"Fish and Arabs," Wilson added, making the entire team laugh out loud.

204.

Mustafa Kareem knocked, and entered the room where Abdullah El Farrar and Osama bin Araman were celebrating the steady advancement of their troops across what they a.s.sumed was an unresisting America.

Farrar and Araman, both devout Muslims, never indulged in alcoholic spirits, so they were drinking fruit juice and eating fish broiled in the Arab way, with heavy spices and curry.

Kareem looked down at the paper in his hand and gritted his teeth. It contained a message that he knew would end his friend and leader's celebration on an unhappy note.

"Sir," he said deferentially, as he always did when Farrar was with someone else.

Farrar looked up, a benevolent smile on his face. "Yes, Mustafa, comeand join us. This fish is most elegant, even if it did grow under the feet of the infidels."

"I'm afraid I have some troubling news, my friend," Kareem said, his face a long frown.

"What is it, Mustafa?" Farrar said, his smile leaving as abruptly as his good mood did at the look on the face of his friend and second in command.

"I have received several reports that our troops have been stopped in their advancement. They are coming under heavy fire and have sustained terrible losses."

205.

205.

"Has the American government finally awakened to our threat and sent in troops?" Araman asked, a look of astonishment on his face.

"Not only that, Osama," Kareem answered, handing the paper to Farrar.

"It seems in most areas the citizens of the United States are joining in the fight. They are proving to be more formidable adversaries than we first imagined."

"But how are they doing this?" Farrar asked, shaking the paper in Kareem's face. "I understood from our intelligence sources that the American government had disarmed its citizens some years back. Where are they getting the arms to stand against our troops?"

"From what little information I have been able to gather," Kareem explained, "the Americans are being aided by Ben Raines and his Scout troops from the SUSA. Evidently, they are not only bringing in arms for the American citizens to use, they are somehow convincing them to give up their paci-fistic ways and join in the battle . . . with devastating results."

Farrar laid the paper gently on the table in front of him and stared at it for a moment. Finally, he looked up, a small smile of satisfaction on his face.

"Well, it is of no matter," he said. "Once our planes land with reinforcements and the ships we've sent to San Francisco disembark their cargo of more troops and equipment, we should be able to make short work of these infidel amateurs who think they can stand against our seasoned fighters."

Kareem dropped his gaze. He would rather bite off his tongue than give his friend this next bit of bad news, delivered by phone just minutes before.

"That is not all I have to tell you, Abdullah," he said, looking up with sorrowful eyes to meet the gaze of his best friend in all the world.

"What else is there?" Farrar asked.

206.

"I'm afraid there will be no landing of troops at the San Francisco docks.""What?" Araman almost screamed. "Why not?"

"The docks were destroyed in a late-night raid by some of Ben Raines's Scouts. The entire landing area is nothing more than twisted and charred metal. There is no place for the troops to be landed."

"Can't they be off-loaded in small boats and ferried ash.o.r.e?" Farrar asked. "That was one of our contingency plans we had as a backup in case of trouble."

Kareem shook his head. "The commanders of the ships feel it would pose an unacceptable risk, my leader, with the sh.o.r.e under the control of the Scouts. The smaller boats would make easy targets for the snipers and Scouts on sh.o.r.e. They'd never make it intact, and the heavy equipment would need cranes to be off-loaded, a feat plainly impossible now."

"Allah forgive me for what I am thinking now," Farrar said with heavy feeling.

"There is more, Abdullah," Kareem said hesitantly.

"What else could there be, my friend?" Farrar asked suspiciously.

"I have been unable to make contact with our men in Boise since four hours ago."

"Boise?" Araman asked. "What is this place?"

"It is where our planes are scheduled to land in ..." Farrar glanced at a watch on his wrist. "Three hours," lie finished.

"Have you alerted the planes to divert to a safer landing spot?" Farrar asked, a worried frown on his face.

Sweat beaded Kareem's forehead and ran in rivulets down his face, though the temperature of the room was not all that hot. It was plain he didn't want to speak.

"No, sir," he almost croaked through dry lips.

"And why not?" Farrar asked, his face freezing in an unreadable mask.

"It seems the Americans are blocking our transmissions 207.

207.

with some scrambling devices we were not aware they had," Kareem answered slowly.

Farrar slammed his hand down on the table, spilling his carafe of fruit juice and making the remains of his dinner jump into the air.

"It is that d.a.m.ned Ben Raines again," he snarled. "Our intelligence was sure the Americans had no such technology. Raines must have brought his experts in to aid the Osterman government."

"Why wasn't this eventuality foreseen?" Araman asked in a nasty tone, glaring at Farrar.Farrar returned his stare, his face flushing at the implied insult. "We had no idea the SUSA would join forces with a country they were just at war with months ago," he said firmly.

"This is an unforgivable oversight," Araman said, crossing his arms.

"Do you dare to dispute my leadership?" Farrar asked dangerously, his hand going to the hilt of the ceremonial dagger in his belt.

Araman's eyes saw the movement and his face blanched. He knew the Desert Fox was not a man to take an insult lightly, no matter the justice of it.

"No ... no, of course not," he stammered, sweat now breaking out on bis face. He knew he was moments away from a nasty death if he didn't speak just the right words.

"I meant no insult to your leadership, my friend," he said slowly. "It is the intelligence men who gave you bad advice and who should be punished."

Farrar nodded slowly, his lips turning up in an evil grin. "And so they shall be, Osama," he said in a hoa.r.s.e voice.

He turned to Kareem. "Is there any way you can see to warn the airplanes off?" he asked.

Kareem shook his head. "No, I'm afraid not. We should have the scrambler code broken within hours, but by then it will be too late."

208.

William W. Johnstone "Then let us pray to Allah that it is the scrambling that is keeping us out of touch with Boise, and that the Scouts of Ben Raines are not in control of the airport," Farrar said.

209.

President Claire Osterman called a staff meeting, to include Ben Raines, for eight o'clock in the morning.

When Ben walked in, the rest of Claire's staff was already present. He noticed she had her arm out of its sling for the first time and that her bodyguard,; Herb Knoff, looked less pale and more fit than he had at tkeir last meeting.

Ben nodded to those present: Wallace W. c.o.x of Finance; Gerald Boykin of Defense; Clifford Ainsworth of Propaganda; Josh Currey, the Chief of Intel; General Maxwell G.o.ddard; and Herb Knoff.

Ben turned his attention to Claire. "I'm glad to see both you and Mr.

Knoff are looking better this morning," he said.

Clair unconsciously flexed her arm and looked over at Herb, her eyes softening as she did so. "Me too," she said.

Herb just gave a small smile of thanks, and continued to drink his coffee from his corner position.Ben noticed the look in Claire's eyes when she glanced at Herb and thought, There's more there than an employer/employee relationship. He considered the implications of Claire getting her ashes hauled on a regular basis, and came to the conclusion it was probably the best for everyone concerned-especially as it seemed to have mellowed her once-fiery disposition a great deal.

"Well, let's get started," Claire said, smiling. Evidently 210.

she was in an exceptionally good mood this morning. "What do you have for us today, Josh," she asked the Intel chief.

Josh actually smiled for the first time since Ben had met him. "The news is pretty good this morning," he said, looking down at a sheaf of papers and radiograms on his lap. "It seems General Raines's Scouts have done an excellent job of stopping the invaders in their tracks. From what I can gather from our reports, many of the terrorist gangs have been completely obliterated, while a number of others have been stopped and are currently bottled up where they are, unable to move forward."

Claire grinned at the good news and looked over at Ben. "That is excellent news, Ben. How did so few of your Scouts manage to halt the progress of so many of the terrorists?" she asked.

General G.o.ddard scowled in Ben's direction and cleared his throat. "I can tell you, Madam President, and I don't think you're gonna like it,"

he growled.

Claire frowned as she looked from one man to the other. "What's on your mind, Max?" she asked. "You seem particularly testy this morning."

"I am, Claire, and I'll tell you why. His Scouts took the unauthorized action of pa.s.sing out military arms and munitions to our citizens over the past few days. Now we've got a bunch of untrained civilians running around armed to the teeth, shooting up neighborhoods and cities and doing no telling what with these very powerful weapons."

Claire chewed on her lip as she considered this latest information.

Finally, she asked, "Is this true, Ben?"

Ben shrugged. "Yeah, it is."

"Weren't you aware that this country has a law against citizens owning or being in possession of firearms of any kind?" she asked.

"Claire, you asked for the help of me and my forces to rid your country of these invading terrorists," Ben said evenly, trying to keep his temper. "To do that job, I brought 211.

211.

in our finest teams of Scouts and sent them up against an enemy who outnumbered them twenty to one."

"I'm aware of that, Ben," Claire said.He shrugged. "Arming the citizens was the only possible way we were going to successfiilly halt the spread of the terrorists throughout your country."

"But Ben, the law plainly states . . ." she began.

"Would you rather have El Farrar and his terrorists sitting here in your office dictating new laws to you, Claire?" Ben asked testily. " 'Cause that's what you were staring dead in the face forty-eight hours ago."

He glanced at General G.o.ddard. "And if you don't believe me, just ask the general over there."

G.o.ddard's face flamed red as Claire turned to stare at him. "Is that true, Max?" she asked. "Could you have halted the advance of these invaders short of arming our citizens?"

G.o.ddard hemmed and hawed for a few moments, and then he looked down at his hands clenched into fists in his lap. "No, ma'am, I don't believe so," he admitted.

"Well, then," Claire said, her face lightening up and her previous good mood reappearing. "No harm done. Once these terrorists are driven out of our lands, we'll just ask the civilians to turn in their weapons and all will be just as it was before."

Ben suppressed the smile that threatened to form on his lips at this naive idea, even as Clifford Ainsworth snorted loudly through his nose.

Claire stared at the Minister of Propaganda as if he were going crazy.

"You had something to say, Cliff?" she asked with an edge to her voice.

Ainsworth took a deep breath. "With all due respect, Madam President, I'm afraid that will never happen."

Claire narrowed her eyes, noticed Ben's expression, and turned to him.

"You agree with that, Ben?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yes, Claire, I do," he answered.

"Why, pray tell?"

212.

"Freedom, and the ability to defend oneself and one's country, is a heady drug, Claire," Ben said, wondering how he could explain this to a woman who'd built her empire on the very fact of depriving her people of such a commodity. "Giving people a taste of freedom, a taste of self-respect and self-autonomy, and then asking them to give it up is kinda like giving a child a taste of candy and then saying 'no more.' "

"I don't believe it," Claire said stubbornly. "When I first took office and pa.s.sed the laws about private ownership of weapons, the people were only too happy to give them up and let the government take care of defending them."

"Not to put too fine a point on it, Claire," Ben said gently, "but that was also when you lost almost half your population to the SUSA-the half that refused to give up their arms and live under the government's thumb."She shook her head. "But that's just it, Ben. All of those barbaric malcontents left and moved to your country. The people who elected to stay here believe in a gun-free society."

Ben shrugged. "Maybe so, Claire, and maybe I'm wrong, but remember, that was before they found out that the government might not be able to defend them in all circ.u.mstances."

"If I may," Wallace c.o.x interrupted.

"Yes, Wally," Claire said.

"Why don't we table this argument until we get to the point we're discussing; then we'll know who's right and who's wrong."

"A good idea, I think," Claire said, though she still had a worried look on her face as if she thought Ben might be right after all.