While this meeting had been scheduled, the tensions between the two parties had been increasing. However, since the meeting was just between her and Sobolev, she hoped she might be able to get a bit more done in such a close personal setting than with a group.
After the usual cursory conversation about family over a cup of tea, she placed her teacup down on the table between the two chairs. “Mr. President,” she began, “there are two important items I want to discuss with you.”
Sobolev put his own cup down and turned slightly so his body was fully facing hers. “You want to discuss the nuclear disarmament,” he said, pulling no punches.
She nodded, knowing this was a touchy issue. “I do. I’ve also come to a decision on your soldiers who are still in hiding in the Allied nations.”
Sobolev raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. These soldiers were the ones that had been under his command and direction during the war. She knew they meant a lot to him.
“There appear to be a lot of accounting irregularities in regard to your nuclear weapons. It could just be an oversight, and perhaps you’ll let General Brice know of a few new locations he should check to find them, but this needs to be addressed.”
Smiling at the obvious opportunity she was giving him to turn them over and save face, he nodded. “This is a sensitive issue, Ms. Hicks. I have been looking into it as well and I believe there are a few places I may be able to direct your general to check. I’m still working through some, how shall I call them — personnel issues with the Ministry of Defense right now. Some generals and senior leaders are not very happy with the surrender terms I agreed to. If our remaining special forces soldiers who are still in hiding in America and Europe were allowed to return home…it would give me more leverage with some of these problems.”
Ava nodded, knowing exactly who Sobolev was talking about. “So General Chayko is still causing problems,” she thought.
“I understand there’s still a lot of distrust and animosity between our nations. Emotions are still raw. You and I though, have to get past them. We have to be the ones to push our people past them, so we can collectively pick up the pieces and move forward.” She paused for a second as she thought of what to say next, and how to say it in Russian. She was fluent in the language, but trying to figure out the specific translation of certain complex phrases sometimes caused her to have to stop and consider her words carefully. “I’m going to take some serious hits politically back home and amongst many of the Allied nations for this, but I’m going to agree that your Special Forces soldiers and operatives will be allowed to return home to Russia and will not face federal criminal prosecution in the United States. I cannot fully guarantee that other Allied nations will not try to prosecute your men, but we will not. However, this is a major concession I am making for you, Mr. President — I need a much stronger show of good faith on your end with the missing nuclear weapons, particularly the two ballistic missile submarines.”
The general sat back in his chair and eyed Ava for a moment. He then turned and looked at one of the paintings on the wall in his office, clearly deep in thought. Without returning his gaze to her, he said, “I may know where your General Brice can find some bunkers that may have been mistakenly missed on our nuclear inventory list.” He twiddled his fingers. “As to those two ballistic missile submarines…I will have a more direct conversation with General Chayko and my fleet admiral about them. I have been told they were lost during the war. That may be true, but I will investigate further. If I am not satisfied with what I find, then you may notice a series of…personnel changes and early retirements. If that happens, I can assure you, those particular individuals will not be a problem. The sooner my nation complies with the terms of surrender and we are able to move past this occupation, the better it will be for all parties involved.”
Within days of Ava’s decision to allow the enemy Special Forces still hiding in the Allied nations to return, the Allies discovered another large trove of “previously unaccounted for” nuclear weapons at nearly a dozen bunkers hidden across the country. While the mystery of what had happened to the two ballistic missile submarines remained, more than a handful of senior military and government officials had suffered some coincidental heart attacks, car crashes and other freak accidents. While the tensions between the Russian people and the occupying force hadn’t gone away, they appeared for the time being to have cooled off as the remaining Russian soldiers returned home to their families.
Chapter 7
Rangers Away
The drone of the jet engine on the C-17 Globemaster threatened to lull Sergeant First Class Conrad Price to sleep. He glanced around at the men of Third Platoon, faces painted, parachutes on, weapons and packs ready for their fourth combat jump of the war. He imagined that there were probably some guys from the other battalions who had gotten jealous of the amount of combat his battalion had gotten to see.
“Maybe they’re the lucky ones,” he thought. Then his mind went back to the handful of guys he’d had to pull from the platoon until they could get their minds and emotions back under control.
“Five mikes!” shouted the jumpmaster.
Price looked out the open side door. It was still dark — a good thing for this jump. It would be dawn in an hour. Hopefully, they’d have the objectives secured by then and the cavalry would be on the way to relieve them.
“Sixty seconds!”
“Lord, keep me and my men safe on this jump,” Price prayed silently. It was not uncommon for even the less-than-devout to speak to God before taking a leap into a freefall.
The first Ranger jumped out the door, quickly followed by the man behind him. The line of paratroopers on each side of the plane steadily made their exit to the black abyss below. Seconds later, Price was out the door, his static line yanking him hard as his main chute deployed, stopping his descent with a hard snap.
Looking below him at the city below, he spotted a few lights on, but overall, the dwellers below appeared to be asleep. Then, after a moment of drifting in silence, the sound of an air raid siren sent a shiver down Price’s spine. The defenders would all be awake now and anticipating an imminent attack.
“Come on, only sixty more seconds and I’ll be on the ground,” he said, trying to pump himself up and not expecting anyone else to hear him.
Bang, bang, bang, ratatat, ratatat!
Green tracers reached out into the night sky and a handful of floodlights turned on, illuminating targets for the antiaircraft guns to pick off.
“Thirty seconds and I’ll be on the ground,” Price thought, unconsciously crossing his fingers.
Just as Sergeant Price was starting to have a genuine glimmer of hope at his chances of making it to the ground, a search light suddenly popped on just below him. Without thinking, he immediately reached down, grabbed his Sig Sauer and fired at the light. He shot six times before the fixture suddenly sparked and blew out.
Unfortunately, although the threat of the light had been neutralized, the noise of his gunfire had given him away. A stream of green tracers reached out as if trying to grab him with monster’s fingers, and he heard the bullets from the machine gun whizzing in the air. Using the navigation cords on his chute, Price pulled himself into a tight turn.