Brown, Dale - Patrick McLanahan 09 (49 page)

 
          
“One
moment, please, Mr. President," the translator said. The men in the
Situation Room could only imagine what was going on in the minds of the Russian
president and military advisors. The translator finally said, “President
Sen’kov thanks you for your candor, Mr, President, but he still demands that
the
United States
take full responsibility for what your
forces have done.”

 
          
“I
fully intend to,” Thom said. “Allow me to continue: At the present moment, our
respective forces are engaging one another in an air battle. Three of your
helicopters and one fighter have already been shot down. But I do not wish for
the battle to go on. I am hereby ordering the crew of the stealth aircraft to
disengage if you order your defensive forces to let them go.”

 
          
“With
all due respect, Mr. President,” Sen’kov said through the translator, “the
Russian people would not care to see its forces merely surrender with a hostile
enemy force flying overhead. They are and always will be determined to fight to
the last man to defend their homeland.”

           
“Mr. President, l will order my
forces to disengage, but I will also tell them that they are free to defend themselves
if they are attacked.” Thom said. “I feel quite certain my aircrews can survive
and make it out of your country, but I don't wish for them to hurt any more
Russians, I strongly urge you to accept my suggestion and order your forces to
disengage.” Thom kept the line open and said to the videoteleconference screen,
“General Samson, order the Vampire to disengage immediately. It may open fire
only if fired upon first.”

 
          
A
moment later: “Order received and acknowledged, sir,” Samson responded,
“Vampire is proceeding direct to the Ukrainian border at maximum speed and at
low altitude.”

           
“I’ve issued my orders, and they
have been acknowledged, Mr. Sen’kov,” President Thorn said, “Let’s stop this
right now, shall we?”

           
“This is an insult. This is
unacceptable.” The translator’s voice was monotoned and even, although they
could very clearly hear the Russian president shouting at the top of his lungs
in the background, “You commit an act of war upon the Russian people, and you
expect us to just turn our backs and walk away?”

 
          
“I
am prepared to offer you one hundred million dollars in reparations for the
damage and expense my forces have caused,” Thom went on. The mouths of every
man in the Situation Room dropped open in surprise, “In addition. I offer five
million dollars for every Russian killed by my forces during the operation,
plus a public admission of guilt and a public apology, broadcast on international
television.”

 
          
“Mr.
President, what in the
world
... ?” Busick sputtered.
“You can’t do
that
!”

 
          
“I’m
going to do it,” Thom said. “I promise, upon my mother’s name, I’ll do it this
afternoon, in Russian prime time.”

           
“A public apology? A public
admission of guilt? No conditions?”

           
“No conditions,” Thom said. “I have
authorized my forces to stop all hostile actions—they are authorized only to
defend themselves now. In any case, I will make my apology and explanation this
morning,
ten a.m.
Washington
time, and I will announce the reparation
payment. If the Russians will tell me how many of their men were killed by my
forces. I’ll announce that payment as well. My only wish right now is that no
more lives are put in jeopardy.”

 
          
“You
. .. you will admit all. Mr. President?” Sen'kov asked.

 
          
“Everything.”

 
          
“Such
as what kind of aircraft were involved in this intelligence operation?”

 
          
“Certainly,”
Thom replied. “The rescue from near Moscow was accomplished by an MV-22
tilt-rotor special operations aircraft called a Pave Hammer It carries a crew
of six, several machine guns and air-to-air missiles on a retractable launcher,
and defensive transmitters and expendables. The crew belong to a unit of the
Intelligence Support Agency, a directorate of the Central Intelligence Agency
set up to perform missions such as this.

 
          
“The
cover aircraft were EB-1C stealth bombers called Vampires, which are highly
modified B-1 bombers designed to penetrate heavily defended airspace and attack
a wide variety of—”

 
          
“You
dared to send nuclear-capable B-l bombers over the
Russian Federation
? How dare you? This is tantamount to war!”

 
          
“They
were simply the best aircraft available to protect our rescue aircraft,” Thom
said matter-of-factly. “You are not foolish enough really to believe our
aircraft would be carrying nuclear weapons, are you?”

 
          
“I
do not know what to believe!” Sen'kov’s translator said over the obviously
agitated voice of the Russian president. “You announce this as casually as if
you had sent me a birthday present! Are you mad? Are you insane?”

 
          
“Think
what you like, Mr. President,” Thom said. “Allow me to continue. The Vampires
belong to the One-Eleventh Bomb Squadron, a unit of the Nevada Air National
Guard, currently based at the
Tonopah
Test
Range
in
Nevada
. The Vampires were carrying a mixture of
air-to-air, air-to-ground, and antiradar weapons—I don't know the exact
combination, but I’ll get that information for you if you wish. Their primary
mission is the suppression of enemy air defenses and antiballistic missile
defense. Their mission was to recover an agent who was spying on Russian
military bases near
Moscow
. The personnel that were rescued by the MV-22 commandeered a Ukrainian
helicopter at a base near
Kiev
, which is what they used to travel back into
Russia
to extract the downed aircrew-men.”

 
          
“Very
interesting, Mr. President,” Sen’kov said. Robert Goff could easily envision
Sen’kov’s advisors hurriedly writing all this information down. It was an
intelligence bonanza, and it was being supplied direct from the horse’s mouth—
the President of the
United States
! “And the purpose of this spying?”

 
          
“To
determine the extent of Russian involvement in the recent attack in
Kukes
,
Albania
, where several hundred men, women, and
children were ruthlessly murdered in an air raid,” Thom replied hotly.

 
          
“Russian
involvement?” Sen'kov retorted. “That’s ridiculous, Mr. Thom! Investigators
from NATO and the United Nations, including members of your own FBI, have no
evidence of who might have caused that devastation. Rival drug lords,
Macedonian mercenaries punishing Albanian gunrunners for cross-border raids,
even rival Muslim sects have been blamed. But
Russia
had absolutely nothing to do with it.”

 
          
“The
United
States
has information that a Russian stealth bomber launched from
Zhukovsky
Flight
Test
Center
committed those attacks. I’ll be sure to
tell the world
that
, Mr. President.”

 
          
There
was silence at the other end for a very, very long time. Finally, the
translator said, “You will be spreading lies to cover up your culpability in
this entire affair.”

 
          
“I
will tell the truth, President Sen’kov—the
entire
truth,” Thom said
pointedly. “I’ll admit we were spying on you, and I’11 admit we flew aircraft
into Russian airspace illegally. I will publicly offer the reparation payment,
and I will also offer compensation to the families of any Russians that were
killed during the operation, once you verify what that number is.” It was a
clever tactic: in order to increase the award, the Russians would have to admit
that many Russians had been killed— which wouldn’t look too good for
Russia
’s military. “I’ll then present the
information recovered by the agent, which I am told not only proves that the
attack originated in
Russia
, but was sanctioned by the Russian government.”

 
          
“Lies!
All lies!”

 
          
“Mr.
President, I am prepared to admit to everything,” Thom shot back. “I will tell
the world the honest truth. I'll present photographs, details of the aircraft,
where they came from, and exactly what they did. I will plead guilty to
ordering an illegal overflight and undeclared hostile military action against
the
Russian Federation
. I will then play the recordings the agent
obtained during the surveillance. The world will believe
me
, President
Sen’kov. I guarantee it.”

 
          
It
was an unbelievable, stunning tactic. The others in the Situation Room were
shocked into silence, afraid to move or even breathe. Could this work ... ?

 
          
“Mr
Thom,” the translator said in his usual toneless voice, after another lengthy
pause, “we feel a public statement is unnecessarily belligerent and
inflammatory to the Russian people, and we demand you refrain from such a
propagandist spectacle. We accept your offer of reparation payment of one
hundred million dollars. The Russian government expects it to be paid
forthwith. Your admission of guilt is sufficient and a matter of record.

 
          
“President
Sen'kov has ordered all defensive forces to cease their attacks but to closely
monitor all foreign aircraft for any sign of hostilities, and they have been ordered
to respond immediately with overwhelming force should any foreign aircraft
initiate hostile actions,” the translator went on. “The Russian government
considers this matter closed, with a final admonition: if the
United States
spreads any information about this incident
or any related incidents whatsoever,
Russia
will use any and all measures to force the
United States
to deal with the consequences.”

 
          
And
the connection was terminated.

 
          
The
members of the National Security Council looked at each other in stunned
silence. Finally, Secretary of Defense Goff said under his breath, “Did . . .
did what I think just happened really happen? Did the president of
Russia
just let an armed American stealth warplane
fly through his country?”

           
“Sure—for one hundred million
dollars,” Vice President Busick retorted. “Pretty sweet deal for him.” He
turned to the President, who was sitting quietly, even serenely, at the
conference table. “The money wasn’t necessary, Mr. President. The Vampire was
almost out of
Russia
anyway. The first Vampire crew was safe—”

 
          
“The
money was nothing but a token of good faith—or call it a bribe,” the President
said. “Sen’kov knew we had won anyway—he had to save face in front of his
generals, and a hundred million bucks goes a long way toward doing just that.
Plus, he realizes now we had the goods on him. The incident is over, and
everyone wants it that way. Let’s all go home.” He stood and headed for the
door. But before he departed, he turned back toward the videoteleconference
screen and said, “General Samson?”

 
          
“Yes,
sir?”

 
          
“I
want a full report on this incident from you and from General McLanahan as soon
as he returns from his trip through
Russia
. I assume he
will
actually come back
this time?”