Executive Privilege

A woman is photographed entering her psychic's building and again when she leaves in a body bag, a silent ambulance waiting. Andrea, the amateur photographer who took the pictures, feels that her subject was a celebrity.  Not being able to identify her, Andrea contacts her former lover, Lucien Champier, a photographer with the Washington Herald.  He privately develops the pictures, and they are shocked to learn the mystery woman's identity:  Madeline Chambers, The First Lady.  For two weeks the White House says nothing, then finally, they announce "that the First Lady has died this evening of a massive coronary."

The pathologist at Walter Reed Hospital discovers that Madeline Chambers was murdered, her life snuffed out by suffocation but the president's aide withholds this crucial information from the President, because of the tawdry circumstances surrounding her death; an affair with a younger man who has vanished.

The obvious cover up has piqued the curiosity of Andrea and Lucien, so much so that he involves Eddie Wallace, the Herald's top journalist.  Together they stumble onto the stunning truth; that Mrs. Chambers was involved in a dangerous high stakes game of international intrigue... for money.  Through all this, the former lovers have rekindled their romance, and Lucien has moved in with Andrea on the same day that the First Lady's psychic is murdered in the apartment next door.

The evidence that the trio has collected reveals some very dangerous secrets, prompting Eddie Wallace to seek his publisher's help when they discover a volatile video cassette.  But Jack Stern, the publisher, is reluctant to become involved, citing his friendship with the President.  He changes his mind when he discovers that our national security has been compromised.  The inquisitive foursome do not realize that anybody having seen that cassette is in mortal danger.

Jack continues a silent probe, giving his Pulitzer Prize winning team the green light to do a favorable news article on one of the First Lady's pet projects, A.L.A., the Arab Liberation Alliance, a group now suspected of funneling money to terrorists.  Jack Stern hopes to gain their confidence in an attempt to infiltrate their ranks.  But something goes wrong and it's every man for himself.  Enemies have become friends and friends are now enemies.  Successful attempts are made on the men's lives and Andrea runs, trying to stay one step ahead of the unknown assassins.  Andrea is not a religious woman, but she finds herself begging God's mercy for her unborn child.  She doesn't know where to hide or whom to trust, but suddenly, help comes from an unlikely source, leading her to the safe haven of her youth: Grandma's farm.  Grandma is a feisty, old woman who plays a wicked game of cat and mouse, hiding her precious granddaughter, ready to sacrifice her own life.  Andrea's will to live, and Grandma's fearlessness, gives this story a dramatic and bittersweet ending.