“I want a heavy hitter, Paul,” the President said.
“Warner’s a good man,” Hood said to the President. “But we’ve also used Professor Ahmed Nasr to work on many of our white papers.”
“I know that name.”
“You met him at the dinner for the Sheik of Dubai, Mr. President,” Hood said. “Dr. Nasr was the one who left after dessert to help your son with his paper on pan-Turkism.”
“I remember him now.” The President smiled. “What’s his background?”
“He used to be with the National Center for Middle East Studies in Cairo,” Hood said. “Now he’s with the Institute for Peace.”
“How would he play in Syria?”
“He’d be very welcome there,” said Hood, still confused. “He’s a devout Muslim and a pacifist. He also has a reputation for honesty.”
“Hell,” said Larry Rachlin, “I’m starting to lean toward Steve on this one. Mr. President, do we really want an Egyptian Boy Scout talking restraint with a terrorist state?”
“We do when everyone else is running off half-cocked,” the President said. He glanced at Burkow, but didn’t rebuke him. Hood knew that he wouldn’t. The men had been friends for too long and been through too many personal and professional crises together. Besides, Hood knew that the President welcomed Burkow saying the things that he, as the Commander-in-Chief, could not. “Paul,” the President went on, “I’d like you to go to Damascus with Professor Nasr.”
Hood recoiled slightly. Larry Rachlin and Steve Burkow both sat up straight. Lincoln smiled.
“Mr. President, I’m not a diplomat,” Hood protested.
“Sure you are,” said Lincoln. “Will Rogers said that diplomacy is the art of saying ‘nice doggie’ until you can find a rock. You can do that.”
“You can also talk to the Syrians about intelligence and about banking,” the President said. “That’s exactly the kind of diplomacy I need right now.”
“Until we find a rock,” Burkow muttered.
“Frankly, Paul,” the President continued. “I also can’t afford to send anyone at cabinet level. If I do, the Turks will feel slighted. Personally, I’m as tired of being pushed around as Steve and Larry are. But we’ve got to try the low-key route. Mrs. Klaw will see that you have the appropriate policy papers to read on the flight. Where is Mr. Nasr?”
“In London, sir,” Hood said. “He’s speaking at some kind of symposium.”
“You can pick him up there,” the President said. “Dr. Nasr can fine-tune and help sell whatever you think will work. You can take that kid from GU if you’d like. This will also put you on the scene in case you need to help negotiate for the release of General Rodgers. Ambassador Haveles in Damascus will see to all the security arrangements.”
Hood thought about missing his daughter’s piccolo solo tonight at school. He thought about how his wife would fear for him going into that part of the world at this particular time. And. he thought about both the challenge and pressure of being part of history, of helping to save lives instead of risking them.
“I’ll be on a plane this afternoon, sir,” Hood said.
“Thanks, Paul.” The President looked at his watch. “It’s one-thirty-two. General Vanzandt, Steve, we’ll have the Joint Chiefs and Security Council meet in the Oval Office. at three o’clock. You want to move the battle group, General?”
“I think it would be prudent, sir,” Vanzandt said.
“Then do it,” said the President. “I also want options in the event of increased hostilities. We’ve got to keep this from spreading.”
“Yes, sir,” General Vanzandt said..
The President rose, signaling the end of the meeting. He walked out with Burkow and General Vanzandt on either side, followed by Rachlin and Colon. Secretary of Defense Colon threw Hood a friendly salute as he left.
As Hood sat alone at the conference table, collecting his thoughts, Av Lincoln walked over.
“The first time I ever pitched in the Major Leagues,” the Secretary of State told him, “it wasn’t because I was ready for the job. It was because three other starters were sick, injured, or suspended. I was eighteen years old and scared spitless, but I won the game. You’re smart, you’re dedicated, you’re loyal, and you’ve got a conscience, Paul. You’re going to bat this assignment out of the ballpark.”
Hood rose. He shook Lincoln’s hand. “Thanks, Av. I hope I don’t dazzle everyone so much that you’re out of a job.”
Lincoln smiled as they left the Situation Room together. “Considering the stakes, Paul, I hope you do.”
SEVENTEEN
Monday, 8:17 p.m.,
Oguzeli, Turkey
Lowell Coffey was staring through the closed window of the passenger’s side of the ROC as the dark countryside slipped by. Mary Rose was driving, and nervously tapping the steering wheel and humming Gilbert and Sullivan to herself, an appropriate piece that Coffey recognized from Iolanthe: “Faint Heart Never Won Fair Lady.”
Coffey was anxious too, though he calmed himself by half shutting his eyes and picturing himself driving with his father and brother across Death Valley. The three Coffey men always took days-long drives together. The Coffey Beans, his mother used to call them, because they were always packed together in a metal can. He would give just about anything to be able to do that again just one more time. The senior Coffey had died in a small-plane crash in 1983. Lowell’s brother had graduated from Harvard two years later and moved to London to work in the U.S. Embassy. Their mother had gone with him. Since then, Coffey didn’t feel as if he belonged to anything. He had gone to work for Op-Center not just to have some impact on peoples’s lives, as he’d told Katzen, but also to feel as though he were part of a close-knit team. Yet even in the ROC, that sense of belonging wasn’t quite there.
What did it take to create that? he wondered. His father spoke of his bomber crew having had that intense camaraderie during World War II. There had been some of that in Coffey’s college fraternity. What caused it? Danger? Enclosure? A common purpose? Years of being together? Probably a little of all of that, he decided. But despite their present situation—or perhaps because of it?—there was still a sense of dreamy contentment that came from lowering his lids just a little and pretending that his father was to his left and the mountains he knew were out there were the Panamint Range he had marveled at as a boy.
Phil Katzen was sitting at Mary Rose’s terminal in the ROC. He was watching the full-color map scroll by on her monitor. On Mike Rodgers’s screen was a radar display of Turkish aircraft operating in central and southern Anatolia. Katzen turned to look at it every few seconds. There were no planes in the region as yet. If there were, he would have been forced to identify himself and do whatever he was told. The Operations and Protocol Manual was explicit about ROC activities in a war zone. The printout was on a clipboard in Katzen’s lap.
Section 17:
ROC Operations in a War Zone
Subsection 1:
Undeclared War In Non-Combat Zone
A. If the ROC is conducting surveillance or other passive operations at the invitation of a country which is attacked by an outside force, or at the invitation of a government which is attacked by insurrectional forces; and participation on behalf of the attacked country is legal pursuant to United States Law (see Section 9) and Administration policy, ROC personnel are free to operate away from the field(s) of combat and to work closely with the local military to provide whatever services are required, feasible, or ordered by the Director of Op-Center or the President of the United States. See Section 9C for legal operations under the National Crisis Management Center Charter.
B. Any and all activities by ROC or ROC personnel as outlined in Section 17, Subsection 1A will be terminated at once if the ROC is ordered to depart the combat zone by a legally empowered officer or representative of the recognized government.
C. If the ROC is present at the invitation of the attacking country in a conflict in which the United States is neutral, ROC personnel are to operate pursuant to United States Law (see Section 9A) and provide only those services which do not make the United States a participant in unlawful aggression (see Section 9B) or provide intelligence which is designed to protect the lives and property of United States citizens, so long as said action does not bring it into conflict with United States law (see Section 9A, Subsection 3) and the laws of the host country.
Subsection 2:
Undeclared War in Combat Zone
A. If the ROC is present in a zone and is caught in a situation of armed conflict, the ROC and its personnel are to retreat with practical speed to a place of safety.
1 . If it is not possible to evacuate the ROC, it is to be disabled according to Section 1, Subsection 2 (self-disablement) or Section 12, Subsection 3 (external disablement).