Peter Kirsanow - Second Strike

“Sir, there have been a series of events that indicate that the Russians are about to strike us. It could be minutes, hours, or days—but it’ll be a two-stage attack conducted somewhere on American soil. The first stage will consist of an unknown number of suicide bombers. The locations of the bombings also are unknown.

“The bombings are a feint, an attempt to lull us into complacency. Sometime after, another attack will occur, presumably of greater magnitude. I’m told it will ‘paralyze’ us. I have no further details on the main attack.”

“Who told you the attack will paralyze us?”

“An associate of the Russian agent Taras Bor.”

“Who is this man?”

“He has no name. He referred to himself as the Butcher.”

“Where is he now?”

“He’s dead, sir.”

“I see.”

“Sir, I was told there’s a backup to the main attack. Taras Bor is expected to execute the secondary plan if the main attack is prevented. Again, no details on the backup plan either.”

“Mike.” It was Deputy Director Kessler. “Do you have any evidence with which we can confront the Russians about this?”

“There have been several attempts on my life. But I have captured no one and the men I’ve killed had no evidence on them signifying Russian involvement.”

“How many men, Mr. Garin?” Marshall asked.

Garin hesitated, glancing at Olivia. “Several.”

“How do we know the Butcher isn’t some crazy man?” the president asked. “How do we know someone, say the Chinese, isn’t trying to foment a conflict between the US and Russia? How can we be sure this isn’t a false-flag operation?”

“Mr. President, we can’t. We have nothing concrete. Obviously, nothing that would qualify as proof in a court of law.”

“Or the court of public opinion,” Marshall said. “Mr. Garin, even if I were to reconstitute Omega, it doesn’t have authority to operate domestically, not without congressional approval or a finding of a nuclear threat. We have no evidence to support that.”

“I understand completely, Mr. President. I cannot provide concrete evidence, but it’s clear this is a Bor operation. You know what that means.”

“I believe you. But belief is insufficient. Although we seem to be forgetting it with increasing frequency, we’re still a democratic republic subject to the rule of law. There’s a reason for those checks and balances. There’s a reason for posse comitatus . This type of domestic situation calls for the FBI, not a special operations unit of the military.”

“Sir, hard evidence or not, Bor is involved. And where Bor is involved, we need tier-one special operators.”

“We can’t stand up a functional tier-one unit with a snap of our fingers anyway.”

“Mr. President, I have a number of former special operators ready to go right now.”

“I know how smart you are. So I know that you know I can’t sanction private citizens like that. Even if I somehow recommissioned them, it would set off an earthquake.”

“We need specially trained people for Bor.”

“Mr. Garin, the FBI has extraordinary SWAT capabilities, HRT.”

“No argument. But, respectfully, this isn’t a standard domestic operation. This is a hybrid. And remember, sir, we haven’t discovered who the Russian mole is. Julian Day wasn’t high enough. If we tell the FBI or Congress, the Russians will know and evade our every action.”

Muffled sounds came over the speaker. Then: “Just a moment, Mr. Garin.” The speaker was muted at the president’s end.

Kessler said to the president, “Mr. President, we’ve seen what Bor can do, all too recently. He’s on a different plane from everyone else. We’ve also seen what Garin can do. He’s our best counter to Bor. He’s asking to be put in the fight, with a little help. We could provide him with logistical assistance where necessary, drawn from our Title 50 funds. Even my people don’t need to know what’s happening. At least specifically. It would be opaque. Untraceable. Deniable.”

“And unlawful,” Marshall interjected.

“Mr. President, the Constitution is not a suicide pact. If we follow the letter of the law, we may not be able to protect the American people. The EMP plot, had it been successful, would have killed millions. The Founding Fathers couldn’t possibly have envisioned something like an EMP attack.”

“They didn’t have to. The Constitution and the rule of law still apply regardless of technological developments.”

Secretary of Defense Merritt said, “Mr. President, if you violate the law by authorizing special operations on US soil, you are, indeed, subject to the law. But, as I think you know, the Office of Legal Counsel of the attorney general twice in our history determined that a sitting president is not subject to criminal prosecution. Instead, the remedy would be impeachment and removal from office. If it became known that you authorized special operations on American soil to protect against an extraordinary threat to the American people—no Congress would ever move articles of impeachment.”

“So you’re saying I should knowingly violate the law because my actions will be popular?”

“No, not at all. I’m saying sometimes a commander in chief’s got to bear the consequences of being between a rock and a hard place. Mr. President, it’s the old question about exigent circumstances: If you know that a nuclear device is about to go off in an American city, would you violate the law to stop it? Or would you adhere to the rule of law and allow millions of Americans to die? For all we know, we may be facing that situation here. We saw just a few weeks ago that if Bor’s involved, this isn’t going to be some garden-variety attack.” Merritt straightened. “Sir.”

“What’s your advice, Jim?” Marshall asked Brandt.

“You need to be very careful, sir.”

“Mr. President,” Merritt continued. “You’ve been in office less than a year. Your predecessor, with all due respect to him, left you a mess—pretending all the world was our friend. You shouldn’t have had to face one such crisis in your first year, let alone two. But here we are. Your first duty is to protect America and the American people.”

“My first duty, Doug, is to protect and defend the Constitution. There is no America without the Constitution.”

“You can do both, Mr. President. Authorize Omega. Let Garin stop Bor. Then, afterward, let Congress know. If they determine you’ve committed an impeachable offense, and if they have the political will, they can impeach you, remove you from office, and you can stand for prosecution. Checks and balances. The system works.”

“That’s not how the system’s supposed to work,” Marshall said. “I want a meeting of the NSC here within the hour.” He stood silently and rubbed the back of his neck for several moments; then he unmuted the speakerphone.

“Sorry, Mr. Garin. We’ve been talking Civics 101.” Marshall sighed and paused several more moments, surveying the faces of the men surrounding him. “Do what you have to do, Mr. Garin. I’ll have your back. That’s all I can say.”

“Understood, Mr. President.”

The line went dead.

Olivia looked puzzled. “What in the world does that mean?”

“It means a good man has been put in an impossible position,” Garin replied. “And I’m going to do my best to get him out of it.”

MOSCOW,

AUGUST 17, 9:58 P.M. MSK

Yuri Mikhailov rose from the chair behind his desk and arched his back. Sitting for long periods of time occasionally produced lower-back spasms, a consequence of a weight-training injury during his days as an athlete. His physician had recommended surgery, but Mikhailov considered the pain a mere nuisance he could live with.