Tipping Point by John O'Brien

Author:John O'Brien
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: thriller, military, war, political thriller, pandemic, virus, military thriller
Publisher: John O'Brien

Chapter Seven

Oval Office

Washington, DC

19 May, 2021

Tom Collier, the CIA director, resumed his seat on one of the couches in the Oval Office. The president walked over to his chair and sat down, placing a steaming mug of coffee on the table.

“Okay, gentlemen, we all heard the news about President Ramos. Before I go any further, I want to know if we had anything to do with this,” President Winslow asked.

Around the room, heads shook in the negative.

“Are you sure about this? I don’t want to enact a policy only to find out that it was based on something flimsy down the road. Tom? I’m mostly directing this toward you. Did you have anything to do with this?”

“No, sir,” the CIA director answered. “You were explicit that we weren’t to do anything along those lines. However, I will say I jumped on the opportunity when I saw it. I authorized contact with General Aquino. I did that so that we could be there before anyone else leapt aboard, specifically the Chinese.”

“In person or phone contact?” President Winslow inquired.

“In person, sir.”

“That seems…convenient…to have people there almost before the body cooled.”

“You know we have people everywhere, sir. I merely had our embassy send someone over to reach out…to grease the skids, as it were,” Tom responded.

“Okay, just so we’re sure. So, the question before us is whether we support General Aquino. As you all now know, he was the head of the Philippine Armed Forces and took command when the late President Ramos was killed. Tom here says that the general is amenable to opening dialogues between us and is leaning toward us over the Chinese.”

“That’s correct,” Tom interjected. “I’m told he informed the Chinese ambassador to turn around the ships that are still heading their way. The ambassador responded by saying it may be too late. General Aquino was informed that we would decide one way or the other within forty-eight hours.”

“Mr. President,” JCS general Dawson cut in. “I just want to say that, as of an hour ago, the Chinese task force—filled with a reinforced regiment’s worth of equipment—is still heading toward Philippine shores. We have one Virginia-class attack submarine shadowing the group with two other LA-class subs waiting in their path. If we want, we could halt them. I just wanted that on the table for consideration in case no one thought about it.”

Tom Collier inwardly sighed. The conversation had now drifted past whether or not the United States was involved. He had the embassy in Manilla in his pocket, but he really detested having to lie in these meetings. He had caught the quick sidelong look from Bill Reiser, the NSA director. The man hadn’t been fooled in the least. Hell, he had probably watched the entire thing go down. Who knew exactly what Bill did or didn’t do, knew or didn’t know these days. It was safer just to assume the man knew everything.

It was a combination of efforts between the two agencies that had discovered the passage of funds to the late President Ramos’s monitored offshore accounts.

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