asking puffball questions of a conf gressman who was more than willing
to talk for the benefit o the evening news coverage. It was a fact that,
if he so desired, President Alan Richmond could move about without fear
that anyone would be successful in tracking his whereabouts. He could
even disappear from public view for as long as he wished, although that
was the antithesis of what a successful politician hoped to accomplish
in a day’s work. And that privilege boiled down to one common
denominator.
The Secret Service. They were the best of the best. This elite group had
proved it time and again over the years, as they had in planning this
most recent activity.
length hooded cloak pulled from her bag. Sunglasses covered her eyes.
She had walked for several blocks, randomly window-shopping, then taken
a red-line Metro train to Metro Center. Exiting the Metro she had walked
two more blocks and entered an alley between two buildings scheduled for
demolition. Two minutes later, a car with tinted windows , had emerged
from the alley. Collin had been driving. Christy Sullivan was in the
back seat. She had been sequestered in a safe place with Bill Burton
until the President had been able to join her later that night.
The Sullivan estate had been chosen as the perfect spot for the planned
interlude because, ironically, her home in the country was the last
place anyone would expect Christy Sullivan to be. And Russell knew it
would also be perfectly empty, guarded by a security system that was no
barrier to their Plans Russell sat down in a chair and closed her eyes.
Yes, she had two of the most capable members of the Secret Service in
this house with her. And, for the first time, that fact troubled the
Chief of Staff. The four agents with her and the President tonight had
been handpicked, out of the approximately one hundred agents assigned to
the presidential detail, by the President himself for these little
activities. They were all loyal and highly skilled. They took care of
the President and held their tongues, regardless of what was asked of
them. Up until tonight President Richmond’s fascination with married
women had spawned no overwhelming dilemmas. But tonight’s events clearly
threatened all of that. Russell shook her head as she forced herself to
think of a plan of action.
A little after noon, Christy Sullivan had walked out of her LUTHER
STUDIED THE FACE. IT WAS INTELLIGENT, ATTRAcTive beauty salon in Upper
Northwest. After walking one block but also a very hard face. You
could almost see the mental she had stepped into the foyer of an
apartment building and[. maneuvering as the forehead alternately
wrinkled and then thirty seconds later she had walked out encased in a
full-@@ went lax. Time slipped by and she didn’t budge. Then Gloria i
Russell’s eyes opened and moved across the room, not missing any detail.
Luther involuntarily shrank back as her gaze swept by him i like a
searchlight across a prison yard. Then her eyes came to the bed and
stopped. For a long minute she stared at the sleeping man, and then she
got a look on her face that Luther could not figure out. It was halfway
between a smile and a grimace.
She got up, moved to the bed and looked down at the man.
A Man of the People, or so the people thought. A Man for the Ages. He
did not look so great right now. His body was half on the bed, legs
spread, feet nearly touching the floor; an awkward position to say the
least when one was wearing no clothes.
She ran her eyes up and down the President’s body, linger-I ing on some
points, an activity that was amazing to Luthed considering what was
lying on the floor. Before Gloria Russell had entered the room and faced
off with Burton, Luther had expected to hear sirens and to be sitting
there watching policemen and detectives, medical examiners and even spin
doctors swarming everywhere; with news trucks piling up in vast columns
outside. Obviously, this woman had a different plan.
Luther had seen Gloria Russell on CNN and the major networks, and
Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222