CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
6:29 p.m.
United States Naval Observatory – Washington DC
Susan Hopkins fiddled while Rome burned.
When she couldn’t stand it anymore, she 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, casting perfect spring light.
For years, Pierre had slowly been collecting originals by the late 1800s Scottish painter Patrick William Adam. Adam’s paintings played with light streaming through windows in such a delightful way. The light coming through this window always reminded her of those paintings.
For the past five years, she had lived in this house as Vice President. She loved it here. In t
