Charles Stross - The Merchant’s War

Eric cleared his throat. "You know that's in direct contravention of our operational doctrine?"

James nodded. "Sit down." Eric sat opposite him. James glanced round, to make sure there were no open ears nearby, then carefully balanced the bifocals on the bridge of his nose. "Off the record."

"Yes?" Eric did his best to conceal the sinking feeling those words gave him.

"You're a professional, and you're used to playing by the rules. That's all very well. The reason that rule book exists is to prevent loose cannons from rolling around the deck, knocking things over and making a mess. We designed the policy on debriefing to ensure that no asshole can piss in the coffeepot and embarrass the owners. However, right now, you're working directly for the owners. Standard policy wasn't designed for this type of war and therefore we have to make a new rule book up as we go along-where it's necessary. Your job is to build up a HUMINT resource, taking us back into a kind of operational model we haven't ever been really good at, and last tried in the sixties and seventies. But the flip side of HUMINT is COINTEL, and if we can spy on them, they can spy on us. So the zeroth rule of this operation is, minimize the eyeballs-minimize the risk of leaks. Clear?"

Eric nodded, involuntarily. Then a late-acting bureaucratic reflex prompted him to protest: "That's all very well, and I agree with your reasoning, but it doesn't help me out if they come after me with an audit."

James stared at him coldly. "Where's your loyalty, boy?"

"You're asking me to commit a federal felony, on your word. If you want to run HUMINT assets on the ground, their rule number one is that they've got to be able to trust I heir controllers. You're my controller." He crossed his arms, hoping his anger wasn't immediately obvious to the other man.

James stared at him a moment longer, then nodded minutely, "So that's the way it is."

"It's the way it's got to be," Eric shot back. "It's not just me who's got to trust you, it's the whole goddamn chain of command, all the way down." Which right now consists of one guy in a hospital bed, but let's not remind him of that. "-History says that the smart money is on this coming out, if not now, then in twenty years' time. This administration will be fodder for the history books by then-hell, with his heart condition, Daddy Warbucks will probably be sleeping with the fishes-but I'm a career officer, and so are the folks in my outfit. If you don't give us a fig leaf, you're asking us to suck up time in Leavenworth. And we don't get to go on to a juicy research contract with the Heritage Institute, or a part-time boardroom post with some defense contractor when this is over."

"What do you want?" James's intonation was precise and his voice even, but Eric didn't let it fool him.

"Something vague, but in writing. The vaguer the better. Something like, 'In the interests of operational security and in view of the threat of enemy intelligence-gathering attempts aimed at compromising our integrity, all investigations are to be restricted to those with a need to know, and normal committee oversight will be suspended until such time as the immediate threat recedes.' Just keep it vague. Then if I have to take the stand, I've simply misunderstood your intent. I'm obeying an order by a superior, you didn't intend your orders to breach the law. Nobody needs to get burned."

James snorted abruptly, startling Eric. "Is that all?"

Eric shrugged. "That's how it's done. That's what kept the shit in cheek during Iran-Contra. Or did you expect me to fall on my sword when all I need is a note signed by teacher to say I'm an overachiever?"

"Bah." James glanced away, but not before Eric noticed a twinkle of crocodilian amusement in his eye. "I thought you were an Air Force officer, not a politician."

"You don't get above captain if you're politically challenged, sir. With all due respect, it makes life easier for me if I can advise you-where appropriate-of steps I can take to do my job better. That's one of them. Off the record, of course."

"I'll get you your fig leaf, then. Signed on the Oval Office blotter, if that makes you feel better. Now, talk to me." James leaned back, making a steeple of his fingertips.

Eric relaxed infinitesimally. "Someone sent Mike back to us. He didn't come by himself; his leg's busted up. That tells us something about what sort of operation we're fighting."

"Go on..."

"I haven't debriefed him yet. But at a guess, what we've already done has hurt their operations on the east coast, and sending agents through after them is going to scare the shit out of them. They're going to have to negotiate or escalate. Leaving aside the business with GREENSLEEVES and the nuke, we're going to have to negotiate or escalate, too. Now, it's not for me to advise on policy, but I suspect we're going to find that Mike was sent back by someone who stands to gain from negotiating with us. Call them faction 'A'. The red-on-red action suggests there's a rival faction, call them 'B'. So we really need to keep a lid on this, because if the 'B' faction figures that the 'A' faction want to negotiate, they may try to torpedo things by escalating. And if GREENSLEEVES wasn't bluffing about the nuke, we could be in a world of hurt."

Dr. James nodded minutely. "Your advice?"

"We have to find that nuke, or rule it out. And we have to keep them talking while JAUNT BLUE get their shit together. Right now, we're fumbling around in the dark- but so are they. All they know is, we've whacked a bunch of their operations and figured out how to get an agent across. And if they're in trouble internally, presumably they'd love to get us off their backs while they clean up their own mess. They probably think we don't know about the nukes, and we can be pretty sure that they don't know about JAUNT BLUE. Everything we know about them suggests they just don't think in those terms, otherwise they'd be crawling all over us."

"So. You propose that we debrief Agent Fleming, then use him to establish a back channel to the leadership of Group 'A,' with the goal of stalling them with the promise of negotiations while we clean up the missing nuke and get some results from JAUNT BLUE. Is that a fair summary?"

Eric blinked, then rubbed his forehead. "You put it better than I did," he said ruefully. "Long day."

"Going to be longer," James said laconically. He leaned back and stared at the ceiling air vents for a while, until Eric began to think he was planning on taking a nap: but just as he was about to stand up and leave, James sat up abruptly and looked at him. "Your analysis is valid, but incomplete because there are some facts you are unaware of."

Uh? "Obviously," Eric said cautiously. "Should I be?"

"I think so." James stared at him, his expression deceptively mild. "Same rules as the Fleming debriefing. This goes nowhere near a computer or a telephone. You follow?"

Eric nodded.

"Number one. Obviously, I do not want-nobody

wants- to see a terrorist nuke detonated in an American city. Even if it's in the People's Republic of Massachusetts, that would be very bad. But you need to understand this: if the worst happens, if that bomb goes off, a use will be found for it. The bloody shirt will be waved. Do you understand?"

Eric licked his suddenly dry lips. "Who's the fall guy?"

"The Boy Wonder's got a hard-on for Mr. Hussein, and PNAC will fall in line, but-" Dr. James shook his head. "I'm not sure who, Colonel. All I can tell you is, it will be someone who we can hammer for it. The hammer is ready, and if the United States doesn't wield it from lime to time the other players may begin to wonder if we're still willing. So if JAUNT BLUE is ready, the target might be the Clan. And if JAUNT BLUE isn't ready, we'll hit someone else, someone we can reach and need to nail Hat. North Korea, Iraq, Iran, whoever. But. Whatever else happens, if there's a hard outcome, it will be used to strengthen our hand. We'll have carte blanche"; He stared at Eric. "The code name for this plan-and I stress, it's a contingency plan, a political spin to put on a disaster-is MARINUS BERLIN."