The President's Daughter: A Thriller

Nick and Alejandro flank the west side of the compound, guided via earpiece by Claire. As enemies swarm out, the two SEALs take cover behind a dirt berm and return fire.

After they reload, grenades land near their position. The explosions wound Alejandro with shrapnel. Nick helps his partner draw his sidearm so he can continue fighting. Nick calls for sniper support from Claire but receives no response.

Maneuvering through the firefight, Chinese agent Jiang Lijun spots Mel hiding. He calls out, falsely identifying himself as a US Navy SEAL sent to rescue her. Initially relieved, Mel approaches him. However, when Jiang grabs her hand, she grows suspicious of his AK-47 and improper gear.

Mel questions Jiang’s identity and then struggles, biting his hand. From her rooftop overwatch position, Claire sees the struggle and, realizing the deception, shoots Jiang to protect Mel.

Immediately after shooting Jiang, Claire radios Keating, who is leading the rescue. She informs him that she shot a man who was holding Mel and gives him their location. Keating races toward the position, calling for his daughter.

As Keating rounds a pile of scrap metal, he finds Jiang’s slumped body but is confronted by Al-Asheed. Before Keating can raise his weapon, Al-Asheed ambushes him, stabbing him with a knife and seriously wounding him.

Elsewhere on the compound, Stahl hears Claire’s radio traffic about Keating’s location but cannot reach him. At the same moment, Nick makes a desperate call for assistance as he and Alejandro are pinned down. Torn between his duty to protect Keating and the need to help his comrades, Stahl makes a split-second decision and runs toward the SEALs’ position.

Meanwhile, Al-Asheed overpowers the wounded Keating, knocking his weapon away. He pins Keating to the ground and taunts him, vowing to kill him and then his daughter.

Pinned by Al-Asheed and weakened by his stab wound, Keating yells for Mel to run. Just as Keating’s strength fades, Al-Asheed is struck from behind with a metal object and stumbles back. Mel emerges from the shadows, having created the opening for her father.

Freed, Keating grabs his pistol and shoots the terrorist twice, killing him. Father and daughter share a brief, emotional embrace before Keating insists they must leave immediately.

Keating radios the team and orders them to withdraw to the exfiltration point. Mel helps her injured father with his gear, giving him a protective vest and helmet. The team regroups, and Stahl tends to Keating’s wrist wound. Keating learns from Claire that the man she shot was a Chinese agent who survived because he wore a ballistic vest.

Attempts to contact their pilot fail, raising concerns about their extraction. Stahl confirms that the enemy’s trucks have been destroyed. Just then, the team hears an approaching helicopter. Keating orders them to mark the landing zone with infrared chem lights.

As the helicopter approaches, a mortally wounded Faraj crawls toward the American team. He reflects on his life, from his time as a film student to his growing disillusionment with jihad.

Summoning his last strength, Faraj struggles to his feet as the Black Hawk descends. He raises his AK-47 and opens fire in a final, desperate attack.

Nick and Keating return fire, killing Faraj. In the exchange, Mel screams that she has been hit. Stahl, who shielded her with his body, is fatally wounded. The team scrambles aboard the helicopter, which takes off as the pilot apologizes for a communications delay.

Claire confirms that Mel’s arm wound is minor, but Stahl’s neck wound is fatal. As the team tries to save him, Stahl whispers Mel’s Secret Service code name, “Hope.” Mel takes his hand as he dies, having sacrificed his life to save hers.

That night in Washington, DC, bartender Rollie Spruce is working a slow shift at a hotel bar during an archaeology convention. Suddenly, a woman in the bar screams, and the room erupts in celebration. A guest orders champagne for everyone.

Confused, Rollie looks at the television and sees the breaking news: Mel Keating has been rescued in North Africa. He quickly realizes he is about to make very good tips.

The day after the rescue, the team flies home on a US Air Force C-40 jet. The captured Jiang remains in Tunisia, and Stahl’s body is on a separate flight. Upon landing in Bangor, Maine, Keating returns Mel’s gold ring to her. Nick, Alejandro, and Claire say their goodbyes.

On the tarmac, Keating and Mel have an emotional reunion with Samantha. Keating’s Secret Service detail wears black ribbons in mourning for Stahl. Keating then confronts his chief of staff, Madeline Perry, and demands to know why she betrayed his mission by alerting the White House.

Madeline admits that she warned the White House because she feared for his life. Keating fires her but immediately offers her a new role: running a foundation for veterans, to be named in honor of Stahl and another fallen comrade.

The Keating family then holds a press conference. Keating deflects questions about the rescue team, while Mel jokes that she is craving a cheeseburger. Samantha announces that she is taking a sabbatical to be with her family.

Shortly after the rescue, Jiang Lijun attends a banquet at the Chinese Mission in New York, supposedly in his honor. His superior, Li Baodong, pulls him into a private office and offers him a glass of rare wine. Li berates Jiang for his mission failure and for compromising Chinese intelligence.

Li reveals that the Americans are demanding that Jiang’s “status is settled” (589). Jiang realizes his drink was poisoned. As he becomes paralyzed, Li assures him his family will be cared for before leaving him to die, silencing him to resolve the diplomatic fallout.

On the afternoon of the Keatings’ return, President Barnes is in the White House family quarters. She watches news coverage of the successful rescue and sees images of Stahl’s casket arriving at Dover Air Force Base. Resentful at being excluded, she rereads the note Keating left for her in the Resolute Desk on Inauguration Day.

She skims past the congratulations and focuses on the postscript, which contains a clear challenge: Keating plans to see her again in four years. Filled with anger at his political success, she crumples the note and drops it on the floor.