State Of The Union

“I suspect you would also need to know,” added Harvath, “when and where the two of you were supposed to connect.”

“That goes without saying,” replied DeWolfe. “You could have all the other information, and yet if you were sitting at a payphone at the train station waiting for it to ring, when you should have been at a payphone at the drugstore, you’d be shit out of luck.”

No kidding, thought Harvath. Even though he now understood the true nature of the burst transmitter, it was of no use to him without knowing how to unlock Frank Leighton’s encryption program or what the emergency contact plan was.

As the time for their encrypted communication with the president drew near, DeWolfe did a final check of his equipment and then outfitted Harvath with a headset. Morrell pulled one of the overstuffed chairs up to the coffee table and donned a headset as well. Avigliano handed him a briefcase and then slid over three of the large hard shell equipment cases from the other side of the room.

“I have Goaltender on the line,” said DeWolfe. “We are ready to proceed.”

“This is Norseman,” said Harvath. “Go ahead, Goaltender.”

“Is BenchPress on the line?”

“Yes he is,” replied Harvath who had never cared much for Morrell’s ridiculous code name; a codename he knew Morrell hadn’t received from his superiors or his peers, but rather had chosen for himself.

Even though Harvath had grown to like Morrell, that still didn’t change the fact that the man could be an arrogant, insufferable prick a lot of the time and his code name seemed to perfectly reflect his inflated sense of self. Though on many occasions Harvath had been tempted to suggest an alternate two-syllable code name that might more suit the man such asdipshit,dumbass,dumbfuck, ordickhead, he had miraculously managed to keep his mouth shut and thereby had refrained from doing damage to a friendship that was still very much in its infancy.

“Norseman,” continued president Rutledge, “you received my message about the condition of the chessboard?”

“Yes, sir. But I don’t understand. What happened?”

“Somehow, the other side knew where our devices were hidden. We sent in teams to prep them and get them ready for transport, but they were already gone.”

“Gone?” said Harvath.

“Yes, all of them have been stolen.”

“Do we have any leads?”

“We’re going back over satellite imagery, but we’re not holding out much hope of getting them back. The Russians would have been very careful in covering their tracks.”

“So what are we going to do?”

“We’ve developed a plan, which I pray to God will work, called Operation Minotaur,” replied the president.

“Operation Minotaur?” repeated Harvath.

“Yes. BenchPress has the file and he will explain everything to you.”

“Sir, what about our remaining operative in the field? He still has one last device.”

“Unfortunately, that man is of no use to us anymore. We need to pull him from the game before he becomes a greater liability. BenchPress will explain that as well.” There was a pause on the line as the president took a deep breath and said, “Things are very tense back here. The time is drawing nigh for us all gentlemen and we have no other options available. This is it. We either win or we lose. The fate of America is in your hands. Don’t let us down.” There was a click followed by a hiss of static as the president terminated the connection.

Morrell looked at DeWolfe and, referring to the status of the transmission, asked, “Are we clear?”

“We’re clear,” said DeWolfe.

“Operation Minotaur?” mouthed Harvath. “What this all about?”

“The Minotaur is a mythical creature-”

“From ancient Greece who was half man, half bull, and was confined to a labyrinth on Crete. Yeah, I know that, but what is this new op all about?” said Harvath.

“This is a little something the president and his team came up with,” responded Morrell. “The focus of this operation is going to be on the bull, and lots of it.”

Chapter 29

Can we just back up here for a second?” asked Harvath. “Rick, start this thing from square one for me, would you?”

“Okay, from square one. The secretary of defense and the president briefed me on Operation Dark Night as well as the situation concerning the man-portable nukes we’re facing at home. Being the tactician he is, the secretary kept making military references to chess. As you probably know, the president-”

“Doesn’t play chess,” replied Harvath, finishing Morrell’s sentence for him. “He’s a poker man. We played a lot when I was on his protective detail.”

“And what’s the one thing you can do in poker that you really can’t do in chess?”

Harvath thought for a moment and then said, “Bluff.”

“Right again. Though there are some feints and deceptive strategies you can pull in chess, all of your pieces are out in the open for your opponent to see.”

“But all of our pieces have been knocked off the board, at least that’s what the president has said.”