Brown, Dale - Patrick McLanahan 02 (75 page)

 
          
The
General Secretary got right to business. He turned to his foreign minister,
interlaced his fingers on his desk. “Comrade Tovorin, Vilizherchev has been
expelled from the
United States
. Why?”

 
          
Tovorin
looked anxiously at
Kalinin
, then cleared his throat. “I had intended to brief you this morning on
Vilizherchev, sir. This deals with the experimental aircraft taken by Comrade
Kalinin’s agent in the
United States
. Vilizherchev was called to the White House
and questioned about the fighter. He agreed to consult with you and the
Kollegiya on the Americans’ demands for returning the aircraft. Comrade
Kalinin, however, was unaware of this. He ordered his agent in
Nicaragua
, Colonel Maraklov, to fly the aircraft to
Cuba
. When the Americans learned this they
expelled Vilizherchev—”

 
          
“Why
wasn’t I notified of any of this,
Kalinin
?”

 
          
“Vilizherchev
met with the President very early Saturday morning, our time,”
Kalinin
said quickly. “The operation to fly the
fighter from
Nicaragua
to
Cuba
began only a few hours after that meeting.
You were in
Leningrad
for the day, sir— there was no time to
consult you—”

 
          
“There
was ample time to consult with me. Perhaps you
chose
not to consult me?”

 
          
“I
didn’t wish to intrude on your holiday, sir.”

 
          
“Very
considerate of you, Kalinin. Did you authorize any agreements with the American
government yesterday morning?”

 
          
“No,
sir,”
Kalinin
lied. “Vilizherchev consulted with me
because the fighter was in our hands. I advised him to wait for a reply from
Moscow
before proceeding further.”

 
          
“The
order expelling Vilizherchev says that he lied to the American President and
gave assurances to the Americans that were not honored. Did Vilizherchev do these
things?”

           
“I don’t know, sir,”
Kalinin
said, “but I doubt it. Sergei Vilizherchev
is one of the most loyal and trusted of your advisers. More likely, the
Americans are angry about their fighter and expelled Sergei in protest.”

           
“I want Vilizherchev to report to me
immediately after he arrives,” the General Secretary said.

 
          
“Yes,
sir.” Tovorin was relieved that the questioning on that score was over, at
least for the moment.

 
          
“We
lost five aircraft over the
Caribbean
yesterday,” the General Secretary said, “including a one-billion-ruble air-
borne-warning-and-control aircraft, of which we only have thirty. We have two
pilots dead, two captured by the Americans, and four men from the Ilyushin
transport seriously injured.” He never ranted or raved, never seemed to get too
upset or angry—but the deep, resonant voice, the fixated stare that seemed to
bore a hole right into your skull, the hawklike eyebrows, the knotted fists—all
told their story.

 
          
He
turned on
Kalinin
. “Your mission to bring this American super-fighter
to
Russia
is becoming very expensive,
Kalinin
.” “Our fighters were outnumbered
four to six
,”
Kalinin
said, “and we shot down four of their
fighters and forced the other two to retreat. The XF-34 fighter shot down one
and crippled another. If the XF-34 hadn’t been carrying long-range fuel tanks,
sir, it could have destroyed all six American fighters—it is
that
superior, sir.”

 
          
“It’s
no use to us, Kalinin, if we must kill off half our air force to get it . . .
What’s the status of the project? Can you get this fighter to
Russia
in one piece without starting World War
Three?”

 
          
“Yes,
sir. We will make another attempt to fly the aircraft intact out of
Nicaragua
. Colonel Maraklov, the pilot, now believes
it would be safer to fly it in a circuitous route to
Moscow
rather than trying to fly it first to
Cuba
. He tried that. It was a good plan . . .
Cuba
is more stable than
Nicaragua
, but—” “When will he make the attempt?”

 
          
“Tonight,
sir.”
Kalinin
stood and walked to a large chart of the
region. “I have arranged a diversion—a large formation of aircraft flying from
Nicaragua
to
Cuba
, much the same as the first attempted
convoy to
Cuba
. This force will directly challenge the Americans. At the same time,
Maraklov and a small escort force will launch, stay clear of American radar
sites in Panama and in the Lesser Antilles archipelago and out over the
Atlantic Ocean; we can expect support if needed from Venezuela and Trinidad and
Tobago, both of whom have been glad to accept large amounts of aid from our government
in recent years, as you know. We have arranged tanker and fighter support for
Maraklov over the
Atlantic
, well away from commercial air-traffic
routes or ground-based radar sites. The force will continue north, steering
well clear of known or detected naval vessels. We can expect support from
Mauritania
and
Algeria
and we can land for crew rest and
replenishment in
Algiers
in northern
Algeria
or Tamanrasset in southern
Algeria
. After that I believe it will not be too
difficult to penetrate the relatively weak NATO southern flank or the eastern
Mediterranean area and recover into
Tbilisi
or
Odessa
.”

 
          
The
General Secretary appeared to be only half listening. “You seem to be very
confident of success,
Kalinin
. You were confident about the ease at which you would get this aircraft
to
Cuba
. Yet this aircraft is still in
Nicaragua
.”

 
          
“I
realize that this will be a difficult mission,” Kalinin said. “Maraklov must
fly his aircraft nine thousand kilometers, prepared at any moment to defend
himself against the Americans’ most advanced fighters, both land- and
sea-based. Yet this is the fighter that can do it, sir. This XF-34 fighter has
already fought its way out of the
United States
and survived a large coordinated assault
against it. We
must
have this aircraft.
Much of the balance of power between the
Soviet Union
and the
United States
depends on it.”

 
          
“I
suspect you are overstating the case,
Kalinin
” ... although for
you
it is crucial, he added to himself... “We have already lost
five aircraft and had our ambassador declared
non grata.
I can’t accept much more.”

 
          
He
turned away from
Kalinin
, considering the options ... It would be a coup for both of them, he
thought, if the fighter could be brought to
Russia
.
And
they would give it back, but only
after
all possible information on the machine was obtained and a suitable trade
arranged.

 
          
Should
the mission fail,
Kalinin
, his chief rival for power, would be ousted, an irritating memory,
taking with him the blame for the incident. Should
Kalinin
succeed, his strength and authority in the
government would surely increase, but enough .for a takeover? He doubted it,
but he would need to be very, very vigilant . . .

 
          
“What
will you require?” the General Secretary asked.

 
          
“Because
of the time involved, sir, very little,”
Kalinin
said. “Authorization for another
Ilyushin-76 radar plane, another II-76 tanker aircraft, six MiG-29 aircraft
with
our
pilots from Cuba, and
landing rights and defense arrangements with Trinidad and Tobago, Mauritania,
Algeria, Libya and Syria. These forces to be placed under my authority for the
next seventy-two hours.”

 
          
The
General Secretary shook his head. “ ‘Very little’, you say,
Kalinin
?” He turned to the chief of staff. “Marshal
Cherkov, can these be provided in so short a time?”

 
          
Marshal
Boris Cherkov, one of the oldest members of the General Secretary’s senior
staff, pondered the question so long and without any apparent reaction that for
a moment
Kalinin
and some of the others thought he was
asleep. Then: “I trust young Comrade Kalinin has investigated the source of the
Ilyushin aircraft and the fighters? From
Cuba
, I understand?”

 
          
“Yes,
sir. There are a total of two II-76 radar planes at
Havana
, four II-76 tankers and twenty-one MiG-29
fighter aircraft.”

 
          
Cherkov
nodded. “It seems he has his aircraft. Obtaining landing rights from any of
these nations mentioned will not be a problem. Obtaining mutual-defense
operations will be virtually impossible without days of precise planning—half
the government of
Trinidad and Tobago
is on holiday, and it sometimes takes a
whole day for our embassy to contact anyone in
Mauritania
’s government. Besides, none of these
nations has any appreciable air or naval forces. I would not expect any
resistance to your operation from these nations, but neither would I expect any
assistance.”

 
          
Kalinin
nodded. He had hoped these governments
would exclude American fighters from their airspace while allowing Russian
fighters to land, but obviously that wasn’t to be. “Never mind,” he said.
“Permission to cross their airspace and landing rights for our jets will be
enough.”

 
          
“As
for the radar aircraft, tanker and fighters,” Cherkov went on, “that must be
your decision. The forces are available. Of course, if the Americans launch
some sort of attack against
Cuba
in retaliation, then those aircraft would
be needed for defense ...”

 
          
Kalinin
was pleased. He had thought Cherkov, a
close ally of the General Secretary, was going to raise a lot more problems . .
.

 
          
“However,”
Cherkov said, as if on cue, “I feel I must object to this operation.” The
bastard did not let him down,
Kalinin
thought grimly.