The sum of all fears - Tom Clancy [429]
"I don't read it that way. He's rattled."
"Well, who the hell isn't?" Jack asked. "Of course he's rattled, the same as everyone else."
"Look, Ryan, we are in control up here."
"I never said otherwise, Liz," Jack replied, biting off what he really thought. "This is a grave situation, and he's as concerned as we are. He's trying to figure out what's happening the same as everyone else. The problem is nobody really knows anything."
"Well, whose fault is that? That is your job, isn't it?" Fowler asked testily.
"Yes, Mr President, and we're working on it. A lot of people are."
"Robert, does this sound like Narmonov? You've met the man, you've spent time with him."
"Elizabeth, I just don't know."
"It's the only thing that makes sense "
"Liz, who says that any of this has to make sense?" Ryan asked.
"This weapon was a big one, right, General Borstein?"
"That's what our instruments tell us, yes."
"Who has bombs that large?"
"Us, the Russians, the Brits, the French. Maybe the Chinese have weapons like this, but we don't think so; theirs are big and clunky. Israel has warheads in this range. That's it. India, Pakistan, South Africa all probably have fission weapons, but not large enough for this."
"Ryan, is that correct information?" Elliot asked.
"Yes, it is."
"So, if it wasn't Britain, France or Israel, then who the hell was it?"
"God damn it, Liz! We don't know, okay? We do not know, and this isn't a fucking Sherlock Holmes mystery. Eliminating who it wasn't doesn't tell us who it was! You can't convert the absence of information into a conclusion."
"Does CIA know everybody who has weapons of this type?" Fowler asked.
"Yes, sir, we think we do."
"How confident are you in that?"
"Until today, I would have bet my life on it."
"So, again, you are not telling me the truth, are you?" Fowler observed coldly.
Jack stood from his chair. "Sir, you may be the President of the United States, but don't you ever accuse me of lying again! My wife just called here to ask if she should take the kids somewhere, and if you think I'd be so goddamned dumb as to play games at a time like this, you, sir, are the one who needs help!"
"Thank you, Ryan, that will be all." The line clicked off.
"Jesus!" the Senior Duty Officer observed.
Jack looked around the room for a waste basket. He just made it in time. Ryan fell to his knees and vomited into it. He reached for a can of Coke and washed his mouth out, spitting back into the basket. No one spoke until he rose.
"They just don't understand," Jack said quietly. He stretched, then lit a cigarette. They just don't understand.
"You see, this is all very simple. There is a difference between not knowing anything and understanding that you don't know. We have a crisis, and all the players are reverting to type. The President is thinking like a lawyer, trying to be cool, doing what he knows how to do, running down the evidence and trying to make a case, interrogating the witnesses, trying to reduce everything, playing that game. Liz is fixed on the fact that she might have been blown up, can't set that aside. Well." Ryan shrugged. "I guess I can understand that. I've been there, too. She's a political scientist, looking for a theoretical model. She's feeding that to the president. She has a real elegant model, but it's based on crap, isn't it, Ben?"
"You left out something, Jack," Goodley pointed out.
Ryan shook his head. "No, Ben, I just haven't gotten there yet. Because I can't control my fucking temper, they won't listen to me now. I should have known, I had my warning - I even saw it coming - but I let my temper get the best of me again. And you know the funny part? If it wasn't for me, Fowler would still be in Columbus, Ohio, and Elliot would be teaching shiny young faces at Bennington." Jack walked to the window again. It was dark outside, and the lighted room made it into a mirror.
"What are you talking about?"
"That, gentlemen, is a secret. Maybe