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“Let’s talk more about that,” the president said. “Where does the pope go first?”

McDermott took that one.

“He lands at Andrews on June 2 at noon and takes a motorcade into the city.”

“He’s staying at Blair House?” Marcus asked, referring to the presidential guesthouse across the street from the White House.

“Yes,” McDermott confirmed.

“What then?”

“His Holiness is scheduled to have lunch here at the White House with the president and First Lady, followed by a press conference in the Rose Garden,” McDermott said. “That night he will address a Joint Session of Congress. The following day, Wednesday the third, he flies to Miami to hold an evening Mass. He and his entourage will stay there overnight. On the fourth, he flies to Houston, where he will hold another evening Mass, then stay at the governor’s mansion in Austin. On Friday, he flies to New York City to hold a Mass at Yankee Stadium.”

“Where’s he staying?” Marcus asked.

“The Waldorf,” McDermott said. “Then on Saturday the sixth, the pope will end his tour by flying to Chicago. That will be the grand finale, an afternoon Mass at Soldier Field.”

“How many people?” Marcus asked.

“We’re expecting a hundred thousand—the most of any site,” Roseboro said.

“I didn’t realize Soldier Field was that big.”

“It’s not,” Roseboro replied. “They’ll be set up for seventy thousand inside the stadium, including seats on the field. The stage will be small, and the Eucharist will be served at people’s seats. No one will be coming forward, like in the other cities. They will also be setting up jumbotrons and thirty thousand chairs in the parking lots all around the stadium.”

“Will they be served Communion as well?” Marcus asked.

“Yes.”

“But if they’re using the parking lots for overflow seating, where will people park?”

“All parking will be at sites far from the stadium,” Roseboro said. “The only access will be via public buses that will shuttle people to and from the designated lots.”

“That will also keep all the streets around the stadium closed to private traffic so they’re clear for the Secret Service,” Dell added.

“You mean DSS, for the pope?” Marcus asked.

“No,” the president said. “For me.”

Marcus was surprised. “You, sir?”

“That’s right—the First Lady and I will be heading out to Chicago to be part of it all,” Hernandez confirmed. “His Holiness is going to serve us the Eucharist. It should be quite something.”

“I should say so,” Marcus said, the look on his face giving him away.

“You don’t approve?” the president asked.

“Of you and your wife taking Communion? Of course I do. Of the pope coming here based on what we now know, absolutely not.”

“You think Kairos is going to target the pope?”

“Why not?”

“Why go through all the trouble of coming here? Why not hit Rome? Why not the Vatican?”

“Because hitting him here—and you, as well—gives them a double whammy,” Marcus replied. “A devastating attack against the Great Satan and against the head of the Roman Catholic church. And come to think of it, it’s during the week of the anniversary of the Six-Day War. That makes it a triple crown.”

“Why is the anniversary significant?” Hernandez asked.

“June 5 to the tenth, 1967,” Marcus recalled. “The Israelis defeated five Arab armies, tripled their land, seized control of the West Bank—what they would call Judea and Samaria—and reunified Jerusalem. Remember whom we’re dealing with here, Mr. President. Kairos was founded by a man who calls himself Abu Nakba, meaning ‘Father of the Disaster.’ We think of him and refer to him as ‘the Libyan’ because his father was Libyan and because his base camp was in Libya. But don’t forget his mother was Palestinian. Born and raised in Gaza. Abu Nakba identifies as a Palestinian. And while we may not have thought of the upcoming anniversary of the Six-Day War while planning for the pope’s visit, I can assure you that Abu Nakba is thinking about it night and day.”

The room was silent for a moment. Then Hernandez turned to Dell. “What do you think?”

“It’s certainly plausible, Mr. President, though we haven’t seen any reporting on specific threats to the pope. NSA isn’t picking up any chatter pointing in that direction. My analysts haven’t ruled out the possibility, but they haven’t considered it likely.”

At this, Annie spoke up. “True, but in the last twenty-four hours, I’ve been doing some research on this, Mr. President. The fact is, there hasn’t been a serious plot to assassinate a pope since 1995. That’s when the Filipino government unearthed a plot by radical Islamists to attack Pope John Paul II in Manila. Before that, you’d have to go back to 1981, when the Soviets tried to take out the same pope using a Turkish gunman who shot him four times at point-blank range in St. Peter’s Square. That said, in both cases extreme Muslims were involved in the planning and operations against the pontiff. I think we need to look more closely at this.”

Dell disagreed.

“Mr. President, those plots are ancient history. Most of my analysts—Annie and Marcus apparently excepted—believe it’s far more likely that Abu Nakba wants to blow up a major American landmark or set off a dirty bomb in a major city, killing many but terrifying even more. We’d rank Washington at the top of the target list with Manhattan second.”

Marcus couldn’t accept this. “Mr. President, please, at the minimum you need to speak to His Holiness again, let him know the gravity of the situation, and let him make his own decision.”

Hernandez looked to Dell. “That’s probably right, sir,” she replied. “But it might be better for me to brief the Vatican security chief first before you make that call.”

“Fine, but do it fast,” the president said.