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“Yes,” replied Stansfield. “We felt so, sir.”
“Well, get him on the phone so I can give him irrefutable information that he’s an idiot.”
Now came the time for Stansfield’s calm vision. His ability to slow things down when they seemed to be speeding up for everybody else had been one of his greatest assets over the years—that and his ability to approach a situation like a grand master and plot his moves far in advance. Stansfield was pretty confident where this entire situation was headed, and for now he knew it was best to keep the knowledge of their contact with the president to a bare minimum.
In regard to putting the president in touch with his next in command, Stansfield said, “I would advise against that right now, sir.”
“Why?”
“We have suffered several leaks from the vice president’s camp thus far.” Stansfield paused, giving the president time to digest the innuendo. “We know that Aziz is monitoring the news, and I would not want it to leak out that we are in contact with you. We need to let Aziz continue to think that he has the upper hand. General Flood and General Campbell are in the process of putting the final touches on an assault plan. As soon as they are ready, and you give the order, we can end this.”
Hayes thought about the decision. His mind was made up almost instantaneously, and then he paused, wondering why Baxter hadn’t given the approval. Turning his back to the group of agents and his chief of staff, he asked, “Why hasn’t the vice president given this order?”
“I’m not sure, sir. I have some ideas, but I don’t think you’re going to like them.”
“Try me.”
“I think it would be best if waited to discuss them face to face.”
Hayes nodded. “All right.” Then moving on to practical matters, he said, “I’m assuming that the powers of my office have been transferred to the vice president.”
“That’s correct, sir.”
“Well, if I remember my Constitution correctly, we have some procedural issues to take care of.”
“Such as?”
“We need to inform both the president pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House that I am able to resume my duties. Technically, unless we do that, the transfer of power is not complete.”
Stansfield exhaled an uncharacteristic sigh. To someone who had spent years trying to skirt, bend, and sometimes break laws, this technicality seemed to be utterly trivial. He reminded himself that President Hayes was both a lawyer and an amateur presidential historian. Stifling the temptation to tell Hayes that it was a waste of time to discuss such a point, Stansfield instead said, “Sir, you are the president. The powers of your office were transferred to the vice president for the sole reason that we could not communicate with you. That is no longer the case. General Flood and I are going to take our orders from you. If you feel that it is absolutely imperative to inform the vice president and the Speaker of the House that you are once again able to discharge your duties, we can do that in the minutes just prior to the raid.”
Hayes thought about it. Always a stickler for detail, he wanted to make sure everything would be legitimate. “That sounds fine to me. I just want to make sure those calls are made.”
“We can do that, sir.”
Hayes turned and looked at the bunker door, the humming sound of intruders just on the other side. “Thomas, what are we to do if they breach the door before the strike teams are ready?”
Stansfield paused for a moment and looked at Kennedy. Kennedy was listening in on the call, and she pointed to herself. Stansfield nodded for her to go ahead.
“Mr. President, it’s Dr. Kennedy again. We are monitoring your situation and have both audio and video surveillance of the bunker door. Iron Man is very close by. If it appears that they are about to get the bunker door open, we can order him to prevent that. In addition, the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team is deployed across the street at the Executive Office Building. They have a pretty good idea of where the hostages are being held and”—Kennedy sounded less than enthusiastic—“if we really need to rush it, they can be inside the West Wing within thirty seconds of the execute order.”
Hayes picked up on Kennedy’s tone and said, “I get the feeling you have some reservations, Doctor.”
“Aziz brought a lot of explosives with him, and he has threatened to bring the whole building down if there is any rescue attempt.”
Hayes thought about this new, disturbing piece of information. “Any chance he’s bluffing?”
“None at all, sir.”
“Can we handle this?”
Kennedy looked up at her boss and General Flood. “We’re working on it, sir.”
THE SUN WAS falling in the western sky, and from the east a solid wall of gray was approaching. Salim Rusan stood near the tailgate of his ambulance and looked in both directions. A deeply superstitious man, he did not like the foreboding change in the weather. One of the other ambulance drivers had stopped by and introduced himself, and as luck would have it, the man was gay. Instead of the disguise working as a repellent, it had done the opposite.
After several moments of idle chitchat, Rusan made up the excuse that he needed to run and make a phone call. When the other ambulance driver offered his cell phone, Rusan declined and stated that in addition to having to call his boyfriend, he also had to use the bathroom.
He turned and started walking to the east down Pennsylvania Avenue. Just a dozen paces later he approached two D.C. cops manning the barricade at Fourteenth Street.
