The God Complex: A Thriller by Murray McDonald Page A

the authorities.”
    V ince blanched. “Okay, go.” The press secretary fled. “What exactly were your boys doing in Santa Cruz?”
    “Don’t even go there, ” Travis said. “They were there to protect the President!”
    “Because you were worried about a threat to him?”
    “There were faint whispers coming through from our sources about a major hit in California and I thought better be safe than sorry.”
    “So the CIA just happened to have two of its most accomplished assassins on site?”
    Travis nodded.
    “CIA assassins who have no place working in the continental United States?”
    “Whatever went down today, it had nothing to do with the President and everything to do wit h Hubble 2,” Travis said. “Let’s not forget what we lost today.”
    “ I won’t, but it’s not me that’s going to be running the investigation, nor me having to explain the presence of two illegal hitmen and a pile of dead bodies.”
    “You ’re making it sound way worse than it is.”
    “Yet nowhere near as bad as it’s going to look out there.” Vince pointed towards the corridors of the White House.
    “I need to speak to the President, this is bullshit .”
    “I agree,” said Vince . “Something smells very bad...”
    A knock on the door interrupted him.
    Paula Suarez was back, although this time not alone.
    “Gentlemen, if you wouldn’t mind standing up and stepping away from the desk please.”
    Both looked at her with some surprise . Travis spoke first. “Sorry?”
    “Agents,” said Paula , looking at the six burly men who had accompanied her. They moved forward quickly and had both men detained in handcuffs with little effort.
    “ What ?” Travis roared. “What’s this for? Sexual harassment?”
    “No . Treason!” she said with disgust.
    “T -Treason?” choked Vince. “I am the National Security Adviser. Are you fucking joking?!”

                            ***
    Cash paced outside Sophie’s room . He didn’t know how he was going to tell her he was leaving. Their five rooms lay at one end of the eighth floor. Rigs was holding the service elevator at the far end, urging him to hurry.
    Cash knocked on the door and waited. The door swung open. Sophie wordlessly turned and walked back into the main body of the room and stared at the TV screen.
    “I came to say …err…well… to say that, err…” he tried explaining but then stopped dead in his tracks when he glanced at the television.
    A photo of his boss, CIA Director Travis Davies, appeared on the screen and underneath the caption read ‘ Charged With Treason’. Another photo scrolled onto the screen, that of the Vice President of the United States and the caption remained unchanged. Photo after photo scrolled across the screen and the caption stayed in place. The Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of State, the National Security Adviser, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the photos continued to scroll.
    “Rigs!” Cash shouted.
    Rigs rushed in, sweeping the room with his P90. Cash pointed at the TV set. Rigs remained speechless until the last two photos scrolled onto the screen.
    The caption did change, however only one of the words changed. ‘Charged’ became ‘Wanted’ as Cash and Rigs’ photos appeared on the screen.

Chapter 1 6
     
     
    President Mitchell stared sullenly across the White House lawn. Darkness was setting on a day that should have changed the world for the better. For 99.99% of the population of the world that was true. For Dave Mitchell, the current President of the United States, it couldn’t have been darker. Yes, he had signed the historic agreement that would rid the world of its greatest threat, but on the same day he discovered that many men and women he would have entrusted with his life had plotted to kill him.
    “It’s been a shocking day,” said Lynne Bertram, his Attorney General, the chief law enforcement officer in the United States. , taking her seat on the sofa next