“I will remember this,” Max told Demetrius.
Demetrius didn’t bother replying. He asked Anna, “What are your wishes, ma’am?”
The possible violence had unnerved her. She didn’t know what to say.
“You would do well to hear me out,” Max told her.
“Yes,” she said in a hollow voice.
Demetrius retreated to his post, and he stood in the same place, looking the same as before.
He’s brave, Anna realized. He follows his code of honor and nothing can shake it. Am I as honorable concerning David?
“You have misjudged my purpose,” Max said.
“What is it?” she asked. “Why have you told me any of this?”
“Because I love my country,” Max said. “America is in greater danger than ever. You and I both know the President engineered the new danger. Perhaps even more importantly, the President knows this is his fault. That knowledge is eating him alive.”
“You’re referring to the GD and Quebec?”
“Of course,” Max said. “We are now in a two-front war. That never worked well for Germany in the Twentieth Century. I do not believe it will work well for us, either.”
“I was there when we decided to accept GD neutrality,” Anna said. “You were there, too, and you agreed to the idea.”
“I had no quarrels with the plan. That is correct. The President made the best decision at the time. The Chinese and Brazilians almost broke us this winter. The Colorado battle was closer fought than people realize. The President dealt in such a way so he could concentrate our forces. That was bold as well as wise.”
“Then why are you—”
“Let me finish,” Max said.
Anna nodded, albeit reluctantly. She noticed a waiter turn and look at them. An older waiter tugged on the first waiter’s elbow, pulling him away.
“The President bought America time,” Max said. “Now, however, the GD acted before we could. We—I mean the President, myself, General Alan—we all miscalculated. We counted the number of GD troops in Quebec instead of analyzing their combat power. The Germans have amazed us and worse, surprised us. Even worse than that, they’re beating us in Southern Ontario. America must take drastic action if we’re to restore the balance.”
“We have another hard year of war ahead of us,” Anna said. “I understand that.”
“I don’t believe you do understand.” Max held up a hand. “I have always been impressed with your analytical abilities. You have an insightful way of thinking. And you can read the Chinese—Chairman Hong in particular—better than anyone else can. That is an important asset. However, if the GD continues to grind down our military and gain critical territory…there may be no more years of war ahead of us to wage.”
“You don’t think we can stop the GD?”
“Not with the weapon systems presently in place,” Max said. “Therefore, we must move the Behemoth tanks to the Great Lakes region.”
“You and I both know the President has forbidden that.”
“Precisely,” Max said.
Anna shook her head. “I won’t pretend to be a military expert. The President, though—”
“The President has lost his nerve,” Max said. “That is the salient point. Nothing else really matters. Oh, we can talk about reasons: that the war has ground him down. You’ve seen it. I know you have. The pressure would have destroyed most people by now. The President has my sympathies, in fact.”
“You don’t mean that,” Anna said. “You don’t care about him as a person.”
“But I do,” Max said. “Yes. I know people believe me coldhearted and too logical.”
“Others say you’re power mad,” Anna said.
“I am misperceived,” the director said. “My intense patriotism gives me the zeal to do whatever I must to protect America. Others interpret that as a desire for power. They are, of course, quite wrong. With all that said, I have found that few people will go as far as I to see my beloved country saved from power-hungry aggression. Can you say as much, Ms. Chen?”
“You will do whatever you must to save America?” Anna asked.
“Yes!”
“Hmm,” Anna said. “A surface reading of such a statement might seem noble. I, on the other hand, can think of many things I would not do. For instance, I would not sacrifice babies.”
“Then you should step down from power and make way for those of us who will see a tough and dirty job done to the finish.”
“Would you care to give me a for-instance?” she asked.
“Of course,” Max said. “Not only am I able to face the truth, but I am able to speak the truth as I’m doing here with you. A for-instance is the use of tactical nuclear weapons.”
“I see,” Anna said, as her stomach tightened. “Do you happen to recall Alaska? Do you remember how it turned the world against us and left us almost without an ally?”
“My memory doesn’t go back so far,” Max said. “Yet I do recall Santa Cruz and Monetary Bay. Several key nuclear explosions blunted a Chinese amphibious invasion. Without those nuclear weapons, we might have lost California, and that would have been a disaster. The President saw the need then and made the right decision. Now, in Southern Ontario, tactical nuclear weapons used judiciously could change the dynamics for us.”
“The President has forbidden the use of nuclear weapons on land,” Anna said.
“Naturally, I’m aware of that, Ms. Chen. With his decision, he has consigned the U.S. to the dustbin of history.”
“Others might say he has agreed to help save the world from destruction and a bitter nuclear winter.”
“Words,” Max said. “Those are fancy words for surrender. I for one do not intend to let conquerors take my beloved country away from us. No. The time has come for hard decisions. We must halt the Germans and drive them out of Quebec.”
“The President is in full agreement with that.”
“More words,” Max said. “He forbids the military the Behemoths they need and the nuclear weapons to do the task. Instead, he causes a bloodbath—”
Anna’s eyes flashed. She leaned toward the director. “He causes nothing of the sort.”
“American and Canadian soldiers are dying by the thousands, by the tens of thousands in Ontario,” Max said, “and still we fail to take the necessary action to solve the crisis.”
“The strategic reserve has moved to Southern Ontario,” Anna said. “David considers sending half the East Coast defenders north to the Great Lakes. I would call that drastic action.”
“Ms. Chen,” the director said. “You must listen to me. Stripping the East Coast is a foolish decision in face of what awaits us in Cuba. The President once made hard, even bitter choices this winter. He did not shrink from what needed doing. Now the momentous nature of the conflict has paralyzed him. I believe the knowledge that he let the Germans into Quebec—that he is responsible for the present bloodletting—”
“How dare you say such things?” Anna said.
Max sat straighter, squaring his shoulders with pride. “I will dare anything for my country.”
“No! You are—”
“You must listen to me,” Max said. “The President is taking half-measures and he is stripping away soldiers to put out a fire in one place that will open us to worse actions later. It is just like his Quebec decision all over again.”
Anna sat back. She could feel the cushion depress against the wood. The director’s mind was set in stone on this. It was time to find out exactly why he’d come here. “What do you suggest?” she asked.
“First, we need to move the Behemoths east.”
“Weren’t you listening the other day?” she asked. “The Behemoth Regiment is a shell of what it once was. We need time to refurbish it with new tanks. Moving the regiment won’t help in Ontario, but its disappearance on the plains might help to unleash the Chinese in Oklahoma. The few good Behemoths we do possess make a constant show of patrolling no man’s land between the PAA and us.”