Free Balance of Power: A Novel by James W. Huston

over the world, killed innocent children, and now they have their own country, right where they wanted it.” He paused. “They do it because it works . They do it because too often people like us don’t ever do anything about it.”
    “But it’s so cowardly,” she said, her eyes burning. Shehesitated. “And we do too usually do something about it.”
    “We don’t even know it’s terrorists, really,” Bobby said.
    Dillon looked at him with surprise. “What do you think, some country is declaring war on the United States by attacking a defenseless cargo ship?”
    “I don’t know. I’m just saying, don’t assume you know what’s happening until you know.”
    “Fair enough,” Dillon said. “I’ve got to go.”
    Bobby reached for the remote control as Molly and Dillon were leaving. “I doubt this will involve the Supreme Court so I’m going to watch the game. I’ll lock the door behind me when I leave.”
    Dillon didn’t reply as he walked out the door with Molly right behind him.

    “What do we know, Admiral Hart?” President Manchester asked, looking carefully at Hart and the others gathered in the Situation Room on the ground floor of the White House. They sat around a table, like any ordinary conference table, but the walls were covered with screens, charts, and electronic information. The closest wall was at least ten feet from the table. The large map of the Pacific nearly reached the floor, allowing everyone to see clearly.
    The admiral walked to the map of the Southwest Pacific and Southeast Indian Ocean areas and looked at them for a moment, gathering his thoughts. He was a man in his fifties, of average height with graying brown hair. Known for his intensity and his brilliance, he had come up through NROTC and Penn State University, had had a stellar career in Naval Aviation, including command of a carrier and a carrier battle group, then CINCPAC—Commander in Chief of all Pacific forces. Now he was the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “We know there were twenty to thirty terrorists aboard the PacificFlyer, that they took over the ship posing as Ford employees when the ship docked in Jakarta, that they were well organized, knew the ship, and took it to sea.”
    He turned back to look at President Manchester and the rest, who included the Vice President, the Chief of Staff, the National Security Adviser, the Secretary of Defense, the Director of Central Intelligence, and the Secretary of State. They all listened carefully. “They took the ship out to sea, then set sophisticated mines all over the ship, inside and out, mines like we’d never seen before, and murdered the entire crew, except the captain. They then abandoned the ship, were picked up by cigarette boats, and made their escape, leaving mines which later killed one of our Navy SEALs,” he said grimly.
    “What’s a cigarette boat?” the President asked.
    “It’s basically a very fast, offshore race boat. They’re capable of seventy knots or so in the open ocean. They’re used a lot by smugglers because there isn’t much that can keep up with them, other than an airplane. They were first used to smuggle cigarettes.”
    “Where’d they go?”
    “We don’t know, Mr. President,” the admiral said, casting a glance at Cary Warner, the Director of Central Intelligence. “A helicopter spotted them, but the E-2 never saw them after that.”
    “We didn’t have any birds in place to do any imagery during this event,” Warner said, picking up on the cue. “It isn’t exactly one of our hot spots….”
    Manchester stood up and looked at his group of advisers. “How could this have happened? We didn’t have any idea this was coming?”
    Warner shook his head, moving the unlit pipe he kept in his mouth. “No, sir. I’m afraid they caught us with our pants down.”
    “We don’t know who. Anyone care to speculate why?”
    Nathaniel Corder, the professorial Secretary of State, spoke up. “I see this as a direct