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"Really," Ke
Ross, Berg, and Stokes all leaned forward to take a page.
Ke
Stokes was about to offer a lame protest, but Ke
"One hundred million dollars," was all Attorney General Stokes could think to say.
"Beatrice," Ke
"And, Mark," Ke
Ross started shaking his head before he had time to think about the question.
"You didn't say anything about him convalescing at a CIA safe house?" Ke
"I didn't talk to him about anything like that."
"Well, when you speak with him again, ask him if he knew his closest friend took out a twenty-million-dollar bounty on my top counterterrorism official. And while you're at it, ask him how he feels about Saeed Ahmed Abdullah giving over a hundred million dollars to terrorist organizations in the last year."
"Are you trying to say he's involved in this?"
Ke
"Wait a second." Ross shot up out of his chair. "We're not finished here."
Ke
"Stop," Ross said. "You need to bring him in."
"Sorry…can't do it. He's out of my control."
"That's a lie! You don't want to bring him in."
Ke
"The man is reckless, Irene. He needs to be brought under control."
"Good luck…but while you're at it you might want to think about whether or not you want to be on Mitch Rapp's bad side."
"Is that a threat?"
Ke
Ke
70
N o one moved. Ross stood like a statue in front of the couch and just in front of the president. His cheeks were red and his fists balled up tight. He blinked several times, as he struggled with whether or not to take Irene's threat seriously.
"She just threatened me! She can't do that."
Everyone in the room had a law degree. Such was the state of politics. Attorney General Stokes, however, was the only one who had seen the inside of a courtroom. He shook his head and said, "She gave you an opinion as to what Rapp might do. It wasn't a threat."
That was not the answer or support that Ross expected from his friend. He turned to the president and said, "I can't work with her anymore. Something has to be done."
"Sit down, Mark." President Hayes crossed his legs and looked at his newest Cabinet member. The onset of his illness had given Hayes cause to become more reflective. Gone was his yearning desire to drive and shape the debate. It had been replaced by a tactic that he found far more productive. He would sit back and listen. Let the monumental egos of his advisors battle it out. Over the last forty-eight hours he had come to the conclusion that Ross was in fact the wrong man for the job, but replacing him was pretty much a nonstarter. A man like Ross would not go quietly. He would leak to the press like a sieve. He would make it his personal mission to destroy Ke
Hayes cleared his throat and said, "I'd like to be very clear on something. If it wasn't for Mitch Rapp, I believe this city would have been destroyed by a nuclear explosion six months ago. That means pretty much everybody in this room would have been killed." Hayes took a moment to make eye contact with each person. "The lengths to which he went to stop that terrorist attack…" Hayes shook his head and his voice trailed off. "You don't even want to know what he had to do, but let's just say it wasn't pretty. We owe the man our lives, and that is no small thing."
"I know that, but…"
The president held up his hand and in a firm voice said to Ross, "Don't interrupt me. All of us are either elected or appointed. That means our time in our particular position is limited. Cabinet members last on average about three years. Presidents and VPs, we get four, and we're really lucky if we get eight. People like Ke
"But, Bob," Ross said, "it's more complicated than that. We have alliances and relationships that are at stake here. We ca
"We can't?" Hayes asked provocatively, with an arched brow.
"No!" answered an appalled Ross.
Hayes sized up Ross while he slowly nodded his head. He stopped, pursed his lips, and said, "Do you know what I think…I think we are the United States of America and we need to start acting like it."
The three Cabinet members stared back at him not sure what to say. The vice president knew better than to speak.