Tom has issued the order to conduct air strikes on Algeria to capture or kill Majid Nassar. The mission is aborted at the last second when they learn that Nassar has escaped – he warned by the Algerians – and has gone into hiding in the basement of a hospital, where he can use civilians, including children, as unsuspecting shields. Chernow tells Tom that the only way to achieve the end goal of capturing Nassar while avoiding civilian casualties is to have boots on the ground in the form of a Navy Seal team. Tom orders the mission despite his hesitation, especially in that boots on the ground has a greater likelihood of American military causalities. Tom gets a political reaction when he eventually informs Congress, namely Hookstraten and MacLeish. Partly because of that reaction, Tom, in thinking about the politics of his job, begins to map out the possible players in major political posts when those times come. Meanwhile, Wells had put to bed the idea that MacLeish’s survival was not…