The Leviathan Effect Read Online Free Page A

The Leviathan Effect
Book: The Leviathan Effect Read Online Free
Author: James Lilliefors
Tags: Fiction, Thrillers
Pages:
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for the VC-25A aircraft known as Air Force One. If there were ever an attack on Washington, the responding US combat air patrols would lift off from here.
    Blaine shook her head in reply to Jamie’s unspoken question. Before she had a chance to say anything, her secure cell phone vibrated.
    “Catherine Blaine.”
    “Madam Secretary. It’s Gabriel Herring.”
    The White House chief of staff.
    “Yes.”
    “Secret Service has requested a change in venue for security purposes. I will be meeting you on the air field as soon as you de-plane.”
    “Okay. What’s going on?”
    “You will be briefed here on the base.”
    He clicked off. Blaine stared out the window. The plane was taxiing toward a cluster of vehicles—two black Suburbans, a Lincolnlimousine, a half dozen military SUVs with blue lights flashing over the wet pavement—forming a semicircular barrier around the nose of the plane. She recognized the light blue berets of the Air Force Security forces, men standing at attention in the drizzle, armed with M-4 carbine rifles and M-4 pistols.
    Walking down the landing steps, Blaine also noticed several Secret Service men hovering on the edges.
    An Air Force security officer waited on the tarmac with an open umbrella for her. Beside him was Gabriel Herring, who stepped toward her stiffly and extended his hand.
    “Madam Secretary.”
    “Thanks for the hero’s welcome,” she said to Herring as he escorted them to the open rear door of a military SUV.
    Blaine turned and motioned for Jamie and Lila to follow.
    But Jamie was looking at Herring and getting a different message.
    “The president requests that it be just you,” Herring said.
    “Oh.” She looked at her chief of staff. “Okay, I’ll call.”
    She nodded to the military guards standing by the open door, ducked her head and climbed in the back seat. Herring scooted in beside her. The door closed.
    Swirling blue lights shone in arcs off the pavement as the vehicles started to move.
    “So,” she said, trying a smile. “Can you tell me what the hell’s going on?”
    The chief of staff stared straight ahead. Gabriel Herring was known to have an easy, collegiate sense of humor. Blaine had seen him do spot-on impressions of Harry Reid, Mitt Romney, and Joe Biden. But during times of crisis, he sometimes shut down and resembled a mannequin.
    Blaine watched him, saw him blink once.
    Finally, he said, “The president has requested your presence at a meeting.” His voice sounded metallic. “We’re going to an on-base SCIF. You’ll be briefed there.”
    “Oh,” Blaine said. “Okay.”
    SCIF, or Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, was a term that had emereged in the wake of 9/11. They were secured enclosures where sensitive classified information could be processed and confidential conversations could take place. Strict criteria had beenestablished for SCIFs through a 2002 CIA directive: separate heating and ventilation systems, walls reinforced with steel plates, single entrances, no Internet ports, everything protected by sound-masking materials.
    “And you’re not going to tell me what it’s about?”
    “No. I’m sorry,” he said. “I can’t.”
    He looked slightly seasick to Blaine.
    “Why not?”
    “Because I haven’t been told.”
    T HEY RODE IN silence the rest of the way, a five-car motorcade, headlights full on, roof lights flashing, curving along a base road and then stopping behind a nondescript five-story office building. Herring got out first, all business. Two military vehicles had blocked off the drive on the other side, she saw. Armed Air Force guards stood beside the entrance.
    Inside, Blaine followed Herring into the elevator. He pressed 5.
    “Women’s apparel, please,” Blaine said.
    Herring watched the numbers change. He didn’t blink.
    In a hallway on the fifth floor, two Air Force guards stood on either side of an unmarked door with a cipher lock. Blaine didn’t have to be told to leave her cell phones in the
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