The president stopped pacing and looked derisively at his aide. “Easy for you to say, Josh. Your participation in this will amount to no more than a stupid footnote in history. I’ll take the major hit. I’ll be the president in disgrace.”
Potter’s face turned bright red. “Of course, sir, I did not mean to imply otherwise. I—”
The president held up his hand and dropped into his seat. “Just…don’t,” he said wearily. He looked at Tucker. “So what are you proposing?”
Tucker took a moment to compose his reply while the president and Potter watched him closely. “I propose that we target and kill General Pak while he is in France and then blame it on the North Koreans.”
The president gaped. “Kill him? But I gave the man my word. I—”
Tucker broke in. “That was then and this is now. And besides, I blame Pak for this. He must’ve known Carson was compromised. He never should have answered the damn phone. He screwed up. And when you screw up you pay the price.” He looked at both men. “Well,” he said breathlessly, “this is the price.”
“His death? His murder?” said the president.
“How does that help us?” asked Potter.
“Power struggles occur in North Korea all the time. There was a recent assassination attempt on Un that failed. We can tie all that to Pak and wrap it up neatly. With that as an alternative explanation and with the help of our allies I believe we can effectively turn this around and throw it right in their faces. We can argue that they’re blaming us for something they did. General and blanket denials without the need to get into specifics that might come back to haunt us, all based on Pak as the scapegoat.”
The president was about to say something and then stopped as he continued to mull this over.
Neither Potter nor Tucker seemed inclined to break the silence.
“This is a choice that would befuddle Solomon,” the president said at last. “A choice between awful and terrible.”
“Yes, sir,” agreed Tucker.
“If we do what you propose, it must be now.”
“I have my team in place. They can be deployed at once.”
The president cast him a sharp glance. “Robie and Reel?”
Tucker nodded. “Robie and Reel.”
More silence passed.
Finally, Tucker said, “Sir, have you made a decision?”
The president didn’t speak right away. When he did, his voice was weak and resigned. “I really can’t believe this is happening. But it is. We’ve gone far enough down this road that there’s no turning back.”
“I’m afraid not.”
“Well, at least we didn’t start a war, right? No American has died.” His face was ashen as he said this.
“Not yet,” muttered Potter under his breath.
“No, sir,” replied Tucker firmly.
The president rose and without looking at Tucker said, “Do what you have to do. And when this is all over, start thinking about a career outside of my administration, Tucker. You’re done.”
Then he walked out of the room.