'I'm not good at lying,' Ryan told them.
'Learn how,' the chief of staff advised. 'Quickly.'
THERE WAS NO talking on the flight from Tehran to Paris. Adler took a comfortable seat in the back, got out a legal pad, and wrote the whole way, using his trained memory to reconstruct the conversation, then added a series of personal observations on everything from Daryaei's physical appearance to the clutter on his desk. After that, he examined the notes for an hour, and started making analytical comments. In the process, he wore down half a dozen pencils. The layover in Paris lasted less than an hour, enough for Adler to spend a little time with Claude again and for his escorts to have a quick drink. Then it was off again in their Air Force VC-20B.
'How'd it go?' John asked.
Adler had to remind himself that Clark was on the SNIE team, and not just a gun-toting SPO.
'First, what did you find out on your walk?'
The senior CIA officer reached in his pocket and handed the Secretary of State a gold necklace. 'Does this mean we're engaged?' Adler asked, with a surprised chuckle. Clark gestured to his partner. 'No, sir. He's engaged.' Now that they were aloft, the cabin crewman who ran the communications panel turned on his equipment. The fax machine started chirping at once.
'… WE HAVE CONFIRMED eleven American deaths, with three more U.S. citizens missing. Four of the American survivors are injured and are being treated in local hospitals. That concludes my opening statement,' the President told them.
'Mister President!' thirty voices called at once.
'One at a time, please.' Jack pointed to a woman in the front row.
'Beijing claims that Taiwan shot first. Can we confirm that?'
'We are examining some information, but it takes a while to figure these things out, and until such time as we have definitive information, I do not think it proper to draw any conclusions at this time.'
'But both sides traded shots, didn't they?' she asked as a follow-up.
'That would seem to be the case, yes.'
'So then do we know whose missile hit the Airbus?'
'As I said, we are still examining the data.' Keep it short, Jack, he told himself. And that wasn't quite a lie, was it? 'Yes?' He pointed to another reporter.
'Mr. President, with so many American citizens lost, what action will you be taking to ensure this does not happen again?' At least this one he could answer truthfully.
'We are examining options right now. Beyond that, I have nothing to say, except that we call on both Chinas to step back and think about their actions. The loss of innocent life is in the interest of no country. Military exercises there have been ongoing for some time now, and the resulting tension is not helpful to regional stability.'
'So you're asking both countries to suspend their exercises?'
'We're going to ask them to consider that, yes.'
'Mr. President,' said John Plumber, 'this is your first foreign policy crisis and…'
Ryan looked down at the elderly reporter and wanted to observe that his first domestic crisis had been of his making, but you couldn't afford to make enemies of the press, and you could only make friends with them if they liked you—an altogether unlikely possibility, he'd come to understand.
'Mr. Plumber, before you do anything, you have to find out the facts. We're working on that just as hard as we can. I had my national security team in this morning—'
'But not Secretary Adler,' Plumber pointed out. Good reporter that he was, he'd checked the official cars on West Executive Drive. 'Why wasn't he here?'
'He'll be in later today,' Ryan dodged.
'Where is he now?' Plumber persisted.
Ryan just shook his head. 'Can we limit this to just one topic? It's a little early in the morning for so many questions, and as you pointed out, I do have a situation to deal with, Mr. Plumber.'
'And he is your principal foreign policy adviser, sir. Where is he now?'
'Next question,' the President said tersely. He got about what he deserved from Barry of CNN:
'Mr. President, a moment ago you said both Chinas. Sir, does this signal a change in our China policy, and
IT WAS JUST after eight in the evening in Beijing, and things were good. He could see it on TV. How strange to watch a political figure so singularly lacking in charm and adroitness, especially an American. Zhang Han San lit a cigarette and congratulated himself. He'd done it again. There had been a danger in staging the 'exercise,' most particularly the recent air sorties — but then the Republic's aviators had so kindly obliged by shooting first, just as he'd hoped they would, and now there was a crisis which he could control precisely, and end it at any time, merely by recalling his own forces to their bases. He'd force America to react not so much by action as by inaction—and then someone else would take the lead in provoking its new President. He had no idea what Daryaei had in mind. An assassination attempt, perhaps? Something else? All he had to do was watch, as he was doing now, and reap the harvest when the opportunity arose, which it surely would. America couldn't stay lucky forever. Not with this young fool in the White House.
'BARRY, ONE COUNTRY calls itself the People's Republic of China, and the other calls itself the Republic of China. I have to call them something, don't I?' Ryan asked testily. Oh, shit, have I done it again?
'Yes, Mr. President, but—'
'But we probably have fourteen American citizens dead, and this is not a time to worry about semantics.' There, take that.
'What are we going to do?' a female voice demanded.
'First, we're going to try to find out what took place. Then we can start thinking about reactions.'
'But why don't we know yet?'
'Because as much as we would like to know everything that takes place in the world every minute, it's simply impossible.'
'Is that why your administration is radically increasing the size of the CIA?'
'As I have said before, we do not discuss intelligence matters, ever.'
'Mr. President, there are published reports that—'
'There are published reports that UFOs land here on a regular basis,' Ryan shot back. 'Do you believe that, too?'
The room actually went quiet for a moment. It wasn't every day that you saw a President lose his temper. They loved it.
'Ladies and gentlemen, I regret the fact that I cannot answer all your questions to your satisfaction. In fact, I am asking some of the same questions myself, but correct answers take time. If I have to wait for the information, so do you,' he said, trying to get the news conference back on track.
'Mr. President, a man who looks very much like the former Chairman of the Soviet KGB has appeared on live television and—' The reporter stopped, as he saw Ryan's face glow red under the makeup. He expected another blowup, but it didn't happen. The President's knuckles went ivory-white on the lectern, and he took a breath.
'Please go on with your question, Sam.'
'And that gentleman said that he is who he is. Now, sir, the cat is well out of the bag, and I think my question is a legitimate one.'
'I haven't heard a question yet, Sam.'
'Is he who he says he is?'
'You don't need me to tell you that.'
'Mr. President, this event, this… operation has great international significance. At some point, intelligence operations, sensitive though they may well be, have a serious effect on our foreign relations. At that point, the American people want to know what such things are all about.'
'Sam, I will say this one last time: I will never, not ever, discuss intelligence matters. I am here this morning to inform our citizens of a tragic and so far unexplained incident in which over a hundred people, including fourteen American citizens, have lost their lives. This government will do its utmost to determine what took place, and then to decide upon a proper course of action.'
'Very well, Mr. President. Do we have a one-China policy, or a two-China policy?'
'We have made no changes.'
