Brian Freemantle - The Watchmen

“What about ballistic missiles?” broke in Norton. “Russia is supposed to have retargeted their intercontinental stuff away from us. We done the same?”

Smith shifted, looking toward the television picture of the secretary of state. “Everything will be by this time tomorrow. That’s a precaution ahead of changing firing codes. And there are two, quite separate, for every one: One, by itself, won’t activate anything until there’s human-which means presidential-confirmation by the second. Without that, they can’t be fired. Those codes are switched every two days, which means there’ve been at least two changes from the time we believe the terrorists have had access. Despite the fact that the firing needs presidential authority, we’re actually deactivating them, making them inoperable.

“What about China?” demanded Hartz, from afar.

The general’s shift was even more discomfitted. “Being changed, too.”

“Deactivated?” pressed Norton.

“That order hasn’t yet been given.”

“Give it,” instructed the chief of staff. “Stand everything down.”

“That would leave the United States of America totally vulnerable,” protested General Smith.

“We can talk- are talking-to Moscow,” said Norton. “We can’t talk to Beijing: We couldn’t trust them not to go public, after the United Nations attack. If they did-and the Watchmen managed to launch something against China-Beijing would retaliate. That’s a greater risk than the United States being, in theory, vulnerable to attack: We’re not; only from terrorists who already think we’re bareassed anyway.”

“I speak on behalf of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,” said General Smith formally. “I mean no personal or official offense to you, sir, but the Joint Chiefs will not accept a standdown of this magnitude without the explicit, written authority of the president as commander-in-chief. It’s the required chain of command.”

Norton nodded, unoffended, accepting both the argument and the protective security system. “You’ll get the written order. Going back to an earlier question, we’re not out of control, are we? Badly exposed but recovering.”

“I think there’s more we could do,” urged Hartz, over his link. “They might not wait; certainly won’t if there’s any delay or failure to get their weapons resupply from here. Which we’re doing everything to prevent. They’re into spectaculars. As well as doing everything that’s been outlined-and I’m going to speak directly to the president about deactivating our Chinese missiles-we’ve got to identify the Watchmen’s most likely targets. I’ll order my analysts to do that and suggest you do the same at the agency, John.”

“It’s an ongoing program, from the time we prevented the Lincoln Memorial explosion and expected them to do something else,” assured Butterworth.

She wouldn’t have to make her chance, Pamela recognized, deciding she could even take Ross’s sideways glance as an invitation, whether it was or not. “The space shuttle,” she declared. “It’s an obvious target: It could actually be the explanation for their not having used the Pentagon access yet. There’s a launch scheduled in two weeks, I think.”

Ross’s second look was sharper.

“Could they have gotten into NASA? And the shuttle’s onboard computers?” demanded Norton.

“Yes,” confirmed Ashton.

“That’s the sort of analysis we want,” congratulated the secretary of state.

On their way back to the FBI, Ross said, “Why didn’t you mention the space shuttle to me before the meeting?”

“It didn’t occur to me until Hartz asked for the most likely targets,” Pamela said easily. It was a lie, like her seeming uncertainty about the actual date of the next launch, which she’d checked before leaving for the White House. It was scheduled for exactly two weeks from now, and two Russian astronauts were included in the crew. Pamela had never imagined it would all go so well.

By yet another twist of logic, the way the Pentagon situation unfolded actually sidelined Dimitri Danilov, creating something of a respite. Despite how closely he was working-and was known by the Americans to be working-with William Cowley, there was no question of his being part of the crisis meetings at the U.S. Embassy that followed the Washington alert. And Henry Hartz’s decision-made before the satellite link to the matching Washington meeting-fully to brief the Russian president meant all Danilov had to do was advise Georgi Chelyag in advance, as William Cowley had in turn told him.

In the time before Cowley was summoned by the secretary of state, he and Danilov agreed on their surveillance on Yevgenni Mechislavovich Leanov. Because, in daylight, men wearing easily identifiable American clothes were too much of a risk, they detached the four Russian detectives from the ongoing intelligence archive search to the Krymskij Val apartment, where the instant bonus was establishing that Leanov still lived there, apparently alone. They also agreed the surveillance-more so from its rear than from its front- had to be maintained on the Golden Hussar in the hope of connecting, and picturing, the now-identified former KGB linguist with a woman. And because it would be covered by darkness, that observation should remain an American assignment.

Danilov still felt so underemployed that on his way from the embassy to Petrovka he delivered Olga’s photograph to Irena, whose comparable work shifts he knew, to pass on to Igor. Irena asked him what he intended to do, which Danilov thought an odd question although he understood its point. He replied that his job was very demanding and occupied most of his time. She told him if she could help in any way, all he had to do was ask. Danilov found that even more odd, considering the woman’s obvious connivance in Olga’s affair with the hairdresser.

Danilov drove on to the Organized Crime Bureau building, his mind more in the past that in the immediate present or future. For a reason he didn’t bother to define he regarded the handing over of Olga’s picture to be the final separation-the end. The final, definite act had been to keep his own single recollection-their wedding photograph and marriage certificate-although again for a reason he couldn’t define. He just had it. Even the need, which he’d never imagined being able to lose-had never wanted to lose-to mourn at Larissa’s grave was over.

Irena’s question presented itself in his mind, demanding more than platitudes. What did he intend to do? Work was the only thing he had left-had been, since Larissa. But for how much longer would he even have that, after the choice he’d made? Not made, he corrected at once: had imposed upon him. Hardly an important qualification. Whether he liked it or not-which he didn’t, because he didn’t want to follow any factional banner-he was in the presidential camp. If that fell, so did he. He was abruptly, deeply, worried by an uncertainty beyond his ability to resolve.

The uncertainty remained while he disclosed the American Pentagon debacle to Yuri Pavin, before going on to talk about the division of the surveillance assignments.

“We’re being stretched very thin of men we can trust,” warned Pavin.

“And still with too many loose ends,” accepted Danilov. “Any lead on the American car used in the embassy attack?”

His deputy shook his head. “We know it’s an old design, from the guard’s description. The brigades-the entrepreneurs-are only interested in status symbols as new as tomorrow. I don’t think the guard saw the vehicle properly: might have recognized it as American and imagined the tail fins.”

“What about Igor Ivanovich Baratov?” remembered Danilov, briefly caught by the man having the same given name as Olga’s lover. “He runs garages but said he didn’t want to get involved in American cars with Viktor Nikov. Why don’t we run the description by him?” He stopped and Pavin waited, curious.