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To Kill the President: The most explosive thriller of the year
Sam Bourne
Maggie Costello uncovers an assassination plot to kill the tyrannical new president.A blockbuster thriller from No.1 Sunday Times bestselling author Sam Bourne.The unthinkable has happened…The United States has elected a volatile demagogue as president, backed by his ruthless chief strategist, Crawford ‘Mac’ McNamara.When a war of words with the North Korean regime spirals out of control and the President comes perilously close to launching a nuclear attack, it's clear someone has to act, or the world will be reduced to ashes.Soon Maggie Costello, a seasoned Washington operator and stubbornly principled, discovers an inside plot to kill the President – and faces the ultimate moral dilemma. Should she save the President and leave the free world at the mercy of an increasingly crazed would-be tyrant – or commit treason against her Commander in Chief and risk plunging the country into a civil war?
Copyright (#u330ce05c-f542-51fb-9975-ba187bd64ff5)
HarperCollinsPublishers
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2017
Copyright © Jonathan Freedland 2017
Cover design layout by
Cover photographs ©
Jonathan Freedland asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
This is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books
Source ISBN: 9780007413720
Ebook Edition © 2015 ISBN: 9780007413751
Version: 2017-09-12
Dedication (#u330ce05c-f542-51fb-9975-ba187bd64ff5)
For my sister Dani: funny, warm and always good company. A devoted mother to her boys, her determination knows no limits. This is for her, with a brother’s love.
Table of Contents
Cover (#ufb04c8a6-6a2d-5682-b71d-875f75496e9e)
Title Page (#u0b03503f-0138-5f40-a9e9-ea2fb09a9be0)
Copyright (#u77326ee9-b272-531d-b042-f87042b9dc26)
Dedication (#ucb36ca3b-5d09-506d-98fc-192968815992)
Chapter 1 (#ud25a37a1-c717-5ca2-a234-45a637c87809)
Chapter 2 (#ud42c432d-fd08-5e5b-92b0-7f6ae5708372)
Chapter 3 (#u24be4b48-c4d0-54ca-a040-d55d1bc5be02)
Chapter 4 (#ue0dbf461-fbc5-543d-b805-1884e5efd376)
Chapter 5 (#ufc3568c4-c8c0-5d9c-8816-eb236a819794)
Chapter 6 (#uc4f11796-38bf-5785-8c77-36092f6b814c)
Chapter 7 (#u07f9cd72-2c06-5ed2-882a-93b64349fb21)
Chapter 8 (#uc96cb2cc-16ab-5467-8cb6-f7f897f87a3c)
Chapter 9 (#uf8b87707-4423-5449-af50-9bcf7ba3f650)
Chapter 10 (#u438e7a86-dfc2-5d24-9a5a-745ae0fe3f99)
Chapter 11 (#u86b8d37e-1608-511e-8c00-9eff7cfd3c76)
Chapter 12 (#u772bd263-7169-5210-9ff1-510c196875d5)
Chapter 13 (#u872ca7e0-867d-59ea-87fb-8873c90f040a)
Chapter 14 (#u72e16627-3a32-593b-8c88-ba9b47d84bb3)
Chapter 15 (#ub9bd8124-4077-5076-bf42-764a93fe2962)
Chapter 16 (#u84718fd5-2efe-558d-a042-91221c2ca772)
Chapter 17 (#u711d9fc2-10ce-5745-9ad2-3a451f41b0a1)
Chapter 18 (#u5b4539a2-6d80-5cf5-8db6-4cee9b802026)
Chapter 19 (#u160b6b66-cedc-58c4-a0b7-c86cfc0c48fe)
Chapter 20 (#u5ab88d9a-7707-5258-ab8f-79362993a437)
Chapter 21 (#u4c177e2a-cf73-51d3-944a-a27e8fc596b7)
Chapter 22 (#uf0cbd25a-d6bb-54cc-80ea-6a3626d6c802)
Chapter 23 (#u0d0162ac-fa24-5c0c-b250-8acb48414bb8)
Chapter 24 (#uda91c170-4b96-5fb6-85cb-b963e67fdb6a)
Chapter 25 (#uef7e3d99-873f-5cb2-b130-d95838d22f5f)
Chapter 26 (#u6a0ede01-a235-51eb-8d5c-a55c354d5bee)
Chapter 27 (#u8e505892-e372-5f33-a949-bdeeab9d49dc)
Chapter 28 (#u2b4935b6-fc3a-5f43-aa38-b3dfed4f7fd9)
Chapter 29 (#u04ad2cc3-6dfd-5825-926e-3fb318bf03da)
Chapter 30 (#u674e5384-0988-5839-a5aa-d4f3df5414ae)
Chapter 31 (#u2f8ec688-77c8-55ac-92e2-129b7c6bab39)
Chapter 32 (#u315fc96f-0c42-5a0a-b26e-2a2f0db6df54)
Chapter 33 (#u06ad7e29-ff6d-54e6-9303-e641863bf08c)
Chapter 34 (#u119f55f0-02bd-5abd-a548-1ebad2d1cb99)
Chapter 35 (#uf1576eb3-d9ed-55fe-93c3-d96c0c4ed4d5)
Chapter 36 (#u428789cd-90d4-5121-bc04-911661737bc8)
Chapter 37 (#u02d761a4-7e18-546c-8d6c-419104cba4e2)
Chapter 38 (#ue1605dcb-cb5a-511c-b0c4-73cb5f4827d7)
Chapter 39 (#ucf00782e-beb7-5077-85e8-68ae76a8ef35)
Chapter 40 (#ua4076fbc-c831-5c18-812f-3b38f0d7bade)
Chapter 41 (#uacfaf1e0-d1d9-52ca-9bc6-1f79a9572edf)
Chapter 42 (#u32fb6a68-6784-5ee0-9966-077771baf7e2)
Chapter 43 (#u00e7e1e8-35e8-55db-b6ff-1ac5bd4ced96)
Chapter 44 (#ue68a1fbd-228f-5620-8882-e77bd1de63b9)
Chapter 45 (#u51f44154-4fff-51c9-87bd-90ad410616ec)
Chapter 46 (#u9450cf23-3402-552b-9fa1-582f7eefebaf)
Chapter 47 (#u0dea335d-e14f-5bfc-a1d7-00bf1bdfe51e)
Chapter 48 (#udfd894d1-0a8a-5817-ab02-a77fd73c3118)
Chapter 49 (#uf8d7d11d-6b39-5429-af78-6df5fe1fd2af)
Chapter 50 (#ud4863c1b-39d2-579e-bfdf-e6582dc3c07a)
Chapter 51 (#uc3cac8db-948e-5baa-8487-ca965f95e0a4)
Chapter 52 (#ua7798e66-5e80-5dae-82dc-80593fa32bbc)
Acknowledgements (#u934c51f1-c376-5f63-a02a-6bc61c504c68)
Keep Reading … (#ue0dfb2df-d3c6-5432-b059-62e530ca5c31)
About Sam Bourne (#u23a86e77-d3cc-5a34-a969-2779cbd9877a)
By Sam Bourne (#u9ba91ffa-f355-5080-af49-48e5b5c5317f)
About the Publisher (#ud7323340-b419-5169-8954-8768e4af3776)
1 (#u330ce05c-f542-51fb-9975-ba187bd64ff5)
Alexandria, Virginia, Monday, 3.20am
It began the night the President sought to bring about the end of the world.
The first Robert Kassian knew of it was when his phone started vibrating on the nightstand. He woke with a start, his heart thumping. It took him a second to understand where the sound was coming from: he wondered if he had dreamed it. He reached for the nightstand, fumbling to make the vibrations stop. The task was urgent: his wife was a light sleeper who, once stirred, stayed awake.
Only then did he realize this was no alarm, but an incoming call. He took in the next two facts at once: it was 3.20am and the call was from the White House switchboard.
‘Mr Kassian?’
‘Yes,’ he whispered, peeling the duvet back and moving towards the bathroom, the phone jammed against his ear. He had barely opened his eyes.
‘Please hold for the Situation Room.’
So it was happening. The three am call Washington folks always talked about. He’d only been Chief of Staff for four months and this was the first call of its kind. Sure, there had been late-night crises – plenty of those – and urgent meetings just after dawn. The pace had been relentless and round the clock since the inauguration in January. In the last week, that had only intensified. But a bona fide emergency in the middle of the night? This was the first.
A couple of clicks and he was put through. Instantly he could hear a commotion; there was a banging sound. A voice came on. A woman, young and nervous.
‘Mr Kassian. This is Lieutenant Mary Rajak. We have a situation, sir. I think you need to get down here right away.’
Now he could hear shouting. He wondered if this woman had been taken hostage. Maybe the White House was under siege. He blinked hard, his brain now revving.
‘What kind of situation?’
Kassian was sure he heard the woman dip her voice. ‘It involves the President.’
Jesus Christ. Had the President been taken hostage?How would anyone … ‘What’s happened?’
‘Please, sir. Just come.’
‘I’m on my way. But can you—’ He stopped himself. He could hear someone shouting. A man. It sounded as if his voice was coming from the next room.
‘Hold on, sir.’ He guessed she was putting her hand over the receiver. ‘Yes, I’m speaking to Mr Kassian right now. He’s on his way.’
