Young forced a laugh. “Uh-huh. My sentiments exactly. I’m betting Michaels had to convince them just to take the case.”
“Not to mention get assurances that the votes will fall in his favor.”
“If not, why even go through all the trouble in the first place? The only thing that makes sense is that Michaels is mounting this challenge with the express purpose of wresting control away from Congress.”
“But he’d still need an amendment to give that power to the executive branch.”
Young hesitated. “Not exactly. There are other ways to exert your authority if you’re President.”
Blunt’s mind whirred as he tried to conceive of what pathway would provide Michaels with the clout to seize governance over the country’s finances. Then it dawned on him.
“He wouldn’t?” Blunt said, half asking, half stating.
“He’ll kill me, given the chance,” Young said. “Do you really think he’d stop at nothing to make this a reality?”
“But why? I don’t understand it. Petrov tried to kill him.”
“Petrov is playing him for the fool that he is. Michaels is very concerned with getting re-elected right now. But that will be the least of his concerns once this story leaks out. Jail will be a likelier option if the FBI has the guts to launch an investigation against him. The lying and the coercion will barely cause someone to arch an eyebrow once the rest of what he’s done comes to light.”
“This is a mess,” Blunt said.
“You’re telling me. Just go figure out a way to fix this fiasco.”
“Roger that,” Blunt said before he hung up.
He rummaged through his desk drawer before finding a lighter. However, he’d been looking for his cigar cutter for days and figured this was as good of a time as any. After a few minutes of fruitless searching that included loud swearing and the intermittent pounding of fists, Blunt slumped back in his chair. He was already irate over Michaels’ attempt to usurp the Constitution in a sneaky—albeit it, legal—way.
A knock at the door interrupted his frantic search.
“Looking for these?” Hawk asked.
Blunt turned around to see Hawk holding up a cigar cutter in one hand and a cigar in the other. Forcing a smile, Blunt nodded.
“Well, I was looking for the cigar cutter, but that stogie looks far fresher than this one which was hanging out in this drawer for who knows how long.”
“Rough phone call?” Hawk said as he strode across the room and handed both objects to Blunt.
“Yeah, let’s talk about it with the rest of the team.”
Blunt stood up and returned to the dining room with Hawk.
“We have a serious problem,” Blunt said as he clipped one end of the cigar and then jammed it into his mouth. “Michaels held a secret meeting with several members of the Supreme Court today. Nobody outside of a handful of Secret Service agents even know about this.”
“And now us,” Hawk said.
Blunt nodded. “Now that we do, we must act immediately. There isn’t time to waste here.”
“So, we’re officially done with Petrov?” Samuels asked.
Blunt chewed hard on his cigar. “We’re never going to be done with her, but for now? Yes. We’re going to lay off her for the time being. We need to weaken her position first and at least give Michaels the illusion that we’re on his side.”
“He has to know that we figured out he ordered some agent to kill you,” Hawk said.
Blunt shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. My money would be on Michaels who initiated the hit, mostly because he’s probably the only person who could’ve tracked us there. But he needs to take a number and get in line behind a slew of others who want me dead. The best thing for us to do right now is to act as if we’re following his orders and falling in lockstep with his commands.”
“That move will certainly play to his ego,” Alex said.
“But that means we’ll be back in Washington with big targets on our backs,” Samuels said. “I don’t know how comfortable I am with that plan.”
“If you think things are bad for us now, I can promise you our situation will be a hundred times worse if Petrov has convinced Michaels to join her on this fool’s errand,” Blunt said. “We have to lay low and bring Michaels’ scheme to light.”
“It’s all so dizzying,” Alex said. “What could my mother—Petrov—have done to get Michaels back on board? She tried to kill him a few weeks ago.”
Blunt shook his head. “Petrov has a knack for finding just the right pressure point.”
“You mean she has blackmail material for everyone?” she asked.
“Same difference. In the end, she’s going to get her way. She’s always been like that.”
“Unfortunately for her, she’s running up against her own daughter who has inherited her mother’s resolve,” Hawk said with a smile and a wink.
“So, this is settled?” Samuels asked.
Blunt nodded. “We’re going to go stop Michaels first.”
CHAPTER 10
Washington, D.C.
THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS in Washington were filled with enough news to dominate the national headlines. President Michaels watched the cable news channels and wondered how many CEOs would choose a time like this to announce a recall or some other news that would normally result in severe damage to their company’s reputation. But in a week where Washington politics were front and center? No one would likely notice.
The news about dustup on the House floor between two congressmen resulted in an enormous number of commentaries, not to mention enough memes and gifs to saturate social media for weeks to come. Almost lost in the throwback to the 19th century era of American politics was what caused the fight to begin with: Two bullheaded politicians trying to gain the political high ground in the debate over the Federal Reserve’s reluctance to embrace the one-world currency. Politicians had held their finger to the wind of American sentiment, anxious to determine which way the public was swaying before taking a position. And in classic 21st century politics, the two prevailing parties couldn’t reach a
