he forced a smile to his lips and asked, “Who taught you how to hit like that, your mom?”
Nance’s complexion turned a shade darker and his hands started to tremble as he fought to control his anger. In a half yell, he barked, “Jarod, teach this man some respect!” O’Rourke knew more pain was on the way so he rolled from his knees to the floor and away from his assailant. When he completed the turn and stopped by the back of a couch five feet away, he looked up and saw Jarod approaching with his stun gun extended. Michael saw something pop from the end, and then every inch of his body spasmed as electricity shot through his veins.
While he squirmed on the floor, he felt himself losing consciousness.
His vision sparkled and then went dark. The last thing he remembered before losing consciousness was the faint ringing of a phone.
Stansfield paced behind his desk while Kennedy relayed possible action scenarios one after another. This was one of Irene’s strong suits.
She was a master at taking problems, plugging in different variables, and predicting probable outcomes. The Operations Center in the basement was humming like the bridge of an aircraft carrier headed into battle. Charlie Dobbs looked down at the floor from his crow’s nest and watched his people move with speed and precision. He was wearing a
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headset and pressed the speed dial for Stansfield’s office. The director answered and
Dobbs said, “The choppers are warmed up and the tactical teams are ready to roll. We also have the real-time thermalimaging on-line.”
“What do you see?” Dobbs looked at the high-resolution, fifty-inch screen that was mounted in the wall behind his desk. “The only thing to report is the arrival of a car.
Otherwise everything looks pretty quiet.”
“What kind of car?” asked Stansfield.
“It’s hard to tell with the thermal imaging, but it looks to be a sedan of some type. A
couple of my imaging analysts are running computer enhancements on the stuff right now. They should be able to tell us more in about ten minutes. The car arrived just after we came online.
One person got out. They retrieved something from the trunk and went into the house.” Stansfield’s eyelids tightened. “Did you say the trunk?”
“Yeah.”
“What did they get from the trunk?”
“I don’t know.”
“How big was it?” Dobbs sighed apologetically. “Thomas, we can’t tell with the nighttime thermal imaging on the KH-11. If it was daytime, I’d know more, or if it was one of the new KH-12s, we’d have no problem, but the thermal imaging has a lower resolution.”
“Get your boys on it right away! Tell them to forget about the make of the car for now. I want to know how big the object was that was taken from the trunk, and let me know if anybody else arrives or leaves the ranch. I’m going with the tactical teams. Give the pilots the location of Nance’s place and tell the men to load up. I’m on my way down.”
Stansfield hung up and looked at Kennedy. “I want you to stay here and coordinate. If
Scarlatti calls, give her the number for my mobile phone and have her call me directly.”
“Are you going out to Nance’s?”
“Yes. I’m going to handle this thing personally.” Stansfield exited his office and told his bodyguard to grab the mobile phone and follow him.
Stansfield slid his access card into the slot for the executive elevator and watched as his bodyguard strapped a black nylon pack around his waist that contained the director’s secure mobile phone.
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There was a knock on the door and all three men turned their attention from the body on the floor to the entrance of the room. The voice of Nance’s assistant called out from behind the oak door. “Sir, the President is on the line and would like to speak to you.”
Nance scowled at the door. “Tell him I’m not available and that I’ll call him back.” The assistant cleared his throat. “He was rather insistent that he speak with you immediately
…. In fact he seemed a bit irate.”
Nance pointed at O’Rourke, who was still passed out on the floor.
“Jarod, keep him quiet. I’ll be right back.” As Nance started for the door, Garret followed. Nance stopped abruptly. “Wait here, Stu. I can handle this on my own.” Nance left the room and went to his private study. He pushed the blinking light on the phone and said, “I’m sorry to keep you waiting, Jim. What is it that you wanted?” The President screamed into the phone, “What in the hell are you up to now?”
“Jim, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t pull this crap with me, Mike. Where in the hell is Congressman O’Rourke?”
“Why would I know where Congressman O’Rourke is?”
“Someone has taken him, and it’s no shock that you’re at the top of the list for potential kidnappers.”
“Who told you he was taken?”
“Stansfield!” Nance was quiet for a moment. “As I have maintained since this morning, I think Thomas
