Scott Roarke 03 - Executive Command Read Online Free PDF Page A

decided to take his family name again. The name his wife accepted. The name his daughter shared. It was his way to honor the memory of his beloved and their daughter, killed by an Israeli missile attack. When his work was finished—which would be soon—the Americans very well might find him. But revenge would be served. Then, he could join Allah and his family, having fulfilled his mission—his personal jihad .
    For more than thirty years, he had patiently pumped millions into a plan to plant a sleeper in the White House. His ultimate goal was to undermine the United States’ relationship with Israel, discredit and undermine the administration, turn American support from the Jews, and forever change the political structure of the Middle East.
    He had come so close to succeeding. Now, sensing that he no longer had the benefit of time, Haddad launched a quicker, more strategic plan. Israel would crumble once the Great Satan collapsed under its own political weight. Americans would experience the horrors of Rwanda and Bosnia firsthand. He alone would be the architect of the destruction.
    This time , he prayed. This time, my sweet wife and daughter. This time.
    The White House press room
    “Mr. President! Mr. President!” shouted the reporters.
    Morgan Taylor pointed to Ed Baron of AP. “Eddie.”
    “Mr. President,” the wire service editor began, “What you’re suggesting…”
    “What I’m saying,” Taylor correcting him, “is going to be policy of the United States.”
    The reporter rephrased his point. “Mr. President, this policy could have serious Constitutional implication. I suspect, curtailing freedom of assembly for one. Do you have a sense of what kind of pill you’re asking the American people to swallow? I can foresee both the left and right claiming bloody murder.”
    “Bloody murder. A very appropriate description. Bloody murder is precisely what I’m trying to prevent, Eddie. Do you think our museums and hospitals would be safe? Your D.C. apartment? Shopping centers in cities across the country? I’m sure you consider most security a joke. At a concert? A stadium? Everyone talks about it, but little else except for show. The price of a ticket must include the cost for true vigilance.
    “We are not going to go the way of the dinosaur. When the meteor struck was their last conscious thought—if they had one—where the hell did that come from? We have the means to see where the danger is coming from. And I’m going to do something about it.
    “Constitutional implications? Yes, there will be.” Taylor allowed himself a quick smile. “Learned minds will certainly have their work cut out for themselves.”
    The White House
    Katie Kessler was one of those learned minds. She had history weighing heavily on her as she rolled another Constitutional boulder up Capitol Hill. The work was indescribably difficult, but Kessler was living her dream as deputy White House counsel; catapulted to Washington virtually overnight.
    Katie Kessler had been a quiet and successful junior attorney in a Boston firm on a slow track to the middle. But after a chance meeting, she was propelled into a world she never could have imagined. She found herself in the inner chambers of government, meeting the country’s most powerful people. Nothing short of a miracle for a woman not yet twenty-nine.
    So was the fact that she was alive.
    During the past year, Kessler had to persuade the chief justice of the Supreme Court not to swear in a president-elect and that a sleeper spy plot went all the way to the White House. She also had to convince President Morgan Taylor why the presidential succession laws were a disaster in the making.
    This was all due to the man she met, fell in love with, and now dared to think about a future together. The only thing that made that hard was that he was a special agent for the Secret Service, with duties he could never fully reveal to her.
    Kessler worked the computer keys as she watched the