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Chapters (54)
  1. Title Page
  2. Table of Contents
  3. Prologue
  4. PART ONE
  5. Chapter One
  6. Chapter Two
  7. Chapter Three
  8. Chapter Four
  9. Chapter Five
  10. Chapter Six
  11. Chapter Seven
  12. Chapter Eight
  13. PART TWO
  14. Chapter Nine
  15. Chapter Ten
  16. Chapter Eleven
  17. Chapter Twelve
  18. Chapter Thirteen
  19. Chapter Fourteen
  20. Chapter Fifteen
  21. Chapter Sixteen
  22. Chapter Seventeen
  23. PART THREE
  24. Chapter Eighteen
  25. Chapter Nineteen
  26. Chapter Twenty
  27. Chapter Twenty-one
  28. Chapter Twenty-two
  29. Chapter Twenty-three
  30. Chapter Twenty-four
  31. Chapter Twenty-five
  32. Chapter Twenty-six
  33. Chapter Twenty-seven
  34. Chapter Twenty-eight
  35. Chapter Twenty-nine
  36. Chapter Thirty
  37. Chapter Thirty-one
  38. PART FOUR
  39. Chapter Thirty-two
  40. Chapter Thirty-three
  41. Chapter Thirty-four
  42. Chapter Thirty-five
  43. Chapter Thirty-six
  44. Chapter Thirty-seven
  45. Chapter Thirty-eight
  46. Chapter Thirty-nine
  47. Chapter Forty
  48. Chapter Forty-one
  49. Chapter Forty-two
  50. Chapter Forty-three
  51. Epilogue
  52. ALSO BY ROBERT LUDLUM
  53. Critical Praise for Robert Ludlum
  54. Copyright Page

Almost immediately afterward, the silver-gray phone on the green-baize-topped desk rang quietly, the quietness of the ring somehow lending it additional significance. It was the line reserved for White House communications.

He picked up the phone. It was the president.

“Listen, Paul, I’ve gone over and over it with Doug here. This address Demarest’s giving before the General Assembly—there could well be an implicit ultimatum here.”

“Sir?”

“As you know, he asked for the control codes to the entire Echelon system. I put him off.”

“Put him off?”

“Blew him off. I think the message he’s sending is pretty unambiguous. If he doesn’t get what he wants, he’s going to appear before the General Assembly and set an explosion. Lay the thing out, with the whole world hanging on his every word. That’s just a surmise. We could well be wrong. But the more we think about it, the more we think it’s a credible threat.”

“Ergo?”

“I hope to God he’s hit by a thunderbolt before he can stand up and give that speech.”

“Now that sounds like a plan.”

“Barring that, I’ve decided to meet with him just beforehand. Capitulate. Give in to his first round of demands.”

“Are you scheduled to make an appearance at the U.N.?”

“We’d left it unclear. The secretary of state will be there, along with the U.N. ambassador, the permanent representative, the trade negotiator, and the rest of the tin soldiers we always send. But if we’re making this … barter, it’ll have to come from me. I’m the only one with the clearance and authorization to do this.”

“You’d be putting yourself in harm’s way.”

“Paul, I’m already in harm’s way. And so are you.”

Chapter Thirty-nine

Chapter Thirty-nine

The New York Times

U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO MEET

FROM AROUND THE WORLD, HUNDREDS
OF NATIONAL LEADERS TO ASSEMBLE
IN “DIALOGUE OF CIVILIZATIONS”

By Barbara Corlett

NEW YORK—For most native New Yorkers, the convergence here of hundreds of foreign heads of state and high-ranking ministers prompts one big worry: will the motorcades make the problem of traffic gridlock worse? In the U.S. Department of State and in diplomatic circles elsewhere, however, loftier concerns are the order of the day. There are hopes that the 58th General Assembly meeting will lead to substantial reforms and a heightened level of international cooperation. U.N. Secretary General Mathieu Zinsou has predicted that it would be a “watershed moment” in the history of the troubled organization.