From the next room, they heard a cry. “Eureka!”

A brief moment later, the lights came back on.

“Thank goodness,” Swinburne said, rising. “What about communications?”

“Powering up,” Zimmer said, returning to his station. “Give it about two minutes and we’ll be back in business.”

“Two minutes!” Swinburne bellowed. “We don’t have thirty seconds!”

“If I could snap my fingers and make all this computerized equipment come online any faster, believe me, I would. Unfortunately, violating the laws of physics is one of the few things still outside my power. And yours,” Zimmer said angrily.

Ben looked away. Nothing worse than seeing a newly minted president totally humiliated.

The lights came up on Zimmer’s laptop. One by one, all the lights on the communications station returned. Zimmer slipped the headset on and started pushing buttons.

“Are we ready yet?” Swinburne asked. “Get me Colonel Zuko. Immediately!”

“No can do,” Zimmer said tersely.

“Why not?”

“Not sure. But I don’t have an intercontinental connection yet.”

“Damn it, man, time is critical here!”

“Yes, I know that, but I’m still going to need more time.” Zimmer pushed a few buttons. He listened intently into the headset. “Yes, I’m here,” he said to some unknown correspondent. “What have you got?”

Zimmer listened to his headpiece for the next twenty seconds. Everyone else in the bunker hung on pins and needles, waiting to hear what he was learning.

A few seconds later, Zimmer addressed the room. “I have some good news for you all. My people on the outside tell me there has been no detonation or launch of a missile. Repeat: no missile.”

A loud cheer went up in the bunker.

“But,” Ben asked, “why not?”

“We don’t know. But for whatever reason, it hasn’t happened.”

“Thank God,” Swinburne said. “Have you got Zuko yet?”

“Still waiting for a connection.”

“Can you get me the Joint Chiefs?”

“That I can do.” Zimmer began pushing buttons, putting through the call. “Message?”

“Tell them I want to withdraw the troops. Immediately.”

“From Kuraq?” Zimmer asked.

“From the entire Middle East region. All of them. And begin dismantling the bases. Iran, Iraq, Kuraq. Even Saudi Arabia. Everywhere.”

Kyler rose to his feet. “Are you out of your mind? You want to talk about insane-that’s insane!”

“Just shut up, you insufferable has-been,” Swinburne barked. “There’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

“I think maybe there is,” Ben said.

“And I’ve had about enough of you, too, Kincaid. We put up with your little charade. We jumped through your hoops and took two hours to do what should have been done in five minutes. But the end result was the same. You lost. Kyler is out of power. And I’m withdrawing the troops.”

“I can’t let you do that,” Ben said.

“Can’t let me?” Swinburne said incredulously. “As if there were anything you could do about it. I don’t need your permission! I’m the president of the goddamn United States!”

“But that’s just it,” Ben said. He stood up, steadying himself with a hand on the table. “You’re not.”

Seamus sprang to his feet, even though the sudden movement reminded him how much of a beating his body had endured over the course of this very long day.

He grabbed Scarface by the collar and jerked him to his feet.

“It is too late,” the terrorist said, his face cracked with contempt. “Your people will pay the price for the arrogance of their president.”

Seamus wanted to hit him, wanted to so badly it was like a primordial drive, but he held himself back. He wasn’t going to descend to that level. Instead, he tossed the man into a nearby desk chair. He removed one of the cords still dangling from his wrist and used it to tie the man down.

“Is there any way to stop those missiles?” Seamus asked as he restrained the murderer.

“None. Once the signal is given, the rest of the process is instantaneous. Soon the East Coast will be in flames!”

Seamus tightened the cord around his wrist-probably tighter than was strictly necessary. “Is that right, Arlo?”

“Well, it’s true that once the signal is given, it can’t be countermanded,” Arlo answered. “But the signal can’t be given if the dish is unplugged.”

“Wha-”

Seamus whirled around. About ten feet behind him, he saw Arlo standing with a self-satisfied expression on his face. He was holding an electric cord.

“You unplugged it?”

“Well, it seemed a lot simpler than flinging myself across the room like you did.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I tried. You seemed to be kinda wrapped up in your own thing.”

Seamus ground his teeth together. “Kid, next time you’ve saved the world from the apocalypse, tell me!”

“Got it, chief.”

A few moments later, the reinforcements arrived-just as soon, Seamus groused silently, as they weren’t needed anymore. They fanned out on foot and in helicopters and managed to catch most of the scattered personnel. The computer handlers were taken away for interrogation.

And a few minutes after that, Zira arrived. In person.

She took care of herself, Seamus gave her credit for that. She had to be fifty if she were a day, but her skin was smooth and wrinkle-free. He didn’t know what kind of skin care products she used, but Seamus would be willing to bet her nighttime ablutions took at least an hour. Her hair was probably dyed-hair just didn’t come in bright yellow at that age-but who cared? If he were dating her, he’d probably think she was swell.

“Did I miss the party?” she asked.

“Pretty much. I’ve got everything under control.”

Her forehead creased. “I would hardly say that.”

“Why?”

“You may have prevented the missile launch, and we’re grateful for that. But several of the men got away, the scarred man appears to have been physically abused, and the computer experts tell me that you interrogated them without Mirandizing them first. We’ll be lucky if we can prosecute anyone.”

“I thought the first order of the day was saving lives.”

“That was part of your job. Not the only part.”

“And if you want to talk about abuse,” he said, “take a look at what that bastard did to my chest.”

She did not appear interested. “I’m sure there will be time for full reports and debriefing later. I want you to head back to Langley immediately.”

“Aren’t you forgetting something?”

Zira looked as if talking to him were a chore that required infinite patience. “Please feel free to refresh my memory.”

“The nuclear suitcase.”

“A nuclear device was stolen today and you think I’ve forgotten all about it? I can assure you that I have not forgotten about it, Seamus. But what does it have to do with the matter at hand?”

“Colonel Zuko was behind that, too.”

“You have proof of this?”

“I do. And there’s more. We’ve got a mole somewhere inside the government.”

“I suspected as much. But we had no evidence.”

“Now we do. This computer invasion would have been impossible without inside information. And if you find out who had access to that information, you might be able to figure out who your Benedict Arnold is.”

“I’ll get people right on it.”

“And your other possible source of information,” he said, stopping her, “would be my close personal friend Scarface here.”

“His name is Abdul Minoz. He was a lieutentant in Colonel Zuko’s military when Zuko seized control of Kuraq.”

“Thanks for the trivia. I feel better now.”

“I’ll have my people interrogate him thoroughly.”

Seamus stopped her. “I’d like to do that myself.”

She shook her head. “Sorry. You’re too close to this. I can’t trust you to behave appropriately.”

“Zira. Look at me.”