Dead Heat

  We're convinced it's the one that launched the attack on Manhattan. It should be at the bottom of the Atlantic by the time we're finished with this call, sir."

  "What are you doing to recover any missiles and nuclear warheads that may have still been on those four ships?" the president asked.

  "We've got search-and-rescue teams heading to all four locations, sir," Trainor said. "I'll get you updated reports as I get them myself."

  Oaks nodded and asked Secretary James, "How many dead and wounded so far?"

  "It's impossible to say at this point, Mr. President."

  "How soon will we know?"

  "Honestly, sir, it could be days—maybe weeks."

  Oaks couldn't say so, of course, but the truth was that he didn't want to know. It was too horrible, too depressing. But as the leader of the nation, he felt it was his duty to ask, and he gave James forty-eight hours to compile a preliminary estimate.

  The biggest questions he addressed to Secretary Trainor.

  "Who did this, Burt, and how quickly can we strike back?"

  He noticed Trainor hesitate. "Mr. President, I'm not ready to give you an answer on that."

  Oaks had anticipated this, but unlike the casualty numbers, this was one he had to have.

  "How soon will you know?" he pressed.

  "It could be a while, sir," Trainor stalled. "We're sifting through the intel, but it's slow going. As you know, DIA was destroyed. Langley was destroyed. NSA headquarters at Fort

  Meade has been evacuated because of high winds bringing massive amounts of radiation

  their way. We're shifting a lot of the satellite imagery and electronic intercepts to other facilities around the country. But the fact is, our top analysts are all dead, and most of our best linguists as well."

  "That's not good enough, Mr. Secretary," the president countered. "I have a constitutional obligation to defend this country, and I can't do that if I have no idea who attacked us."

  "Believe me, Mr. President, I understand the gravity of the situation," Trainor said. "But I don't want to speculate without hard information, and that's going to take time to compile, process, verify, and get to you."

  "You must have something," the president insisted. "Start with China."

  Trainor quickly scanned a stack of the latest intelligence reports in front of him but

  8

  apparently found little to go on. "Zhao is worried, no question about it," he improvised. "His press conference was unprecedented but his message was certainly clear enough. They think we think they did it, and as a result, Beijing is mobilizing every military asset they have."

  "Even their strategic missile forces?"

  "I'm afraid so, sir."

  "All this aggressive military activity just makes them look guilty," Oaks noted.

  "They would say they're being prudent," Trainor cautioned.

  "Unless they are guilty," the president said. "So are they?"

  "I don't know yet, Mr. President. It's simply too soon to say."

  Trainor explained that for the last several days, the navy had been tracking five

  Chinese nuclear submarines approaching unusually close to the Pacific coast of the

  U.S. Three more Chinese submarines had been operating suspiciously close to Maine,

  New York, and Florida. Another was lurking on the edge of U.S. territorial waters in

  the Gulf of Mexico.

  "Any evidence these subs were used in the attacks?" the president asked.

  "No, sir," Trainor said.

  "Then what's China up to?"

  "I don't know, sir—they may simply have been testing our sub-tracking capabilities. At the time of the attacks, we were moving more than a dozen Los Angeles–class fast attack subs to counter them."

  "And where are the Chinese subs now?" Oaks asked.

  "All but two have retreated into deeper waters in the Atlantic and the Pacific," the SecDef said.

  "And the other two?"

  "They've pulled back several hundred miles, but they're essentially still patrolling, albeit slowly, up and down the coasts—one in the east and one in the west."

  "Are they armed with missiles?"

  "We believe they are, sir."

  "Nuclear?"

  "Yes, sir," Trainor said. "What worries me in particular is that these are all Russian-built Kilo subs, type 636, very fast, very stealthy, tough—not impossible, but very tough—

  for us to track if they really decide to go dark on us."

  The president mulled that over. "You're saying Beijing wants us to know they're out there?"

  "Yes, sir," Trainor confirmed. "They seem to want us to know that they're waiting, ready to act if provoked."

  "So how big is the danger of a miscalculation by either side?"

  This time, Trainor didn't hesitate for a moment. "It's growing by the hour, sir."

  9

  9:12 A.M.-OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, BABYLON, IRAQ

  "What you are proposing is very risky," Lucente said.

  "Perhaps," Al-Hassani said. "But without risk, where are the rewards?"

  Lucente did not reply immediately, but this was a positive sign, AlHassani thought. It

  meant the secretary-general was not ruling out his scenario after all. Indeed, he was

  listening carefully. He was considering. He was tempted.

  Finally Lucente asked, "Theoretically speaking, where would you propose we start?"

  "You know where, Salvador," Al-Hassani said softly.

  "Jerusalem?" Lucente asked, obviously knowing the answer already. "Where else?" the Iraqi said.

  Lucente sighed. "Mustafa, how many ways can I make this clear? My hands are tied. I've done everything in my power to stop the Temple from being constructed, short of building an international coalition to invade Israel. There's nothing more I can do."

  "Would that really be so wrong?" Khalid Tariq, Al-Hassani's chief political strategist, suddenly interjected.

  "Would what be so wrong?" Lucente asked.

  "Building an international coalition to invade Israel," Tariq clarified. "Tell me he's kidding," Lucente said, turning back to Al-Hassani.

  "He's not," the Iraqi leader said.

  "Then he's crazy," the secretary-general laughed. "You both are. Didn't you two see with your own eyes what happened to the last coalition that tried to destroy Israel?

  Nobody but you would be brazen enough to try that again."

  Tariq cursed as Al-Hassani looked on. "Then what?" the aide snapped. "You're just going to give the Zionists a free pass to do whatever they want, whenever they want, with no

  consequences?"

  "Mustafa, Khalid, have you forgotten the fire falling from heaven on Israel's enemies?"

  Lucente asked, incredulous. "Have you forgotten the hailstones, the massive earthquake, the torrential storms? Didn't you see it all—live—on Al-Jazeera and CNN and in Al-Hayat?

  Haven't you noticed it's been nearly eleven months and still the Israelis are burying the bodies of their enemies? And you know as well as I do it would have taken a lot longer but for all the birds and beasts that came along and ate most of the bodies. Can you really watch all that and think for a moment that you can persuade the world to take on Israel again in such a short amount of time? People will think you're insane."

  10

  "Salvador, Salvador, you don't really believe all that was an act of God, do you?" AlHassani demanded to know. "You're not going to tell me you think a bunch of

  superstitious prophecies came true, are you? Come, come; tell me you are smarter than

  that."

  "I don't know what happened out there, and neither do you," Lucente said carefully, weighing every word. "And frankly, I don't care. I know only one thing: nobody in his right mind is going to try to invade Israel again anytime soon. I certainly wouldn't."

  Tariq was disgusted. "So the Jews just get what they want; is that it?"

  "No," Lucente said, more forcefully than Al-Has
sani had expected.

  "But we need to be wise, gentlemen. We need to be shrewd." "Meaning what?" Tariq demanded.

  "Meaning we need to bide our time, take things one step at a time," Lucente said. "Don't forget, the world desperately needs Israel's oil every bit as much as it needs yours. And the world needs oil prices to stabilize and start coming down, not continue spiking ever

  upward. That means the world wants peace in the Middle East, not another war. Not yet.

  Not now. So don't fool yourselves, my friends. You think a war with Israel would help

  you, and maybe it would help the USE in the short run. You are raking in hundreds of billions of petrodollars, and this city you've built is quickly becoming the world's

  commercial nerve center. But for the rest of us, another war in this region would be a

  disaster. The U.S. economy is finished. Wall Street has been obliterated. Most of the

  world's major banks based in Manhattan have been wiped out as well. The world is about to plunge into a global depression. You and I have the power to stabilize things and to

  consolidate power in the process. But we must cooperate with the Israelis, not confront them."

  "We have absolutely no intention of cooperating with the Jews," Tariq insisted. "We're trying to build a new nation, and believe me, Salvador, nobody wants me to make nice

  with the Zionists. We've been humiliated by them for too long. Now they build a Temple

  on the site that has been holy ground to us for the ages, and no one dares lift a finger to stop them, not even you?"

  "Mustafa, Khalid, please," Lucente countered, "you're not listening to me. We don't have a choice. Not yet, anyway. Look, you know I am with you both in spirit. Between

  you and me, I don't like the Jews any more than you do. Mark my words, as soon as I can do something about them, I will. On that you have my word. But if we're going to do it

  right, it's going to take time."

  "How much time?" Tariq pressed. "Our people cannot wait forever."

  "They won't have to," Lucente assured him. "But first we need to win the Israelis'

  confidence. We need them to lower their guard. Look at how weak they are. Their political leaders are feckless. Their Zionist ideology is exhausted. Their military leaders are

  corrupt. Their diplomatic leaders are so desperate to be loved, to be accepted by the rest of the world, they're willing to give away almost anything. But we must not make the

  ridiculous mistakes of the past. We must not threaten Israel with war. We must invite them to make peace. We must not turn our backs to them. We must offer them an open hand.

  We must not boycott them. We must take you and your top leadership there to Jerusalem.

  We must shock them. We must offer them a comprehensive peace treaty, the likes of which the world has never seen before. We must lure them into feeling safe and secure. We

  must lull them into trusting us, into trusting me, and all the

  while consolidate our power and build a military coalition far greater than what the Russians 11

  and the Iranians ever had. And then, when all this has been accomplished, when the time is right, you and I will make our move. We will seize Jerusalem. We will raze the Temple.

  Perhaps we will even build the new U.N. headquarters there, right on the Temple Mount.

  But not now. We're not ready . . . yet."

  12

  11:37 P.M. MST-NORAD OPERATIONS CENTER

  "Mr. President, may I ask you a question? "

  It was Homeland Security Secretary Lee James.

  The president nodded. "Absolutely."

  "Mr. President, on a scale from one to ten, with ten being absolute certitude that China is behind these attacks, where would you say you are at the moment?"

  Oaks pondered that for a few moments. "I'm not sure yet—six or seven. Why do you

  ask?"

  "Well, sir," James continued, "I'm just thinking—what would possibly be Zhao's intent? I mean, he has to know that if we find proof it's them, we'll launch a massive

  counterattack and wipe them off the face of the planet. But then they'd retaliate in kind before our missiles landed and launch all of their nuclear missiles at us, wouldn't they?"

  "Probably," the president said. "So what's your point?"

  "My point, Mr. President, is, do we really believe Zhao and his cronies are suicidal? Power hungry, yes. Tyrannical, absolutely. But are they suicidal?"

  "What if they didn't see this sort of attack as suicidal?" the president asked. "What if they were counting on us being completely decapitated and thus unable—or unwilling—

  to launch a full retaliation?"

  "You really think they'd try that, completely unprovoked?" James responded.

  "Look," the president said, "China desperately wants to be a superpower, don't they?"

  Secretaries James and Trainor and General Briggs all agreed.

  "So what if they concluded this was their moment?" Oaks asked. "Russia's gone. If we were gone too, they'd be the only ones left standing, right?"

  "Of course," Trainor said. "But, Mr. President, I find myself leaning in Lee's direction here. I mean, the Chinese have had a very clearly stated no-first-strike policy since they did their first nuclear test back in '64. It just doesn't seem plausible to me that they suddenly changed their minds today."

  "Come on, Burt," the president shot back. "You know as well as I do that several high-ranking Chinese generals through the years have threatened the use of nukes over the

  Taiwan conflict, right?"

  Unfortunately, the president was correct on that. Back in July of 2005, for example,

  Major General Zhu Chenghu, the head of China's National Defense University, was

  13

  discussing the possibility of an armed conflict with Taiwan and warned, "If the Americans draw their missiles and position-guided weapons on to the target zone on Chinese

  territory, I think we will have to respond with nuclear weapons. We Chinese will prepare ourselves for the destruction of all the cities east of Xian. Of course, the Americans will have to be prepared that hundreds of cities will be destroyed by the Chinese."

  China's first-strike military capabilities had increased significantly since 2005.

  What's more, even tougher threats had been voiced by other high-ranking Chinese military officials in recent months. One of the most strident anti-American voices was now China's defense minister, and a close personal friend of Premier Zhao.

  Still, was it really possible that China's first-strike policy had changed without anyone in the U.S. government realizing it? Then again, why would Beijing announce such a change in policy, if one had, in fact, occurred?

  * * *

  * * *

  The rush was fading.

  Fear was quickly replacing the high he'd felt for the last few hours, and Caulfield

  could sense that the demons were back. They were haunting him again, telling him he was no good, telling him he had no place working for the president of the United States,

  telling him it was better to sleep, forever, and put all the horrors of the world behind him.

  Caulfield excused himself from a staff meeting and wandered past the conference room

  where the president was meeting with his war cabinet.

  "Can I help you, Mr. Caulfield?" Special Agent Coehlo asked, standing post outside the conference room door.

  "Just checking to see if the president needs me," Caulfield lied. "He hasn't said anything to me," Coelho replied.

  "Fine," Caulfield said. "I'm going to the men's room if he needs me."

  Coelho nodded and Caulfield headed around the corner and glanced down a side

  hallway. No one was there. He had a clear shot. He grabbed his briefcase, moved as

  quickly as he could without drawing attention to himself, and slipped into the bathroom. He could hear the voice of his older brother, Derek, telling him no, begging him not t
o. But it didn't matter. He wasn't listening. He desperately needed another hit. He needed it now. His brother didn't understand. He never had. He never would.

  * * *

  * *

  Secretary Trainor tried to refocus the conversation.

  "Mr. President," he began, "with all due respect, most of these generals have been talking about a scenario in which there was already a shooting war over Taiwan under way and we intervened militarily. It's saber rattling, sir, not a serious threat to annihilate four American cities, much less hundreds of them."

  "Yesterday, honestly, I might have agreed with you," the president said. "Today I'm not so sure. How many countries could have pulled off an operation like this? India,

  Pakistan, North Korea, and China, right?"

  Trainor agreed, as did James and Briggs.

  "Is there any evidence to suggest the Indians are involved?"

  14

  "No, sir," Trainor said.

  "Islamabad?"

  "No."

  "What about Pyongyang?" the president asked, referring to the capital of North Korea, a country once described by one of his predecessors as a member of the "Axis of Evil."

  "Not to my knowledge, sir."

  "Then we're running out of suspects, aren't we?" the president noted. "Lee, isn't it true that Homeland Security has been concerned for years about the Chinese using their

  shipping companies to aid and abet terrorist groups?"

  James reluctantly agreed, and when the president asked for specifics, he noted that the Chinese Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO), as just one example, had once been singled out

  by the U.S. House Task Force on Terrorism for presenting itself "as a commercial entity"

  when it was "actually an arm of the Chinese military establishment," providing "services to the logistics and transportation arms of the PLNs navy and air force." In 1996, James recalled, citing the task force's report, "U.S. Customs agents confiscated over 2,000 assault weapons that were being smuggled into the United States aboard COSCO ships." More recently, he added, COSCO ships had been caught smuggling other weapons, drugs, and even illegal