The Nostradamus File

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Harker had been to the White House many times in the last 5 years. She was used to the protocols but she'd never gotten used to the aura of power that enveloped the building. Secret Service agents met her at a side entrance, put her weapon in a locked cabinet and gave her a visitor's pass to hang around her neck. An agent escorted her to the Oval Office. She'd put on one of her good suits for the visit, the Prada.

The Rose Garden was in full bloom. President Rice stood looking out at the explosion of color. He turned when she entered. James Rice was in the first year of his second term. He still had a lot of political clout, but lame duck status was creeping up on him. There were days like today when he wished he had never seen the inside of the White House, much less the Oval Office.

Rice had served in Vietnam as a Marine Lieutenant. He was about six feet tall, not a particularly handsome man, but he radiated authority. He had charisma, that indefinable something that you knew when you saw it. Elizabeth thought he was probably the best President since Jefferson or Lincoln.

Rice watched Harker enter the Oval Office and suspected she was about to give him another problem about the Middle East. Everything about the Middle East was a nightmare. Iraq was slipping into civil war. He'd known it would all along, in spite of the feel good propaganda about democracy. The Saudis and OPEC were playing games with the oil supplies and speculators were driving prices up at the pump in pursuit of quick profits. Egypt was a powder keg. The Russians were making trouble about Syria. The last thing he needed were more problems in the region.

He said none of this to her.

"Elizabeth, how are you? I can give you ten minutes."

"Fine, Mister President, thank you."

They both sat down on a couch.

"Sir, there is a potential situation developing that involves Israel. Possibly Saudi Arabia as well."

"There is always a situation with those two. What is it this time?"

One of the reasons Elizabeth liked Rice was his no-nonsense approach to the job. He didn't avoid the issues. It was why he'd hired her to create and run the Project. To make sure he knew about issues before they blew up in his face.

"It involves the Ark of the Covenant."

"Religion."

"Yes, sir."

"It's always religion at the middle of everything over there. What about the Ark?"

Elizabeth briefed him about the Nostradamus file and the Ark. She told him about Herzog.

"What do you propose, Director?"

"Sir, I think we need to pursue this, in cooperation with the Israelis. The Ark and the Covenant with God are at the core of Jewish history. The Ark itself isn't important to Jews-it's just an object. But it held the Torah, the law. It's important as a political symbol. The extremists would do anything to prevent Israel from getting it. We need to continue to search for it."

"What kind of cooperation with the Israelis?"

"Information only. I don't think they should be involved in any other way. We don't need them interfering or overreacting and doing something that gets everyone in trouble. The best way to do that is feed them intelligence as seems suitable."

Rice stood. Elizabeth rose with him. "I don't need to know details. If you mount an operation, don't get caught."

That's clear enough, she thought. You're on your own.

"Yes, Mister President. Thank you, sir."

"Better save the thanks for later," he said.