Resurrection Day by Glenn Meade Page B

Somalia, Sudan, the Yemen, as well as Libya, the Philippines, Egypt and the Lebanon. Our culprits could be among any one or more of those nationalities. And for many years Arab terrorist cells, including the al-Qaeda network, have been using American-born recruits with Middle Eastern family backgrounds. Without solid clues, we'd really be working blind.'
    'Then look for clues, fast. Manpower or cost is no object.' The President addressed the head of the CIA. 'We'll need your help, Dick. Scour your files, see what you can come up with. Again, I want it done discreetly. And try to find where Hasim might be hiding out. What he's been up to recently. Who's been helping him. The names of anybody who can get to him.'
    Faulks raised his eyes. 'You mean kill him, sir?'
    'No, I mean anyone who can communicate with him directly.' The President turned to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General 'Bud' Horton, a tall, ruggedly built, fit-looking man in his late fifties with cropped, steel-grey hair. 'General Horton, I want a feasibility study on how long it would take to withdraw our troops and military personnel from the Arab region.'
    'Sir?'
    'Every serviceman, every US citizen who works for the military, every weapon, tank, aircraft and base we've got in that part of the world — lock, stock, and barrel.'
    Horton, a man known for his diplomacy but one who was equally capable of speaking his mind, looked horrified. 'Surely we can't contemplate that, Mr President?'
    'We'll contemplate it if we have to.' The President turned to Stevens. 'The same applies for evacuating Washington. I want to know how long it would take to empty the city and get people a safe distance away. I presume we've got disaster-scenario studies or people who can carry them out, rapidly?'
    'Yes, sir. I'll get on to it immediately.'
    'And find the best brains you can in the field of terrorist behaviour, people we can trust — we may have need of their expertise. All the better if they're familiar with Abu Hasim.' The President stood. 'I want our search under way as soon as possible, so get to work, gentlemen. I'd like you all back here in just under three hours — one p.m. exactly.' He looked down at Paul Burton, a darkly handsome and neatly dressed man in his early forties, a former Marine officer who was the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. 'Paul, get back to me even sooner if you have anything important to discuss. And once again, everyone, this remains watertight. Whoever else you need to be involved within your departments are to be made thoroughly aware of that fact.'
    The President waited as the assembly stood and began to move out of the room. He gestured to the Vice-President. Alex Havers was a rotund, soft-spoken man touching sixty, who tended to wield his power quietly but effectively in the background. 'Alex, can you stay a moment?'
    'Of course.'
    When the others had left, the room was eerily silent. 'Walk with me to the Oval Office, Alex.'
    'Yes, sir.'
    They strolled through the corridors, past the Secret Service agents, and when they reached the Oval Office the President slumped into his leather chair and stared out towards the Washington Monument.
    When Pierre L'Enfant came up with the 'Plan of the City of Washington' in 1792 he had a surveyor divide the city into four compass quadrants, with the Capitol Building at the epicentre, and those same quadrants exist today. But over two hundred years ago the population had been less than fifty thousand. Now it was over six hundred thousand. But it didn't end there. Another two million people flooded into the capital each working day, employed in factories, stores and schools, offices and government departments. And the greater metropolitan area, which encompassed the District and the towns and boroughs of the surrounding states, contained a population of over six million.
    'My God, what's the world coming to? A madman wants to wipe out an entire city. What if something