Presidential Shift Read Online Free PDF Page A

software does all the heavy lifting. It’s already picked up some good clips. The hard part will be sifting through all the incoming data. Any thoughts on how you want me to prioritize?”
    “Let’s start with the top down,” Cal suggested. “Maybe we’ll be able to kill two birds with one stone. Target the president’s top advisers and aides first. I’m sure that’ll branch off soon enough.”
    Neil entered a few lines of code, and then looked up again. “I should have a couple dossiers soon.”
    +++
    Their next stop was to see Cal’s cousin and CEO of SSI Travis Haden. Cal knocked once and entered Travis’s office. The former SEAL was on the phone with his bare feet propped up on the desk. He wore a sweat-drenched olive drab t-shirt that accentuated his bulging muscles. Travis motioned for the two Marines to have a seat.
    “That’s right. I’ll pick you up at seven.” Travis hung up the phone and swung his feet off the desk.
    “Another one of your girlfriends, Trav?” Cal asked.
    His cousin ignored the comment, used to the ribbing. “How was your trip?”
    Cal ran through the highlights of the previous day’s excursion.
    “I assume Neil’s already digging?” asked Travis once the recitation ended.
    “He is. We’re meeting for lunch to go over what he’s got so far.”
    “What can I do to help?”
    “The same as usual. Give me anything I want.” Cal grinned.
    Travis didn’t reciprocate the look. Instead, he looked over at the sniper everyone called Snake Eyes.
    “Daniel, can you give us a minute?”
    Daniel started to get up out of his seat.
    “Oh great! I’m in trouble now. Cousin Travis is gonna give me a scolding. Stay here, Daniel. I think I know where this is going.”
    Daniel looked between the two men. Technically they were both his bosses. In any other place Daniel might have left, but at SSI things were different. Here, Daniel was an equal and highly valued part of the team. When he spoke, people listened. Besides, he’d pledged himself to Cal months before. Daniel sat back down in his chair. Travis shrugged.
    “Fine. It’s probably better that you stay anyway.” Travis opened a drawer and pulled out a blue folder a half inch thick. He laid it on the desk. “I need to talk to you about the last couple months. Now, I’m not saying…”
    Cal huffed and said, “Just spit it out. I’m a big boy, remember?”
    “Okay. Some of us are a little concerned about the number of operations you’ve been on recently.”
    “Who’s we?”
    “Me, Dunn and Marge.”
    “Not Doc Higgins?” Dr. Higgins was SSI’s resident psychologist and expert interrogator. If you wanted to delve into a man’s mind or carve out information, there were none better that Higgins.
    “Not Higgins.”
    “Huh. That’s funny. I would’ve thought that if someone was worried about me killing a bunch of bad guys it would be our shrink.”
    “I can’t say I’m not surprised, but when I asked Doc about it, he told me that you know your limits.”
    “I do.”
    “So am I allowed to ask you about your targets?”
    “I CC you on everything I greenlight.”
    “How about this guy you took out yesterday? Mans…”
    “Mansoor Abbas, also went by Mansoor Daher, Manny Halabi and a few other names. Friend of Hezbollah, al Qaeda and some other upstart terrorist organizations. Had ties to terrorist funding coming from Saudi Arabia, India and Pakistan. Neil’s team positively identified him as the middle man in over two hundred transactions. Most recently he was promoted to operations and was about to supervise his first attack here in the U.S.”
    “What was your rationale for killing him in a public park?”
    Cal shrugged. “I wanted to send a message.”
    “You seem to be all about sending messages these days.”
    “What can I say? Me and Snake Eyes are pretty good.”
    Travis’s eyes narrowed. “This isn’t a game, Cal.”
    “Don’t you think I know that? You gave me this job to take out bad guys.