CHAPTER FORTY ONE
8:57 a.m.
United States Naval Observatory – Washington, DC
“Susan, we have to act. The only thing these people know is force.”
“General Walters,” Susan said. “I call you by your title as a sign of respect. I wish you would do the same for me.”
Walters stared at her.
The Situation Room was silent. Susan took a deep breath. All the men in this room seemed ready for war, and she was hesitating. She was being the indecisive woman again, the one who couldn’t even pick her own cabinet members, the one whose husband cheated on her with other men. The entire communications infrastructure of the country was collapsing, and she couldn’t decide what to do. It was pathetic, right?
She was so tired.
“I don’t want to go to war,” she said. “I don’t want to be responsible for the
