Operation Proof of Life by Misty Evans Read Free Book Online

would hold a press conference and make sure the world knew he and Thad were both strong family men.
    On the first floor, Michael entered the dining room under the concerned eye of President Jeffries’ executive assistant. Helena asked about Ella, Thad and Ruth. Michael gave her the vague answer he’d been repeating to himself all night. “The FBI’s on top of things. They’ll break the case today.”
    Helena got him seated and poured him a glass of orange juice from a nearby service cart. “Would you like breakfast?”
    Michael sipped the juice and shook his head.
    Jeffries always made him feel comfortable, even though his archrival, Michael’s brother-in-law, was a Republican. The president subscribed to the old adage of keeping his friends close and his enemies closer. To this day, Michael didn’t know where Jeffries had pigeonholed him.
    To Michael, people were complex, and dividing them with labels like Democrat or Republican couldn’t encompass such complexity. However, that morning, he suspected the president had ulterior motives for the invitation.
    The door to the private quarters opened and Jeffries entered. A balding man in his sixties, his massive bulk dwarfed his height. Even with the expensive jacket and tie he wore loose around his neck, he appeared more suited to a boxing ring than the Oval Office. “Michael, you look like hell.”
    Rising from his seat, he accepted the president’s handshake. “Feel like it too.”
    “That’s understandable.” Jeffries removed his jacket, tossing it on an empty chair while ordering breakfast from Helena. “Any news about Ella?”
    This was the reason the president had asked Michael to deliver the PDB. A hard, rough pit of anxiety for his niece lodged in his stomach. When Ruth had called him at four a.m. to tell him about the second phone call, the pit had grown to a boulder. Now, explaining the latest to the president, the juice in Michael’s stomach turned to pure acid.
    The president asked more questions and said a few words of sympathy before his breakfast arrived. “I’ve told the FBI and the local police to do whatever it takes to get Ella back safe and sound.”
    He was generally a kind man, if still a politician to his core, and Michael respected sincere kindness. “Thank you, sir.”
    “If you’d like some time off to spend with your family, Titus can arrange it.”
    Titus Allen, the head of the CIA, had already made the same offer. Michael toyed with his half-empty glass of juice. “At this point, I’d prefer to keep working.”
    Jeffries nodded. “When you get Ella back, I’m ordering you to take a long weekend, agreed? They’re only young for a little while, you know, and national security is always here.”
    Michael forced a smile and hoped he’d get to take him up on his offer. In his mind, he pictured Ella at the park, laughing at his attempts to get a kite into the air. At the zoo, commanding him to make strange noises and wake up a sleeping polar bear so she could talk to it. “Yes, sir.”
    While the president ate, Michael briefed him on the overnight workings of two terrorist groups causing trouble in China, a possible nuclear reactor the North Koreans had buried under a children’s hospital, and an ongoing conflict between Russia and one of its neighbors.
    Jeffries pushed his plate away. He took the papers of the PDB and riffled through them. “That’s it?”
    The briefing had truly been brief. The president wasn’t used to a short list. “Ripples from our domestic financial crisis have now reached the major terror networks.” Michael shrugged. “They’re as broke as everyone else.”
    Jeffries frowned at the papers, but mimicked Michael’s shrug. “I guess that’s a good day for us, then?”
    For the intelligence world, yes. Michael wasn’t sure when the last time was he’d had a good day, personally or professionally. However, it was never prudent to disagree with the president of the country to his face. “Yes,