ELEVEN.
Rapp's performance
wasn't exactly what Kennedy had had in mind, but she could tell
that it had an impact on the President.
An added bonus was
that Kennedy couldn't remember a time when she'd seen Valerie Jones
so flustered. The President's animated chief of staff was silenced
for once, waiting desperately for someone else to come to her
defense now that Rapp had left. She looked from the President, to
Flood, to Kennedy, and then back around again. Having found no
comfort she settled on looking out the window and tapping her foot.
Kennedy wondered if Jones honestly thought she would receive any
solace from her or General Flood.
After several more
moments of tense silence, Jones couldn't take it anymore. She
looked at the President and blurted, "I warned you that having him
around was a bad idea."
President Hayes
looked at his chief of staff evenly.
"I don't always agree
with Mitch's opinions, but I do always value them."
"Robert, he doesn't
see the big picture. He doesn't understand the negative impact this
type of scandal will have on your presidency."
Hayes cocked his head
a bit to the side and said, "I have a feeling that Mitch would say
it's you who don't see the big picture."
Jones exhaled in
frustration.
"I'm not going to sit
here and debate the big picture with some assassin from the CIA."
Jones turned to Kennedy and said, "No offense, Irene, but I'm paid
to put all the pieces of the puzzle together and minimize the
President's exposure. You don't have to have a doctorate in
political science to figure out what's going to happen when this
story breaks. We are going to get eaten alive by the press, and
then the committees on the Hill will begin to call for
hearings"-she turned her attention to Hayes-"and they will make
damn sure they drag you through the mud right up to your
reelection."
To everyone's
surprise Kennedy said, "I agree with Valerie."
Looking smug with her
newfound support, Jones said, "Even his own boss agrees with
me."
Kennedy held up a
finger and added, "I do, but with one exception.
You'll never be able
to keep a lid on this. The press already knows something's up. By
the end of today, they'll have a pretty good handle on this story,
and we'll probably see our first installment in the morning
papers."
"But we can handle
that," Jones jumped in.
"I already have our
people working on the press release. The servicemen were lost in a
joint training exercise with the Philippine army. "Jones looked to
General Flood.
"This type of thing
happens all the time, right?"
Before the general
could answer, the President said, "The Philippine Ambassador has
already called twice this morning, and I assure you it wasn't to
talk about the weather."
Jones batted away the
concern with her hand.
"They need our aid to
prop up their economy. All we need to do is throw them some more
money, and they'll play ball."
Kennedy slowly shook
her head.
"Too many people know
about this, sir. There's no way you're going to be able to keep a
lid on it."
The President was
leaning back now, tapping his forefinger against his upper
lip.
Before he could say
anything, Jones jumped back into the debate.
"Give me one week.
That's all I'm asking for. One week and I'll have the press looking
into something else, I promise."
Hayes looked to the
chairman of the Joint Chiefs and said, "General, you're unusually
quiet this morning. Is there anything you'd care to add?"
General Flood was an
imposing man and even more so in his uniform.
A few inches over six
feet tall and pushing three hundred pounds he looked more like a
retired football player than a man who still liked to jump out of
planes a couple of times a year. It was evident from his face that
he was trying to choose his words carefully. Keeping his eyes on
the President he finally said, "Sir, I couldn't disagree with Miss
Jones more emphatically."
The President was
looking at Flood, but from the corner of his eye he could see his
chief of staff begin to squirm. Ignoring her he said, "Please
elaborate."
"We have announced
that we are at war with terrorism. We have proof that at a bare
minimum a Philippine general is taking bribes from a known
terrorist organization that has taken a family of Americans
hostage. We have proof that a State Department official, who was
told in no uncertain terms that this rescue operation was to be
kept secret, decided on her own volition to break federal law and
discuss this information with an overseas State Department
official. We have a U.S. Ambassador, who took it upon himself to
brief the head of a foreign country that U.S. Special Forces were
about to conduct a covert operation on that country's soil. Any
reasonable person would conclude that these actions clearly led to
the deaths of two U.S. Navy SEALs.
You have said it
yourself, Mr. President, we are at war. This is serious business,
and in my mind the Ambassador and the under Secretary are traitors
and their actions cannot go unpunished."
"I agree that they
should be punished," Jones said quickly before anyone else could
speak.
"I say we ship them
off to the worst posting we can think of. I say we not only make
them take a cut in pay, but we make them pay restitution to the
families of the two dead soldiers. I say-" "Dead sailors," the
general corrected her. Looking back to the President he added, "I
happen to agree with Mitch. If it were up to me, I would have these
two marched in front of a firing squad and shot, but I realize in
today's world that will never happen. I do, however, think they
need to spend some hard time in jail and they need to be publicly
humiliated. They need be made an example of."
Jones, desperate to
turn the tide of this conversation, weighed in once more.
"General, I'm not
saying I disagree with you, but again I don't think you're looking
at how this scandal will affect this administration."
"With all due
respect, Miss Jones, I'm more concerned with the welfare of this
republic than any single administration. The two should go hand in
hand, but as you've so passionately pointed out this morning,
that's not always the case."
Jones glared at the
general and said, "That was a cheap shot."
"No, it was a direct
shot, but if I wasn't blunt enough for you, let me spell this
entire cluster fuck out for you in clear English." The general
leaned toward the chief of staff and said, "This was a big
operation.
A lot of military and
intelligence personnel knew about it beforehand, and since it went
south a lot more people know about it today." Flood stuck out one
of his beefy fingers with conviction and said, "I can guarantee
you, if you try to whitewash this thing, someone in uniform, or
over at Langley, is going to be so offended they will talk to a
reporter off the record and they will set off a chain reaction that
will do exactly what you're hoping to avoid. And that's if Mitch
doesn't break the story first."
"You worry about your
people, general," Jones shot back, "and I'll handle Rapp."
The sheer lunacy of
the comment caused Flood to roar with laughter.
"You're going to tell
Mitch Rapp what to do? Let me know when and where, and I'll pay top
dollar to witness that fight."
Before Jones could
speak again, the President came forward in his chair and rested his
forearms on his desk.
"I've made a
decision." He was talking to everyone, but was looking at
Jones.
"We're going to
confront this thing head-on, and it's not up for debate. If we try
to bury it
it'll only come back and bite us in the ass. I want the
Justice Department to prepare warrants for the arrest of Assistant
Secretary Petry and Ambassador Cox."
Jones began shaking
her head.
"Robert-" Before she
could continue the President cut her off and said, "Valerie, cancel
my dinner plans for this evening and inform the congressional
leadership that I'd like to meet with them."
Jones had a pained
expression on her face. The President's demeanor suggested that any
further protests would be unwise. She'd lost this one for now, but
there was always later. When she had him alone she would try to get
him to rethink his decision before he jumped off the cliff.
With strained
pleasantness Jones asked, "What would you like me to tell
them?"
"Tell them I need to
brief them on an issue of national security."
"I'll get to work on
it right away." Before leaving she turned to Kennedy.
"You'll keep me
informed of any decisions you reach with the DOJ and the
FBI?"
Kennedy noticed it
was more a demand than a question, but nonetheless nodded politely.
Jones had been thoroughly defeated and there was no sense rubbing
it in.
When the chief of
staff was gone the President addressed Kennedy and Flood.
"I'm sorry about
that. Politics comes first for Valerie. She can't help it."
Flood shook his
oversize head and grumbled something. Kennedy watched the general
with pursed lips and then added, "No need to apologize, sir. You
need people who will watch out for the political
ramifications."
"That's true," agreed
the President, "but that doesn't mean we have to check our morals
at the door." Hayes's face twisted into a disapproving frown.
"Valerie's tendency
is to try to control everything. She doesn't understand that the
American people will cut you a lot of slack as long as you're up
front with them and they know you had the right intentions. In this
situation it's pretty cut and dried."
Hayes laid his hands
flat on his desk and moved several pieces of paper around while he
pondered precisely how to proceed.
"I want to do the
right thing here. I want to be up front on this, and I want to move
very quickly. I don't want some hotshot reporter breaking this
before we get out in front of it, otherwise I'm afraid Valerie will
be proven right and I'll be crucified on the Hill."
"If I may, sir?"
asked Kennedy. The President nodded and she said, "You might not
want to wait for tonight. The general and I could begin briefing
select members of the various committees this afternoon.
Then when you meet
with them tonight, you can give them the entire story. I would
caution you, though, that we need to keep General Moro and his
involvement out of this."
The President's
expression went from keen to confused.
"Why?"
Kennedy hesitated and
then said, "Mitch has come up with a solution for dealing with the
general. If you have time, I think we should get him back in here
so he can explain it to you."
The President eyed
the director of the CIA with great curiosity.
Since diplomacy was
far from Mitch Rapp's area of expertise, the President was very
curious about what his top counterterrorism operative had in the
works. Two navy SEALs were dead, a family of Americans were still
held hostage and his presidency was on the brink of scandal.
Right now, the idea
of retribution seemed very appealing.