Merewether nodded sympathetically. “I wanted to catch you before you went to work, but I didn’t want to call and wake your pregnant wife.”
Luke’s eyes narrowed. “How did you know she was pregnant?”
“You told me in Washington.”
Luke didn’t remember even mentioning his wife. “Thank you. That was considerate. But why didn’t you write or send me an e-mail? You left me with the impression in D.C. that you didn’t have any interest in me at all.”
“I’m afraid we didn’t treat you as we should have, and frankly, I didn’t give your proposal the consideration it deserved. But since you left, I have.” The Undersecretary looked around, pleased with the surprise he had occasioned and the image he had pulled off. It was the kind of thing he loved to do—show up when not expected and imitate a government official who actually knew what the hell he was doing. “Is there somewhere we can talk?”
“This is fine right here,” Luke replied. “I don’t want to wake my pregnant wife.”
“Right,” Merewether replied. He stood awkwardly in the middle of the drive. “We looked at the PowerPoint presentation you left for us in hard copy, and the written report you did. I would like to discuss it with you further.”
Luke’s heart jumped, then quickly returned to normal as reality reasserted itself. “Go ahead.”
“I think the idea of starting a new, civilian-run TOPGUN school is frankly rather brilliant. It would give the United States government several options and outlets, as well as employ the assets we’ve purchased that are currently sitting idle, in addition to keeping Tonopah active, which is to the benefit of the airfield. Airfields are meant to be used, not sit and gather dust.”
“What do you have in mind?” Luke asked cautiously.
“The United States government would like to accept your proposal.”
Luke’s eyes widened. It couldn’t be.
“On two conditions.”
“What?”
“First, that you allow the United States to send through your school certain… foreign students who have been clamoring to get into our TOPGUN or Red Flag for a long time. This would be a means for us to encourage and… um, reward our allies who do not have the same training opportunities that U.S. pilots have. Sort of a diplomatic plum.”
“What foreign students?” Luke asked, searching for future problems.
“I don’t really have any in mind right now. It could be any number of them with whom we currently have defense treaties or to whom we sell arms; but they would have to be capable of accomplishing the rigorous training conducted at the school.”
“Who would decide who comes?”
The Undersecretary looked into Luke’s eyes. “I would.”
“What about clearances?”
“That would all be in my area of responsibility. They would all be preapproved. You would simply need to give me the quotas I request, and I would then tell you who would be coming. The countries would pay you directly, and you could charge whatever you want. Perhaps an amount substantially over your actual cost, so that you can make a profit. The U.S. students could be charged at cost, which would include your amortized expenses of the airplane leases, the airfield, and the like. In fact, we could even reserve certain quotas for American students that would equal the amount attributable to the lease value of the MiGs and the air base. You could charge the foreign students whatever you want and get whatever you can from them. That’s where you would get your profit.”
Luke was amazed. “You’ve actually thought this through. I’d never even thought of that approach.”
“There are many possible scenarios.”
Luke looked around to see if anyone was nearby. The road was silent, and the sky was growing lighter by the minute. “You said there were two conditions.”
“Yes. The second will be acceptable to you. I promise.”
“What is it?”
Merewether took a long time to remove a cigarette from a pack and light it with a gold lighter that looked very expensive. He inhaled deeply and looked at Luke again as he slipped the lighter into his coat pocket. “As you probably know, when we purchased the MiG-29s from Moldova, we also purchased five hundred Russian air-to-air missiles.”
Luke nodded.
“It has long been our intention to conduct actual air-to-air test firings of those missiles with telemetry, so we can get the most accurate information possible on their performance. It has never been done because we don’t have airplanes capable of firing them. The MiGs are capable. So part of this deal is that you would agree to test the Russian missiles from the MiG-29s within the first twelve months of the school’s being open. That way we can get the telemetry we need.”
“Seriously? You want us to actually fire them?”
The Undersecretary smiled. “I thought you might be agreeable to that condition.”
“We’d get paid for that work?”
“Aha, the businessman wakes. Yes. Of course. You would be paid handsomely through a government contract for your work.”
“Why did you need to come here to tell me that? Why not call?”
“I’m not actually here to see you. I’m on my way to Tonopah to see how much needs to be done to get the air base ready. I flew into Reno, and you were nearby. I thought I’d stop and tell you myself.”
“So what do I do now?” Luke asked.
Merewether grinned in a way that made Luke uneasy. “Someone from my office will be in touch. Your letter of resignation has been accepted, as well as that of your friend, Lieutenant Thurmond. You’ll both be out of the Navy in sixty days.” Merewether extended his hand.
Luke smiled as he shook Merewether’s hand and tried to control his excitement. He couldn’t wait to tell Katherine. “I look forward to it,” he said, as Merewether returned to his car and it began backing out of his long driveway. Watching it go, all he could think of though was what Thud’s father had said in their meeting: “Don’t trust the government, don’t trust the government.” But then Thud’s father was paranoid.
Bill Morrissey wasn’t accustomed to getting interesting data that didn’t fit with other things he knew. He was used to getting no data, or bad data. But having good, hard intelligence that he couldn’t explain drove him crazy. And now there was more. He looked at Cindy Frohm who had asked to see him right away. She had new information that had just come across her desk. “Talk to me,” he said.
“The armory was attacked in the middle of the night. Pakistan isn’t telling anyone about it. Not even us, officially. We got this through our Air Force attaché in Islamabad. We’ve had it confirmed. Ten or more men attacked the armory, killed the gate guard and three guards at the armory itself. No shots fired by the guards at all. Two of them were found miles away and two at the armory.”
“And this was on a Pakistani Air Force base.”
“Yes.”
“How the hell do you break into an armory on an Air Force base? You just walk in?”
“Hard to say. Pakistan isn’t sharing any of this with us.”
“What was taken?”
“They’re not sure.”
Morrissey rolled his eyes. “How can they not be sure?”
“Whoever took the weapons destroyed the records.”
“Isn’t that where we think they kept some of their nukes?”
“Right, but not the warheads. Just the bombs that were to carry the nuclear warheads.”
“So were those taken?”
“Nope. We’re sure their nuclear program is unaffected. And their nuclear warheads are known to be stored elsewhere.”
Morrissey was puzzled. Especially when he tried to match it to the border incident. Warhead-grade plutonium and nuclear-warhead-carrying bomb casing. That was what was common. Except they didn’t get the plutonium at the border, and they didn’t take the bombs from the armory. “Why destroy the records?” he asked.