They spent billions a year on gathering intelligence, and what did the government get in return? Nothing. The vaunted CIA had failed to predict the two most significant events of the last twenty years: the fall of the Soviet Union and Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. Rudin sometimes felt like he was losing his mind. It seemed that the more vociferously he pointed out Langley's failures, the more people shunned him. It drove him nuts. It was right there for all to see. The CIA had been feeding them grossly overestimated reports on the Soviet economy and military preparedness for years, and in Rudin's keen mind there was only one reason for them to do so. The CIA and the Pentagon were conspiring against their own government. They didn't want their budgets cut so they went out and grossly exaggerated the strength of the Evil Empire.

Rudin wiped a thick layer of sweat from his face and cleared his throat with a rumbling hack. Turning to the far corner, he deposited his spit with a well-aimed shot. It was probably that damn Reagan's fault, Rudin thought. Reagan was to blame for most things in Rudin's mind. If there was ever a face that could be put on evil it would be that of Ronald Reagan. Rudin had little doubt that the former President had directed the CIA and the Joint Chiefs to inflate the Soviet Unions numbers so they could get the budget increases they were after. After Reagan it had been his successor Bush, a former director of the CIA, who had decided to cozy up to Saddam Hussein. The maniacal leader went from being a trusted ally to enemy number one overnight. It was just another example of how duplicitous and incompetent the CIA was.

Rudin was right. He knew it in his deepest being. The others were wrong. Even members of his party had turned their back on him and it was all because of that damn Thomas Stansfield and President Hayes. At least Stansfield was dead, but that didn't solve his problems. Now he had Kennedy to deal with. He had to figure out some way to stop her. She couldn't be allowed to take over at the CIA. They needed someone who would go in there and tear the roof off, exposing all of the vermin to the light of day. Rudin would take great pleasure in watching them scurry for cover. He needed someone he could trust as director. He needed someone who would cooperate with his committee when he held hearings. He needed someone who would clean house.

Kennedy was not the answer, but his hands were tied. Just weeks earlier, he had received the most vicious ass-chewing of his life at the hands of President Hayes. The rest of the party leadership had been present for the event. In Rudin's mind it had all been unwarranted. All he had been trying to do was stop Thomas Stansfield from turning the reins of power at the CIA over to Irene Kennedy. The only thing that would accomplish would be to replace one liar with another, and Rudin had been lied to enough. Thomas Stansfield was probably the most adept liar Washington had ever seen. He had been lying to Rudin's committee for the better part of two decades, and Rudin now thanked God every morning that Stansfield was finally dead.

That, however, didn't help the fact that the President had announced Dr. Kennedy as his successor. Rudin had tried to prevent that. During Stansfield's final days, Rudin had met with Senator Hank Clark, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and Secretary of State Charles Midleton. Midleton was a good fellow Democrat who shared Rudin's concerns about the CIA. It was an agency run amok, an agency that was continually getting in the way of diplomatic relations and negotiations. It was in Midleton's best interest to replace Stansfield with someone who was not so loyal to the CIA. This common bond against the CIA was why they had asked to meet with Senator Clark. Clark was a Republican after all, and in charge of the very committee that would have to confirm or block Kennedy's nomination. He was their trump card in torpedoing her career, Clark was really the only Republican that Rudin could count as a friend, the only one who he could actually tolerate.

Rudin felt that they could reason with Clark. Show him why it was in his best interest, in the Republicans' best interest to kill Kennedy's nomination before it ever got to his committee, Clark had been sympathetic, but ultimately uncooperative, and that left Rudin and Midleton to stop the changing of the guard. Rudin's first move was to call Kennedy before his committee in an attempt to catch her in a lie. At the same time Secretary of State Midleton began to use his significant resources and clout to undermine the support for Kennedy.

Disaster struck when somewhere along the way, the President found out what they were up to. Unknown to Rudin, Secretary Midleton and President Hayes didn't have the best of relationships. Apparently a deal had been struck during the campaign. Midleton, a senator at the time, had finished third in three consecutive primaries. Midleton came to Hayes, the party's front-runner, and offered to bow out of the race and throw his support behind Hayes. Like all things in politics, Midleton's offer came with some strings. No, he didn't want to be vice President. Midleton didn't like his odds of eventually becoming President if he took that post. Secretary of state was a much more glamorous post, and one where if the need ever arose, he could distance himself from President Hayes.

Midleton never quite got it through his head that Hayes was now his boss. The arrogant secretary of state had been caught and warned several times for sticking his nose in other departments' business. President Hayes had very clearly warned him that he was to stay out of the CIA's business. It appeared Hayes had found out that Midleton had ignored his orders and was attempting to undermine Irene Kennedy's career. President Hayes hit the roof. He called Midleton to the White House and forced him to resign on the spot.

Midleton was not the only person the President had been angry with that day. Literally minutes later Rudin had been escorted into the Situation Room by the speaker of the House. When the President entered the room Rudin knew something was horribly wrong. He didn't know President Hayes was capable of such anger. In a screaming match, Hayes told Rudin that who he chose to become the next director of the CIA was none of his goddamn business and if he heard another peep out of him, he would do everything in his considerable power to strip him of his chairmanship and make sure he suffered a humiliating defeat in his next reelection. Rudin had left the meeting in utter shock.

That night he received a phone call. The person on the other end informed him that Secretary of State Midleton had committed suicide. Before Rudin could respond, before he could take a breath, in the time it took him to blink his eyes he became terrified. Albert Rudin had been around Washington too long to think that Charles Midleton would kill himself out of embarrassment. The man was vain, but come on. To end your life over being forced to resign, especially so early in an administration? If Hayes floundered as President, it would have made Midleton look like the smart guy for getting out. There had to be something more to it, and in Albert Rudin's mind that something more was Thomas Stansfield. Rudin felt it way down in his creaky old bones. Midleton had been murdered. He had been killed by Stansfield for something that he had done, or tried to do. It had been his final warning to all his enemies before he died. Don't mess with Irene Kennedy.

In the weeks since Midleton's alleged suicide, Rudin had spoken to no one of his suspicions. But now that Stansfield was dead, he was going to begin making some inquiries. He had to. There was no way after all these years that he could quit the fight against the CIA. His own party had turned his back on him. They had moved to the center with that smug bastard Hayes leading the charge. Sure their polling numbers were up, but those could change overnight. He needed to stay true to the core beliefs of the party. The CIA needed to be reined in, and if it cost him his job, so be it. He needed to do what was right. The soothing combination of hot steam and an overwhelming sense of righteousness gave Rudin the belief that he could do it, that he could do anything. If he just stayed the course, he would find a way, and President Hayes would be made to pay.