The Night Stalkers White House - Books 1-3

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Frank: Now

Can we at least confirm if she’s dead or not?” Frank trusted to his instincts to watch the Secretary-General’s outer office and yet allow his mind concentrate on the information coming in.

“Maybe the ambassador too?” He knew Hank was teasing him over the encrypted two-way radio link, but he couldn’t organize his thoughts enough to care about Ambassador Sam Green at the moment.

“Sure,” Frank conceded begrudgingly. “But I can guarantee that if Beat is alive, then so is the ambassador.” No question that she’d be down before whoever she was protecting.

Hank had radioed on a private frequency that went straight to Frank rather than the open channel to the whole PPD team. Hank was in the U.S. security office down in the U.N. basement.

“Only thing I can confirm is that another coup is going on. The French Embassy has told us that everyone is shut down and waiting for the next government to be installed.”

“There’s a joke for you.”

“Yeah,” Hank agreed. No trace of humor in him this time.

There’d been no need to explain the joke. “Government” was not something Guinea-Bissau had experienced much of lately. For a decade, G-B had been a narco-state. Coups were frequent and b****y. In 2009, the on-again, off-again President, the only one considered even close to decent, was gunned down in revenge for assassinating the head of his joint chiefs of staff. Of course, he’d had the supreme military commander killed for attempting a coup. And so it went on. In 2012, the latest military ruler had disbanded parliament as a “cost savings measure.” The country had the lowest standard of living in the world, which was really saying something. Something awful.

Now it sounded as if the Acting President would be next under the g*n, after having his two opponents arrested when he’d lost an election against them. Cocaine shifted across the G-B borders in multi-ton quantities, enroute to Europe or the U.S. Just a few months ago, the former head of their navy had been caught transshipping eleven hundred kilograms of cocaine and enough surface-to-air missiles to make a real mess of the DEA helicopters flying in Colombia.

“Any idea who is ousting who?”

“No. The last three coups have all been military factions in-fighting for control of the d**g trade, so your guess is as good as mine. They always kill off a few top politicians along the way.”

“When can the French Embassy get someone on the ground?”

“Their best estimate is five to seven days based on prior upheavals, though they said the worst coup required two weeks. Until then, they’re keeping their people locked down. Russia was able to evacuate their people last night, along with Belgium and Germany. Assets in the country are real thin.”

“s**t!” Frank let go of the frequency and glared at the secretaries who had turned to look at him. They saw his hot glare and abruptly found work to do on their desks.

The door beside Frank opened and the President strode out of the Secretary-General’s office.

“Everything okay here, Frank?”

“Yes sir, Mr. President.” There’d be a briefing ready within the hour, but there was no point in distracting the President with incomplete information before that time.