The Russian by Saul Herzog

Author:Saul Herzog [Herzog, Saul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781777189730
Publisher: AuthorContact
Published: 2020-09-29T16:00:00+00:00

41

When Roth arrived at the White House, he sensed he was already too late. He’d thought he was going to the Oval Office, but the aide made him sit in a waiting room an hour before finally coming for him. When the aide finally came, he brought him not to the president’s office, but to the Roosevelt Room.

“Oh,” Roth said when the aide stopped outside the door.

The change in rooms was a signal. It was a step down from the Oval Office, less personal, and as Roth approached the door, he felt a distinct chill in the air.

He was about to knock when the aide said, “They’re expecting you.”

“Oh,” Roth said again.

He opened the door and walked into the room. Before him, arrayed around the conference table like King Arthur’s knights, was the White House Chief of Staff, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the Secretary of the Department of Defense, the Attorney General, and Sandra Shrader.

The president himself was standing at the head of the table.

“Levi,” he said, indicating the chair at the far end of the table, “take a seat.”

Roth stood as tall as he could. He saw this for what it was, and if he was going down, he would do so with as much composure as he could muster.

“I wasn’t expecting the whole gang,” he said, taking his seat.

“Sorry for the surprise,” the president said. “This was arranged hastily, as you can imagine.”

Roth nodded.

The president cleared his throat as he sat down. He was having trouble getting started. He knew what this looked like, a stab in the back, and he was embarrassed.

“Well,” Roth said, “let’s get started. I’d hate to keep so many important people waiting.”

Shrader sat next to the president, and she had her eyes on Roth like a tiger, ready to pounce. The expression on her face was tense, as if her life depended on the outcome of this meeting.

Roth had to admit, she’d played him like a fiddle. At their previous meeting, she’d been all smiles, so ready to build a cooperative relationship.

Roth prided himself on his ability to read people, his job depended on it, but he had not seen this coming.

“As you are aware,” the president said, “I’ve just ordered all CIA personnel stationed in Moscow to stand down.”

Roth nodded. “I was notified,” he said.

The president looked at Roth. It was as if he couldn’t believe what he was in the process of doing. He fiddled with the papers in front of him, tapped the plastic presentation controller against the desk. He was stalling, as if he hoped someone else would step in and make this task easier.

Roth remained perfectly silent. If someone spoke, it wasn’t about to be him. If the president wanted to accuse him of something, he would have to come out and say the words.

“It seems,” the president continued, “your asset, Lance Spector, just entered the embassy making very serious threats.”

“That doesn’t sound like anything Spector would do,” Roth said, “but if you have verified footage with audio of it happening, I’d be as interested as anyone else to see it.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.