Authors: Dale Brown
He was so popular with the American people that there was talk of him being nominated for president of the United States to oppose another very popular man, then secretary of defense Joseph Gardner. Gardner had switched party affiliations because of his disagreements with the Martindale administration, and the move hurt his chances of winning. But in a flash of political genius, Joseph Gardner asked Phoenix to be his running mate, even though they were not in the same party. The strategy worked. The voters saw the move as a strong sign of unity and wisdom, and they won in a landslide.
“Do you think it’s a good idea sending the vice president to Iraq and Turkey, Mr. President?” the chief of staff asked. “It’s still pretty dangerous out there.”
“I’ve been monitoring the security status of Iraq, and I believe it’s plenty safe for me,” Phoenix said.
“He’s got a point, Ken,” the president said. “I thought about your qualifications and expertise, not about your safety. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be, sir,” Phoenix said. “I’ll do it. It’s important to show how serious we are about this attack—to all the players in the Middle East, not just the Turks.”
“I don’t know…”
“I’ll keep my head down, sir, don’t worry,” Phoenix said. “I’ll put a team together from the Pentagon, Justice, and National Intelligence and leave tonight.”
“
Tonight
?” Gardner nodded and smiled. “I knew I picked the right guy. Okay, Ken, thank you, you’re on. Stacy will get all the clearances you’ll need from Baghdad, Ankara, and anywhere else the investigation takes you. If we need you back in the Senate to
break a tie, maybe I’ll send a Black Stallion spaceplane out to get you.”
“I’d love to get a ride in one, sir. Send one for me, and I’ll take it.”
“Be careful what you wish for, Mr. Vice President.” Gardner got to his feet and started to pace. “I know I’ve said I want to draw down our forces in Iraq over sixteen months, but it’s taken longer than I thought. This incident highlights the dangers our troops face out there every day, even when we’re not in direct contact with the enemy. It’s time to talk about drawing down our forces quicker and removing more forces. Thoughts?”
“The American people will certainly agree, Mr. President,” Secretary of State Barbeau said, “especially after news of this disaster gets out in the morning.”
“We’ve spoken about the possibility many times, sir,” National Security Adviser Carlyle said. “One mechanized infantry brigade in Baghdad on a twelve-month rotation; one training regiment on a six-month rotation; and we conduct frequent joint training exercises with units deployed from the States for no more than a month or two throughout the country. Day-to-day security and surveillance provided by private contractors, with infrequent special ops missions around the region as needed.”
“Sounds good to me,” the president said. “One soldier dies and it’s front-page news, but it takes at least six contractors to die before anyone notices. Let’s work up the details and get a plan drawn up pronto.” To his other advisers, he said, “Okay, I want an update on the Iraq attack at the seven a.m. staff briefing. Thank you, everyone.” Just as the group was departing the Oval Office, the president asked, “Secretary Barbeau, a word with you in the study?”
After the door was closed, the president fixed the former senator from Louisiana a bourbon and water. They toasted each other, then she lightly kissed him on the lips, being careful not to get too much lipstick on him—after all, the first lady was upstairs in the residence. “Thanks for recommending Phoenix, Stacy,” Gardner said. “Good choice—it’ll get him out of here for a change. He’s always underfoot.”
“I agree—he’s much
too
curious sometimes,” Barbeau said. She curled her lower lip in a pout. “But I wish you had consulted me first. I can think of a dozen better-qualified persons from
our
party that could’ve headed the team.”
“Walter briefed me that there were rumblings in Washington about keeping Phoenix too deep in the background and squashing his political future,” Gardner said.
“Well, that’s what typically happens to vice presidents.”
“I know, but I need to keep him on the ticket when I run for the second term, and I don’t want pissed-off party bosses encouraging him to leave so he can run himself,” Gardner said, fixing himself another coffee mug of Puerto Rican rum on ice. “This is a good high-profile assignment that’ll please his supporters, but it’s out of the country with not a lot of media around; it’ll show I’m serious about investigating the incident, but nothing will come of it, so if anyone gets hurt, it’ll be him; but more importantly, it’s a subject that will fade from public attention quickly because it involves dead American soldiers. Send your experts’ names to Phoenix and let’s see if he takes any of them.”
“Perhaps,” Barbeau said, her eyes glittering with intrigue, “the vice president will forget to duck or put on his body armor, and just like
that
we’ll need a new vice president.”
“Je-sus, Stacy, don’t even joke about shit like that,” Gardner breathed. His eyes rose in surprise at her words; he waited to see if she would smile and laugh the dark thought away, but was not shocked to see that she did not.
“I would never wish any harm on the lovely and hunky Kenneth Timothy Phoenix,” she said. “But he
is
going into harm’s way, and you need to think about what we’ll do if the worst happens.”
“I would have to appoint his replacement, of course. I’ve got a list.”
Barbeau put the bourbon on a table and slowly, tantalizingly, approached the president. “Am I on your list, Mr. President?” she asked in a low, sultry voice, running her fingers under the lapels of his jacket, caressing his chest.
“Oh, you’re on many lists, darlin.’ But then I’d have to hire a food taster around here, wouldn’t I?”
She didn’t stop—and, he noticed, she didn’t refute his joke, either. “I don’t want the office by succession, Joe—I know I can earn it on my own,” she said in a low, rather singsong voice. She looked up at him with her beautiful green eyes…and Gardner saw nothing but menace in them. She kissed him lightly on the lips again, her eyes open and staring directly into his, and after the kiss she added, “But I’ll take it any way I can.”
The president smiled and shook his head ruefully as she headed for the door. “I don’t know who’s in greater danger, Miss Secretary of State: the vice president in Iraq…or whoever gets in your way right here in Washington.”
R
ESIDENCE OF THE
P
RESIDENT OF THE
R
EPUBLIC OF
T
URKEY
T
HAT SAME TIME
“How
dare
he?” Turkish minister of national defense Hasan Cizek stormed as President Hirsiz replaced the receiver on the hook. “That is an
insult
! Gardner should apologize to you, and do it
immediately
!”
“Calm yourself, Minister,” Prime Minister Ays¸e Akas said. With her, Hirsiz, and Cizek was the entire national security staff: secretary-general of the Turkish National Security Council General Orhan Sahin, foreign minister Mustafa Hamarat, military chief of staff General Abdullah Guzlev, and Fevsi Guclu, the director of the National Intelligence Organization, which performed all domestic and foreign intelligence operations. “Gardner was upset and not thinking straight. And he heard that obscenity. Are you insane?”
“Don’t apologize for that drunkard lech, Prime Minister,” Foreign Minister Mustafa Hamarat said. “The president of the United States shouldn’t pop off at a head of state and an ally—I don’t care how tired or upset he is. He lost his head in a time of crisis, and that was wrong.”
“Everyone, quiet down,” President Kurzat Hirsiz said, holding up his hands almost as if in surrender. “I took no offense. We made the requisite call and apologized—”
“Groveled is more like it!” Cizek spat.
“Our rockets killed a dozen Americans and probably several dozen Iraqis, Hasan; maybe a little groveling is warranted here.” Hirsiz scowled at the minister of national defense. “It’s what he says or does next that will tell.” He turned to the secretary-general of the National Security Council. “General, are you absolutely positive that your information was accurate, actionable, and an immediate response was required?”
“
I
am positive, sir,” he heard a voice say. He turned and saw Gen
eral Besir Ozek, commander of the Jandarma, standing in the doorway to his office, with a frightened aide behind him. Ozek had taken off all the bandages on his face, neck, and hands, and the sight was truly repulsive.
“General Ozek!” Hirsiz blurted out, momentarily shocked by the general’s presence, then nauseated by his appearance. He swallowed hard, squinting against the revulsion he felt, then ashamed for letting the others see it. “I didn’t summon you, sir. You are not well. You should be in hospital.”
“There was no time to notify the Americans either—and if we did, the information would have been leaked to PKK sympathizers, and the opportunity would have been lost,” Ozek went on, as if the president had not said a word.
Hirsiz nodded, turning away from Ozek’s awful wounds. “Thank you, General. You are dismissed.”
“If I may speak freely, sir: my heart is sickened by what I just heard,” Ozek said.
“General?”
“Sickened by the number of times I heard the president of the Republic of Turkey apologize like a young boy caught feeding the goldfish to the cat. With all due respect, Mr. President, it was repulsive.”
“That’s enough, General,” Prime Minister Akas said. “Show some respect.”
“We were doing nothing more than defending our nation,” Ozek said angrily. “We have nothing to apologize for, sir.”
“Innocent Americans died, General…”
“They thought they were chasing al-Qaeda in Iraq terrorists, not PKK,” Ozek retorted. “If the Iraqis had any brains, they would know as well as we that the tunnel complex was a PKK hideout, not al-Qaeda.”
“Are you sure of this, General?”
“Positive, sir,” Ozek insisted. “Al-Qaeda insurgents hide and operate in the cities, not the countryside like the PKK. If the Americans bothered to learn this—or if the Iraqis cared—this incident would not have happened.”
President Hirsiz fell silent and turned away—to think, as well as not to have to look at Ozek’s terrible wounds. “Nevertheless, General, the incident has sparked anger and outrage in Washington, and we must appear conciliatory, apologetic, and utterly cooperative,” he said after a few moments. “They will send investigators, and we must assist their inquiry.”
“Sir, we can’t let that happen,” Ozek cried. “We can’t let the Americans or the international community keep us from defending this nation. You know as well as I that the focus of any investigation will be about
our
faults and
our
policies, not about the PKK or their attacks. We must act,
now
. Do
something
, sir!”
The prime minister’s eyes blazed in anger. “As you were, General Ozek!” she shouted. The veteran Jandarma officer’s eyes blazed, which made his visage even more frightful. The prime minister raised a finger at him to silence his expected retort. “Not another word, General, or I will order Minister Cizek to relieve you of your post, and I will strip the rank off your uniform
myself
.”
“If all we had hit were PKK terrorists, few outside our country would have cared about the strike,” Ozek said. “Our people would have seen this as what it truly was: a major victory against the PKK, not an example of military incompetence or racism.”
“Minister Cizek, you will relieve General Ozek of command,” Akas said.
“I recommend calm here, Madam Prime Minister…” Cizek sputtered. “There has been a terrible accident, yes, but we were only doing our duty to protect our country…”
“I said, I want Ozek
dismissed
!” the prime minister shouted. “Do it
now
!”
“Shut up!” President Hirsiz shouted, almost pleading. “Everyone, please
shut up
!” The president looked as if his internal struggles were ready to tear him apart. He looked at his advisers and seemed to find no answers. Turning back to Ozek, he said in a quiet voice, “Many innocent Americans and Iraqis were killed tonight, General.”
“I am sorry, sir,” Ozek said. “I take full responsibility. But will
we ever learn how many PKK terrorists we killed tonight? And if the Americans or Iraqis leading this so-called investigation ever told us how many terrorists were eliminated, will we ever get the chance to tell the world what they did to innocent Turks?” Hirsiz did not respond, only stared at a spot on the wall, so Ozek stiffened to attention and turned to leave.
“Wait, General,” Hirsiz said.
“You’re
not
going to consider that idea, Kurzat!” Prime Minister Akas said, her mouth dropping open in surprise.
“The general is right, Ays¸e,” Hirsiz said. “This is yet another incident for which Turkey will be vilified…” And at that, he reached down, grasped his chair with both hands, and toppled it over with a quick thrust: “and I am
sick
of it! I am not going to look into the eyes of Turkish men and women and make more promises and excuses! I want it to
end
. I want the PKK to fear this government…no, I want the Americans, the Iraqis, the whole
world
to fear us! I’m tired of being everyone’s patsy! Minister Cizek!”
“Sir!”
“I want to see a plan of action on my desk as soon as possible, outlining an operation to destroy the PKK training camps and facilities in Iraq,” Hirsiz said. “I want to minimize noncombatant casualties, and I want it quick, efficient, and thorough. We know we’re going to get blasted by the entire world, and the pressure will be on to withdraw almost from day one, so it will have to be an operation that is fast, effective, and massive.”
“Yes, sir,” Cizek said. “With pleasure.”
Hirsiz stepped over to Ozek and placed his hands on the general’s shoulders, this time not afraid of looking him in his badly injured face. “I vow,” he said, “never to have one of my generals take responsibility for an operation I authorized. I am the commander in chief. When this operation begins, General, if you’re up to it, I want you to lead the forces that will strike at the heart of the PKK. If you’re strong enough to get out of a crashed plane and then come here to Ankara to confront me, you’re strong enough to crush the PKK.”
“Thank you, sir,” Ozek said.
Hirsiz turned to the other advisers in the room. “Ozek was the only one who spoke his mind to the president—that’s the kind of person I want advising me from this day forward. Put a plan together to defeat the PKK once and for all.”