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Chapters (53)
  1. BALANCE OF POWER
  2. Acknowledgments
  3. About The Creators
  4. ONE
  5. TWO
  6. THREE
  7. FOUR
  8. FIVE
  9. SIX
  10. SEVEN
  11. EIGHT
  12. NINE
  13. TEN
  14. ELEVEN
  15. TWELVE
  16. THIRTEEN
  17. FOURTEEN
  18. FIFTEEN
  19. SIXTEEN
  20. SEVENTEEN
  21. EIGHTEEN
  22. NINETEEN
  23. TWENTY
  24. TWENTY-ONE
  25. TWENTY-TWO
  26. TWENTY-THREE
  27. TWENTY-FOUR
  28. TWENTY-FIVE
  29. TWENTY-SIX
  30. TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. TWENTY-NINE
  33. THIRTY
  34. THIRTY-ONE
  35. THIRTY-TWO
  36. THIRTY-THREE
  37. THIRTY-FOUR
  38. THIRTY-FIVE
  39. THIRTY-SIX
  40. THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. THIRTY-NINE
  43. FORTY
  44. FORTY-ONE
  45. FORTY-TWO
  46. FORTY-THREE
  47. FORTY-FOUR
  48. FORTY-FIVE
  49. FORTY-SIX
  50. FORTY-SEVEN
  51. FORTY-EIGHT
  52. FORTY-NINE
  53. FIFTY

"So," the President said, "what we're dealing with here is someone who's familiar with a failed coup in his own country and with antirebel tactics in other nations. He also has a lifetime of contacts, intelligence gathering capability, and virtual control of the Spanish military. Ambassador Abril fears, and not without some justification, that both Portugal and France are at risk. Running Spain as a military state, Amadori would be ideally positioned to undermine both governments over time and move troops in."

"Over NATO'S dead body," VanZandt said.

"You forget. General," the President replied. "Amadori appears to have engineered this takeover as a progovernment action. He allowed a conspiracy to get going and then crushed it. It's a brilliant strategy: let an enemy show itself then crush it. And while you're crushing it, make the government look corrupt and crush them too."

"Whether he runs France or Portugal personally or puts in a puppet regime," Lanning said thoughtfully, "he still calls the shots."

"Exactly," said the President. "What came out of my conversation with Abril and the Vice-President is that there's going to be a new government in Spain. There's no dispute about that. But we also agreed that whoever comes to power in Spain, it mustn't be Amadori. So the first question is, do we have the time and sufficient manpower to turn anyone there against him? And if not, is there any way that we can get to him ourselves?"

VanZandt shook his head and sat back. "This is a rotten business, Mr. President," he said. "A dirty, rotten business."

"I think so too. General," the President replied. He sounded surprisingly contrite. "But unless anyone's got any ideas, I don't see any way around it."

"How about waiting?" CIA Director Fox asked. "This Amadori may self-destruct. Or the people may not buy him."

"Every indication is that he's getting stronger by the hour," said the President. "It may be by default: he's killing the opposition. Am I wrong about that, Paul?"

Hood shook his head. "One of my people was there when he executed factory workers who may-may-have opposed him."

"When did this happen?" Lanning asked, openly horrified.

"Within the hour," Hood told her.

"This man has the makings of a genocidal maniac," she said.

"I don't know about that," said Hood, "but he certainly seems determined to seize Spain."

"And we're determined to stop him," the President said.

"How?" asked Burkow. "We can't do it officially. Paul, Marius-have we got people underground there that we can count on?"

"I'll have to ask our contact in Madrid," Fox said. "That kind of work hasn't been a part of our repertoire for a while."

Burkow looked at Hood. So did the President. Hood said nothing. With Fox effectively out of the front line, he knew what was coming.