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"Not yet," Oates replied tersely

Fawcett didn't press him He switched tack "You want the President's latest brainstorm?"

"Bad?"

"Very bad," ad our military forces from the NATO alliance"

Oates clutched the phone until his knuckles turned white "Got to be stopped," he said grimly

Fawcett's voice sounded far away "The President and I are a long way together, but in the best interests of the country ree"

"Stay in touch"

Oates put down the phone, turned in his desk chair and stared out the , lost in thought The afternoon sky had oton streets, their slickened surfaces reflecting the federal buildings eerie distortions

In the end he would have to take over the reins of office Oates thought bitterly He ell aware that every President over the last thirty years had been vilified and debased by ev yond his control Eisenhoas the last chief executive the White House as venerated as when he came in No saintly or intellectually brilliant the next President, stoned by an unly news et for rock throwers

He was pulled out of his reverie by the entleman to see you

"Send them in," Oates directed He rose and caan entered They shook hands briefly and introduced the ed Edgely as an academician

fashioned crew cut and bow tie suggested soely was slender, scraggly barbed-wire heard, and his bristly dark eyebro untrimmed and brushed upward in a Mephistopheles set [ean explain Agency's special study into mind-control techniques at UDiversity in Colorado"

Oates gestured for them to sit on a sofa and took a chair across a marble coffee table "I've just received a call from Dan Fawcett

The President intends to withdraw our troops from NATO"

"Another piece of evidence to holster our case," said Brogan