The First Hostage by Rosenberg Joel C

Author:Rosenberg, Joel C. [Rosenberg, Joel C.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: FICTION / Christian / Suspense, FICTION / Thrillers / Military
ISBN: 9781496406231
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Published: 2015-12-28T18:30:00+00:00

38

“You’re quite the diplomat,” I said as the call ended.

“Why do you say that?” the king asked, pressing a button on his desk and summoning a steward.

“I mean, you’re not convinced the president is being held in Dabiq.”

“Nor are you.”

“I’m not the one trying to convince the vice president to tread carefully.”

There was a knock on the door, and a steward entered with a fresh pot of tea. He promptly served us all, beginning with His Majesty, and then stepped out.

“You’re worried this thing with Jack Vaughn goes deeper than maybe anyone yet realizes,” I said when the king, the colonel, and I were alone again.

“I hope not,” the king replied. “But it’s too soon to rule anything out.”

“Because it’s possible the intel being shown to the VP could be compromised.”

“Perhaps.”

“Which could mean someone is trying to lure us into a fight in Dabiq when the president is elsewhere.”

“And Khalif.”

“But what if you’re wrong?” I countered. “What if they really are in Dabiq?”

“You just heard me. My men are ready to go into Dabiq if that’s where the evidence leads.”

“And if it’s ambiguous and you’re out of time and you have to make a decision?”

“We’ll follow the vice president’s lead.”

“Even if he’s wrong.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because that’s what friends do.”

“Stand with each other in a fight.”

“Absolutely,” said the king. “As I said, Martin and I go way back.”

“Back to his first Senate campaign, as I recall.”

“Longer.”

“Really—how long?”

“He and his first wife came on a codel when he was a freshman in Congress,” the king said, using insider slang for a congressional delegation. “They came to meet my father. I happened to be home from boarding school for spring break. I was just a kid, but my father insisted that I join the group for dinner.”

“When was this?”

“I don’t remember exactly, but it was after the ’67 war. Things were tense. The Holbrookes were very pro-Israel. But they’d heard good things about my father. They wanted to take his measure, to see if there was a way to deescalate tensions, maybe even to make peace.”

“Did you ever think he’d one day be the VP?”

“Off the record?”

“Sure.”

“Then no. He was a bright guy—don’t get me wrong. One of the smartest men I’d seen enter Congress. But to be honest, he seemed to be more of a businessman than a politician. Very practical. Very pragmatic. A real can-do attitude. I thought he’d never make it in Washington. But what did I know? I was just a kid.”

“Of course, you didn’t think you’d one day sit on the throne either, did you?” I probed.

He shook his head and stared at the steam rising off the cup of tea in his hands. “Never. Never wanted it. Never sought it. Never even bothered to think it was something I needed to worry about.”

“Worry?”

“‘Uneasy lies the head . . . ,’” he said.

His voice trailed off, but there was no reason to finish. I got the allusion. He was referencing the title of his father’s memoirs, written in 1962. The title was a line from Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 2.

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