Chapter 28

Charles called as I was buckling up in the back of Marine Two. "John, I hear Billy Graham came out to the scene. How did that go? Any problems? Did you have to deal with an angry press corps?"

"Sir, Reverend Graham called and asked very kindly if it would be Ok to come out and pray over the dead, pray with the wounded, and offer comfort and support to the first responders. I was thrilled to make arrangements to accommodate him, but I kept the press completely out of it.

"We didn't need them stomping all over the crime scene, making up silly stuff, on the spot, trying to gin up viewers, and generally sticking microphones in the face of exhausted first responders, who are fragile already from sorting through body parts.

"If they get angry, blame the NTSB, FBI, and local police, then let it roll off your back." I was feeling a little frisky having spent so much time mourning the dead, feeling the guilt because none of them would have been there if it hadn't been for me. I was working myself into a quiet rage, so I would stay at the task of revenge until it was complete.

Charles laughed and said, "I bet I could play that card and get away with it, at least once." We chatted about my intention to attend every funeral, and visit the families of the dead and seriously injured. He liked that and said he'd see me at some of the funerals.

After he hung up I got to wondering why Charles would leave those things to me.

Rick was waiting when I came downstairs for breakfast.

"Sir, the Secretaries of Defense, and Treasury are waiting for you in the General's staff room. They need to see you as soon as possible." It would have to be important; otherwise they'd have stopped by. I thought their insisting on meeting in the HQ meant bad news.

Rick arranged transportation, and our little convoy headed to see the secretaries.

When we entered, I saw the head of the Secret Service, FBI Director, Director of Central Intelligence, and the head of NSA, along with Hawk and Ken.

That meant really bad news.

"Mr. Vice President," the FBI Director opened the meeting. "Thank you for coming immediately. I have some very troubling news..." He consulted his briefing folder and hesitated. Ken and Hawk sat up straighter, and I noticed Steve tensing up. Something was definitely off the rails here.

"Mr. Vice President," he began this time with some trepidation. "We suspect, based on soft evidence, that an al Qaeda sleeper cell has been activated and is prepared to attack you before you leave town, today." He put up a hand when I started to object and kept going.

"We have intercepted numerous coded messages that are consistent with the communication methods used by the Russians during their inexplicable foray into Afghanistan in the eighties. That these codes would fall into al Qaeda hands makes perfect sense, since Russia abandoned their war on short notice and left enormous amounts of equipment and intelligence behind.

"The truly troubling fact is that there seems to be an inside mole that kept them apprised of your movements, up until you unexpectedly left for the hotel early yesterday. We have a message explicitly informing someone that you were holding in the plane for a few hours to meet with various people by videoconference.

"Mr. Vice President. Someone on your staff is a traitor."

Steve bolted for the phone and started issuing scads of orders, while Ken urgently ordered fresh agents to replace my personal detail. Hawk looked at me and quietly asked, "Mr. Vice President. Would you allow me to assign some of my top people to supplement your Secret Service contingent? I have a black ops group that will guard you like the old Chinese Samurai, while ferreting out your traitor at the same time."

I looked at Ken and he nodded, still intensely giving orders, and I caught Steve's eye to confirm his thoughts.

"Sure," I said. "And thank you..."

The Defense Secretary left the room attended by the General and his second. It looked like we had a real situation developing. If one of my team set us up to be blown to bits yesterday, then I was going to make certain that they failed to live through the week.

I looked at Rick and said, "Make sure Jason knows about this and have him speak to the President ASAP ... No. I need to be excused gentlemen," and I walked out to find an empty office.