“Absolutely,” Gray replied impassively. He knew this to be baseless rhetoric. There was no possible way the acting president could afford to fire his intelligence chief during such a crisis. “But let me point out that there is not one demand of the kidnappers that this country can seriously consider, given our current foreign policies. And we can’t wait one week for his release, not that I believe they will release him. The American people will not tolerate that. And the violence is only going to become worse in the meantime.”

Hamilton snapped, “Well, then I guess you’ll just have to find him on your own.”

Gray studied the man keenly. He sensed exactly what his adversary was thinking; politicians were all too transparent. Ben Hamilton had wanted this job more than anything. He had patiently paid his dues, waiting for Brennan to serve his two terms before it was his turn to wear the American Crown. Now he had the throne, yet could he do the job? In Gray’s mind it wasn’t even a close call. Ben Hamilton didn’t make even a worthy vice president.

The chief of staff suddenly burst into the room with a Secret Service agent hard on her heels. “Sir,” she exclaimed. “This is just in from Al Jazeera. The kidnappers have disclosed the location where the president will be released.”

“Where?” Gray snapped.

“Medina.”

Hamilton exclaimed, “Medina! How in the hell did they get Brennan out of the country and to Saudi Arabia?”

“Private plane and private airport,” Gray answered. “Not that difficult.”

Hamilton’s face flushed. “We spend billions on airport and border security, and they manage to sneak the damn president of the United States to the Middle East.” He stared at Gray as though he meant to fire him right that instant.

Gray spoke quickly. “It makes sense. Medina is the second holiest city in the Muslim world behind Mecca.”

Hamilton looked at his chief of staff. “Get in touch with the Saudis and tell them that Medina is going to be annexed by this country until we get Brennan back.” He eyed Gray. “I want every military and intelligence resource we have in the area focused there.”

“I’m on it, sir,” Gray said, rising from his chair. He wanted to get out of the room as fast as he could.

I serve at your pleasure, Gray thought as he fled the Oval Office.

CHAPTER

61

CAPTAIN JACK SAT BACK IN HIS chair and smiled with excellent reason. He had in his hand the password he needed to set his final plan into motion. Their captive had endured far more torture than had been anticipated, although his North Korean colleagues were very skilled at such exercises. Yet the man had finally broken; they all did eventually. Captain Jack read the Arabic words and smiled.

From a cloned phone that was not traceable to him he made one call. Speaking in fluent Arabic with well-honed inflections, he said what he needed to say and then used the precious password. This authenticated the source of Captain Jack’s statement to the party on the other line, and it would be immediately relayed to the world.

Captain Jack clicked off the phone and used his lighter to burn the piece of paper. If Tom Hemingway thought he had stunned the world, wait until it heard what his old friend had to say.

Secretary of Defense Joe Decker stared across the desk at Acting President Hamilton. They had just been informed of the latest statement issued through Al Jazeera. And they were furious.

“It’s our only choice, sir,” Decker said. “We simply don’t have the troops to deploy there, and frankly, even if we did, it might quickly turn into another Iraq. We have to avoid that at all costs. We can’t afford it.”

Andrea Mayes, the secretary of state, who’d been hovering in the back of the Oval Office, came forward. She was a tall, large-boned woman with graying hair. “What Secretary Decker is proposing is a direct violation of the Nonproliferation Treaty, sir. We can’t do it.”

“Yes, we can,” Decker insisted.

“How?” Hamilton asked sternly.

“This country has made it clear that any use against it of weapons of mass destruction, biological, chemical or nuclear, would void the terms of the Nonproliferation Treaty with regard to the offending country.”

“But Syria hasn’t attacked us,” Mayes exclaimed.

“The Sharia Group has just now claimed responsibility for kidnapping President Brennan. Sharia is based in and financed by Syria. Under the foreign policies outlined previously by this country, that means Syria has attacked us through the Sharia Group, and they used some chemical agent to abduct the president. And we have evidence that Syria has recently started up a WMD program. Now, even though Syria hasn’t used WMDs against us yet, the U.S. has no obligation to simply sit here and be attacked. Coupled with the fact that they’ve kidnapped our president and are now throwing that fact in our faces more than justifies our position.”

Mayes shook her head in disbelief. “Syria is not a threat to develop WMDs. They are a fractured nation of Kurds, Sunnis and religious minorities.”

“They are no friend of this country,” Decker shot back.

Mayes said, “They don’t want the chaos and violence they see in Iraq. Who would? And they don’t buy our democracy goal. We’re giving money to Libya because it dropped its nuke program; it’s still a dictatorship. Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s worst offenders of human rights, and their record on women’s rights is atrocious. And yet we allow them the status of one of our greatest allies. How can we expect other Arab nations to take us seriously with such inconsistency in our foreign policies?”

She drew a quick breath before continuing. “The public in Syria is very aware of its government’s shortcomings and opposition groups are growing stronger there. The government repealed the death penalty for members of the Muslim Brotherhood. There are other positive signs pointing to freedom growing there, without a U.S. invasion. Their government will change but it will take time.” Mayes stopped speaking and looked at the president. “That’s what I’ve been telling Jim Brennan for four years. These things take time. We can’t just uproot a thousand-year-old culture overnight.”

Decker piped in, “Many of the dissident groups in Syria are leftist and communists. We don’t want to go down that road again.”

Hamilton looked at the director of Central Intelligence, who was

sitting in front of the fireplace. “Are you on board with Joe’s opinion, Allan?”

The director said, “It’s not a slam dunk, but it’s close enough.”

“And there’s no reason to waste time going to the U.N. or building a coalition, sir,” Decker added quickly. “They have our president, and we need to get back in the driver’s seat. And this will put us there. Fast! And we can and should do it all alone.” Decker’s eyes blazed. “Damn it, sir, with all due respect, we are the world’s only superpower. I say we start acting like it.”

“And Jim Brennan?” Hamilton asked.

“If he’s still alive, and we all pray that he is, then this will probably be the only shot we have of getting him back.”

Hamilton mulled this over and finally said, “Okay, gentlemen. Call the networks and get me airtime immediately. I’m going to inform the public about this.” He turned to Decker. “God help us if we’re wrong, Joe.”

When Alex Ford opened his door, Adams and the Camel Club stared back at him.

“Oh, hell!” Alex began angrily.

Kate said, “Alex, please, we have to talk to you.”

Reuben added, “It’s bad, Agent Ford. Really bad.”

Alex said, “What are you talking about?”

Stone answered, “There have been some major developments.”

“What developments, Oliver?” Alex asked.

Kate cut in. “A terrorist organization has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping. We heard about it on the drive over here.”

“The Sharia Group. It has clear ties to Syria,” Stone said.

“Where’s your TV?” Kate asked. “The president is coming on in two minutes.”

Alex led them inside and turned on his TV set. Ben Hamilton appeared on the screen a few minutes later looking very grave. He summed up the situation to the country and then said, “America is a generous nation. We have always been a people that reach out to others in need. We came to the aid of our friends during two world wars. Wars fought to keep the world free. There is no doubt that we are a good, honorable people who use our might benignly to spread freedom around the world. But we are also a nation that defends itself and strikes back when we have been attacked. Well, my fellow Americans, we have been attacked. And now the organization that has attacked us has shown itself. The Sharia Group has irrefutable ties to the nation of Syria, a country that has long been known to harbor terrorist groups operating against America and its

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