“What’s on your mind, Emily?”
“The attack on my embassy,” she said.
The president automatically sat up straighter and tightened the belt of his robe. “I’m listening.”
“The attack was planned by Abdul Kaliq, the Siraji minister of defense, and financed by the government of Siraj through a series of blind bank transactions in the Cayman Islands.”
The president felt a twinge, deep in his bowels. “You’re certain?”
“There’s no room for doubt, Frank. I’ve seen the proof.”
“Are you going to take it to the UN?”
“No,” she said. “I’m going to handle the matter myself.”
“I see,” the president said. “Do you mind if I ask how you found out who was behind the attack?”
The British prime minister paused before answering. “That’s a bit of a sticky question, I’m afraid. I must ask you to trust me when I tell you that you will be much happier if you don’t ever know the answer to that question.”
It was the president’s turn to pause. “I had a homeland security briefing yesterday evening. It seems that there was a third man involved in the attack on your embassy — a Mr. Isma’il Hamid. He was struck down by a ruptured appendix before he could carry out his part of the plan. My intelligence people tell me that Hamid disappeared from his hospital bed at Columbia Memorial just about a half-hour before the FBI showed up to take him into custody. The hospital staff is certain that Mr. Hamid was far too sick to escape under his own power. You wouldn’t have any idea where Mr. Hamid disappeared to, would you?”
Emily Irons sighed into the phone. “Frank, I’m a little deaf in my left ear, and I didn’t hear that question. But, whatever it was, both of our lives will be much less complicated if you never ask it again.”
“I see,” the president said again. He rubbed his eyes. “No, Emily, I don’t see. I’m not trying to be rude, but surely you didn’t call me just to tell me that you can’t tell me anything.”
“Friedrik Shoernberg knew about the attack on my embassy, Frank.”
“What?”
“The BND, the German Federal Intelligence Service, had advanced intelligence on Abdul Kaliq’s plan to attack my embassy. I know for a fact that Shoernberg received a detailed brief on the attack at least a week before it happened.”
Frank swallowed. “You’ll have to excuse me, Emily, but I find that a little hard to believe. I’ll grant you that Friedrik has made some pretty dicey decisions lately, but the idea that he would …”
“He knew, Frank. The bastard knew the Sirajis were planning to murder my people, and he didn’t raise a finger to stop it.”
She paused for a few seconds. When she resumed speaking, her voice had a strangely formal quality to it. “Under its current regime, the Federal Republic of Germany constitutes a clear and present danger to the security and the sovereignty of the United Kingdom. In a few hours, I intend to ask Parliament for a formal resolution authorizing war with Germany.”
The president sat in silence for nearly a minute. “Are you certain you want to do this?”
“The Germans attacked my ships, in clear violation of Article 5 of the NATO Charter,” the British prime minister said. “And under Article 5, member nations of NATO are required to take whatever action is necessary to restore the security of the North Atlantic Treaty area.” Her voice took on a hard edge. “The charter doesn’t say we’re authorized to take action, Frank. It says we are required to take action. Article 5 also requires other signatory nations to assist any NATO country that has come under attack. I’m going to take the fight to Shoernberg’s door, Mr. President. And I expect the backing of the United States.”
The president closed his eyes. “I assume you’re going to petition the other NATO countries as well …”
“Of course,” Irons said.
“You’ll have trouble getting support,” the president said. “Shoernberg is claiming that your ships fired first at Gibraltar. Without concrete evidence, it’ll be difficult to prove that Germany struck the first blow.”
“The German government knew about the biological warfare attack on my embassy, Frank. They didn’t warn us, and they didn’t do anything to prevent it. And now they’re selling weapons to the very people who attacked us.”
“I know,” the president said. “But both of our countries lost a lot of popularity in NATO when we took on Iraq. Some of our NATO partners will want to believe Germany’s claim that your ships fired first at Gibraltar. And you’ll have to reveal your intelligence sources if you’re going to prove that Friedrik Shoernberg knew about the embassy attack ahead of time. From what you’ve told me, I suspect you’re not going to be able to reveal your sources. That’ll give France all the excuse it needs to side with Germany. Belgium will probably follow Germany on this as well. Italy could go either way. They gave us nominal support during the liberation of Iraq, but they’ve bucked us on nearly everything since.
Turkey’s another coin toss. They’re still mad at us because we wouldn’t let them beat up the Kurds in northern Iraq.”
“Greece will back us,” Irons said. “So will Portugal, and Poland. And I think we can convince the majority of the others.”
“Maybe you’re right, Emily,” the president said. “Maybe you will be able to persuade most of the others. But at what cost? NATO is going to come apart at the seams. Do you really want that?”
“Of course not,” she said. “But the NATO alliance is worthless if we can’t call upon it to live up to its charter. Either NATO protects its members, or it doesn’t. And if it doesn’t, it isn’t an alliance at all. It’s just a lot of high-sounding words on paper.”
“What if I can take Shoernberg down?” the president asked. He gripped the phone more tightly as the words came out of his mouth, and he wished instantly that he hadn’t said them.
“What do you mean?” Irons asked.
The president gritted his teeth. In for a penny, in for a pound …
“Suppose I can take Shoernberg’s regime out of power … That would remove the threat to your country, wouldn’t it? The German people aren’t really your problem. It’s Shoernberg and his cronies.”
“How would you go about it?”
“For starters,” the president said, “I squash his last submarine like a bug. And if necessary, I order a surgical strike on the air base where the Germans are staging fighter jets for delivery to Siraj. I don’t let so much as a slingshot get through to Siraj.”
“Go on.”
“Then I rake Friedrik over the coals. I stand before the United Nations General Assembly and formally accuse him of violating everything from standing UN resolutions, to international law, to Article 5 of the NATO Treaty. I pull down his pants in front of the media. I paint him as not only a criminal, but an incompetent criminal. It’s not bad enough that he violates international law, but he’s not even smart enough to do it successfully.”
“That won’t be enough to push him out of power.”
“No. But it’s a start. Siraj won’t be supplying Germany with oil, because Germany won’t be delivering any weapons. My analysts tell me that the German economy is going to take a nosedive without that oil. They’re going to have one hell of an energy shortage, complete with power rationing — maybe even blackouts. I’ll crank up import tariffs on German-made products and squeeze their economy even harder. Once the crunch is really on, the German people will be screaming for Shoernberg’s head on a stick. I’ll have the CIA dig up every scrap of dirt that Shoernberg or his people ever touched. If one of them ever stole a candy bar, cheated on his taxes, or pinched a secretary on the rump, we’ll plaster it all over the six o’clock news. We’ll humiliate him every morning and discredit him every evening. Hell, I don’t know what all we’ll do. I’m just freewheeling here. I’ve never played dirty politics before. But I’ve got some smart people working for me, Emily. So do you. We’ll turn them loose on this.”