The president discreetly signaled for Harvath to back off and Scot immediately fell silent. Director Vaile, though, continued with his justification, “Frankly, being a high-profile PR person, we didn’t figure Ms. Cassidy for someone who shied away from media exposure, of any kind. What’s more, it isn’t as if we, or she, have any choice in the matter. Our psychological operations people are convinced that the PR angle will help and that it needs to remain an adjunct of any ongoing strategy we pursue.”

“I am sure your people are doing the absolute best they can,” said the president as he steered the conversation away from Meg Cassidy and toward other pressing elements of the operation. “Let’s talk about a timetable and what assets you need called into play.”

When the President concluded the meeting, he thanked the participants for coming and asked FBI deputy director Lawlor and Agent Harvath to remain behind.

Once the other members had left the room and the door sealed shut behind them, the president spoke once again. “I hope you both know me well enough to know that I am not a fan of back-biting or infighting. I don’t approve of it in my party, and I don’t approve of it within our intelligence community. That being said, what I am most concerned about here is results. This doesn’t leave this room, Agent Harvath, but I’m not as impressed with Director Vaile’s operations as I might lead him to think.

“The world has become a much more dangerous place over the last several weeks. The Hand of God attacks have pushed the entire Mideast region to the brink of war. This morning I was briefed by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs who presented me with a stack of satellite photos showing that Iran, Syria, and Egypt have realigned troops and equipment on their borders indicating a potential attack on Israel.

“It’s like a puddle of gasoline and everyone is dancing around with lit matches-including the Israelis. What worries me the most is that Hashim Nidal’s organization has made it clear they intend to drop the first match. That’s all it would take at this point to set things off, and we have no idea where he is or what he is planning.

“If the CIA wasn’t so deep into this investigation already with so many assets in place, I would seriously think about putting you in more of a leadership position. As it stands now, though, this is going to have to remain the CIA’s show, so I am going to ask you to try to cooperate with your fellow operatives.” The president could see Harvath was about to speak up and raised his hand again to stop him. “As I said, I read both after-action reports. I don’t take issue with anything you did. As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t change a thing, but I do want you to start respecting their chain of command. You can walk softly and still carry a big stick, just lighten up from using it on CIA personnel all the time. Okay?”

“Yes, Mr. President. I understand,” replied Harvath.

“Good. Now, I want to tell you why I stopped you from going after DCI Vaile on the Meg Cassidy issue. In a nutshell, we need Meg Cassidy’s help.”

“I don’t understand what the problem is,” said Harvath.

“The problem,” answered the president, “is that Meg Cassidy doesn’t want to cooperate with us.”

“‘Us’ who? The United States Government?”

“More to the point, the CIA.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem. Don’t make her work with them.”

“And who would you suggest she work with?”

“Delegate the task of identifying Hashim Nidal to another agency like the DOD,” replied Harvath. “We’ve got a war going against terrorism, so having her interface with the Department of Defense would make complete sense. It’ll upset the CTC people a bit, but all they were going to do was have her sift through pictures and descriptions from the world’s top terrorist databases anyway. The DOD can access those.

“You begin at the top and work your way down. For starters, there’s the German Kommissar system. That one has backgrounds on countless suspected and known terrorists worldwide, including photographs, fingerprints, dental records, voiceprints, and a ton of other data. All Defense has to do is narrow the parameters of the search so she’s not reviewing material she doesn’t need to see.

“Next on the list, like it or not, the CIA will have to allow the DOD access to their DESIST database. There’s also the State Department’s international terrorist database, and then the FBI’s Terrorist Information System. If there’s a record of this guy anywhere, they’ll find it.”

“That all makes perfect sense, but unfortunately it’s not that easy,” said the president. “First of all, we don’t have time to transfer the investigation to another agency and secondly, we’re not just talking about sitting Meg Cassidy in front of a computer monitor and flashing digital mug shots at her. The CIA needs to recruit her.”

“Recruit her? What for?”

“Director Vaile feels they’re close to nailing the exact location of Hashim Nidal’s base of operations.”

“So then we insert a Special Ops team to direct fire, bring in some fast movers, and smoke the entire place. End of story.”

“Nope. Not end of story. We will need confirmation that we have not only devastated his training camp, but that we are taking out the man himself. For that we need a positive on-site ID, and Meg Cassidy is the only person who can make that identification.”

“But she’s a civilian.”

“Which is precisely why the CIA needs to train her. She’s going to have to insert with a team, go along as they conduct the operation, and get out.”

“And that team would be Operation Phantom under the command of Rick Morrell.”

“That’s it.”

“Well, now I’m not so confused anymore. Not only is it extremely dangerous, but it’s got to scare a civilian half to death.”

“That’s probably not the only reason this is distasteful for her,” added Lawlor.

“Now is probably a good time for you to contribute your part, Gary. Why don’t you go ahead.”

“Thank you, Mr. President,” responded Lawlor before continuing. “Scot, as the president said, the CIA’s reasons for approaching Ms. Cassidy were sound, but their methods weren’t. From what I have been able to gather from the CIA’s inner agency reports-”

“I don’t want to bog us down, but before we go any further, can you please explain what the FBI’s interest in Meg Cassidy is and why the FBI’s deputy director is reviewing CIA inner agency reports?” asked Harvath.

Lawlor looked to the president, who nodded his head. “I am not directly operating on this in my capacity as deputy director right now.”

“Then how are you operating on this?”

“As part of the FBI’s restructuring, the president has suggested the creation of a unit to implement what is being referred to as our new strike-first policy. While I will consult with the FBI from time to time, I will report directly to the president,” said Lawlor.

“About what?”

“In a sense, I’m a consultant at this point, trying to help figure out how to better defend our country. There are certain operations, such as Operation Phantom, that I have taken an interest in. The president has agreed to let me be involved in a supervisory capacity. That’s all I am going to say at this point.”

Harvath knew Lawlor well enough to know not to push for more information. Even as a Secret Service agent granted an extreme amount of latitude by the president of the United States, he was not on a direct need-to-know basis on this one, and so he kept his mouth shut.

Lawlor took Harvath’s silence as an indication to continue and did. “From what I can gather, Morrell put the squeeze on Meg Cassidy for information on Nidal the minute he discovered she had seen his face.”

“I can verify it. He wasn’t about to let her alone until I stepped in. I had to fight to get her medical attention.”