Ultimatum (70 page)

“Give me your gun, soldier.” The president pulled the pistol out of the marine’s holster. He turned around. Admiral Enderlich was in the doorway behind him.

“Mr. President—”

Joe Benton raised the gun and put its muzzle against the admiral’s temple.

“So help me, Admiral, if I have to, I’ll blow your brains out. I’m your commander in chief. Admiral Enderlich, in front of this soldier as witness, I’m giving you a direct order. Get me back to Washington.”

Enderlich didn’t move. Half a dozen soldiers had gathered now, all staring, including Rivers, the lieutenant who had pulled the president out of the Oval Office at the start of the evacuation.

“Lieutenant,” said the admiral calmly, “have your men disarm the president.”

Benton threw a glance at Rivers. “Stay where you are, Lieutenant.”

“Disarm him, Lieutenant.”

“As your commander in chief, I’m ordering you to stay where you are.” Benton watched the lieutenant for a moment, then turned back to Enderlich, his gun still raised to the other man’s head. “Now, I don’t know what’s going on here, but I know one thing. At a time like this, the president of the United States shouldn’t be hiding down at the bottom of a bunker. If this country is under attack, then I’m going to be out there to face it. So if you don’t want to do what your commander in chief is ordering you to do, Admiral Enderlich, I’m going to have you put under arrest.”

“Lieutenant,” said the Admiral, speaking slowly and emphatically, “please have your men disarm President Benton.”

“All right, have it your way,” said Benton. “Lieutenant, arrest Admiral Enderlich.”

Lieutenant Rivers drew his gun. He glanced from one man to the other. Then he stepped forward and raised his pistol.

“Lieutenant!” roared the Admiral “I
order
you—”

“Step back, Mr. President,” said Rivers, eyes trained on the admiral, his pistol aimed at his head. “I’ll handle this now.”

“
Lieutenant?’

“I’m sorry, Admiral Enderlich. The president’s right. At a time like this, a commander in chief shouldn’t be at the bottom of a bunker. He should be with his men.”

~ * ~

Wednesday, November 2

The White House

The first thing he did was to go out on the south lawn and speak with the White House in camera shot behind him. Heather was on one side of him, and Angela Chavez on the other, and around them were his cabinet secretaries. They had been given the choice to stay bunkered or come back, and they were all there.

The message was short. He started by telling the American people that they had just lived through terrible days, but that he was here, he was at his post, and he was doing everything he could to make sure they would never see such days again. Then he said: “This part is for President Wen of the People’s Republic of China. I have a message for you, President Wen. The United States government is here. The United States government is open for business. And in the United States government, the buck stops with me. So if you don’t like what the United States government is saying, leave innocent people alone. Hit me with your bombs.” He spread his arms. “Right here. I’m waiting. And when you’re ready to sign up to the Carbon Plan, it’s the same address.” He pointed to the White House behind him. “I’ll be right in there, ready to hear from you, one way or the other.” He paused, gazing at the camera. “President Wen, I’m not going anywhere.”

Back inside, he gave orders for the evacuation of the Washington area. Only essential military staff would be asked to stay. Then he went to the situation room where he gathered the National Security Council and the other service chiefs. He had brought Enderlich back with him on Air Force One and decided to include him in the discussion, even though the admiral was technically under arrest. Larr
y
Olsen was there. He had been bunkered in Virginia, as the president had been told, and there had been a communications failure.

“Mr. President,” said Jay MacMahon, “you’ve made your point. Quite magnificently. We should now move you out of Washington to safety.”

Joe Benton looked at him incredulously. “Jay, I didn’t just say that. This is where I’m staying. Every six hours, the American people are going to see me in front of this White House to know that’s exactly where I am.”

MacMahon glanced at Enderlich. “But sir—”

“I’m not taking discussion on this. Now, let’s have a full briefing. Let’s get everyone up to speed.”

Lou Katz gave a summary of conditions in the Bay area and Kansas and the relief operations that were under way. Satellite imaging showed the extent of the devastation at the centers of both strike zones. Rescue teams had moved in until they ceased to find survivors, which left them some miles short of the strike zone in both areas.

Joe Benton couldn’t keep himself from asking the question. “Stanford?”

Lou Katz shook his head. “That’s gone, sir.” He almost whispered it. “Would have been gone in seconds.”

Some of the people at the table gazed at the president, others looked away.

Benton was silent. He frowned, then nodded slightly to himself.

“General Steiffel,” he said, turning to Dan Steiffel, head of army intelligence who was coordinating information from the theater. “What can you tell us?”

Steiffel reported that Chinese forces had moved on Taiwan and were encountering resistance, supported by the U.S. Pacific Fleet and the Grant and Franklin carrier groups, which had been in action since the previous day.

“Who ordered that?” demanded Benton.

“I did,” said MacMahon. “I was told you were not in contact, sir.”

“Who told you that?”

“That was my information, Mr. President.”

Benton gazed at him, then turned back to Steiffel. “Give me the details.”

“As of zero nine hundred we’ve flown four hundred thirty-seven sorties and have inflicted substantial losses on the enemy.”

“Our losses?”

“Twelve F-42s and five B-3 bombers, sir. The destroyer USS
Cable
is lightly damaged. The destroyer USS
Morley Kade
is reported sinking and assistance is being rendered.”

“Sinking?”

“We don’t have an estimate of casualties yet.”

“What’s the crew complement?”

“Three hundred twenty-three crew and officers at full strength, Mr. President.”

“Are Chinese forces on the island?”

“Yes, sir. PRC forces have landed in strength in four places along the west and northeast coasts and we have reports of advance units on the outskirts of Taipei.”

“Sounds to me like Taiwan’s gone,” said the president.

“Not necessarily, sir.” Steiffel went on to report what was happening on the mainland. There were reports of uprisings in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Dalian and the central provincial capitals of Lanzhou and Chongqing, all being opposed by government troops. From Nanjing there were reports of an army division going over to the opposition and a battle taking place on the streets.

“Mr. President,” said MacMahon, “if we can sit this out a little longer, the Chinese regime might fall. We could help that process. We have forces in the region. Let’s deploy away from Taiwan and toward the mainland.”

“You want to invade China?” demanded Alan Ball, who had recovered some of his presence since the return to Washington, but still had the look of an utterly shell-shocked man.

“I don’t want to invade China. I’m saying a little targeted assistance might help some of these uprisings to succeed.”

“What exactly are these uprisings?” said Benton. “General Steiffel? Can you be more specific? Are these demonstrations? Are they riots? Are they genuine insurrections?”

“It varies,” said Steiffel. “Our intelligence isn’t perfect.”

“So some of these might just be demonstrations?”

“For the moment, Mr. President. But the force the government is exerting is likely to make them worse.”

“Or end them,” said Ball.

“Mr. President,” said MacMahon, “I think we could be seeing the end of the regime.”

“Let’s say you’re right, Jay. What happens next?”

“Well...” MacMahon was puzzled. “They’re gone.”

“I think what the president is asking,” said Larry Olsen, “is who do we negotiate with?”

“And who has control of a nuclear arsenal that has attacked the United States twice within the last seventy-two hours,” said Benton pointedly.

“We combine it with a knockout attack on their nuclear capability,” said General Anderson, chief of the army staff. “We disrupt command and control.”

“And kill half a billion people.”

“We didn’t ask to start this.”

“General, if we do that, some of their weapons will be fired automatically. Isn’t that true?”

Anderson didn’t respond. The president looked at Enderlich.

“Yes, sir,” said Enderlich. “That’s true.”

Joe Benton nodded. “Gentlemen,” he said to the Joint Chiefs. “You all need to understand something. This is not a war for regime change in the People’s Republic of China.”

“But it’s an extraordinary opportunity,” said Jay MacMahon. “If we can get—”

“No, Jay, that’s where you’re wrong. We need a strong government in China. This is a war about carbon. Not about Taiwan, not about the Chinese nuclear capability, not about regime change. Carbon. It’s about the future of our people, the American people, and what kind of life they’re going to live. We need a government in Beijing we can talk to which can cut emissions. We don’t need chaos in China. How long will it take them to sort themselves out if we help foment some kind of revolution? Two years? Five years?”

“A generation,” said Olsen.

“A generation,” said the president. “If that happens, we lose this war. Do you understand? We don’t win, no matter how many people we kill, no matter how many nuclear weapons we destroy. We lose.”

“Mr. President,” said Jay MacMahon quietly, “what do you want?”

“I want the Chinese government to remain in power. I want it to come out of this situation prepared to do what it has to do over emissions and to be capable of doing it. Otherwise, all of this, everything we’ve suffered, has been in vain. And we’ll probably end up suffering it again.”

There was silence. The president looked at Olsen, who bore nearly as much responsibility for what had happened—right or wrong—as he did. Larry Olsen met his gaze and nodded.

“Here’s what we’re going to do,” said Benton. “Admiral Enderlich, you will start immediately to withdraw all U.S. forces from the Taiwan region. And any covert support we’re giving to opposition groups on the mainland stops, right now. Have we been providing covert support?”

Complicitous glances were exchanged around the table.

“It stops. Now. Larry, I want you to make sure that President Wen, or whoever the hell’s in charge over there, knows we’re doing this. Make sure they know we’re withdrawing from Taiwan and we won’t interfere in internal affairs on the mainland. And tell him we’re not going to retaliate for their second nuclear strike for another twenty-four hours.” Benton looked at his watch. “Say until midnight our time tomorrow. If he publicly pledges support for the Carbon Plan by midnight our time tomorrow, we won’t retaliate.”

“And if he doesn’t?”