34

The secretary of state agreed with the sentiment in the room.

It was Meg Whitney’s job, however, to deal in facts, not suppositions. And there were more immediate concerns to deal with.

“Gentlemen, you all may be right, but I suggest we not draw any conclusions just yet,” she cautioned. “We’re in the very early hours of this crisis. Let’s give Richard and his team more time to get to the bottom of it. Right now, two of my people are missing, and from what I hear, there’s a serious battle underway over there that could set the whole of the Middle East on fire.”

The president agreed and turned back to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

“General Meyers, what can you tell us on the military aspect of all this?”

“Well, Mr. President, just minutes after the attack, the Israelis launched an operation they call the Hannibal Protocol.”

“What’s that?”

“Sir, it’s an aggressive saturation bombing campaign targeted where the kidnappings occurred, designed to bring all movement in the area to a halt and give IDF ground forces enough time to move in, find the hostages, and get them back, dead or alive,” Meyers said. “Unfortunately, it didn’t work. The IDF commander on the scene found the entrance to a previously undiscovered tunnel close to the breach in the fence line. The thinking now in IDF senior command is that amid all the chaos and confusion, Agents Ryker and Curtis and the PM’s nephew were dragged into the tunnel and pulled deep into enemy territory. At that point, Prime Minister Eitan called off the Hannibal operation and ordered all Israeli forces to pull back behind the Blue Line.”

“Why?”

“To signal a de-escalation in the hopes that cooler heads would prevail.”

“And?” Clarke asked.

“Unfortunately, Hezbollah refused—or perhaps misread—the gesture. They’ve just unleashed a massive missile barrage against Israeli civilian population centers.”

“Define ‘massive,’” said the president.

Meyers looked down at the secure laptop on the conference table in front of him and scrolled through the latest data coming in from the National Military Command Center deep beneath the Pentagon. “Sir, in the last thirty minutes, we estimate that Hezbollah has fired more than a hundred Katyusha rockets into Israel. In addition, they’ve fired at least several dozen Zelzal missiles, which are significantly bigger and more powerful than the Katyushas. Since we’ve been gathered here, air-raid sirens have been going off nonstop across Israel’s northern tier.”

“Just like 2006,” Secretary Whitney interjected. “Mr. President, that means that upwards of a million Israelis are currently hunkered in bomb shelters or fleeing southward, out of missile range. Half of those are children.”

Though she did not say it, she appreciated the fact that the Israeli prime minister had tried to de-escalate. But she knew Reuven Eitan—had known him for more than twenty years, actually. They had certainly spent a great deal of time over the past year and a half or so working on this Israeli-Saudi peace agreement. If Israeli casualties were mounting, she knew Eitan would feel he had no choice but to retaliate. “General, how successful has the IDF been in shooting down these rockets and missiles?” she asked.

“Not that good,” Meyers reported. “In the Gaza theater, the Israelis are typically able to shoot down something like 85 to 90 percent of the rockets shot at them. Preliminary reports—and, again, I underscore that it’s very early—but the first reports suggest the IDF is shooting down only 50 to 60 percent of the missiles coming out of Lebanon.”

“What’s the problem?” Clarke asked. “I thought the Israelis had the best technology in the world.”

“It’s not the technology, sir. Hezbollah is firing so many missiles at once that the Israelis simply don’t have enough interceptors in the theater to cope. CENTCOM just messaged me to say the Israelis are rushing more Patriot and Iron Dome batteries northward, but that’s going to take time. Meanwhile, the damage to homes, hospitals, schools, synagogues, and factories is becoming extensive.”

Meyers picked up a remote and changed the images displayed on the screens. Now they were seeing pictures of missiles and interceptors over the skies of Haifa and Kiryat Shmona, along with scenes of burning buildings.

“One of the few comforts, if I can put it that way,” Meyers added, “is that it’s Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath. The schools are closed. So are most businesses and public facilities. The synagogues are full, I’m told, but had this been a weekday, a workday, we’d be looking at some very serious casualty figures.”

“And what’s the situation in Gaza?” Whitney asked. “Have Hamas and Islamic Jihad begun firing their rockets as well?”

“Not yet,” said Meyers. “But the Israelis are bracing themselves for that onslaught to begin soon.”