The dire warning prompted Maddy to begin work on legislation that same afternoon. She called on experts and out-of-the-box thinkers to come up with proposals, and eventually they hammered out a plan that saved entitlements, reduced the debt, and might get through Congress.

Though there have been rumors in Washington of something big afoot, none of the details have been leaked, because only the president and her most trusted advisers have copies of the final plan. The members of Congress have been shown only an outline, but the document contained enough key details to convince them not to discuss it.

Once the plan was developed, the real hard work began for Maddy. First, she had to secure pledges from leaders in the Senate and House that they wouldn’t derail her efforts. Then came the long behind-the-scenes battle to line up the necessary votes to get it passed without amendments, lengthy floor speeches, or blockades from various lobbying groups. As soon as it was passed and signed, they could offer ideas to amend it, understanding that Maddy would almost certainly veto those.

So far, they were inching forward on something no one would have thought possible in this era of extreme partisanship.

This, Maddy thinks, is our last chance to turn lemons into lemonade. If we don’t, we’ll all be sucking lemons.

Burton Pearce has been with her through every challenging step. Her chief of staff enters the Oval Office now and takes a seat across from her.

“Well?” Maddy says, her fatigue and impatience showing.

“Here’s some unexpected good news,” Pearce says. “Put Congressman Monroe from Florida’s Twenty-Sixth in the yes column.”

“I thought he was a bitter-ender,” says Maddy.

“He was,” says Pearce, “but I dug deep.”

Maddy stretches her arms above her head and yawns. “Where’s Cole?”

“He’s taking a jog on the Mall.”

CHAPTER
10

National Mall

Cole Wright unfastens his seat belt before the Secret Service Suburban comes to a halt on the National Mall in the center of Washington.

On the hard-packed gravel lanes, DC bureaucrats are heading home after long hours at work, and tourists of all nationalities are gawking at the capital’s impressive collection of stone and marble monuments to this magnificent country’s lofty dreams of democracy. Most of those dreams are routinely dashed, of course—despite the efforts of the present administration.

Cole steps out with his Secret Service detail and leads them in some quick stretches. Then they start running east at a medium jog. A young female agent falls in beside him, matching his pace, her ponytail flipping from side to side. Her name is Leanne Keil and this is her regular assignment, so Cole has made it a point to remember not only her name but her impressive achievements on the NC State track team. There’s no chance of his speeding away from an athlete who ran the two-hundred in twenty-one seconds.