"No, ma'am." Francesca said. "This country is fortunate to have a leader like you."
Rudd held up the journal. "Any ideas how I should handle this?"
"I have one." Jake said. "You have a golden opportunity to turn Project Resurrection into a positive."
"I'm listening," the President said.
"Commission a military task force to exhume every casket listed in the journal that hasn't already been robbed. Have them remove the items, catalog and store what they find, then reinter the soldiers' remains. After all the stolen treasures have been recovered, announce to the world what you have found and return the recovered items to the country of origin. It's a win-win. The world recovers what the Nazi's stole from it in World War II and you can clear your conscience by righting the wrongs of Wolfgang Fleischer."
Rudd looked at him without speaking then she faced Elmore Wiley. "What do you think?"
Wiley looked at Jake. "I think Mr. Pendleton has offered you wise counsel."
"I think so too." Rudd walked over to her chair and picked up a portfolio. She looked at Jake and Francesca. "I can't thank you enough for your discretion and dedication. I owe you a debt of gratitude the likes of which I can never repay." She handed the portfolio to Elmore Wiley and turned to Jake and Francesca. "We'll be talking soon."
Wiley opened the portfolio and pulled out a document and a letter sized manila envelope. He held up the document. "I forgot to mention, the President and I have worked out a deal. From now on, your assignments will originate from here, the White House." Wiley handed Jake the envelope. "Here's your next assignment, I'll meet you back at Commonwealth in an hour."
Jake and Francesca left President Rebecca Rudd and Elmore Wiley alone in the Situation Room and were escorted out of the White House.
Jake opened the envelope in the backseat of one of Wiley's Black Crown Victoria limos.
"Well?" Francesca said. "Where are we going?"
Jake handed her the letter. "See for yourself."
"Interesting," she said, "this doesn't sound easy."
Jake looked at Francesca and smiled. "When I was in the Navy they used to say, the only easy day was yesterday." Jake pointed to the letter. "We have to make a detour on the way, though."
"A detour? Where are we going this time?"
"Georgia."
"What for?" She asked.
"I need to get my mail."
"For real? What could possibly be in your mail that's so important we have to detour from our mission?"
"A key.”
* * *
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Acknowledgments
First things first, to my wife Debi, who always gets first read, who sits in the shadows while I revel in the limelight, and who didn't complain when I dragged her from cemetery to cemetery during the research phase of Breach of Power. Thanks for keeping me in line, on track, and for reeling me in when I needed it. Thank you for your ideas, your suggestions, and your criticism. Without your valued input, these books would always be lacking. Lastly, thank you for your patience and support, as the arduous task of cranking out stories must seem like a never-ending process. I love you with all my heart and soul.
With each new book I write, the list of acknowledgements grows. I am indebted to those who have graciously volunteered their time and energy to steer this author in the right direction. Perhaps it's their occupational expertise or a past experience that has provided me, through our interviews and discussions, a rudimentary foundation to write about things I know nothing about. To each of those listed below, you have my sincerest gratitude. Thank you for making Breach of Power my best book yet.
Special thanks to Mary Fisher for the best book cover yet!
Thank you to the following for providing me with the good stuff to include in this story: G. J. (Cos) Cosgrove, Tim Eyerman, Jack Heard, Sgt. Jon Hepler, Alan Marsh at the Andersonville National Historic Site, and Alyce Nierman.
Thank you to Tom Colgan for his editorial advice and to Cheryl Duttweiler for providing shrink services to my characters along with her proofreading skills.
Some authors call them test-readers. Others call them beta-readers. Whatever the title, every author understands the value of extra eyes reading their material. Thanks to Bruce Evors, Scott Katzer, and Terrence Traut, along with authors Richard C. Hale and Dean K. Miller for your honest and unbiased, and unabashed input.
Whenever real people get their names in fiction stories, they run the risk of being cast as good, bad, and sometimes downright evil. Thank you to the real mother and son team of Heidi and Scott Katzer for making such evil antagonists. I hope your characters met your expectations.
Lastly I want to thank you, the reader, for buying this book. It is my genuine hope that you found this story entertaining and that those unexpected twists and turns left you smiling…or perhaps cussing…either way, it works for me.
Writer’s Note
WRITER'S NOTE
Research for Breach of Power took me from cemeteries in Nashville, Tennessee to glaciers in Alaska. From Fort Collins, Colorado to the Andersonville National Historic Site in Georgia. And from rural cemeteries in the North Georgia Mountains to Fernandina Beach, Florida. This story culminated from news articles that sparked my imagination to ask two simple questions: why & why not?
The first idea came from a news clip I read from Austria where two hikers found the remains of a man who was believed to have fallen in a crevasse in a glacier over 55 years prior. That got me thinking, why? Was it an accident? Suicide? Stupidity? Was he thrown into the crevasse? Was he running from someone? Why not?
Then one morning, my wife handed me a newspaper article about the mission called Task Force Christman and said, "This is pretty cool, maybe you can use it." A day or so later I read another article about stolen Nazi treasures that had recently been recovered. Why couldn't I draw a nexus between them all and call it fiction? Why not?
Now to separate fact from fiction—Zugspitze is the highest peak in Germany and sits on the German/Austrian border. The Schneefernerhaus Hotel and Resort and all the details about it are real. The climb from Garmisch to the summit of Zugspitze via the Höllentalferner glacier was taken from several actual accounts from hikers who have made this trek. It is as accurate as I could make it without taking the journey myself.
Within months after the release of The Toymaker, I was made aware of further spy drone enhancements with nanotechnology. The details about the miniature mosquito spy drone, nicknamed Skeeter in the book, are correct. Actually obtaining official specifications about the drone and its capabilities ventured into the "I can neither confirm nor deny" realm. So draw your own conclusions. It's a good bet the description is closer to accurate than anyone is officially willing to admit.
Mount Olivet and Calgary cemeteries in Nashville, as well as all the cemeteries mentioned in Breach of Power are real and accurately depicted. That's where the facts end. The events that took place in the cemeteries are fictional. There is no Katzer Funeral Home, and certainly not one across the street from Mount Olivet, so don't try to Google it, nothing will show up.
As I briefly mentioned above, Task Force Christman is a real mission mandated by Congress. I encourage you to look it up and read more about it as I just lightly touched on its details. Our soldiers did indeed work long midnight hours cataloging the entire Arlington National Cemetery.
Anderson National Historic Site: This place is amazing. I encourage each and every one of my readers to learn more about it. It is a part of this country's history that everyone should know existed. If you ever find yourself in West-Central Georgia, I strongly encourage you to take a day and e
xplore the site.
The underwater town of Butler, Tennessee is real. The facts about it are accurate. The town was relocated to higher ground by the Tennessee Valley Authority as mentioned in the book. Although nearly all of Old Butler was moved to the ridge where New Butler now sits, some structures were left behind and not destroyed. The two buildings mentioned in Breach of Power, including the old jail, and the bridge are still at the bottom of Watauga Lake. The proximity of the bridge to the buildings was adjusted for the purposes of the story. Scuba divers occasionally dive to the bottom of the lake and the water is indeed cold and murky.
Grandview Cemetery in Fort Collins, Colorado is as depicted, and yes, deer nestle in the cemetery all year long. On my first visit, my son spotted several deer that had sought out the warm, dry ground beneath a large blue spruce tree where the February snowfall couldn't reach. During a separate visit, the mountains to the west of Fort Collins were under siege by raging wild fires. At night, if you looked to the west, you could see the amber glow of the flames as they consumed the forests. It was sad to see this devastation in such a beautiful part of our country.
We've all heard of lost Nazi treasures. Hitler's Third Reich plundered banks and museums stealing anything they thought of value. Several priceless art pieces remain missing today, several of which were believed destroyed by the Nazis. Along with art, the Nazis stole large amounts of gold and silver. Some of these treasures were stored in salt mines. When it became evident the Third Reich was about to fall, many Nazi commanders fled Germany with their caches. Some of these officers even stored treasures in chests and sunk them to the bottom of some of Germany and Austria's mountain lakes with intentions of later returning to recover their cache. Others tried moving their hoards to Italy only to be captured in Austria. Much of this stolen Nazi treasure remains unaccounted for today.
Breach of Power (The Action-Packed Jake Pendleton Political Thriller series Book 3) Page 30