Separation of Power

Colonel Gray looked his President in the eye and said, "Sir, being a Delta Force commando is dangerous. No one fights for me who doesn't want to be there. If my men wanted a safe job they'd go sell cars for a living."

"Point well taken, but .. The President remained skeptical. "This seems awfully complicated and," Hayes looked down the length of the table at General Flood, "you always tell me the more complicated these things get the better chance there is that something will go wrong." "That is usually true, sir," answered the chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

Colonel Gray wasn't to be deterred. "Mr. President, I'll grant that this is complicated, but I can give you two things that the air force can't." Forcefully, Gray continued. "Lets not forget the primary objective. We need to be sure that we destroy the nukes. I can guarantee that we'll know whether those nukes are actually underneath that hospital. The air force can't give you that guarantee, sir. My men can. They will get into that facility, and they will provide you with a bona fide answer as to whether or not those nukes are actually there. We can destroy the weapons on site, and since they are in a fortified bunker, I'm confident that we could pull the mission off without having to kill all of the i

General Campbell interrupted his subordinate and said, "Colonel, lets stick to our area of expertise, and leave the other stuff to the President and his staff."

President Hayes held up his hand and said, "That's all right ... that's all right. I think Colonel Gray has very succinctly stated what we've all been afraid to say." President Hayes sat quietly for a moment while he thought about the fallout from the air strikes. The colonel was right. The current coalition against Iraq was in such a weakened state that it wouldn't take much to put an end to it. The bombing would more than likely end all economic sanctions. The Israelis had dumped one hell of a problem into his lap. In frustration, Hayes turned to Irene Ke

CHAPTER TWENTY.

Milan, Thursday evening

Donatella was speechless. In two large gulps she finished her vodka martini and began in earnest her search for the waiter. She caught the man's eye as he was maneuvering his way through the crowd with a tray of drinks. Holding up her empty glass by the stem she asked for another. Her head was swimming and it wasn't from the vodka, at least not yet. She was scrambling to try to figure out how she had been pulled into this. Who had contacted Ben Freidman and hired him to kill Peter Cameron? It wasn't an official Mossad hit. This was purely a free-lance venture. She knew because her fee for killing Cameron was already sitting in a Swiss bank account, and Mossad would have never paid her so well.

"Do

Donatella was flustered. The hit on Peter Cameron had been advertised as an easy one, but she should have known better. The fee was too high, even for a rush job. She took a deep breath. "Why did he try to kill you?"

Rapp leaned back in. "You didn't answer my question. Who hired you to kill him?"

She shook her head vigorously. "Believe me, I know far less about this mess than you do."

"You know who hired you."

"Mitchell, please tell me why this man tried to kill you."

"All right, Do

Donatella reached up and tried to push his hand away. "Don't start ordering me around."

Rapp kept his hand firmly on her chin. "Do

With her eyes closed Donatella began muttering to herself. When she opened her eyes she calmly said, "Tell me why he tried to kill you."

Rapp released her chin as the waiter set Donatella's second drink down. When the man was gone Rapp said, "This goes no further than this table." Donatella nodded."I was on an operation recently. Two operators were there to assist me. I was the triggerman, they were backup. I took down the target and then they shot me and left me for dead."

A look of concern on her face, Donatella reached out to touch him and asked, "Where?"

"Two shots, right here." Rapp pointed to his chest. He read the expression on her face and said, "I know, very unprofessional." He pointed to his forehead. "They should have double-tapped me, but they had reason to believe that I wasn't wearing body armor. At any rate, Cameron was the man who paid them. I don't know who Cameron worked for, and I don't know what the motivation was to kill me, but I'll tell you this ... Those two people who double-crossed me are dead."

"You killed them?"

"No. Cameron did."

Donatella took a drink. "How do you know he killed them?"

"Someone who I trust very much saw it go down. Cameron pulled the trigger. He then turned on the people who helped him kill the two who he hired to kill me, and then he tried to kill me one more time in Washington." Rapp sat back. "And I was just about to get my hands on him when you showed up." Rapp took a drink of wine."I saw you that day, Do

Donatella found the need for more of the cold vodka. This was not good business. There was a pattern emerging. It appeared that anyone who'd been hired to fulfill a contract was the next person on the list to be killed. She saw her dreams of getting out of the business vanishing before her eyes. With her eyes closed she nodded and said, "It was me."

"Thank you for being honest. Now will you please tell me who hired you?"

Donatella looked into Rapps piercing eyes. She needed time to think, even if it was just a few minutes. It was obvious she had gotten herself into a mess. Whoever had hired her had shown a propensity for killing the very people he employed. That meant she could easily be next on the list.

"Do

Donatella held firm. She loved Mitch and she felt a loyalty toward him, but her ultimate loyalty was to Ben Freidman, the head of Mossad She couldn't give Ben up, at least not until she thought it through. She needed time. Donatella opened her purse and grabbed some money. She threw enough to cover the tab on the table and said to Rapp, "Come on. We need to take a walk."

Situation Room, Thursday morning