Stone continued with his call. “Look, Scott, I can’t promise a yea vote yet. I haven’t read the entire bill. As long as the bacon’s not raw, I don’t see a major problem. Give me another day or two. What’re the latest poll numbers? Well, that’s something. Listen, I’ve got to go. Two days, max… Okay, let’s do lunch soon…. Take care.” Lobbyists, he thought. He punched line two. “Hello, Leaf.”

“Turn on your television.”

“Which channel?”

“Any of them.”

A knot wrenched his stomach. He grabbed the remote, swiveled around in his chair, and pressed the power button. The Fox news channel filled the screen. The image was taken from a helicopter orbiting high overhead. Dozens of emergency vehicles, with their red-and-blue lights flashing, lined the streets surrounding a two-story building with a gaping hole in its side. Smoke belched from the opening. Above the damaged structure, a black column climbed a mile into the sky. Booms from ladder trucks were spraying jets of water into the open gash and onto the rooftop.

Stone turned up the volume.

He caught Shepard Smith in mid-sentence:  “…know so far. A bomb has been detonated at the Sacramento field office of the FBI. We have no information on the number of people killed or wounded. From what local authorities have indicated, this is clearly an act of terrorism, and not an accidental explosion. The bomb was detonated very close to ten am Pacific time—”

“Get everyone in here.”

“They’re already on the way,” Watson said.

His secretary appeared at the door. “The president’s on three.”

He nodded to her. “Leaf, I want a chemical analysis on the material we seized in California. Find out if it matches this new bombing. Make it happen fast. I’ll call Quantico and tell them to expect your call.” Stone disconnected and punched the blinking button. “Mr. President.”

“Stone, I need a briefing as soon as you have anything.”

“Yes, Mr. President, you’ll get it.”

“What’s your initial assessment? Is it Al Qaeda?”

“I don’t think so. I have no way of confirming it, but my instincts tell me it’s related to the raid we made in California several days ago. I don’t think it’s a coincidence the FBI was targeted, or that the bombing occurred in Sacramento. I think this is revenge-driven, sir.”

“Anything you need?”

“Time. My people are doing a residue analysis as we speak. I think we’ll find it’s a match to the seized cache of Semtex.”

“When will you know for sure if it’s a match?”

One thing Stone knew when dealing with the president: Never, ever, bullshit the man. If you don’t know, say so. “I don’t know, but I’ll find out within twenty-four hours max.”