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.She picked it up."Your daughters?" She asked."Yeah," he paused, "back then I only got to see them one Saturday a month, one week during the summer, and rotated holidays every other year.Divorce sucks.Even with the President's hectic schedule, when I was married I saw them almost every night.""How old are they?""This one was twelve when this picture was taken." He pointed to the smaller girl then moved his finger to the other."And this one fourteen.She just got her driver's license.""They're very pretty.I know you're proud.""I am.And they were just getting interesting when…" His voice trailed off.In a way, she felt sorry for the man.He seemed to show genuine remorse for losing custody in the divorce that she, along with the rest of the country, witnessed on the six o'clock news.But he had a darker side that made her despise him.He was betraying the President and the country.And worst of all, he had ordered her partner killed.She and Jake had been partners for almost a year and were such a good union that somehow, instinctively, they knew what the other was thinking.One of the many things Wiley excelled at was pairing his emissaries.They were an effective team, probably the best Commonwealth Consultants and the Greenbrier Fellowship had ever had.She trusted Jake with her life and knew he reciprocated.Elmore Wiley had recruited her as an emissary for the Greenbrier Fellowship nearly two years ago while she was an operative for Italy's External Intelligence and Security Agency.Apparently impressed by her reputation for successful missions, he tendered the job offer one week after their first encounter.Her training was intensive—six months tradecraft followed by six months field training.Even though her first assignment was a failure, the old man's persistent efforts molded her into an emissary with exceptional talent and skill.In the beginning, she was reluctant about being partnered with Jake.Her first impression was that he was impulsive and audacious.Soon, she realized Wiley knew what he was doing.She put the picture back on Makley's desk."Let's get down to business, Mr.Makley.Show me what you have."She spent the next thirty minutes scouring through the data Makley had given her.She read the lengthy email three times looking for any indication of where the email originated."You know, this could be a hoax." She had moved a chair next to his while he walked her through the collected data."I don't think so," he reasoned."It's written with a very clear message.Whoever wrote this knows something we don't.""I disagree.The only thing I can ascertain from the writing is that whoever sent it is not young…or at least is trying hard not to sound that way.""Now you see why I felt I needed to call Abigail Love.I needed a tight-lipped investigation.I couldn't let the President find out.Therefore, I couldn't call the Secret Service or FBI.I had to handle this myself…in case it had validity."Francesca stood."No.Abigail Love is an assassin.You should have gotten the authorities involved.If this is true, then there is nothing you or anybody else can do to protect the President."Makley stood next to her."I won't let anything happen to President Rudd.It's my job to protect her and this country."Francesca balled up her fist and punched Makley in the face splitting his lip open.The Chief of Staff fell back into his chair and covered his bloody lip with his hand.The look in his eyes showed a combination of confusion and anger, but she didn't care.She grabbed the arms of the chair and leaned close to his face."You ordered Abigail Love to kill my partner.You better hope like Hell she receives your retraction because if anything happens to him, I'll personally see to it you never make it to the inside of a jail cell."She stood back, letting her words sink in.Makley pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the blood from his lip."You said you'd do anything to protect the President, well, I'll do anything to protect my partner.And if that means killing a treasonous bastard like you, then so be it." She pointed to a chair against a far wall."Get up and sit over there while I let an expert track down this email."While he sat, Francesca logged into the Commonwealth Consultants secure portal, entered her 24-digit password, and waited.Her cell phone rang."Voice activation authorization India, Tango, Alpha, Lima, Yankee, Five, Echo, Whiskey." She selected her own code for voice recognition.Letters spelling her home country—Italy, she was the fifth emissary, and her employer's initials, Elmore Wiley.She thought it was a clever selection.I-T-A-L-Y-5-E-W.She waited until a familiar voice picked up."Hi, George."She explained the situation to Fontaine and then an authorization box appeared on Makley's computer screen.She clicked on the box and sat back.She watched the cursor move as Fontaine took control of Makley's computer."What's going on?" Makley leaned forward, obviously trying to get a look at the monitor."What is he doing to my computer?""I don't know.Way over my head." She looked at Makley.The man was the highest ranking employee in the White House yet he looked like a schoolboy who had been put in time-out.Twenty minutes later the monitor flickered and her cell phone rang.She answered the call, "Go.""Give Mr.Mackley his computer back," Fontaine said, "I've got all I need.He can't do anything without us knowing about it, and the same goes for Abigail Love.I found her tracer and located her server.It was embedded in the code she had him install.It sends all his received emails to her server.From there they run a—""George.""What?" Fontaine said."I don't care.All that I.T.stuff, I don't need to know how it works.I don't want to know how it works.Just find who sent the email and let me know.Okay?""Heard anything from Jake?" Fontaine asked."Nothing since Wiley split us up.""He's not in any kind of danger, is he?"She glared at Makley and spoke loud enough for him to hear."He better not be in any danger or President Rudd will be looking for a new Chief of Staff
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