Chapter One
Washington, D.C.
A fine mist fell from the darkening spring sky as the black limousine turned off
of E Street. The armor-plated car weaved through the concrete-and-steel
barricades at a speed suggesting urgency. As the limousine turned onto West
Executive Drive, it slowed briefly for the heavy black gate to open, and then
sped forward. After splashing through several puddles, the limo came to an
abrupt stop in front of the ground-floor entrance to the West Wing of the White
House.
The rear passenger door opened immediately, and Dr. Irene Kennedy stepped from
the car. She walked under the long off-white awning that extended from the
building to the curb and paused to let her boss catch up. Thomas Stansfield
slowly climbed out of the limo and buttoned the jacket of his charcoal gray
suit. At seventy-nine years of age Stansfield was an icon in the intelligence
community. His career dated all the way back to World War II and the OSS, the
precursor to the CIA. Stansfield had been one of Wild Bill Donovan's recruits
almost sixty years earlier — a different war fought by a different breed.
Stansfield was the last one. Now they were all gone, retired or dead, and it
wouldn't be much longer before ... read full excerpt from: Transfer of Power ebook
