Hard Exit (A Jon Reznick Thriller) by J. B. Turner

Author:J. B. Turner
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi, epub
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Published: 2024-03-26T00:00:00+00:00

Twenty-Nine

The Eisenhower Executive Office Building, located next to the West Wing of the White House, hosted the offices of the National Security Council.

Charles Gronski passed yawning political interns who gazed at their cell phones as if in a trance. He abhorred the plethora of young academics masquerading as geopolitical military experts. Most of them didn’t understand the first thing about the reality of warfare. The State Department was full of them. Graduates from Johns Hopkins, Tufts, Harvard. All the elite American schools. But none of the so-called advisors to his political masters would have fought. That was the thing. Very rarely did any of them have actual combat or military experience.

He preferred his own people. The men and women of the Department of Defense. The patriots. The folks who knew what war was all about. The dirty, messy, bloody reality which they all too rarely saw or understood.

Gronski had already been awake for more than three hours. He had already swum fifty lengths at the Pentagon pool and followed it up with a workout at the gym. Then he followed that with a light breakfast of muesli, fresh-squeezed orange juice, and a double espresso.

He walked into the open conference room and sat down opposite Philip Hudson. The little brat smirked as if he had devised some fiendishly difficult question or hypothetical scenario, as Hudson was fond of calling them. The guy liked the sound of his own voice. He was a candy-ass.

“Morning, Philip,” Gronski said. He sat down and took out the briefing papers from his briefcase, laying them neatly in front of him.

“I was talking to a friend of mine in Qatar about our situation,” Hudson said. “He mentioned you, interestingly.”

“In what context?”

“In the context of seeming to be part of a delegation three months ago lobbying for America to supply Qatar’s military with our finest surface-to-air missiles, as well as a whole bunch of other hardware.”

Gronski shifted in his seat. “Small potatoes, nothing more.”

“Is it?”

“You know very well that it is.”

“I don’t want any distractions now. I want your full attention, Charles, on this issue in Switzerland. Are we clear?”

“You got it.”

“So, Charles,” Hudson said, “I just got off a secure line to the CIA station chief in Switzerland.”

Gronski had an inkling of what lay in store. “Glad someone is up early.”

“Here’s the thing. The President seems to be out of the loop here. And it annoys him. Why is that?”

“I don’t accept that, Philip. I can assure you he has all the relevant information.”

Hudson gave a patronizing smile. “Let’s set that point aside if we can. Thing is, we’re still no closer to knowing the whereabouts of the missing IT expert. That sounds to me quite incredible with all the resources of the CIA and the State Department at our disposal.”

Gronski leaned forward, checking his notes. “You’re asking the wrong person. I have oversight of special access programs.”

“But the hunt for this guy encroaches on covert operations the CIA and the Pentagon are running.”

Gronski eyed Hudson. He knew the advisor was probing.

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