President Jordan Hedge sat behind the Resolute Desk within the Oval Office with the FBI Director sitting quietly across from him. Neither man spoke. The speaker phone interrupted the silence as a woman's voice said, “David Knight on line one for you, Mr. President.”

“Thank you, Helen,” he said and pushed a button on the phone. “Mr. Knight, to what do we owe the pleasure?”

“Good morning, Mr. President! Thank you for taking my call. You have, perhaps, heard from your FBI Director that they recovered the missing video?”

“Yes, he's here with me right now. I presume this lays your fears to rest.”

“If only it were that easy! Unfortunately, sir, we have no way to ascertain whether my nephew or his confederates made copies of the disk. Nor do we have any reason to believe that the disk he possessed was the original, because we still do not know who shot the video. We discovered that an unknown person dressed as a delivery man duped my personal secretary by presenting her with a corsage on the day that meeting took place. We strongly suspect the corsage contained a hidden video camera. Unfortunately, she knew nothing about the deception, and she hardly remembers disposing of that corsage. We guess she threw it out after the flowers wilted, and the delivery man or his confederate recovered it shortly thereafter.”

“Who do you think arranged the recording?” the President asked.

“You may have heard that my great-niece was kidnapped the day your FBI and the NYPD failed to protect my nephew from an assassin's bullet. We learned that she ended up in the hands of a group known as the Agorist Underground. We suspect their involvement with the video's creation.”

“Yes, I heard about that,” the President said with a baleful glance at his FBI Director. “If what you say is true, then it appears the crisis has not yet been averted. However, I don't see what we can do about it.”

“While your FBI continues to blunder about, my own security department has already begun the process of tracking down this underground. We made some progress, but their security has proven difficult to penetrate so far. We need the FBI and your office to lend your assistance and support to the cause.”

The President stiffened at this and raised a hand to silence the FBI Director before he spoke.

“That is problematic. No matter what I personally think of this underground you mention, until they do something that violates federal law, the federal government has no jurisdiction in the matter. It's a local police matter.”

“On the contrary, Mr. President, this is a matter of national consequence. Need I remind you what public release of that video could do to the public's confidence in its political and banking leaders? The country faces a dire economic situation, and the entire world watches our every move with bated breath. Public release of the video at this time would prove chaotic at best and catastrophic at worst.”

“What do you suggest, Mr. Knight?”

“Mr. President, resolving the financial crisis requires determined, strong leadership. This includes keeping information away from the public that might undermine confidence. The entire monetary system depends upon the public's confidence in it, and right now that confidence hovers at an all-time low. The times demand a firm, decisive leader who knows how to take control of a situation and impose his will on it. Of course, with the election approaching and your party's imminent electoral demise, perhaps I should just wait until your successor takes office?” Knight gently taunted him.

The President bristled at the suggestion and shouted, “We have provided determined, strong leadership! This administration's leadership created the TARP package you pleaded for so desperately. Don't you dare accuse us of not providing strong leadership. If not for your industry's irresponsible lending policies, this crisis never could have happened in the first place!”

Knight assumed a calming voice as he soothed, “Of course, Mr. President. I meant no disrespect. Since we agree on the need, I have no doubt you will gladly join us in working to stop this underground from releasing the video to the public. Our mutual interests depend on it.”

The President slumped in his chair and sighed, exclaiming very unenthusiastically while rolling his eyes, “All right, Mr. Knight. Tell us what you have in mind.”

“I should think our course of action is obvious. The underground kidnapped my great-niece. Surely the FBI bears the responsibility to extract her from her captors, do they not? If they help us infiltrate this underground's headquarters, it should create opportunities for us to discover more information about the video's whereabouts.”

The FBI Director shook his head no, holding his finger to his lips.

The President replied, “Please hold the line for a moment, Mr. Knight.” He pressed the hold button on the phone and said, “Well?”

“Mr. Knight lies, Mr. President. We have solid information telling us that the underground rescued his great-niece from the real perpetrators of the kidnapping.”

“And who are these perpetrators you refer to?”

“We have only one person's story, with no confirmation, but we believe that Knight's security team may have carried out both kidnappings.”

The President's eyes widened fractionally. He took the call off hold.

“Mr. Knight, the Director informs me that the FBI believe it unlikely the underground kidnapped your great-niece.” Then he waited to see how Knight would reply.

It came without hesitation. “If I may be so bold, you are poorly advised, Mr. President. We know for a fact that they have her, and we also know that this underground exists for the purpose of bringing down the entire financial system. What better way to attempt to apply pressure than to hold a family member of a top banking executive hostage as part of their overall plan to move their agenda forward? I imagine they might attempt to use her to apply pressure over any number of potential issues.”

The President looked at the Director for his reaction. Again, he shook his head no, but as the President reached again for the hold button, he reached out with his hand and stopped him.

“Mr. Knight, have this underground presented any demands to you or to your nephew?”

“Well, no,” Knight began, but the Director interrupted him.

“Then how can you know that they intend to use her as a hostage?”

“It seems most obvious to me.”

“Well, it doesn't seem obvious to me. To the contrary, the only organization known to have kidnapped her is your own. After we extracted her from the building, someone shot your nephew and kidnapped your great-niece again.”

“Yes, and right under your noses.”

“So,” the Director continued, ignoring Knight's taunt, “why should we assume that the perpetrators the second time around came from a different organization from the one who kidnapped her the first time–your own?”

“He forgets which side you are on, Mr. President,” Knight replied coolly without acknowledging the Director personally. “Our only interest all along has been to recover that video, for all our sakes. Besides, what you said changes nothing about my great-niece's current predicament. I notice that you do not claim that this underground does not have her. In fact, they do have her. Even your FBI Director agrees on that point. We should limit our efforts to the factual situation as we know it and not squabble among ourselves. If that video emerges publicly, it will harm your administration–and indeed the entire federal government–just as much as it will harm my bank, the Federal Reserve system, and the world-wide economy. We must act. We must attempt to track down and acquire all copies of that video. We have no choice!”

The President rubbed his forehead and temples, trying to ease the oncoming headache he felt. His FBI Director sat mute.

“Very well, Mr. Knight, but your team will have to find their headquarters. Once they do, we'll arrange something appropriate.” He punched a button on the speaker phone to end the call. Then, he pressed his secretary's button. “Helen, have someone bring me some aspirin or something.”

“Yes, Mr. President. Right away.”

The FBI Director stood to take his leave. “Thank you, Mr. President.”

“Just a moment, Fred.”

The Director turned. “Yes, sir?”

“I expect you to continue to give Mr. Knight every cooperation.”

The Director sat down again.

“Mr. President, I must continue to raise my objections to this entire affair. Engaging the Bureau on behalf of known kidnappers–well, I can hardly even complete that sentence.”

“You know the reasons. Our entire economy, our way of life, may be at stake.”

“Yes, Mr. President, so you have said repeatedly, but the price seems too high to me. Giving so much money, power, and influence to the very same people who got our country into this mess in the first place seems to me...well...suicidal.”

“You also repeat yourself, Fred. The market is not functioning properly. There has been a widespread loss of confidence, and major sectors of America's financial system are at risk of shutting down. We had to act!”

“Yes, Mr. President, I remember the speech you gave to the nation where you said those words, but you skate over the fact that this administration engaged in massive deficit spending which caused the Federal Reserve to create piles of new money over the past eight years to pay for it all. The banks don't deserve all of the blame. The federal government deserves its share. If not for all that spending, and the resulting increase in the money supply, the housing bubble wouldn't have expanded as much as it did.”

“Fred, it's no secret that the government depends on the Federal Reserve, and vice-versa. It's a partnership, one which our entire economy depends upon as well. Pointing fingers accomplishes nothing at this point.”

“Yes, Mr. President, and look at the results of that partnership! Even you, the President of the United States, never dared to pay down the increasing national debt because it might send the economy into recession. In our current circumstances, it would result in certain depression. So like every President and Congress that came before you, you kept ratcheting the debt up. And who pays serious heed to it? Certainly not the politicians! Certainly not the voters! In this way, over the course of decades, the government's share of the national product has grown exponentially, while its reach and influence has achieved alarming proportions. Now, the whole house of cards threatens to fall apart, and even if we manage to avoid the precipice this time around, the next crisis will be even worse because the debt load this country groans under keeps growing and growing! And make no mistake, Mr. President. There will be another crisis after this one. Our entire history is filled with such crises, and despite the promises of politicians each time that this time they won't come back, they continue to recur anyway!”

“What do you want from me, Fred?”

“Leadership, Mr. President,” the Director replied as he stood and walked to the door.

“I'm providing leadership, Fred,” the President bristled.

“Yes, sir, right over a cliff,” the Director said as he opened the door. “Thank you, Mr. President,” he said, holding the door for the President's secretary as she came in to give him his aspirin tablets.

“Helen, get me Harry Peterson, please.”

“Yes, Mr. President. Right away,” she answered as she left to return to her desk just outside the Oval Office.