“I agree,” Croft said. “There’s not going to be a military solution out there. The first thing we have to do is get them talking so this doesn’t escalate.”
“The problem of North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missiles still exist,” Murphy pointed out. “Telling Japan to back off won’t make any sense to them. They’re protecting their country.”
“I seem to remember that you said the Japanese wouldn’t get into it with the Chinese over this unless they knew something that we didn’t,” Croft said. He felt like he was the only one fighting a developing forest fire, and all he had were a bucket of sand and one shovel.
“That’s right, but we’re still no closer to finding out what that might be than we were two days ago.”
“Then what do you suggest?” Croft demanded.
“Tell the governments of Japan and China to back off, and tell Admiral Hamilton to enforce it.”
“We’re going to have to offer them something in return,” Secor said.
“We’ll find and destroy North Korea’s nuclear weapons and weapons program.”
“Is that Kirk McGarvey’s shoot-’em-up suggestion?” Secor asked sarcastically.
Murphy eyed him coolly. “It’s my suggestion, Harold. Anything short of that and we may be facing a full-scale war out there.”
“Very well,” President Lindsay said. “Bob, how soon before Hamilton has the fleet in position?”
“Another twelve hours,” Landry said.
“How about John?”
“I’ll get on the phone and tell him what’s going on,” Secor said. “If he doesn’t get anywhere in the morning in Tokyo, he can head over to Beijing.”
“Tony?”
Croft tightened up. “I wouldn’t recommend this course of action, Mr. President.”
“What do you think we should do?”
“Hold the Seventh in reserve, somewhere up north, until we can open a dialogue between Tokyo and Beijing.”
“What about the North Koreans?”
“It’ll be tough, but if the CIA can give us some accurate information this time and we can take out their nuclear weapons, and at least damage their missile launch sites and maintenance depots, it’d be our best bet.”
“I’ll call both ambassadors in, set them down face-to-face and let them hash it out,” the President said. He turned to General Podvin. “Get word to Hamilton that I want his fleet right in the middle of the Sea of Japan, with all possible speed. And bring him up to date on what we’ve decided here.”
“What defense posture can he take?”
“If someone shoots at him, he can shoot back.”
“What if the Japanese try another stunt like last night, or the Chinese decide to retaliate?”
“I’ll have to get back to him on that one,” the President said. “But assure him that he will not be left hanging. Better yet, tell him that I’ll not leave him hanging.”
“Yes, sir,” Podvin said.
“We all have work to do, let’s get to it.”
Croft walked out of the office, and resisting the urge to stick around for a final word with Murphy, went back to his office.
He told his secretary that he was going out to the CIA and to cancel all his appointments and hold all his calls until he got back. He unlocked his secured file cabinet and removed five files that he’d packed in a big manila envelope this morning and stuffed them into his briefcase.
Hesitating for just a moment, he glanced out the window toward the White House front lawn and the pedestrian traffic along Pennsylvania Avenue and Lafayette Square. The weather was magnificent. Tourist season was in full swing. The problem was that he couldn’t remember the last time he’d taken a vacation with Beth Ann and the kids. It was something he’d been meaning to do, but ever since Lindsay had pulled him from Yale, he’d been on a merry-go-round with no way off.
He took a leather case about the size of a small toiletries kit from the bottom drawer of the file cabinet, put it in his briefcase, then locked up and walked outside to get his car. He was senior staff so no one would check him.
Croft drove around the corner to the Hay Adams Hotel across from Lafayette Square and the White House. He maintained a room there for the times when he worked late and couldn’t face the thirty miles of traffic to his home in Edgewater on the South River near Annapolis. The media hadn’t gotten onto the arrangement because it was nothing unusual, and he was careful. He stood looking out the window toward the White House, sipping a brandy, his stomach tied up in knots, when the door opened and Judith Kline came in, a bright smile on her pretty oval face. This place was his crisis center, and Judith was his extracurricular crisis team.
“Anybody see you coming up?” he asked.
“You ask the same thing every time. Don’t be such a worrywart,” said the high-priced call girl. The service she worked for was very discreet, and over the past six months in fact, Croft had been only one of three regular johns for her.
“You’re right,” Croft said, his heart swelling as it did each time he laid eyes on her. She was twenty-four and stunningly gorgeous. She did not look like a prostitute. The way she dressed and comported herself, she could have been mistaken for a White House staffer. She had real class.
She dropped her big bag and the room key on the couch, languidly glided over to him as she slipped out of her high heels and came into his arms. Her slight body was dwarfed by his bulk, but she’d never seemed to mind the fact he was overweight.
Croft let out a pent-up sigh. “Just what the doctor ordered,” he said softly in her ear. “Did I wake you when I called?”
She laughed. “As a matter of fact I was half expecting it. You’ve been really uptight. After the other day I figured you’d be needing a little more TLC.” She looked up at him sweetly. “Am I right?”
He smiled. “I have all afternoon.”
She cocked her head. “Well, I don’t,” she said, and he started to object but she raised a finger to his lips. “We’ve gone over this before, Tony. We both have lives to maintain, and I don’t object when you have to go home.” She shrugged. “It’s better this way. You’d just get tired of me.”
A blind, unreasoning panic rose up. “Don’t you desert me too.”
She looked at him critically. “You really do have it bad, don’t you?”
“It’s the White House,” Croft mumbled, his thoughts drifting for just a moment.
“Trouble in Camelot?” she asked.
His breath caught in his throat. “I didn’t mean that,” he blurted. “That White House. I meant—”
Judith held a finger to his lips again. “Doesn’t matter, Tony,” she cooed. “We both know what you need. Come on.”
He dutifully went to the big king-sized bed where he helped her turn down the covers. Like an old married couple, he thought, watching her every move. She was dressed in a lightweight summer suit and silk blouse. She got undressed slowly, not turning away from him like Beth Ann always did, and when she was naked he drank in the sight of her translucent skin and perfect body. Her breasts were small, the nipples already erect. Beneath the slight curve of her tummy, the hair at her pubis had been completely removed, and seeing the bare mound of her vagina was the most exotic sight he’d ever imagined, and he could never get tired of it.
Her eyes never leaving his, her lips curved in a slight, lascivious smile, she propped up the pillows, got into the bed, spread her legs and moistening her forefinger in her mouth, slowly began to masturbate.
“Am I going to have to do this all by myself?” she asked huskily. She caressed the nipples of her breasts with her other hand, and half closed her eyes. “Tony?”
All other thoughts driven out of his mind, Croft got undressed, leaving his clothes where they fell and climbed into bed with her. Clumsily he kissed her breasts, sucking her nipples as he reached for her vagina with his left hand. But she pushed him away, gently forcing him on his back.