And once more the NSC Watch teams had been walled off. There were no recordings being made. There were no other attendees. No official transcript would be kept. Evan Tucker looked at the president, and the president stared back at him. The latter had not been told why this meeting had been called, only that it was urgent and needed to take place immediately. That was why they were sitting here now and why the president had canceled four meetings that he had been scheduled to attend. “Care to take me out of the dark, Evan?” the president said in a clearly annoyed tone. Josh Potter had already met with Tucker and thus knew what was coming. He had been uncomfortable not informing the president directly since he was the president’s man, but Tucker had browbeaten him into letting the DCI make the briefing. And, in truth, Potter did not want to be the messenger on this debacle. Tucker cleared his throat, which lately had felt like mold was growing there.
