Protect and defend (13 page)

Ashani gave Amatullah a doubtful look. “And you think the Americans will sit there and take it?”

“Yes. They cannot afford to go to war with us. They have learned their lesson in Iraq.”

“What if you’re wrong? Suppose they
are
willing to go to war with us. According to you, they are behind this attack which by de facto means they are willing to risk open war.”

“Never.” Amatullah shook his head vigorously. “That is why they had Israel drop the bombs. They themselves did not have the courage to confront us.”

The man’s absolute confidence in his ability to predict what the Americans would do was unnerving. Ashani turned and looked at the Supreme Leader. “Mark my words. If we push the Americans too far, they will strike back.”

“They will never invade,” Amatullah said dismissively.

“I did not say they would invade. They will drop bombs, and plenty of them.”

Amatullah scoffed at the threat. “And we will hit them everywhere. Not just in America, but all over the world. We will bring their aviation industry to its knees. We will disrupt oil flow and their economy will collapse.”

Ashani shook his head sadly. “Escalation will lead to escalation. They will rain bombs down on us like nothing we have ever seen. Mark my words, they will destroy our entire air force on the first day, and then they will turn their sights on us.” Ashani paused to look around the room, letting each man know that this time their own hides might be on the line. “It will take time for our martyrs to strike, and their success is not guaranteed. The Americans, on the other hand, have us surrounded. They have bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, and they have two aircraft carriers in the gulf. If war starts, they will send a third and maybe even a fourth and fifth carrier.”

“Good,” Amatullah proclaimed. “Let them pack all of their vaunted carriers into the gulf, where they will be that much easier to sink.” He leaned forward and pointed at himself. “We control the Strait of Hormuz. Not them.”

“You underestimate the Americans if you think they are dumb enough to put five carriers in the gulf. They will move their marine and navy air units to Qatar, the UAE, or Bahrain. They will have us surrounded on three sides.”

“Never!” Amatullah shook his head vigorously. “Our Arab brothers would never commit such a treacherous act.”

“Our Arab brothers are not exactly enthralled with our growing influence in Iraq. Don’t be so sure of their support, and even if they do as you say, the Americans can operate from the Arabian Sea. They will decimate our entire infrastructure within one week. Every refinery, every pipeline and rail line will be severed. All telecommunications facilities and power plants will be demolished. Except in the north, of course, where they will leave everything in place and begin arming the Kurds. It will take years for our already fragile economy to recover, and we will have to deal with an insurrection in the north.”

“You underestimate the strength of our people,” Amatullah said dismissively. “Unlike the Americans, who are fat and lazy, our people know how to sacrifice and make do.”

“And you,” Ashani shot back, “overestimate your popularity with the people. Don’t be so sure they won’t turn on you when their power is out and they have no food on the table.”

“You traitor!” Amatullah yelled. “How dare you!”

Ayatollah Najar reached over and grabbed Amatullah’s arm. “Both of you,” he said firmly, “need to remember who you are in the presence of.”

Both Ashani and Amatullah looked at the Supreme Leader and then averted their eyes in either a sign of compliance or humiliation. The Supreme Leader sat stoically in his chair, his arms at his sides and his long fingers draped over his knees. By design or nature the man gave off an air of tranquility.

In a measured, confident voice he said, “We have been attacked.” He took the time to look each man in the eye before moving on. “It is our just right to demand retribution in both blood and treasure.” He glanced at his minister of Foreign Affairs. “You will take our case to the United Nations. Those responsible will have to pay.” His gazed shifted to Ashani and Amatullah. “We must move carefully. It would appear that the United States has yet again used Israel to do the work of the devil.”

Every man in the room save Ashani nodded in agreement.

“There is a chance,” Ashani started, “that the United States did not have knowledge of this act.”

“Do you think they are mourning our loss?”

“No, but I would like to remind the council that the Americans have rid us of both Saddam and the Taliban. We have a back channel with their government. I would like to see what I can find out before we take action.”

“Lies,” Amatullah bellowed. “That is what you will find out.”

Ashani ignored Amatullah. “I do not see what harm it could do to hear what they have to say.”

Amatullah tried to speak, but the Supreme Leader silenced him with a disapproving look. He took a moment to straighten his robes and then said, “The right hand does not always need to know what the left hand is doing.”

Ashani had grown used to these imprecise proclamations from the Supreme Leader. It allowed him to keep his hands clean. The problem, as Ashani knew all too well, was that his edicts left too much room for interpretation.

“There is nothing wrong in finding out what the Americans have to say, but do not trust them. I will leave the details to all of you, but I want to be clear about one thing. This attack cannot go unpunished.”

The members of the council nodded enthusiastically, and a few broke into applause. Ashani had the sinking feeling that they were going down a dangerous road paved with emotion and national pride. The thought of where it might lead them brought on a violent coughing fit. Ashani doubled over in pain. The other members of the council grew concerned until at last it stopped.

“Excuse me,” Ashani said sheepishly. He felt a wetness on his chin and drew the back of his hand across his mouth. He looked down with embarrassment to see it was covered in blood.

The Supreme Leader looked at him with grave concern and said, “My son, you should be in the hospital.”

“My apologies. I will go at once.” Ashani stood and bowed. He felt a sudden shortness of breath. He took two steps toward the door, wavered, and collapsed.

On a slow day Washington, DC, was an electric city. People flocked to the capital from all over the world to conduct business, espionage, and a myriad of other activities legal and illegal. The city was home to countless nonprofits, trade organizations, and financial institutions, and the second-largest hub of journalists outside of New York City. Counting Baltimore, there were six major pro sports teams and another dozen college teams to cheer for. Everything, however, took a backseat to politics. A potential showdown with Iran had the town running on adrenaline. The city had awakened to find the papers plastered with photos of an angry Iranian president and aerial shots of Iran’s destroyed nuclear facility. Every TV and radio channel was buzzing with the story. Iran was blaming the United States and Israel. Thus far Israel had remained silent, but the administration had released a statement through Sue Glusman, the White House press secretary, saying they had absolutely no involvement whatsoever in the accident.

Kennedy had stressed to Glusman and the president that they should refer to the incident as an accident until Iran could prove otherwise. Kennedy was running on a few hours’ sleep. After landing at Andrews Air Force base the day before, she had hopped a helicopter out to Langley, where she worked until 11:00. Her driver took her home. She thanked her mother for watching her son, Tommy, kissed the sleeping boy on the forehead, and then grabbed five hours of sleep, before waking up, kissing her still-sleeping son on the forehead again, and then heading back to the office, all before the sun was up. This was, unfortunately, more common than she would have liked. The director of the CIA didn’t mind the work, but she did mind being away from her son.

Kennedy’s armor-plated Suburban pulled through the Secret Service checkpoint at the Southwest Gate and rolled up to the ground floor entrance. As requested by the president, she was early. An 8:00 a.m. meeting of the National Security Council was scheduled, and Alexander wanted Kennedy to bring him up to speed on any overnight developments beforehand. The director of the CIA said good morning to the Secret Service uniformed officer who was sitting just inside the door. She continued down the hall and took the stairs up one level. When she entered the president’s private dining room, she was momentarily surprised to find both Secretary of State Wicka and Secretary of Defense England.

The silver-haired secretary of defense was about to stick a spoonful of oatmeal in his mouth when he saw Kennedy. In his typical cut-to-the-chase mode he said, “I love Rapp’s idea. The president was just filling us in. These guys never let the truth get in the way of their message. I say it’s time we give them a little taste of their own medicine.”

Kennedy smiled uncomfortably, which caused the gregarious England to laugh.

He pointed across the table to the president and said, “I told you she wouldn’t like it that you told us.”

Secretary of State Wicka was sitting directly across the table from Kennedy. She frowned at England and said, “That’s because she is one of the few people in this town who can keep a secret.”

“Don’t worry, Irene,” England said. “You don’t survive in investment banking by running around shooting your mouth off. At least not for very long.” England was referring to his tenure at Merrill Lynch and Piper Jaffray. The president had brought him on board because he wanted an analytical businessman to help him drag the Pentagon into the new millennium.

Alexander gestured at the one remaining chair and said, “Please sit.”

Kennedy set her briefcase next to the chair and handed her coat to a navy steward.

“What would you like this morning, Dr. Kennedy?”

“The usual, José. Thank you.”

The president pushed his plate of half-eaten eggs and sausage to the side and wiped the corners of his mouth with a white napkin. “Mitch was right about the bomb damage assessment report?”

“My experts,” England said, “concur, with one exception.”

Kennedy sat and asked, “What is that?”

“One analyst thinks the Israelis dropped a low-yield tactical nuke into the place.”

“Interesting. One of my people brought up a similar scenario last night. What led your analyst to decide it was a nuke?”

“Not so much evidence as plausibility. He says the other way is too complicated. Too many variables.”

Kennedy thought about it for a moment and asked, “How does he say the weapon was delivered?”

“That’s where his argument gets a little thin. Possibly a cruise missile.”

“Our satellites would have picked up a missile launch.”

“More than likely. He also thinks there is a good chance the Israelis must have developed a stealth bomber.”

Kennedy glanced at the president and then looked back at England. “Your people probably have a better handle on this than my people do. Do
they
think it’s that Israel developed a stealth bomber?”

“No,” England said emphatically. “I put the question out last night and all my experts are in agreement that they just don’t have the money.”

“They might not need as much money as you think,” Wicka said.

“How so?” the president asked.

“They have a history of stealing what they need. That’s how they developed their own nuclear weapons program. We did all the research, development, and testing and they came in and stole all of our data. They even stole nuclear materials from us to make their first bomb.”

The president looked at Kennedy. “Is this true?”

“I’m afraid so. It happened in the sixties. They stole approximately two hundred pounds of highly enriched uranium.”

“I agree it’s possible,” England said, “but it is still highly unlikely. Remember this attack happened in broad daylight. My imaging people went back and reviewed every airfield in the country. They paid special attention to the bases in the Negev. They came up with nothing. Every takeoff they discovered was corroborated by other tracking assets. It’s too big of a leap of faith to buy into the idea that Israel secretly developed a multibillion-dollar plane and then flew it during the day.”

“So you agree with Mitch’s theory,” Kennedy said.

“Yes.”

The president took a sip of coffee and then said, “And we’re all in agreement that Mitch’s plan could work?”

One by one the president’s three advisors agreed.

The president looked at Secretary of State Wicka. “You have any problem lying to the United Nations?”

Wicka beamed with amusement and then laughed. “If I was afraid of skirting the truth in that den of pathological liars, I would not be a very good secretary of state. What did you say Mitch called it? Creating an alternative truth.”

“Yes.”

“I like that. The UN runs on alternative truths. All of them self-serving, of course.”

“Wonderful.” The president turned to Kennedy. “What about your meeting with the Iranian intel chief?”

“It has been agreed to in principle. The details are being worked out.”

“Where will it take place?”

“Mosul. That is where we have met in the past.”

The president glanced at Wicka. “Do you have any problems with this?”

“The State Department has no official and very few unofficial ties with Iran. I think this is the right move.”

Glancing at Kennedy he asked, “Have you heard from Mitch?”

Kennedy checked her watch. “He should be landing in Tel Aviv shortly.”

“You think they’ll give him a straight answer?” Wicka asked.

Kennedy thought it over for a second. “I’m not sure it will matter. They’ll love Mitch’s idea for the simple reason it will give them diplomatic cover. It’ll muddy the waters enough to give countries on the UN Security Council a reason to vote against whatever sanctions Iran asks for.”

“You honestly don’t think they’ll tell him?” Alexander asked in a surprised tone.