“Yeah. She’s a CIA officer. Former prostitute.”

Landsdale laughed. “I think I know her.”

Madox said, “Thank you, Scott, for your assistance.” He said to Harry, “Your visit here, even as a low-level surveillance person, has given us some concern.”

Harry didn’t reply but looked around at the other men, who did seem a little concerned about something.

Madox continued, “However, some good may come of this. We’ve been planning a long time for Project Green, and I’m afraid that the planning has become procrastination. This often happens when a momentous decision needs to be made.” He stared at his Executive Board, two of whom nodded and two of whom seemed annoyed.

Madox went on, “Harry, I think that your physical presence in this room is a strong reminder that there are forces in the government that are too curious about who we are and what we’re doing. I think time has run out.” He looked at the other four men, who nodded, almost reluctantly.

Madox said, “So, gentlemen, if you have no further objections, Mr. Muller stays with us so we can keep an eye on him.” He looked at Harry. “I want to make it perfectly clear to you that although you have been detained here, no harm will come to you. We just need to keep you here until Project Green begins. Perhaps two or three days. Understand?”

Harry Muller understood that he might be dead in less than two or three days. But on another level, looking at these men, who in his world of police work were not the murdering type, he thought that Madox might be telling the truth. He couldn’t believe-or make himself believe-that guys like this would go ahead and kill him. He glanced at Landsdale, who seemed like the only one in the room who might actually be dangerous.

“Mr. Muller? Do you understand?”

Harry nodded. “Yeah.”

“Good. Don’t let your imagination get the best of you. What you’re going to hear in the next hour or so is so far beyond your wildest imagination that you’ll forget about yourself anyway.”

Harry looked at Madox, who still seemed cool and smart-mouthed, but Harry could also see that Madox was a little hyper and worried about something.

Harry regarded the other four men, and he thought he’d never seen guys who were so powerful looking so worried. The older man, Dunn, the president’s adviser, was pale, and Harry noticed that Dunn’s hands were trembling. Hawkins, the general, and Wolffer, the defense guy, looked pretty grim. Only Landsdale appeared relaxed, but Harry could see he was putting it on.

Whatever was going on here, Harry thought, it was real, and it was something that was scaring the shit out of these guys. Harry took some comfort in the fact that he wasn’t the only one in the room who was scared shitless.

Bain Madox stood and said, “I call this emergency meeting of the Executive Board of the Custer Hill Club to order.”

Still standing, he continued, “Gentlemen, as you know, because of the one-year anniversary of 9/11, the Office of Homeland Security has put the nation on Alert Level Orange. The purpose of this meeting is to decide if we should go ahead with Project Green, which will reduce the alert level to that color. Permanently.” Madox looked at Harry. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

“Sure.”

“Might put you out of a job.”

“That’s okay.”

“Good. Now, if the Board will bear with me, I’d like to get Harry up and running on this. In fact, we can all benefit from some perspective before we make any decisions.” He looked at Harry and asked, “You’ve heard of Mutually Assured Destruction?”

“I… yeah…”

“During the Cold War, if the Soviets launched nuclear missiles against us, we would, without debate, launch our arsenal of nuclear weapons against them. Thousands of nuclear warheads would rain down on both countries, assuring mutual destruction. Remember that?”

Harry nodded.

Madox continued, “Paradoxically, the world was actually safer then. No hesitation on our part, and no political debates. This strategy had a beautiful simplicity to it. The radar images of thousands of nuclear missiles headed our way meant we were dead. The only moral question-if any-was, Do we kill tens of millions of them before we all die? You and I know the answer to that, but there were fuzzy-headed people in Washington who thought that revenge was not a justification for us destroying a big part of the planet-that no purpose would be served by obliterating the innocent men, women, and children whose government had just assured our obliteration. Well, the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction-MAD-removed any such questions by making our response automatic. We didn’t have to rely on a president who lost his nerve or had a moral crisis, or who was out playing golf or getting laid somewhere.”

There were a few polite chuckles.

Mr. Madox continued, “The primary reason that MAD worked was that it was unambiguous and symmetrical. Each side knew that a nuclear first strike by one would set off a counterstrike by the other of equal or overwhelming force, which would destroy the very civilization of both nations.” He added, “That would leave places like Africa, China, and South America to inherit what was left of the Earth. Pretty depressing, don’t you think?”

Harry remembered how the world was before the collapse of the Soviet Union. Nuclear war was pretty scary, but he never really believed it was going to happen.

Madox seemed to be reading his mind and said, “But this never happened, and never would. Even the most insane Soviet dictator could not contemplate this scenario. Despite the rantings of left-wing pacifists and pinhead intellectuals, Mutually Assured Destruction actually assured that the world was safe from nuclear Armageddon. Right?”

Harry thought, What the hell is this guy getting at?

Bain Madox sat down, lit a cigarette, and asked Harry, “Have you ever heard of something called Wild Fire?”

“No.”

Madox looked at him closely, then explained, “A secret government protocol. Have you ever heard these words used in passing, or in any context?”

“No.”

“I wouldn’t think so. This secret protocol is known only at the highest levels of government. And by us. And now by you-if you pay attention.”

Paul Dunn, the presidential adviser, interjected, “Bain, do we need to talk about this in front of Mr. Muller?”

Bain Madox stared at Dunn and replied, “As I said, this is a good exercise for all of us. Very shortly, we’re going to make a decision that will change the world as we know it, and the history of the world for the next thousand years. The least we can do is explain ourselves to Mr. Muller, who represents the nation we say we are going to save. Not to mention explaining ourselves to ourselves at this critical juncture.”

Landsdale, the CIA man, said to everyone, “You have to let Bain run it his way. You should know that by now.”

Edward Wolffer added, “More important, this is a transformative moment in the history of the world, and I wouldn’t want Bain, or anyone, to ever think we didn’t give it the time that’s equal to its importance.”

Madox turned to his old friend. “Thank you, Ed. No one may ever know what happened here today, but we know, and God knows. And if someday the world does know, then we need to justify ourselves to God and to man.”

Landsdale commented dryly, “Let’s not tell God.”

Madox ignored him and drew on his cigarette. “The first Islamic terrorist attacks began in the 1970s, as you recall.”

Bain Madox began with the Munich Olympics Massacre, and then rattled off a list of thirty years of airplane hijackings, bombings, kidnappings, executions, and mass murder by Islamic jihadists.

The men in the room remained silent, but a few nodded in remembrance of one or another terrorist attack.