Greenwald tensed. Any Secret Service communication opening with the word "greetings" meant the beginning of an urgent, top-secret report on a critical or grave situation. The sentence that followed was meaningless; a caution in case the telephone line might not be secure-a real possibility, since the Kissinger State Department had allowed the Russians to build their new embassy on a rise overlooking the city, vastly increasing their telephone eavesdropping capacity.
"Okay," Greenwald said, trying to sound conversational. "Who won?"
"You lost your bet."
"Bet" was another key word indicating that the next statement was coming in coded double-talk.
"Jasper College, one," Lucas continued, "Drink water Tech, nothing.
Three of the jasper players were sidelined for injuries."
The dire news exploded in Greenwald's ears. Jasper College was the code for a presidential abduction. The reference to the sidelined players meant the next three men in succession were taken too. It was a code that in Greenwald's wildest dreams he never thought he would hear.
"There's no mistake?" He asked, dreading the answer.
"None," replied Lucas, his tone like the thin edge of broken glass.
"Who else in the office pool knows the score?"
"Only Blackowl, McGrath and myself."
"Keep it that way."
"To be on the safe side," said Lucas, "I initiated an immediate assessment of the second-string players and future rookies."
Greenwald instantly picked up on Lucas' drift. The wives and children of the missing parties were being located and protected, along with the men next in line for the Presidency.
He took a deep breath and quickly arranged his thoughts. Speed was essential. Even now, if the Soviets were behind the President's kidnapping to gain an edge for a pre-emptive nuclear strike, it was too late. On the other hand, with the top government effectively removed, it hinted at a plot to overthrow the government.
There was no time left to be shackled by security. "Amen," said Greenwald, signaling Lucas that he was dropping the doable-talk.
"Understood."
A sudden terrifying thought swept Greenwald's mind. "The bag man?" He asked nervously.
"Gone with the rest."
Oh, dear God, Greenwald agonized to himself silently. Disaster was piling on top of disaster. "Bag man" was the irreverent nickname for the field-grade officer at the President's side day and night who carried the briefcase containing codes called release messages that could unleash the nation's 10,000 strategic nuclear warheads on pre-selected targets inside Soviet Russia. The consequences of the ultra secret codes falling into alien hands were beyond any conceivable horror.
"Alert the Chairman of the joint Chiefs of Staff," he ordered.
"Then send a detail to pick up the Secretaries of State and Defense, also the National Security Adviser, and rush them to the White House Situation Room."
"Anyone on the presidential staff?"
"Okay, bring in Dan Fawcett. But for now let's keep it a closed club. The fewer who know the 'Man' is missing until we can sort things out, the better."
"In that case," Lucas said, "it might be wise to hold the meeting someplace besides the Situation Room. The press constantly monitors the White House. They'd be on us like locusts if the heads of state suddenly converged there at this time of morning.
Sound thinking," Greenwald replied. He paused a moment, then said, "Make it the Observatory."
"The Vice President's residence?"
"Press cars are almost never in evidence there."
"I'll have everyone on the premises as soon as possible."
"Oscar?"
"Yes."
"Very briefly, what happened?"
There was a slight hesitation and then Lucas said, "They all vanished from the presidential yacht."
"I see," said Greenwald heavily, but it was clear he didn't.
Greenwald wasted no more time on talk. He hung up and hurriedly dressed. On the drive to the Observatory his stomach twisted into knots, a delayed reaction to the catastrophic news. His vision blurred and he fought off an overwhelming urge to vomit.
He drove in a mental haze through the deserted streets of the capital. Except for an occasional delivery truck, traffic was nearly nonexistent and most of the traffic signals were simply blinking on a cautious yellow.
Too late he saw a city street sweeper make a sudden U-turn from the right-hand gutter. His windshield was abruptly filled with the bulky white-painted vehicle. In the cab the driver jumped sideways at the protesting scream of tires, his eyes wine in the glare of Greenwald's headlights.
There was a metal-tearing crunch and the splash of flying glass.
The hood bent double, flew up, and the steering wheel rammed into Greenwald's chest, crushing his rib cage.
Greenwald sat pinned to the seat as the water from the mangled radiator hissed and steamed over the car's engine. His eyes were open as though staring in vague indifference at the abstract cracks on the shattered windshield.
Oscar Lucas stood in front of the corner fireplace in the living room of the Vice President's mansion and described the presidential kidnapping. Every few seconds he glanced nervously at his watch, wondering what was keeping Greenwald. The five Men seated around the room listened to him in undisguised astonishment.
Secretary of Defense Jesse Simmons clamped his teeth on the stem of an unlit meerschaum pipe. He was dressed casually in a summer sport coat and slacks, as was Dan Fawcett and National Security Adviser Alan Mercier. Army General Clayton Metcalf was in uniform, while Douglas Oates, the Secretary of State, sat fastidiously groomed in a dark suit and necktie.
Lucas came to the end of his briefing and waited for the barrage of questions he was certain would be fired. Instead, there was a prolonged hush. They just sat there, numb and immobile.
Oates was the first to break the stunned silence. "Good Lord!" he gasped. "How could such a thing happen? How could everyone on the yacht simply evaporate into thin air?"
"We don't know," Lucas answered helplessly. "I haven't ordered an investigating team to the site yet for obvious security reasons.
Ben Greenwald slammed a lid on the affair until you gentlemen could be informed. Outside this room, only three Secret Service personnel, including Greenwald, are privy to the facts."
"There has to be a logical explanation," said Mercier. The President adviser on national security rose to his feet and paced the room. "Twenty people were not whisked away by supernatural powers or aliens from outer space. If, and I make that a questionable if, the President and the others are indeed missing from the Eagle, it has to be a highly organized conspiracy."
"I assure you, sir," said Lucas, staring directly into Mercier's eyes, "my deputy agent found the boat totally deserted."
"You say the fog was thick," Mercier continued.
"That's how Agent Blackowl described it."
"Could they have somehow penetrated your security network and driven away?"
Lucas shook his head. "Even if they managed to elude my security detail in the fog, their movement would have been detected by the sensitive alarm systems we installed around the estate."
"That leaves the river," observed Jesse Simmons. The Secretary of Defense was a taciturn man, given to telegram like statements. A leathery tan face was evidence of his weekends as an avid water skier.
"Suppose the Eagle was boarded from the water? Suppose they were forcibly removed to another boat?"
Oates gave Simmons a dubious stare. "You make it sound as if Blackbeard the Pirate was responsible."
"Agents were patrolling the dock and riverbank," Lucas explained.
"No way passengers and crew could be subdued and carried off without a sound."
"Maybe they were drugged," suggested Dan Fawcett.
"A possibility," admitted Lucas.
"Let's look at this head-on," said Oates. "Rather than speculate on how the abduction occurred, I think we must concentrate on the reason
and the force responsible before we can plan a response."
"I agree," said Simmons. He turned to Metcalf. "General, any evidence the Russians are behind this as a time cushion to launch a first strike?"
"If that was the case," answered Metcalf, "their strategic rocket forces would have taken us out an hour ago."
"They still might."
Metcalf gave a slight negative tilt to his head. "Nothing indicates they're in a state of readiness, Our Kremlin intelligence sources report no signs of increased activity in or around the eighty underground command posts in Moscow, and our satellite surveillance shows no troop buildup along the Eastern bloc border.
Also, President Antonov is on a state visit to Paris."
"So much for World War Three," said Mercier with a look of relief.
"We're not out of shallow water yet," Fawcett said. "The officer carrying the codes designating nuclear strike sites is also gone."
"Not to worry on that score," said Metcalf, smiling for the first time. "As soon as Lucas here alerted me to the situation, I ordered the alphabetical code words changed."
"What's to stop whoever has them from using the old code words to break the new ones?"
"For what purpose?"
"Blackmail, or maybe an insane attempt to bit the Russians first."
"Can't be done," Metcalf replied simply. "There are too many built-in safeguards. Why hell, even the President couldn't launch our nuclear arsenal on his own, in a fit of madness. The order to start a war has to be transmitted through Secretary of Defense Simmons and the joint Chiefs. If any of us knew for certain the order was invalid, we could countermand it."
"All right," said Simmons, "we temporarily shelve a Soviet conspiracy or an act of war. What are we left with?"
"Damned little," grunted Mercier.
Metcalf looked squarely at Oates. "As things stand, Mr. Secretary, you are the constitutionally designated successor."
"He's right," said Simmons. "Until the President, Margolin, Larimer and Moran are found alive, you're the acting President."
For several seconds there was no sound in the library. Oates's flamboyant and forceful facial exterior cracked ever so slightly, and he seemed to suddenly age five years. Then, just as suddenly, he regained control and his eyes took on a cold, visceral expression.
"The first thing we must do," he said in a level tone, "is to act as though nothing has happened."
Mercier tilted back and gazed unseeing at the high ceiling.
"Granted we can't hold a press conference and announce to the world we've misplaced the nation's four ranking leaders. I don't care to think about the repercussions when the word leaks out. But we can't hide the facts from the press for more than a few hours."
"And we have to consider the likelihood the people responsible for the kidnapping will give us an ultimatum or make a ransom demand through the news media," Simmons added.
Metcalf looked doubtful. "My guess is that when contact is made it will come without a trumpet blast to Secretary Oates, and any demand will be for something besides money."
"I can't fault your thinking, General," said Oates. "But our top priority is still to conceal the facts and stall for as long as it takes to find the President."
Mercier had the look of an atheist buttonholed by a Hare Krishna at an airport. "Lincoln said it: 'you can't fool all the people all the time." It won't be easy keeping the President and Vice President out of the public eye for more than a day, at most. And you can't simply erase Larimer and Moran; they're too highly visible around Washington. Then there is the Eagle's crew to consider. What do you tell their families?"
"Jack Sutton!" Fawcett blurted as though he was having a revelation.
"Who?" Simmons demanded.
"The actor, the spitting image of the President who plays him in TV commercials and on comedy shows."
Oates sat up. "I think I see your point. The resemblance is remarkable, but we'd never get away with it, not on a face-to-face basis. Sutton's voice is a far from perfect imitation, and anyone who is in close daily contact with the President would see through the deception."
"Yes, but from thirty feet his own wife couldn't tell the difference."
"Where is this leading?" Metcalf asked Fawcett.
The White House Chief of Staff took his cue. "Press Secretary Thompson can hand out a press release saying the President is taking a working vacation on his New Mexico farm to study congressional reaction to his Eastern aid program. The White House press corps will be kept on the sidelines-a situation that's not uncommon when the President isn't in the mood to answer questions.
All they'd see from a roped-off distance would be him-in this case, Sutton the actor-entering the helicopter for the flight to Andrews Air Force Base for departure in Air Force One. They could follow on a later plane, of course, but be denied entry onto the farm itself."
"Why not have a phony Vice President go with Sutton?" Mercier suggested.
"Both men can't fly on the same plane," Lucas reminded him.
"Okay, send him on a plane leaving at night," Mercier persisted.
"Not much news coverage is given to Margolin's movements. No one would notice a stand-in."
"Or care," added Oates, alluding to the public apathy toward vice presidents.
"I can handle the details from the White House end," offered Fawcett.
"Two down," said Simmons. "Now what about Larimer and Moran?"
"This is an odd-numbered year," Mercier said, warming up to the scheme. "Congress recesses for the entire month of August only two days away. Our one slice of luck. Why not invent a mutual fishing trip or a junket to some out-of-the-way resort?"
Simmons shook his head. "Scratch the fishing trip."
"Why?"
Simmons gave a tight smile. "Because it's known all over Capitol Hill that Moran and Larimer relate like syrup and vinegar."
"No matter. A fishing hole conference to discuss foreign relations sounds logical," said Oates. "I'll write up the memorandum from the State Department end."
"What do you tell their office staffs?"
"This is Saturday; we've got two days' grace to iron out the bugs."
Simmons began making notes on a pad. "Four down. That leaves the Eagle's crew."
"I think I can come up with a convenient cover," offered Metcalf. "I'll work through the Coast Guard Commandant. The crew's families can be told the yacht was ordered on an unscheduled cruise for a top-secret military meeting. No further details need be given."
Oates stared around the room at his companions. "If there are no further questions-"
"Who else do we let in on the hoax?" queried Fawcett.
"A poor choice of words, Dan," said Oates. "Let's call it a 'distraction."
"
"It goes without saying," said Metcalf, "that Emmett of the FBI will have to handle the domestic end of the investigation.
And, of course, Brogan of CIA must be called in to check out the international conspiracy angle."
"You've just touched on an ungodly thought, General," said Simmons.
"Sir?"
"Suppose the President and the rest have already been spirited out of the country?"
Simmons' speculation brought no immediate response. It was a grim possibility none of them had dared consider. With the President beyond reach of their vast internal resources, their investigative effectiveness would be cut by 80 percent.
"They could also be dead," Oates said in a controlled voice. "But we'll operate on the premise they're alive and held somewhere in the United States."
"Lucas and I will brief Emmett and Brogan," Fawcett volunteered.
There was a knock on the door. A Secret Service agent entered, walked over to Lucas and spoke softly in his ear. Lucas' eyebrows arched upward and he paled slightly. Then the agent retreated from the room, closing the door behind him.
Oates stared at Lucas questioningly. "A new development, Oscar?"
"Ben Greenwald," Lucas answered vacantly. "He wa
s killed thirty minutes ago. His car struck a city maintenance vehicle."
Oates wasted no words of sympathy. "With the powers temporarily vested in me, I name you as the new Director of the Secret Service."
Lucas visibly recoiled. "No, please, I don't think I can-"
"Doesn't make sense to select somebody else," Oates interrupted him.
"Like it or not, Oscar, you're the only man who can be named for the job."