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“Not a Beretta?”

“Correct, sir.”

“And Jon told you he couldn’t turn himself in because he fears a penetration of Doron’s inner circle?”

Costello nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“Didn’t he expect you would have to pass that on to me?”

“I wouldn’t presume to know exactly what Jon’s thinking at the moment, sir. But yes, I think that’s a pretty safe assumption. He certainly knows how this office works.”

“Have you talked to anyone in the Israeli government since you spoke with Jon?”

“No, sir. I thought it best to bring this to Ms. Kirkpatrick’s attention first, and then to yours.”

MacPherson nodded and turned to CIA Director Jack Mitchell. “What do you make of all this, Jack?

“Mr. President, I’m tempted to say Jon’s gone off the deep end this time,” said Mitchell, whose own history with Bennett was long and complicated. “But in this case there is a lot of circumstantial evidence to suggest some sort of conspiracy is unfolding.”

“Such as?”

“There’s the bombing at the Willard that resulted in Dr. Murray’s death. There’s the car bombing in L.A. that took Barry Jaspers’ life. There’s Eli Mordechai’s assassination to account for, the unsolved mystery of Lionel Mansfield’s death in London, and now the murder of Dr. Barak in Jerusalem. I never thought of archeology as such a dangerous profession, but it’s clear that somebody’s on a killing spree.”

“But how can you be sure all those deaths are linked?” the president asked.

“Because every one of those men was working on a project for Prime Minister Doron.”

The president gave Mitchell a hard look. “What project?”

Mitchell didn’t blink. “Doron put together a team of archeologists to look into the possibility of recovering Israel’s ancient Temple treasures and rebuilding the Temple.”

“And you knew about this?” MacPherson demanded.

“Yes, sir.”

“Who else knew?”

Every eye in the room volleyed back to the DCI.

Mitchell opened a folder and handed out a single sheet stamped “Top Secret — Eyes Only” to everyone in the room, beginning with the president. Costello did a double take when he got his copy. Listed, of course, were the names of the Israeli prime minister and his closest advisors. Dr. Yossi Barak’s name was also there, as was Natasha Barak’s, along with Dr. Barry Jaspers, Dr. Lionel Mansfield, Dr. George Murray of the Smithsonian, his literary agent, and each of the men’s wives. But there were other names on the list as well.

Dr. Larry McKenzie, Director, National Security Agency

Dr. Christopher Watkins, Director of Analysis, NSA

Col. Tanya Freeling, Hebrew Analyst, NSA

Dr. John Mitchell, Director of Central Intelligence

Dr. Alex Valetta, DDI, CIA

Daniel J. Tracker, DDO, CIA

Dr. Indira Rajiv, Director, NAMESTAN Desk, CIA

Costello looked to the president. The shock in MacPherson’s eyes mirrored the shock in his own.

“Indira, what is this?” asked the president. “You knew about Doron’s Temple project too?”

“I did, sir.”

“How?”

“Electronic intercepts,” Mitchell explained.

“What are you talking about?” asked the president.

“Sir, last fall, after Bennett gave you a copy of Dr. Mordechai’s ‘Ezekiel Option’ memo, I asked NSA to wiretap Mordechai’s phones and pay extra close attention to Doron and his inner circle.”

“Why?” MacPherson wanted to know.

Vice President Oaks took a crack at that. “Let me guess, Jack. You wanted to know where Mordechai was getting his information?”

“In part, of course,” Mitchell conceded. “Mordechai was projecting events none of us in the Agency had foreseen, and every day that went by, he was being proven right. I found that extraordinary, and I found it hard to believe that the Bible was the source of his prescience. I was sure he had other sources, and I wanted to track them down and tap them myself.”

“But that wasn’t all?” the vice president asked.

“No, it wasn’t,” said Mitchell. “I also needed to know how Prime Minister Doron and his team were using Mordechai’s information.”

“You were afraid they might strike at Russia and Iran first?” asked Kirkpatrick.

“Weren’t we all?” asked Mitchell. “And we were right to be concerned. Doron almost did launch first.”

“But it was Mordechai who stopped him,” MacPherson noted.

“It was a number of factors, Mr. President,” said Mitchell. “But the point is, I needed to know precisely what was happening in Israel, and who was influencing whom, and what might happen next so that I could brief you and the rest of the NSC as accurately as possible. Given the circumstances, I would do it again.”

“You would tap the phones of the Israeli prime minister, the head of the Mossad, and the former head of the Mossad without my authorization?” MacPherson asked.

“Yes, sir — given the uniquely dangerous situation we were in, on the brink of a worldwide nuclear war.”

“I will deal with all that in a moment, but this still doesn’t explain how you knew about Doron’s Temple project.”

“That’s true, Mr. President,” Mitchell said, “but I’ll explain. The truth of the matter is that there was so much happening in the days and weeks after the firestorm that I never called Larry McKenzie at NSA to shut the operation down.”

“You’re saying we just kept gathering intel on Eli and Doron?” asked the VP.

“Yes, sir.”

“And then?”

“And then,” Mitchell continued, “about a month ago, Larry and his team — Chris and Tanya — came over to Langley and told us what they had.”

“Why didn’t you shut it down right then?” asked MacPherson.

“I’ll admit,” said Mitchell, “by then I was curious. Indira here reminded me about rumors that had been floating around the Agency for years that two CIA officers had died back in the nineties trying to track down the Temple treasures and the Ark. And then Larry and his team began picking up strange chatter out of Italy, Kuwait, and Iraq about something called Operation Black Box, but we didn’t know what that was. I thought they might be connected. But so much else was happening, I couldn’t give it much time.”

The president leaned in toward Mitchell and lowered his voice. “When George Murray was killed, why didn’t you say anything?”

The DCI said nothing.

“When Barry Jaspers was killed, why didn’t you say something to me then?”

“I don’t know, Mr. President. It was just a working theory, one of many. I didn’t think it was ready to bring to your level just yet.”

Costello watched the president lean back in his chair, mulling it all over.

After a moment, MacPherson said, “You mentioned Operation Black Box. What is that?”

“We don’t know at this point, sir,” admitted Mitchell. “But one possibility is it’s an operation to take out the people involved with Prime Minister Doron’s project. That’s why I think it’s just possible that Bennett may be right. Someone may be after him.”

The president turned to his Homeland Security secretary. “What about you, Lee? You buy it?”

“No, I don’t buy it, Mr. President,” James said without hesitation. “With all due respect to Jack here, I just can’t see anyone on Doron’s team betraying him like that.”

“Can’t or won’t?” asked Mitchell.

Costello watched James turn to the DCI. He expected him to fire back hard, but James was too much of a gentleman for that.

“Jack, be serious,” James replied. “You really think someone in David Doron’s office is feeding inside intel to Israel’s enemies? You think someone inside Doron’s office is trying to keep Doron from rebuilding the Temple? There’s no evidence of that.”