Acts of War

FORTY-SIX

Martha Mackall awoke with a start as her pager beeped. She looked at the number. It was Curt Hardaway.

Martha had spent the night at Op-Center, napping in the spartan employee lounge. It had taken her until three a.m. to fall asleep. Martha admitted it herself: When something annoyed her, she was like a dog with a bone. And having to turn Op-Center over to Paul Hood's evening counterpart, Curt Hardaway, annoyed her. Events overseas were just too delicate to leave to his ham-fisted ways. When he'd come on duty, Martha had gone so far as to consult Lowell Coffey's deputy assistant, Aideen Marley, about who had decision-making authority if something happened during the night. Whenever Paul Hood remained at his desk after his shift was over, he still outranked the night crew. But according to the charter, an acting director did not. Until 7:30 a.m., Op-Center belonged to Hardaway.

Martha hoped that nothing had happened. Hardaway was a cousin and protege of CIA Director Larry Rachlin, and his appointment had been a necessary expedience. In order to keep Op-Center free of CIA influence, the President had wanted an outsider to run it. However, to appease the intelligence community, he was pressured to put in a veteran as Hood's backup. Though the Oklahoma-born Hardaway was an affable man with the intelligence skills necessary for the job, Martha found him to be uninspired and uninspiring. He also had a talent for speaking before thinking things through. Fortunately for Op-Center, the powerful Hood-Rodgers-Herbert triumvirate set very rigid policies during the day, and Hardaway had never been able to muck things up too badly.

Martha picked up the phone on the end table beside the couch. She called Hardaway. He picked up immediately.

"You'd better get on over," he said. "This mess is going to bleed into your shift."

"I'm coming," she said, and hung up. Hardaway was as tactful as ever.

The employee lounge was located near the Tank, a windowless conference room which sat within an electronic web. There wasn't a spy device on Earth that could hear what was discussed inside it. Turning left from the lounge and walking down the curving wall would have brought her past the Tank to the offices of Bob Herbert, Mike Rodgers, and Paul Hood in turn. Martha turned right. Walking briskly, she passed her own office, followed by the office of FBI and Interpol liaison Darrell McCaskey, Matt Stoll's computer area—"the orchestration pit," he called it — and the legal and environmental sections where Lowell Coffey and Phil Katzen worked. The psychological and medical divisions came next, followed by the radio room, the small Striker office for Brett August, and Ann Farris's two-person press department.

As hurried along, Bob Herbert came wheeling up behind her. "Did Curt tell you what's been going on?"

"No," she said. "Only that there's a mess and it's going to hemorrhage all over my desk."

"A little raw but true," Herbert said. "All hell's broken out in Damascus. I got a call from Warner. They had a suicide bomber at the Azem Palace. He killed the President's double."

"That cobbler?"

Herbert nodded.

"Then the President probably isn't even in Damascus," Martha said. "What about Ambassador Haveles?"

"He was at the palace," Herbert said. "He's shaken but unhurt. Now the palace is under siege. Unfortunately, Warner is still in the room where the bomb went off and can't tell us much. I switched him over to Curt. We're keeping that line open."

"And Paul" Martha asked.

"He left the room to look for the DSA guys who came with them."

"He should've stayed put," Martha said. "They may show up while he's gone and leave without him."

"I'm not so sure anyone's going anywhere," Herbert said "Not unless they know some shortcuts by heart. Israeli satellite recon shows fighting on all sides. Looks like about forty or fifty plainclothes attackers in the process of breaching the wall. Syrian Army regulars just showed up to defend the palace. Ten whole men."

"That's what they get for sending their troops north," Martha said. "What's it all mean?"

"Some of my people think it's a Turkish assault with Israeli support," Herbert said. "The Iranians are saying we're behind it. Larry Rachlin's wanted to take the President down for a long time because of Syria's involvement with terrorists. But he swears that CIA undercovers aren't at part of this."

"What do you think?" Martha asked as she knocked on Hardaway's door. It clicked open. She hesitated before opening it.

"I'm putting my money on the Kurds," Herbert said.

"Why?"

"Because they're the only ones who have anything to gain from all of this," he said. "Also, process of elimination. My Israeli and Turkish contacts seem as genuinely surprised by what's happening as we are."

Martha nodded as the two of them went inside.

Skinny, bearded Curtis Sean Hardaway was behind his desk looking at his computer. His eyes were circled with dark rings, and the trash can was filled with chewing-gum wrappers. Mike Rodgers's backup, natty young Lieutenant General William Abram, was seated in a wing chair. His laptop was open on his knees. His thick black eyebrows came together above his nose, and his eyes were alert beneath them. His thin-lipped mouth was relaxed between two ruddy cheeks.

Soft crackling and occasional pops came from the speaker phone on Hardaway's desk.

Hardaway snapped his gum and looked over. "Good morning, Martha. Bob, I haven't heard a word from Warner since you turned him over to me."

"Just gunfire," Abram said in a low monotone, "and static from military communications."

"So we don't know if Paul found the DSA operatives," Martha asked.

"We do not," said Hardaway. "The President wants extraction options by seven-fifteen, and frankly there aren't many. We've got the Marine guards at the embassy, but they've got no jurisdiction outside the embassy—"

"Though they can always extricate first and answer questions later," said Abram.

"True," said Hardaway. "We've also got a Delta Team at Incirlik. They can be scrambled and on the palace roof in forty minutes."

"Which creates problems if the Turks are behind this," Abram said, "because we'll be shooting at allies."

"To save our ambassador," Martha said.

"Not if he isn't a target," Abram pointed out. "So far, we have no indication that he or any of the other ambassadors are in any danger."

Hardaway glanced at his watch. "There's one other option, which is to recall Striker and get them into Damascus. We've spoken with Tel Nef. They can get the team back and choppered to the palace within thirty minutes."

"No!" Herbert said emphatically.

"Hold on, Bob," Martha said. "Aideen already cleared it with the Congressional Intelligence Oversight Committee to have them go to the Middle East. Of the three groups, they're the only ones with any kind of authority."

"Absolutely not," Herbert replied. "We need them to get our people out of the Bekaa."

Martha looked at him. "Don't give me 'absolutely nots,' Bob," she said. "Not with Paul and our ambassador in the line of fire-"

"We don't know if they're in immediate danger," Herbert replied.

"Immediate danger?" Martha yelled. "Robert, the palace is under attack!"

"And the ROC and its crew are in the hands of terrorists!" Herbert yelled back. "That danger is real and Striker's within shouting range of it. Let them finish the mission they were sent to accomplish. Christ, they may not even have floor plans of the palace. You can't send them in blind."

"Armed and equipped they're hardly blind," Martha said.

"But they've studied the Bekaa," Herbert said. "They prepared for this mission. Look, you've got Warner on the line. Wait till Paul gets back. Let him make the call."

"You know what he'll say," Martha replied.

"Damn right I do," Herbert snapped. "He'll tell you to keep Striker on target and your ambition on a short leash."

"My ambition?"

"Yeah," Herbert said. "You save the ambassador and you score big-time brownie points with the State Department. What do you think, I don't know what your career map looks like?"

Martha stiffened with rage as she looked down at Herbert. "You talk to me like that and you'll find some roadblocks on your map—"

"Martha, calm down," Hardaway said. "Bob, you too. You've been up all night. And I'm running out of time here. The Striker issue may be academic in any case. The President plans to decide by seven-thirty this morning whether to destroy the ROC with a Tomahawk missile fired from the USS Pittsburgh in the Mediterranean."

"Aw, Christ!" Herbert said. "He was supposed to give us time!"

"He did. Now he's afraid the Kurds will use the ROC against the Syrians and Turks."

"Of course they will," Abram said, "if they aren't using it already."

"You're assuming they've figured out how," Herbert said. "Getting the ROC up and running isn't like starting a goddamn rental car."

"If someone shows them how, it is," Abram said.

Herbert glared at him. "Watch it, Bill—"

"Bob," Abram said, "I know you and Mike are close. But we have zero intelligence on what the terrorists might have done to persuade our people to talk."

"I'm sure your brother officer would appreciate that vote of confidence."

"This isn't about Mike," Martha said. "There are three civilian hostages as well. They aren't made of the same stuff Mike is."

"Not many people are," Herbert said., "Which is all the more reason to get him the hell out! We need him. And we owe it to the others we sent over there."

"If feasible," Martha said. "It may not be."

"Especially if we give up!" Herbert barked. "Jesus, I wish we were all on the same page here."

"So do I," Martha replied coldly. "The question is whether the hostages are lost to us and whether we should redirect our assets to Damascus."

"Martha's right," Hardaway said. "If that missile is launched we'll have no choice but to abort the Striker mission. Otherwise, the entire unit may get tagged along with the ROC and its crew."

Herbert folded his hands tightly in his lap. "We've got to give Striker time. Even if the Tomahawk flies, it'll take at least a half hour to reach its target. That may be time enough to get the ROC crew out. But if you withdraw Striker, Mike and the others are dead. Period. Is there anyone in this room who disagrees with that?"

No one spoke. Hardaway looked at his watch again. "Two minutes from now I've got to give our recommendation to the President regarding the situation at the palace. Martha?"

"I say we divert Striker," she said. "They're equipped, they're in the field, and they are the only legally defensible option we have."

"Bill?"

"I agree," said Abram. "I also think they're better trained than Delta, certainly better than the Marine guards at the embassy."

Hardaway looked at Herbert. "Bob?"

Herbert rubbed his hands on his face. "Leave Striker alone. They can still get clear of the Tomahawk with a window of five minutes to impact. That gives them at least a half hour to get the ROC crew out."

"We need them in Damascus," Martha said slowly.

Herbert pressed his fingertips to his forehead. Suddenly, he dropped his hands to his lap. "What if I can get someone else to help Paul and the ambassador?"

"Who?" she asked.

"It's a long shot," he said. "I don't know if the Iron Bar will let me have them."

"Who?" Martha repeated.

"People who can be there in about five minutes." Herbert picked up a secure phone on a small table near the wing chair. He pressed an unlit line and told his assistant to put him through to Major General Bar-Levi in Haifa.

Hardaway looked at his watch. "Bob, I've got to call the President."

"Tell him to give me five more minutes," Herbert told the hollow-eyed Assistant Deputy Director of Op-Center. "Tell him I will get Paul and the ambassador out without using Striker, or my resignation will be on Martha's desk before noon."