Executive orders - Tom Clancy [274]
President Ryan had to yell at me to get me to move into Washington. I don't like it here, Mr. Chairman, Winston told the committee. He had them now. I want to do my job and leave. But the job is going to get done, if you let me. That concludes my opening statement.
The most experienced people in the room were the reporters in the second row-the first row had Winston's wife and family. They knew how things were done and how things were said. A cabinet officer was supposed to wax rhapsodic about the honor of being allowed to serve, about the joy of being entrusted with power, about the responsibility that would bear heavily upon him or her.
I don't like it here? The reporters stopped writing their notes and looked up, first at the dais, and then at one another.
MOVIE STAR LIKED what he saw. Though the danger to him was greater, the risk was balanced. Here there was a main four-lane highway within a few meters of the objective, and that led to an infinite network of side roads. Best of all, you could see almost everything. Directly behind the objective was a clump of woods, dense enough that it could not hold a support vehicle. There had to be one, and where would it be ? Hmm, there, he thought. There was one house close enough with an attached garage that actually faced the day-care center and that one yes. Two cars parked right in front of that house-why weren't they parked inside? So probably the Secret Service had made an arrangement with the owners. It was ideal, fifty meters from the preschool, facing in the right direction. If something untoward happened, the alarm would be issued, and the support vehicle would instantly be manned, the garage door opened, and out it would race like a tank, except that it wasn't a tank.
The problem with security in a case such as this was that you had to set your procedures in stone, and clever as the Secret Service people undoubtedly were, their arrangements had to fit parameters both known and predictable. He checked his watch. How to confirm his suspicions? For starters, he needed a few minutes at rest. Directly across from Giant Steps was a convenience store, and that he'd check, because the enemy would have a person there, maybe more than one. He pulled in, parked the car, and went in, spending a minute or so blundering about.
Can I help you? a voice asked. Female, twenty-five-no older than that, but trying to look young. One did that with the cut of the hair and a little makeup, Movie Star knew. He'd used female operatives himself, and that's what he'd told them. Younger people always appear less threatening, especially the females. With a smile of confusion and embarrassment, he walked to the counter.
I'm looking for your maps, he said.
Right there under the counter. The clerk pointed with a smile. She was Secret Service. The eyes were too bright for the person to be in such a menial job.
Ach, he said in disgust, selecting a large book map that would show every residential street in the district-county, they called them in America. He lifted it and flipped pages, one eye trained across the street. The children were being led outside to the playground. Four adults with them. Two would have been the normal number. So, at least two-three, he realized, spotting a man in the shadows, hardly moving at all. Large man, 180 centimeters or so, wearing