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  “Nothing yet, sir. No group has claimed responsibility. We’ve been coordinating with Janis over at FBI, with our best CIA people, Interpol, the British, the Israelis, we’re even drilling the Russians because so many of their SA-7 Strela shoulder-fired missiles are floating around just waiting for some militant to pick them up. We had one report about how easy it is to get missiles from a former Red army base in Kutaisi, Georgia.”

  “Why is it easy at that place?” the president asked impatiently.

  “First of all, there are no lights at night. They turn off the electricity from midnight until dawn, so it’s pretty simple to move around undetected. Second, those places are guarded by soldiers who earn about fifty bucks a month. They’re so poor, they can’t even afford boots. They wear slippers. So some terrorist comes along and gives the guy a thousand dollars and bingo, you’ve got an instant fire sale.”

  “But who says it’s one of their rockets?” the president pressed. “The FAA is telling us that in each one of these three crashes, nothing, absolutely nothing showed up on radar and nobody reported seeing anything in the sky. No planes. No missiles. Nothing.”

  “If I may, Mr. President.”

  “Go ahead, Jay.”

  The vice president shifted in his seat and leaned forward. “I know that at Logan they said they didn’t see anything, but when that plane took off, it was first heading east, right into the sun. So it would be pretty hard to see anything from the Tower at that angle.” He shook his head and added, “I admit the radar part is really puzzling though.”

  The president turned to Dr. Talbot. “As I’m sure you know, our Department of Homeland Security has got contracts out with a couple of defense contractors to adapt military defense technology to our commercial fleet.”

  She nodded and said, “Yes, Mr. President. I know about the contracts. Oh, and you can call me Cammy.”

  “Yes, Cammy. I remember. Last time you were in this office, you were here because you had invented a new technology for a defense against cruise missiles. It was an incredible feat, and we’re all in your debt for your work on that project.”

  Austin Gage interjected, “You probably prevented another war between India and Pakistan when you deployed your system and took control of that weapon aimed at New Delhi.”

  Cammy saw a ray of sunshine glinting off of a picture frame behind the president’s desk and reflected on her last meeting in this historic room. She had been with Hunt Daniels, a member of the National Security Council staff who had worked with her on Q-3 as her technology was called. He had helped her get funding from Congress, protected her when a foreign agent had tried to kill her, and finally made love to her in a way no other man had ever done. She had fallen for him. Hard. And now? Now he was overseas somewhere. On some sort of secret mission, she imagined. He hadn’t told her, hadn’t called her, hadn’t seen her in months.

  “Dr. Talbot? Or rather, Cammy? Are you all right?” the president asked as he scrutinized her serious expression.

  She looked up, flustered. “Oh, I’m sorry. I was just thinking about our previous meeting, Mr. President. But now, how … I mean … what can I do for you now … sir?”

  The president exchanged a glance with Jay Keller and explained. “About these crashes. Nobody thinks they were mere accidents. Everybody here believes they are part of a calculated plan by a very sophisticated terrorist organization. We don’t know which one, but damn it, we’re going to find out, and we’d better find out fast.”

  The vice president nodded his agreement. “Here’s the situation. As the president said, we have contracts out to try and put military technology on our planes. There are several systems out there. Military jets have sensors that can tell when they’ve been targeted. They can send out flares or chaff so the missile might go after the decoys. But the jet still takes evasive action. A jumbo jet filled with hundreds of passengers can’t exactly fly in loops and you can’t have a bunch of decoys or flares landing on our cities and towns. It’s different in a war zone. Now we need something else.

  “There are different kinds of jammers they’re also working on but the systems have to be serviced every 300 or 400 hours. We can’t take our planes out of service all the time. That’s just not practical. And besides, they’re talking about at least two million per plane, and we’ve got something like sixty-eight hundred planes flying in this country.”

  The president picked up the discussion. “Another company is working on a system that would put a network of sensors all around airports so that when they detect some heat-seeking device, they can use a high-powered microwave beam to confuse the missile and send it off course. But that costs about $25 million per airport, and we’ve got a hell of a lot of airports, to say nothing about the ones overseas.”

  “And speaking of numbers,” Austin inerjected, “there are at least half a million missiles of various kinds, many shoulder-fired models, that could be used to bring down a plane. Or a helicopter. We thought we were lucky when we hadn’t been hit in the last 30 years. Did you know that over forty aircraft in other parts of the world have been hit by some sort of missile since the 70’s?”

  “I knew there had been a lot of attacks,” Cammy said. “When I was doing my research I read about the Israeli jet in Kenya that was almost brought down years ago, so yes, sir, I’m well aware of the threat. In fact, I’ve been working on a new laser technique …”

  “Precisely why you’re here,” the president said. “We know that your company, Bandaq Technologies, has been on the leading edge of several defensive systems, and we wanted to enlist your help, right now, in this fight to protect air travel. We can’t go on like this. We’ve got to have a new system. It must be fast, reliable and more economical than what we have now because what we’ve got now is useless.”

  The NSC advisor interrupted. “I don’t know that I’d go quite that far, Mr. President. It isn’t that it’s useless, it’s just that it’s taking too long and well, I admit it’s too expensive. Our major airlines are all in financial trouble.”

  “Financial trouble?” Jay asked. “That’s the understatement of the day. They’re trying to save two million dollars a year not giving out pretzels, and you think they’re going to pop for a new defensive system?”

  “I know. You’re right about that,” Austin said. “But last I heard, the secretary at Homeland Security was pushing for another appropriation so they can pour more R&D money into those contractors to speed up the process.”

  “We’ll let DHS handle the contractors. If they come up with something, fine. But meanwhile, I want a special project, and I think Dr. Talbot is the one to head it up. How about it, Cammy? Can you work with us on this?”

  Cammy sat back, her mind racing. Yes, she had been working on a new scheme. She had been collaborating with a former colleague at M.I.T. who was one of the smartest guys in the research arena. But this was big. This was huge. The whole country was being held hostage by a terrorist trifecta, and now the president of the United States was turning to her to save not only the airline industry, but the whole economy. She was stunned.

  “Well, Dr. Talbot? Can you tell us more about your new laser and if you think you can speed up the process?” the president asked directly.

  Cammy took a deep breath and began. “You see, Mr. President, it’s true that I’m working on a new laser. I have a researcher at M.I.T., and we’ve been exchanging ideas about a whole new concept.”

  “Go on.”

  “We had planned to pitch it to the Pentagon, but it might have commercial applications. It’s an idea we’ve been working on for months now.”

  “Can you put it on a commercial jet?” The vice president asked, staring at her intently.

  “I don’t know. I mean, I’m not sure, yet.”

  “How long will it take to find out?” Austin asked.

  “If we had a crash project? Uh, sorry, wrong term.”

  The president shook his head and shrugged. “Look, we’re all rattled right now. Th
e entire country is looking to us for answers, for solutions to this mess. I know this is a tall order, but after I saw what you did with your last missile defense system, I feel you’re the right person to work on this one.”

  “But that was different, sir. That was a defense against guided missiles. I just had to figure out the frequency the terrorists were using to communicate with the missile, use that same frequency, go in, scramble their signal and redirect the missile away from the target. It was a completely different problem.”

  “I realize that. But from what we know about your new research, we want you to try. Will you do that?” the president implored.

  Cammy took a deep breath and gave the only answer she could give, “Of course, Mr. President. I’ll do everything I can. I just don’t know how long …”

  “We don’t have much time. The press is hammering me on these attacks, and I don’t see any recovery coming in the market as long as the threat is out there.”

  “Have you thought about shutting down the airlines like we did after 9/11?” Cammy asked.

  “Not yet. If we shut down our airline transportation system, you’re looking at a loss of at least fifteen billion dollars a week or more in revenue and cost to our entire economy. No, we can’t do that. Not yet anyway.”

  He turned to Austin. “I want your staff to work every angle you can on the whole terrorism question. I want telephone and internet surveillance by NSA stepped up, and quite frankly I don’t give a damn if lawsuits are filed this time. We’ve got to find these bastards.” The NSC advisor made some notes.

  The president then focused on Jay Keller. “And I want you to coordinate the new missile defense projects. Work with Dr. Talbot here and pull in anybody you think could be useful. Got that?”

  “Why don’t we bring back Hunt Daniels?” Austin asked.

  Cammy jolted upright. Just hearing his name again almost brought tears to her eyes.

  “Good idea,” the president said. “He should be about finished with that project in South Korea, right?”

  The NSC advisor nodded and said, “Yes, we can get him back. And now that you mention it, he worked with Dr. Talbot before. So let’s give these two another try. Is that all right with you, Cammy?”

  What could she say? She could hardly admit that she’d fallen in love with a man who might have dumped her. Her personal problems paled in comparison to the terrorism threats facing the country. She looked up at the president’s expectant gaze and simply said, “I’ll try.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND

  Cammy stared into the iris recognition box to the right of the entry to her office and heard the click in the biometric device. She pushed through the double doors and headed down the well-lit hallway, her navy blue heels clicking on the tile floor.

  She stopped at a door with a name plate that read VICE PRESIDENT OF CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS and stepped inside. “Hey Mel, got a minute?”

  Melanie Duvall looked up from a desk littered with copies of Air Force Times, Jane’s Fighting Ships, and stacks of press releases. She smiled at her friend. “Sure. What’s up?”

  Cammy saw four boxes at the edge of the desk that read IN, OUT, LATER, MAYBE NEVER and burst out laughing. “So what’s this? A new filing system?”

  “Why not? Even with everything supposedly online, this place still produces so much paper, I had to get organized. Hey, what’s with the fancy suit?”

  “Just got back from the White House.”

  “The White House?” Mel answered, raising her eyebrows. “What’s happening? Another new project to save the world?”

  “Basically, yes,” Cammy said. “You know that new laser system I’ve been researching with Wen Hu?”

  “That smart guy at M.I.T.?”

  “Yes, that one. Well, the president has asked me to speed up the process and see if we can apply it to commercial airliners.”

  “Wow! Because of all the crashes?”

  “Exactly. But I don’t know if I can do it,” Cammy said.

  “Well, if anybody can do it, you can. Have you told Bollinger yet?”

  “Not yet. I’m heading to his office now. You work with him more than I do, how do you think he’ll react?”

  “You know, ever since he went from CFO to CEO he’s become even more of a tyrant. All he talks about is profit and loss and his precious bottom line. I always wondered why the board picked an accountant to head up a big company like this.”

  “I know what you mean. I’ve always figured that an accountant was somebody who didn’t have enough personality to become an economist,” Cammy said with a wry smile.

  “That about says it. Ever notice how he always has that constantly affronted look? Like whatever you’re about to say will be disregarded, so why bother?”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of. On the other hand, this is a project requested by the president. So how could he possibly object?”

  “I don’t know, but he’ll probably think of something. By the way, I was going to call you later to see if you want to go running with me tonight? Weather’s decent, and we could hit the canal. What do you think?”

  “Tonight? I thought you had your karate class.”

  “I usually do,” Mel said. “My Sensei got the flu or something, so he cancelled this week. I need the exercise, so why don’t you take a break and come along?”

  Cammy checked her watch. It was already late afternoon and she wanted to talk to her boss and then spend some FaceTime with Wen Hu to see how they could advance their work on the laser. On the other hand, she’d been working long hours all week and would like to do the run. “Sure, let’s go for it. Tell you what, when I get finished here and back to our building, I’ll buzz your apartment, and maybe we can head out around seven. Okay?”

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  Cammy closed the door and took the elevator up to the executive suites. She stopped at the secretary’s desk and asked, “Is Mr. Bollinger available? I’ve got something important.”

  The woman picked up her phone and buzzed the boss. “Excuse me, sir, but Dr. Talbot is here. Can you spare a moment?” She paused and then nodded to Cammy to go right in.

  The short, wiry CEO motioned Cammy to a maroon leather chair in front of his massive walnut desk. “What’s up, Doctor? You don’t venture to this floor very often.”

  Cammy sat down, crossed her legs and began. “I just came back from a meeting at the White House with the president, the vice president and the national security advisor.”

  Stan looked at her, his dark eyes showing more emotion than usual. “The White House? I didn’t know you were going over there.”

  “Yes, well, it was a quick call. They asked me to come over for an emergency meeting, and I wanted to tell you about it right away.”

  “What did they want?”

  “It all has to do with the plane crashes. They want me to scale up my new laser program and see if it can be adapted for use on commercial airliners as a defense against these types of attacks.”

  Bollinger rubbed his chin and thought for a moment. “You say he wants to see if your laser can be put on our fleet of airplanes?”

  “That’s right.”

  He stood up from his desk and started pacing across the room. After a few strides, he turned to face her and exclaimed, “No way! Your division is no where near operational status. I hope you didn’t tell them you could do it.”

  “I said I would try,” she answered defiantly.

  “Jesus Christ! That laser idea of yours is never going to work on a large plane. I only let you spend your time on it because … well … you had one success with that Q-3 project, and I figured I owed you a little freedom. But this time, I have a sense it’ll never work. And if the press finds out we’re supposed to be applying some new technology to save lives and it doesn’t work, our name will be mud in the entire defense industry.”

  “But Stan …”

  “No buts. This could be a fucking disaster! Look what�
�s happened to Sterling Dynamics.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You know that Sterling has one of those DHS contracts to try and put a shield around airports for just this sort of defense, and their systems aren’t working worth a damn. At least not yet anyway. And every time there’s a story about how it’s taking them forever to get the damn thing to function, their stock price takes a hit. I don’t need that kind of trouble.”

  “But the president asked …”

  Stan walked over to the large picture window and stared out at a bank of trees that had been planted to block his view of the employee parking lot. “I don’t like this. I don’t like this at all. Three planes have been shot down. Market’s going to hell. Nobody wants to fly anywhere, and the president thinks you’re going to save his ass? Give me a break.”

  Cammy shifted uncomfortably in her chair and posed a question. “So you’re telling me to defy the president of the United States and not help when I might be able make a difference here? You’ve got to be kidding.”

  He turned around to face her again and skewered her with a piercing gaze. “I’m never kidding. Or haven’t you noticed?” He sat down at his desk, leaned back in his leather desk chair and thought for a long moment. Finally, he shook his head and gave an audible sigh. “As I said, I don’t like this. It’s going to be a boondoggle, I’m pretty sure of that. In fact, the only decent part of this equation is that we could bill the administration for time and materials to re-tool that crazy idea of yours.” He paused again and pursed his lips into his familiar frown. “What a mess!”

  Cammy matched his stare, keeping eye contact. She didn’t look away. She wasn’t going to be intimidated by this short-sighted little man who never seemed to have an original thought. All he ever did was to demand projections, cost estimates and constant reviews. Yet, here she was, a scientist with nothing but new ideas.