Mounting Fears

51

WILL WAS FINISHING A MEETING WITH THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE WHEN HIS phone buzzed, contrary to his instructions. "Yes?"

"Mr. President," his secretary said, "the director of Central Intelligence and the chief of naval operations are here to see you urgently."

Will didn't like the sound of that combination. He checked his schedule. "All right, just push everything back as necessary and send them in." He shook hands with the secretary of agriculture and apologized for the interuption.

Kate and Admiral Halstead entered the Oval Office and were waved to a seat.

"All right," Will said.

"Mr. President," Kate said, "we have received pretty good intelligence that the missing Pakistani nuclear warhead is in one of a group of eight villages, all within fifty miles of each other, in extreme western Pakistan, along the Afghan border." She spread a map on the coffee table and pointed.

Will sat up straight. "Isn't that the area where you think bin Laden and his top people are hiding?"

"Yes, sir," Kate replied. "And we have refrained from sending people in there because of the objections of the Pakistani government."

"Well, the presence of a nuclear warhead in that area would place a different color on those objections, wouldn't it?"

"I should think so," Kate replied, "but Admiral Halstead and I have a suggestion, and we both believe the Pakistani government should not, in this case, be consulted."

Will sat back and looked at the two people before him. "And what is your suggestion?"

"We have enough people within chopper range-a combination of Navy SEALs and CIA operatives-to put eight small reconnaissance teams on the ground there to investigate the report of the presence of the warhead. We'd like to put them in there at the earliest possible moment to check this out."

"How soon is the earliest possible moment?"

"If we go now, before dawn tomorrow morning. They would be choppered to the border on the Afghan side and hike it from there."

"And when would the teams be in place?"

"By dawn on the following day, without complications."

Will didn't need to ask about the complications; the possibilities were multitudinous. "What are their chances of getting in there, getting the intelligence, and getting out without detection?"

Kate and Halstead exchanged a glance. "Better than fifty-fifty," Halstead said. "Maybe as good as seventy-thirty."

Will's stomach felt funny. "If any of those people were captured…"

"In the circumstances," the admiral said gravely, "their orders would be not to be captured."

Will stared at the admiral, then back at Kate, whose gaze was steady. "I've never given anyone an order like that," he said.

Kate spoke up. "It's my firm belief that the circumstances require it."

"But there's no time for preparation, is there?" Will asked.

"All these men and women have run multiple rehearsals for missions such as this," Halstead said. "They are equipped with the latest surveillance and communications equipment, which, I might add, would be destroyed in the event of the threat of capture."

"The alternative," Kate said, "is to share our intelligence with the Pakistanis and let them send their people in. They would have the advantage of blending in with the population and would be able to travel openly in daylight."

"I seem to recall," Will said, "that a couple of years ago we requested a similar mission from the Pakistanis. How long did it take them to mount it? Does anyone remember?"

"Three weeks," Kate said.

"And that warhead could be anywhere in three weeks," Will replied.

"Exactly. It's entirely possible that we are already too late, that the warhead has been moved."

"Then we'd better find out," Will said. "Send them in. I know I don't have to tell you to take every possible precaution for their safety."

Kate and Halstead stood up. "Thank you, Mr. President," she said. "The order will go out within minutes." They shook hands and left.

Will watched them go and tried to reorder his mind for his next meeting, but it didn't work.