“When you call the President, you could tell him that,” Naylor said. “That General McNab is on his way to Afghanistan.”
Secretary Beiderman considered that for a full—very long—thirty seconds, and then said, “Slide me the red phone.”
“Sir, why don’t we wait until General McNab is actually on his way to Afghanistan? That would be thirty seconds after I call him.”
Secretary Beiderman considered that for another—very long—thirty seconds. Then he said, “Make your call, General Naylor.”
Naylor picked up the headset of the red telephone and pushed one of the dozen buttons on its base.
“Put it on loudspeaker,” the secretary of Defense ordered. Naylor said, “Yes, sir.”
Damn! he thought.
The phone was immediately answered: “McNab.”
“General Naylor, General.”
“Yes, sir?”
“Are you alone, General?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Secretary Beiderman is with me, General.”
“Yes, sir.”
“POTUS sent him here with a stack of photographs of Delta Force and Gray Fox personnel at Colonel Castillo’s party in the Mayflower after they walked out on the President’s remarks at Arlington.”
“Yes, sir?”
“Secretary Beiderman has been ordered by POTUS to order me to show them to you, General, and then inform you it is the President’s desire that you immediately request retirement, and that if you do, that will be the end of it.”
“The end of what, sir?”
Naylor hesitated, and then said, “I think it would be best if you heard this from Secretary Beiderman, General.”
Beiderman’s look of surprise—even shock—quickly turned into one of resignation—he had been had, and he knew it—and then into one of hate and loathing.
For a moment, he just sat there, and then he exhaled and leaned toward the red phone.
“General, the President seems to think you are involved in a conspiracy that will see him resign, which would put Vice President Montvale in the Oval Office.”
There was a long moment, and then General McNab said, very softly, “Mr. Secretary, would you please repeat that? I want to be absolutely sure I heard you correctly.”
My God! Naylor thought. McNab knew right away not only what’s going on but how to deal with it.
Thank God!
After a moment, Beiderman repeated, “General, the President seems to think you are involved in a conspiracy that will see him resign, and would put Vice President Montvale in the Oval Office.”
Another pause, and then McNab said, “And you, Mr. Secretary, do you think I have been, or that I am, involved in a coup d’état such as you describe?”
“No, of course I don’t,” Beiderman snapped. “But that’s what the President apparently believes, and that’s what we have to deal with.”
“First, Mr. Secretary,” McNab said, “let me categorically deny that I am now or ever have been involved in something like that. And with equal emphasis let me say that I have no intention of requesting retirement at this time. The President has—and for that matter, as you well know—you and General Naylor have—the right to relieve me of command of SPECOPSCOM at any time.
“But for me to resign under the circumstances you have laid out would be a tacit admission that I have been involved in a coup d’état. And that’s treason, Mr. Secretary!”