Goldhersh glanced at his watch.
“By now, they are on a road trip.”
Sarah looked up at her husband in surprise. She spoke in a flat monotone.
“Where are they going, Abram? Tell me.”
He smiled. “The same place you are going, dear. To our nation’s capital. Just like you, they have a message to deliver. Care to guess whose message will be more persuasive?”
Sarah returned to Reuben, who was moaning, repeating her lover’s name. Goldhersh stood by her side, watching the two women, not knowing what to do. He felt badly about criticizing Levi, and angry at what he viewed as Levi’s murder.
After several minutes, Reuben lifted her head and rubbed her eyes. She looked up at Goldhersh. Her face was resolute. She shrugged Sarah’s comforting hands from her shoulders and stood up, only to pace back and forth, finally stopping in front of Goldhersh.
“Abram,” she said, her voice cold. Goldhersh didn’t know it, but this was the same voice that ordered a pilot to fly to Damascus. “We can’t let them keep killing us—there, here. Jews don’t stand meekly and let the Nazis cart us away anymore.”
“I’m glad one of you ladies agrees with me,” he replied cautiously, unsure about the sudden change in the woman, and her voice.
“You’re not entirely wrong,” Reuben said. She knew so few people who’d died in her sheltered life. Nobody had been gunned down in public. Levi’s death shocked her, shook her beliefs.
“Abram, you talk about needing a new Haganah.” Haganah was the underground Jewish military force that fought against the British occupation before Israel gained independence. “Maybe the first member of that Haganah was just murdered.”
Goldhersh beamed, looking at the two women.
“Abram, come with me,” Reuben said. “I want to show you something in your swimming pool.”
Debra Reuben and Sarah and Abram Goldhersh sat before the living room TV. Debra Reuben mumbled almost silently, speaking to herself or, perhaps, whispering to Chaim Levi’s ghost. Abram Goldhersh thought only of the object at the bottom of his swimming pool. Can it really be an atomic bomb? An atomic bomb in my swimming pool? Sarah Goldhersh said nothing, but she recognized that a speech in Washington about nonviolence was simply silly.
Television news buzzed with speculation about the announcement of the president’s surprise midnight speech on a topic of “supreme importance.” Debra, Sarah and Abram shared one thought. Can things get any worse?
Midnight. They would soon find out.
The president sat in the Oval Office, an American flag behind him. The camera opened with a tight shot on his face, then zoomed back to show his desk, a pen and two sheets of paper on it. The president gestured, and people walked in from off camera to stand behind him. They included the majority leaders of both parties, Homeland Security director Paterson, the new acting attorney general, and Gen. Cruz, chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
“My fellow Americans,” he said. “This nation is at war. Even worse, this nation has already been invaded. I appreciate how shocking that news is. For the past few weeks, I have received information that the State of Israel secretly infiltrated military forces into this country. Some of those forces were responsible for the murder of ten Coast Guard men and women in Boston, as you all know.
“We believe we hold most of that commando unit in custody. We are not certain we have captured all of them, but intense, I repeat, intense interrogations are continuing. We will learn the truth from these people. One way or another.
“Another member of the Israeli military, a man who we have identified as a Lt. Chaim Levi, was shot and killed yesterday as he attempted to flee from FBI agents who captured him.”
The president paused and looked directly into the camera as it zoomed to a close shot on his face.
“Our killing of this highly trained special forces operative should be a lesson to others who remain at large. This is a merciful nation, but mercy must be earned. To those of you who threaten America, to those of you who believe that threats, bombings, and acts of violence will force me to take actions that are not in the best interests of the majority, I repeat, the majority of American people, I give you this warning: Threaten us and we will kill you, as we killed your Lt. Levi.”
Quaid appeared surprised at the applause from the people standing behind him. He nodded his appreciation, then raised his hand to quiet them.
“Madness is not a word to apply lightly to a national government such as Israel, but madness is the only explanation for what has happened since that first bombing. Madness and treason.” Quaid reached down to the desk and picked up a pen.
“I am about to sign a law passed this afternoon by both houses of Congress. The law is virtually identical to that passed by an earlier Congress following a previous heinous attack on this nation, an attack that took place on September 11, 2001. Today’s legislation gives me the power to protect America from today’s enemies. I sign with pride.”
The president signed his name to the bottom of the sheet of paper. The people standing behind him broke into applause. He continued speaking.
“Now for the most difficult information I must give to you today. I have received reliable information that this Israeli lieutenant Levi did not act alone. I have reliable, confirmed information that this terror cell managed to smuggle into this nation a quantity of uranium-235. Uranium-235 is a man-made, extremely radioactive substance. It has only one use. The construction of atomic weapons. At this time, we do not know how much U-235 was smuggled into this country or whether that material is contained in a functioning explosive device. We know that this Lt. Levi was involved in the smuggling, that he was a member of the Israel Defense Forces, that one and possibly two other Israeli special forces teams escaped from the ships in Boston Harbor, and that the Israel Defense Forces had hundreds of nuclear weapons.
“I view this conduct as acts of war against the United States. I am appalled, and saddened, that some Americans, some very few Americans, appear to be supporting this nation’s enemies.
“As you know, the FBI rounded up thousands of those people, the Israeli refugees from the ships, and others, American citizens of the Jewish faith, others who I sadly label with the only word that appropriately describes them. That word is traitor. The FBI arrested hundreds of those traitors and they are being dealt with. Other traitors, other Jewish traitors, murdered hundreds of innocent Americans in the two recent shopping mall bombings.
“We would be foolish if we failed to learn a lesson from the conduct of those traitors, a lesson that teaches that for one minority among all Americans, their primary loyalty is not to our nation but to their co-religionists and to a foreign nation.
“I have learned that lesson. I will act on that lesson. The first action is to identify those people who are most likely to be traitors, those people we must all watch diligently, knowing they have declared war on America and, sadly, knowing they have a weapon in their hands of dreadful power. Today, Congress gave me absolute power as commander in chief to protect this nation. I intend to exercise that power.”
The president picked up the second document from his desk.
“This document is a presidential finding and declaration. I will read it to you, and then I will sign it before the entire nation. It will go into effect immediately.”