Deception Point Page 13

The President didnt fault them. His staff had worked grueling hours to support him in the upcoming election, and now, on the whole of a sudden, it pick upmed the President was fumbling the ball.Soon they will understand, Herney told himself. Soon Ill be the milling machinery again.He regretted having to keep his staff in the dark for so long, only when secrecy was absolutely critical. And when it came to keeping secrets, the snowy nursing home was known as the leakiest ship in Washington.Herney arrived in the waiting room outside the ellipse Office and gave his secretary a cheery wave. You explore nice this morning, Dolores.You too, sir, she said, eyeing his quotidian attire with unveiled disapproval.Herney lowered his voice. Id like you to organize a coming together for me.With whom, sir?The entire White House staff.His secretary glanced up. Your entire staff, sir? All cxlv of them?Exactly.She looked uneasy. Okay. Shall I instal it up in the Briefing Room?Herney agitate his passing play. No. Lets set it up in my point.Now she st ard. You want to see your entire staff inside the Oval Office?Exactly.All at once, sir?Why not? Set it up for four P.M.The secretary nodded as though humoring a work forcetal patient. in truth well, sir. And the meeting is regarding?I have an important announcement to make to the American people tonight. I want my staff to hear it first.A sudden dejected look swept across his secretarys face, al intimately as if she had secretly been dreading this moment. She lowered her voice. Sir, are you pulling out of the race?Herney burst out laughing. Hell no, Dolores Im power train up to fightShe looked doubtful. The media reports had all been saying President Herney was throwing the election.He gave her a reassuring wink. Dolores, youve done a terrific job for me these past fewer years, and youll do a terrific job for me for another four. Were keeping the White House. I swear it.His secretary looked like she wanted to believe i t. Very well, sir. Ill alert the staff. Four P.M.As Zach Herney entered the Oval Office, he couldnt help and smile at the image of his entire staff crammed into the deceptively slight chamber.Although this great office had enjoyed many nicknames over the years the Loo, Dicks Den, the Clinton Bedroom-Herneys favorite was the Lobster Trap. It seemed most fitting. Each time a newcomer entered the Oval Office, disorientation set in immediately. The symmetry of the room, the gently curving walls, the discreetly disguised doorways in and out, all gave visitors the dizzying sense theyd been blindfolded and spun around. Often, after a meeting in the Oval Office, a visiting dignitary would stand up, shake men with the President, and march straight into a storage closet. Depending on how the meeting had gone, Herney would any stop the guest in time or fit in amusement as the visitor embarrassed himself.Herney had always believed the most ascendant aspect of the Oval Office was the colo rful American eagle emblazoned on the rooms oval carpet. The eagles left talon clutched an olive branch and his right a batch of arrows. Few outsiders knew that during times of peace, the eagle faced left-toward the olive branch. But in times of war, the eagle mysteriously faced right-toward the arrows. The mechanism behind this miniature parlor trick was the source of quiet speculation among White House staff because it was traditionally known only by the President and the head of maintain. The truth behind the enigmatic eagle, Herney had found to be disappointingly mundane. A storage room in the basement contained the second oval carpet, and housekeeping simply swapped the carpets in the dead of night.Now, as Herney gazed down at the peaceful, left-gazing eagle, he smiled to think that perhaps he should swap carpets in honor of the slight war he was about to launch against Senator Sedgewick Sexton.15The U.S. Delta Force is the furbish up fighting squad whose actions are grant ed complete presidential electrical resistance from the law.Presidential Decision Directive 25 (PDD 25) grants Delta Force soldiers freedom from all legal accountability, including exception from the 1876 Posse Comitatus Act, a statute imposing venomous penalties for anyone using the military for personal gain, domestic law enforcement, or unsanctioned covert operations. Delta Force members are handpicked from the Combat Applications Group (CAG), a classify organization inwardly the Special Operations Command in stronghold Bragg, North Carolina. Delta Force soldiers are trained killers-experts in SWAT operations, rescuing warranters, bewilderment raids, and reasoning by elimination of covert enemy forces.Because Delta Force kicks usually involve outlast levels of secrecy, the traditional multitiered chain of command is often circumvented in favor of monocaput management-a exclusive controller who holds authority to control the unit as he or she sees fit. The controller te nds to be a military or government power broker with sufficient rank or influence to run the delegating. Regardless of the indistinguishability of their controller, Delta Force missions are classified at the highest level, and once a mission is completed, Delta Force soldiers never speak of it again-not to one another, and not to their commanding officers within Special Ops.Fly. Fight. Forget.The Delta team currently stationed above the Eighty-second Parallel was doing no temporary or fighting. They were simply watching.Delta-One had to admit that this had been a most unusual mission so far, but he had learned long ago never to be surprised by what he was asked to do. In the past fiver years he had been involved in Middle East hostage rescues, tracking and exterminating terrorist cells working inside the United States, and even the discreet elimination of several dangerous men and women around the globe.Just last calendar month his Delta team had used a flying microbot to induce a fatal heart attack in a particularly malicious federation American drug lord. Using a microbot equipped with a hairline si needle containing a potent vasoconstrictor, Delta-Two had flown the device into the mans house through an centripetal second-story window, found the mans bedroom, and then pricked him on the shoulder while he was sleeping. The microbot was substantiate out the window and feet dry before the man woke up with breast pain. The Delta team was already flying home by the time its victims married woman was calling the paramedics.No breaking and entering.Death by natural causes.It had been a thing of beauty.More recently, another microbot stationed inside a prominent senators office to monitor his personal meetings had captured images of a lurid sexual encounter. The Delta team jestingly referred to that mission as insertion behind enemy lines.Now, after beingness trapped on surveillance duty inside this tent for the last ten days, Delta-One was ready for this mission to be over.Remain in hiding. manage the structure-inside and out.Report to your controller any unexpected developments.Delta-One had been trained never to palpate any emotion regarding his assignments. This mission, however, had certainly raised his heart rate when he and his team were first briefed. The briefing had been faceless-every phase explained via secure electronic channels. Delta-One had never met the controller responsible for this mission.Delta-One was preparing a dehydrated protein meal when his watch beeped in unison with the others. Within seconds the CrypTalk communications device beside him blinked on alert. He stopped what he was doing and picked up the handheld communicator. The other two men watched in silence.