Wolffer noted, “In fact, we’ve already done that by pushing for this variation on JEEP.” He explained, “The Marine helicopter is not as well equipped as Air Force One or the E-4B Doomsday Plane to handle large volumes of communication or certain types of encrypted messages, so that time between attack and response will be largely eaten up by the evacuation procedures, and there’s less likelihood of the president receiving any messages or getting bad advice that might cause him to think about interfering with Wild Fire.” Wolffer concluded, “The time the president spends on the Marine helicopter is always a period of less-than-ideal command, control, and communication.”

Madox responded, “That’s actually quite ideal for us.” He asked Paul Dunn, “So, what does the president’s schedule look like on Tuesday?”

“The president,” Dunn replied, “will be in the White House all day. At two P.M., he is hosting a White House conference on Minority Homeownership. The rest of the day, he will be in the Oval Office. Dinner is with friends, select staff, and the first lady.” Dunn added, “Scott should be working late that day in his West Wing office, and Ed should be as close to the secretary of defense as possible all day. Jim should be in the Pentagon, keeping track of the movements of the Joint Chiefs.” Dunn concluded, “I will be dining at the White House.”

Bain Madox seemed lost in thought, then said, “All right… Tuesday seems like the best day to initiate Project Green. That gives us a comfort zone to accomplish what needs to be done.” He explained, “First, Mikhail needs to be here, and he may need some time to service the nuclear devices. Second, I need to be certain my aircraft are here and ready for departure. Third, I need to have the diesel generators serviced to power up the ELF antenna. Then, the ELF transmitter needs to be checked out, which I’ll do myself… and then there are the logistics of the two flights to the designated cities.”

Harry listened to Madox, but he wasn’t quite sure what the guy was talking about, though everyone else seemed to know.

Madox continued, “So, let’s say Tuesday, early evening. I know the president retires early, and I don’t want him dragged out of bed and put on the Marine helicopter in his pajamas.” He grinned. “Let’s say sometime during the dinner hour when Paul and the first lady are with him, which will make the helicopter evacuation much easier for everyone. Exact time to be determined by me, and passed on to Scott and Ed, who will be working late that night in their offices.” He looked at General Hawkins and said, “And you, Jim, will be working late in the Pentagon.”

Hawkins nodded.

Madox finished, “So, gentlemen, the New World begins Tuesday evening-three days and about three hours from now. And you will all stay in touch with one another. And you, Scott, will calm down the situation by announcing that you have hard intelligence that the cities that have experienced a nuclear attack are the only cities that will suffer this fate.”

Landsdale nodded. “I’ll do my best, but not many people are believing the CIA these days.”

“The White House believes you about the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Which, by the way, I don’t think exist.”

Landsdale smiled and replied, “Maybe they do, maybe they don’t. In any case, post-Wild Fire, that will be a moot question, which is good for everyone.”

Madox nodded and turned to Wolffer. “How does Wild Fire actually go into effect? Take us through this.”

Edward Wolffer explained, “After it is reported and confirmed that an American city or cities have been attacked with a weapon of mass destruction-which in this case will be nuclear-then the secretary of defense sends a coded message to Colorado Springs that says simply, ‘Wild Fire is go,’ followed by the response level: the A-list, or the A- and B-lists.” He looked around the table and continued, “If Washington itself has been destroyed, and/or there is no message from the secretary of defense or the president, then Wild Fire goes into effect anyway.”

No one commented, so Wolffer went on, “The protocols and safeguards are similar to the ones in place for MAD, and although Wild Fire is less of a hair-trigger response than MAD, this is one of those rare cases when common sense prevails. In other words, as soon as the people in Colorado Springs know-from any reliable source-that an American city has been nuked, they will send out an encoded message to the missile silos that have been designated as Wild Fire response sites, and to naval operations in Norfolk and Pearl Harbor, who will contact the submarine fleet. These subs and silos will be given a pre-launch command. Wild Fire calls for a thirty-minute interval between pre-launch and launch.”

Wolffer made eye contact with each man. “During this time, the people in Colorado Springs will await any encrypted message from the president that may modify or cancel the launch.”

Landsdale said, “I thought the president couldn’t cancel the Wild Fire response.”

Wolffer replied, “He can, but only if he has overwhelming evidence that the nuclear attack did not originate from Islamic terrorists. And he’s got only thirty minutes to come up with this. And if he’s on the Marine helicopter, flying to a secure location, there is less chance of him receiving such information. As we discussed earlier, there is a strong presumption of guilt against Islamic terrorists, especially since 9/11. In effect, these nuclear devices will appear to have Al Qaeda’s fingerprints all over them. Lacking any other evidence, such as that the attack was initiated by North Korea, for instance, or, as wildly improbable as this sounds, some domestic group that knows of Wild Fire”-he smiled-“Wild Fire targets the land of Islam. In effect, we shoot first and ask questions afterward. If we were wrong about the source of the attack, we’ve still accomplished a worthwhile goal.”

Madox said, “It’s my understanding from Paul that this president will not attempt to cancel Wild Fire.”

Paul Dunn responded, “The president was again briefed on Wild Fire, right after 9/11, and very recently on the one-year anniversary. He seems comfortable with this and understands that all he has to do is nothing.”

Wolffer said, “If Colorado Springs has heard nothing from the president after thirty minutes, then that silence is an order to launch. So within, say, an hour of the nuclear attack on America, we will have accomplished the nuclear obliteration of those responsible.”

Landsdale pointed out, “I hope not. We are responsible.”

Madox didn’t see the humor and replied, “No, Scott, the Islamic extremists are ultimately responsible for the destruction of their homeland. They’ve been fucking around with us for too long, and if you play with fire, you get radiation burns.”

Landsdale commented, “Whatever makes you feel good.” He asked Madox, “What are the logistics of getting these suitcase bombs to where they belong?”

“I have two Citation jet aircraft, which are unfortunately not here at the moment, but I’ve contacted the pilots, and the aircraft are inbound to the Adirondack Regional Airport. Sometime tomorrow, or Monday the latest, when Mikhail tells me that the nukes are hot, the pilots and co-pilots will transport the four suitcases in two Jeeps to the airport and put them aboard my two aircraft.” Madox glanced at the black suitcase and said, “They’re called suitcase bombs, but, as you can see, they don’t look like anything you’ve ever seen from American Tourister or Samsonite, so before they’re out in public, we’ll put each of them in a wardrobe trunk with a carbon steel padlock.” He continued, “Then, the pilots and co-pilots will fly to two different cities, where they’ll take a taxi to designated hotels-with their suitcases-and await further instructions.”

Landsdale asked, “Can you trust these guys?”