Free THE PRESIDENT 2 by Mallory Monroe Page A

the above.  
     
    When they finally left her office, she called Christian Bale and told him to tell Max Brennan that if his staff scheduled another meeting like that for her again, there will be blood.  
     
    Christian laughed, but then quickly called Max Brennan.
     
    ***
     
      The murder of that college student created a firestorm of criticism around Dutch.   Protestors, mostly partisan activists, gathered in front of the White House in the thousands, insisting that their president do something and do something now to get those poor students back home.  
     
    Dutch called an emergency meeting of his national security team.   They met in the basement of the West Wing, in the vaulted Situation Room, and by the time Dutch arrived his entire national security team, from cabinet secretaries to the national security advisor and his NSC staff, were already assembled.   Max, his chief of staff, was standing around with arms folded; looking nervous it seemed to Dutch, as he took his seat along the side center of the table’s oval.  
     
    And it became one of the most contentious meetings they had ever had.   Mainly because of the mood of the country and their desire to see results, but also because Dutch was getting sick and tired himself of their lame answers.   Dutch, in fact, left the meeting early, ordering his entire team to stay where they sat until they could formulate a more definitive strategy for success and have it on his desk by eight a.m. tomorrow morning.   He was slated to address the American people tomorrow night on the hostage crisis, and he wanted concrete information, not maybes and wherefores.  
     
    And then he showered and changed, hopped into an SUV, and met up with Gina and Dempsey at LaLa’s home in Georgetown.
     
    It wasn’t on the manifest so the protestors didn’t even realize the president had left the White House.    Which they all laughed about when they turned on the TV and saw the protestors all over FOX News demanding that the president drop that same “Rose Garden Strategy” that Jimmy Carter employed, and come out and address them.   “The president needs to be a man,” one protestor yelled into the rolling FOX camera, “and come out of that house and answer to us.”
     
    “Turn it off,” Dutch said with a chuckle as he leaned back in his chair at the head of the kitchen table and took another swig of his Guinness.   Gina was seated next to him, with LaLa across from Gina and Demps at the small table’s other head.   Demps took the remote and turned off the television.
     
    “What’s the game plan, Mr. President?” Demps asked.
     
    “It’s currently being formulated.   I don’t know, Demps, sometimes I wonder if the American people are being well served by this team I selected for my administration.”
     
    “They certainly leave a lot to be desired,” LaLa said and Demps gave her a watch it kind of harsh look.
     
    “Don’t look at me like that,” she said, “I’m not taking it back.   They seem like a bunch of incompetents to me.   And I’m on the inside looking out.”
     
    “I agree,” Gina said.   “But it’s too late to change course now.”
     
    Dutch glanced at his wife.   She had a remarkable way of being so concise that it stopped negative energy in its tracks and moved the conversation to higher, perhaps even safer ground.   She wore a sheer purple top that crisscrossed at the chest, causing him to fixate on her breasts, remembering how they taste in his mouth, and his penis began to throb in anticipation of what he knew he was going to do to her later tonight.
     
    After dinner, an old fashioned steak and potatoes dinner that LaLa cooked and Dutch adored, they all assembled in the living room area.   But they hadn’t sat down ten minutes when the doorbell rang and then the door was immediately opened.  
     
    The secret service clandestinely had the outside of the home well-fortified, so it wasn’t unusual for the door to be