Empire (Empire 1)

“Torrent.”

“About the fall of Rome. How civil wars in the Roman Republic led to the foundation of the empire.”

“Oh, yeah, I bet Torrent’s happy now,” said Reuben. “He’s getting all the chaos he could ask for.”

“He really is the same guy they just made National Security Adviser, right?”

“Yes,” said Reuben. “He was already a top adviser to the NSA. Adviser to the adviser. Now that Sarkissian is Secretary of State, they bumped Torrent up to NSA.”

“If Congress approves him.”

“Oh, that’s one thing President Nielson’s got for sure—a rubber-stamp Congress. Time of national emergency and all that.”

“Maybe not,” said Coleman from the back.

“So . . . will Torrent be happy?” asked Cessy.

“No, of course not. I just meant—he just said that before America could truly be great, we had to—have a crisis that would end the republic and bring about—no, he can’t be part of this.”

“Why not?”

“He didn’t advocate it,” said Reuben. “He just . . . but the way he talked . . . somebody could get the wrong idea. Somebody with a little megalomaniac in him could decide to try to act on Torrent’s theory. Fulfill his prophecy.”

“So it might be a bunch of his former students doing this?”

“All it would take is one former student in the group. Or just somebody who went to a speech of his. He used to lecture all over the place. I don’t know if this Roman Empire thing is in any of his books. Wouldn’t that be a weird situation to be in? National Security Adviser to a President who’s fighting a civil war caused by somebody following your theory.”

“Kind of like having the President assassinated by somebody using your plan,” said Coleman from the back.

“Yeah,” said Reuben. “Like that.”

Silence for a while. Then Reuben said, “Zarathustra.”

“What?” asked Cessy.

“I’m telling Cole. The password. To my files. ‘Zarathustra.’ And then when the software tells you that you’re wrong, type in ‘Marduk.’ ” He spelled it.

“You’re so paranoid you doubled your password?” said Cessy.

“Hope I never need to use them,” said Coleman.

“I’ve got to trust somebody. And if I die, I don’t want that data lost.”

Cessy shook her head. “Ancient gods of Iran and Iraq.”

“Zarathustra was a prophet, not a god,” said Reuben.

“They sacrificed children to Marduk, didn’t they?” said Cessy.

“You’re thinking of Moloch.”

“Gods of war, either way,” said Cessy.

“But not my God,” said Reuben. “I don’t take his name in vain.”

I hope we can learn to forgive our enemies, thought Cessy. I hope God forgives us for daring to decide that we know when it’s right to kill.

But if men like my husband weren’t willing to kill in defense of civilization, then the world would be doomed to be ruled by those who were willing to kill in pursuit of their own power.