Checkmate

by Karna Small Bodman

Overview

The new, revised story of Checkmate, is the first in The White House National Security Series, and features young scientist, Dr. Cameron Talbot who invents a breakthrough technology to defend against cruise missiles. She needs support from skeptical company officers, funding from a reluctant Congress, and help from Lt. Col. Hunt Daniels, detailed to The White House NSC. With disaster brewing overseas, threats to New Delhi, the Taj Mahal, and to Cameron herself, she and Hunt find themselves enmeshed in terrorist plots and political wrangling at the highest levels.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781621577805
Publisher:	Skyhorse Publishing
Publication date:	06/05/2018
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.80(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Karna Bodman served as White House Deputy Press Secretary under President Ronald Reagan and was subsequently appointed as Senior Director and spokesman for the National Security Council. She attended arms control talks with the Soviets and traveled with the team that briefed the leaders of Great Britain, France and Italy as well as Pope John Paul II. When Karna left The White House to become Senior Vice President of a Public Affairs firm, she was the highest ranking woman on The White House staff. Karna's thrillers include CASTLE BRAVO, CHECKMATE, GAMBIT, FINAL FINESSE,and her short story, THE AGENT. Her next thriller is titled, TRUST BUT VERIFY. She is married to Dick Bodman and they maintain homes in Naples, Florida, Washington, D.C. and Rancho Santa Fe, CA.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One

The White House—Monday Early Morning

“A cruise missile attack? Good God!”

“Exactly right, Mr. President. At least it was armed with a conventional warhead.” The National Intelligence Director pulled a satellite photo from his leather folder and handed it across the Situation Room conference table to his Chief Executive. “You can see the damage. An entire army base destroyed. Hundreds may have been killed. We’re still getting casualty figures from the Indian government.”

“Where is this base?” the President asked as he studied the high-resolution photo.

“On the Indian side of the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. Not too far from the epicenter of that big earthquake. As if those people didn’t have enough problems,” the Director added.

“Did the Paks do it? I can’t believe they’d be that stupid. They know India will retaliate. And with both sides having nuclear weapons . . . this could make earthquake havoc look like second-grade recess.”

The usually unflappable National Security Advisor, Austin Gage, weighed in. “The Pakistanis are going ballistic over this. I’ve already had a plea from their Ambassador asking us to set up a call between you and their President. They’re denying everything. They say that after fighting three wars with India, they’re in no position to start anything. Besides, you know they’ve been trying to tamp things down for months. They’ve restored bus service across Kashmir—”

“Then again, those damn militants keep blowing up the buses,” the Intelligence Chief interrupted.

“Then where in the hell did that missile come from?” the President asked.

Austin shook his head. “That’s what we’re trying to find out.”

“Well, get about it then. It’s one thing to have a bunch of Islamic militants staging attacks on villagers. Hell, they’ve been doing that for years. But a cruise missile attack? That takes brains, experience. They’re computer guided. You don’t just have some deranged terrorist picking one up and figuring out how to program and launch the damn thing.”

“We know, Mr. President. We’ve got our best people on it,” the Intelligence Director said.

“About the press, sir,” the Chief of Staff said. “They’re already clamoring for details.”

The President glanced down at the photo again. “The press? Amazing that they even know where Kashmir is. Most of them probably think it’s where they make sweaters.”

Austin shrugged. “You’ve got a point there. We should have more by the noon briefing. I suggest we try to hold down the hysterics if we can.” The President nodded. “Now about that phone call for the President of Pakistan?”

“Set it up,” the President ordered. “But first get me some talking points on possible suspects and how they could have gotten their hands on a sophisticated missile system.”

“We’re on it, sir.”

The President stood up, effectively ending the meeting.

The three men gathered their notes and headed for the door of the basement conference room. As they filed out, each one uttered the same phrase, “Thank you, Mr. President.”

“I want you to find the bastards who launched that missile,” the President called after the trio. “And figure out if they’ve got any more of them.”

Copyright © 2007 by Karna Small Bodman. All rights reserved.

Editorial Reviews

Anti-cruise-missile technology masterminded by a beautiful defense industry scientist may be critical to maintaining the balance of power as Pakistan and India come closer than usual to war. Mixing inside-the-beltway policy with some decorously heavy breathing, debut novelist Bodman, whose post at the National Security Council made her one of the highest ranking women in the Reagan administration, constructs something of a war game around the assumption that it is technically possible to seize the codes that guide a cruise missile while it is in the air. Luscious, brilliant Cameron "Cammy" Talbot is one of the technical wizards at Bandaq Technologies, an ethical defense contractor run by a straight-shooting general. Licking her wounds from a disastrous love affair and haunted by childhood memories of her father's death, Cammy's leading the development of Bandaq's breakthrough anti-missile project. But her stellar work may be in vain. Congress threatens to cut off project funding and shift resources to arch-rival Sterling Industries, a defense contractor that backs old technology as it orchestrates technical and political sabotage against Bandaq. Cammy puts her project in greater peril when she resists the advances of a lecherous but influential congressman. Fortunately for Bandaq and Cammy, evil Kashmiri separatists have stolen three Pakistani cruise missiles in their effort to provoke war between the nuclear powers, and Cammy's project may be the silver bullet, if pesky algorithms can be straightened out in time and if she can dodge attempts on her life by the separatists. Plagued by nightmares, headaches and carpal tunnel pain, and dodging bullets fired by zealots in Volvos and onVespas, Cammy hammers away at the codes and wonders if dreamy, jut-jawed, White House staffer Col. Hunt Daniels, who's taken a protective interest in her, could be The One. Revives memories of Jeanne Fitzpatrick and that wonderful Strategic Defense Initiative.

Kirkus Reviews

Checkmate is a fantastic first novel by a woman who knows the intricacies of Washington. Well worth the read . . . it will get your heart pumping.” —Vince Flynn, New York Times bestselling author of Consent to Kill

“Gripping and authentic.” —Lee Child, New York Times bestselling author of One Shot

“Karna Small Bodman’s Checkmate hits all the notes. Her years of firsthand White House experience shine through on every page of this fine debut international thriller—authentic, up-to-the-minute, and gripping.” —John Lescroart, New York Times bestselling author of The Hunt Club

“A fantastic story of how close our world is to the brink of ruin and how one courageous and determined woman fights to save us all. Karna Small Bodman writes with the eye of an insider, revealing all the secrets we wish we knew in a brilliant, heart-stopping tale.” —Tim Green, New York Times bestselling author of Exact Revenge

“Bodman takes on Washington like only a true insider can, weaving a frightening tale that feels both unerringly authentic and frighteningly real.” —Kyle Mills, New York Times bestselling author of The Second Horseman

“Karna Small Bodman draws on her unique background as a White House insider to inject high tension and authenticity into this high-stakes thriller. She writes with the smooth confidence of someone who truly knows the political landscape—and isn’t afraid to reveal all.” —Tess Gerritsen, New York Times bestselling author of Vanish

“Checkmate is a chilling and penetrating insider’s look at our national missile defenses, with an astonishing countdown that seems to be happening at this very moment.” —Katherine Neville, New York Times bestselling author of The Eight

“An inside story from an insider. A ripping tale of intrigue about an explosive region, but really about power and Washington. Bodman knows her stuff and lets us see and think about what really happens when the pressure is on and flawed people make decisions that affect us all.” —James W. Huston, New York Times bestselling author of Secret Justice

“Bodman brings us behind the scenes of military meetings, boardrooms, and parlors of the Washington power elite as her heroes race against time and terrorists in her thrilling debut novel, Checkmate. Suspense, romance, life and death scenarios . . . Checkmate has it all.” —Mary Alice Monroe, New York Times bestselling author of Sweetgrass

From the Publisher