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“Sir,” she cautioned, “you know the Palestinians always inflate those numbers.”
Hayes gripped a black bar with one hand and with the other he lowered the speed of the machine. “Have you seen the footage?” he asked a little less confrontationally.
“Yes.”
“And you don’t think it looks bad?”
“Yes, it does, sir, but let me get some more information before we jump to any conclusions.”
Hayes nodded and began to breathe a little easier. Realizing he’d been a little hard on one of his most trusted advisors he asked, “So, did you have a good time last night?”
“Yes, I did. It was a very nice party, sir.”
“Good.” He mopped his brow again and asked, “What’s happening over in the Philippines?”
Kennedy forced a smile and adjusted her glasses. “I have good news. The Anderson family is safely onboard the Belleau Wood as are all military personnel who participated in the operation.”
As if someone had delivered an unexpected gift, a mix of joy and confusion spread across the president’s face. He glanced at the clock on the wall and said, “I thought the rescue wasn’t set to take place for another hour or two.”
“Well, there were some developments during the evening, sir, that caused us to move up our timetable.” Fortunately, Kennedy knew the president was a man who never punished success. Like most good chief executives he delegated authority and wanted results.
“A tropical storm blew in,” she continued to explain, “threatening to ground our aircraft. At the same time, the rain provided the cover needed to sneak our ground forces into position earlier than we had anticipated. Not wanting to lose the opportunity we gave the green light and it went off without a hitch.” Kennedy was tempted to mention that Rapp had been shot, but for now she wanted to keep that little nugget of information to herself.
The president’s face lit up. “That’s great! When will they be arriving stateside?” The politician in him was already looking forward to greeting the family.
“They have to wait for the storm to break and then they’ll start back. They could be here as early as tomorrow or Monday.”
“And how are they doing?”
“Fairly well,” answered Kennedy. “A little malnourished and covered with insect bites, but otherwise stable.”
The president stopped the machine and climbed off. He moved over to a treadmill and climbed on. “How are they psychologically?” Hayes pressed several buttons and the tread started moving.
Kennedy could only guess at the horrors they had suffered. From her intelligence reports on other kidnappings, Abu Sayyaf and MILF were fairly humane in the sense that they seemed to avoid rape and torture, especially of Americans. But still, being held captive thousands of miles from home in extremely primitive conditions would have taken its toll.
“I’m not sure, sir. For now I bet they’re just happy to be free.”
“Yeah, I suppose.” The belt picked up speed and the president began walking faster. He pumped his arms and said, “Do me a favor and brief Valerie on this.” The president glanced at the wall clock. “She’s usually in by eight on Saturdays.”
The president needed his chief of staff. Kennedy understood better than most how Washington worked. Political effectiveness rose and fell with the tide of positive or negative media attention. This was too good of a story not to manage properly. Kennedy would brief Valerie Jones and then Jones in turn would mobilize the formidable White House communications and press people. They would prod and squeeze this story into a five-point jump in the polls.
“Anything else, sir?”
The president hesitated and then sighed. “I suppose we should have the NSC meet for a full briefing.”
Kennedy nodded. If the president hadn’t suggested it she would have. The various cabinet level departments needed to be brought up to speed, especially the State Department. Somebody needed to tell President Quirino in the Philippines what the United States had just done, and in light of the sensitive subject it would be wiser if that person were the secretary of state rather than the president. “What time would you like me to schedule it for?”
“Let’s say eleven o’clock downstairs … and oh … if you talk to Mitch before then, thank him for me.”
Kennedy nodded.
“He’s an amazing man.”
Kennedy did not hesitate to reply. “Yes, he is.” Any man brash enough to usurp the authority of the director of the CIA, the secretary of defense and the president all in one evening was an amazing man indeed.
42
Trust was a word that David wasn’t very fond of at the moment. Ben Freidman had broken their agreement. There could be little doubt based on the news reports that the head of
