The Last Phoenix by Richard Herman Read Free Book Online Page A

joint training exercise to be held sometime in the future. We’ve seen this before. They flex their muscles, we cry wolf and react, they do nothing, and we end up with egg on our face. For now it’s fair to ask how much coincidence or speculation are we dealing with?”
    The president sank back into her chair. “Patrick is fond of saying that ‘once is chance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action.’” She leaned forward, her face frozen. “Every instinct tells me this is enemy action.” Again a silence came down in the small room.
    “Madam President,” the DCI finally said, “we must not overreact. No one starts a war with the United States in an election year. Even the Arabs know that.”
    “Assuming they’re rational actors,” Butler said quietly. The number of heads nodding around the room was ample indication that he was not alone in his doubt.
    The president thought for a moment. “No more surprises. So what can we expect, and what options are available to us?I want to stay ahead of this, and they do not drive events in my country. Further, I will not be held hostage in the White House monitoring the Middle East. Mazie, I want you and Sam”—she nodded at her vice president—“along with the secretary of defense and the DCI to form a working group to spearhead our response. Call it the Executive Committee. ExCom for short. Mazie, you have direct access to me, anytime, anyplace. Anyone you need, you have. All doors are opened to the ExCom.” She looked around the room. “I hope everyone understands what I’m saying.” She rose to leave. “Stephan, please join me.” Everyone stood as the president left the room with the secretary of state in tow.
    Butler allowed an inward smile. By taking the cranky Serick with her, the president had removed a major obstacle to progress.
    “Well,” Mazie said, “I think the president was quite clear in what she wants. Sam, who do we need working with us?”
    The vice president didn’t hesitate. “Bernie Butler.”
    Mazie glanced at the DCI. “Anyone else?” He shook his head.
    She turned to the secretary of defense. “I’d prefer General Wilding to stand in for me,” Merritt answered, refusing to work with the vice president.
     
    Maddy walked into her private study next to the Oval Office and nodded at her assistant, Nancy Bender, to close the door. She motioned Serick to a comfortable seat. “Well, Stephan, what’s your take on all this?”
    All the posturing, the grumpiness, the irritability that made him a legend, was gone. No longer was he the devil’s advocate keeping everyone honest. Now he was a trusted adviser giving his president the best advice he could. “There still exists a deep hatred of our country in the Arab world, and Butler certainly understands the Middle Eastern mind-set. We may have convinced them to forgo terrorism as a national policy, but if they sense a weakness they may well bestriking out in a new direction. Timely action now might convince them otherwise.”
    “We’re going to need allies.”
    “I’ll do what I can, but France is going to be a major problem.”
    “Why am I not surprised. Talk to them. The Russians?”
    “I can neutralize them.”
    “And the Chinese?”
    Serick shook his head. “Still to be heard from.”
    Taman Negara
    Sunday, August 1
    The soldiers trudging down the path in a line were nervous as they looked right and left, afraid of what might be lurking in the jungle around them. Less than five meters away, Kamigami and Tel lay under a low bush counting them as they filed past. But there was more. Kamigami was taking their measure as soldiers, judging the way they moved and carried their weapons after being in hot pursuit for three days. He was not impressed. The signs of exhaustion were evident, the result of poor conditioning. But even more telling was the way they bunched in a tight group and clung to one another like ducks in a row. It had been easy leading them in a series of