The United States stood alone now, completely isolated from the rest of the world.
Even within its own borders, there was an almost frenzied dissent. Two million protestors filled the streets of Washington, D.C. Anti-war vigils were held in every city nightly; calls for the immediate withdrawal of the military from the Middle East were issued from the Senate and House, action that would have no effect but to leave Israel alone, adding to its isolation. Having learned they were unlikely to persuade enough of the people through public protests, the anti-war activists were ready to try something new. Turning to the federal courts, they sought emergency decrees. It wasn’t hard to find willing judges. A federal court in California issued an order freezing all Israeli assets within the country as well as prohibiting international aid to Israel until the appropriate use of the money could be reviewed by the courts. Another federal judge in Massachusetts issued an emergency injunction opening the door for the federal courts to hold senior military commanders and even the secretary of defense as war criminals if it was determined they had colluded with Israel in the nuclear attack.
It had been four days of extreme crisis such as the world had never witnessed before. Not since—Sara didn’t know. There was nothing in her experience she could compare it with. Pearl Harbor, perhaps, but this was far darker. It was as if a suffocating blanket had been hanging and then suddenly dropped, draping the world in an uncertain cloud. This was a nuclear drama of a category beyond which she had anything to compare.
She huffed in frustration, and then dialed her husband’s cell phone again. She got the same message and hung up the phone. Then she dialed his office number, but the White House switchboard picked up.
“White House,” the operator said. “Is this an emergency?”
“No, no,” Sara answered softly. “My husband works in the West Wing.”
“Is this an emergency, Mrs. Brighton?”
Sara hesitated. “How do you know who I am?”
“Caller ID, Mrs. Brighton.”
Sara knew it wasn’t as simple as that. The White House communications office was a very powerful office.
“I want to speak to my husband.”
“All of the national security staff have been sequestered, Mrs. Brighton. I’m sure you know that is standard procedure during a time of crisis, ma’am. Now, if this was an emergency, we could pass a message to your husband, but otherwise, the president is asking for your patience. He and the national security staff are working through some very difficult issues right now, and security is obviously one of their highest concerns. Communications will probably be limited for just a few more days. Meanwhile, the president wishes to convey his appreciation for the sacrifices of all of the families of the national security staff.”
Sara huffed once again. “There is nothing I can do, then?”
“No, ma’am, there is not.”
“Could I send him a message?”
“If it’s an emergency, ma’am.”
“You already know that it isn’t.”
“Then I’m sorry, Mrs. Brighton.”
Sara started to say something, and then simply gave up. “All right, then, thank you.”
The phone line went dead.
Sara stared at the floor, the uneasiness building inside. She felt so alone, so helpless, so frustrated and scared.
But she was no longer uncertain.
She knew what she had to do.
Having finally made a decision, she started to relax now for the first time in days. She moved quickly. Her sons’ bedroom was at the top of the stairs. She pushed their door open and pulled up the shades. Luke and Ammon groaned together.
“Hey!” Luke protested sleepily, his head shoved between his pillow and the wall.
Ammon lifted his head from his pillow and saw the look on her face. “What’s wrong, Mom?” he asked as he rolled out of bed. Luke turned and looked at her, then swung his feet onto the floor.
“We’ve got to go,” she told them, her voice trembling now.
“Go?” Ammon stuttered. “What do you mean?”
“I mean we are leaving. We’re going to get out of the city!”
Ammon stood up and started pulling on his pants. Luke rubbed his eyes wearily, but didn’t move. He didn’t understand yet, and his face was confused. “That’s crazy talk, Mom. What are you planning to do?”
“We’re getting out of the city—”
“Have you talked to Dad?” Ammon interrupted anxiously. “Did he tell us to leave?”
Sara shook her head. “They still won’t let me through to him.”
“Does he know what we’re doing?”
“No, he does not.”
Ammon hesitated. “Are you certain then, Mom?”
She stopped, her face pale as gray paper. She took a step toward him and her shoulders slumped. Moving her hand to her mouth, she tried to stifle a sob. She fought the overwhelming rush of emotion, but she couldn’t hold it in, her face growing tight in fear, her body heaving as she dropped her eyes. Ammon immediately walked toward her and pulled her into his arms. “It’s all right, Mom, it’s all right,” he said.
She rested her head on his shoulder, and then suddenly pulled away. “Listen to me!” Her voice was firm now, though her eyes were wet with tears. “I don’t think that we have a lot of time. We’ve got to leave right now. Every minute we stay here, I get a bigger knot in my chest.
“Ammon, take the Honda. It won’t hold as much stuff, but it’s much better on gas. Go down, fill it up. Take those red gas cans your dad has in the back of the garage and fill them too. If you can find something else to carry gas in, take it as well. Fill up the gas containers, then run to the grocery store and buy all the bottled water you can.”
Ammon was simply amazed. Frightened and nervous, but amazed all the same. She was so together.
Sara turned to Luke. “Get the three-day emergency kit. You know where it is. Check everything. Then run downstairs and get some food, get everything that is in cans—and don’t forget a can opener—and a knife, we might need that.”
Luke gritted his teeth in frustration, but did not move. “Stupid, stupid, stupid!” he grabbed his hair as he cried. “Why is the White House so stupid? I want to talk to my dad! Why can’t they let us talk to our father? I think it’s important we talk to him before we do something dumb!”
“Listen,” Sara said, her voice even and calm. “You’ve got to accept this, Luke, it’s the way it has always been. The military, the White House staff, they live in a world of their own. They have a far greater weight and responsibility than you and I could ever imagine. The future of our country, the entire future of the world may be hanging in the balance right now. They don’t do these things just to make it harder for us; this is the way they have to operate! You know that. You’ve seen it. You know how the military works. How many times have I had to do things without your father? How many times has he been forced to leave us? He was gone for a whole year during the Second Gulf War. I know you might feel abandoned, but there’s nothing we can do. And you know that your father would help us if there was any way that he could.
“Now get dressed and get the emergency kit. Come on! There’s no time.”
“No time, Mom! You’re kidding. What are you talking about? Why don’t we have time? We should wait to talk to Dad! We should take the time to think this through. Why do we need all that stuff, the emergency kit, all that water? What are you not telling us?”
Sara took a patient step toward him. “Listen to me, son. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I have no idea. None at all. I haven’t seen a vision. I had no revelation in the night. But something is telling me that we have to leave. It’s been telling me for days.” She glanced quickly toward his brother. “Ammon feels it too. I can see it by the look on his face.” She turned back to Luke. “Now that’s a bummer, and I know that! Your dad is locked away inside the White House. The world is going crazy at the door. But it is what it is, Luke, and that is all I
can say. Now, are you going to trust me, or am I going to have to fight you? If I have to fight you, that’s fine, I’ll do what I have to do. But it sure would make it easier if you would trust me, at least for now.”
Luke looked at her, his face uncertain and grim. “You’re going to pack up and leave. Just like that, bang? We’re gone?”
Sara pressed her lips together. “If your father were here, would you listen to him?”
“If Dad was here, I don’t think we’d be packing up to leave! I mean, come on, Mom, where are we going to go? What are we running from? What is your plan?”
Sara took a breath and looked directly into his eyes. “My plan,” she said simply, “is to follow this feeling, this sense of warning that I have. I plan to follow where it leads us; that’s all that I know. I can recognize the voice of God; I have felt it in my life before. I have felt it! You have felt it! I know what it is telling me right now: Get out of the city. I am as certain of that as I am certain of anything. Now, if you can’t trust me, I understand that. It’s a pretty big leap. But I’m telling you, Luke, this is what we’re supposed to do.”
His face began to soften as a warmth filled the room. He felt it, a sudden burning from somewhere deep in his chest. “All right, Mom,” he said. “What do you want me to do?”
She embraced him, and then held his shoulders. “Get us some food. I don’t know if we’ll need it, but it might come in handy somehow.”
Luke nodded and got dressed quickly, then disappeared down the hall.
Sara turned for her bedroom. “I’ve got to get dressed,” she said.
“Where are you going?” Ammon asked her.
“To the bank. I’ll have to go down to Main. There’s a branch that opens early. I’m going to go get some cash.”
“How much?”
“I think ten thousand is the most they will give me at any one time. Especially right now, the world going crazy, I’m sure I’m not the only one taking money out of the bank. If they’ll give me more, I’ll take it. I’ll get all that I can.
“How much do you have available?”
“We’ve got about forty thousand in our emergency fund.”
“Get it all if they’ll let you.”
“Don’t worry. I will.”
“I’ll get the fuel and some extra containers. Then I’m going to E-mail Dad. I’ll also leave him a note on the counter and tell him where we’re going.”
Sara stopped suddenly. “Where are we going?” she asked Ammon.
He looked straight ahead. “West. We should go west.”
“All right, then West Virginia?”
“We could stay the night in Charleston,” Ammon suggested. “Remember our old friends from Germany—what were their names; I think they’re retired out there.”
Sara thought for a while. “No. Let’s just get out of the city, and then see how we feel. Maybe this whole thing will blow over. Who knows, in a couple of days we might feel like it’s safe to come home.”
“Yeah, Mom, OK. Now get down to the bank.”
Sara hurried to her bedroom and threw on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. When she came out, Ammon was waiting. “I told Luke to pack some clothes.”
“Good,” Sara said as she passed him in the hall. Ammon touched her shoulder and she stopped. “Mom, I’m going to bring Dad’s pistol.”
Sara hesitated, a shiver running through her. “Get it,” she whispered, then turned and ran down the stairs.
EIGHTEEN
The White House, Washington, D.C.
Major General Neil Brighton got the phone call while working at his desk. The White House operator buzzed his personal line. Her voice was low and professional, but Brighton could sense a slight strain.
“General Brighton,” she said when he picked up the phone, “I’ve got King al-Rahman from Saudi Arabia on the line.”
Brighton almost gulped. “You’re kidding!” he said.
“No, General Brighton. He is demanding to speak with you.”
“Me! Are you certain?”
“Most certain, sir.”
“Has he said what he wants?”
“He has said nothing, sir.”
The general took a breath. “All right, get your voice recorders going. And call Grison. Tell him who I’m talking to and get him in here.”
“Yes, General Brighton. Are you ready for the king now, sir?”
“No, no, not yet. Where is the president? Where is he right now?”
“The president’s caravan left the White House just a few moments ago. He’s on his way to the State Department to meet with the NATO ministers.”
The general’s heart skipped a beat. “Get him on the line,” he commanded. “Tell him to stand by.” The general didn’t know why he had said it, there was no reason to, but something inside him was screaming. “And call the Secret Service,” he continued.
The operator hesitated. “What exactly shall I tell them, sir?” she asked in an uncertain tone.
Brighton shook his head. He didn’t know! “OK, hold before you do that, let me talk with the king first. But get Grison in here.”
“Yes, sir, I will. Now are you ready for the king?”
“Put him on,” Brighton answered.
The king’s voice came through the phone, gruff and proud. “General Brighton, you remember me, I hope,” the king of Saudi Arabia said.
“Of course, your Highness. My condolences regarding your father and your brother.” Brighton could not resist.
“Yes, thank you. You are gracious. Now, general, as you will soon see, time is of critical essence at this moment, and I must get immediately to the point. You know, I hope, that my brother held you in such high regard. I would even say that he loved you, certainly respected you, which is why I’m calling you now.”
“What can I do for you?” Brighton replied. Undiplomatically, he didn’t try to hide the disdain that he felt.
“What time is it there, General Brighton?” the king replied in an equally sour voice.
Brighton hesitated while he looked at his watch. “Why do you ask, your Royal Highness?” He noted the time.
The king snorted, then said, “Isn’t it 4:45 P.M.?”
“Yes,” the general answered.
“And I’m guessing that you have already asked to have your president put on the other line?”
“Yes,” Brighton answered.
“Is he on with us right now?”
Brighton glanced at the telephone console. “No, he has not joined us yet.”
“That is fine,” Al-Rahman said. “Either way, it does not matter. Now, I want you to tell him something for me. He has seven minutes. That is all. Seven minutes from now. I hope that is enough time, but it might not be. Still, I hope they are able to evacuate him before it happens, for I want him to see the death and destruction that he has caused. That is the only reason I am calling. I genuinely want him to live. I want him to see the downfall of his nation, the great whore of the earth. I want him to see his great city after it has been turned to black ash. I want him to see the fireball like those in Gaza did.
“Now, as for you, my good general, I’m sure it is already too late. They may have time to evacuate the president, but they will not evacuate you. So please, give my regards to my brother. And my father as well.”
The telephone clicked. The phone line went dead.
The general didn’t move, staring straight ahead.
His hands started shaking. His mind filled with fear. He thought of Sara and his children. He thought of the president. He thought of the city and the nation he loved so much. He sensed a sudden trembling, as if the world shook right beneath his chair. His heart started racing; his palms were sweaty, his vision blurred.
Grison raced into his office. “What did the king want?” he cried.
The general thought again of Sara. He thought again of his sons.
He stared at the national security adviser, a single tear in his eye. Grison glared at him, his face pale. �
��What is it?” he demanded in a piercing yell.
“Flashdance!” the general breathed.
Grison staggered back.
The general shook his head, and then picked up a red phone on the corner of his desk.
PacEx 178
Five miles southeast of Ronald Reagan International Airport, Washington, D.C.
The 757 package carrier descended to five thousand feet. It was flying northwest toward the airport, having been diverted over the Chesapeake Bay. The runway at Washington’s Reagan International Airport stretched roughly north and south at the ten o’clock position, and the aircraft was in a gentle turn to line up for its final approach. In the distance, the pilots could see the National Mall, with the Capitol Building on the east side and the Lincoln Memorial on the west. Midway between them, the White House was hidden in a group of tall trees. The pilots knew that the airspace immediately around the White House was a strict no-fly zone. If they penetrated the airspace they would be shot down.
The air traffic controller gave the PacEx carrier his final landing instructions. “PacEx 178, continue left, heading three-three-zero. Intercept the glide slope. Call the runway in sight.”
“Left turn to three-three-zero. Tally on the runway,” the freighter pilot replied.
“PacEx 178, you are number three to follow American 168 and Delta 352 on final. Descend to one thousand five hundred. Contact tower now on one two four point five.”
“Tally on the Delta,” the pilot said. “Descending to one point five and switching to tower.”
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