was and I want to know who on the President’s staff was involved. This will not stand.”
Now it was time for the President to get involved. Raising his hand he said, “We’ll get to all of that, but now is not the time.”
The Secretary of State backed down and Secretary Fleming reclaimed the floor. “During the congresswoman’s reelection, the whistleblower approached her challenger and gave his campaign the full story. It was a very serious claim, which the campaign couldn’t prove. Plus, she told them they couldn’t use her name, so they didn’t go public with it. They did, though, pass it along to the FBI. But when agents approached her, she denied she had made any of the claims.”
“Why? Is she some sort of loon?” asked the Secretary of State.
“No, it was still under the previous administration and she was afraid they would come after her again. But with the new presidency, she’s had a change of heart.
“The FBI Director and I met with her personally. In exchange for her cooperation, and eventual testimony, I offered to bring her back to the Treasury Department, plus give her a promotion. She hasn’t made up her mind yet, but she has begun working with us.
“What we’ve learned is that several key figures from the think tank advising the administration during the Mexican peso crisis back in the 1990s were brought in under the most recent administration to advise President Porter’s predecessor. We believe there was a second set of books being kept in relation to China. We’re attempting to locate them.”
The Secretary of State shook his head. “The lawlessness you’re suggesting is unfathomable.”
“And none of it will matter if the Chinese succeed in pulling off their attack. Which brings me to my summation. If everything we have learned is true, if the Chinese were able to get the United States to collateralize its debt obligations, and those obligations cannot be vacated—no matter what happens to the United States—then we know why the Chinese feel they’ll be able to waltz right in here after a catastrophic attack and make themselves at home.
“With a ninety percent casualty rate, America as we know it won’t even exist anymore and China will be holding the deed to the United States.
“As we talked about at the beginning, who is going to argue with them? They’ll probably even send us aid and offer humanitarian assistance. But in the end, when America cannot repay its debts, because it has collapsed, they are going to stake their claim and take what they believe is theirs. If we do not stop them, this absolutely will be the end of the United States.”
CHAPTER 23
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MARYLAND
Harvath had flown with some absolute assholes in his day, but the U.S. Ambassador to the UAE, Leslie Conrad, was one of the worst.
U.S. ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the President. After an election or a reelection, all ambassadors submit a letter of resignation. Some are accepted immediately, usually for the plum ambassadorships, while others are asked to remain in place until a new ambassador can be chosen. Conrad was one of those asked to stay put until the President could find his replacement.
Conrad had gotten his ambassadorship by being a big bundler and raising a lot of money for the previous president. He reminded Harvath of Peter O’Toole in Lawrence of Arabia. In addition to being a thorough Arabist who thought he knew the region better than anyone else—along with what America’s foreign policy absolutely should be—his hair was too blond, his teeth were too white, and his skin was too tan for a man of his age and stature. Harvath chalked a certain amount of that up to his parents’ having named their male child Leslie.
It was apparent that Ambassador Conrad had not voted for the current president and didn’t think much of his foreign policy. Conrad also didn’t seem to think much of his very own duty to his country. The ambassador resented being awakened in the middle of the night to be roped into some “cloak-and-dagger circle jerk,” as he put it.
Initially, Conrad had refused to cooperate. Then the Secretary of State had gotten on the phone and chewed his ass. Even though Conrad had done nothing of note while serving in his post, he was passionate about the Foreign Service and wanted to continue in it. The Secretary of State had used that to push his ungrateful behind out of bed, out of his villa, and into the