"Joel Rosenberg - Last Jihad 03 - The Ezekiel Option" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rosenberg Joel C)

headwindsтАФAeroflot 6617 was now less than two hundred miles from Washington, D.C.




The briefing wasn't going well.
President James "Mac" MacPherson had just begun a meeting with his Council of
Economic Advisors. The first-quarter growth numbers were dismal. The second-quarter
estimates were worse. The recovery had stalled. Unemployment was climbing, and his
approval ratings were slip-ping.
But the instant Secret Service Agent Jackie Sanchez burst into the Oval Office
without warning, MacPherson knew the meeting was over.
Sanchez leaned in and whispered, "Mr. President, you need to come with me."
"Why? What's going on?"
"Right away, sir. I'm sorry. I'll brief you on the way."
MacPherson rose and apologized to his economic team. He started to gather his
papers, but gave up as three more agents took up positions and rushed him toward the
door.
"Gambit's moving," Sanchez said into her wrist-mounted radio. "What's going on?"
MacPherson demanded.
"
Mr. President, NORAD is presently tracking a Russian passenger jet headed for D.C.
Probable hijacking. Possible suicide mission. ETA about fourteen minutes. NMCC has
initiated Noble Eagle, and they're waiting for you, sir."
MacPherson hurried through a set of steel blast doors and down three flights of stairs
to the Presidential Emergency Operations Center, a nuclear-bomb-proof communications
bunker deep underneath the White House.
"
Julie and the girls?"
"They're being airlifted to Mount Weather, sir, along with the VP's wife."
"Where's the vice president?"
"Checkmate is inbound to the White House. Should be here in a few minutes."
"What about the Speaker?"
"En route to New York for a fund-raiser, Mr. President. We've re-routed his plane and
are giving him a fighter escort out of the northeast corridor. House and Senate leadership
are all being secured. The Hill is being evacuated as we speak, and the army is deploying
triple-A batteries around the Capitol, the Pentagon, and Langley."
"And your guys?"
"We're good, sir. I've got Avengers and Stingers on the roof. We've got two F-16s
scrambled out of Andrews flying CAP and four more about to go up."
The president entered the PEOC, where National Security Advisor Marsha
Kirkpatrick and White House Chief of Staff Bob Corsetti were already working the
phones along with another dozen military aides and Press Secretary Chuck Murray.
"Where are we?" asked MacPherson as he took a seat at the head of the conference
table.
"Mr. President, NMCC just initiated the air threat conference," said Kirkpatrick.


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"We've got all the relevant agencies on secure audio and video. The VP is still a few