CHAPTER TWELVE
7:27 p.m.
United States Naval Observatory – Washington, DC
Once upon a time, she had loved this view.
Susan had excused herself from the Situation Room and had retreated upstairs here to her study. She stood at the big bay window, staring out at the beautiful rolling lawns of the Naval Observatory campus. The afternoon sun was moving west, sinking very low now. The last of the daylight was beginning to fade.
Kat Lopez stood behind her. Susan felt her there, more than saw her. It was interesting how you could know a person just by the energy they brought with them into a room. Susan could always feel when her old chief-of-staff Richard Monk was in the room with her, and now she was starting to feel when Kat was here.
“Hi, Kat.”
“Susan? Are you okay?”
She didn’t turn a
