Executive Power

Chapter Sixty-Nine
Kennedy looked at the fax and like Dumond before her, she tried to calculate the odds of another Peter Joussard receiving one million dollars from one of Prince Omar's private Swiss bank accounts. It was Kennedy's nature to be suspicious, and thus she was inclined to lean away from coincidence and toward conspiracy.

When she discovered that half of the money had been deposited in the Caribbean account the same day the Palestinian Ambassador to the UN was killed, she all but ruled out coincidence.

Standing near the Duty Desk of the Situation Room, Kennedy looked up from the fax and asked, "Are we doing anything else to confirm that this account belongs to Ambassador Joussard?"

"Marcus is looking into his personal finances right now," answered Rapp.

Kennedy accepted the answer with a pensive nod and fought the urge to race into the conference room and tell the President.

"And this John Doe"-Kennedy held up the photo taken from one of the surveillance cameras at Union Station-"anything else on him?"

Rapp shook his head in frustration.

"All right. Let's go tell the President."

Rapp reached out and grabbed her by the arm.

"Hold on a second."

He didn't like the idea of just dumping this stuff on the President without a game plan. Rapp knew what the President's reaction would be. He'd want to get the FBI and every other law enforcement agency involved and in the process they'd stir up so much shit, and cause so much unneeded confusion, this guy they were looking for would disappear. Rapp had an idea for a gambit that would allow them to see things as they really were.

After making sure no one could hear them, Rapp drew close to his boss and said, "This is what we should do."

Kennedy entered the conference room first and announced to the various staffers who were present, "Principles only, please."

This was code for telling everyone who wasn't at least a cabinet member that something of a very delicate nature was about to be discussed.

The handful of aides that were present immediately exited the room, leaving the Secretary of State, the national security advisor, the chief of staff, the President and Rapp and Kennedy. Neither Kennedy nor Rapp bothered to sit.

Kennedy spoke directly to the President.

"Sir, we have a couple of very interesting developments." Kennedy set the first piece of paper down.

"This shot was taken from a surveillance camera at Penn Station in New York City the night that Ambassador Ali was assassinated and this shot"-Kennedy set down a second piece of paper-"was taken at Union Station approximately three hours later. The experts at Langley say this man is the same individual the British photographed meeting with Prince Omar. The same man who was picked up on surveillance cameras at JFK on Sunday."

Hayes stared at the two photographs for a few seconds and said, "So... if I'm hearing you right this man is in D.C."

"That photo is from early Tuesday morning, so we can't be sure he's still in town, but-" "But we think he probably is," replied Hayes.

"Yes, sir."

"And are we thinking he might have had something to do with the explosion this morning?"

"As of right now, I would say yes."

"Do we have any idea who this guy is?"

Kennedy hesitated.

"I'm afraid not, sir."

The President's jaw clenched in frustration.

"What are we doing to catch him?"

"We've checked all of our databases on known or suspected terrorists, as well as everything the Brits have and Interpol. For reasons that are obvious we have yet to check with either the French or the Israelis."

"And we've come up blank," stated Hayes flatly.

"Yes, sir." Kennedy made no attempt to soften the truth.

Hayes looked away from Kennedy to his other advisors and asked, "Well then, what in the hell are we going to do?"

The national security advisor spoke first.

"I think it's time we bring the FBI in on this thing. And if we think this guy is still in the country we should alert all local, state and federal law enforcement officers.

We have to cast a big net and hope we catch him."

"Sir," said Rapp a bit too forcefully, "I think that's a bad idea."

Everyone in the room looked to Rapp. Even the unflappable Kennedy, who knew what they were up to, was a bit caught off guard.

Rapp glanced at Kennedy and said, "Show him the fax."

Kennedy set the last piece of paper down in front of Hayes and explained its significance.

Hayes studied the document and asked, "What are you trying to tell me?"

Rapp answered before Kennedy had the chance.

"I think it's pretty obvious, sir. Ambassador Joussard was bought."

Hayes frowned.

"Do we even know for sure if this account belongs to the Ambassador?"

"We're working to confirm it, sir, but it's a pretty big coincidence."

Sitting to the President's right Secretary of State Berg was replaying in her mind a conversation she had had with her French counterpart.

In an effort to get France to delay the vote, Berg had pleaded with the minister of foreign affairs to reconsider. As the conversation played out the minister had admitted something that was a bit unusual.

Berg decided it was time to share her thoughts.

"Excuse me, Mr. President, but I'm inclined to agree with Mr. Rapp."

Surprised by his Secretary of State's position, the President asked incredulously, "Why?"

"When I attempted to get the French to ease off of their position yesterday, the minister of foreign affairs admitted to me that even he was a bit caught off guard by what was going on in the UN. When I pressed him, all he would say was that Ambassador Joussard had acted without his approval. His excuse for this was that Joussard was a very eager politician and a close friend of the President. In addition to that, pushing for Palestinian statehood was nothing new. The entire country of France overwhelmingly supports the idea."

Hayes stabbed the fax with his index finger.

"I need this verified, and I need it done fast. If we're going to get the vote delayed it will take some time."

Kennedy said, "We've got our best people on it."

"Now tell me why this"-Hayes waved the fax in the air- "should change my mind about alerting the FBI to this mystery man who seems to be in all the right places at the wrong time."

"Because once we do that, sir, he'll know we're on to him."

Hayes let out a heavy sigh.

"I don't see how we can possibly keep this from the FBI."

"I agree." Always the political oracle, Jones looked to her boss and added, "There will be a congressional investigation into this and if" -she stopped and corrected herself-"when they find out you willingly withheld information from the FBI..." She didn't bother to finish the sentence. The painful expression on her face said it all.

Kennedy had coached Rapp that this would be the most influential argument for alerting the FBI. She'd also told him that it would come from Jones. Ignoring the chief of staff, Rapp focused on the President and said, "Sir, all I want is twenty-four hours." He spoke in a confident tone.

"Give me a day, and I'll find out who this guy is and what he's up to."

The President believed him, but unfortunately they didn't have the luxury of a day to figure out what was going on.

"We're out of time, Mitch. The UN is going to vote this afternoon. I'm sorry, but we're going to have to bring in the FBI."

Rapp had him right where he wanted him.

"What if I can get the UN to delay the vote for a day?"

Hayes was cautiously intrigued.

"How?"