Favorite Chapter – Richard Godfrey: The End of the Race
Preface
In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. In seven days.
And it is said that the world can be ended in seven days. Imagine traveling the streets of Washington, D.C., in an ambulance, as a patient, and you will come to understand what links us—how a week in this city can shape a century—or bring an end to the race as we know it. See who measures out health care and decides your destiny. Discover the secret the Watergate Plumbers were in search of. Deep Throat never told you. I will. Survival comes with the code contained within these pages—but requires some presidential assistance.
PART 1
Call Me Olson
COLSON Because Hunt and Liddy did the work. The others didn’t know any direct information.
PRESIDENT NIXON: I think I agree.
COLSON: See, I don’t give a damn if they spend five years in jail . . . They can’t hurt us.
Hunt and Liddy: direct meetings and discussions are very incriminating to us.
PRESIDENT NIXON: Liddy is pretty tough.
COLSON: Apparently he’s one of these guys who’s a masochist. He enjoys punishing himself. That’s okay, as long as he remains stable. I mean, he’s tough.
PRESIDENT NIXON: Jesus!
—A conversation between Charles Colson and the President, January 8, 1973
A conspiracy like this . . . a conspiracy investigation . . . the rope has to tighten slowly around everyone’s neck. You build convincingly from the outer edges in, you get ten times the evidence you need against the . . .
—Deep Throat, October 28, 1972
Chapter 1
Cuba
June 13, 1972—12:00 AM
“We will have an opportunity, Fidel, to do to the Americans what they tried to do to you. And this opportunity will come very soon.”
Marques Domingo looks his leader in the eye, simultaneously ascertaining that the room is absent of witnesses.
“Yes. And, again, what is this opportunity?”
“Sir, we have learned from Tango that the code to the American defense system is accessible. Our doubles are working in the capital and they’re close to obtaining it. If we can find a way to block the code, we can make a preemptive strike. They won’t be able to intercept our missile, and when they, retaliate, well . . . you know what happens.”
“What do I know?” Castro asks, fingering his beard and looking out a bulletproof window. “And what do you know?”
“That they have never discovered our secret. And we are very close to discovering theirs. Our agents tell us that the football can be unlocked and deciphered. In fact, there is a retired CIA agent named Hunter, and he is actively searching to find out if the code has already been leaked. He doesn’t know that one of his Cubans is our Cuban.
“What is this code?”
“The code restricted to the president. To release their missiles.”
“You mean the football code Nexus has. Why would he activate it?”
“Fidel, remember, they have tried to assassinate you twice. Nexus is a paranoid man. He is likely to try again, and he may be more successful than the others. We need to be ready before they are. Within the next seven days.”
“Get me this code.”
