The detailed briefing had just concluded, and the men and women present sat in stunned silence as the room lights were brought back up. The Air Force intelligence officer that gave the briefing was dismissed, leaving behind the members of President Thomas Nathaniel Thorn's 'National Security Council.' Although the Thorn administration did not have a formal NSC, Thorn met with Vice President Lester Busick, Secretary of Defense Robert Goff, Secretary of State Edward Kercheval, Director of Central Intelligence Douglas Morgan, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Richard Venti to discuss any military developments.
'Damned brutal attack,' Secretary of Defense Robert Goff remarked. In his mid-fifties, with a round face and compact frame, Goff was normally energetic and animated, even jovial-but the briefing he had just eceived left his features cold, hard, and angry. 'What kind of a sick bastard does this?'
'Someone who obviously did not want to leave any traces of evidence behind,' Vice President Lester Busick offered. He turned to General Venti. 'What did our reconnaissance folks report, General?'
'Space Command recorded the explosion from geosynchronous satellite infrared sensors,' Venti explained. 'Based on radiation and photon levels, the Command is estimating between a point-five- and two-kiloton device-a so-called 'backpack' nuke, probably from a nuclear artillery round or torpedo warhead. It appears to have been an enhanced radiation device, what we call a neutron bomb-designed to kill humans but leave buildings and vehicles intact. Probably fired from a small artillery piece or large mortar mounted in a truck. It did its work very, very effectively.'
'Radiation? Fallout?'
'None, sir,' Venti replied. 'Enhanced radiation devices leave no fallout, and the radiation is present for only a few seconds at most. But the damage to human cells is massive. Within a mile of ground zero, death occurs within twelve hours; within two miles, death can occur within twentyfour hours. It would take twenty feet of earth or twelve inches of steel to block the radiation enough to survive.'
Thorn was leaning forward in his seat, elbows on the table, his lips hidden behind his interlaced fingers. His advisers were accustomed to talking among themselves, as if the President of the United States were not even in the room, while he processed what he heard and combined it with his unique insights, intelligence, military experience, and philosophies to come up with a plan of action. After several moments of listening, he looked at his Director of Central Intelligence, Douglas R. Morgan. 'What's been the region's general response, Robert?'
'General alert of active-duty Egyptian military and paramilitary forces along the Libyan-Egyptian borderthat's it,' Morgan responded, flipping through his briefing notes. 'No counterattacks or mobilizations. Israel has al-
ready been on heightened alert status. I believe everyone simply considers this to be a terrorist attack, not a general attack.'
'Although I'd expect a general attack to take place at any time,' Secretary Goff said, 'and we can't rule out the use of nuclear weapons-full-yield fission weapons-by the Libyans again.'
'All of our forces in the Med are on heightened alert, sir,' Venti added. 'Securing ships at sea was accomplished very quickly, and the ships are positioning themselves to assist other vessels. We're hoping it won't be a killer. We're ready in case the Libyans try to take a shot at our ships or launch a rocket attack against Israel or Europe.'
The President nodded, then turned to his secretary of state. 'Ed? Reaction from local politicians, neighboring countries, and organizations?'
'The streets of Alexandria and Cairo are practically deserted, sir-looks like most folks expect more attacks in the cities,' Secretary of State Edward Kercheval replied. Kercheval was not a Jeffersonian Party member, as was the President and the rest of his cabinet officers, but was considered a highly respected and valuable addition to the President's inner circle of advisers-even though he disagreed more with his boss than agreed with him. 'Immediate and heated condemnation of the attack by Dr. Ahmed Kalir, the prime minister of Egypt and the leader of the current majority party. Dr. Kalir has requested help from the United States in fighting off an impending invasion by Libya and possibly Sudan.'
'Does that appear likely?'
All heads turned to the Director of Central Intelligence. 'Very possible-given the new information we've seen over the past several days,' Morgan replied. 'Libya has no capability to beat Egypt in a conventional conflict-Egypt has a three-to-one numerical advantage and at least a twenty-to-one technological advantage. But Egypt has no weapons of mass destruction as far as we know, and a patchwork air defense system stitched together from many countries that doesn't all work well together. If Libya de-
cides to launch a nuclear attack against Cairo or Alexandria, it might very well succeed. Plus, several thousand Libyan troops are stationed in Sudan now-they could open up a second front against Egypt at any time.'
'As far as the rest of the Arab world, most nations are neither condemning nor endorsing the raid, except for other Muslim Brotherhood nations, which praised the raid as the beginning of the end of Western imperialism in the Arab world,' Kercheval went on. 'It appears that the leading opposition member in Egypt, Khalid al-Khan, was killed in the explosion.
'No word yet from Susan Bailey Salaam, the widow of the assassinated president, either, who is a candidate for president,' Kercheval added. 'Information has it that she might be under arrest or in hiding from Khalid al-Khan's men.'
'I thought she was killed in that attack at the mosque a couple weeks ago.'
'So did the rest of the world, Mr. President,' Kercheval said. 'She suddenly turned up at a National Assembly meeting to announce her candidacy for president before being refused by the Assembly on technical grounds. She was injured but not seriously.'
'She's an American, I believe?' Thorn asked.
'Yes, sir. Ex-Air Force. Dual citizenship.'
'She'd better hightail it back here where she belongs before her husband's assassins catch up with her,' Vice President Busick idly commented. Thorn glanced at the veteran politician but said nothing.
'Recommended course of action, sir?' General Venti asked.
Thorn thought for a few moments. The 'Kitchen Cabinet' was accustomed to Thorn's seemingly disconnected way of pondering an issue-he would adopt a faraway expression, as if searching through space, for an answer. Former military men called it the 'thousand-yard stare,' but even though Thorn was ex-Army Special Forces, no one gave him that kind of credit.
Thomas Nathaniel Thorn was the first third-party candidate since Abraham Lincoln to be elected to the White House. To be elected president of the United States without a massive, well-organized political machine behind you was unusual enough-but Thorn was odder still. He was a loner, a politician who seemingly shunned crowds and the spotlight. He was rarely seen in public, although now into the third year of his term he was seen more and more on the reelection campaign trail. He worked long hours in his private study or in the Oval Office in a very hands-on but decentralized management structure. The executive branch of government was the smallest in sixty years, all carefully orchestrated by a man who used to kill for a living but was now perceived as one of the gentlest, nonconfrontational, and nonconformist commanders-in-chief ever to occupy the White House.
As was his custom, Thorn glanced up with an unspoken request in his eyes, first to his vice president. 'Park a carrier battle group off the Libyan coast,' Busick said.
'I agree, sir,' Secretary of Defense Goff chimed in. 'One carrier battle group would just about equal the entire Libyan military's strength.' Left unspoken was the fact that an aircraft carrier battle group was just about the only option open to them-since one of Thomas Thorn's first acts as commander-in-chief was to bring most troops stationed overseas home. Although the United States still had basing rights in all of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries and still deployed overseas often for joint military exercises, no U.S. combat forces were permanently stationed anywhere in Europe or the Middle East.
'Of course, we would condemn the attack in the United Nations, in the media, and in every appearance we made for the next few weeks,' Secretary of State Kercheval said. 'I think it would be easy to swing world public opinion against Libya. But I think moving an aircraft carrier off Libya's coast would send a pretty strong message as well-the United States thinks it is definitely in our best interests to defend Egypt.'
Thorn turned to General Venti. 'General? Who's over there?'
'The Stennis carrier group is cruising in the Med right now, sir,' Venti responded. 'The Reagan group is scheduled to join them in four days. They have a week of joint exercises planned in the Med, and then the Stennis was scheduled to come home. The groups have canceled their exercises and are at threat condition Delta. The
