Executive Orders

by Tom Clancy

  “WHAT’S THAT FOR?” Cathy was wearing a crash helmet with full connections into the helicopter’s intercom. She pointed at another aircraft fifty yards to their right rear.

  “We always fly with a backup aircraft, ma’am. In case something breaks and we have to land,” the pilot explained from the right-front seat, “we don’t want to delay you unnecessarily.” He didn’t say that in the back-up helicopter were four more Secret Service agents with heavier weapons.

  “How often does that happen, Colonel?”

  “Not since I’ve been around, ma’am.” Nor did he say that one of the Marine Black Hawks had crashed into the Potomac in 1993, killing all hands. Well, it had been a long time. The pilot’s eyes were scanning the air constantly. Part of VMH-1’s institutional memory was what had seemed to be an attempted ramming over the California home of President Reagan. In fact it had been a screwup by a careless private pilot. After his interview with the Secret Service, the poor bastard had probably given up flying entirely. They were the most humorless people, Colonel Hank Goodman knew from long experience. The air was clear and cold, but pretty smooth. He controlled the stick with his fingertips as they followed I-95 northeast. Baltimore was already in view, and he knew the approach into Hopkins well enough from previous duty at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, whose Navy and Marine helos occasionally helped fly accident victims. Hopkins, he remembered, got the pediatric trauma cases for the state’s critical-care system.

  The same sobering thought hit Cathy when they flew past the University of Maryland’s Shock-Trauma building. This wasn’t her first flight in a helicopter, was it? It was just that for the other one she’d been unconscious. People had tried to kill her and Sally, and all the people around her were in jeopardy if somebody else made another try—why? Because of who her husband was.

  “Mr. Altman?” Cathy heard over the intercom.

  “Yeah, Colonel?”

  “You called ahead, right?”

  “Yes, they know we’re coming, Colonel,” Altman assured him.

  “No, I mean, is the roof checked out for a -60?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean this bird is heavier than the one the state troopers use. Is the pad certified for us?” Silence provided the answer. Colonel Goodman looked over at his co-pilot and grimaced. “Okay, we can handle that this one time.”

  “Clear left.”

  “Clear right,” Goodman replied. He circled once, checking the wind sock on the roof of the building below. Just puffs of wind from the northwest. The descent was gentle, and the colonel kept a close eye on the radio whips to his right. He touched down soft, keeping his rotor turning to prevent the full weight of the aircraft from resting on the reinforced-concrete roof. It probably wasn’t necessary, of course. Civil engineers always put more strength into buildings than they actually needed. But Goodman hadn’t made the rank of bird-colonel by taking chances for the fun of it. His crew chief moved to pull the door open. The Secret Service agents went first, scanning the building while Goodman kept his hand on the collective, ready to yank up and rocket from the building. Then they helped Mrs. Ryan out, and he could get on with his day.

  “When we get back, call this place yourself and get the rating on the roof. Then ask for plans for our files.”

  “Yes, sir. It just went too fast, sir.”

  “Tell me about it.” He switched to the radio link. “Marine Three, Marine Two.”

  “Two,” the orbiting backup aircraft responded at once.

  “On the go.” Goodman pulled the collective and angled south off the roof. “She seems nice enough.”

  “Got nervous just before we landed,” the crew chief observed.

  “So was I,” Goodman said. “I’ll call them when we get back.”

  THE SECRET SERVICE had called ahead to Dr. Katz, who was waiting inside, along with three Hopkins security officers. Introductions were exchanged. Nametags were passed out, making the three agents ostensible staff members of the medical school, and the day of Associate Professor Caroline M. Ryan, M.D., F.A.C.S., began.

  “How’s Mrs. Hart doing?”

  “I saw her twenty minutes ago, Cathy. She’s actually rather pleased to have the First Lady operating on her.” Professor Katz was surprised at Professor Ryan’s reaction.

  6

  EVALUATION

  IT TOOK A LOT TO CROWD Andrews Air Force Base, whose expansive concrete ramps looked to be the approximate size of Nebraska, but the security police force there was now patrolling a collection of aircraft as dense and as diverse as the place in Arizona where they kept out-of-work airliners. Moreover, each bird had its own security Detail, all of whom had to be coordinated with the Americans in an atmosphere of institutional distrust, since the security people were all trained to regard everyone in sight with suspicion. There were two Concordes, one British and one French, for sex appeal. The rest were mainly wide-bodies of one sort or another, and most of them liveried in the colors of the nation-flag carrier of their country of origin. Sabena, KLM, and Lufthansa led off the NATO row. SAS handled each of the three Scandinavian countries, each with its own 747. Chiefs of state traveled in style, and not one of the aircraft, large or small, had flown as much as a third full. Greeting them was a task to tax the skills and patience of the combined White House and State Department offices of protocol, and word was sent through the embassies that President Ryan simply didn’t have the time to give everyone the attention he or she deserved. But the Air Force honor guard got to meet them all, forming, dismissing, and reforming more than once an hour while the red VIP carpet stayed in place, and one world leader followed another—at times as quickly as one aircraft could be rolled to its parking place and another could taxi to the specified arrival point with band and podium. Speeches were kept brief and somber for the ranks of cameras, and then they were moved off briskly to the waiting ranks of cars.

  Moving them into Washington was yet another headache. Every car belonging to the Diplomatic Protection Service was tied up, forming four sets of escorts that hustled in and out of town, convoying the embassy limousines and tying up Suitland Parkway and Interstate 395. The most amazing part, perhaps, was that every president, prime minister, and even the kings and serene princes managed to get delivered to the proper embassy—most of them, fortunately, on Massachusetts Avenue. It proved to be a triumph of improvised organization in the end.

  The embassies themselves handled the quiet private receptions. The statesmen, all in one place, had to meet, of course, to do business or merely to chat. The British Ambassador, the most senior of both the NATO countries and his nation’s Commonwealth, would this night host an “informal” dinner for twenty-two national leaders.

  “Okay, his gear is down this time,” the Air Force captain said, as darkness fell on the base.

  The tower crew at Andrews was, perversely, the same one which had been on duty on That Night, as people had taken to call it. They watched as the JAL 747 floated in on runway Zero-One Right. The flight crew might have noticed that the remains of a sister aircraft were to be found in a large hangar on the east side of the base—at this moment a truck was delivering the distorted remains of a jet engine, recently extracted from the basement of the Capitol building, but the jetliner completed its rollout, following directions to turn left and taxi behind a vehicle to the proper place for deplaning its passengers. The pilot did notice the cameras, and the crewmen walking from the relative warmth of a building to their equipment for the latest and most interesting arrival. He thought to say something to his co-pilot, but decided not to. Captain Torajiro Sato had been, well, if not a close friend, then a colleague, and a cordial one at that, and the disgrace to his country, his airline, and his profession would be a difficult thing to bear for years. It could only have been worse had Sato been carrying passengers, for protecting them was the first rule of their lives, but even though his culture respected suicide for a purpose as an honorable exercise, and beyond that awarded status to the more dram
atic exits from corporeal life, this example of it had shocked and distressed his country more than anything in living memory. The pilot had always worn his uniform with pride. Now he would change out of it at the earliest opportunity, both abroad and at home. The pilot shook off the thought, applied the brakes smoothly, and halted the airliner so that the old-fashioned wheeled stairway was exactly even with the forward door of the Boeing airliner. It was then that he and his co-pilot turned inward to share a look of irony and shame at having performed their job with skill. Instead of sleeping over at the usual mid-level Washington hotel, they would be quartered in officers’ accommodations on the base, and, probably, with someone to watch over them. With a gun.

  The door of the airliner opened under the gentle ministrations of the senior stewardess. Prime Minister Mogataru Koga, his coat buttoned, and his tie straightened in his collar by a flustered aide, stood in the door briefly, assaulted by a blast of cold February air, and headed down the steps. The Air Force band struck up “Ruffles and Flourishes.”

  Acting Secretary of State Scott Adler was waiting at the bottom. The two had never met, but both had been fully briefed, Adler rather more quickly, as this was his fourth and most important arrival of the day. Koga looked just like his pictures. The man was grossly ordinary, about five feet six inches in height, of middle age, with a full head of black hair. His dark eyes were neutral—or tried to be, Adler thought on closer examination. There was sadness there. Hardly a surprise, the diplomat thought as he extended his hand.

  “Welcome, Mr. Prime Minister.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Adler.” The two men walked to the podium. Adler spoke a few muted words of welcome—this speech, drafted at Foggy Bottom, had taken an hour to get right, which amounted to about a minute to the world. Then Koga came to the microphone.

  “First of all, I must thank you, Mr. Adler, and thank your country, for allowing me to come today. As surprising as this gesture is, I have come to understand that such things are a tradition in your vast and generous country. I come to represent my country today on a sad but necessary mission. I hope it will be a mission of healing for your country and for mine. I hope that your citizens and ours can see in this tragedy a bridge to a peaceful future.” Koga stepped back, and Adler led him off down the red carpet, as the assembled band played Kimagayo, the brief anthem of Japan which had actually been written by an English composer a hundred years earlier. The Prime Minister looked at the honor guard and tried to read the young faces, looking for hatred or disgust in them, but finding only impassivity on the way to the waiting car. Adler got in behind him.

  “How are you feeling, sir?” SecState asked.

  “Well, thank you. I slept on the flight.” Koga assumed that the question was a mere pleasantry, then learned that it was not. It had been Ryan’s idea, not Adler’s, oddly enough, made somewhat more convenient by the time of day. The sun was down below the horizon now, and the sunset would be a brief one, as clouds rolled in from the northwest.

  “If you wish, we can see President Ryan on the way to your embassy. The President instructed me to say that if you would prefer not to do so, because of the lengthy flight or other reasons, he will not be offended.” Scott was surprised that Koga didn’t hesitate an instant.

  “I gladly accept this honor.”

  The acting Secretary of State pulled a portable radio from his coat pocket. “EAGLE to SWORDBASE. Affirmative.” Adler had chuckled a few days earlier to learn his Secret Service codename. “EAGLE” was the English counterpart to his German-Jewish surname.

  “SWORDBASE copies affirmative,” the encrypted radio crackled back.

  “EAGLE, out.”

  The motorcade speeded up Suitland Parkway. Under other circumstances a news helicopter might have tracked them with a live camera, but Washington airspace was effectively shut down for the moment. Even National Airport was closed, with its flights shunted to Dulles or Baltimore-Washington International. Koga hadn’t noticed the driver, who was American. The car turned right off the parkway, then hopped a block to the ramp for I- 295, which turned almost immediately into I-395, a bumpy thoroughfare that led across the Anacostia River toward downtown Washington. As it merged with the main roadway, the stretch Lexus in which he was sitting veered to the right. Another identical car took its place as his formed up with three Secret Service Suburbans in a maneuver that took a mere five seconds. The empty streets made the rest of the trip easy, and in but a few minutes, his car turned onto West Executive Drive.

  “Here they come, sir,” Price said, notified by the uniformed guard at the gatehouse.

  Jack walked outside just as the car halted, not sure of the protocol for this—one more thing he’d yet to figure out about his new job. He almost moved to pull open the door himself, but a Marine corporal got there first, yanking the door and saluting like a robot.

  “Mr. President,” Koga said on standing up.

  “Mr. Prime Minister. Please come this way.” Ryan gestured with his hand.

  Koga had never been to the White House before, and it struck him that had he flown over—what? three months earlier—to discuss the trade problems that had led to a shooting war... yet another shameful failure. Then Ryan’s demeanor came through the haze. He’d read once that the full ceremonies of a state arrival were not the sign of importance here—well, that was not possible or appropriate in any case, Koga told himself. But Ryan had stood alone at the door, and that must have meant something, the Japanese Prime Minister told himself on the way up the stairs. A minute later, whizzed through the West Wing, he and Ryan were alone in the Oval Office, separated only by a low table and a coffee tray.

  “Thank you for this,” Koga said simply.

  “We had to meet,” President Ryan said. “Any other time and we’d have people watching and timing us and trying to read our lips.” He poured a cup for his guest and then himself.

  “Hai, the press in Tokyo have become much more forward in the past few days.” Koga made to lift his cup, but stopped. “Whom do I thank for rescuing me from Yamata?”

  Jack looked up. “The decision was made here. The two officers are in the area, if you want to see them again personally.”

  “If it is convenient.” Koga sipped at his cup. He would have preferred tea, but Ryan was doing his best to be a host, and the quality of the gesture impressed his guest. “Thank you for letting me come, President Ryan.”

  “I tried to talk to Roger about the trade problem, but ... but I wasn’t persuasive enough. Then I worried that something might be happening with Goto, but I didn’t move quickly enough, what with the Russian trip and everything. It was all a great big accident, but I suppose war usually is. In any case, it is up to the two of us to heal that wound. I want it done as rapidly as possible.”

  “The conspirators are all under arrest. They will appear in court for treason,” Koga promised.

  “That is your affair,” the President replied. Which wasn’t really true. Japan’s legal system was a curious one in which courts often enough violated the country’s constitution in favor of broader but unwritten cultural mores, something unthinkable to Americans. Ryan and America expected that the trials would go by the book with no such variations. Koga understood that fully. A reconciliation between America and Japan depended absolutely on that, along with a multitude of other understandings which could not be spoken, at least not at this level. For his own part, Koga had already made sure that the judges selected for the various trials understood what the rules were.

  “I never thought it possible that such a thing could happen, and then, that madman Sato ... My country and my people are shamed by it. I have so much to do, Mr. Ryan.”

  Jack nodded. “We both do. But it will be done.” He paused. “The technical issues can be handled at the ministerial level. Between ourselves, I only wanted to be sure that we understood each other. I will trust your goodwill.”

  “Thank you, Mr. President.” Koga set his cup down to examine the man on the opposite sofa. He
was young for such a job, though not the youngest American president. Theodore Roosevelt would probably hold that distinction into eternity. On the lengthy flight from Tokyo he’d read up on John Patrick Ryan. The man had killed with his own hand more than once, had been threatened with his own death and that of his family, and had done other things which his intelligence advisers only speculated about. Examining his face over a brief span of seconds, he tried to understand how such a person could also be a man of peace, but the clues were not there to be seen, and Koga wondered if there was something in the American character that he’d never quite understood. He saw the intelligence and the curiosity, one to measure and the other to probe. He saw fatigue and sadness. His recent days must have been the purest form of hell, Koga was sure. Somewhere still in this building, probably, were the children of Roger and Anne Durling, and that would be like a physical weight for the man to carry about. It struck the Prime Minister that Ryan, like most Westerners, was not very skilled at concealing his inner thoughts, but that wasn’t true, was it? There had to be other things happening behind those blue eyes, and those things were not being advertised. They were not in any way threatening, but they were there. This Ryan was samurai, as he’d said in his office a few days earlier, but there was an additional layer of complexity as well. Koga set that aside. It wasn’t all that important, and there was something that he had to ask, a personal decision he’d made over mid-Pacific.

  “I have a request, if that is permitted.”