Dead Heat

by Joel C. Rosenberg

  James felt untethered, adrift. His love of politics was gone. The thrill of public service had evaporated overnight. He had never planned to serve as the nation's commander in

  chief. Certainly not in time of war. Certainly not in a nation under an attack of this

  magnitude. The weight of the responsibility was almost unbearable. How had other

  presidents handled such moments? How had Truman before Nagasaki and Hiroshima?

  How had MacPherson before the War of Gog and Magog? Were they this depressed?

  How could they go forward, day after day?

  What was once a few small doubts was now a raging cauldron of confusion and

  despair. He loathed the thought of betraying his fears to anyone, but they were rising by the second. He feared not only for his own life but for what was coming. What kind of world had he just inherited? The darkness was so dark, so thick, he could barely see beyond the next few minutes, much less the next few days, or weeks. Evil had regathered while the

  world had slept. Now it was on the move, and James worried it would overtake them all. He didn't simply feel scared. He felt naked and desperately alone in the cosmos.

  Where was he supposed to turn? It wasn't military or political advice he craved.

  What, then? He had never been a religious man. Not like MacPherson. Certainly not like

  Jon and Erin Bennett. It seemed hypocritical to seek God now. Yet something in him was

  grasping for spiritual answers. It was a craving so deep it ached, and yet he feared it was, 24

  as if by definition, insatiable.

  Restless, he got up, steadied himself, and began looking around the general's quarters.

  He glanced at the collection of family photos on the man's nightstand and thought of his own wife and daughters, holed up at STRATCOM near Omaha, surrounded by MPs,

  unable to get to him, scared out of their minds. He wanted to call them. He wanted to talk to his wife about what they were planning. But he couldn't. Not now. She didn't have the

  clearance.

  He moved over to the bookshelf and scanned the many tomes in the general's impressive

  collection. One volume caught his eye. He reached up and pulled out a dog-eared copy of a book by two Time magazine correspondents: The Preacher and the Presidents: Billy Graham in the White House. He sat down, turned on the desk lamp, put on his reading glasses, and flipped through the well-marked pages. Many sections were underlined and

  highlighted. There were questions and comments scribbled in the margins. Then he flipped to the back and found several previously blank pages that had been filled with the general's handwritten bullet points and notes.

  • BG preached to 210 million people face-to-face/85 countries/417 crusades/

  friends with 11 presidents/"They asked about how the world would end,

  which was not an abstract conversation." (p. vii, xi)

  • Churchill: "Do you have any real hope?" (p. 48)

  • Eisenhower: "How can a person be sure when he dies he's going to

  heaven?" (p. 52)

  • JFK: "Do you believe in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ?" (p. 109)

  • LBJ: "I'm not really sure in my heart that I'm going to heaven." (p.

  123)

  • Graham on Nixon: "I almost felt as if a demon had come into the White

  House." (p. 219)

  • Reagan: "I have decided that whatever time I may have is left for

  Him." (p. 268)

  • Bush 43 @ Kennebunkport: "How do you become a real Christian?" (p. 329) James studied the list. He had all the same questions, and none of the answers. He

  wished there were time to read, time to think, time to search for answers. But there wasn't, and now someone was knocking on the door.

  "Who is it?" he asked.

  "General Stephens."

  "Come in."

  Stephens entered, saluted, and saw the book in the president's hands. "That was a good one," he said softly. "One of my favorites."

  James said nothing, just looked down at the questions.

  "Kinda wish we could give the ole reverend a call right now, don't you?" the general said with a gentle, easy manner that surprised James. "Kinda, yeah," he replied.

  "Ever meet him?" Stephens asked.

  "Graham?"

  "Yes, sir."

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  "No, never did. You?"

  "No," Stephens answered, "and I regret that. But I watched him on television a lot, especially when I was based in Germany. And I must tell you, Mr. President, he changed my life."

  "How so?" James asked.

  "I'd been raised in a Christian home, sir," the general said. "Went to church every Sunday.

  Prayed before supper. You know, the whole nine yards."

  "And?"

  "And I got to a low point, sir. I had lost some of my men in Kosovo. My wife had left me.

  My kids hated me. Everything was going wrong. And the thing was, I thought I was a

  Christian. And I began to get angry with God. I'd yell at him at night, alone in my room. This went on for months. I was slipping farther and farther into depression. Finally one night, after watching a Billy Graham crusade on television, I yelled at God and said:

  ‘I don't get you. The Bible promises love, joy, peace, happiness. Well, I don't have any of it. So either you're a liar, or I just don't get it."'

  "So what happened?" James asked, genuinely curious.

  "Well, that's the thing, sir," Stephens said, reliving the moment as if it had just happened.

  "It had never happened before. And it's never happened since."

  "What?"

  "I don't think it was an audible voice, but it may as well have been. I knew it was the Lord, and He asked me, 'Michael, do you ever read the Bible for yourself?' Now, sir, I had read the Bible from time to time, in church, you know. But the real answer was no, I rarely read it for myself. So I said, 'No.' And then He asked me, 'Do you ever really talk to me in prayer?' Again, I said grace before meals, that kind of thing. But the truth was I'd never really understood prayer, much less done it. So I said, 'No, Lord, I don't.' And He said,

  'Michael, why should you expect me to bless you when you don't even really know me?'

  After that, the transmission seemed to end."

  26

  9 :33 A.M. EST-MO UNT WEA TH ER CO MMAND CENT ER

  James would have expected himself to be skeptical.

  Even cynical. But he wasn't. He was trying to process everything the general was saying.

  He had never heard someone share his story so clearly or so personally, and it didn't anger him as he would have thought it would.

  "Go on," he said after a long pause.

  "Well, Mr. President, at that moment, I got down on my knees," Stephens continued.

  "On the one hand, I was so ashamed of myself. I'd been so close to the truth but had never really gotten it. And yet at the same time, I was so grateful that the Lord had spoken to me. He'd told me what I was doing wrong. He was calling me to follow Him. To know

  Him. To fall in love with Him and stop trying to live my life on my own terms, which

  obviously wasn't going so well. So I prayed a simple prayer. I accepted Jesus Christ into my heart as my personal Savior and Lord. And I've never been the same since."

  "How so?" the president asked.

  "Well, sir, I got an immediate assurance that I was going to be in heaven forever

  when I died, which gave me a new confidence to live life without fear. And I got a hope for the future that I'd never really had before in my entire life. I can't say my life has been perfect since, sir. Lord knows, I haven't been perfect. But I know He's with me. I know He's leading me. I know He loves me, and that's made all the difference."

  The room was quiet, save for the ticking of a small clock on the general's desk. No

  phones were ringing. No aides were bursting in. No Secret Service agents were looking

  over
their shoulders, and James sensed that this, in its own way, was a miracle. God was calling him. Perhaps He always had been, and James had always resisted. But now he

  knew he was out of excuses.

  "Mr. President," the general asked after a pause, "have you ever accepted Christ as your Savior?"

  At any other time, under any other circumstances, James knew he would have been

  offended by someone asking him that question. But not now. He felt strangely warmed

  inside, as if God Himself had sent this man at this time to tell him what he needed to do.

  "No, General, I never really have," James said after a moment of reflection.

  "Would you like to, sir?"

  27

  "Honestly, General, I'm not entirely sure what that means."

  "Would you like me to walk you through it, sir, briefly?" Stephens asked.

  James nodded, a bit self-consciously.

  The general reached over and picked up the small leather Bible on his nightstand, then, with the president's permission, took a seat on the bed.

  "Mr. President, the Bible says God loves us and has a wonderful plan and purpose for our lives. In John 3:16, Jesus said, 'For God so loved the world that He gave His only

  begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.' In John 10:10, Jesus said, 'I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly,' that it might be full and meaningful."

  The general flipped forward a few pages. "But the Bible also teaches that man is sinful and separated from God, and that's why we don't know Him and experience Him like we

  want to. Romans 3:23 tells us, 'All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.' Romans 6:23 says, 'The wages of sin is death.' That's the bad news. The good news is that through faith in Jesus Christ, we can have our sins forgiven. We can know we're going to heaven.

  We can have a personal relationship with God Himself, all because Jesus died on the cross and rose again from the dead to pay the penalty for your sins and mine."

  James thought carefully about the verses he was hearing as the general found another set of passages and began reading again.

  "The Bible says, 'God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.' It also says, 'Christ died for our sins. . . . He was buried. . . . He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. . . . He appeared to Peter, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred.' Jesus said, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.'

  "But here's the key, Mr. President. The Bible teaches us that it's not enough just to know that God loves us, or that we're sinners, or that Jesus came to pay the penalty for our sins. It's good, but it's not enough. The fact is, each of us must individually receive Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord. Then, and only then, will we be born again into His family, into His Kingdom. Only then can we truly know and experience God's love and His plan for our lives.

  "John 1:12 says, 'As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become

  children of God, even to those who believe in His name.' And the apostle Paul told us in Ephesians, 'By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast."'

  Stephens turned the pages of his marked-up Bible one last time, and James noticed he

  landed in the third chapter of the book of Revelation. He expected a lesson on the End Times.

  He was surprised when, instead, the general read words of Jesus that James had never heard before. "'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him.'"

  The general looked him in the eye. "Mr. President, do you believe Jesus is the only way to God the Father?"

  James thought about it and realized that for the first time in his life, he really did. He nodded and said, "I do."

  "Do you believe that Jesus died on the cross to pay the complete penalty for your

  sins?"

  "Yes, I do."

  28

  "Do you believe that He rose from the dead on the third day, just as was prophesied in the Scriptures?"

  James nodded again and said yes.

  "And are you sure you're ready to confess to Him that you're a sinner, that you need His forgiveness, and that with His help, you're ready to repent of your sins and follow Him, no matter what it may cost?"

  Twenty-four hours earlier, James knew, that wouldn't have been true. Six hours ago, as

  well. But now it was. His heart was racing. He wanted to give his heart to Christ like

  nothing else he had ever done in his life.

  "I think I am ready," he said.

  "Wonderful," the general said.

  At the general's encouragement, the two men got down on their knees and bowed their

  heads. Then Stephens told the president he was going to lead him through the same prayer he had prayed more than a decade earlier.

  "Lord Jesus, I need you. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. Thank you for rising from the dead. I believe you are the Way, the Truth, and the Life. I believe you are the only way to heaven, the only way to the Father. And right now, as an act of the will, by faith, I open the door of my life and receive you as my Savior and Lord. Thank you for forgiving my sins. Thank you for giving me eternal life. Have mercy on me, Lord. Show me your will.

  Teach me your Word. Guide me by your Holy Spirit. Take the throne of my life, Lord Jesus, and make me the kind of person you want me to be. In your holy and precious Name I pray, amen."

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  5:21 A.M.-COMMAND POST TANGO, SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA

  A day passed, but none of the tension did.

  Lee James was struggling to adjust to his new role as commander in chief. Burt Trainor

  had just been sworn in as vice president of the United States, though James had asked him to continue serving as secretary of defense for continuity. Change was coming fast and furious, but time was running out. They had to make decisions.

  General Andrew T Garrett paced the war room. Deep under Seoul in a reinforced steel

  and concrete bunker, he was safer than his men. Safer than anyone in South Korea. But unlike any of them, he knew what was coming, and that knowledge was eating a hole through his

  stomach. He was on medication. It wasn't working. The pain was severe, and it was

  growing. But he had no choice. Hostilities were going to break out any minute. Either the North was going to strike first or the U.S. was going to unleash the nuclear option and end this thing once and for all. The time to decide was at hand.

  He scanned the array of clocks on the far wall, above the satellite monitors and maps

  of the DMZ. It was now 5:21 a.m. Thursday, September 3, in Seoul.

  In Babylon, it was 12:21 a.m.

  In London, it was 9:21 p.m. Wednesday, September 2.

  In Boston, it was 4:21 p.m.

  At Crystal Palace, deep inside Cheyenne Mountain near Colorado Springs, it was now 2:21

  p.m. on Wednesday.

  In Sacramento, it was 1:21 p.m.

  Garrett could barely believe how much the world had changed in the last forty-eight hours, or how much it would change in the next forty- eight. Indeed, it had been less than thirty-six hours since President Oaks had been assassinated by his own body man. Caulfield was dead.

  Briggs was dead. A Secret Service agent whose name presently escaped Garrett was dead.

  Now the United States of America had a third president in as many days, and the country didn't even know it yet.

  The general and a group of other top military commanders had watched the swearing-in

  ceremony on secure videoconference. But they had all been sworn to secrecy. At least for now.

  America was at war. There were national security considerations at stake. A public

  announcement would be made soon, they'd been told
. But as USPACOM commander Admiral

  30

  Arthurs had reminded them, "loose lips sink ships."

  A staff sergeant waved down Garrett's attention. "General?"

  "Yes, Sergeant."

  "The president and vice president are on the line, sir. So is Admiral Arthurs. They're all ready, sir."

  Garrett nodded, took his seat at the head of the enormous conference table, and signaled the rest of his generals to take their assigned seats. The videoconference system was suddenly down—a bad omen, he thought.

  He unmuted the speakerphone and began the call. "Mr. President, this is General Garrett at Command Post Tango."

  "Good morning, General," the president replied.

  It was protocol, of course. There was nothing good about it. "Do you have your team in place?" the president asked.

  "Yes, sir, they're all here."

  "Then let's make this quick."

  "Yes, Mr. President," Garrett began. "First let me say on behalf of my entire team, U.S.

  and ROK, we were deeply shocked and saddened by what happened yesterday, and we want

  you to know that you have our full support."

  "Thank you, General Garrett," James replied. "That means a great deal to me."

  The ROK's top military commander, sitting beside Garrett, also spoke up. "Mr. President, this is General Soon Young Park. Can you hear me?"

  "Yes, General Park. I can hear you well."

  "I just wanted to agree with General Garrett. President Woo, my men, and my people are deeply grateful that you are standing with us at this very dark hour, and we want you to know two things, sir. First, we are ready to fight side by side with the American people to bring justice to your people and safety to my own. And second, I want you to know that President Woo and I are devout followers of Jesus Christ. He has known the Lord for many years. But I am from a Buddhist family. I became a follower of Jesus after the Day of Devastation. Anyway, I want you to know that we were on our knees this morning praying for you by name, sir, praying Psalm 32, verse 8, that the Lord would 'lead you and guide in the way that you should go,' and that He would 'counsel you with His eye upon you.'