SIXTY.

    President Hayes sat behind his desk with a phone to his ear while his national security team sat on the couches and waited for him to join them. Kennedy was sitting next to Valerie Jones pretending to read a file. In truth she was listening to what the President was saying, or more accurately what he wasn't saying. The senior senator from New York, a state the President had barely carried, had called to advise him not to come down too hard on the Israelis for their incursion into Hebron.

    Hayes didn't even want to take the call, but Jones had practically demanded it. When he was up for reelection they would need New York. This was not the first call placed to the White House this morning on behalf of Israel. The powerful Jewish lobby was in crisis mode trying to avert a potentially disastrous vote that was to take place at the UN later today. Every member of the National Security Team had fielded at least two calls from influential power brokers pleading the Israelis' case. Secretary of State Berg had been solicited the hardest, followed by Chief of Staff Jones and then Secretary of Defense Culbertson. Even Kennedy and General Flood had been hit up.

    "I'll take it all under advisement," said the President as he looked at nothing in particular. Hayes listened for a few seconds and then said firmly, "I fully understand the gravity of the situation, Senator. Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do." Hayes slammed the phone down in its cradle and shot Valerie Jones an extremely unhappy look.

    Getting up from behind his desk he kept his eyes on his chief of staff and said, "That's the last one I'm taking. These people are more concerned about Israel than their own country."

    "What did he say?" asked Jones.

    "Pretty much that if I want to win New York next time around I'd better make sure this French resolution doesn't make it out of the Security Council." Hayes chose to stand rather than sit.

    "And if things weren't already bad enough, they went and sent tanks into Hebron.

    American-made tanks, I might add."

    "Sir," started Jones, "I think we need to focus our efforts on getting the vote delayed."

    Hayes ran a hand through his hair and then grabbed the back of his neck.

    "Bea?" He looked to his Secretary of State for an answer.

    "From what I'm hearing the French are hell-bent on putting this to a vote now. Especially since the tanks rolled in last night."

    "Let's not forget about the suicide bombs," interjected Secretary of Defense Culbertson.

    "That's how this all got started. Israel has a right to defend herself and if the Palestinians are going to locate their bomb factories in residential neighborhoods, then no one should feel too bad for them when one of them blows up."

    The Secretary of State ignored her colleague and said, "Mr. President, I would never argue that Israel doesn't have the right to defend itself, but the reality is that the UN is fed up with this never-ending cycle of violence, and the assassination of one of their own has galvanized the entire assembly like nothing I've ever seen before."

    Culbertson moved to the edge of the couch.

    "But there's no proof Israel had anything to do with the Ambassador's death. In fact, it's preposterous to think they'd do such a thing."

    The President turned his gaze on Kennedy. Now was the time to let the rest of the team in on what only a few knew.

    "Irene."

    Kennedy closed the folder on her lap and looked at the secretaries of state and defense and General Flood. The President had been very specific about what he wanted her to say, or more precisely, what he didn't want her to say. There was to be no mention of the mysterious man who had met with Prince Omar. The Brits had quite an extensive file on the brother of the Crown Prince. While they felt that he was somewhat business savvy, or at least wise enough to surround himself with people who made good decisions, the Brits also felt that Omar was a bit dense. Their initial opinion was that they doubted Omar could be involved in something as complicated as the assassination of a UN Ambassador. So for now, Kennedy was sticking with what they knew to be fact.

    In a voice barely above a whisper she said, "There was no bomb factory in Hebron."

    Secretary Berg stared at Kennedy.

    "Did the Israelis admit to this?"

    "No. In fact they are standing by their story."

    Culbertson asked suspiciously, "Then how do we know there was no factory?"

    "We had satellite coverage of the attack. There were no secondary explosions."

    "Then where did all the damage come from?" asked Berg.

    "Sixteen Hellfire missiles fired by Apache helicopters."

    "American-made Hellfire missiles," added the President, "fired by American-made Apache helicopters."

    Secretary of State Berg made the connection first.

    "That's why they went back into Hebron last night. They wanted to clean up the mess."

    "Or," said Kennedy, "knowing Ben Freidman, they'll plant the evidence to make it look like they were telling the truth the whole time and the Palestinians were lying."

    "Or," contradicted Culbertson, "they simply went back into Hebron to clean out these martyr brigades."

    "I'm sure it's a bit of both," agreed Kennedy, "but right now I'm inclined to believe one is a pretense for the other."

    "The reality," said the President, taking control of the discussion, "is that we have an ally who is not being truthful with us."

    "What is Freidman saying about the Ambassador's assassination?"

    asked Berg.

    Kennedy looked at the keen Secretary of State. Berg was well aware of Israel's official denial of any involvement in Ambassador Ali's death.

    Her question by itself showed that she believed Mossad capable of conducting a brutal version of their own foreign policy.

    "The director general is denying any involvement."

    Culbertson grimaced.

    "Just because they lied about the bomb factory doesn't mean they had anything to do with the Palestinian Ambassador's assassination."

    "I'm not so sure," replied Hayes.

    "At a bare minimum, however, it proves that we can't take them at their word."

    Culbertson turned to Kennedy and skeptically asked, "You don't really think they would have done something so brazen, do you?"

    Kennedy took a moment to compose her thoughts.

    "I don't see the benefit of such an action… at least not here on American soil, but then again I don't have all the facts. For all I know this could be the start of an all-out offensive on Israel's part to clean out the West Bank once and for all."

    "Why kill the Ambassador then?" asked Berg.

    "All they've managed to do is galvanize the UN."

    Until this moment, for several reasons, Kennedy had restrained herself from voicing her next comment. First and foremost was that she didn't want to believe Israel could be so reckless, but her strained relationship with Freidman and the assault of the suicide bombers on the Israeli psyche led her closer to the conclusion that they were indeed capable of such a brutal move.

    "There is a school of thought"-Kennedy couched her words carefully-"that Israel no longer cares what the UN thinks."

    The President had not heard this before and asked, "How so?"

    "To be sure, there are elements within Israel that believe engagement is the only way to lasting peace and security, but there is a growing lobby that thinks every time Israel trusts her concerns and security to another country or organization, she gets burned."

    Secretary of State Berg concurred.

    "They see the UN at a bare minimum as being unsympathetic and at worst, as blatantly anti-Semitic."

    Kennedy agreed.

    "So by killing the Palestinian Ambassador in New York, they're telling the UN what they really think of them, while at the same time sending a message to the Palestinians that they can be every bit as brutal as they are."

    Culbertson started to see their point.

    "UN resolutions go un-enforced all the time, so why bother trying to appease them."

    "Exactly," replied Berg.