Balance
of
Power
ALSO BY RICHARD NORTH PATTERSON
Protect and Defend
Dark Lady
No Safe Place
Silent Witness
The Final Judgment
Eyes of a Child
Degree of Guilt
Private Screening
Escape the Night
The Outside Man
The Lasko Tangent
Balance
of
Power
Richard North Patterson
B a l l a n t i n e B o o k s • N e w y o r k
A Ballantine Book
Published by The Random House Publishing Group
Copyright © 2003 by Richard North Patterson
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of
Canada Limited, Toronto.
Balance of Power is a work of fiction. Names, places, and incidents are a product of the
author's imagination or are used fictitiously.
Ballantine and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
www.ballantinebooks.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Patterson, Richard North. Balance of power / Richard North Patterson.—1st ed.
p. cm. eISBN 0-345-46988-7
1. Firearms—Law and legislation—Fiction. 2. Firearms industry and trade—Fiction. 3. Presidents' spouses—Fiction. 4. Washington (D.C.)— Fiction. 5. Gun control—Fiction. 6. Presidents—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3566.A8242B35 2003 813'.54—dc21
2003051848
Design by C. Linda Dingler
v1.0
For Philip Rotner
A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
—THE SECOND AMENDMENT TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION
C H A R A C T E R S
The White House
Kerry Francis Kilcannon, President of the United States
Lara Costello Kilcannon, First Lady of the United States
Ellen Penn, Vice President of the United States
Clayton Slade, Chief of Staff to the President
Kit Pace, Press Secretary to the President
Peter Lake, head of the President's Secret Service detail
Liz Curry, Director of Legislative Affairs
Alex Cole, Congressional Liaison
Jack Sanders, Chief Domestic Policy Advisor
Connie Coulter, Press Secretary to the First Lady
Francesca Thibault, White House Social Secretary
The First Lady's Family
Inez Costello, Lara's mother
Joan Costello Bowden, Lara's younger sister
John Bowden, Lara's brother-in-law
Marie Bowden, Lara's niece
Mary Costello, Lara's youngest sister
The United States Senate
Senator Francis Xavier Fasano of Pennsylvania, Senate Majority Leader
Senator Charles Hampton of Vermont, Senate Minority Leader
Senator Chad Palmer of Ohio, Chairman of the Commerce Committee
Senator Paul Harshman of Idaho
Senator Cassie Rollins of Maine
Senator Frank Ayala of New Mexico
Senator Vic Coletti of Connecticut
Senator Macdonald Gage of Kentucky
Senator Dave Ruckles of Oklahoma
Senator Jack Slezak of Michigan
Senator Leo Weller of Montana
Senator Betsy Shapiro of California
Senator Kate Jarman of Vermont
Senator Hank Westerly of Nebraska
The Gun Lobby
Charles Dane, President of the Sons of the Second Amendment ("SSA")
Martin Bresler, former President of the Gun Sports Coalition
Bill Campton, Communications Director for the SSA
Carla Fell, Legislative Director for the SSA
Jerry Kirk, Vice President of the Gun Sports Coalition
Kelsey Landon, former senator from Louisiana and outside legislative strategist for the SSA
The Lexington Arms Company
George Callister, President and CEO
Mike Reiner, Vice President of Marketing
Norman Conn, Manager of Quality Control
Costello versus The Lexington Arms Company, etal.
Sarah Dash, co-counsel for Mary Costello
Robert Lenihan, co-counsel for Mary Costello
John Nolan, counsel for Lexington Arms
Harrison Fancher, counsel for the SSA
Gardner W. Bond, Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California
Avram Gold, outside counsel to President Kilcannon
Evan Pritchard, counsel for Martin Bresler
Angelo Rotelli, Judge of the Superior Court for the City and County of San Francisco
Other Victims and Their Families
Laura Blanchard, a sophomore at Stanford University
Henry Serrano, a security guard
Felice Serrano, his widow
George Serrano, his son
David Walsh, a security guard
The Witnesses in Costello versus The Lexington Arms Company, etal.
Dr. Callie Hines, trauma surgeon, San Francisco General Hospital
Charles Monk, homicide inspector, San Francisco Police
Ben Gehringer, felon, member of The Liberty Force, a white supremacist group
George Johnson, felon, member of The Liberty Force