2030_ The Real Story of What Happens to America - Albert Brooks [158]
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
Air Force One landed at two forty-five in the afternoon. The President took Marine One to the White House and brought Susanna Colbert with him. When the helicopter landed on the White House lawn, both John Van Dyke and General Mike McGuiness were waiting. They walked with the President, who glanced back to see if Susanna was following. She chose to let them go ahead and went back to her office, alone.
The President went to the bathroom and then headed downstairs to the Situation Room, which by now had every person who was involved with this crisis in place and waiting to brief him. McGuiness started.
“In the last hour we have been able to send twenty SEALs to scour the area. They have been all over the outside of the ship. Under it, behind it, everywhere, and there are no signs of explosives. So our satellites tell us there are no explosives and the SEALs confirm it. It would be highly unlikely for both to be wrong.” The President felt somewhat encouraged.
“So you put this at what? Ninety-nine percent?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Have we been wrong before?”
“Not with both, sir.”
“Let’s say you’re right. What does that allow us?”
“It allows us to board the ship and to try to take these men out.”
“And the hostages? If they see us, they’ll kill hostages, won’t they?” Admiral Boyle had an opinion on this.
“Mr. President, there is always a chance they will kill hostages. But if they are lying about explosives, then there is a good chance they are lying about other things as well. It’s one thing to take over a ship, but to kill thousands of people takes a certain kind of mind-set, and that mind-set would have used the explosives.” The President thought this over. It sounded so pat.
“Where do you get this opinion, Admiral?”
“From experience, sir. I’m not saying that some individuals may not be shot or even killed, but if we’re talking about blowing up the ship, I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
“But if they kill ten people, isn’t that ten people too many?”
“Mr. President, if the goal is to end this without compromising you, then I think losing a few people would be considered a success.”
“What do you mean, compromising me?”
General McGuiness was quick to answer. “I think that we board this ship before you talk to them. Take them out without having you humiliated.” John Van Dyke agreed with the general’s assessment.
But Matthew Bernstein agreed with Susanna. Of course, he would never let on that he had had this conversation with her, but he didn’t understand why talking to Max Leonard, especially if it could save lives, would be the worst outcome. “Explain to me again why talking to this man would be so humiliating?”
Van Dyke answered. “Mr. President, if every hijacker thought they could give their opinion to the president of the United States, it would embolden them. People would see that as a reward for committing the crime. It would be a means to an end. Hijack a ship and you can talk to the president.”
The President turned to General McGuiness. “When was the last time a ship with almost three thousand Americans was hijacked by another American?”
McGuiness looked at Admiral Boyle and then at John Van Dyke. “Never, sir.”
“Okay,” the President said. “So it’s not like this is a daily occurrence. I say that I talk to him if he will assure us that after that, he will leave the ship and leave the people unharmed. If he guarantees that, then a conversation would be worth it, don’t you think?”
“He’s a hijacker, Mr. President,” Van Dyke said. “We can’t