“Well, I’ll see what Matt has to say, and then you can tell me tomorrow morning what you think.”
“What’s the buzzword? Buzz-phrase? ‘Thinking out of the box’?”
“Dr. Cohen, you are absolutely right. As soon as Matt walks in, I’m going to hand him a stiff drink and tell him to start thinking out of the box.”
She chuckled.
“See you in the morning, Natalie. Have a nice night.”
“Thank you, Mr. President.”
“And when you come in in the morning, I hope you’ll be able to tell me we have found this missing airplane.”
“I hope so, too, Mr. President.”
“I just realized, Natalie, that I’m not kidding. Maybe Matt will have some ideas.”
“I’m sure he will, Mr. President.”
“Good night, Natalie.”
“Good night, Mr. President.”
She broke the connection with her finger but did not replace the handset. She pushed a button on the base that automatically connected her to another instrument on the secure network.
“Hall,” a male voice said a moment later.
“A heads-up, Matt. I know where you’re going tonight. He wants to discuss with you ways to shake up what he described as our ‘enormous and enormously expensive intelligence community. ’ ”
“Oh, hell. Thank you, Natalie, I owe you a big one.”
“Yeah,” she agreed.
“What lit his fire this time? Do you know?”
“Somebody stole an airplane in Angola. That caught his eye.”
“Mine, too. Thanks again, Natalie.”
“Have fun, Matt,” she said with a laugh and hung up.
III
[ONE]
The Oval Office The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, D.C. 0845 24 May 2005
“Natalie, Matt,” the president of the United States said, “would you stay a minute, please?”
Dr. Natalie Cohen, the national security advisor, and the Hon. Matt Hall, secretary of homeland security, who were sitting on the same couch, and both of whom had started to get up, relaxed against the cushions. Hall then leaned forward and picked up his unfinished cup of coffee from the coffee table.
The president waited until the others in the room had filed out and then motioned to the Secret Service agent at the door to close it.
Cohen and Hall looked at the president, who seemed to be gathering his thoughts. Finally, he smiled and spoke.
“Maybe I missed something just now,” the president said. “But I didn’t hear from anyone that anyone knows any more about that airliner that went missing in Angola than anyone did yesterday.”
Cohen and Hall exchanged glances but neither said anything.