Kyler nodded grimly.

“We have another problem,” Zimmer said. He was frowning, which might be the most emotion Ben had seen him register all day.

“What’s wrong?” Ben asked.

“I’m not quite sure how to tell you this. Probably best just to get out with it. Your wife was upstairs. At the rear receiving gate.”

Ben’s eyes bulged. “Christina? Where is she now?”

Zimmer swallowed. “She went with Rybicki.”

Ben seized him by the arms. “What? Why?”

Zimmer shook his head, still listening to words streaming in from the other side. “I don’t know the details. Sounds as if he offered to take her to you.”

“Christina? With that… that lunatic? The one who thinks he can solve the world’s problems with a bomb?” His voice fell. “The one who still has a bomb stashed somewhere nearby?”

“I’m afraid so.”

Ben opened the door to the corridor and walked outside. A moment later he punched the elevator button. “I’m going up.”

Zimmer stepped in front of him. “I can’t allow that. We haven’t gotten the all-clear signal yet.”

“The president believes the crisis is over. The one from Colonel Zuko, anyway.”

“If there’s a potential nuclear threat, I can’t-”

“The president needs to stay down here. I don’t.”

Zimmer held his ground. “Ben, I’m sorry, but I can’t allow you to endanger yourself”

“I’m sorry, Zimmer,” Ben said, looking him straight in the eye, “but you can’t stop me, unless you’re planning to draw your weapon. Is that what you’re going to do?”

Zimmer’s hand went to his holster.

“Really?” Ben asked. “After all I’ve done down here? You’re going to pull a gun on me?”

Zimmer hesitated. “Mr. President?”

Kyler looked at Ben sternly. “I can’t authorize the premature release of anyone from the bunker. I can’t be held accountable if some tragedy should occur.”

Zimmer pulled out the gun.

“Please,” Ben said. “Just let me-”

“On the other hand,” the president continued, walking back toward the main room, “I’m not in charge of Robert Griswold’s legal staff. I can’t keep track of everyone. How am I supposed to know what some renegade lawyer does?” He closed the door behind him.

Zimmer put the gun back in the holster.

The elevator doors opened. Ben stepped inside.

“Thanks,” Ben said breathlessly.

“Godspeed,” Zimmer said quietly as the doors closed between them.

Ben stood outside the Lincoln Memorial, desperate to get inside. The authorities had cordoned off the building. Sirens were wailing. Any nonessential personnel were being hurriedly whisked away. Ben wasn’t sure who was in charge-the CIA, the FBI, the local police-and he didn’t really care. All he knew for certain was that he wanted in. And he also knew why he couldn’t get in.

He’d had enough experience to know what this was. A hostage scenario.

Christina was in there. He was certain of it.

“Mr. Kincaid?”

Ben turned and saw a tall, strong-looking middle-aged man with sun-baked skin and a turnip of a nose. He was wearing a padded flak jacket. The strap of a holster on his shoulder told Ben he was armed.

“Mr. Kincaid, I’m Seamus McKay. I’m with the CIA.”

“I know,” Ben said, taking his hand. “We’ve met. When I was a senator.”

“That’s right,” McKay said, arching one eyebrow. “I wasn’t sure you would remember.”

“The president mentioned you earlier today. Spurred my memory. I’m glad you’re involved. Looks like your people have responded quickly.”

“They’re trained to do just that. Ever since September eleventh. No choice, really. As soon as I notified my people of the target, they set up this containment operation.”

And that was enough of the pleasantries and small talk. “Is my wife in there?”

Seamus’s shoulders heaved. “Yes. I’m afraid she is. How did you know?”

“An educated hunch. Rybicki mentioned Lincoln twice today. He even quoted from the inscription above the statue of Lincoln. ‘In this temple as in the hearts of the people.’ It’s obvious the monument was weighing on his mind. He probably planned on using this as a backup target all along, in the event he couldn’t get the suitcase out of the country. No doubt he sees some vast symbolic reason for the selection-freeing Americans from the slavery of crude oil, or some such insane rationale.”

“But why take your wife?”

“That,” Ben said grimly, “was probably done out of revenge.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. We’ve got Rybicki in custody. Caught him leaving the building. The president called in an arrest order. Unfortunately, he had already triggered the countdown on the bomb. With your wife attached to it.”

“Can you get her out?”

“No. There’s a problem.”

“The nuclear suitcase.”

Seamus nodded grimly. “It’s set to explode in less than nineteen minutes. She’s handcuffed to it, and to the base of the statue.”

Ben’s lips parted. No. No!

“Can’t you get her out of there?”

“They tried without success. Then they were ordered out, along with everyone else. We have a bomb squad on the way. They haven’t arrived yet.”

“But can’t you cut her loose in the meantime?”

“No. Rybicki says the cuffs are made of titanium alloy.”

Ben’s brow creased. “What does that mean?”

“It means you’re not going to cut through them with a blowtorch. And you’re not going to pick the lock with a paper clip. And to make matters worse, Rybicki says that if we detach her from the laptop control device, the bomb goes off immediately.”

“And you believe him?”

“I’m afraid so. I’ve seen this type of trigger mechanism before.”

“There must be something we can do.”

“We’ve been in contact with bomb squads across the country, but so far no one knows how to stop it from detonating. Apparently Rybicki rigged it so the countdown could be stopped by typing in a password-presumably as a safeguard in the event of premature detonation or his failure to escape. But no one knows the password.”

“And Rybicki isn’t talking.”

“He’s pretty damn stubborn. I tried some serious interrogation techniques.”

Ben didn’t ask what they were. He didn’t want to know.

“But he didn’t talk. And I didn’t have enough time with him.”

“Can’t you just type some stuff in?”

“We had some people trying that. They did all the obvious ones. Happily, there’s no penalty for a wrong guess. The countdown just continues. We’ve tried all his children’s names, his wife, his dog, his favorite college professor. So far we haven’t hit the right code word.”

“There must be something you can do.”

“Yes, but…” Seamus’s voice trailed off. “Not in nineteen minutes.” He glanced at his watch. “Seventeen now.”

“You have to try!”

“We’ve already begun emergency evacuation procedures. Happily, the Mall was cleared this morning. But this bomb has a much wider range. Radiation fallout could affect people for miles around.”

“You have to stop that bomb from exploding!”

“Believe me, Mr. Kincaid, I’m as frustrated as you. I’ve been chasing this suitcase all day. The good news is, in the process, I managed to stumble onto Colonel Zuko’s satellite control station and booted him out of our computer system.”

“You’re the reason the missiles didn’t launch!”

“Well, I had help. But the bad news is, I never found the suitcase. The operative I’ve been chasing since early morning left it at a predetermined location for Rybicki to pick up.”

Ben looked at the monument. “I want to go in there.”

“I can’t allow that. Not even for a little while. It’s too dangerous.”