"There better be a very short and enlightening explanation for this," Schneider said as Gregory entered, "because sleepy-eyed firing squads make me nervous."

The General was dressed in pajamas and a robe and was holding the cassette recorder and headset in his right hand.

Donald's heart quickened. He wasn't worried about General Schneider, but about the North Korean response.

He took the recorder, placed one side of the headset to his ear, and listened to the message. When it was finished, he said, "The explanation is that I asked for the meeting and I got one."

"So you really did this dumb-ass thing-- illegally, from the radio center for which I am responsible."

"Yes. I'm hoping we can all be reasonable and avert a war."

"We? Gregory, I'm not going to sit across a table from Hong-koo. You may think you scored some kind of coup by getting him to a meeting, but he's going to use you. Why do you think he's waiting a couple of hours? So they can plan the whole thing out. You'll be photographed trying to make nice, and the President will look like he's talking out of both sides of his mouth--"

"Doesn't he?"

"Not on this. Colon's office says he's been a tiger from the get-go, as well he should be. The bastards blew up downtown Seoul, killed your own wife, Gregory--"

"We don't know that," he said through his teeth.

"Well, we do know that they shot up one of our planes, Greg! We've got a body bag as proof!"

"They overreacted, which is precisely what we shouldn't do--"

"Defcon 3 isn't an overreaction. It's good soldiering, and the President was going to stop there, make 'em sweat." Schneider rose and jammed his big hands into his pocket. "Hell, who knows what he's going to do after your little love letter."

"You're blowing it out of proportion."

"No I'm not. You really don't see it, do you? You might very well put the President in a no-win situation."

"How?"

"What happens if you hold out the olive branch and North Korea accepts in principle but doesn't withdraw any troops until the President does? If he refuses, it'll look like he squandered a chance for peace. And if he does back down, it'll look like he blinked."

"Horse shit--"

"Gregory, think about it! And what kind of credibility does he have if it looks like you're running his foreign policy? What do we do the next time a Saddam Hussein or Raoul Cedras makes a power grab, or some nutcase sends missiles to Cuba. Do we send for Gregory Donald?"

"You talk to them, yes-- try and reason with them. While JFK was busy blockading Cuba, he was also negotiating like mad with Khrushchev about withdrawing some of our missiles in Turkey. That's what ended the crisis, not sea power. Talking is what civilized people do."

"Hong-koo isn't civilized."

"But his bosses are, and there have been no direct, high-level contacts with the North since this morning. Christ, you wouldn't believe that adults would play games like this, but they are. The diplomats are playing chicken. If I can open a dialogue, even with Hong-koo--"