Cuba (46 page)

at night, pour concrete, do all the work at

night.”

“Install the missile at night when the thing is

finishedea”…the AI officer said, continuing the thought, “and

if they had no unusual activity near the barn,

no one would ever be the wiser.”

“Prove to me that that is what they didea”…Jake said.

“And prove that we won’t be sending troops into an

ambush.”

The admiral stood amid the banks of computers and

watched the operators trade data via

satellite with the computers at the National Security

Agency in Maryland.

The CIA agents were fed and given bunks to sleep

in. They went without protest. Someone brought Jake

Grafton a cup of coffee, which he sipped as he

walked around the intel and planning spaces thinking about

intermediate-range ballistic missiles with

biological warheads.

STEPHEN COONTS

Dawn found Ocho Sedano still afloat, still hanging

grimly on to the milk jug and treading water. He

had stopped thinking hours ago. Hunger and

exhaustion had sapped his strength and thirst had

thickened his blood. He was not asleep, nor was he

awake, but in some semiconscious state in between.

He found himself looking into the glare of the

rising sun as it rose from the sea. The realization that

he had made it through the night crossed his mind, as

did the certainty that today was the last day.

Today, someone must find me

today….

The television lights were on and the cameras running

when Alejo Vargas walked to the podium in the main

reception room of the presidential palace in

Havana. For forty years Fidel Castro had

used this forum to speak to the Cuban people and the worldnow it was

Alejo’s turn.

“We are hereea”…he began, “at a desperate hour

in our nation’s life. The greatest Cuban patriot

of them all, Fidel Castro, died here five days

ago. Everyone listening to my voice knows the

details of his career and the greatness of the leadership he

provided for Cuba. I was with him when he died”…here

Vargas wiped tears from his eyes”…and I can tell you,

it was the most profound moment of my life.

“Yesterday the Council of State elected me

interim president, to hold office until the next

meeting of the National Assembly, which as you know

elects members of the Council of State and

selects xs’president. I swore to the ministers

and the Council of Stare that I would uphold

the Constitution and defend Cuba with all my strength.

Now I swear it to you.”

He paused again and gathered himself. “Today there are people

on the streets who accuse me of murdering Fidel.

May God strike me dead if I am guilty of

that crime.”

He paused, took several deep breaths, and since

God didn’t terminate him then and there, continued:

“Fidel Castro died of cancer. His body shall lie

in state for the next three days. If you love

Cuba, I invite you to pay your respects to this

great man, and to look at his corpse. See if there

is a single mark of violence on the body. My

enemies have accused me of many things, but the murder of

Cuba’s greatest patriot is the most vicious

cut of all. I too worshiped Fidel. Look

at the body carefullylet the evidence of your own

eyes prove the falsity of these accusations against

me.”

Here again he had to pause to wipe his eyes, to steady

himself before the podium.

“I have been accused of other crimes, so I take

this opportunity to bare my soul before you, to tell you the

truth as God Almighty knows it, so you will know the

lies of my enemies when you hear them. My

enemies are also whispering that I killed Raul

Castro at a meeting of the Council of State

yesterday, when the facts of his brother’s death were first

announced. The truth is Raul was murdered as he

stood at the table discussing the hopes and dreams of his

dead brother, by Hector Sedano. Raul Castro

was shot down before a dozen eyewitnesses, myself

included. I swear to you this day that Hector Sedano

will pay the price the law requires for his crime.”

He paused again here, referred to his notes.

Someone had to take the fall for shooting Ratil, so

why not Hector?

“The story of our country is a story of struggle,

a struggle between the socialist people of Cuba and the evil

forces of capitalism, forces controlled and

dominated by the United States, the colossus to the

north. The struggle was not won by Fidel, although he

fought the great fightit continues even today. For

example, while they are representing to the world that they

are destroying their inventory of chemical and

biological weapons, the United States has

introduced these weapons to Cuban soil.”

The camera panned to the artillery shell resting on

its base on a table beside the podium. His

“Here is an American artillery shell

loaded with the bac-

teria that causes anthrax, one of the deadliest

diseases known to disman. This shell was stored in a

warehouse at the American naval base at

Guantanamo Bay, which is sacred Cuban

soil. The Americans were unwilling to keep

thenpoisonous filth in their own country, so they

exported it to ours.

“I have this day asked the ambassadors of five of the

nations who keep embassies in Havana to send their

military attache’s to inspect this warhead. Here is

a sworn document these officers executed that states

the shell is as I have represented, a biological

warhead.”…He fluttered the paper, then held it up

so the camera could zoom in.

“The revelation here today of the United States’s

perfidy will undoubtedly provoke a reaction from the

bandits to our north. Fidel always knew that the day

might come when we would have to defend ourselves again from

American aggression, so he installed a- battery

of intercontinental ballistic missiles in Cuba

for defensive purposes. These mis-. siles are

operational and ready now to defend our sacred soil.

Rest assured, my fellow Cubans, that we shall

resist American aggression, that we shall

fight to defend Cuba from those who would destroy her,

and we shall make her great for the generations to come.

“Thank you.”

As a speech to a Cuban audience accustomed

to Fidel’s six-hour harangues full of baroque

phrases and soaring rhetoric, Alejo’s little

effort seemed underdone. He had actually made a

conscious effort not to sound like Fidel. Watching the

tape of the speech, he thought it went well.

“Air it immediatelyea”…he said to the television

producer, and walked back toward Fidel’s old

office.

Alba and Delgado were there to meet him. They had

known that Vargas intended to blame RauTs murder

on Hector Sedano when he made this speech:

indeed, they had already signed eyewitness affidavits

swearing that they saw Hector shoot the man. That

Alejo Vargas had the cojones to make the big

lie stick meant a lot to these men who had

spent their lives in an absolute dictatorship

and knew that the man at the top had to be completely

ruthless, without scruple of any kind, to survive.

Fidel had been willing to crush his enemies any

way he could; Vargas seemed to have the same talent,

so perhaps he had a chance.

The two military men shook Vargas’s hand.

“Tell us,

Senor Presidente,

what the Americans will do.”

“I have thrown the ballistic missiles in their

faceea”…Vargas said. “I expect the Americans

to go to the United Nations Security Council and

ask for sanctions, perhaps a world trade embargo

sanctioned by the UN. Now that the missiles have been

discussed in public, the American government cannot

ignore them, even if they want to.”

“Do you anticipate an attack?”

“I do not, but we must take precautions. The

missiles sit hi hardened silos impervious

to air attack, or nearly so. It is possible that

the Americans might attempt commando raids. I

suggest you move troops to the sites, have them dig in

around the silos.”

“And if the Americans attack and we cannot

repulse them?”

“This dog will bite. Fire the missiles.”

Alba grinned. His hatred of the Yanquis was common

knowledge. “If the Americans do attack, when would you

expect it?”

“They will try diplomacy first. Only if

that fails will they try military action.”

“Still, I would like to move the troops immediately.”

“By all meansea”…sd Alejo Vargas. “We will have

television cameras film your men digging in to defend

Cuba.”

“And the missiles? Are you going to film them?”

“Of course. Cuba is a sovereign nation. The

world has changed since the 1962 missile

crisis. We have an absolute right to defend

ourselves, and if necessary we shall. Any noise the

Americans make will rally the Cuban people to us.”

Even as Vargas talked to his military men, the

president of the United States’s advisers were

arguing for diplomatic initiatives before military

options were weighed. “We must go to the United Nations

first,” the secretary of state stated forcefully.

“What if the UN turns us down”…”…the president

asked in reply.

“We need political coverea”…the secretary shot

back. “A significant percentage of

Americans think Castro was a hero, a champion

of the downtrodden, and we unfairly bullied him. The

fact that he was an absolute dictator with zero

regard for human rights means very little to the political

left. Then there is the Casualty

problemthe-American people won’t tolerate seeing their

soldiers killed while fighting for oil or

corporate profits in foreign wars.”

“What bullshitff”…snapped Tater Totten.

“I’m really sick of listening to Vietnam draft

evaders tell us that Americans don’t have the guts

to fight for civilization.”

“I am

not

a draft evaderea”…shouted the secretary of state,

her face red, her cheeks quivering. “I demand an

immediate apology!”

“Shut up, both of youea”…the president growled.

“I apologizeea”…Tater Totten muttered, almost

as if he meant it.

The president had done some hard thinking since

Tater Totten demanded that the presence of the Cuban

missiles be addressed before any other matter with

Cuba was put on the table. Six missiles with

biological warheads aimed at the southeastern

United StatesCuban missiles today were every bit

as serious as when John F. Kennedy had to deal with

them, he decided. If the administration asked for the

blessing of the UN Security Council and didn’t

get it, he would be worse off than if he

ordered military action immediately.

The lab and processing facility worried him too.

If Cuba could manufacture polio virus and

put it in an aerosol so-

lution, any plane that could fly across the Straits of

Florida could attack the United States.

By the time Alejo Vargas’s broadcast was

translated and replayed for the National Security

Council, the president strongly believed that the

American people would react angrily to the presence of

missiles in Cuba. The outrage of the congressmen

and senators who heard the speech convinced him.

He called on Tater Totten again. “I’m

getting the cold sweats just thinking about this crap.

Tell me what we are going to do to make sure the

Cubans don’t shoot those missiles.”

“Sir, the best insurance is to go after the missiles,

the lab, and the processing facility as soon as

humanly possible, before the Cubans get troops

in there to defend them.”

“When is humanly possible?”

“Tomorrow night would be the earliest possible date. Every

day we wait allows us to assemble more forces.

Conversely, every day we wait the risk increases:

Tomorrow Vargas can move more troops to guard

those silos; he could get wind of what’s coming and

threaten to release polio virus by airplane,

by missile, or have somebody with an aerosol bomb

in a suitcase turn it loose God-knows where.”

“So why not go tomorrow night?”

“We must put enough people and firepower in there to get the

job done. It’s a nice calculation.”

“Do you want me to make that decision?”

“I recommend that you leave the decision to the

military professional who is there, Rear

Admiral Grafton. He’s spent thirty years

in uniform training for this moment, for this decision.”

The president grunted.

The Chairman continued, “By tonight we will have two

Aegis cruisers in the Florida Straits between

Cuba and Florida. Jake Grafton ordered

them there on his own initiative. He’s a good man.

The cruisers have the capability of shooting down

ballistic missiles coming out of Cuba.”

“Do the Cubans know that?”