Minute Zero Read Free Page B

of 189 foreign flags, one for each country with diplomatic relations with the United States of America.
    He flashed his identification to the armed security guard, swiped his card, and punched his six-digit PIN. The glass security barriers swung open with a vhuuump. He strode down a long hallway to the cafeteria.
    “Morning, Brenda,” he said, forcing a smile. “Two large coffees with double espresso shots.”
    “G’morning, Dr. Ryker. That’s two red-eyes!” she replied, a bit too loudly for this time of day. “I know: one with milk, the other black,” she said with a wink.
    Judd smiled and dropped a dollar in the tip jar.
    He trekked carefully, balancing his coffees, to the elevators, up to the sixth floor, and then down another long beige hallway. His destination was marked by a small sign over the door: CRISIS REACTION UNIT, OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR .
    “It’s nearly eight o’clock, Dr. Ryker. You’ve got to move it.”
    “Good morning to you, too, Serena. I brought you a coffee,” he said holding up both barrels.
    “Thank you,” his assistant said impatiently. She was wearing her usual black tapered business suit. Her Afro was cut short, highlighting her strong jaw. “On your desk in the red folder are the overnight cables. I’ve highlighted Priority One, all the places on our watch list. In the blue folder are cables I pulled for your eight a.m. with Mr. Parker.”
    “I got you the one you like. With the extra espresso.” Judd set down one of the coffees on Serena’s desk. “A red-eye.”
    “In Iraq we called it a MOAC.”
    “Okay, I’ll ask. What’s MOAC?”
    “The mother of all coffee.”
    “Of course.”
    “You’ve got six minutes,” she said, and shooed him away.
    Judd retreated into his office and sank into his chair. Just as Serena had promised, on his desk sat two colored folders. He opened the blue one to find diplomatic reports on Egyptian politics, which he flipped through:
    SECRET: CAIRO1342—Special Envoy warns Foreign Minister Elhaddad
    UNCLASSIFIED: CAIRO1346—Media reporting on jailed journalists
    SECRET: CAIRO1351—Election polling projections
    SECRET: CAIRO1352—Disruption of Jihadist cell targeting voting stations in Alexandria
    CONFIDENTIAL: CAIRO1356—Embassy Cairo planning for election monitoring
    At the back of the folder was a hard copy of Judd’s PowerPoint presentation for Landon Parker, the Secretary of State’s chief of staff. Judd was speaking again about disputed elections and the Golden Hour—his theory about the need for quicker crisis response. The Golden Hour had been the inspiration for S/CRU and Judd’s ticket into the State Department. But this time the presentation wasn’t about the Golden Hour itself but about a related concept, which he’d reveal for the first time that morning.
    Judd set this folder aside and opened the red one, which was stuffed with printed diplomatic cables, the steady stream of messages into headquarters from the State Department’s 305 overseas posts. Serena had marked several with a bright yellow highlighter.
    CONFIDENTIAL: ULANBATOR91—Mongolian mining dispute threatens government coalition
    SECRET: RIYADH234—Health update for Saudi Royal Family
    SECRET: BAGHDAD1945—Prime Minister concerned about potential for new Kurdish rebellion
    CONFIDENTIAL: PORTAUPRINCE133—Embassy protests turn violent after rice price increase
    UNCLASSIFIED: JAKARTA242—Indonesian election official jailed on corruption charges
    CONFIDENTIAL: ABUJA319—New evidence of top party bosses involvement with Nigerian fuel import racket
    CONFIDENTIAL: HARARE185—Risk of organized violence low as Zimbabwe election approaches
    SECRET: TRIPOLI772—Support for rebels surging in eastern Libya
    “Serena, I don’t see any cables in from Ethiopia.”
    “No, Dr. Ryker, there’s no overnight reporting in from Embassy Addis.”
    “Can you double-check? And please look for anything going on in Lalibela. It’s a smaller city up in the north.