PLEDGE OF HONOR: A Mark Cole Thriller (35 page)

Cole smiled back, for the first time that day. ‘Okay,’ he said, ‘you’ve got me. When do I leave?’

Clark Mason watched his people as they flocked around him, fresh from his congressional confirmation as President of the United States.

They
adored
him.

And why wouldn’t they?

But he was already reading the critics’ responses in the papers, watching the commentaries in the evening news.

Some people thought he wouldn’t be tough enough to deal with Iran, that because he hadn’t been in the military or served in a defense post in the administration, that he was going to let the bastards get away with it.

As he took the podium in the White House press room to answer his first questions as president, however, he was determined to show his people that he had a backbone made of steel, that he would never back down in the face of the enemy.

The first interview questions dealt with how he felt about becoming president in such circumstances, his memories of Abrams, his reactions to recent events.

To all of them, his answers were clear and well thought-out, passionate and heartfelt.

And then came the one he had been waiting for, the one that would enable him to prove himself, to show his adoring people that – despite what the critics said – he was a president who could be trusted to look after national security with the best of them.

‘What are your intentions toward Iran now?’ asked the reporter from ABC News.

‘My intentions?’ he asked. ‘Well, son, my intentions are the same as the rest of the American people, the same as the rest of the
world
. Everyone’s angry, right? Sure we are, Iran has just wiped most of our leaders clean off the face of the planet, including our own, the damn president of the United States of America, the leader of the greatest country in the world. So what are my intentions? Son, my singular
intention
is to wipe
Iran
clean off the face of the planet.’

There, he’d said it, and the bemused – even
shocked
– looks on the faces of the gathered reporters confirmed what he’d expected.

He’d caught them off guard.

Trumped them.

‘Yes,’ he confirmed to the surprised crowd, ‘I am stating here and now that I intend to go to war with Iran, and the military is making plans as we speak. We will put together an international coalition – which I’m sure Britain and the rest of our European allies will be a part of, at the very least – and dismantle the regime of the so-called Islamic Republic in its entirety.’

Ha!

He would show them.

He was a president with backbone, and they would not soon forget it.

Vladimir Dementyev watched the press conference held by the new US president with interest, and not a little professional pride.

‘You’re psychological evaluation of the Vice President was perfectly correct,’ said the man at the opposite side of the huge desk. ‘In fact, everything you said has turned out as you predicted. You have done well, my friend.’

Dementyev smiled as he sipped at his black tea, knowing that Mikhail Emelienenko, President of the Russian Federation, was right; he
had
done well.

‘So that concludes phase one of
Proyekt Yevropy
,’ Emelienenko said happily.

‘Yes,’ Dementyev confirmed. ‘When America and her allies start their invasion of Iran, anyway, which surely won’t be long.’

‘Let us hope not,’ Emelienenko said. ‘Our own forces are on standby for phase two, ready to move at a moment’s notice.’

Dementyev smiled. Project Europe was his baby, and phase two was guaranteed to change the face of the world forever.

‘Excellent,’ Dementyev said, raising his teacup to the president in toast. ‘I cannot wait to see what happens next.’

THE END

. . . but Mark Cole will return in his sixth adventure, out in 2016!