CHAPTER TEN
4:45 p.m.
The Situation Room, United States Naval Observatory – Washington, DC
When Luke walked in, the Situation Room was in chaos.
He had never seen it this crowded. There were at least fifty people packed inside. The walls were lined with chairs, each chair with a person on it, and an aide or two aides standing nearby. The young aides were typing into their tablets, or scribbling furiously into notepads.
The conference table was littered with coffee cups and empty plastic takeout containers. It looked like a war zone. Every seat at the table was taken. Susan was at the head of the table, her chief-of-staff, Kat Lopez, crouched next to her and whispering in her ear. There was a steady hubbub of noise, the low background hum of whispered and not-so-whispered conversations
