Ben was frustrated, but he supposed it was true. The president lived on display, and there was nothing he could do without someone somewhere seeing.

“All right, look. We’ll try another approach. This business about you and Zuko-I don’t believe for a minute that you’re motivated by some idiotic executive alpha-male arm-wrestling match.”

“Well, thank you for that, anyway.”

“So what is it? Why are you being so hardheaded about Kuraq?”

Kyler drew in his breath. “The United States cannot give in to terrorists, even if they are the leaders of a powerful nation. If we start that, in no time-”

“Will you stop already?” Ben said. “I’ve already heard the standard line. I’m bored to tears with it. I don’t believe you would put so many lives at risk over a matter of principle. That isn’t the man I voted for, the one who talked about global peace and a new world order. There has to be something more.”

No response.

“Well?”

Kyler’s voice was quiet. “Those people who went down in the helicopter… deserve to be rescued.”

“No one doubts that. But your best chances would be with a small razor-sharp task force. You don’t need to send in every battalion you’ve got stationed out there.”

“There’s more to it than you know.”

“I realize that!” Ben shouted. He took a breath and reined his voice back in. For all he knew, he was audible in the adjoining room. “So tell me already!”

The president looked at him reluctantly.

“I know you don’t want to do this,” Ben said. “Do you want to remain president? Because if you do, you need to tell me everything.”

“You-you don’t know what you’re asking of me, Ben.”

“No,” Ben said, looking directly into his eyes, “I don’t. But I know this: it’s your only chance.”

When Ben opened the door leading to the main room of the bunker, the buzz inside instantly disappeared.

Are we back in grade school? he wondered as he and the president entered. They gossip behind your back, then go all hush-hush when you return. Pretty soon someone’s going to suggest that the president has cooties.

“Right on schedule,” Cartwright said, glancing at the clock. “That’s the way I like it. Are you ready to proceed with your defense, Mr. Kincaid?”

“I am.”

“Please call your first witness.”

Ben nodded. “Let me say in advance that I beg the court’s indulgence-and that of everyone else in the room. We haven’t had a chance to prepare properly, obviously, and the next witness has no idea he’s about to be called.”

Several heads bopped up at attention. Who was he talking about? Could it possibly be me?

Ben let the suspense build for about a nanosecond. That was all the time he had to spare. “For our first witness, the defense calls Secret Service agent Max Zimmer.”

The people sitting at the table were surprised, even astonished-but there was no reaction from Zimmer, who was still sitting at the communications station, tapping on his terminal keyboard.

Ben realized he was still wearing his headphones, sucking in intel from the outside world. He hadn’t heard that he had been chosen.

Ben walked over to him and pulled off the headset. Zimmer instantly whirled around, an angry expression on his face, his hand on the barrel of his weapon.

“Keep it in the holster, Shane.” Ben smiled sheepishly. “You’ve been called to the witness stand.”

Zimmer looked at him as if he were some strange species of bug. “Me?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“I don’t know anything.”

“Then it shouldn’t take long.”

Zimmer shook his head emphatically. “I’m sorry, Ben, but I have to monitor the situation outside. We’ve got a crisis situation here.”

“Can’t one of the other agents handle it? At least for ten minutes or so?”

Zimmer clearly was not happy about this.

“We know this is an inconvenience,” Cartwright said, “but this proceeding is of the utmost importance, so I would appreciate it if you would cooperate-immediately.”

Zimmer frowned, then snapped his fingers. “Gioia?”

Another agent snapped to attention.

“Take over. You’ve got a direct feed from the CIA, the NSA, Homeland Security, our embassy in Saudi Arabia, the disaster relief team at the Mall, and about a dozen other operatives.”

“Understood,” Gioia replied.

“If anything of interest happens, or any significant intel is uncovered, I want to know about it immediately.”

“You will, sir.”

“Thank you.” Still frowning, Zimmer smoothed out his suit, tucked in his tie, and looked around the small room. “So where do I sit?”

Ben directed him to the makeshift witness stand. After he was sworn in, Ben got his personal details out as well as the essential points of his résumé. After spending some time overseas, including in Kuraq, hopping from one job to the next, he’d finally returned to the United States. He had been with the Secret Service, now a division of Homeland Security, for thirteen years.

“How long have you worked at the White House?”

“A little over four years. I was first brought in during the Blake administration to guard the First Lady. At her request. She and I had, um, known each other many years before. After her untimely assassination, I was assigned to the president.”

Ben could see from the tiniest cloud in his eyes that the memory of the First Lady’s murder-when he was on duty and guarding her-still stung. “And do you still hold that post today?”

“I do. The incoming president, Roland Kyler, was kind enough to retain me on his personal detail.”

“Before we go any further, Agent Zimmer, let me ask you about politics. Do you approve of the president’s political positions?”

“To be truthful, I don’t know that much about them.”

“You must absorb something from being around him so much.”

“Not really. I try to stay out of the political fray altogether. My job is to protect the president, and I think I can do that most effectively if I remain uninvolved with political issues. My dedication can’t waver depending upon what position he’s taken on the latest hot spot or political issue. So I might as well not know.”

“Surely you have some thoughts about his position on Kuraq. Do you approve of U.S. troops being deployed there?”

“Haven’t really thought that much about it.”

“Come on.”

“I assume the commander in chief knows far more about it than I do and is in a better position to make a decision about such matters.”

“But you lived in Kuraq for a time, did you not?”

“Yes.”

“So you must have a good deal of insight about the country.”

“That was a long time ago. Before Colonel Zuko came to power. It was a different country. A different Middle East. A different world.”

“And I believe you indicated that while you were there, you lived with someone with whom you became… close.”

Zimmer’s eyes seemed to burn air in a direct line toward Ben’s. “Yes.”

“Have you remained in contact?”

“No.”

“And that experience didn’t leave you with any personal feelings regarding this nation?”

“No. Especially not when I’m on duty. I protect the president, period. Doesn’t matter who or what he says or does. If the people elected a baboon, I’d protect him, too. That’s my job.”

Ben took a deep breath. He could see he wasn’t going to get anything more just by pounding at the man. It was time to move in a different direction.

“How do you like working for President Kyler?”

“We haven’t had any serious problems.”

“Any minor ones?”

“Well, as I gather Sarie mentioned, he does have a bad habit of wandering off. That’s never going to go down well with your Secret Service detail.”

“I would imagine not.”

“As far as we’re concerned, any moment he’s not in our sight is a moment he could be in a sniper’s sights.”

Yes, Ben thought, especially if he’s sitting on the White House roof. “What have you done about this problem?”