CHAPTER THIRTY SIX
8:50 a.m. Eastern Standard Time
The Situation Room
The White House, Washington DC
“Mr. President, make no mistake,” the man said. He was a former four-star general, slim and fit, with a flattop haircut, a man named Sanford Walters. “We will win a war with China. There are several ways we could play it, one of which is markedly preferable to the others.”
Jefferson Monroe stared at the man, but was having trouble focusing on his words. Walters was another cast-off from the Susan Hopkins days—he’d had some trouble with her, been forced into early retirement, and now they were bringing him back. He was old cronies with General Bob Coates, who had brought him in, touting him as some Asia expert.
What Jeff Monroe didn’t want was a bunch of has-beens that had been drummed
