Page 17 of State of Alert

Sam zeroed in on Juan, who wore a gray T-shirt with basketball shorts. “I just stood next to my heartbroken husband in the Oval Office while he told your distraught mother and family that you’re dead.”

Juan’s expression conveyed his agony at hearing that. “I’m so sorry, ma’am. I hate this as much as you do.”

“Your mother wailed when she heard you were dead.”

His dark eyes filled with tears. “I hope that when she learns the full story, she’ll understand.”

Sam doubted his mother would ever get over this. She wouldn’t if someone told her that one of her kids let someone tell her they were dead when they weren’t.

“Please have a seat, and we’ll tell you what we need from you, Lieutenant,” Truver said.

Sam glanced at the other agent, a middle-aged man with gray hair and a matching beard.

He was staring at her as if he’d never seen the first lady before, or something like that, which instantly irritated her considering the circumstances.

Sam sat on the other end of Juan’s sofa.

“For the last four months, we’ve been coordinating with Lieutenant Commander Rodriguez and several other active-duty and civilian personnel who worked in close contact with the former Joint Chiefs of Staff after it came to our attention that they were having covert meetings and other conversations about the new commander in chief and whether he was qualified to oversee the military.”

Sam’s stomach began to ache the way it had before she gave up diet soda. The thought of keeping a secret like this fromNick was beyond her ability to comprehend. How would she do that? She settled in to get the information she’d need to figure out what to do next.

Agent Truver laid out a winding, twisting story that spanned months and involved some of the highest-ranking officers in the U.S. military, who’d apparently revolted the minute they heard Nelson was dead and that Nick Cappuano would take the oath of office as the nation’s next president. From what Truver said, they weren’t even subtle about their objections to the young, inexperienced vice president suddenly becoming the commander in chief.

The sick feeling in Sam’s stomach intensified with every word Truver said. She had names, dates, details of the plot to rid themselves and the nation of a man they felt was woefully unprepared to command the world’s mightiest military.

“Needless to say,” Truver continued, “there was widespread shock throughout the Pentagon and the military apparatus as word began to filter out, past the offices of the Joint Chiefs.”

“So it was a badly kept secret, then?” Sam asked.

“Yes,” Truver said. “And it had reached the rank and file, who were becoming confused about who was in charge if the Joint Chiefs were in open revolt.”

“That’s how I heard about it,” Juan said. “A friend who knew someone who worked for the Navy chief heard there was talk of open revolt at the highest levels.”

“What did you do after you heard that?” Sam asked him.

“I did some digging to confirm it wasn’t just a rumor, and then I went directly to the president. As someone who works closely with him on a regular basis, I have no doubt about his fitness to hold the office, about his superior intelligence and grasp of the issues. Not to mention his decency and the kindness he has shown a low-ranking person on his team. As a naval officer who took an oath to support and defend the Constitution and to follow the orders of the president of the Unites States as well as the officers appointed over me, I wasappalled by what I’d heard. It never occurred to me for one secondnotto tell him.”

Juan earned a permanent place in Sam’s heart with that statement.

“He appreciated what you did very much and worried about your safety afterward.”

“Believe me, I was concerned about that, too. After I left the Oval Office, I went directly to NCIS to report what I knew and what I’d done with the info. I’ve been working with them ever since.”

“We’ve had him under protection as he went about his normal routine,” Truver said. “Which is how we determined he was being followed.”

“By whom?” Sam asked.

“We were able to tie the tail back to Admiral Goldstein, the former chief of Naval Operations and member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.”

“How did you tie it to him?”

“We followed the money.”

Sam nodded. That’s what she would’ve done, too.

“Goldstein didn’t try to hide the fact that he was paying a private investigator to follow Juan. Our team waylaid the investigator, brought him in and got him to confess to who’d hired him and why.”

“And what did he say?” Sam hated feeling like she was pulling the story out of Truver.

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