Looking over at Osborn, Thomas felt a sudden chill. He was unsure whether it was due to the manner in which his Attorney General had referred to their fellow Americans as foes or the wicked little smile he was sporting. Whatever the reason, Thomas opted to say nothing. This was no time to begin to entertain doubts about the cause he had worked so hard to promote or the people he had chosen to help him achieve it. Faith, trust, and courage would be needed to see them through this.

Then, sensing that he had stumbled upon an idea around which he could fashion an address to the people of Idaho, GO snatched up a pen from his desk and scribbled those words down. Finished, he picked up the pad he had written on and stated them out loud. “Faith, trust, and courage.”

Still smiling, Osborn nodded his approval. “I like that. I like that very much.”

BOISE, IDAHO • AFTERNOON, OCTOBER 30

Unable to concentrate on her studies Nancy Kozak tossed aside the history book she had been struggling to read and picked up the remote to her TV. The news program that flashed up on the screen appeared to have picked up where it had left off an hour before when she grown weary of listening to witless news commentators and talking head experts rehash the events of that morning over and over and over again until even a dedicated news junkie like her could no longer tolerate it. Within five minutes she had had her fill. Getting up from the sofa, she marched over to the TV, hit the OFF button, and turned on her CD player. While she wasn’t exactly in the mood for Celtic music, anything had to be better than listening to late breaking news that was eight hours old.

As the haunting melody of an Irish lament filled the room, the middle aged graduate student wandered about like a caged lioness. As unsettling as the events of that morning were to her, even more bothersome was the fact that she was not in a position to do anything about it. In the Army she had been a player, a participant who was always ready, willing, and able to respond. Even when a crisis popped up that didn’t concern the United States, Nancy had felt some comfort knowing that simply by being in uniform, she was serving a useful purpose. Now, however, she was a no one. She was simply another spectator standing on the sidelines of history watching and waiting as others moved and shaped the world she lived in.