Ahern, Jerry - Total War

"Thurston, what the hell I hear about the Navy blowin' up a submarine?"

Thurston Potter glared at Secretary Meeker. What the Commerce Department was doing at the intelligence briefing was beyond him, except for the fact that the president and Commerce Secretary Meeker were lifelong friends.

"Mr. Secretary, I'll come to that." At times like this, Thurston Potter realized, he painfully felt his twenty-eight years. Two Ph.D.s didn't make any difference to the Pentagon people, or to most of the rest of the inner circle of presidential advisors. Potter looked at his watch. In twenty-five minutes he had a press briefing, and by then had to brief all the men assembled in the conference room and get everyone straight on the stories for the media people.

"Maybe I can answer Secretary Meeker's question," Admiral Corbin said from the opposite end of the table, a cigarette waving in his left hand.

"Why don't I?" Potter said. "But, thank you, Admiral." Then, turning toward Meeker and the others, Potter began, "The Navy didn't blow up a submarine, Mr. Secretary, gentlemen. They happened to meet a Soviet submarine. Our U.S.S. Benjamin Franklin apparently came in close proximity of the Soviet craft Volga. The Volga is of their top-of-the-line boats. We don't know for certain whether they collided or fired on one another. I think we should agree officially on a collision story, at least for the press, at least for today. If we say that in light of the current information, we may consider it a collision we'll be safe in case the facts contradict us later. Also, we might be able to use the tragic deaths of several hundred U.S. and Soviet seamen as a tool toward calming things down on the Pakistani question. And we need that. The radiation from the thing-explosion would measure at the same as about a sixty-or seventy-megaton bomb. It shouldn't pose much of a health problem. There should be some tidal aberrations-Oceanographic and Atmospheric Admin is drawing up something for the press on that now. But, basically, it looks okay. Any questions so far?"

Potter looked around the room. Several of the men shook their heads. He continued. "Now, to bring you up to date on the Pakistani situation. Our embassy people should be flying out of there just about now-along with French, British, and West German diplomats. Others may be with them. It's a little after six A.M. their time. There's about eighteen hours left on the president's deadline for troop commitment against the Soviets. We're not planning anything terribly major-some rapid deployment strike-force personnel working in conjunction with Pakistani forces. What we are doing is honoring our defense treaty with Pakistan and showing the Russians that we mean business. It would take at least seventy-two hours to position a sizeable force over there. I'm talking about a force that could pose major opposition to the existing Soviet ground forces, and we're on alert for that-Admiral Corbin's people indicate the Soviets aren't building up terribly in the Persian Gulf, but we are. However, not so much as to force them beyond their present strength."

"So what the hell are we doing then?" Meeker said, lighting a cigar and mumbling something that Potter didn't understand.

''Well, Mr. Secretary, the important thing right now isn't so much what we or the Russians are doing-that's pretty much following the patterns both nations expected at this juncture. India's position has become the important variable-and a possibly dangerous one right now. How many of you are familiar with the Indian Ultimatum?" Potter looked for nods or a show of hands. There was some indication that many of the military personnel in the room were at least aware of it.

"Basically," Potter said, "the Indian government sent a communiqué to the U.S., the Soviets, and the Pakistanis. All were identical. If the Russians haven't begun a withdrawal to beyond the Khyber Pass by the deadline that the president set, India will introduce troops into Pakistan to secure Pakistani borders. They believe that the Soviet presence there poses a threat to Indian internal security. Now, we asked the Indians, both formally and informally, to hold off on that. The premier said she wouldn't. The Russians sent a copy of their note to us unofficially. They told her that they had no designs on Indian territory. Unofficially, we told her that we agreed with the Russians, and that in this instance they were telling her the truth. All India did was to respond with a second note-an addendum to their original ultimatum. In essence, it said not to forget India's nuclear capabilities and that were the situation to warrant nuclear intervention, it wouldn't be ruled out."

"Oh shit," Admiral Corbin muttered, but loud enough that Potter heard him at the opposite end of the conference table.

"Yes, Admiral. Oh shit, indeed. And then we got this," and Potter reached into a sheaf of papers and pulled a copy of a telex from the stack, holding it up. "The People's Republic of China-which as you all realize has remained silent throughout this entire unfortunate situation-has informed the Soviet premier that, if need be, China is prepared to side openly with India and support U.S. policy in Pakistan. And, should such become necessary, with military aid. Langley-the CIA people there-they say the Chinese are massing troops on the Soviet border already."

Potter looked around the room, then suddenly felt quite disgusted with the conference and the company. He said, "I think Admiral Corbin put it well a moment ago."

Chapter Fifteen

"Can't your driver make this thing move any faster?" Rourke said, leaning forward in the seat, the muscles in his face and neck taut, his eyes set.

"You've lived on the Atlantic Seaboard too long, John. You're a southerner."

"What? Major?" Rourke interrupted. "Oh, you mean the snow? How it ties things up?" Then, leaning back into the passenger seat beside the RCMP inspector, Rourke sighed, his voice almost a whisper. "Yeah, maybe you're right. How far are we from the airport?"

Rourke leaned forward, rapping on the glass that separated him from the driver. The dark-suited young man slid the panel open with his right hand, without once taking his eyes off the swirling snow and knotted, unmoving traffic along the Toronto airport feeder. "Sir?"

"Masterson, what's your guess on time and distance to the terminal?" Rourke asked in his accustomed softspoken manner.

"Time, sir?" the chauffeur asked. "At least an hour and a half. And the terminal is right out there, sir. Less than a mile away."

Rourke snapped his next question. "Masterson, what's that open area like? I mean, would it be heavily drifted? How high if it is?"

"Shouldn't say more than a foot at the greatest, Mr. Rourke. I run out here quite a bit for gentlemen such as yourself. Never took particular notice of the ground, but it should be pretty level-grassy in the summer time."

"Thanks," Rourke muttered, then leaned back again.

"You're not-" the major started.

"Why not?"

"Well-the snow! The cold out there-you want to get to the flight you're scheduled for in one piece, and-"

"I want to get home. That's my big concern right now and sitting here for another hour or more isn't going to do than-it won't get me home," he added. "Now, maybe my flight can't get off the ground in this storm-I don't know. But we both listened to that radio. A couple minutes ago we both heard about those two submarines colliding. What if that wasn't a collision?" he asked. "What if the reports were lies? What if those were missile exchanges that caused the explosion under the icepack? What about that ultimatum by India, and that unconfirmed report that China plans to side with us against the Soviets?"

"But, surely-"

Rourke, leaning into the flame of his cigarette lighter and firing up a cigar, squinted into the smoke and looked at the RCMP inspector. "Major, I've got a wife. I've got a son and a daughter. I've got a survival retreat that just might save their lives if we get into a world war. Now, my wife Sarah doesn't know how to find the place. I've checked it all very carefully." Rourke's voice was low, almost menacing. He stared at the major. "If the Russians go after big targets, the section of northeast Georgia where my farm is should be safe from direct hits. Residual fallout should be light there. You can check air flow charts yourself and confirm that. But I'm still gonna have to get them out of there pretty fast, or else it'll all be no good." Rourke pushed the power button on the window and looked outside, then turned back to look at the man beside him. "I'm no good to anyone just sitting here. If I were you," Rourke said, pointing to the red flasher on the dashboard, "I'd have Masterson there flick on that little Mars light you've got, turn this thing around, grab your families, and get the hell out of the urban area. You might be sitting smack-dab in the middle of a ten-mile radius of ground zero right now."