CHAPTER SIX
Still draped in his bathrobe, standing on the balcony of the beach house, he gazed
at the clarity of the night sky. The stars seemed so much brighter tonight for some
reason, but he couldn’t enjoy them, knowing his love was somewhere and he couldn’t
find her. He was a soldier; pressure was a normal part of the routine, but the despair
he felt was new. It was something he wasn’t about to get accustomed to, either.
Terrell Warren was aggressive and confrontational, according to the media. He had
to be in order to rise through the ranks to become a Brigadier General during Desert
Storm. Politics was a different battlefield; he’d soon learn that the moment he made
the announcement to run for the open senate seat out of California. In fact, it was his
aggressive nature that won him seats on several powerful committees, although having
his family name carry so much weight on the Hill didn’t hurt, either. Nevertheless, it
was that aggressive posturing placed him on the fast track to the presidency in ways
he couldn’t have imagined.
Diplomacy wasn’t his greatest weapon, but he knew when to use it and when he
needed to make the greatest impact. The problem, in his colleagues’ eyes, was that he
didn’t use it enough. If anything, they felt he needed to understand the nuances of his
influence and strike when things are at their most advantageous.
His support of the wars in Afghanistan and in Iraq had those in his own Party
wondering if he truly was a liberal, or was he in the dreaded “left-of-center” position
that made former Presidents Clinton and Obama such polarizing figures with
Congress. He had to rely on his savvy and some well-earned political capital to get
him throug