The Seventh Angel - Страница 40

“It’s a countdown,” General Gilmore said. “Three — two — one. After that, comes zero.”

Admiral Casey nodded. “Or ground zero, which is the traditional name for the center point of a nuclear attack.”

The president frowned. “You think Zhukov was sending us a message? With nuclear weapons?”

“That’s a distinct possibility, Mr. President,” the admiral said. “Governor Zhukov may have been communicating with us in a way that transcends all threats and saber-rattling. We think he was telling us that this was our freebie. This was our one and only warning shot. Three-two-one-zero. Every impact point calibrated to the position of a major city. The next time he shoots, it won’t be offset into the water. It will be right on top of the targets. Ground zero. And he’s going after major centers of population.”

The White House chief of staff pulled out her palmtop computer and started punching buttons. After a few seconds, she looked up. “Six and a half million people,” she said.

The president raised an eyebrow. “What’s that?”

“I just pulled the census projections for San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego,” Doyle said. “Sir, if those three warheads had hit their targets, they would have killed about six and a half million people.”

“I see,” said the president. He looked at the Chief of Naval Operations. “I think you’re right, Admiral. Mr. Zhukov is sending us a message. He’s telling us that the gloves are off, and next time, he kills millions.”

Becka Solomon sat back in her chair. “Mr. President, if we’re reading this correctly, we’re going to have to evacuate the entire western United States.”

“I’m not even sure that’s possible,” the vice president said. “We couldn’t get a million people 200 miles up the road from New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina hit. How are we going to move seventy million people across half the country?”

“I don’t know,” Solomon said. “But Zhukov has got forty-five nuclear warheads left, and he’s communicated quite clearly that he’s not afraid to use them. We’ve got way too many population centers within reach of those missiles. Los Angeles, San Diego, Portland, Cheyenne, Seattle, Las Vegas, Denver, Phoenix, Albuquerque, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, Reno, Great Falls, Spokane … Zhukov could wipe out every city and major town west of the Texas panhandle, and still have a few warheads left over for a rainy day.”

“We cannot evacuate the western United States,” the president said. “It would take us years to prepare for a move that big, and I’m not sure this country would survive the effort. The economy would be devastated — maybe completely destroyed. There are no resources to transport that many refugees, much less house them or feed them. And how would we provide medical care and emergency services for eighty million displaced people?”

He shook his head. “A lot of frightened people are trying to run east, and we can’t do anything about that. I’m not going to call out the troops and try to force people to stay in the target zone. If they want to run, we have to let them run. That by itself is going to damage this country in ways I don’t want to think about. But we cannot undertake the job of moving eighty million people. We’re not even going to try.”

He looked at the CNO. “The only way to stop this, is to kill that submarine. How do we do that, Admiral?”

“Mr. President,” the admiral said. “We’re obviously going to have to project military force into the Sea of Okhotsk. We’ll have to go in there after the submarine. And that’s going to be a bit of a problem.”

“Why is that?”

“Geography, sir. The Sea of Okhotsk is landlocked on three sides by Russian territory. Siberia is to the north; Russia is to the west; and Kamchatka is to the east. Governor Zhukov may claim otherwise, but Kamchatka still happens to be Russian territory. The only entrances to the Sea of Okhotsk are to the south, through the Kuril island chain, which — as you may have guessed — is Russian territory as well. Which means that all of the land surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk is owned by the Russian Federation. To their way of thinking, that makes the whole sea their national property. The United States and the international community don’t happen to agree, but that’s how the Russians see it. As far as they’re concerned, that’s their back yard. They’re not going to want us in there.”

“I don’t understand,” the Vice President said. “If we can’t go into the Sea of Okhotsk, how are we going to get the sub?”

The Secretary of Defense smiled. “The admiral didn’t say we can’t go in there, Mr. Vice President. He said the Russians aren’t going to like it. And he’s right. They won’t like it. But they can’t stop it. According to international law, the Russian Federation doesn’t own that water. They like to think they do, but the law, the United Nations, and the international community say otherwise. We do not acknowledge the Russian claim of ownership.”

Vice President Wainright scratched the lobe of his right ear. “Why is that? If the Russians own all the land surrounding the water, doesn’t that mean they own the water too?”

The CNO shook his head. “No, sir. International law says that a country’s national waters extend twelve nautical miles from the coastline. You’ve heard of the twelve mile limit? That’s what the term refers to. If you go thirteen miles off shore, you’re in international waters. Luckily, there are several passages through the Kuril islands that are more than twenty-four nautical miles wide. Our units can transit through the straits without passing within the twelve-mile limit of any of the islands. We can get into and out of the Sea of Okhotsk without crossing into lawfully-recognized Russian waters.”

Secretary of State Whelkin held up her hand. “I understand that international law backs our right to enter this body of water, Admiral. But are the Russians going to sit still if we send a military force into what they clearly regard as their private sea?”

“They’re definitely not going to be happy about it, Madam Secretary,” the admiral said. “But we send Navy ships and aircraft into the Sea of Okhotsk periodically, despite the protests of the Russian government. They’re called freedom of navigation exercises, and the U.S. has been doing it since the beginning of the Cold War, when the Soviet Union tried to claim ownership of the Sea of Okhotsk. We do it to demonstrate our right of free passage and to remind the Russian government that the United States does not acknowledge their claim of ownership. So we know the Russians aren’t going to like it, but they’re somewhat accustomed to seeing our warships and aircraft in there.”

“Isn’t this a bad time to be provoking the Russians?” the White House chief of staff asked. “We know from the intelligence assessments that the Russian government is already about to blow its top. And they’re cranked up to maximum nuclear readiness levels, just like we are. Is it smart to poke a stick into the hornet’s nest?”

“One of their political leaders has just launched three of their nuclear missiles toward our coast line,” Secretary of Defense Kilpatrick said. Her voice was low, but as hard as steel. “As far as I’m concerned, they should be worried about provoking us.”

“Unless we’re prepared to stay at DEFCON 1 until the spring thaw, we don’t really have a choice,” Gregory Brenthoven said. “That’s a nuclear-powered submarine. A Delta III can remain submerged for months at a time, and the ice pack in the Sea of Okhotsk gives it excellent concealment and protection. The commander of the K-506 has maneuvered his boat into a superb tactical position. He’d have to be stupid to come out of there, and he is not stupid. If we want to kill that submarine, we’re going to have to go in there after it.

“How do we do that?” the president asked. “What are our options?”

“We can’t send ships in there at this time of year,” Admiral Casey said. “The ice will cut them to ribbons.”

The admiral’s eyes went back to the large display screen. “Where the hell is global warming when we need it?”

No one laughed.

“What about aircraft?” the Vice President asked.

“We can over-fly with aircraft,” the admiral said. “But they can’t really do much. Airborne sensors can’t see through the ice pack, and air-launched torpedoes and depth charges will just hit the ice face and break up. They’re not designed to punch through ice.”

“That submarine has figured out how to shoot through the ice,” General Gilmore said. “How are they doing it?”

“That’s the big question, General,” the CNO said. “Our engineers are certain that the Delta III does not have ice penetration capability. The differences in design and construction are so major that it would take a couple of years in a shipyard dry dock to modify a Delta III for ice penetration. We track the maintenance and deployment of foreign missile submarines very carefully. If K-506 had been in the yards for a major hull rebuild, we’d know about it.”

“Could the missiles just punch through?” the Secretary of Homeland Security asked. “Like a bullet?”

The Secretary of Defense shook her head. “I don’t think so. Those missiles are fast, but they’re also delicate machines. It would be like a Lear jet slamming into a brick wall at several hundred miles an hour. It would knock a hole in the wall, but the Lear would be hamburger afterward.” She shook her head again. “Any missile that hits the ice is not going to fly afterwards.”