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Alexander finally managed to extricate himself from the call and laid the handset in its cradle.
“Irene. You look like shit,” he said, and then caught himself. “I’m sorry. That was rude, wasn’t it? How’s Scott doing?”
“Much improved, thank you for asking.”
“Normally I’d take that to mean you’re finally going to get some sleep. But you never call emergency meetings with me to talk about how well everything’s going.”
“I’m afraid not, sir.”
“Look, I’m sorry, but you’ve only got five minutes. I have the Turkish ambassador coming in and I don’t have to tell you the mess they’re dealing with.”
“I understand, sir. I’ll get directly to the point. We’ve learned that the fissile material missing from the Pakistani warhead we examined isn’t an isolated incident.”
“What do you mean not ’a
n isolated incident’?”
“We have confirmation that a total of six warheads have been compromised.”
Alexander just sat there for a moment, staring at her. “Do you know who has it?”
“We think ISIS, but it may be more complicated than that.”
“ISIS! Now hold on, Irene. You’re telling me that the most violent bunch of psychopaths to walk the earth in the last five hundred years have the fuel to build six nuclear weapons?”
“I’m afraid so, sir.”
“Can they do it? Do they have the resources?”
“On their own, it’s doubtful. Building a weapon would take sophisticated materials, expertise, and machining capability—most of which has been destroyed in the area they control.”
“Dirty bombs, then.”
“That would be well within their capability. They could also sell it—to other terrorist groups, to the Iranians, or any other country interested in building a nuclear capability.”
Alexander’s secretary knocked and poked her head in. “Sir, the Turkish—”
“Reschedule him, Gloria.”
“You’re booked until eleven thirty this evening, Mr. President. I—”
“Then tell him midnight!”
“Yes sir,” she said, immediately withdrawing and closing the door.
“I’m afraid there’s another complication,” Kennedy said when they were alone again.
“Another complication? You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“We have mounting evidence of Russian involvement.”
“Krupin? Why would he get mixed up in something like this? He has personal control over the world’s second largest nuclear arsenal—something he reminds me about every time we talk. He doesn’t need to steal fissile material from the Pakistanis.”
“Our people have done a full analysis of the decoy fuel canisters they found in the warhead. They’ve also been in touch with the Pakistani engineers examining the five other compromised weapons. All the containers appear identical. The metals originated in China, but evidence is strong that they were manufactured in a Russian facility. One controlled by the government.”
“And how was that determined?”
“Microscopic pollen and industrial soot found in the welds.”