Extreme Measures (A Brady Hawk Novel Book 20)

before answering.
“This is Young,” he said.
“It’s so nice to hear your voice,” a woman said.
Young straightened up, his blood pressure rising as he considered how to respond.
“Noah, are you still there?” Madeline asked.
The president wanted to hurl his phone across the room and shatter the device into a thousand pieces. Instead, he plodded on against his better judgment.
“Yeah, it’s me,” he muttered.
“Oh, come on, Noah. I know you hate me and all, but—”
“But what? Sorry for blowing up our house and almost killing you? Sorry for running away? Sorry for faking my death? Sorry for allowing unauthorized people into our home? Sorry for being so deceitful? Sorry for having an a—”
“Please, stop,” she said. “I know. I wasn’t trying to hurt you. In fact, that’s why I did what I did.”
“Spare me,” Young said. “If you weren’t trying to hurt me, you would’ve stayed with me or at least had the decency to explain why you wanted out of our marriage.”
“I tried to tell you, Noah. I tried so many times. But I realized you would never let me leave.”
“You’re a grown woman. You can do as you please. Handling a divorce while trying to run in a re-election year would’ve been challenging, but it wouldn’t have been painful. I went from one wound to the next. One minute, I’m filled with rage at terrorists for getting into my house and murdering my wife. The next, I’m even angrier upon learning that you let someone into our home to plant that bomb—or at least worked with them to do it yourself. You disgust me.”
“I admit I probably should’ve handled the situation differently but—”
“There is no but there,” Young said. “That’s a period. Full stop. Minus the probably part, of course. You can spin this however you wish, but it won’t play with me or the American people, just in case you’re thinking about coming back. Because don’t think I won’t hesitate to have you charged.”
“Don’t worry,” she said. “I’d never put you in a position like that.”
“Not that I necessarily believe you, but at least you know where I stand on the issue.”
She sighed, pausing for a beat before continuing. “This isn’t why I called.”
“You have something else to discuss?”
“As a matter of fact, I do. And it’s far more serious.”
Young chuckled, shaking his head in disbelief. “Something far more serious than admitting to bombing the White House?”
“Yes,” she said.
“You’re unbelievable. Do you know that?”
“Trust me or not. I can’t undo what I’ve done. But I can make a small peace offering by telling you what I’m about to say.”
“Always the drama queen, Madeline,” Young said. “Just spit it out.”
“You need to cancel that Fourth of July event you have planned in a couple of weeks,” she said. “Something very bad is going to happen.”
“Oh, great. Not only have you called me out of the blue to seek some measure of absolution for your crime against this great country, but you’re now wanting to undermine my position as President.”
“What? That you’re tough on terrorists?”
“Are you really going there, not even two minutes after you admitted to what you did in making me look weak by opening the door for these people to come in and attack us? Is this some kind of prank call?”
A long pause.
“Forget it. Do whatever you want. I only wanted to tell you because I didn’t want Olivia to get hurt in the attack.”
“Now you care about your step-daughter, the one you spent years alienating and casting aside like she didn’t matter to you at all?”
“I do care about her. And I care about America. If I didn’t, we wouldn’t be having this very awkward conversation.”
“Humor me,” Young said. “What do you know?”
“Well, nothing specific. It’s just that I overheard Falcon—”
“Oh, just stop right there. I don’t really want to hear about Falcon Sinclair, the sycophant that he is. He used you to get to me, approaching me at your funeral.”
“And he did so with my blessings.”
“Are you mad? That man cares nothing for you or this country. If you haven’t already, you’re going to realize soon that was the biggest mistake of your life.”
“And you’re going to realize that being bullheaded and charging forward with this scheme of yours is going to result in the deaths of thousands of people. Forget the lives of others. If you at least care about your political career, you will call off the Fourth of July party. Otherwise, you’ll be waking up on the fifth wishing you were never born.”
“What do you know, Madeline? Be specific.”
“I heard—someone—talking about a terrorist attack. Nobody here at Obsidian is involved, but they’re very aware of it. And you can bet they’re going to exploit the aftermath of it. The nation will be in tatters, and the anger of every American will be directed at you for letting this happen. Every intelligence chief is going to throw you under the bus, going on national television for interviews that tell viewers you ignored sound advice. And then what will you do? It’ll be catastrophic, and you know it.”
“Madeline, I don’t believe you. This is a scheme that Falcon either put you up to or has manipulated you into doing.”
“If you think I called to warn you because I still care about you, you’re wrong. No matter what you think about my relationship with Olivia, I want her to be safe.”
“Well, rest easy then because she isn’t coming back to Washington for the Fourth of July. She’s busy working this summer and hanging out with her friends, real friends, the kind who are helping her stop worrying about her father dying in the White House.”
“It’ll become a reality if you don’t do something about this.”
“Thank you, Madeline, for your input. Please don’t ever call me again.”
Young ended the call and then growled a second time. He wanted to punch something, starting with Falcon Sinclair, who Young knew was behind everything. He was convinced that Falcon planted the chatter to create a mess, one that would