Divide and Conquer

THIRTY-SIX

“Paul, I’m glad I found you,” Megan Lawrence said. “I think you should come here. There’s something going on.”

The First Lady’s voice was steady when she got on the line, but Hood knew her well enough to know that it was Megan’s “I have to be strong” voice. He had heard that voice during the campaign when there were hard questions from the press about an abortion she had had before she met the president. As she had years before, Megan was pulling this strength from deep inside. She would crash only when it was safe to do so.

“Talk to me,” Hood said. He was drawing on his own emotional and psychological reserves to deal with the First Lady’s problem. The call from Sharon had shaken him.

“We were just getting into bed when Michael received a call from Jack Fenwick,” Megan said. “Whatever Fenwick said rattled my husband very much. His voice was calm while they talked and then afterward, but I watched this look come over him.”

“What kind of look?” Hood asked.

“It’s difficult to describe,” she said.

“Was it guarded, startled, doubtful?” Hood asked.

“All of that,” Megan replied.

Hood understood. That was what he saw in the Oval Office. “Where is the president now?” he asked.

“He went down to meet with Fenwick, the vice president, and Red Gable,” Megan said.

“Did he say what the meeting was about?” Hood asked.

“No. But he told me not to wait up,” she said.

It was probably about the Caspian situation. A small, nonconspiratorial part of Hood said that this might not be anything to worry about. On the other hand, the president was meeting with people who had fed him misinformation before. Perhaps that was what Megan had seen in her husband’s expression. The fear that it might be happening again.

“Paul, whatever is going on, I think Michael needs to have friends around him,” Megan said. “He should be with people he knows well and can trust. Not just policy advisers.”

Hood’s aide Stef Van Cleef beeped. She said there was a call from General Orlov. Hood told her to apologize to the general for the delay. He would take it in just a moment.

“Megan, I don’t disagree,” Hood said. “But I can’t just invite myself to a meeting in the Oval Office—”

“You have the security clearance,” she said.

“To get into the West Wing, not the Oval Office,” he reminded her. Hood stopped. His eyes were on the beeping light on the phone. Maybe he would not have to get himself invited.

“Paul?”

“I’m here,” Hood said. “Megan, listen to me. I’m going to take a call, and then I’m going to the White House. I’ll call your private line later and let you know how things are going.”

“All right,” Megan said. “Thank you.”

Hood hung up and took the call from Orlov. The Russian general briefed him on the plan to try to locate the Harpooner. Orlov also told him about the destruction of the boat in the harbor. He suspected that Azerbaijani officials would find bodies in the water, either the Harpooner’s hirefings or people who were abducted to impersonate hirelings.

Hood thanked Orlov and informed the general that he would have Op-Center’s full cooperation. Hood indicated that he would be away from the office for a while and that he should contact Mike Rodgers with any new information. When Hood hung up, he conferenced Herbert and Rodgers on his cell phone. He updated them as he hurried to the parking lot.

“Do you want me to let the president know you’re coming?” Rodgers asked him.

“No,” Hood said. “I don’t want to give Fenwick a reason to end the meeting early.”

“But you’re also giving Fenwick and his people more time to act,” Rodgers pointed out.

“We have to take that chance,” Hood said. “If Fenwick and Gable are launching some kind of endgame, I want to give them time to expose it. Maybe we can catch them in the act.”

“I still think it’s risky,” Rodgers said. “Fenwick will press the president to act before other advisers can be consulted.”

“That could be why this was timed the way it was,” Herbert pointed out. “If there’s a plot of some kind, it was designed to happen when it was the middle of the night here.”

“If this is tied to the Caspian situation, the president will have to act quickly,” Rodgers went on.

“Mike, Bob, I don’t disagree with what you’re saying,” Hood told them. “I also don’t want to give these bastards a chance to discredit anything I may have to say before I get there.”

“That’s a tough call,” Herbert said. “Real tough. You don’t have a lot of information on the situation overseas.”

“I know,” Hood said. “Hopefully, we’ll have more intel before too long.”

“I’ll be praying for you,” Herbert said. “And if that doesn’t work, I’ll be checking other sources.”

“Thanks,” Hood said. “I’ll be in touch.”

Hood sped through the deserted streets toward the nation’s capital. There was a can of Coke in the glove compartment. Hood kept it there for emergencies. He grabbed the can and popped the tab. He really needed the caffeine. Even warm, the cola felt good going down.

Rodgers was correct. Hood was taking a chance. But Hood had warned the president about Fenwick. The rerouted phone call, the visit to the Iranian mission, failure to communicate with Senator Fox and the COIC. Hopefully, Lawrence would look very carefully at whatever data was being presented to him. The president might also take the time to run the information through Op-Center, just to make sure it was valid.

But Hood’s hopes did not change the fact that the president was under an unusual amount of stress. There was only one way to be certain what Michael Lawrence would do. That was for Hood to get there with new intelligence. And while Hood was there, to help the president sift through whatever information Fenwick was presenting to him.

And there was one more thing Hood had to do. Pray that Mike Rodgers was not right.

That there was still time.