THE COVER STORY WAS holding, but just barely. Late news reports made it apparent to the President that, as usual, Washington had underestimated the media’s sixth sense for deception. It had been little more than a week since he, the Joint Chiefs, and their executive staffs, had arrived at Cheyenne Mountain, and already word had leaked out they were here. The press was in a feeding frenzy, fueling speculation around the world that “Operation Hard Hat” was more than just another NATO training exercise.
The tranquilizing effect of the joint press conference held by Western governments at the beginning of the crisis had been short lived. News articles on his desk told him the press was again fully awake and feverishly digging for the story they sensed hidden behind the NATO announcement.
They were running out of time. The President knew he had to do something quickly, although he did not have a clue what it might be. He rested his head in his hands as his eyes scanned the latest press releases:
Dateline: Moscow
Reliable sources here report the suspension of train, truck, and plane schedules in and out of Moscow. It is widely believed this action is in response to NATO security exercises announced in Brussels on Wednesday. Large numbers of planes carrying civilian and military personnel are reported taking off from Moscow’s Domodedovo International Airport, and convoys of trucks are clogging highways leading toward the Ural Mountains, fueling speculation a crisis is imminent.
Dateline: Tel Aviv
Israeli schools stand vacant today following the unexpected transporting of thousands of the nation’s children to what government officials are calling ‘more secure areas’. A source close to the prime minister tells WNS this action is in conjunction with current NATO security exercises in order to test the nation’s readiness for quick evacuation in the event of an emergency. Our source also claims this transport of children by the government took parents by complete surprise.
“The buses that usually bring our children home after school never arrived today,” one distraught mother said. “It was only after I called the school that I learned the government had taken them away.”
WNS has also learned the government fears widespread demonstrations in the aftermath of this unprecedented action. Militant Jewish groups who believe terrorist threats have made this action necessary are reported to be committing reprisals against the Palestinian population.
Dateline: Jerusalem
Jerusalem’s Chief Rabbi urged those of other faiths, in his words, “to join your Jewish brothers and sisters and pray to God for mercy.” He called on the crowd gathered outside the Knesset to “fall on your knees before the Almighty,” then read II Chronicles 26:12, which says: “Oh God, wilt thou not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.”
WNS has learned this demonstration was in response to what the government is calling an emergency relocation exercise. It says the action is part of an ongoing NATO project, but it is fueling the fears of many Israelis that a catastrophe is imminent. Speculation as to its nature ranges from the possible collision of the earth with an asteroid to a nuclear attack by Muslim extremists.
“Where’s the blasted button?” The President fumbled nervously for the intercom switch, found it, and snapped, “Get Holbrook in here! Now!”
“Yes, Mr. President.” His secretary fought to remain calm as she frantically searched for the Secretary of Energy’s extention. Everything’s chaotic—files scattered, people misplaced. She felt her weak grasp on control slipping away. Her raw nerves quivered in sync with the gathering storm, just like those of everyone else at Cheyenne Mountain.
She found the secretary’s extension and buzzed it.
“He’s on his way, Mr. President,” she announced a moment later.
President Stewart willed himself to speak softly to the woman who had been his right hand since the day he was inaugurated. “Thank you, Hazel.”
Operation Hard Hat required the movement of members of the executive branch to Cheyenne Mountain near Colorado Springs, and the relocation of the legislative and judicial branches to shelters prepared for just such an emergency in the hills of Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina. The Vice President was responsible for working out the logistics for the move. To date he reported the relocation of over twenty thousand government employees and their dependents, all in less than a week. And that did not include those declared “critical national resources,” people such as doctors, nurses, and scientists.
There was a knock and Stewart’s door opened. “Mr. President, the Secretary is here.”
Harry Holbrook stepped into the room as Hazel closed the door behind him.
The two men had no need for greetings. They had been friends since their days together in Congress. Harry was that rare bird in Washington, a political insider who was not a lawyer. He had been a scientist working for the government’s Sandia Lab before deciding to run for public office. At the President’s urging, he left the House of Representatives to head the National Energy Agency.
“The cat’s out of the bag, Harry. The whole damn thing is coming unraveled. I figure we have less than a week to come up with some answers before the world finds out it is on the verge of incineration. The Israelis are already guessing we’re under some sort of nuclear threat and are battening down their hatches for Armageddon.”
“I see,” the secretary said thoughtfully.
“What do your people have for me?”
“Nothing definite, I’m afraid,” Holbrook replied, “but we are working on a possibility.”
“Tell me.”
Holbrook heard desperation in the President’s voice and wished he had better news. “Do you remember those computer whiz kids that hacked their way into the IRS files several years ago?”
The President nodded.
“We convinced Justice it would be a shame to waste that kind of talent making license plates.”
“Yes,” Stewart replied. “We gave them the choice of jail or working for us. They chose the latter. We pay them quite well, as I recall.”
“Well, they think there may be a way to disarm our missiles without setting them off,” Holbrook said. “Not the suitcase jobs the Arabs or whoever may have planted. Just the missiles.”
“That would be a start. How?”
Holbrook heard the lift in the President’s voice and prayed he wasn’t giving his old friend false hope.
“I’m a scientist, John, but I don’t pretend to understand the exotic world of computers at that level,” Holbrook replied. “They tell us it might be possible to create a binary mirror image of the detonation code, whatever that means.”
“How soon will you be able to test their theory?” The President stood as he spoke.
“Next Friday at the earliest, but I’ll need your authorization for the test.”
“You have it. What else?”
“I just want to be certain you understand what you’re authorizing.” Holbrook paused and studied the bleary eyes and washed-out face of the President.
“OK Harry. Give me the downside, short and sweet.”
“Sir, if the test fails, you will be condoning a nuclear detonation that could be the beginning of the end for all of us.”