The Nostradamus File

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

It was late at night in Washington. Elizabeth had just gotten home. She took off her shoes and put her holstered pistol on the counter. She made a cup of chamomile tea and stood at the kitchen counter, thinking about another stressful day.

The sound of the doorbell jolted her. She looked at the monitor and saw a man in a dark suit and tie standing outside. He wore an earpiece. Behind him, a black Lincoln idled in the street.

"Yes." She spoke into the intercom. The man held up an ID to the camera over the door.

"Secret Service, Director. The President would like to see you."

"One moment."

It was unusual for Rice to send a car unannounced. Good thing she hadn't undressed yet. She slipped her shoes back on. She clipped the holster back on her waist. She'd have to hand it over when she got to the White House, but she never went anywhere without it. Even at home, it was never far away.

This time of night, the drive to the White House didn't take very long. She got out at a side entrance. She handed over her gun and was given a visitor badge and followed an agent to the Oval Office.

President James Rice was seated behind his desk, writing something.

"Sir, Director Harker is here."

"Thank you, Bill. Come in, Director."

"Mister President."

"Take a seat, Director." Rice's manner was cool. Still mad about Jordan, she thought. Maybe I'm here to get fired. The President looked tired. He always looked tired these last months. Tonight he seemed even more so than usual. His skin had an unhealthy grayish tinge. The black that had been in his hair when he was first elected was completely gone. Rice had aged years since he'd taken office.

"Give me your assessment on Israel," he said. No pleasantries or small talk. Elizabeth gathered her thoughts.

"Sir, I believe Prime Minister Lerner is going to take harsh retaliatory action."

"Go on."

"Lerner loathes Weisner, but this attempted assassination has taken the lid off an old problem."

"You mean Hezbollah."

"Yes, sir. It's highly charged, in a political sense. With the election coming up, Lerner has to act. He can't just send in a strike against a few leaders. That only gets everyone worked up. If I'm reading the situation correctly, he will make an all out effort to remove Hezbollah once and for all."

"That would be unfortunate."

"Yes, sir."

Rice rose. Elizabeth started to get up but he waved her back into her chair. "Don't get up, Elizabeth."

Back to Elizabeth. She breathed an inward sigh of relief. Rice's opinion mattered to her. It wasn't just that he was the Big Boss, or that she operated at his pleasure. She liked him. He had the worst job in the world.

Rice put his hands behind his back and began pacing back and forth. "The Secretary of State doesn't agree with you. She thinks Lerner will follow the usual pattern. Send in an air strike, kill a few militants and maybe some civilians and make the point that you can't shoot at politicians in Israel and get away with it. Defense agrees with her. He says Hezbollah will retaliate with some suicide bombings, fire some rockets and that will be that."

"With all due respect, Mister President, I think they're wrong. Weisner now has at least a 50/50 chance of winning the election. He's got the conservative parties and all of the religious right behind him. Lerner's coalition is falling apart. It already was, or he wouldn't have called an early election like he did. The attack makes it look like the Islamists think Weisner is a serious threat. That translates into votes. If Weisner is elected, any hope of a peace settlement goes out the window."

"And you think Lerner will get tough to prove he's not going to take it anymore."

"Yes, sir. The Israelis are also mobilizing along the West Bank. I think Lerner is going to go after Hamas at the same time. Hezbollah is Iran's major surrogate. Hamas is Sunni, but Iran likes the trouble they cause. If Israel neutralizes those groups it will set back Tehran's plans for an Islamic Middle East by years. They can't let that happen."

"I'm afraid I agree with you."

She paused. "There's something else I'm looking at."

"Yes?"

"I've received highly reliable intelligence from Israel about the shooter. He was nobody, a gofer in Hezbollah, the sort of person they use for menial tasks. Not very smart. It seems odd to me he would be given an important mission like that."

Rice stopped pacing and looked at her. "Are you saying you think this wasn't a genuine attempt? That the shooter was a patsy?"

If she said yes and she was wrong, she'd lose whatever credibility she had left. It didn't matter what her successes had been in the past. The nature of political realities at this level meant mistakes could not be overlooked. Whatever she told Rice would have consequences, for her and for the Nation.

Elizabeth took a breath. "Yes, sir. I think it's a set up. Someone wants to push Israel into another war and they want Weisner as the new PM. If they'd really wanted to kill him, he'd be dead."

"If it wasn't Hezbollah, who was it?"

"I don't know, yet. I'm working on it."

"Iran is mobilizing."

"Yes, sir. I saw the satellite intel."

"The last war was barely stopped before it went nuclear." Rice paused, considering what he was about to say. "Langley thinks Iran may have a nuke."

Elizabeth was stunned. She had no knowledge of an Iranian nuke. She had seen nothing to indicate Tehran had succeeded in building a weapon.

"How could they have built a bomb?" she said.

"They didn't. CIA thinks they've gotten hold of a Russian warhead built in the 80s. It was designed for an SS-13 missile but could be modified to fit the Shahab 3. That missile could hit Tel Aviv or Haifa."

"Do the Israelis know this?"

"They do not, nor am I going to tell them just yet. It would lead to rash actions on their part."

"You mean a preemptive strike against Iran."

"They are certain to react in that way."

"Sir, that is a disaster. The Mullahs are unstable. If they have a nuke and it looks like Israel is going to drive Hezbollah from Lebanon, they'll use it. Israel would retaliate with their own nukes."

"Exactly. We are currently at DEFCON 3. If Lerner invades Lebanon, I will go to DEFCON 2. If it looks like Iran is getting ready to launch a strike, I will inform the Israelis of what we've learned."

"Sir, I am sure he is serious."

"I don't like the way this is headed. There's too much risk of a nuclear war. I might be able to stop Lerner if I can show him Hezbollah is not behind this attack on Weisner. You say the assassin was a patsy. Prove it, Elizabeth."

"I'll do my best, Mister President."

"Do it quickly, Director. I don't think there's much time left."