Or even — as Hansard strongly believed — the threat of conventional conflict.
Back in the days of the Cold War, the huge military machine that had been built up under Reagan was immense — though hardly ever used. Thus aircraft carriers, logistics craft, submarines, fighter planes, bombers, reconnaissance vehicles, artillery pieces, battle tanks, and all the associated weaponry to go with them, were financed, researched, developed, purchased, tested, exercised, repaired and finally replaced, all without being used in anger, generating massive incomes for the contractors and their political allies whilst not exposing the American people or their military to much in the way of direct danger.
It was a truism during the Cold War that stretched from the late 1940s all the way into the early 1990s that many ‘hot war’ incidents were avoided due to the possibility of Mutually Assured Destruction — both the US and the USSR had massive nuclear stockpiles, and both were aware of the ramifications of their use. Thus, nothing happened except for small local conflicts fought by proxy, with the exceptions of the Korean and Vietnam wars of course.
It was Hansard’s dream to see this same sort of perverse stability recreated in the present day. He wanted the US to abandon its war on terror and get back to conventional warfare — it was safer, infinitely more predictable and, as a result, infinitely more profitable.
Diana Westlake of Westlake Inc. would be one of the major new contractors on President Jensen’s new program of nuclear rearmament. It was part of the Alumni’s plan to have America’s nuclear arsenal increase by a factor of ten over the next five years. Not only would it create an income for companies owned by the Alumni of close to a trillion dollars — in addition to the trillion or so dollars from other conventional weapons systems whose contracts were already in place — it would guarantee a similar build-up on the other side of the world by China and Russia.
Such build-ups would once again mean that any future conflict might result in MAD — and as such would surely be avoided at all costs, thus ensuring long-term American security.
It seemed a perverse way of looking at the world, but Hansard and his cabal truly believed that it would be better for the country this way. The threat of nuclear war on the global scale would so far overshadow the threat of a terrorist attack that terrorism would simply be ignored, and would thus no longer be effective — and would thus cease to exist.
So not only would the plans of the group make them billionaires many times over, it would also make the entire country a safer place. The Alumni were patriots, after all.
And the fact that Vice Admiral Charles Hansard, wealthy scion of a famous American family, would finally have control of the country through his manipulations of the new President, his cabinet and the entire US legislature, would just be the icing on the cake.
Reclining in his chair, Hansard puffed on his pipe, sipped from his glass of brandy, and smiled.
100
Cole knew what he would have to do. The risks associated with Hansard’s crazed scheme were just too great — what if nuclear weapons were launched? With massive build-ups of weapons by the US, Russia and China, such a conflict would simply ensure the end of the world.
But he still didn’t know whether his family was safe. The escape route through Miami was good, and Sarah knew what she was doing. Cole knew his wife was both tough and resourceful, and not only had he taught her well, but she had learnt well too, being something of a natural at the work.
It seemed a little incongruous that such a well-bred daughter of such an incredibly wealthy man could at the same time be street smart and so very, very capable. But, Cole remembered, with no mother and an absentee father, she had essentially raised herself, and her self-reliance was no accident.
It was too painful to even think about his children — were they okay, were they safe, did they know what was going on, were they scared? Images flashed through his mind, snapshots of their lives from their earliest days as they crawled in nappies around the floor of the beach house, learnt to walk, to talk, to –
A tear welled up in Cole’s eye, and he blinked it away as subtly as he could, careful not to let the German policeman see him.
No. He had to believe Sarah would get herself and the children to Stefan. She was capable, the plan was good, and Albright — dangerously psychotic or not — should have been left behind in Miami, shaking his head in confusion, leaving his family free to travel to the rendezvous in safety.
He wanted desperately to make the same rendezvous, get to Steinmeier’s house and check his family were okay, kiss them, hold them close, say sorry for dragging them into his business, promise them it was all over, he would never leave them again.
But the fact of the matter was that the very future of the world — and certainly that of the United States — was also under threat, and Cole was the only person who might be able to prevent the cataclysm.
PART FOUR
1
It was to be the last meeting of the Alumni before the assassination of President Abrams the next day would throw the whole country into panic, chaos and confusion.
The meeting, as ever, was held in the utterly secure confines of Charles Hansard’s own government installation, the Office of the Director of National Security. And as ever, the men and women arrived without their drivers or their security details, driving their own rented cars in through the rear access road to the undergound parking lot.
Hansard had replaced the ODNI’s own security personnel on the gate with the lone figure of Nicholas Stern, who checked each and every individual on their way in. In this way, the meeting was as secret as it could possibly be.
There was an air of excitement, of anticipation, in the air that night, as the men and women of the powerful clique drank champagne and chatted animatedly about the future. Would it all work out? How quickly would things progress? How would they react under the watchful eyes of the press and public? What would they say?
But there was also a degree of nervousness, something that Hansard had been picking up on a little too much lately. It was always the same — people were always happy to talk a good fight, but when it came to crunch time, their will was often less than they boasted of. And Hansard had no desire to get embroiled in another episode like the one with Bill Crozier. He had balked at the last moment, threatening to go to Dorrell with everything. Maybe he would have, maybe he wouldn’t; but it was a chance Hansard had been unwilling to take.
But at the same time, he couldn’t very well just set about killing any member of the group who had their doubts. Doubts were natural, but they needed to be stamped out, and stamped out quickly, especially at such a critical juncture.
And so he had brought with him for this final meeting a very special guest; someone whom he hoped would rekindle the spirit of the Alumni and help them to see things through to the end.
2
Stephen Antonio Mancini waited quietly in the small room connected to the main conference room where the meeting was being held.
He was nervous about his appearance before the group. Even though he had been the President’s personal bodyguard for the past two years, the fact was that she did not intimidate him in the slightest; in fact, his entire concentration was devoted to concealing his utter hatred of her. The Alumni — and Vice Admiral Charles Hansard in particular — were in a different league altogether, however, and although he had worked for them for years, he had never before met them all together. Indeed, like many ‘beta’ members, Mancini didn’t even know for sure who they were.