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“It’s my back, sir. If I sit down, I might not be able to get up.”
“Oh I see. By all means … stand if it feels better.” Hayes took his usual chair in front of the fireplace. “Well,” said the president, “at eleven o’clock the secretary of state and the attorney general are going to hold a joint press conference announcing the prosecution of Assistant Secretary of State Petry and Ambassador Cox.”
Rapp was shocked. He’d figured the president would string him along for another few weeks, and then let the issue die down. “That’s good news, sir.”
Hayes looked up at Rapp, who was st
anding behind the couch on his right. “I’m told Mr. McMahon has Ambassador Cox in custody, and is on his way back?”
Rapp nodded. “That’s right. The embassy staff was told the ambassador had to rush home for a family emergency.”
“Good. The National Security Council is meeting next door as we speak. If you’re still up for it I’ve arranged for you to be present when Assistant Secretary Petry is arrested.”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
Hayes nodded and then turned to Kennedy. “Now on to an issue that isn’t so good … What in the hell is going on in Israel?”
“I’m working on that, sir.” The director of the CIA retrieved a file from her briefcase and pulled out a single sheet of paper. She handed it to the president and said, “That is a list of the terrorists who were killed in the attack.”
Hayes put on his reading glasses and scanned the names. “Holy cow! Is this for real?”
“As far as I can tell, yes, but the CTC is working to verify the names through other sources.”
President Hayes stood to reread the list for a second time. “What’s the death count?”
“Again, the CTC is trying to verify the number, but right now the Palestinians are saying over one hundred people were killed.”
“Is that possible?” asked a skeptical Hayes.
Kennedy hesitated and then said, “Yes.”
“But I thought they always exaggerated those numbers.”
“They might not have to this time.”
Hayes kept studying the list, even though he was thinking about something else. “Of those hundred people, how many were terrorists?”
“Right now we’re guessing anywhere from twenty to forty, but I stress that is only a guess.”
“And the whole bomb factory story that the Israeli’s have been putting out?”
Kennedy shook her head. “It doesn’t hold up. We have satellite imagery and radio intercepts of the attack. There was an initial explosion that we haven’t been able to pinpoint. That blast destroyed the house where we think the meeting was taking place, and then there were a series of explosions that followed.”
“Where did those come from?” asked the president.
Kennedy hesitated for a second, knowing the president would not like the answer. “They appear to have come from helicopter-launched missiles.”
“Appear to have?” Hayes wanted a more precise answer.
“The imagery people are saying they were Hellfire missiles launched from Apaches.”
“Back up a minute,” ordered the president. “Freidman told you that his people found out about this meeting and fired two missiles into the target area that ignited a secondary explosion that leveled the entire block. Correct?”
“That’s what he told me, sir.”
“And now you’re telling me,” said Hayes with a frown creasing his brow, “there was an initial explosion that we have not been able to identify, that was followed by a series of explosions that were caused by Hellfire missiles.”
“Yes.”
