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with a well-aimed hand grenade. It’s never really stopped erupting in the last five years.
    How about Mount St. Helens?
    More difficult. But there have been small explosions and a lot of rumblings in the past several months. And remember. When St. Helens blew in 1980, it unleashed forces equal to four Hiroshimas every second. But it’s very dangerous now and getting worse. I’d say four big cruise-missile explosions bang in the right place on the vulnerable south side would almost certainly unleash its lava again.
    And Cumbre Vieja?
    You mean to cause the mega-tsunami I was talking about last night? No conventional explosion would prise that huge hunk of rock off the cliffside. The volcano would have to erupt. And you’d need a sizable nuclear blast to make that happen.
    You mean a full-blooded nuclear bomb?
    No, no. Not that big. But you mentioned cruise missiles. And if you were thinking short-range, not ballistic, I’d say a medium-sized nuclear warhead would probably blow a big enough hole to release the magma.
    And that starts the landslide into the bottom of the ocean?
    No. No. Not on its own. You see, that whole line of volcanoes in southern La Palma contains a vast amount of water deep in the mountains. The release of the magma bursting up to the surface creates stupendous heat inside the rock. In turn this causesseveral cubic miles of water to boil rapidly, and then expand, like a pressure cooker. That’s what will blow the mountain to pieces, and will most certainly collapse the entire southwest section of La Palma into the sea. A landslide, on a scale not seen on this earth for a million years.
    So, if you fired a missile at the vulnerable spot on the volcano of Cumbre Vieja, which you said tonight was the most active, you’d need it to penetrate the surface and then explode deep below the ground?
    It would need to hit hard and pierce the rock strata that guards the lava, before it blew. The released magma surging up from the core of the earth would then erupt into the atmosphere, drawing zillions of tons of incinerating magma right behind it. The underground lakes would boil, and then flash off into steam. That’s when the whole mountain range would explode.
     
    The former Maj. Ray Kerman liked Professor Landon. This was a man who expertly understood explosions, both natural and man-made, and who was consumed by his subject. And he did not dwell upon ramifications. He spoke frankly, as a scientist. Very much to the point. Untroubled by the obvious innuendoes of the equally obvious terrorist who held him prisoner. The science was what mattered to Professor Landon.
    Yes, General Rashood liked him. This whole thing was rather a pity.
    “Thank you, Professor,” said the Hamas General. “Thank you very much. We’ll have some breakfast now, and talk more.”

1
    Thursday, January 8, 2009
    The White House, Washington, D.C.
    T HE BRAND-NEW DEMOCRATIC Administration, fresh from a narrow election victory, was moving into the West Wing. With the exception of the President, who knew he was going anyway at the end of his second term, every hour of every day was a trauma for the outgoing Republicans. For the big hitters of the military and government, handing over the reins to what most of them believed to be a bunch of naive, inexperienced, half-assed limousine liberals led by an idealistic young President from Rhode Island, who would have been pushed to hold down a proper executive job—well, anywhere—was appalling.
    And today was probably the worst day of all. Adm. Arnold Morgan, the retiring President’s National Security Adviser, was about to leave the White House for the last time. His big nineteenth-century Naval desk had already been cleared and removed, and now there were only a few good-byes left. The door to his office was wide open, and the Admiral, accompanied by hisalarmingly beautiful secretary Kathy O’Brien, was ready to go. In attendance was the Secretary of State Harcourt Travis; the