“I will not sign,” Löfström said. “Not today anyway. We still need to debate this in parliament.”
“That would be ill-advised,” Petrov said. “Besides, there is still time for the United States to join. They may not receive the prominent standing its leaders are accustomed to because of their refusal to become a charter member, but they are always welcome to unite with the rest of the world in this ground-breaking movement.”
Stephan Fischer, a member of the German contingent, raised his hand.
“Mr. Fischer, do you have a question?” Petrov asked.
He nodded. “I was wondering what the next steps are. Germany is anxious to move forward.”
“I would like to make a formal announcement tomorrow,” she said. “And I would like to have full participation from everyone represented here. It will be very important for the media to portray the one-world currency initiative as united on all fronts. Perhaps it will be enough to persuade our American friends to change their minds when they see what they will be missing.”
Löfström pushed back from the table. “In that case, I will not be able to stand with you tomorrow or sign any agreement.”
“We are not asking you to sign a legally enforceable contract, Mr. Löfström,” Petrov said. “We are simply asking that you sign a document stating the intention of Finland to join all the other signatory nations. But if you simply must dissent—”
“I must,” Löfström interrupted. “It would be unwise for me to do anything else.”
Petrov shrugged and continued with the meeting.
“It’s settled then,” she said. “I will have a document prepared for everyone to sign in the morning ahead of our announcement that we will make to the press. Meet me here tomorrow at nine and we will address the media at ten.”
The group of leaders stood up and exited the room, some more jovial than others. Amidst the low, dull murmur of conversations, Petrov listened for any open dissenters or grumbling. She was serious about her desire to present a united front—and nothing was going to stop that.
* * *
THE NEXT MORNING in the lobby of the UniCredit Tower, Petrov watched the signatories to the one-world currency initiative file in with somber faces. She never once considered postponing the announcement, even though she anticipated requests to do so. But no one complained.
“Can you believe what happened last night?” Claude Bertrand asked Petrov. “I mean, we were just sitting around the table with him yesterday.”
Petrov shook her head and looked down, not out of shame but out of duty. She needed Bertrand and anyone else watching her to believe she had nothing to do with the death of Ville Löfström.
“I have been to Milan many times,” she said, “and I have never feared for my life while walking the streets. To think that he was murdered for a couple hundred euros just goes to show how dangerous the world is becoming. It has never been more evident to me than it is now how important our work is. The inequality we face in wages will tear people apart if we do not take swift steps to correct this.”
Bertrand nodded. “Perhaps we should name the agreement after him.”
Petrov flashed a faint smile. “That is an excellent idea. The Löfström Agreement—it has a nice sound to it.”
“We are ready to begin,” said the media relations expert Petrov had hired for the event. “The press will wait until your opening statement and then they will begin to funnel questions through me. Understand?”
Petrov nodded. She had been waiting for this moment for a long time.
CHAPTER 12
Washington, D.C.
HAWK FELT UNEASY about leaving Blunt by himself in Scotland to recover, but he insisted it was best for the team. Blunt explained that he would be a liability since his skills weren’t what they used to be. While Hawk didn’t like the idea, he couldn’t argue with Blunt’s reasoning. From a strategic standpoint, leaving Blunt behind certainly made the most sense. Hawk finally agreed, but not without plenty of handwringing and suggested alternative ideas. In the end, Blunt’s stubbornness—and good sense—trumped Hawk’s desires to keep Blunt protected by the Firestorm team.
“I didn’t bring this team together to protect me,” Blunt said in his closing argument. “I brought it together to help protect the United States of America. And that’s exactly what you’re going to do.”
Hawk and the rest of the team took Blunt’s jet back to Washington and went to work immediately on how they would shut down Michaels’ plan. Their first step was to meet with Vice President Young to discuss any new developments that occurred since Blunt’s shooting. The team arranged an unorthodox meeting in the men’s room with him, Hawk and Samuels during a fundraiser Young was hosting at a downtown hotel.
Hawk and Samuels hid in a janitor’s closet while two Secret Service agents cleared the room.
“Clear,” Hawk heard one of the agents shout.
Once the door slammed shut, Hawk heard the shuffle of feet. After a few seconds, he and Samuels stole across the room and waited for Young.
“I bet you didn’t expect to conduct meetings in the bathroom when you became vice president, did you?” Hawk said when Young walked in.
Young chuckled. “I can honestly say this is not something I ever thought would happen.” His face fell. “Unfortunately, it’s necessary given what Michaels is attempting to do to this country.”
“We understand the consequences,” Hawk said. “Petrov has been relentless in her march toward pushing this currency idea beyond backroom conversations among political powerbrokers and into the public.”
Samuels kept an eye on the door in case the agents posted outside decided to come in and check on Young.
“Things have gotten worse in the past few days,” Young said. “Petrov made a big announcement in Milan earlier this week. She called it the Löfström Agreement.”
“The what?” Hawk asked.
“The Löfström Agreement, in honor of
