The President is Missing

Augie refuses (as did Nina) to tell the president who shared the code word “Dark Ages” with him. Augie speaks of a powerful computer virus that could wipe out the entire digital infrastructure of the US. The narrative also reveals that prior to the start of the novel’s action, Duncan was made aware of the threat of this virus: This is the reason why he called Suliman Cindoruk, and this is the looming threat that terrifies him.

Augie confirms that Suliman and his organization, the Sons of Jihad, are behind the planned cyberattack; Augie initially collaborated with them but has now parted ways with the group. Augie tells Duncan to walk with him and exit the stadium.

Bach is in position, preparing for her target to exit the stadium. She has several collaborators positioned in the area, monitoring the situation and keeping her updated on the movement of her target.

Augie and President Duncan exit the stadium; a van is parked nearby, and Duncan sees Nina sitting inside. Augie signals to Nina, and a massive power outage occurs, plunging the city into darkness.

Back at the White House, Vice President Katherine Brandt receives a phone call from an unnamed caller. She seems to have been anticipating the call.

The power outage triggers immediate confusion at the stadium and among passers-by. Nina is shot and killed while sitting in the van. President Duncan (who previously served in the military) snatches Augie’s gun and shoots at the men who are running toward them with guns. After a few minutes of sustained shooting, a team of Secret Service agents arrives, gets Duncan safely into a car, and drives off. He is insistent that both Augie and Nina’s body also be taken from the scene; the security team confirms that Augie has been taken into custody and is in another car.

President Duncan confers with Alex, his head of security. Alex confirms that the two men who were injured by Duncan’s gunshots were whisked away; a cover story has also been put in place to explain the exchange of gunfire without revealing what really happened. Alex also explains that after seeing the baseball ticket that Nina gave to Duncan, he arranged a secret security presence despite Duncan’s insistence on going alone.

Duncan insists that Augie be moved into the same car so that he can question him. Augie enters the car (which now contains Duncan, Augie, a Secret Service agent named Jacobson, and a driver named Davis). He is very emotional and angry, blaming Duncan for the fact that Nina is dead.

Bach responds calmly to the disruptions to her mission while heading to the meet-up point. She informs her team that she is still tracking her targets.

President Duncan explains to Augie that “whoever shot [Nina] was shooting at [them], too” (167); Americans stepped in to protect Augie and the president. He also reassures Augie that he understands his grief because he lost his own wife. Duncan is desperate to retain Augie’s trust and persuade him to share what he knows about the planned cyberattack. Suddenly, shots are fired at the moving car.

Bach arrives at the meeting point, where the other team members are tending to the two wounded men. She coolly shoots and kills the two wounded men and then tells the others to focus on moving ahead with the mission.

The car is now under attack from both bullets and other cars crashing into it. President Duncan and Augie are able to enter a second car. Duncan feels uncomfortable leaving the agents at the scene but concludes that it is more important to protect Augie.

Now alone in a car with Augie, President Duncan drives away. He calls his security contacts, who explain that they were able to neutralize the attackers, but two Secret Service agents died in the process. The attack and explosion have drawn a lot of public attention. Duncan insists that he is not going back to the White House.

Augie and President Duncan arrive at a safe house: the home owned by Carolyn Brock and her husband, Greg Morton.

Greg helps the president and Augie get settled and prepare for a conference call with the White House.

The president connects to a conference call with Carolyn and Liz Greenfield, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director. They are trying to figure out who fired at Duncan outside of the stadium. As for the attack on the bridge (while they were driving), Carolyn and Liz point out that the individuals who carried out the attack were mercenaries; it will be extremely difficult to ascertain who was behind the attack.

They are initially confused about the extreme secrecy that Duncan insists on, and he explains: When he began using the code word “Dark Ages” to refer to the imminent cyberattack, he only shared the code word with a close circle of eight of his most trusted advisors. However, Nina knew the code word when she contacted Lilly in Paris. Nina’s knowledge of the code word was the reason why Duncan took the message seriously and met with her. The only way that Nina and Augie could have known the code is if someone very close to the president leaked it to them.

Because Liz has only started the job recently, she cannot be the source of the leak. Therefore, Duncan feels very confident that he can trust her.

President Duncan gets on another call with the director of Israel’s Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations: While he was meeting with Augie at the baseball game, he arranged to have the man’s face analyzed with facial-identification software. The director explains that Augie is a math prodigy who grew up in Ukraine and likely encountered Suliman while studying in Turkey. It is unclear whether Augie is still affiliated with the Sons of Jihad.

The director cautions Duncan that there are active rumors of a massive strike against the US, planned for the following day (Saturday). He also suspects that Russia is supporting Suliman.

The president questions Augie. The latter claims that he and Nina worked alongside Suliman to create the Dark Ages virus; however, he and Nina defected from the group and reached out to Duncan in an effort to stop the attack.

Augie admits that he doesn’t know if he will be able to shut down the virus without Nina’s help. He also explains that Suliman knows that Nina and Augie are now working to foil the plot. However, Suliman alone wouldn’t have the capacity to hire highly trained assassins, so they know that someone who wants to destabilize the US must be backing him.

President Duncan provides more context: He and his team first caught a glimpse of the virus about two weeks ago in a “peekaboo attack” (a short glimpse of what the virus can do). They began referring to the virus as “Dark Ages” and formed a task force to stop it. They assumed that whoever created the virus would ask for something in exchange for suppressing it, but no demands came. Duncan eventually called Suliman to ask about a ransom, but Suliman provided no information. This was the phone call that was misconstrued and led to the impeachment hearing.

Augie fills Duncan in: The peekaboo attack was not initiated by Suliman. He and Nina launched it as a warning of what could be coming. Suliman is not trying to ransom something; he just wants to destroy the US.

Augie confirms that the attack will be launched on Saturday. President Duncan urgently wants to take action, but he collapses due to his illness.