Almost against his will, his weary feet carried him over to the bodies. He recognized one, Mike Cummings, and thought he knew another, but the rest were too torn or burned to identify. He could hear Giertych muttering and choking back sobs.
His own eyes full of tears, Frewer looked away from the mangled bodies of his friends and coworkers. The EurCon attack had plastered the whole base. Fires raged out of control on all sides. Besides the operations center and repair sheds, cruise missiles had hit fuel and ammo storage areas. More smoke curled from the air traffic control center.
Only the aircraft shelters and flight line looked untouched. The American sergeant nodded somberly. Why waste hits on single aircraft when you could knock out the control, resupply, and maintenance capabilities that kept them flying? For the time being at least, the 11th Fighter Regiment and its American advisors were completely out of action.
The first reports of EurCon missile attacks woke official Washington in the predawn dark. Reporters hastily dispatched to the White House could see lights burning behind closed curtains in both the East and West wings. The lights were also coming on at the Pentagon and at the State Department. By five A.M., black government limousines were pulling up in front of the tall, graceful columns of the White House portico, depositing grim-faced men and women arriving for an emergency meeting of the National Security Council.
Despite the air of tension and grave concern pervading the basement Situation Room, Ross Huntington felt oddly detached, almost light-headed. In a strange sense, he felt as though his body and brain were separated from each other by some vast, uncrossable gulf. He made yet another mental resolution to see his doctor — a resolution that he knew he would not keep. Events were moving too fast to allow poor health to put him on the sidelines.
He pulled his chair closer to the table, listening intently while the chairman of the Joint Chiefs brought the NSC up to date.
So far, there had been three separate cruise missile attacks on three separate airfields — two in Poland and one in the Czech Republic. All had been launched at more or less the same time by planes operating from bases in Germany. All had inflicted heavy casualties and damage. That was bad enough. What was worse was that at least twenty-five American servicemen were among those killed or seriously wounded. The numbers were still climbing as more detailed reports came in.
General Galloway’s ordinarily good-humored face was brick-red with barely suppressed anger. “These attacks were clearly planned to kill as many people as possible, Mr. President. Our people included.”
“You’re sure?”
Galloway nodded abruptly. “Yes, sir. If EurCon’s only goal was to inflict damage on those base facilities, they could just as easily have attacked at night, when fewer people were on duty. In fact, from a strictly military point of view, that would have been a better time. Less risk that anyone might spot those cruise missiles visually.”
Harris Thurman put his own oar in the water. “It’s obviously intended to send a very strong message to the Poles and Czechs, Mr. President. And through them to us.”
“Message, hell! It’s a goddamned declaration of war.” Galloway was outraged. “You don’t fire twenty-plus high-explosive warheads into critical targets as part of some diplomatic game.”
“I remind you, General, that this attack came only after Polish and Czech aircraft fired on French and German planes over Hungary…”
“Gentlemen.” All heads turned toward the President. He sat alone at one end of the table. His eyes were cold and angry. “I don’t particularly care what prompted these attacks. Our policy on Hungary stands: Our allies are fully within their rights in helping the Hungarian people resist this unjust French and German aggression. And we are fully within our rights in providing those allies with technical and military assistance. Clear?”
Thurman’s face fell. “Of course, Mr. President.”
The President looked toward Galloway again. “Are they planning to retaliate?”
“Yes. We’ve had requests from the Polish Air Force HQ for updated satellite photos of German airfields. They’ve also asked for a special AWACS sortie.”
“When?”
“June 4, two days from now.” Galloway frowned. “It’ll take them at least that long to unscramble the mess at Wroclaw and their other airfields.”
“What about their air support missions over Hungary?”
“On hold, sir. Their losses were already pretty high. Close to crippling for the first squadrons committed. And with EurCon showing its teeth over their own territory now?” Galloway shrugged. “The Poles will need every plane they’ve got just to hit back and to ride out any EurCon counterpunch.”
The general’s gloomy assessment cast a pall over the room. Without friendly air cover, Hungary would fall — crushed by superior firepower and brute force. A EurCon victory over Budapest’s fledgling democracy would be an unmitigated disaster for American economic and foreign policy. In the short term, it would solidify the protectionist grip on European trade practices, prolonging the trade war ravaging the world’s economy. With the handwriting on the wall, other small countries like Denmark and the Netherlands were bound to fall into line. In the long term, letting EurCon ride roughshod over one small country would set a terrible precedent. The rule of international law and the rights of self-determination, however tenuous and often impractical, would be supplanted by an older and deadlier precept: might makes right. That could spawn a whole new cycle of war and aggression around the globe.
The President spoke into the sudden silence. “As I see it, we’ve got one last chance to stop this thing before all hell breaks loose in Europe. One last chance to shake these clowns awake. Agreed?”
Huntington nodded, and noticed others around the table do the same. But what more could they do? Trying to impose a peaceful resolution through the United Nations would go nowhere. The French Security Council veto made that impossible. So what was left? Then he saw it. “You intend to issue an ultimatum to the EurCon governments, Mr. President?”
“Yes, I do. I’ve spoken to both the Senate majority leader and the Speaker of the House and they agree that we have to act, and act now.” America’s chief executive set his jaw, plainly determined. “We’ve pussyfooted around with these people long enough. I want them to know once and for all that they’re looking right down the barrel of a mighty big gun.”
ASSOCIATED PRESS DISPATCH
WASHINGTON, D.C.
(AP) — The full text of a statement released by the White House at 7:00 P.M., Eastern Standard Time:
“At 3:30 this morning, French and German warplanes conducted a series of missile attacks on airfields inside Poland and the Czech and Slovak republics — killing and wounding several hundred people. Tragically, more than thirty American military personnel were among those who lost their lives.
“Like the invasion of Hungary itself, this latest aggression by France and Germany further demonstrates their intention to control all of Europe by threats, by violence, and by armed occupation.
“The United States cannot and will not allow these attacks to go unchallenged and unpunished. We urge the French and German governments to end their aggressions against their neighbors before it is too late — for France, for Germany, for Europe, and indeed, for the whole world.