An officer walked up to the group. “Mr. President, we need to evacuate to the bunker immediately. Our radar just detected a B-2 bomber over Moscow,” he explained hastily. Everyone stood up and began to walk briskly towards one of the stairways to head down to the bunker.
As they were all moving down the halls, the bomb hit the building. It knocked everyone to ground, some falling down the stairs, others able to catch themselves by grasping at the railing. The entire building shook, and they heard a loud explosion. The lights flickered off, then back on before turning off again. The emergency lights kicked in, and everyone began to regain their composure, trying to figure out what to do next.
One of the guards in Petrov’s protective detail helped the world leader off the floor. “We need to keep going this direction,” he said as he pointed towards one of the doors back up on the ground floor level. They collectively ran as a group up the stairs and through that door. The guard continued to lead them to a side entrance that would bring them to one of the underground tunnels connecting to the Kremlin.
The guards then separated the leaders into two groups. Following their continuation of government plan, the President and the military leaders were ushered in one direction and the other political figureheads were whisked off another way. Petrov and the military men were soon racing through the tunnels underneath the city. Within five minutes, they had made their way to a command bunker that was somewhere between the two buildings, roughly 300 feet underground.
As President Petrov walked into the alternative command bunker, he saw officers and other specialists getting the room up and running, turning computers and monitors on, and making sure all the systems were operational. Until they could determine that the President was safe, they would operate out of this bunker, which could run the war, if necessary.
President Petrov walked up to one of the military officers. “I want to know what in the world just hit our building. Is the threat over?!”
Petrov’s cheeks were red and a vein on the side of his neck was visibly pulsating. “These guys were just bragging to me about how effective the new air defense system had been,” he thought, “and then the building alarms started going off. The officers better not be lying to me about how effective the system is, or someone is going to be shot.”
An Army officer dared to take the question. “The defense building has been hit with what appears to have been a bunker busting bomb. It hit the east tower, causing substantial damage. Preliminary reports show that the Central Command Center (where we had all been meeting) was not damaged in the blast. However, until the fires can be brought under control, I highly recommend that we continue to operate out of this command bunker for the time being.”
Everyone seemed pleased that only part of the building had been hit, and not the critical command center in the center of the structure. Had that room been hit, it could have killed them all, along with a lot of the mission-critical personnel currently on duty.
Another Army officer spoke up. “Mr. President, I have a report from the Moscow aircraft defense command on what happened.”
Petrov signaled for everyone to take a seat so the officer could bring them up to speed on what had happened.
Clearing his throat, the Army Colonel began, “The S-500 commander identified a B-2 stealth bomber and engaged it with two missiles. The radar system also identified a total of four guided bombs that we have now determined to be bunker-busting bombs. These were most likely the American GBU-57B, which is a 30,000-pound bomb with roughly a 5,000-pound warhead.”
The room was silent as they all realized how close to death they had all just been.
The colonel continued, “The S-500 was able to intercept two of the bombs, destroying them over the city. A third bomb hit the defense building, and the fourth bomb was apparently thrown off course and landed in a residential area, a couple of blocks away from Red Square. We are still assessing the damage to the residential area, but we expect casualties to be high.”
Petrov interrupted, “ — What about the B-2? Did we shoot it down?”
The colonel nodded. “Yes, Mr. President. The bomber was damaged by the first missile from the S-500 battery. The bomber’s stealth system had nearly defeated our traditional targeting systems, but the Lenovo targeting computer was able to get the missile within range of the bomber, causing significant damage to it. This destroyed the bomber’s stealth capabilities and a S-400 battery roughly 100 miles away was able to reacquire the B-2 as a target. They fired two missiles, which successfully destroyed the bomber. The two pilots bailed out of the aircraft, and we currently have search parties out looking for them.”
Everyone in the room was excited by this news. They had successfully shot down an American B-2 over Russia and intercepted three of the four bombs dropped on their beloved city. The new Lenovo targeting computer really was living up to the hype of its creator. The missile still had to have an initial lock on an aircraft to work, but this was promising.
Petrov smiled, letting everyone in the room know that he was pleased with the success of the shootdown of the B-2 and the S-500’s performance. If this was the best the Americans could throw at him, then he was confident Russia would win this conflict. If the Americans thought his country was reeling now, he couldn’t wait to see how they were going to respond to the next phase of operations.
Once in a Movie
As Lieutenant Colonel Rob Fortney descended below 7,000 feet, he started to get a good picture of the landmarks below. It was 2200 hours so it was dark, but it was also a full moon, which meant he could still make out some of the fast-approaching landscape. He saw Lake Yassy that he had pointed out to Ricky, and he knew exactly where he needed to go to meet up with his co-pilot. From the darkness below, he also saw the lights from several buildings and houses. His main concern now was making sure he steered himself towards an acceptable landing spot and did not injure himself.
With the ground quickly getting closer and closer, he bent his knees slightly, just as he had been taught. As the terrain rushed up towards him, he landed and rolled to the side, just as they had been told a million times. The technique worked; he spun and then quickly detached his parachute, rolling it up. Once he had it gathered in his arms, he ran towards the forested area where he stashed it inside some bushes. In the daylight it would be found, but at least he had hidden it from plain sight. Now he needed to make his way through the forest, towards the edge of the lake they had identified as their rally point. Then he could wait for his partner to arrive.
After trudging through the woods in the relative dark for roughly thirty minutes, he came to the area of the lake he believed to be roughly where they were supposed to meet and waited. After nearly twenty minutes, he decided to try and use the emergency radio he had. He was reluctant to use it since the signal could be triangulated and give away his position, if the Russians were listening for it. However, seeing that they were in the middle of nowhere, he thought the chances of that happening were relatively small.
Pappi made a couple of attempts on the radio to establish contact with Ricky, but received no reply. Finally, he heard something faintly, but then the sound grew louder. Dogs… they were barking loudly, and then he could hear men’s voices yelling something in Russian. He wished he could understand what they were saying. It was at that moment that Pappi decided he needed to get moving, even if it meant leaving his co-pilot behind. He couldn’t sit there waiting while those dogs and enemy soldiers got closer.