President Kyler stared at him with astonished eyes. “Are you saying… Zuko did us a favor?”

“Of course not. I’m saying it could have been much worse. If he had moved the target a mile in any direction, it would have been.”

“Thank you, Zimmer. For whatever that’s worth.” Kyler rose. “If you’ll excuse me, my friends, I’m going to step into the other room for a moment. Please let me know if-”

“Mr. President!” Zimmer said suddenly.

“Yes?”

“I have Colonel Zuko back on the line.”

Kyler’s eyes closed wearily. “What does that malicious bastard want now? To gloat? To rub my face in it?”

“I don’t know, sir. He’s just asking to talk to you.”

Kyler pressed his head against the wall. “Put him on.”

“President Kyler.” There was no levity in the colonel’s voice this time, no urgency, and, to Ben’s surprise, no malice. “I’m sure you are not anxious to talk to me. I am calling to express my regret for what I was forced to do.”

“Regret?” Kyler exploded. “If you regret it, why’d you do it in the first place?”

“You left me no choice.”

“We always have a choice, Colonel Zuko. From the day we’re born. The choice to do good. Or the choice to do evil.”

“If my experiences in the world have taught me anything, it is that in real life, conflicts can rarely be reduced to anything so simple as good and evil.”

“Is that why you called, Colonel? So we can debate philosophy?”

“No.” There was a pause. Ben thought he might be projecting, but he sensed a certain degree of reluctance in the colonel’s voice. “I have called to again request that you remove the invaders from Kuraq’s borders.”

“You’re asking me to bargain with a terrorist.”

“According to my sources, your men will touch ground in a little over two hours. We will have to meet them with force to defend our land. Bloodshed will inevitably result. I would prefer to avoid that.”

“Then do.”

“And allow your soldiers to invade unimpeded? To take over my nation?”

“They’re just coming in to rescue the men who went down in that helicopter.”

“With all due respect, Mr. President, I don’t believe you. They were out there before the helicopter went down. And their number is far greater than would be necessary for a simple rescue operation.”

“I don’t have to convince you of anything, Colonel. And I’m not taking orders from you.”

“All I ask is that you respect our sovereign soil.”

“And I’m telling you that the United States does not negotiate with terrorists and the United States does not retreat!”

All at once, Vice President Swinburne rose to his feet, an incredulous expression on his face. His message to the president seemed self-evident: What the hell are you doing?

“I am sorry that you do not see the need to respect international law,” the colonel said, and Ben sensed genuine sorrow in his voice. “I am hoping that your advisors will be able to talk you into a more sensible position, so I will give you more time to reflect before we strike again. If you do not retreat, however, the next missiles will launch in two hours. At twelve noon, your time. Precisely.”

Ben felt his spine stiffen. Not again. Please, not again.

“And this time, Mr. President, this time-” To Ben’s astonishment, the colonel’s voice cracked as he spoke. He started again. “This time I will not be able to do you the courtesy of choosing a symbolic target. This time there will be civilian casualties. Many of them.”

“You can’t do that!” the president spat out.

“I have no choice. If you have not withdrawn your troops in two hours, we will send three missiles into neighboring residential areas. I will not bother telling you where so as to save you the trouble of attempting an evacuation. There is no time, no possibility. This time thousands of your people will die. People you could have saved. The collateral damage will be the blood of innocent Americans. And you will have to answer to the world for your own aggression.”

The line went dead. Silence blanketed the bunker.

The vice president broke the silence. To everyone’s surprise-and horror-he walked right up to the president and grabbed him by the lapels. “Are you insane?”

Everyone watched dumbfounded as the vice president shook Kyler back and forth in rhythm to his words. “I’m asking you a question! Are you completely insane?”

The president said nothing, but looked back at Swinburne with a mixed expression Ben didn’t know how to read-horror, shock, confusion, defeat. In any case, it was not what the VP wanted.

Swinburne threw the president down into a nearby chair. His eyes were wide and bulging. “My God,” he said, “you are, aren’t you? You’re completely insane!”

Dr. Anderson rose slowly to his feet. “Now wait just a minute-” Swinburne waved him away. “Don’t bother. It’s obvious now. It’s been staring us in the face the whole time. How else can you explain this bizarre behavior we’ve witnessed?”

“The president has been under a tremendous amount of stress…”

“Every president has stress. Everyone in this room has stress. But most of us aren’t singing TV show themes.”

“Now just you look here. I’m the medical man in the room-”

“And I’m the vice president of the United States!” Swinburne barked back. “And I am not going to sit here and let that monster take thousands of American lives for no good reason.”

“We both know there’s a reason.”

“Not a good one. Not for a sacrifice at that level.”

“The president has a free hand to make decisions in the foreign policy arena.”

“Not if he’s insane!” Swinburne clapped his hands down on the president’s shoulders. “Roland, listen to me! Pull back those troops. At least until we get that murderer out of our computer system. You can always go back later.”

“The United States cannot be seen backing down,” Rybicki said. “If we do, every tin-plated madman in the world will come after us.”

“They will understand this exception. We’re acting to save lives.”

“It will set a precedent. If we back down this time, who will be next? Who will be the next petty dictator with a grudge?”

“I don’t care!” Swinburne bellowed. Ben had to wonder if he was bordering on the brink of crazy himself. “I just don’t want thousands of Americans to die for nothing.”

Kyler folded his arms across his chest. “I will not alter my decision.” Swinburne spoke through gritted teeth. “Then you, sir, must be insane. And due to your mental incapacity, you must be replaced.”

Dr. Albertson stood again. “Mr. Vice President-”

Swinburne reached into his back pocket and threw something down on the table between them. It hit the tabletop with an impressive thwack.

Ben leaned forward to peer at the cover.

It was a pocket-sized copy of the United States Constitution. Just like the one Hugo Black used to carry in his back pocket. It seemed Conrad Swinburne had the same habit.

“You know what it says as well as I do, Doctor. The Twenty-fifth Amendment. When the president is incapacitated and unable to perform his duties-as this man clearly is-he will be replaced by the vice president. That’s me. So I’m taking over right now. Before this horrific day gets any bloodier.”