Red Cell Seven by Stephen Frey

waiting for President Dorn. With all that had happened and given how exhausted Dorn looked, Troy figured the odds were pretty low that they’d see him again today. At any moment some aide would come in to tell them to go home. Because Dorn had to focus solely on the “Holiday Mall Attacks,” as they’d already been tagged by the media.
    He felt like a caged animal in here. He just hoped he never had to take an office job. He’d probably kill himself. Troy hated walls even more than he loved the outdoors, which was saying a lot.
    “I get Shane,” he said quietly. “I mean, you have to be a little crazy to do what we do, you know, Dad? I think he deserves some understanding from us on that.”
    Bill looked over like he figured Troy had suddenly gone off the reservation as well. Not as far as Maddux, but still off. “Have you lost your mind, too?”
    “Maybe.”
    “Easy there, son. I’ve got enough problems.”
    “Maddux loves this country more than most people can possibly understand, Dad. He’s dedicated his entire life to protecting it. That objective drives everything he does.”
    “According to you, he shot your brother. Does that deserve our understanding?”
    “Well, I—”
    “And he probably shot the mother of your child,” Bill added.
    It was frustrating to argue with Bill, because he was damn good at making points. People always said his father could have been a top litigator if he hadn’t gone the investment banking route. “Maddux shot Jack because in his mind, Jack weakened the country. Killing Jack was simply getting revenge for America, and more important, making sure Jack never did anything again to weaken the country. If you think about it, it was actually a compliment. Maddux was worried Jack would strike again. It’s the same way Maddux looked at killing President Dorn. For Maddux, Jack and President Dorn were traitors. Neither one of those shootings was personal. It was only about protecting this country.”
    “If I find out Shane Maddux really did kill your brother, one way or the other I’ll make him pay. That one’s personal for me. I’ll tell you that right now.”
    “Dorn was about to destroy Red Cell Seven. You said it yourself, Dad. If not for Red Cell Seven, this country would have been hit by two major terrorist attacks that would have made 9/11 look small by comparison.” Troy glanced up at the ceiling. “No disrespect to the 9/11 victims.” He looked back at Bill. “Maddux thinks we’ve got to have RCS or we’ll be vulnerable to terrorists. He figures the other U.S. intel arms are so weighed down by bureaucracy, chains of command, and political correctness that they can’t move fast enough to be effective against enemies who can move at lightning speed and do whatever they want with no moral or ethical limitations. And that it’s becoming a bigger problem every day as Congress tries to dig deeper and deeper into what’s going on with us in the shadows. In Maddux’s mind, President Dorn might as well have been destroying our military.” Troy was fascinated to see how his father reacted to this one. “And believe me, I heard all that stuff about Executive Order 1973 One-E signed by Nixon and how we operate outside any laws or constraints. You and I both know that in this society, without that Order, Red Cell Seven would be vulnerable. Maybe even with it. He’s just doing anything he can to keep the cell safe.”
    “He brainwashed you.”
    “Hey,” Troy shot back resentfully, “that’s not—”
    “I know, I know,” Bill said, backpedaling quickly. “Sorry, son, it’s just been a bad day. The older I get, the less I seem able to deal with the stress.”
    Or the guilt, Troy figured. If Jack hadn’t wanted to prove he was part of the Jensen family so badly, he probably wouldn’t have gone to Alaska. Then he wouldn’t have gotten involved in a dangerous deal with a dangerous man—who’d ultimately killed him. And the reason Jack felt like he wasn’t