"I'm sure you know that the White House has contacted our ambassador in Spain," Herbert said. "They've been told to button the embassy up tight."

Hood nodded. National Security Chief Steve Burkow had phoned a half hour earlier to tell him that the embassy in Madrid was being put on alert. Passes for the military staff had been revoked and all nonmilitary personnel were ordered to remain on the compound. There was some fear about further attacks against Americans. But there was a more general concern that Americans might get caught in the overall violence that seemed to be brewing.

"Does NATO have any jurisdiction here?" Hood asked.

"No," Rodgers replied. "They're not a domestic police force. I checked with General Roche, Commander-in-Chief of Allied Forces in Central Europe. He's pretty conservative. Doesn't want to plant a toe outside the charter."

"With Basques being attacked, the French Basques might not let it remain a domestic matter for long," Plummer said.

"That's true," said Rodgers. "But NATO still won't want to break their primary mandate, which is to resolve disputes between member nations peaceably."

"I know William Roche," Herbert said, "and I don't blame him. NATO still has egg on its face from the Serbian-Bosnian conflict in ninety-four. The Serbs violated designated safe havens all over the place despite the threat of limited NATO air strikes. If you don't intend to go in with everything you've got, stay on the sidelines."

"Anyway," Rodgers said, "there's a larger issue. If Portugal or France or any local government puts troops on alert it might help to precipitate a crisis."

"The Spanish are kinda ornery that way," Herbert said. "Groups of 'em will get together and start something because they're insulted that someone would think they'd start something."

"Are we talking about lynch mobs?" Hood asked.

"They might look for Portuguese or French nationals to beat up on," Herbert said. "Then, of course, those governments will have to respond."

Hood shook his head.

"Welcome to the world of precipitating crises," Herbert said. " 'From my kinfolk firing on Fort Sumter to blowing up the battleship Maine, from shooting Archduke Ferdinand to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Give people a spark and you usually end up with a fire."

"That's the old way," Hood said tensely. "Our job is to figure out how to manage these things, to defuse crises." That came out sounding harsher than Hood had intended and he took a long, slow breath. He had to be careful not to let frustration with his personal crisis seep into his professional crisis. "Anyway," he said, "this brings us to the matter of Darrell and Aideen. Darrell has recommended sending Aideen to San Sebastián with an Interpol agent. I've okayed this. They're going to go undercover to try and find out how the tape from the yacht was made, by whom, and why."

"Who's the Interpol agent?" Herbert asked.

"María Corneja," Hood told him.

"Ouch," Herbert said. "That's got to sting a bit."