"The special forces of Army and Marines patrolling Capitol Hill are highly trained professionals. They can be counted on to stand firm and not attempt anything stupid. The National Guard is the real danger. All it takes is one weekend warrior to panic and fire off a round. Then we'll witness another Kent State bloodbath, except much worse. This time the Guard will have their fire returned by deadly marksmen."

"The situation won't be helped if a few congressmen fall in the crossfire," added Mercier.

"The President has to be isolated. The timetable must be moved up," said Oates.

Mercier looked unsold. "That means cutting back Dr. Edgely's evaluation of the President's brain signals."

"Preventing wholesale slaughter must take priority over a plan to mislead the Russians," said Oates.

Brogan gazed at the ceiling thoughtfully. "I think we might steal our chicken and pluck it too."

Oates smiled. "I hear the gears meshing in your head, Martin.

What wild Machiavellian scheme has the CIA got up its sleeve now?"

"A way to give Edgely an advantage," answered Brogan with a foxlike grin. "A little something borrowed from The Twilight Zone."

A LIMOUSINE WAS WAITING at Andrews Air Force Base when Pitt slowly eased his way down the boarding stairs from a Navy passenger jet.

Admiral Sandecker was sitting in the car, hidden by the tinted windows.

He opened the door and helped Pitt inside. "How was the flight?"

"Mercifully, it was smooth."

"Do you have any luggage?"

"I'm wearing it," said Pitt. He winced and clenched his teeth as he slipped into the seat beside the admiral.

"You in much pain?"

"A little stiff. They don't tape cracked ribs like they did in the old days. just let them heal on their own."

"Sorry I insisted on your return in such haste, but things in Washington are boiling up a storm, and Doug Oates is hoping you possess information that might clear up a few entanglements."

"I understand," Pitt said. "Has there been any news of Loren?"

"Nothing, I'm afraid."

"She's alive," said Pitt, staring out the window.

"I don't doubt it," Sandecker concurred. "Probably an oversight her name isn't on the survivor list. Maybe she requested anonymity to avoid the press."

"Loren had no reason to hide."

"She'll turn up," Sandecker said. "Now, suppose you tell me how you managed to be present at the worst maritime tragedy in fifty years.

Pitt marveled at how the admiral could twist a conversation in another direction with the abruptness of leaping from a sauna into the snow.

"In the brief time we had together on the Leonin Andreyev," Pitt began, "Loren told me she was strolling on the deck on the first night of the cruise when the lights around the exterior of the ship went out, followed by the landing of a helicopter. Three passengers were taken off, two of them roughly handled. Loren thought she recognized one of them in the dim light as Alan Moran.