Liberty (25 page)
Authors: Stephen Coonts
After a while he heard the hangar door being closed.
This was his only chance! He had to make a noise now!
He filled his lungs, tried by sheer strength of will to move his cheeks and tongue to form a word.
And failed.
When he heard a car start and drive away, he stopped trying. He lay staring up into the darkness, concentrating. If he could move a finger â¦
The conference room in the bowels of the Executive Office Building was stuffy that Saturday night. Only half the lights were on and the air-conditioning was apparently off, no doubt as a result of some bureaucratic decree.
Jake Grafton arrived a few minutes early and discovered that he was the first arrival. Admiral Stuffy Stalnaker, the CNO, and General Alt, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, arrived within seconds of each other, followed by Sal Molina and Emerick of the FBI. Molina was half-Hispanic, a lawyer from Texas who had been with the president for many years. He was short, balding, with a spare tire, and freely admitted that he wanted to run for the Senate someday. Jake remembered seeing op-ed pieces in the newspapers that opined that Molina was a real power in the White House owing to the high regard in which the president held him.
The CIA's Avery Edmond DeGarmo and General Newton Cahn, the army chief of staff, came in next. As people came in they engaged others in private conversations. Emerick and DeGarmo were huddled in a corner whispering inaudibly when the national security adviser, Butch Lanham, bustled in and surveyed the crowd as he dropped into a chair at the head of the table. Two of his aides, both women, sat in the corner to take notes.
Lanham was one of the new breed of managers in business
and government who worked very hard at trendy athleticism. He didn't just play tennis and racquetball, lift weights and jogâhe competed in triathlons and participated in strong-man competitions. How he managed to sandwich the sweat in around his work and family responsibilities was a minor mystery. Jake had seen Lanham on television a few times, but had never before met the man in the flesh. He didn't nowâLanham didn't speak or look at him. Without a word to anyone, he glanced at the women to ensure they were seated with pens poised over notebooks, and began.
and government who worked very hard at trendy athleticism. He didn't just play tennis and racquetball, lift weights and jogâhe competed in triathlons and participated in strong-man competitions. How he managed to sandwich the sweat in around his work and family responsibilities was a minor mystery. Jake had seen Lanham on television a few times, but had never before met the man in the flesh. He didn't nowâLanham didn't speak or look at him. Without a word to anyone, he glanced at the women to ensure they were seated with pens poised over notebooks, and began.
“We're here to discuss Rear Admiral Grafton's decision to deploy the Corrigan radiation detectors only in Washington and New York City. Is our information accurate, Admiral?”
“Corrigan can only deliver one detector every two weeks,” Jake said, and found that his voice sounded unnaturally harsh. He made a conscious effort to sound calm, unflustered, and normal. “We're hoping each has a five-mile detection range under average urban conditions, but we won't know until we play some more with the first one, which we just received. In my judgment, we are better off covering those two cities, which I would call the primary targets of terrorists, until we have enough of them to ensure complete coverage. Then we can start covering lower-priority targets.”
“Who sets the priority?” DeGarmo muttered.
“Is that a question of Admiral Grafton, or an incisive comment?” Lanham retorted sharply.
“Question.”
“Sir, I put New York and D.C. at the top of my list,” Jake replied calmly. “Economically and politically, they're the most important cities in the world. I think we should keep adding detectors as they become available in those two cities until we reach some reasonable level of protection. Then we can focus on other cities, which I suggest be picked based on strategic criteria. The idea is prevent attacks. Preventing all attacks is an impossible goalâa
realistic strategy is to prevent the ones that will hurt us the most.”
realistic strategy is to prevent the ones that will hurt us the most.”
“Mr. DeGarmo, your thoughts, please,” Lanham said.
“I don't think New York and Washington are in much danger. After the terror strikes of September eleventh, I think it most likely that the terrorists will strike somewhere else, if they strike at all. The newspapers and television have aired the hell out of the troops with Geiger counters manning roadblocks and searching railroad yards. Any terrorist with a television has to know that we're looking for nukes.”
“Keeping the fact that we're using Geiger counters a secret was impossible,” Jake said mildly, without a trace of rancor. “Indeed, one of the things we're looking into is the possibility of building Trojan detectors and publicizing them. We could always substitute real detectors for the fakes as they become available.”
“Hmm,” said Lanham, and glanced at Emerick, the FBI man.
Emerick took his time before he spoke. “If there is an attack anywhere in the U.S., the decision to protect only those two cities with Corrigan detectors will undoubtedly be revealed by the press. If the attack hits one of those two cities despite our precautions, Grafton will look like an incompetent. If an attack hits elsewhere, the president looks incompetent.”
“Jesus, you make it sound like we're damned if we do, damned if we don't,” General Alt rumbled. “If it's heads they win, tails we lose, why'd we even bother coming over here tonight?”
Emerick eyed Alt without warmth. “I'm merely pointing out how the cookie will crumble. The public's perception of the government's competence is damned important, and you know it.”
“I don't give a flying fuck what the public thinks,” Alt shot back. “Our job is preventing terror attacks. That's Grafton's mandate, and by God, he's working hard at it.”
Butch Lanham stirred around, making some noise and
moving until he had everyone's attention. “Mr. Emerick's point is well taken. If the government allows itself to be perceived as protecting some citizens and abandoning others, it jeopardizes its mandate to rule.”
moving until he had everyone's attention. “Mr. Emerick's point is well taken. If the government allows itself to be perceived as protecting some citizens and abandoning others, it jeopardizes its mandate to rule.”
“Deciding how and where to employ radiation detectors strikes me as a military decision,” General Alt said. “Admiral Stalnaker?”
“Yes.”
“General Cahn?”
“Of course it's a military decision. No commander has the luxury of protecting every inch of the home terrain. Risks must be weighed, assets counted, decisions made.”
“And the thrust of that remark is ⦔ Lanham asked, pretending to be obtuse.
Alt looked Lanham square in the eye. “The president has appointed Admiral Grafton to a military post. In the natural order of things he's going to have to make military decisionsâall military commanders do. The discretion and authority to make those decisions go with the job. If it doesn't, the president needs to can him and make the decisions himself. Or appoint someone else and give him the authority. Hell, he could have appointed you, Butch, but he didn't.”
Lanham didn't rise to the bait. “The characterization of Grafton's decision is not in question, Mr. Chairman. The question is simply thisâwas the decision Grafton made in the best interests of the United States? In other words, was his decision correct?”
“He made a judgment call,” Alt shot back. “Whether we agree or disagree with his callâwhether we would have made the same decision in his placeâisn't the issue. The president appointed a military commander. That's a fact. There he sits.” Alt jerked a thumb at Grafton, but he didn't take his eyes off Lanham. “You and DeGarmo and Emerick seem to want to second-guess him. Ask the president to fire Grafton and give you the job.”
Butch Lanham tapped his forefinger on the table a time or two. “The president has never suggested in my presence
that Grafton has complete and total discretion. If you gentlemen think the president lacks the authority to overrule a military decisionâany military decisionâyou need to reassess.”
that Grafton has complete and total discretion. If you gentlemen think the president lacks the authority to overrule a military decisionâany military decisionâyou need to reassess.”
“Oh, he's got the authority, all right,” Alt said. “I just don't think he should use it here. I recommended Grafton for this job. Stuffy did, too. I stand by my recommendation. Grafton made a military decision for sound, justifiable reasons, and we need to back him up.”
“We didn't delegate our responsibilities to Grafton, and neither did the president,” DeGarmo said heatedly.
“The president gave the man the job. Are we going to let him do it or aren't we?”
“I'm not questioning his integrity or fucking military honor, just his decisions,” DeGarmo shot back.
The three of them butted heads for several minutes, and finally fell silent.
Lanham sighed deeply, then scratched his head. Authority flowed from the presidentâthe question, Jake thought, was, How much authority had the president given Lanham? Then he found out.
Sal Molina spoke for the first time. “The president has confidence in Jake Grafton. He's appointed the best officer he could find, and he'll back him to the hilt.” Molina stood up, picked up a notebook he had been doodling in, and tucked it in an inside coat pocket as he headed for the door.
The meeting broke up quickly. Jake spent a few minutes visiting with Alt, Stalnaker, and Cahn while the civilians left.
“You haven't won,” Alt told him. “That isn't the way things work inside the Beltway. DeGarmo and Emerick fanged you for a reasonâthey are now on record as saying you screwed up. If indeed things don't work out, sooner or later the president will have to pay attention to them.”
Jake knew Alt spoke the truth. “I'll continue to do the very best I know how, General. That's all I can promise.”
“We know that,” Stalnaker replied curtly. “Why do you think we backed you up? Don't mushroom usâkeep us informed. No surprises, huh?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I don't know who has the backbone at the White House. We know it isn't Lanham. Maybe it's the big banana, maybe it's Molina. Regardless, they may chicken out in the dawn's early lightâguts aren't required in politics.”
On the way out of the building, Jake informed Alt that the new Corrigan detector was malfunctioning. He explained the problem: “The thing is indicating there's a bomb under a golf course, a false positive. I wonder if the air force could fly a nuclear warhead into Andrews and let us calibrate the thing again.”
“I'll take care of it.”
The black stretch limo drove slowly around Dupont Circle. Precisely at midnight, one of the spectators at the chessboards walked away from his group and crossed the circle at a crosswalk. The next time the limo stopped at the light, the spectator climbed into the backseat.
“Good evening,” Karl Luck said.
The new passenger glanced at the window between the passengers and chauffeur to be sure it was closed. “I thought Corrigan was coming tonight.”
“He's at a reception.”
“Must be nice.”
“I wouldn't know,” Luck said testily. He rode silently with his hands in his lap while the chauffeur worked the car around the Lincoln Memorial and then southward beside the river. The limo finally stopped in the parking lot for the Jefferson Memorial; the chauffeur came around to open the door for Luck. The man from Dupont Circle opened his own door and stepped out.
When they were standing by the reflecting pool, Luck asked, “How'd the thing work?”
“As advertised, except for one false positive. They didn't expect perfection. Grafton reported a successful test to the White House this afternoon. Even as we speak the president is presumably shaking Corrigan's hand and thanking him for saving Western civilization from the forces of evil.”
Luck was a trim man in his fifties, with close-cropped iron gray hair and a square, chiseled jawline. He glanced speculatively at the other man, then asked, “Do they know where the weapons are?”
“Not yet. They are pinning their hopes on the detection gear.”
“They had better start investigating the terrorists. Those clowns probably left a trail a blind man could follow.”
“One wonders. Sophisticated systems detect sophisticated networks. Criminals who don't know what a telephone is are not going to incriminate themselves on one.”
“Are they looking?”
“The elephant is stirring itself.”
“Anything I should pass on?”
“Yes. Our approach to Tommy Carmellini didn't work out. Perhaps I should have undertaken it myself, but I didn't. The two men who tried it have struck out.”
“Carmellini? I've forgottenâwhy did you want him?”
“He's in Grafton's inner circle, and I'm not.”
“Are you neutralizing Carmellini?”
“Yes.”
“What is your next move? How are you going to get inside?”
“I'm not going to try. Too dangerous, in my judgment. We'll have to make do with the information I can learn and not worry about what's going on behind the door.”
“Anything else for Corrigan?”
“Not tonight.”
They walked back to the limo and got in.
Thayer Michael Corrigan was having a wonderful evening. He and his wife had received an invitation from the first lady to attend a reception in the Hay-Adams Hotel ballroom to raise funds to refurnish the White House after the rebuild was completed with taxpayers' dollars. The core of the executive mansion had been destroyed a year ago by a missile attack from USS
America
after it was hijacked. The Congress would have funded both the rebuilding and the refurnishing, but the president wanted private industry to contribute in a major way. Naturally he and the first lady were heading the fund-raising effort. Of course the nation's top industrialists were lining up at receptions such as this to make six- and seven-figure tax-deductible donations. And to talk to the politicians.
America
after it was hijacked. The Congress would have funded both the rebuilding and the refurnishing, but the president wanted private industry to contribute in a major way. Naturally he and the first lady were heading the fund-raising effort. Of course the nation's top industrialists were lining up at receptions such as this to make six- and seven-figure tax-deductible donations. And to talk to the politicians.
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