Shadow Command

like stealth bombers, unmanned combat aerial vehicles, and aircraft carriers? McLanahan has convinced Martindale that spaceplanes are better, even though he used unmanned bombers almost exclusively in his attacks on Russia —”

“And as you’ve pointed out many times, Joe,” Barbeau added, “we can’t afford to put all our eggs in one basket again. The Russian attack was so successful because all the bombers were located at a small handful of undefended bases, and unless they’re all in the air, they’re vulnerable to attack. But aircraft carrier battle groups deployed to bases all around the world, or far out at sea, are heavily equipped for self-protection and are far less vulnerable to sneak attack.”

“Exactly,” Gardner said, nodding with pleasure that Barbeau had brought up the aircraft carriers. “That’s the point I’ve been trying to make for all these years. We need a mix of forces — we can’t dump all the money for new weapon systems on one unproven technology. An aircraft carrier battle group is no more expensive that what McLanahan is proposing we spend on these spaceplanes, but they are far more versatile and battle-proven.”

“The Senate Armed Services Committee needs to hear that argument from you and your administration, Joe,” Barbeau said, giving his hand another caress and leaning forward toward him sympathetically, exposing more of her ample cleavage. “McLanahan was the hero of the war to avenge the American Holocaust, but that was in the past. A lot of senators may be afraid to cross McLanahan for fear there will be a backlash against them if the American people wonder why they’re not supporting America’s most famous general. But with McLanahan silenced, if they get the direct support of the President, they’ll be more inclined to break ranks. Now is the time to act. We must do something, and it has to be now, while McLanahan is…well, with all due respect, while the general is out of the picture. Undoubtedly the committee’s confidence in the spaceplane program is rattled. They are much more amenable to a compromise.”

“I think we need to get together on this, Stacy,” Gardner said. “Let’s hammer out a plan that both the committee and the Pentagon will support. We should present a united front.”

“That sounds marvelous, Mr. President, really marvelous.”

“Then I have the full support of the Senate Armed Services Committee?” Gardner asked. “I have allies in the House I can call on too, but the backing of the Senate is crucial. Together, united, we can go before the American people and Congress and make a convincing argument.”

“What if McLanahan pulls out of this? He and that ex-senator astronaut science geek Ann Page are a formidable team.”

“McLanahan is out — he’ll surely retire, or be forced to retire.”

“That man is a bulldog. If he recovers, he won’t retire.”

“If he won’t do it for his own good, he’ll do it because I’ll order him to do it,” Gardner said. “And if he still fights it, I’ll make sure the world understands how dangerous the man has been over the years. He is a loose cannon — the world just doesn’t know about it. The man killed dozens of innocent civilians in Tehran, for Christ’s sake.”

“He did?” She hated to let it slip that the majority leader of the U.S. Senate didn’t know something, but she couldn’t help it. It was a surprise, and she didn’t like surprises. Would Gardner fill her in? “When?”

“On the very mission we were discussing when he had his episode, the operational test mission he was running from the Armstrong Space Station,” Gardner replied. “He set off a missile that released chemical weapons outside an apartment building in Tehran, killing dozens including women and children, and then he attacked a Russian reconnaissance plane with some kind of death ray — probably to cover up the attack on Tehran.”

Thank God Gardner was a blabbermouth. “I had no idea…!”

“That’s not the half of what this joker does, Stacy. I know a dozen different criminal infractions and outright acts of war he’s responsible for over the years — including an attack that probably made Russian president Gryzlov plan the atomic attacks against the United States.”

“What?”

“McLanahan is a loose cannon, a complete wild card,” Gardner said bitterly. “He attacked Russia with absolutely no authorization; he bombed a Russian bomber base simply for personal revenge. Gryzlov was a former Russian bomber pilot — he knew it was an attack against him, a personal attack.” Gardner was on a roll — this was better than the Congressional Research Service, Barbeau thought. “That’s why Gryzlov went after bomber bases in the United States — not because our bombers were any great strategic threat to Russia, but because he was trying to get McLanahan.”

Barbeau’s mouth was open in shock…but at the same time, she was tantalized, even aroused. Damn, she thought, McLanahan seemed like such a milquetoast, a Boy Scout — who the hell knew he was some kind of maverick action hero? That made him more appealing than ever. What else lurked underneath that impossibly quiet, unassuming frame? She had to shake herself out of her sudden reverie. “Wow…”

“The Russians are scared of him, that’s for sure,” Gardner went on. “Zevitin wants me to have him arrested. He demands to know what he’s been doing and what he intends to do with the space station and those spaceplanes. He’s madder than hell, and I don’t blame him.”

“Zevitin sees the space station as a threat.”

“Of course he does. But is that the only damned benefit of the thing? It’s costing us as much as two aircraft carrier battle groups to keep that thing up there…for what? I’ve got to reassure Zevitin that the space stuff is no direct offensive threat to Russia, and I don’t know exactly what the thing can do! I didn’t even know McLanahan was on board the thing!”

“If it’s only a defensive system, I don’t see any reason not to tell Zevitin all there is to tell about the space station, if it’ll help defuse tensions between us,” Barbeau said. “The McLanahan situation may have solved itself.”

“Thank God,” Gardner grunted. “I’m sure for every crime I know McLanahan is guilty of, there are ten more I don’t know about…yet,” Gardner went on. “He’s got weapons at his disposal from dozens of different black research programs that I don’t even fully know about, and I was the damned Secretary of Defense!”

She looked at Gardner carefully. “McLanahan will certainly retire on his own, or you can have him medically retire,” she said. “But he could be even more dangerous to us on the outside.”

“I know, I know. That’s why Zevitin wants him put away.”

“If I can help you put pressure on McLanahan, Joe, just tell me,” Barbeau said sincerely. “I’ll do whatever I can to turn him, or at least make him think about what his opinions mean to others in the government and around the world. I’ll make him realize it’s personal, not just business. I’ll ruin him if he persists, but I’m sure I can convince him to see it our way.”

“If anyone can convince him, Stacy, it’s you.”

They looked into each other’s eyes for a long moment, each silently asking and answering the questions they dared not verbalize. “So, Stacy, I know this isn’t your first time in the residence. I assume you’ve seen the Lincoln Bedroom before?”

Barbeau’s smile was as hot as a bonfire, and she unabashedly looked Gardner up and down hungrily as if sizing him up in a pickup bar. She slowly rose from her seat. “Yes, I’ve seen it,” she said in a low, breathy voice. “I played there as a young girl when my father was in the Senate. It was a children’s playroom back then. Of course it has an entirely different connotation now — still a playroom, but not for children.”

“It’s still the best fund-raiser in town — twenty-five grand a night per person is the going rate.”

“It’s too bad we’ve been reduced to such tawdry acts, isn’t it?” Barbeau asked. “It spoils the feel of this place.”

“The White House is still a house,” Gardner said distractedly. “It’s impossible for me to see it as more than just a workplace. I haven’t seen a tenth of the rooms in here yet. They tell me there are thirty-five bathrooms here — I’ve seen three. Frankly I don’t have much desire to explore the place.”

“Oh, but you should, Joe,” Barbeau said. “I think you will, when you get over the tumultuous first few months in office and get a chance to relax.”

“If McLanahan can stop stirring the shit, maybe I could.”

She turned, her arms outstretched, looking around the room. “I asked Mr. Kordus if we could meet here, in the Treaty Room, because I don’t recall ever being in here although it’s right next door to the Lincoln Bedroom. But