Read Online The Last Days by Joel C. Rosenberg - Free Book Online Page B

hadn’t.
    MacPherson took Corsetti’s advice. He helped Paine raise more than $2.5 million in less than six months, as Paine was too cheap to spend his own money. Unfortunately, Paine went on to lose the Senate race—though he soon was named U.S. ambassador to the U.N.—but MacPherson picked up a boatload of goodwill and a pocket full of chits. A few years later, he went on to win the GOP nomination for governor without opposition, winning Paine’s much-desired endorsement along the way. And in the process he’d laid the groundwork for two successful terms in the governor’s mansion, and a storybook run for the White House in 2008 after two Bush terms.
    Paine wasn’t MacPherson’s first choice to be the Secretary of State, nor his second, though thankfully the press hadn’t ever picked up on the behind-the-scenes intrigue surrounding the selection process. Paine didn’t have Colin Powell’s military experience or international stature. But with several years at the U.N. under his belt, he was certainly a safe choice, and MacPherson knew he wasn’t going to run foreign policy out of the State Department anyway. He and the VP and Marsha Kirkpatrick would take the lead from the White House.
    Paine chafed at the arrangement from the beginning. But he wanted the job and didn’t want to be left out of the administration. He’d tried to negotiate for more power. But MacPherson never budged. The president wanted a Rockefeller Republican at State for political cover. But he simply didn’t trust the bureaucrats at Foggy Bottom, and he certainly had no intention of giving them free rein over the future of U.S. relations with a rapidly changing world.
    Still, despite their sometime prickly alliance, Paine and his wife, Claudia, had just spent Christmas Day at Camp David with the First Family. MacPherson smoked a cigar. The secretary smoked his pipe. The two talked about Bennett’s “oil for peace” strategy and reviewed the blowout they’d had over going to war with Iraq. Now he was gone.
    Â 
    Agent Sinclair stood on the porch of the Residence.
    Agents were positioned around the lead limousine, in the lead Suburban and the two that would follow. Vice President Bill Oaks was still inside on the phone with Israeli prime minister David Doron. The motorcade would wait, as would the NSC meeting, if need be. Doron had just ordered the IDF to prepare for a massive ground invasion of Gaza and the West Bank. It would take a few hours to get all the men and machinery in place. But the Israelis were offering to rescue the Americans and begin to restore order. All they wanted was a green light from Washington. Would they get it?
    Oaks was an old Washington hand. He’d risen through the ranks of naval intelligence, then got out, made some money, and got into politics. He’d once been the governor of Virginia, then served four terms in the U.S. Senate from the Old Dominion, much of that time as the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He knew the game. He knew what Doron wanted. He just wasn’t convinced the United States should say yes.
    Â 
    MacPherson took off his reading glasses and rubbed his eyes.
    The phone rang. It was Kirkpatrick again.
    â€œMr. President, we’re picking up indications that the Syrians are going on full military alert. Air raid sirens are going off in Damascus. One of our Keyhole satellites is showing all kinds of activity at their forward air bases. Military radio traffic is picking up. I’ll have transcripts of some of our intercepts soon.”
    â€œWhat are the Israelis doing?”
    â€œThey’re mobilizing as well, sir. The VP just got off the phone with the prime minister. They’re putting their forces along the northern borders with Syria and Lebanon on full alert. They’re also preparing for a massive ground invasion into the West Bank and Gaza. They’re offering to rescue our people.