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“Yes.”

“It’s not Canada that will invade the US.”

“No.”

Civilizations come and go, don’t you know.

Dancing into oblivion, oblivion.

The birth and death of nations, of civilizations,

Can be viewed down the barrel of a gun.

CHAPTER 22

“The United States is going to attack Canada?” said Lacoste. “Come on.”

Gamache was studying the General. “What do you know, Bert?”

“I know the necessary first step in any war. And so do you. How do you get young people to sign up and fight? How do you get their parents to let them? How do you motivate them to risk and perhaps lose their lives?”

“You create a common enemy,” said Gamache, quietly. “A threat.”

“A clear and present danger, yes.”

“But why do it?” asked Beauvoir. “Why would anyone want to provoke a war between us?”

“For the water, of course,” snapped Whitehead. “Haven’t you been paying attention? The US is running out.”

Armand Gamache turned to Lacoste. “Call Nichol. Have her find out who’s behind the .family posts.”

To Beauvoir he said, “Contact the Chief Meteorologist. Send her that sequence of numbers and symbols from Charles Langlois’s map.”

“The password?”

“They’re not just a password, they’re an isobar. We need to know what specifically the sequence says. But don’t tell her where we got them.”

“I wouldn’t,” said Whitehead, and Beauvoir, his phone out, hesitated and looked at Gamache.

“Why not?” Armand asked.

“Because the isobar your young biologist put on his map must have come from some document he found. One that scared him. Someone in the know had to provide the sequence to whoever’s behind this. Who better than a meteorologist?”

“He’s right,” said Gamache, and Beauvoir clicked off his phone. “Come on, Bert. We need more. What’s going to happen?”

“I don’t know, not for sure. Not really. Or maybe I just refuse to believe it. Like January 6. We had warning, we saw the posts, we just never…” He wiped his hand across his face, then gave a huge exhale. “But this? I suspected something was up when you first asked for help with the poisoning plot. In digging deeper, I found those messages about a possible aggression by Canada. They were so in lockstep and yet so unbelievable. Hardly worth noting. But then they began spreading, appearing outside far-right conspiracy sites. It seemed someone powerful was trying to make Canada appear as our enemy. A threat. But why? And then I remembered the plan.”

“Plan?” said Gamache. “There’s a plan?”

But Whitehead was focused on his own train of thought. “Someone high up in our government, someone with clearance, must have found it and seen the possibilities. Though, of course, it doesn’t have to be our—”

“Wait.” Armand put up his hand and the General stopped. “Are you saying there’s an American plan? To what? Invade Canada for our water?”

“Of course we have one,” snapped Whitehead. “The fact a plan exists isn’t the point.”

“Really?”

“Don’t be so naïve, Armand. What makes you think the most powerful nation on earth wouldn’t have contingency plans for everything? Attack from North Korea, Russia, China. Terrorists. Nuclear and conventional attacks. Cyberattacks. We’ve had war games in case extraterrestrials invade, for God’s sake. And now there’s global warming. Heating. And with it extreme weather. Cat 5 hurricanes and predictions we’ll have to raise our measuring to Cat 6 and even 7. Tornadoes, earthquakes. Forest fires. Floods and, yes, drought. You think we wouldn’t be prepared for that? We will do what is necessary to survive. As would you.”