Code Word: Paternity, A Presidential Thriller (2 page)

Chapter
2

So,
what should I tell the country?

The president sat in a small room at the
nuclear-hardened National Command Authority Relocation Site, tunneled into the
solid granite of a Virginia
mountain. He took in his sterile, musty surroundings: concrete walls, a desk,
swivel chair, table, and two armchairs.
I’m
the only president who’s ever been in this room
, he thought,
and right now that feels better than the
Oval Office, like a clean slate.

Hands resting on the desk, Rick felt a
stab of pain between his right shoulder and his spine. He relaxed his hunched
posture, flexed his shoulders, and the ache vanished.

So
far, nobody has claimed the bombing. Well, if Paternity works like they say,
we’ll find out. I doubt the bomb-maker was the bomber—too risky for another
nation. Probably the bomber was al-Qaeda, but maybe not; we’ve had our own
terrorists attack us with bombs and poisons.

Placing his palms flat on the desk,
Martin stared at the legal pad silently demanding wisdom of him.

During
the campaigns, every candidate promised to level with the American people. I
made that pledge as a matter of course. Now I have to make a decision.

If
I level, I’ll say, “We don’t know who did this and we may never know. We’ll
probably be able to make an educated guess before long, and then the question
becomes what we do on the basis of that guess.”

 
The president’s mind continued saying words
only he would ever hear himself speak:
“This
is so terrible that we as a nation and certainly we political leaders refused
to contemplate it, so we didn’t take serious steps to prevent it or prepare for
it. Now we’re forced to take those steps. In order to protect you, your
government is going to have to do things that so reduce the openness and
freedom of your lives that we will fundamentally change as a nation. I’m sorry,
but it’s come to that. And even after we do, your government won’t be able to
guarantee your safety.

“I pledged to level with you and now I
have.”

Martin stood up, pushed his chair back
with his thighs, moved to the table, and poured coffee. He intended to add
cream and sweetener but forgot as his mind returned to creating his speech. He
took a sip, grimaced, then added them. Cup in hand, he stood gazing at a
landscape photo without seeing it.

But,
of course, I can’t and won’t say those things.

Americans
want to hear that I know who did it and we’re going to get them and it will
never happen again and nothing in their lives will change.

They
don’t really want their leaders to level with them when it’s bad news. Jimmy
Carter did that and it earned him derision. Mondale tried it in 1984 and got
thumped by Reagan. And Glenna crushed her Republican opponent after he leveled
about what would follow a heedless American withdrawal from Iraq.

No,
I can’t level with the American people unless I’m willing to be a one-term
president, maybe even impeached.

Martin moved back to the desk, sat
momentarily, then began to pace the few steps the room allowed.

So,
I know what I’m
not
going to say. What
am
I going to say?

From somewhere, thoughts came. Rick
stopped pacing, sat at the desk, and wrote. He paused, then added, “deal with
them under international law.”

But this is about more than recovery,
accountability, and defense against another attack,
he thought.
It’s also an opportunity, a huge opportunity, to lead the world to a
safer place! Nuclear terrorism is a game-changer.

Martin paused
again, then wrote furiously.

That’s better; now it sets a new
direction.

But
I need some unifying theme. We’re no more solidly united now than we were after
Nine-eleven. Despite the United We Stand bumper stickers, solidarity dissolved
within a year. I need something that will make people feel committed to each
other, united by more than just shock and fear.

Then it came to
him.

This’ll
be tricky! It’s either going to work well or fall flat.
Hitting the intercom, he asked for his
lead speechwriter and for Samantha Yu, his press secretary.

***

Everyone scrambled to get the technology
and the president ready in the dank, sixties-era burrow. The broadcast crew
snaked thick cables through the corridors and open blast doors, heavy on their
hinges, to reach their satellite truck. Somebody realized about three hours
before air time that the president didn’t have a suit. His valet choppered in
with it. Sam Yu and others hurriedly disguised the concrete bunker with a blue
backdrop, skillful lighting, and the familiar flags left and right of the most
substantial desk they could round up.

Air time rushed toward them. Rick’s
stomach was jumping, and he was sweating from TV lighting. He hurtled through
space, flung by the explosion in Las
Vegas, out of control, dreading the thought of another
attack while he spoke. And still he had to get this right, must strike the
perfect note, establish his leadership of the wounded nation, set the stage for
seizing the great opportunity. He wiped his sweaty palms futilely.

At 10:12 p.m., the technicians having
missed the announced air time, the networks, CNN, and Fox News cut to President
Martin, seated at a desk. Viewers saw a man who looked slightly askew, slightly
off-stride, but competent and determined despite that. Gripping his text, the
president began speaking in a voice woven of outrage, sadness, and confidence.

“Good evening, fellow Americans of all
ages, men and women, girls and boys. I come before you tonight in shock and
sadness—and in anger and determination!

“We have suffered a terrible loss. We do
not yet know the toll, but certainly tens of thousands of our fellow citizens
and visitors from other countries were murdered today in Las Vegas, and many more were injured.”

Martin put down the text and looked into
the camera.

“I addressed you a moment ago as men and
women, girls and boys. That’s because this was an attack by enemies as intent
on killing our children, our parents, and grandparents as they are on killing
those of us leading active, adult lives. For these enemies, it was enough that
their victims simply be at the place chosen for their attack.

“I don’t know,
yet
”—stabbing the air with his finger—“who planned and carried out
the nuclear destruction of Las Vegas.
What those unidentified murderers did is something long and clearly urged by
al-Qaeda and other extremist groups: the calculated murder of people who do not
espouse their hate-filled views. But we will not rush to judgment; we are
gathering evidence with open minds, recalling that terrorist attacks in our
country have also been made by Americans.”

Pausing, Martin willed beads of
perspiration not to succumb to gravity and slide from temples to jaw.

Grasping his text again, he resumed:
“This evening there isn’t anything I want to say to you that goes beyond common
sense and common decency. But although these words and the feelings that
accompany them are just plain American common sense, it’s important for
Americans and for others—whether they wish us well or ill or are indifferent—to
hear them from the president of the United States.”

A camera tightened to a close-up, and
Martin’s voice strengthened, hammering each sentence.

“We will bury our dead with honor, succor
our wounded, and be partners in rebuilding the hundreds of thousands of lives
affected by this outrage.

“We will find the individuals who planned
and carried out this attack. We will capture them for trial under international
law. We will kill those we are unable to capture.

“We will find out how they got that bomb.
We take it as a given that the terrorists did not make that nuclear weapon
unassisted. One of the nations with whom we share this earth enabled them to
get it, either as a deliberate decision or through failing to exercise the
necessary safeguards.

 
“We will make it much, much harder for
terrorists to attack us again with such weapons of mass destruction. As you
have experienced since shortly after the attack, major sections of our
transportation network have been shut down, and entry to many cities has been
restricted. This will not continue long but is necessary to help us thwart any
potential follow-on attacks.

“On the advice of the surgeon general,
the governor of Nevada and I have isolated the
Las Vegas
disaster area. For their own protection, nobody will be allowed to enter the
quarantined area. We are continuously monitoring radiation levels in all areas
potentially at risk from nuclear fallout. At present that risk is not enough to
require other evacuations.

“Although this is the worst attack upon
the nation in history and has undeniably caused great suffering and loss, our
nation—our citizens and our economy—have the resilience and determination to
carry on and to recover from this blow! I will ask you for, and I am confident
that you will make, the sacrifices necessary to protect our country and enable
survivors to recover.”

The president’s voice changed in volume
and pitch, dropping a notch from the driving force he had been using. The
camera backed off and showed him turning a page, then putting his text aside.
He folded his hands on the desk, leaned forward, and looked directly into the
camera.

“Although this atrocity may have been
committed by al-Qaeda, I acknowledge and I urge you to acknowledge that the
murder visited upon Las Vegas
was not by the hand of Islam itself. We will not hold one of the world’s
largest and greatest faiths responsible for the act of a splinter faction. As
your president I will judge—and I ask you to judge—everyone by their words and
actions, not just by the religion or philosophy they follow. I can assure all
that every person in the United
States will receive the full protection of
our laws. I ask, and I expect, each of you to treat Muslims with respect and
tolerance.”

 
The president straightened, placing his palms
flat on the desk.

“While we
will”
—Martin’s right palm slapped the desk—“hold to account each
individual and nation that struck us, or enabled that strike, we will not stop
there! Those actions are a necessary, but not sufficient, response. We will not
be content with them alone because this event shows so clearly that
all
nations are at risk from those
filled with terrible hatred and in possession of terrible weapons.

“The United States will do more than it
has in the past to lead the world in reducing the numbers of nuclear weapons
and fissionable materials, and to obtain reliable safeguards on those that
remain, wherever they may be. At the same time, we will join more vigorously in
the search for equitable resolution of disputes that give rise to the hatreds
of terrorists.”

Rick decided this was as good a moment as
he was going to get to blot his perspiring face, where a drop was preparing to
dangle from the tip of his nose.

He gave a quick swipe with his pocket
handkerchief and resumed: “I have just told you our situation, as I see it
right now. You have
heard my initial plan
.
With one hand the United
States will pluck from hiding those who did
this and those who enabled it—and deal with them. With the other we will reach
out to all nations, seeking their ideas, cooperation, and actions to reduce the
dangers to us all from hatred mixed with weapons of mass destruction.”

To his surprise, Rick felt no trepidation
about his risky closing. He could don sincerity as effortlessly as a favorite
jacket, but this was genuine. He possessed a voice as supple and evocative as a
violin, and now it seemed to become for his listeners that of every respected
coach, every favorite teacher, every wise and loving grandparent.

“In the final moments of this broadcast I
ask you to join me and the other leaders of your government—the government of,
by, and for the people of the United States—as we each rededicate ourselves to
the ideals of our country and to meeting the challenges ahead.

“I ask you to join us in the Pledge of
Allegiance to our flag, but on this occasion honoring not only that flag, but
each other. I’ll pause a moment for you to gather and, if you are somewhere
with windows, to open those windows.”

Martin disappeared from the world’s
television and video screens as the camera cut to images of people purposefully
striding along crowded city sidewalks, of children in
classrooms, of family cook-outs
, of a football team
crowding together dedicating themselves to the challenge ahead, and, finally,
of a huge, billowing American flag.

The president reappeared with the
secretaries of state and defense, the speaker of the house, the chief justice,
and General MacAdoo, hands linked.

“I ask you to join hands with those
around you, as you see us doing.