at him, and the director of national intelligence looked at him in what Castillo thought was both curiosity and disapproval.
Then the President said into the phone, “Sweetheart, Charley Castillo just walked in the door. I’ll have to call you later.”
With a little bit of difficulty, the President replaced the handset in a wall rack, then stood up and walked to Castillo. As Castillo started to get up, the President waved his right hand to order him to stay seated, and then offered the hand to him.
“Good to see you, Charley,” he said, and then turned to Torine. “And you, too, Colonel. I was a little surprised to hear you’d flown the Globemaster down there, but then I realized I shouldn’t have been. You and Charley are sort of a team, aren’t you?”
“Yes, sir. I suppose we are.”
“Is it still hot outside?” the President asked, as he walked to the head of the conference table and sat down.
“Hot and humid, sir,” Torine said.
“Wise people don’t come to Mississippi in the middle of the summer,” the President lightly proclaimed, “or go to Minnesota in the middle of the winter. Wise people go to South Carolina during any season and never leave.”
There was dutiful laughter.
“Two things are going to happen right away,” the President quickly said next, his tone now serious. “The first, because I simply can’t stay here for the funeral as much as I would like to, is that we’re making a photo-op ceremony of taking Mr. Masterson’s casket from the airplane. Including a band. They’re setting that up now. I understand we’ll have about fifteen minutes. Which is time enough to set the second thing that’s going to happen in motion.”
He reached under the table and came up with a well-worn leather attaché case. He opened it and took out two sheets of paper and handed them to General Naylor.
“Would you please read that aloud, General?”
“Yes, sir.”
Naylor took the sheets of paper, glanced at them a moment, then began to read.
“Top Secret-Presidential.
“The White House, Washington, D.C. July 25, 2005.
“Presidential Finding.
“It has been found that the assassination of J. Winslow Masterson, chief of mission of the United States embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina; the abduction of Mr. Masterson’s wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Lorimer Masterson; the assassination of Sergeant Roger Markham, USMC; and the attempted assassination of Secret Service Special Agent Elizabeth T. Schneider indicate beyond any reasonable doubt the existence of a continuing plot or plots by terrorists, or terrorist organizations, to cause serious damage to the interests of the United States, its diplomatic officers, and its citizens, and that this situation cannot be tolerated.
“It is further found that the efforts and actions taken and to be taken by the several branches of the United States government to detect and apprehend those individuals who committed the terrorist acts previously described, and to prevent similar such acts in the future, are being and will be hampered and rendered less effective by strict adherence to applicable laws and regulations.
“It is therefore found that clandestine and covert action under the sole supervision of the President is necessary.
“It is directed and ordered that there be immediately established a clandestine and covert organization with the mission of determining the identity of the terrorists involved in the assassinations, abduction, and attempted assassination previously described and to render them harmless. And to perform such other covert and clandestine activities as the President may elect to assign.
“For purposes of concealment, the aforementioned clandestine and covert organization will be known as the Office of Organizational Analysis, within the Department of Homeland Security. Funding will initially be from discretional funds of the office of the President. The manning of the organization will be decided by the President acting on the advice of the chief, Office of Organizational Analysis.
“Major Carlos G. Castillo, Special Forces, U.S. Army, is herewith appointed chief, Office of Organizational Analysis, with immediate effect.”
General Naylor stopped reading and looked at the President.
“The finding is witnessed by Miss Cohen as secretary of state, Mr. President.”
The only sound in the room was that of cold air flowing through ports in the ceiling.
“That deafening silence we’re hearing, Major Castillo,” the President said softly, after a moment, “suggests to me that everyone is trying to come up with good and solid reasons why I should tear that finding up, and how these objections can be brought diplomatically to my attention. So let me save everybody the effort. This finding is not open for debate.”
The President looked around the table as he let that sink