SEVENTY.
Kennedy looked at the
fax and like Dumond before her, she tried to calculate the odds of
another Peter Joussard receiving one million dollars from one of
Prince Omar's private Swiss bank accounts. It was Kennedy's nature
to be suspicious, and thus she was inclined to lean away from
coincidence and toward conspiracy.
When she discovered
that half of the money had been deposited in the Caribbean account
the same day the Palestinian Ambassador to the UN was killed, she
all but ruled out coincidence.
Standing near the
Duty Desk of the Situation Room, Kennedy looked up from the fax and
asked, "Are we doing anything else to confirm that this account
belongs to Ambassador Joussard?"
"Marcus is looking
into his personal finances right now," answered Rapp.
Kennedy accepted the
answer with a pensive nod and fought the urge to race into the
conference room and tell the President.
"And this John
Doe"-Kennedy held up the photo taken from one of the surveillance
cameras at Union Station-"anything else on him?"
Rapp shook his head
in frustration.
"All right. Let's go
tell the President."
Rapp reached out and
grabbed her by the arm.
"Hold on a
second."
He didn't like the
idea of just dumping this stuff on the President without a game
plan. Rapp knew what the President's reaction would be. He'd want
to get the FBI and every other law enforcement agency involved and
in the process they'd stir up so much shit, and cause so much
unneeded confusion, this guy they were looking for would disappear.
Rapp had an idea for a gambit that would allow them to see things
as they really were.
After making sure no
one could hear them, Rapp drew close to his boss and said, "This is
what we should do."
Kennedy entered the
conference room first and announced to the various staffers who
were present, "Principles only, please."
This was code for
telling everyone who wasn't at least a cabinet member that
something of a very delicate nature was about to be
discussed.
The handful of aides
that were present immediately exited the room, leaving the
Secretary of State, the national security advisor, the chief of
staff, the President and Rapp and Kennedy. Neither Kennedy nor Rapp
bothered to sit.
Kennedy spoke
directly to the President.
"Sir, we have a
couple of very interesting developments." Kennedy set
the first piece of
paper down.
"This shot was taken
from a surveillance camera at Penn Station in New York City the
night that Ambassador Ali was assassinated and this shot"-Kennedy
set down a second piece of paper-"was taken at Union Station
approximately three hours later. The experts at Langley say this
man is the same individual the British photographed meeting with
Prince Omar. The same man who was picked up on surveillance cameras
at JFK on Sunday."
Hayes stared at the
two photographs for a few seconds and said, "So
if I'm hearing you
right this man is in D.C."
"That photo is from
early Tuesday morning, so we can't be sure he's still in town,
but-" "But we think he probably is," replied Hayes.
"Yes, sir."
"And are we thinking
he might have had something to do with the explosion this
morning?"
"As of right now, I
would say yes."
"Do we have any idea
who this guy is?"
Kennedy
hesitated.
"I'm afraid not,
sir."
The President's jaw
clenched in frustration.
"What are we doing to
catch him?"
"We've checked all of
our databases on known or suspected terrorists, as well as
everything the Brits have and Interpol. For reasons that are
obvious we have yet to check with either the French or the
Israelis."
"And we've come up
blank," stated Hayes flatly.
"Yes, sir." Kennedy
made no attempt to soften the truth.
Hayes looked away
from Kennedy to his other advisors and asked, "Well then, what in
the hell are we going to do?"
The national security
advisor spoke first.
"I think it's time we
bring the FBI in on this thing. And if we think this guy is still
in the country we should alert all local, state and federal law
enforcement officers.
We have to cast a big
net and hope we catch him."
"Sir," said Rapp a
bit too forcefully, "I think that's a bad idea."
Everyone in the room
looked to Rapp. Even the unflappable Kennedy, who knew what they
were up to, was a bit caught off guard.
Rapp glanced at
Kennedy and said, "Show him the fax."
Kennedy set the last
piece of paper down in front of Hayes and explained its
significance.
Hayes studied the
document and asked, "What are you trying to tell me?"
Rapp answered before
Kennedy had the chance.
"I think it's pretty
obvious, sir. Ambassador Joussard was bought."
Hayes frowned.
"Do we even know for
sure if this account belongs to the Ambassador?"
"We're working to
confirm it, sir, but it's a pretty big coincidence."
Sitting to the
President's right Secretary of State Berg was replaying in her mind
a conversation she had had with her French counterpart.
In an effort to get
France to delay the vote, Berg had pleaded with the minister of
foreign affairs to reconsider. As the conversation played out the
minister had admitted something that was a bit unusual.
Berg decided it was
time to share her thoughts.
"Excuse me, Mr.
President, but I'm inclined to agree with Mr. Rapp."
Surprised by his
Secretary of State's position, the President asked incredulously,
"Why?"
"When I attempted to
get the French to ease off of their position yesterday, the
minister of foreign affairs admitted to me that even he was a bit
caught off guard by what was going on in the UN. When I pressed
him, all he would say was that Ambassador Joussard had acted
without his approval. His excuse for this was that Joussard was a
very eager politician and a close friend of the President. In
addition to that, pushing for Palestinian statehood was nothing
new. The entire country of France overwhelmingly supports the
idea."
Hayes stabbed the fax
with his index finger.
"I need this
verified, and I need it done fast. If we're going to get the vote
delayed it will take some time."
Kennedy said, "We've
got our best people on it."
"Now tell me why
this"-Hayes waved the fax in the air- "should change my mind about
alerting the FBI to this mystery man who seems to be in all the
right places at the wrong time."
"Because once we do
that, sir, he'll know we're on to him."
Hayes let out a heavy
sigh.
"I don't see how we
can possibly keep this from the FBI."
"I agree." Always the
political oracle, Jones looked to her boss and added, "There will
be a congressional investigation into this and if" -she stopped and
corrected herself-"when they find out you willingly withheld
information from the FBI
" She didn't bother to finish the
sentence. The painful expression on her face said it all.
Kennedy had coached
Rapp that this would be the most influential argument for alerting
the FBI. She'd also told him that it would come from Jones.
Ignoring the chief of staff, Rapp focused on the President and
said, "Sir, all I want is twenty-four hours." He spoke in a
confident tone.
"Give me a day, and
I'll find out who this guy is and what he's up to."
The President
believed him, but unfortunately they didn't have the luxury of a
day to figure out what was going on.
"We're out of time,
Mitch. The UN is going to vote this afternoon. I'm sorry, but we're
going to have to bring in the FBI."
Rapp had him right
where he wanted him.
"What if I can get
the UN to delay the vote for a day?"
Hayes was cautiously
intrigued.
"How?"