“Nancy, how did he get this far along before the surgery?”
“He wouldn’t do it, Will, and I couldn’t make him, and his doctors couldn’t, either. He wanted to finish out his term first. If only he’d done this last summer… but he just wouldn’t.”
“Is there anything I can do for you or George?”
“No, I think everything that can be done has been done. When will the announcement be made?”
“Tank Wainwright will announce it to the convention at seven o’clock and introduce Martin Stanton, who’s replacing George on the ticket. I know this seems rushed, but we don’t really have a choice.”
“I agree. That’s the way to do it.”
“I’ll have Kitty speak to George’s office about it.”
“Thank you for calling, Will.”
“When George wakes up, tell him I’m praying for him.”
“I will.”
“Good night.” Will hung up the phone.
“How is he?” the speaker asked.
“Not good,” Will said.
Will was backstage at Madison Square Garden in the reception room that had been arranged for him. Kate arrived from Washington with his stepson, Peter, in tow.
Will kissed them both. “Any news on the Pakistani thing?”
“The counterattack should be in progress now,” she said. “I don’t know when we’ll have the result.”
Kitty came over. “Excuse me, Mr. President, but I think we should get Mrs. Lee and Peter to their box now, before the speaker introduces Governor Stanton.”
“Right,” Will said. He kissed them good-bye, then sat down to watch the proceedings on television, like everyone else.
“Ladies and Gentlemen,” Martin Stanton roared, “the once and future president of the United States of America!”
Will entered from the wings, and a roar went up in the huge arena. The band was playing “Happy Days Are Here Again,” but nobody could hear. The pandemonium continued for a good five minutes, while Will plastered a smile on his face, put an arm around Stanton, and waved like an idiot until they quieted.
As the roar expired, Will stepped forward to the lectern and checked the TelePrompTers on both sides of where he stood.
“The first thing I should tell you is that I’ve just spoken to the vice president’s surgeon and to Nancy Kiel, and George is out of surgery. I hope we’ll have more news of him before the night is over.
“I know that having a new vice-presidential candidate came as a surprise to you, but I didn’t know about it myself, until George came to see me this morning. I hope you’ll all mention him in your prayers tonight.
“Martin Stanton is going to be a great vice president!” he said, and the roar came again, while Stanton waved from the sidelines. Then, as Will was taking a breath to begin his acceptance speech he heard two cell phones begin ringing behind him on the stage. Then he heard more cell phones, some from the audience, and two Secret Service agents came running down the aisles and stood at the foot of the podium, facing the audience.
Will looked over his shoulder and saw Tim Coleman striding toward him from the wings, his cell phone in his hand.
Will stepped away from the microphones. “What’s happened?” he asked as Tim reached him.
Tim leaned in close to Will’s ear. “There’s been a nuclear explosion in Pakistan,” he said.
6
Will followed Tim Coleman back to the green room, just offstage.
Kitty Conroy was waiting, and a moment later Kate walked in with Peter in tow.
Will turned to his Secret Service agent. “Please find Peter a safe and private place to wait for us,” he said. “Be sure there’s a TV set.” He turned to Peter. “Peter, please go with the agent. We have to have a meeting here.” Peter left the room with the agent without a word. It was not the first time he had been asked to leave a room.
Will looked at the large-screen TV set on the wall of the room. It was divided into four areas with a different network on each screen. None of them appeared to have the story.
“What kind of communications do we have here?” Will asked.
“One secure line to the White House switchboards, Mr. President. Other than that, only ordinary phone lines, four of them. They’ve been checked repeatedly for bugs.”
“Where’s the nearest command center?” Will asked.
“At the Waldorf, sir.”
“Clear me a path to the Waldorf and let me know when the motorcade is ready to go.”
“Right away, sir,” the agent said. “It shouldn’t take more than ten or twelve minutes.” The man went to work on his cell phone.
“Kate,” Will said, “do you know anything I don’t?”
“No,” Kate said, “but I have a secure cell phone, and I can call Lance at Langley.”
“Please do so.” Will picked up the secure phone, and a White House operator answered immediately. “This is the president. Please connect me with the duty officer at the Pentagon.”
“Yes, sir.” The line was picked up on the first ring.
“Duty officer, Colonel Bird.”
“Colonel, this is the president speaking.”
“Yes, sir?”
“Where are the secretary of defense, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the other chiefs of staff?”
“The secretary is still on vacation at his home in Aspen, sir. The others are all en route to the Pentagon, Mr. President,” the colonel said. “The earliest will arrive in twelve minutes and the latest in twenty-one minutes.”
“What information do you have on the nuclear explosion in Pakistan?”
“Only that it has occurred, sir. We caught it on satellite, about forty miles east of the missile site from which it was fired.”
“Thank you, Colonel. Please tell the chairman to call me at the Waldorf command center as soon as he has assembled his group and to arrange to feed video to me there and to the secretary in Aspen.” He hung up the phone and looked at the Secret Service agent. “How soon can we leave for the Waldorf?”
“In about five minutes, sir.”
“I’m going back to the podium,” Will said. “Tell the speaker to call for order now.” Will went and stood in the wings while the speaker quieted the arena, then he walked to the lectern.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please excuse my brief absence. I have some important news for you that has not been broadcast on the networks yet.” Silence fell over the arena. “Early this morning, eastern time, an attack was made by elements of the Taliban, with the possible assistance of Al Qaeda, on a missile launch site in northwestern Pakistan. The site was captured, and among the six missiles stored in silos there, two had uranium-235 nuclear warheads of about ten kilotons each, or about half the size of the Hiroshima bomb.
“I spoke twice this morning and this afternoon to President Khan of Pakistan, and he assured me that preparations were under way to retake the missile site and that the attack would be made this evening. President Khan assured me that all precautions were being taken to secure other missile sites.
“As a precaution, I gave orders to put on alert an Air Force squadron of fighter jets, armed with conventional
