Bauer here,” he said when the gravediggers answered. “Give me Sharpton.”
    Kelly was on the line in a moment.