Robert Stenton glanced at David Abraham, who was watching him like a hawk. For the first time the president was beginning to understand his mentor’s distress. Accepting Samuel’s vision might require any ordinary person to jump through mind-blowing mental hoops, but there was a resounding ring of authenticity to everything David had just said.
One of his aides handed him a phone. “Ed Carter is on the line for you, Mr. President.”
Robert took the cell phone. “Thank you.” He walked to the window overlooking Manhattan and spoke softly to the director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
“Thank you for stepping out of your meeting, Ed.”
“Of course, sir.”
“I have a very simple question, Ed, and I want a simple answer. Is there an agency plan to deal with Assim Feroz? And when I say plan, I mean of any sort, technically sanctioned or not.”
That question caught him off guard, Robert thought. Carter hesitated, then spoke plainly. “Not to my knowledge, no. We discussed this—”
“I know what we discussed. Now I’m being sure. I assume the bulletin that went out an hour ago was brought to your attention?”
“Yes.”
“Does the subject match anything you have?”
“We’re still running the comparison against our database, but nothing on the list of priors matches. If this guy’s an assassin, he’s never been spotted.”
“Regardless, we have reason to believe there may be a threat to the Iranian defense minister’s life. Do you know how badly this could go if he were killed on American soil during this summit?”
“I couldn’t agree more. Wrong place, wrong time.”
“There is no right place or right time. I thought I made that clear.”
“A figure of speech. The security surrounding the minister’s schedule would be difficult to penetrate.”
“Unless there was an inside operation,” Robert said. “But you’re telling me that there isn’t.”
“That’s correct. None whatsoever.”
“If anything happens to Assim Feroz while he’s in our country, you’ll answer, Ed. I assume you understand that.”
“I don’t think we have a problem, sir.”
“Please make sure of it.”
He hung up and faced David. “I don’t know what else we can do at this point.”
“Nothing. You have to prevent him from killing Feroz, but you can’t pick him up. Not yet.”
“So you’ve said.” David’s explanation had taken a full fifteen minutes, laying out details that explained far more than Samuel’s vision. What David revealed was tantamount to conspiracy. Their discussion still made his head hurt.
It was no wonder David Abraham had been wringing his hands for the last month.
“Are you absolutely sure the person you saw was him?”
“Yes,” David said. “I could never mistake that face, trust me.”
The president took a deep breath and set the cell phone on the lamp stand. “I have to be honest, David. I’m having a hard time buying into all of this. It’s a stretch.”
“It’s only a stretch for a mind that hasn’t been where mine’s been.”
“Well, if you’re right about all of this, you’ve taken immeasurable risks and overstepped your place. I’m not sure how I feel about that.”
“Let’s pray I made the right decision, then,” David said. “I’m sure you understand why I’ve said nothing about this before now.”
“That doesn’t make it right.”
“Only time will tell. You can decide then whether to burn me at the stake or build a statue of me.”