“I hope you aren’t just doing this to get re-elected because you have no idea how to jumpstart the economy,” Horford said. “That was one of your key campaign promises.”
Michaels paced around the room as he talked.
“Getting elected and making this country great—or in this case, keeping it from going off the rails—are vastly different things,” Michaels countered. “Of course I know that I’ll get re-elected if the economy isn’t falling apart. That’s Presidential Campaigning 101. But I’d do this if I were at the end of my second term. We all have wealth we want to protect. Every single American who’s working or has a bank account does. To not make a move of this nature would be like taking all the money they worked so hard to earn and rendering it useless. And that’s not even to mention what it would mean for the U.S. dollar overseas. Our people wouldn’t be able to travel. Businesses with an international presence would be devoured almost overnight. We’d be condemned to the poor house—but I’m refusing to stand by and let that happen, re-election or no re-election.”
“Fair enough,” Horford said.
“Can I count on all of you to make sure you’ll take up this challenge and seriously consider righting one of the greatest wrongs in this country?” Michaels asked.
Four of the five justices bobbed their heads in agreement. Kellerman was the lone dissenter.
“Justice Kellerman,” Michaels began, “is there something you find objectionable about this?”
“Aside from this whole dog-and-pony show right now,” Kellerman said. “I’ll need to be convinced in court.”
Michaels nodded. “I understand. You don’t want to violate your conscience—and you shouldn’t have to. None of you should. But just consider what’s happening now and think about it. The framers of the constitution couldn’t have imagined a scenario like this and they certainly wouldn’t have given the power to Congress if they ever thought Congress would be crooked and inept as it is today.”
“I’ll consider it,” Kellerman said.
Michaels gave a hint of a smile. “That’s all I can ask—legally, that is.”
A knock at the door for all intents and purposes ended the meeting. Michaels gestured for everyone to exit out of the door on the opposite side of the room, one by one. He told them to scatter about the building and suggested that they check out some legal books from briefs written a couple of hundred years before.
When the last justice was gone, Michaels sauntered over to the door and opened it.
“Mr. President,” the Secret Service agent said. “What are you doing here? And why did you give us the slip?”
“Don’t worry,” Michaels said. “It wasn’t anything important. I just needed to feel normal again, not like I needed a damn babysitter to walk down the street.”
“I understand, sir, but—”
“Save your lecture on protocol for someone else,” Michaels said. “Perhaps for someone who cares because I simply don’t.”
“It’s our job to keep you safe,” the agent said.
“And I’m in no danger here, okay? You can wait outside while I finish some reading here.”
The agent didn’t argue. He was trained to do everything the President said and when the President said it. And Michaels knew it. Without another word, the agent slunk outside and took up his post outside the door before closing it.
* * *
BIG EARV WAITED IN THE HALLWAY while one of his fellow Secret Service agents retrieved the Red Ranger, the name Michaels selected for himself to be used among those protecting him. At first Big Earv thought it was merely a coincidence that he happened to see Justice Kellerman in a rare public sighting, even though the annals of the Library of Congress hardly qualified as such. Then Big Earv saw Justice Williams.
When Justice Horford strolled by, keeping his head down and refusing to look up, Big Earv knew something strange was happening. The fact that he was at the Library of Congress retrieving the President meant something had gone terribly wrong. The trio of justices he spotted only made the situation more suspect.
Big Earv picked up his cell phone and called Vice President Noah Young.
“Do you know where Red Ranger is?” Young asked once he answered the phone.
“Probably in the Caves of Alhambra by now,” Big Earv said, using Michaels’ personal nickname for the White House. “But that’s not where he was a half-hour ago.”
“What was he doing? Nothing was on his schedule.”
“He was at the Library of Congress.”
“The Library of Congress. What for?” Young asked, his voice rising an octave.
“I can’t be sure, but I also think it can’t be a coincidence that I just saw three Supreme Court justices wandering the halls within minutes of one another, coming out of the same area where Red Ranger was.”
“Whatever it is, he’s up to no good.”
“Roger that.”
CHAPTER 8
Melbourne, Australia
KATARINA PETROV SAUNTERED AROUND the room and sipped her tea. The glass wall overlooking Port Phillip Bay was one of the best settings she’d encountered outside of Europe for a meeting of this importance. Usually she would’ve preferred a boardroom at the top of a building without any windows. But this wasn’t a banker or some business powerbroker she was meeting with. Malcolm Tabart wasn’t the kind of person she wanted the public to know she was conspiring with. Her conversations with him needed to be held in person and in private, away from prying eyes and loose lips.
Petrov had stopped her pacing, mesmerized by a catamaran with full sails slicing through the choppy waters.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Tabart asked as he entered the room, interrupting Petrov’s contemplative moment.
“How could you ever leave this
