Chapter 3 / Page 2

The spook broke his silence for the first time. “I’ve got the briefing books you requested for this meeting. Louis Edwards is on his way to meet the team leader we discussed this morning.”

“Excuse me, but I take it you saw these photos a long time before the rest of us,” interrupted Brian.

“Who’s Louis Edwards?” demanded Lisa.

The spook looked across the table to the NSA. There was a brief nod before the spook replied, “Louis Edwards is a member of the intelligence community. He has worked on black ops for the past twenty years. These include operations against friendly and hostile governments. From time to time, Mister Edwards has had an opportunity to work with members of the elite services.”

“He means Army Rangers, DELTA Force, and that sort of thing,” injected Brian.

“Yes, well, the man the computers came up with for Team Leader is no longer employed by the United States Government; however, Mister Edwards has worked with him on several occasions, and it was felt that he should be positioned to talk with our candidate pending the approval of this committee and the strictures of time.”

“He means we’re really scared this time, and we don’t have much time to create the usual bureaucratic disaster you folks at State are so capable of creating,” continued Brian. His eyes never left Lisa Borden’s perplexed features. He shifted his gaze back to the spook. Suffering fools was not something at which Brian excelled. “Now that we’ve explained absolutely nothing about Louis Edwards beyond the obvious, could you answer my question? I take it you saw these photos a long time before the rest of us.”

“Yes, sir,” explained the spook. He wore no nametag. He had no visible security badge like the rest of them. His posture was something other than the usual bureaucrat encountered at Langley. Perhaps this was something other than an ordinary spook. “We saw these photos nearly seven hours ago. I came to the same conclusions as you did, Mister Stillwell. I think we have a very bad situation on our hands.”

“That’s why you’re still here,” explained the NSA. “You passed my test, as much as I don’t like you. You made sense this morning. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not about to authorize military action against a Chinese submarine. I do think, however, that covert action against Iraq is in order. At this moment, a Presidential Finding is being signed to that effect.” He turned to Lisa. ”Your role here is a courtesy. The President made it quite clear that State be kept in the loop. I think that also means CNN stays out of the loop for the moment. All media control will be run from the White House.” He smiled one more time. “Any questions anyone has will be routed through Arthur.” The smile faded slightly. “He’s our Ollie North. If something goes wrong, or someone needs a Judas goat, Arthur has volunteered to fill the role.”