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"He shut me out completely," said Mercier, his expression sheepish. "He never offered the slightest clue of what was on his mind."
"Surely Jesse Simmons and General Metcalf weren't a party to it," Oates wondered aloud.
Brogan shook his head. "My Pentagon sources say Jesse Simmons flatly refused."
"Why didn't he warn us?" asked Emmett.
"After Simmons told the President in no uncertain terms that he was off base, the roof fell in. A military security g
uard detail escorted him home, where he was placed under house arrest."
"Jesus," muttered Oates in exasperation. "It gets worse by the minute."
"What about General Metcalf?" asked Mercier.
"I'm sure he voiced his objections," Brogan answered. "But Clayton Metcalf is a spit-and-polish soldier who's duty-bound to carry out the orders of his commander in chief. He and the President are old, close friends. Metcalf undoubtedly feels his loyalty is to the man who appointed him to be Chief of Staff, and not Congress."
Oates's fingers swept an imaginary dust speck off the desktop.
"The President disappears for ten days and after his return falls off the deep end."
"Huckleberry Finn," Brogan said slowly.
"Judging from the President's behavioral patterns over the past twenty-four hours," Mercier said thoughtfully, "the evidence looks pretty conclusive."
"Has Dr. Lugovoy surfaced yet?" Oates asked.
Emmett shook his head. "He's still missing."
"We've obtained reports from our people inside Russia on the doctor," Brogan elucinated. "His specialty for the last fifteen years has been mind transfer. Soviet intelligence ministries have provided enormous funding for the research. Hundreds of Jews and other dissidents who vanished inside KGB-operated mental institutions were his guinea pigs. And he claims to have made a breakthrough in thought interpretation and control."
"Do we have such a project in progress?" Oates inquired.
Brogan nodded. "Ours is code-named 'Fathom,' which is working along the same lines."
Oates held his head in his hands for a moment, then turned to Emmett. "You still haven't a lead on Vince Margolin, Larimer and Moran?"
Emmett looked embarrassed. "I regret to say their whereabouts is still unknown."
"Do you think Lugovoy has performed the mind-transfer experiment on them too?"
"I don't believe so," Emmett answered. "If I were in the Russians' shoes, I'd keep them in reserve in the event the President doesn't respond to instructions as programmed."
"His mind could slip out of their grasp and react unpredictably," Brogan anded. "Fooling around with the brain is not an exact science.
There's no way of telling what he'll do next."
"Congress isn't waiting to find out," said Mercier. "They're out hustling for a place to convene so they can start impeachment proceedings."
"The President knows that, and he isn't stupid," Oates responded.
"Every time the House and Senate members gather for a session, he'll send in troops to break it up. With the armed forces behind him, it's a no-win situation."
"Considering the President is literally being told what to do by an unfriendly foreign power, Metcalf and the other joint Chiefs can't continue giving him their support," said Mercier.
"Metcalf refuses to act until we produce absolute proof of mind control," Emmett anded. "But I suspect he's only waiting for a ripe excuse to throw his lot in with Congress."
Brogan looked concerned. "Let's hope he doesn't make his move too late."
