Tsar's Puppet (eBook)

Jerry Anderson (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025 | 1. Auflage
220 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
979-8-3178-2232-3 (ISBN)

Infos

In this fast-paced political thriller, global espionage collides with high-stakes power plays that reach from the corridors of Washington to the shadowy streets of Europe. When a covert operation unravels, a seasoned operative is thrust into a deadly game of deception, betrayal, and shifting alliances. As the truth closes in, nothing-and no one-is what it seems. Written in the spirit of a classic James Bond novel, this story delivers relentless suspense, razor-sharp intrigue, and twists that will keep readers guessing until the final page. America is on the verge of an Apocalypse, a social, moral, and political upheaval-a collapse into chaos with violence and civil war erupting, where neighbor is pitted against neighbor, and there is 'blood in the streets' in cities across the country. Only one man: Billy Tidewater (vigilante for justice, ex-Army Ranger, CIA black ops specialist) and one woman: Rosario Brown (a crusading, hard-charging journalist) can stop the coming Armageddon-end the rampant lawlessness and corruption, the rapid descent into anarchy, political autocracy, and a despotic, Fascist-style police state.

Jerry Anderson, a Minneapolis native, is the author of three previous novels known for their sharp insight and compelling storytelling. Before turning to fiction, he spent years as a stock and commodity broker-an experience that honed his eye for risk, reward, and the unpredictable nature of human ambition. His writing reflects that same instinct for tension and momentum, blending vivid characters with the pulse of real-world intrigue. Anderson's latest work continues his exploration of the fine line between fortune and fate, told with the authenticity of someone who's lived both sides of the story.

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In this gripping political thriller, global power and personal loyalty collide in a world where truth is the first casualty. When a covert intelligence mission goes disastrously wrong, a seasoned operative is drawn into a tangled web of espionage that stretches from the halls of Washington to the heart of the Kremlin. As shadowy forces within Russia's power elite maneuver for dominance, alliances shift, secrets surface, and the lines between friend and enemy blur beyond recognition. Pursued by assassins and betrayed by those he trusts most, the operative must navigate a deadly maze of political deceit, international corruption, and hidden agendas. Written in the sleek, high-stakes style of a James Bond adventure, this novel delivers relentless tension, rich characters, and a cascade of twists that lead to a shocking finale where global stability-and one man's survival-hang in the balance.

Textauszug

Chapter Two

Washington, D.C.

The story is all over the morning news. Rosario Brown—White House reporter, correspondent, and TV news anchor for MSNBC—is worried when she opens her phone and sees the crisis text from Scott “Get Out” and is unable to reach him. But when she hears the Special Report on TV, she feels a genuine moment of panic, realizing that she is in serious trouble. The White House has put out a story that Scott Franklin—special counsel to the president’s national security adviser—has been found at his D.C. home (discovered early that morning by a cleaning person), dead of an apparent heart attack. Rosie, as she is called by friends and colleagues at the station, knows immediately it is a lie and a cover-up, and she knows what she must do. Scott had given her a key to a lock box at the airport with explicit instructions that: “if something happens to me, if I’m discovered and this whole thing blows up, don’t talk to anyone, you’ll be in grave danger, go to the airport, get the file, and go immediately to New Orleans. Get a cab to take you to Rigolets on Lake Pontchartrain. Find a shrimp and lobster fisherman named Billy Tidewater. He is a former Army Ranger. We clerked together for Justice Stevens on the Supreme Court. He has done some dirty work for the CIA, but he can be trusted. He is a good, capable guy. He will know what to do—and he will protect you. I trust him explicitly. God’s speed, Rosie—find Billy. And good luck.”

As a national reporter—a member of the hated media—everyday there are threats and reasons to be afraid. Rosie shivers when she thinks about the hate The Bad King’s first campaign had unleashed. She remembers vividly one day how a frumpy, heavy-set older woman wearing an overly-big MAGA T-shirt approached the press corral where Rosie was sequestered with her media colleagues—called her, in a vicious slur, a “liberal whore”—and spat at her. There were rowdy threatening young men, white supremacists, with shaved heads, garish tattoos, and hate enraged faces, balding older men with beards and distended Southern beer bellies, wearing T-shirts with confederate flag logos, all red MAGA hats and waving American flag pennants.

It was a typical MAGA rally. The candidate reveled in his ability to stoke up his so-called “base” with out-right lies about Hillary Clinton (punctuated with bellicose chants to “lock her up”) and the Democrats and the vast left-wing conspiracy, including attacks on the credibility of the media. Rosie had started covering the rallies the first day in June 2015 when he announced his campaign, starting with the ceremonial ride down the escalator in the tacky, garishly decorated atrium of his downtown New York building, with his mannequin-like, trophy wife – the now sumptuously titled, Queen Slovia–a few steps in front, the whole media oriented pageant inaugurated with a call for a border wall and the claim that Mexicans were murderers and rapists.

The fall 2020 election is just nine months away. It is early February, following the January Iowa caucuses, and The Bad King is already in full campaign mode. In fact, Rosie has just returned from a four-day, six-city campaign swing. In the middle of a big, raucous rally in Florida she was pointedly—and directly by name—called out (attacked) by the incumbent president as a reporter hostile to him and his campaign.

“She’s out there,” he bellowed into the mic. “She’s out there,” he repeated, gesturing toward the press pen. “Little Rosie, a third-rate reporter.” The smirk on his face showed his disdain. “Third-rate. Third-rate,” he emphasized again. Rosie remembered him saying the same things, attacking her in precisely the same direct and personal way in his first campaign.

Reaction from the crowd of supporters was spontaneous and so violent that—for her own protection—Rosie had to be escorted from the arena by a phalanx of Secret Service agents to her crew’s rented car in the parking lot.

The Bad King had fired up the crowd with repeated attacks on the Democrats, the intelligence establishment (FBI, CIA, the NSA) and, of course, his usual nemesis—the fake media. He sees himself besieged on all fronts, calling it all just a “witch hunt.” The press and the Democrats are out to get him, and his attacks now have become even more virulent since the Democrat’s success in taking back the House in the 2018 mid-term elections.

Almost from the outset, immediately following his 2017 inauguration, The Bad King has been under constant attack by the media for his administration’s cruel border policies, the rampant conflicts of interest and corruption issuing from his cabinet and within his own family, the inordinately high level of personnel turnover in the White House staff, his daily violations of the Emoluments Clause of the constitution and egregious attempts to use the Department of Justice to punish political enemies, halt investigations and obstruct justice.

In his recent campaign stops, he has launched an all-out campaign of lies and vitriol against anyone he perceives as an enemy. He has openly exhorted and encouraged his MAGA supporters at the rallies to actual physical violence, threatening that there will be riots in the streets, violent demonstrations, and widespread civil disobedience in cities across the country if he is not re-elected.

The late-night comedians often poke fun at him, refer derisively to him as a clown, and his campaign as the “Clown Car” of Republican politics.

On the stump, from behind the podium and in front of his loyal supporters, he lashes out and rails back at his opponents, those he calls the “enemies of the people.”

“The Democrats protest and bring murder and gang violence to the streets of America . . . just look at Chicago,” sadly he shakes his head, “. . . poor Chicago.” Again, referring to the Democrats: “They want to let murderers and rapists come in from Mexico and allow drugs to pour in over the border.”

At this his crowd of angry supporters cheer their hero, and then raucously chant:

“Lock ‘em up! Build a wall.”

Rosie sees the hate fueled actions of the president’s rabid base, the virulent racism and rampant xenophobia, as a dangerous harbinger of what is to come in the approaching 2020 election. His attacks on his political enemies have never stopped. More than a year later, he is still lashing out at the Democrats for what he terms their unfair, partisan, undemocratic treatment of his most recent, controversial, appointment to the Supreme Court.

After taking back power in the House, Democrats urged an investigation into the president’s finances based on an earlier New York Times story that claimed massive tax fraud on behalf of the president, his charitable foundation, and his family. Currently, his lawyers are busy fighting a subpoena by the Democrat controlled House Ways and Means committee for his tax returns, an issue that will likely end up before the Supreme Court.

The four-day campaign swing wrapped up in Mobile, Alabama. Rosie took a cab to the airport and flew home to Washington. She went to bed that morning at 2:30 AM and was up at 5:30 for a TV call to do a 7:00 AM spot (“hit” as TV people call it) on Morning Joe with Mika Brezinski and Joe Scarborough. She is at the local NBC affiliate around 10:00 AM that morning—preparing to anchor a one-hour afternoon news segment—when, like everyone else, she hears the first reports of Scott’s death.

It all seems so bizarre, almost too bizarre to be believed—Scott’s sudden death, and the White House’s phony cover-up story. Rosie knows though that she must take Scott’s warning seriously and follow his instructions to the letter. Something bad is happening. She tells her boss at the station that she needs some time off—that it is an emergency family matter. Then she goes back to her apartment, tosses a suitcase on the bed, and throws in some clothes and shoes and whatever toiletries she thinks she might need. She casts a look around her tiny apartment. It is small and cramped, but in the last almost four years she has spent almost no time there. As part of the MSNBC “Road Warriors” team, she has traveled almost constantly, covering the amazing 2016 election, first as the MSNBC reporter attached to the infant Republican candidacy of the flamboyant billionaire New York real estate developer/TV reality show host, and then as a national news correspondent and anchor reporting daily on his turbulent follow-up administration as the now controversial sitting president. Only a year ago did she get her cat Waldo for some company.

Rosie takes out an envelope, bulging with hundred-dollar bills, from under a heat vent on the floor and stuffs it into her purse. Scott had also told her: “if this all blows up, Rosie, you’re going to need some cash to travel.” Tears now come to her eyes as she remembers the man who had been her trusted “deep background” source for the stories that had been published in the Washington Post under her own byline. Her relationship with Scott was not romantic, but purely professional. Still, Rosie feels sadness at his passing. He was a decent guy, working for the president’s national security team and just trying to do a good job. The stories, written over the past few months, had earned her a national reputation, the ire of the White House and the president, and secured for her a prominent place on the president’s enemies list. The White House had tried several times to have her barred from the daily press briefings,...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 14.11.2025
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Krimi / Thriller / Horror
• ISBN-13: 979-8-3178-2232-3 / 9798317822323