“I think that might have already happened, sir,” Morgan said. “I already reported on the unexplained attacks on that Libyan missile base where chemical weapons and possibly nuclear materials were detected. We thought it was the Israelis, and then Egyptian special forces—we still have no concrete evidence of either. I also reported that the Libyans attacked several ships in the Mediterranean Sea following that attack, apparently in retaliation or perhaps looking for the commando team’s base of operations. The identities of all the ships were verified—two Greek, Italian, French, Moroccan, and a Lithuanian vessel, all sunk or heavily damaged. The Egyptian navy rescued crew members from four of the six ships, including over sixty men and women from the last ship that was attacked—the Lithuanian salvage vessel.”

“Salvage vessel?” the President asked. “Lithuanian salvage vessel?”

“Yes, sir,” Morgan said. He could tell the President had been doing his homework—he recognized the clues immediately.

“Don’t tell me,” the President said. “The so-called survivors of the Lithuanian ship captured a helicopter right off the deck of an Egyptian warship and spirit off into the darkness.”

“Worse than that—I think the survivors captured the entire Egyptian warship.”

“What?”

“We intercepted some interesting radio traffic between one of the Egyptian frigates and their military base at Mersa Matruh,” Morgan went on. “At first we thought a little mutiny had broken out between some rival factions on the ship. But then it occurred to us that someone else other than the crew had seized the ship. A couple days later, the vessel returned to port and everything else was back to normal.”

“And you think the guys that seized this frigate were Martindale’s crew?” Venti asked.

“It fits,” the President said. “Operating off a salvage ship—just like an Intelligence Support Agency cell, which a lot of those Night Stalkers once were. Martindale would certainly have the ability to get one of his ships flagged by Lithuania—he practically saved that country himself when the Russians attacked. And blowing up a Libyan missile base—that’s signature Martindale; or, more accurately, McLanahan. Doug, did you ... ?”

“Ask about McLanahan? Yes, sir. We requested a report from the FBI, who still has Sky Masters under special surveillance.” Morgan turned to another page in his report. “General McLanahan, his wife, Colonel Luger, and Colonel Briggs are not at the Sky Masters facility in Arkansas.”

“Doesn’t mean they were involved in the Libyan attack,” the President said.

“Mr. President, I’ll bet you my Orange Bowl box seats they’re involved—up to their eyeballs,” Vice President Busick exclaimed heatedly. “They have opportunity, and they certainly have the means. Are any of them traveling overseas?”

“Yes. ..”