Brown, Dale - Patrick McLanahan 02 (61 page)

 
          
“Our
intelligence service has interviewed Captain James at our installation in
Nicaragua
, and we have tapes of that interview that
you are welcome to review. Captain James is not exactly cooperative, nor has he
completely made clear his motivations, but he has stated that he requests
asylum in the
Soviet
Union
. His request
has not been approved; it will become part of our investigation—”

 
          
“You’re
saying he
defected?”
the President
said.

           
“That, Mr. President, is precisely
what I am saying.”

           
“That’s
bullshit
—” Elliott exploded. The President held up a hand to cut
him off.

           
“General Elliott, I am telling you
the truth,” Vilizherchev said. “Your Captain James acted on his own, without
coercion or support from my government—”

 
          
“What
about the refueling in
Mexico
?” O’Day asked. “Our pilots reported that it
was a Soviet supply helicopter at that mountain airfield that refueled our
fighter.”

 
          
“The
details of that aren’t clear to us, Ms. O’Day. But apparently Captain James
made contact with operatives in
Las Vegas
and arranged for refueling support. But I
am pledging to you that your Captain James had no support from us in planning
and executing this operation. We concede only that we were cooperative,
mistakenly in my government’s view, once he left your country.”

 
          
“You’re
lying,” Elliott said. Heads turned in his direction, but no one, including the
President, made a move this time to silence Elliott.

 
          
Vilizherchev
turned to face Elliott. “I beg your pardon, sir?” “Look, we identified the two
men killed on my airfield in
Nevada
. One was an experienced KGB operative. The
other was a young, inexperienced infantryman. We’ve also identified the mortar
rounds used during the escape. All were Soviet in origin. James was a KGB
agent, and he killed twelve people while stealing a top-secret aircraft from a
U.S.
military installation. In my book they call
that an act of war. Of course, I’m a general, not a statesman.”

 
          
It
was all supposed to be a bluff. KGB Chief Kalinin had assured Vilizherchev that
the identities of the two operatives were untraceable. By some standards,
perhaps, but the Americans had sophisticated ways of identifying even a badly
mutilated body. And Elliott now was describing the two operatives almost
perfectly. Vilizherchev decided he had been caught in a neatly arranged trap.
To use the American vernacular—he’d been set up.

           
But, again according to Kalinin, a
trace of the mortars used in the attack should have revealed that they were
Belgian in origin, not Soviet. They had never been consigned to anyone remotely
connected with Russia
until
they were
turned over to the two operatives by a dealer in the Dominican Republic days
before the operation was to begin ... Unless there’d been a terrific foul-up,
Elliott was just talking to provoke him into reacting, showing his hand . . .

 
          
“I
would like to see your report on those men and those weapons,” Vilizherchev
said.

 
          
“And
we would like to see Kenneth James,” Elliott said.

 
          
“It
can be arranged very soon. I have been in contact with—”

 
          
“And
I want the modification process discontinued on the aircraft,” Elliott added.

 
          
“Modification?”

 
          
Elliott
hit one button on the remote control he held in his hand. The digital videotape
cued itself to the preprogrammed point and the screen flared to life, showing
the last clear image of DreamStar taken from Cheetah. The picture clearly
showed access panels open, the fuel tanks in position under DreamStar’s wings,
and jacks supporting DreamStar in position. Vilizherchev studied the image.

 
          
“Thank
you, sir, for verifying that it was an American aircraft that violated our
restricted airspace,” Vilizherchev said.

 
          
“Thank
you for verifying that you have the aircraft and that you are in fact
destroying something that is not your property,” Elliott shot back.

 
          
The
film was a surprise as well—
Kalinin
had not mentioned anything about a reconnaissance film of such detail.
“The aircraft was heavily armed when it arrived at our airbase. Since it is
obviously an unusual aircraft with systems and devices unknown to us, a
thorough examination was necessary to verify that the aircraft posed no threat
to our people. Otherwise, immediate disposal would have been called for.”

 
          
“I’ll
be happy to supply you with personnel to ensure that the aircraft is safe,”
Elliott said quickly.

 
          
“That
will not be necessary. Our technicians are well qualified to—”

           
“The bottom line is that the
aircraft is not your property, it belongs to the U.S. We want it back
immediately.”

 
          
“I’m
afraid that’s impossible, General,” Vilizherchev said, surprised that the President
or one of his advisers wasn’t stepping in. He turned away from Elliott and back
to the President. “I trust you understand, sir, that a complete investigation
must be conducted. The aircraft is material evidence in that investigation. We
simply can’t release it until the investigation has been completed.”

 
          
Silence.
Elliott was being left to carry the ball, for the moment. “That sounds like a
dodge to me, Mr. Ambassador,” Elliott said.

 
          
Vilizherchev’s
cool was wearing thin. “We have procedures that must be followed in serious
matters such as this, just as you do. Let me assure this distinguished
gathering that at the end of our investigation all property belonging to the
United States
will be returned—”

 
          
“Including
James?” Deborah O’Day said.

 
          
“If
he chooses to live in the
Soviet Union
,
he will probably be allowed, just as you—”

 
          
“You
still expect us to believe that James isn’t a Russian spy?” Elliott said
angrily.

 
          
“That’s
enough, General Elliott,” the President said, deciding the two had played out
as much as was useful. “Mr. Ambassador, do you have any other message from your
government?”

 
          
“Only
this, sir. My government understands your reasons for the overflight of our
base in
Nicaragua
, and we understand why you shot down our
supply helicopter in
Mexico
. But I have tried to assure you that this
aircraft intruded on our territory without our knowledge and that we must
conduct an investigation to determined the facts. We expect no interference
while this investigation is underway. We ask only for your patience. But we
cannot, of course, tolerate any hostile or coercive acts. I remind you again
that it was
your
aircraft and
your
pilot that intruded on our base and
our ally’s sovereign borders. You must at least recognize our right to
determine the truth.”

 
          
President
Taylor moved forward in his chair, leaned on the conference table. “Now you
give this message to the General Secretary, Mr. Vilizherchev. I don’t like
threats, however diplomatically put. I don’t like being told what to do,
especially by someone who has
our
property. You are in no position to make demands on us.”

           
Elliott was encouraged by these
opening remarks, but they stopped quickly as the President continued: “I do,
however, understand your request for a period of time to conduct an
investigation and I will allow it . . .”

 
          
Elliott
rushed in. “Mr. President . . .”

 
          
“...
On one condition, Mr. Ambassador,” the President went on, looking at Elliott
out of the corner of his eye. “If your government guarantees me that the
aircraft you hold will
not
be moved
out of its present location, we will take no action against you for a period of
five days. After that time we will take immediate steps to recover our
property, including the use of naval, marine, and air forces. Clear, Mr. Ambassador?”

           
Vilizherchev paused. It was
incredible—
Kalinin
apparently had actually got something right
this time. The Americans did not want to precipitate a war over this aircraft.
The other stuff was face-saving ... “I will need to confer with my government about
your proposal, sir.”

 
          
“Agreed.
But the five-day timetable starts now. If we do not have our aircraft back in
five days, we’ll go in and get it. I’ll expect your government’s reply in the
morning. Good night, Mr. Vilizherchev.” Vilizherchev stood, made a polite but
impatient bow to the President, and left. Cesare showed him out.

 
          
“Mr.
President,” Elliott said, “you can’t give them five days. We can’t afford to
give them five
hours.
”

 
          
“General
Elliott, if I can get the Soviets to agree to keep DreamStar in the western
hemisphere,
and
avoid hostilities at
the same time, I consider that an accomplishment. Considering the situation
I’ve been placed in.” He rubbed his eyes irritably, then pounded the armrest of
his chair. “I’ve considered a military action each time you’ve presented your
arguments, Brad,
each time,
and I
always come back to this: we would lose the aircraft, the Russians would score
a major propaganda coup and it would be political suicide for this
administration. That’s even supposing that we destroyed the thing on the
ground. If we lost some of our soldiers or flyers in the process, or failed to
destroy the aircraft, it would look even worse for us. A military response is
just a no-win situation.”

           
“Sir, we’ve proved that the Soviets
are planning to fly DreamStar out of
Nicaragua
. Just because we’ve heard from Vilizherchev
doesn’t mean that they’ve changed their minds. They can make a deal with us and
then go right ahead with their plans. We need to
act,
Mr. President.”

 
          
Elliott,
the President thought, was relentless. Twenty-four hours earlier this guy was
on the edge of a dishonorable discharge. Tonight he was interrupting senior
Cabinet members, calling a credentialed ambassador a liar, and trying to
negotiate with the President of the
United States
. Still, or maybe because of all that, and
despite Benson’s warning, he was starting to respect, maybe even
like,
this veteran Air Force officer.
But the man was too ready to hit out with military force. He had no conception
of the political realities involved. Generals rarely did.

 
          
“I
have to disagree, General, at least for now. Brad, the truth here is that we
have few realistic options. I just feel the repercussions of an offensive
against the Russians would be far worse than the loss of this aircraft, no
matter how advanced it is. Let’s at least wait to see what their reaction to my
proposal is.” “I’m not suggesting an
offensive,
sir. My concern right now is that they’ll go ahead with their plans to take
DreamStar out of
Nicaragua
—that this visit by Vilizherchev was just a
smokescreen to get us to relax and drop any plans to retake DreamStar. While we
wait for a response from the Soviets, DreamStar could be on its way to
Russia
, and then we would have no recourse except
to begin negotiations all over again. That could drag on for weeks, even
months—as long as it took to export the XF-34’s technology to their development
bureaus . . .” Before anyone could interrupt, Elliott continued: “I have a
plan, sir, to set up a very small-scale air cordon in the Caribbean—very small,
unobtrusive, easily managed but effective. The plan revolves around one AWACS
radar plane based out of
San Juan
, with fighter escort, to cover the eastern
Caribbean
, and one AWACS operating overwater out of
Honduras
to cover the northern and western
Caribbean
.”