Madox continued, “I’m sure there are a few more suitcase nukes that have been smuggled into the country, probably through our non-existent border with Mexico.” He smiled at Harry. “There’s probably one sitting in an apartment across the street from your office.”

“No, I don’t think so. We’ve swept the area.”

“Well, I’m just making a point. Don’t take me literally. The question is, Why hasn’t a missing Soviet nuclear suitcase bomb been detonated in an American city? Do you think Islamic terrorists would have any moral or ethical qualms about obliterating an American city and killing a million innocent men, women, and children?”

“No.”

“Me, neither. And neither does anyone else after 9/11. But I’ll tell you why it probably hasn’t happened and won’t happen. Because for Wild Fire to be a reliable deterrent, as Mutually Assured Destruction was, it cannot be kept a complete secret. In fact, since the Wild Fire plan was implemented, the heads of all Islamic governments have been notified by succeeding administrations in Washington that an attack on an American city with a weapon of mass destruction would automatically ensure an American nuclear retaliation against fifty to one hundred cities and other targets in the Islamic world.”

Harry said, “Good.”

Bain Madox continued, “As these gentlemen here can attest to, Harry, Wild Fire is seen by the American government as a very strong incentive for these countries to control the terrorists in their midst, to induce these countries to share information with American intelligence agencies, and to do whatever they need to do to keep themselves from being vaporized. In fact, the tip about the nuke in Washington came from the Libyan government. So, it seems to be working.”

“Great.”

Madox added, “Something like NEST is a pathetic defensive response to nuclear terror. Wild Fire is a pro-active response. It is a gun to the heads of Islamic countries-a gun that will go off if they fail to keep their terrorist friends from going nuclear. Undoubtedly most, if not all, terrorist organizations have been warned of this by the Islamic governments that harbor, aid, and have contact with them. Whether the terrorists believe this or not is another question. So far, they seem to believe it, which is probably why we haven’t been attacked by weapons of mass destruction. What do you think, Harry?”

“Makes sense to me.”

“Me, too. The Islamic governments have also been informed that Wild Fire is hardwired-that is, no sitting American president can alter or cancel this retaliation against Islam. This keeps our enemies from trying to analyze each president to see if he-or she-has any balls. The president is pretty much out of the equation after a nuke goes off in America. Just like during the Cold War.” He turned to Paul Dunn and asked, “Correct?”

Dunn replied, “Correct.”

Madox looked at Harry. “You seem lost in thought. What are you thinking about?”

“Well… I’m sure somebody in the government thought about this, but wouldn’t fifty or a hundred nukes in the Mideast kind of fuck up the oil thing?”

A few men smiled, and Madox grinned as well. He glanced toward Edward Wolffer and said, “The deputy secretary of defense has assured me that there are no oil fields on the target list. No refineries, and no oil shipment ports. They will remain intact, but will come under new management.” He smiled. “I’ve got to make a living, Harry.”

“Yeah, right. But how about the environment and all that? You know, nuclear fallout, nuclear winter.”

“I told you, the answer to global warming is nuclear winter. Just kidding. Look, the effects of fifty or even a hundred nuclear explosions detonating across the Mideast have been studied extensively by the government. It won’t be that bad.” He added, “I mean, for them, it’s lights-out. But for the rest of the planet, depending on what computer model you like, life will go on.”

“Yeah…?” Something else was troubling Harry Muller. “Well, it’s not going to happen anyway because, like you said, if the terrorists know about this… I mean, do you think, or have you heard, that they’re going to nuke us?”

“I haven’t heard anything. Have you? Actually, my colleagues here think that Wild Fire is such an effective deterrent that the likelihood of an American city being attacked with a nuclear device by Islamic terrorists is very small. That’s why we have to do it ourselves.”

“Do what?”

“We, Harry, the men here in this room, have devised Project Green-the plan to detonate an atomic device in an American city, which will in turn trigger the Wild Fire response-which is the nuclear obliteration of Islam.”

Harry wasn’t sure he’d heard correctly and leaned toward Madox.

Madox made eye contact with Harry and continued, “And the beauty of this is that the government doesn’t even have to be certain that the nuclear attack on America has come from Islamic terrorists. There exists a very strong presumption of guilt toward Islamic jihadists so that conclusive evidence is not required to launch Wild Fire. Brilliant, isn’t it?”

Harry took a deep breath and said, “Are you crazy?”

“No. Do we look crazy?”

Harry didn’t think the other four guys looked crazy, but Madox was a little nuts. Harry took another deep breath and asked, “You got a nuke?”

“Of course we do. Why do you think we’re here? We actually have four nukes. In fact…” Madox stood, walked over to the black leather suitcase, and patted it. “Here’s one of them.”

CHAPTER NINE

Bain Madox suggested a short break, during which everyone, except Scott Landsdale and Harry Muller, left the room.

Landsdale stood at the end of the table, away from Harry, and they sized each other up. Landsdale said, “Don’t even think about what you’re thinking about.”

“I can’t hear you. Come closer.”

“Cut the macho bullshit, Detective. The only way you’re getting out of here is if we let you out.”

“Don’t bet your silk CIA panties on that.”

“If you answer a few questions for me, we can work something out.”

“That sounds like what I used to say to suspects. I was lying, too.”

Landsdale let that slide and asked, “When Tom Walsh gave you this assignment, what did he tell you?”

“He told me to dress warm and save my gas receipts.”

“Good advice. And thanks for confirming that it was Walsh.” He asked, “What were you supposed to do with your digital disks?”

“Find a CIA guy and shove them up his ass.”

“Were you supposed to go to the Adirondack Airport as part of this assignment?”

Harry realized that Landsdale was good at what he did. CIA guys were pricks, but they were highly professional pricks. Harry replied, “No, but that’s a good idea. I bet I’ll find your name on the arrivals manifest.”

“Harry, I’ve got more IDs than you have clean socks in your drawer.” He asked, “Who else at 26 Fed knows about your assignment?”

“How the hell do I know?”

“I didn’t mention this before, but one of my friends at 26 Fed tells me you were talking to your cubemate, John Corey, in the elevator lobby, and you were carrying a metal suitcase from Tech. Did Corey ask you what you were doing?”

“Why don’t you go fuck yourself?”

Landsdale ignored this suggestion, and said, “I’m trying to help you, Harry.”

“I thought you were CIA.”

He asked, “Do you want a piece of this, Harry?”

“Yeah, sure. I’m with you.”

“You may not mean that now, but after this is over, you’ll see that this was the only way to go.”

“Don’t you have to go take a piss or something?”

“No, but here’s a question for you to think about: Do you think you might have been set up?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, Walsh was told by somebody, probably in Washington, to send a guy up here-an NYPD surveillance guy-to take pictures of people arriving at this club. It sounds like no big deal, right? But the people who ordered this-and maybe Walsh himself-knew you weren’t going to get within a mile of this lodge before you were caught.”