The Camel Club

“If I recall correctly, you said it involved an old building.”

She said slowly, “Right, near Washington, Virginia. I think it used to be a CIA asset, but it’s been abandoned a long time. NIC wanted to use it as an interrogation facility for foreign detainees, but with all the problems at Gitmo, Abu Ghraib and the Salt Pit, DOJ is nixing it. Why?”

“Because I think that’s where they may be holding President Brennan. Tell me everything you recall about it.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Stone said

They all looked at him. “Why not?” Alex asked.

“Because I know that building very well.”

“Who is this guy!” Simpson exclaimed.

“Shut up, Jackie,” Alex snapped. “Oliver, you really know where this place is?”

“There’s only one old CIA building in that part of Virginia.”

“Alex,” Simpson protested, “you’re not actually buying any of this, are you?”

Alex ignored her. “Can you get me there, Oliver?”

“Yes. But are you sure you want to go?”

“The president was kidnapped on my watch, so I have to do everything I can to get him back safely.”

“It won’t be easy. Not only is it well hidden, it’s designed such that a very small force inside can hold back a very large force outside indefinitely.”

“What the hell kind of place is it?” Reuben asked.

“It was a CIA training facility for very . . . special operatives.”

Alex checked his watch. “Washington, Virginia. If we start now, we can be there in about two hours.”

“Longer than that actually,” Stone said. “The facility is a bit off the beaten path.”

“Why can’t we call in the FBI?” Milton asked.

Stone shook his head. “We have no idea how high the corruption goes. This fellow Hemingway may have spies everywhere who could tip him off.”

“And we have no idea if the president is even there,” Alex added. “It’s just a hunch. We can’t waste their time leading them on what might be a wild-goose chase. We’re on a nuke missile countdown, for God’s sake.”

Kate said, “Well, I have a van. We can all go in that.”

Alex looked at her. “Forget it. You’re not coming, Kate!”

“Then you’re not going,” she snapped.

Stone interjected, “You can’t go, Kate, and neither can Caleb and Milton.” They all looked at him and started to erupt in protest all over again, but he held up his hand. “This facility’s unofficial name was Murder Mountain, and it’s an apt title.” He paused. “I’ll take Alex and Reuben there, but no one else.”

Alex added, “And three people might be able to get up there unnoticed.”

“Four,” Simpson said. They all turned to look at her. “Make that four people.” She stared defiantly at Alex. “I’m a Secret Service agent too.”

CHAPTER

63

THE NUCLEAR-POWERED SUBMARINE Tennessee had been given the unenviable task of launching the missile strike against Damascus. The 560-foot-long, nearly 17,000-ton Ohio-class nuclear submarine was based in Kings Bay, Georgia, along with the rest of the Atlantic ballistic missile sub fleet. Ohio-class nuclear submarines were the most powerful weapons in the United States military. Using its full complement of multiple warhead missiles, just one sub could obliterate any nation on the face of the earth with a single strike.

The Tennessee was currently parked in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean hundreds of feet down, although it could have hit Damascus with one of its latest-generation Trident II D-5 missiles while sitting in its East Coast home port. Each D-5 cost nearly $30 million, stood forty-four feet long, weighed over sixty tons and had a maximum range of twelve thousand kilometers with a reduced payload. Capable of Mach 20, the D-5 was ten times faster than the Concorde, and no military jet in the world could come anywhere close to matching its speed.

Only a single D-5 would be launched at Damascus, yet that was misleading as to the actual firepower being unleashed. The long-range D-5 configuration contained six MK 5 independent reentry vehicles, each one carrying a W-88 475-kiloton thermonuclear warhead. By comparison a single W-88 warhead far exceeded the combined explosive power of every bomb used in every war in history, including the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan in World War II.

While the 155 sailors on board the Tennessee had been at sea for four weeks, the crew was well aware of current events. The sailors knew what they had been ordered to do, and every one of them intended to carry out that order to the letter, even if most of them harbored secret fears about what path this would lead the world down. They stared at their computer screens and went over again and again the launch procedures that might very well send the world into a titanic war. It was quite heady stuff for a group whose average age was twenty-two.

Meanwhile, in the first hour since Hamilton had appeared on TV, the Arab world had united fully behind its sister nation. Diplomats from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait and Pakistan were desperately trying to convince America to change its mind. While the city of Damascus was being evacuated, military commanders and political leaders of other Muslim countries were conferencing on how best to respond if an American missile struck Syria. Middle Eastern terrorist organizations everywhere had called for an all-out jihad against the United States if Damascus was hit. Across much of the Middle East the leaders of these groups began planning their retaliations.

If a missile did strike Syria, the devastation would be far beyond anything the world had ever experienced before. Damascus was one of the most densely populated cities on the planet with over 6 million residents. It would only be possible for a minuscule percentage of its citizens to escape to safety in the allotted time. All others would simply disappear in the nuclear flashpoint as a mushroom cloud of radiation rose into the air before descending onto the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world.

Syria and the Sharia Group had immediately and vigorously disclaimed responsibility for the kidnapping. However, this explanation was not widely believed in Western circles. The Sharia Group had become far more active in terrorism over the last year. And the person making the call to Al Jazeera had used the complex password assigned to Sharia by the Arab network for authentication purposes. This password was constantly changed and was known only to a few highly placed leaders of the terrorist organization. Statements from the Sharia Group that one of its leaders who knew the current password had been missing for two weeks largely fell on deaf ears.

The United Nations had called on America to step down from its intention of launching a nuclear missile, and all other members of the U.N. Security Council had reiterated this demand through emergency diplomatic channels.

To all these pleas the United States’ reply was the same: It was all up to the kidnappers. All they had to do was return James Brennan unharmed, which was what they said they were going to do anyway, and the Syrians could live. The only difference was the U.S. was now dictating the timetable of the return of the president.

Israel was on the highest alert. Its leaders well knew that the country would be one of the first targets of an Islamic counterattack. And Syria was close enough to Israel that the issue of nuclear fallout caused the Israeli prime minister to contact Acting President Hamilton for clarification on the matter. Its vital Golan Heights water sources weren’t that far from the target zone. The government in Beirut also contacted Washington, since Damascus was close to Lebanon’s border. Washington’s terse reply was the same to both countries: “Take all precautions you deem necessary.”

Back at the White House, Acting President Hamilton sat in the Oval Office with Defense Secretary Decker, his military commanders, the National Security Council, Secretary of State Mayes and a few other members of his cabinet. Carter Gray was conspicuously absent from the group.

The momentous decision to launch nuclear weapons was clearly weighing on Hamilton; his skin pale and his