The Solomon Effect

46

Washington, D.C.: Wednesday 28 October

4:00 P.M. local time

Vice President T. J. Beckham stood behind his wide, well-polished desk and waited for the Director of Central Intelligence to walk up to him.

Beckham liked to think of himself as a down-home kind of guy, easy and approachable. Normally, he went out of his way to make folks feel comfortable, to keep from overawing people with the authority of his position.

Today, he wanted to reinforce it.

“You asked to see me, Mr. Vice President?” said Gordon Chandler.

“Yes, Gordon; I did.” Beckham waited while Chandler settled in the comfortable leather club chair on the far side of the desk, then he rubbed his nose with his knuckles and eased out a perturbed sigh. “I’ve just received a somewhat disturbing report, Gordon.”

Chandler’s eyebrows rose in a parody of innocent inquiry. “Sir?”

“About U-114. It seems that submarine wasn’t carrying gold, after all. Word is, it had a real live atomic bomb on it. And you knew about it.”

Chandler blinked, but kept silent.

Beckham flattened his palms on the surface of the desk and leaned into them. “Why wasn’t I told?”

Chandler cleared his throat. “Up until now, it was just a theory, and not one we tended to give much credence to.”

“A theory. Where exactly did this theory come from?”

“Some of the files we seized from Germany at the end of the war-combined with reports from certain captured scientists-suggested that Germany was actually farther along in their atomic program than is generally believed.”

Beckham studied the other man’s smooth, handsome face. “You obviously had more than that. Something that led you to focus on U-114.”

Chandler shrugged. “We knew the Nazis had secretly commissioned one of their XI-Bs. It seemed reasonable to assume they were using it for something important. And the timing was right-March of 1945.”

“So we knew U-114 was an XI-B, rather than an XB?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And how did we know that?”

Chandler’s complacent expression never slipped. “We’ve returned most of the archives we seized to the Germans, but not quite all of them. Some sensitive material is still classified. We knew U-114 sailed for South Africa and Japan as part of Operation Caesar, and we knew that amongst its other cargo it carried an unidentified weapon referred to only as ‘die Klinge von Solomon.’”

Beckham frowned. “What’s that?”

“It’s German for ‘the Sword of Solomon.’”

Beckham felt a chill run up his spine.

Chandler said, “It all seemed to fit.”

Beckham pushed away from his desk to stand and look out the window. It was a moment before he spoke. “None of this explains why I wasn’t told the truth.”

“The President made a strategic decision to limit the number of people with access to the intelligence.”

Beckham swung to face him again. “Why?”

“Why?” Chandler huffed a soft laugh. “If this information gets out, it’ll rewrite the history books-and not in a way that would reflect well on the United States.”

“My God, man. You think that’s more important than preventing some terrorist outfit from detonating an atom bomb on our soil?”

A muscle tightened along Chandler’s jaw. “We have over fourteen hundred crews fanning out all over the country, sir. If those sons of bitches have brought that device into the States, we’ll find it.”

Beckham studied the other man’s smooth, handsome face. “Your confidence is inspiring. But I can’t help thinking that, thanks to you, I sent two brave young people into danger without even knowing what I was asking them to face.”

Chandler pushed to his feet. “We plan to bring them home tonight, sir.”

Beckham shook his head. “I don’t think so. They’ve done pretty darn good, so far. I say, let ’em run with it.”

“Sir-”

“You heard me. I want Guinness and Alexander to keep following this thing wherever they think it’s leading them. At least for now.”

Chandler’s jaw tightened. But he simply inclined his head and turned toward the door. “Yes, sir.”