"Brad Thor - Harvath 03 - State of the Union" - читать интересную книгу автора (Thor Brad)

тАЬWhat I want, Chuck, is ten minutes of peace and quiet so I can think,тАЭ snapped the
president to his chief of staff.
Charles Anderson had never seen his boss like this. Then again, America had never
faced a situation of this magnitude before. With less than three hours until he was
expected to deliver his State of the Union address, President Jack Rutledge had
already made the tough decision of evacuating Congress and settling on a
videotaped address from the White House. The hardest call, though, still lay before
him.
тАЬOkay, people,тАЭ voiced Anderson. тАЬYou heard the president. LetтАЩs give him the
room. Everybody out. WeтАЩll reconvene in the Situation Room.тАЭ
Once the Oval Office had cleared out, the president leaned back in his chair, closed
his eyes and massaged his forehead with the heels of his hands. His oath of office
called for him to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution тАФ a body of laws,
which obliged him, тАЬto give to Congress information of the State of the Union and
recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and
expedient.тАЭ Never in a million years could he have imagined that the execution of his
duties would lead to the unraveling of everything America had fought to become.
He was reminded of the first State of the Union address given by George
Washington over two hundred years ago at New YorkтАЩs Federal Hall. With the
country in the fledgling stages of its great democratic experiment, Washington had
focused on the very concept of union itself and the challenges not only of
establishing, but of maintaining it.
How in the hell had things come to this? Rutledge wondered as he opened his eyes
and studied the two folders on the desk in front of him. Each contained a different
version of his State of the Union address, and each had the potential to be equally
devastating. The fate of millions of Americans would be decided by what he said
and did in the next three hours.
Though not a particularly religious man, President Jack Rutledge closed his eyes
once again and this time prayed to God for guidance.


Chapter 1
ZVENIGOROD, RUSSIA
THREE WEEKS PRIOR

тАЬWinter has come too early this year,тАЭ Sergei Stavropol complained as he threw his
long overcoat onto a chair near the door. He was the last of the four men to arrive.
тАЬI think this will be one of the coldest we have seen in a long time.тАЭ Crossing over to
the bar, he withdrew a decanter of brandy and filled a delicate crystal snifter. He was
an enormous man with dark hair and a large nose that bore evidence of having been
broken many times. At six-foot-three inches tall and two hundred seventy-five
pounds, he was bigger than any of the other men in the room, but it was his dark,
penetrating eyes which drew all of the attention and which had long ago earned him
his nickname. Though he hated the Rasputin moniker, he found that it instilled in his
enemies and those who would oppose him a certain degree of fear, and therefore he
had allowed it to stick. His salt and pepperтАУcolored hair was trimmed in a
military-style crew cut. His skin was severely pockmarked and his left eye drooped
slightly due to a grenade that had exploded in his face as he was pushing one of his
men out of dangerтАЩs way. While he was twice as brave as his assembled colleagues,
he was easily less than half as refined, and as if to demonstrate that very fact, he