Solomon's Gold

CHAPTER 41

It was hard to tell what President Corrigan was really thinking, but Elizabeth had no problem at all reading his Chief of Staff. Ellen Cartwright looked as if she were about to have a stroke.

"Your team deliberately disobeyed specific orders from the Israeli authorities to back off. They violated Egyptian territory and damaged an important historical landmark. They destroyed the property of an Israeli businessman, and then killed four Iranian nationals. Now there's an armed standoff between Israeli and Egyptian forces at the site. You are in a world of deep shit, Director."

Elizabeth had been listening to Cartwright rant for the last five minutes. She'd had enough.

"If you really believe what you just said is important, you are even more stupid than I thought."

Cartwright's face turned a darker red. Elizabeth wouldn't have believed it was possible.

"What? What did you say?"

"You heard me. You sound like an idiot. Do I have to point out the religious and historical significance of what they found? The tomb of King David? A gigantic treasure set aside by King Solomon to maintain the Jewish Temple? As to the Iranian nationals, they were agents of Tehran's vicious intelligence service. They'd left my team to die in a truly terrible situation. And what has an Israeli businessman's property got to do with anything? It was the Iranians that shot up his boat, not my team. They did exactly what they were supposed to do, in the way they've been trained to do it. The last I heard, the Israelis are ecstatic about the discovery and very grateful to us because of it."

Cartwright sputtered. "You… you…"

Corrigan seemed amused by the exchange. "That's enough, Ellen. Calm down. Director Harker, what is the status of your team now?"

"They were picked up by the Israelis as they tried to cross the border. They're on their way back. Tel Aviv gave them first-class tickets on El Al. They arrive here later today."

"I want you to assign them to this threat against the Jewish conference."

"That was my intention, sir."

"As you know, the prime minister of Israel will be in attendance. He and I will be jointly addressing the conference on the opening day."

"Are you sure that's wise, Mister President? We know there's a valid threat. With you and the prime minister present, the conference is an extremely attractive target."

"Everywhere I go, I'm a target. The security preparations are extensive. I don't think there's much to fear. Nonetheless, I want to add your resources into the security arrangements. Director Hood is also looking into it, as are the Bureau and Homeland Security. The Director of National Intelligence is your point of contact to the other agencies. I expect you to be a team player. Cowboy tactics may work in Egypt, but they have no place here. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," Elizabeth said.

"Good. Keep the DNI informed."

The meeting was over. As she left the Oval Office, Elizabeth glanced back. Cartwright was staring at her with hatred.

You've made an enemy there. It was worth it, but now you'll have to watch your back.

Back at Project headquarters, Elizabeth went straight for the coffee machine. She poured a cup and settled behind her desk. Stephanie came into the room.

"How did the meeting with the president go?"

"His Chief of Staff is a total ass," Elizabeth said.

"Oh, oh. What did you do?"

"Nothing much, except call her an idiot."

"Elizabeth. You didn't."

"I did. She'd been going on about how the team screwed up. If you listened to her, you'd think Nick and the others were a bunch of wannabe Rambos who went around blowing up archaeological monuments and killing innocent Iranians for fun. Not a word about what the team had accomplished or how much that had lifted our relationship with Israel."

"What did Corrigan say?"

"He's not dumb. He knew she was out of line. I think he wanted to see how I'd handle her."

"That's manipulative as hell."

Elizabeth shrugged. "He's the President. That's what people sitting in the Oval Office do. They manipulate."

"Your cynicism is getting out of hand, Elizabeth."

"I'm not sure it ever was in hand. Not since I started working for the government."

"What's next?" Steph asked.

"The threat to the conference. Corrigan wants us to throw all our resources at it. He also wants us to coordinate it with the other agencies through the DNI. The Bureau, Homeland Security, Langley. He gave me the old team player speech."

"We start getting bogged down with the bureaucracy, nothing useful is going to happen," Stephanie said.

"Corrigan doesn't understand our role. I'm not sure that he ever will. We're certainly going to concentrate on this potential threat, but I'm damned if I'm going to be the kind of 'team player' he thinks he wants. Either he's going to learn that we work better on our own without interference, or he won't."

"And if he doesn't?"

"Then I think we may be looking for something else to do," Elizabeth said.