"Sir," Curtis said, leaning toward the President, "there is only one aircraft in our inventory more heavily armed, more capable, and more prepared to accomplish this mission than even those two Excaliburs-the Old Dog."
"The Old… you mean that B-52 test airplane?The one that almost got blown up in Nevada?"
"The Old Dog has more defensive weapons, more power, better range and better countermeasures than the B-1s. That plane is manned by the experts that designed all the gear aboard the Excaliburs. And they have the best bombardier in the Strategic Air Command aboard.
"Curtis, that's out of the damned question. "The President began to pace the office, then abruptly stopped and faced Curtis.
"How the hell could a B-52 get in when two B-1s got caught?"
Curtis took a deep breath to hide his excitement. He didn't want to blow this. "The Old Dog wouldn't go in the same way" He walked over to the large map, found the President had come along with him. "The Russian air defenses will be swarming over the north area, waiting for more attackersthey'll probably be expecting a mass of bombers. General Elliott could pick his way in from the south-" "How would he know what route to take to avoid being spotted?"
"Sir, General Elliott, who's now in command of the Old Dog, has spent months studying the defenses of the Kavaznya area and the Kamchatka peninsula. He knows them much better than I do. I'm betting he can find a gap in the radar coverage and get in without giving away his position. And once he gets in the mountainous terrain of the Kamchatka peninsula, a whole air wing of fighters couldn't find him."
The President shook his head, turned his back to Curtis.
"Sir, the Old Dog is already airborne," Curtis reminded him. "It doesn't have a flight plan-it's a non-mission. The Russians may even believe it was destroyed in the attack-we can leak that it was destroyed. It can be diverted easily.
"What about the damage, the injuries?"
"I'll check on its operational status," Curtis asked. "Get a report from General Elliott, have him make a decision whether or not he can accept this assignment."
"Would Elliott say no?I know him. He's gung-ho as they come-" "But he wouldn't risk the lives of his crew unless he knew there was a chance of success. That I know."
To Curtis' surprise, and relief, the President said: "Get Elliott's decision."
"Yes, sir. "Curtis turned to leave the room, then hesitated a moment.
"The Old Dog is vulnerable to the same security leak that has compromised us all along. Under the circumstances it would be wise to take certain steps-" "Such as?"
"Well, sir, such as keeping knowledge of the Old Dog's involvement between just the two of us."
"No way," the President asked. "I rely on the support of my advisers, and I've no doubt about their integrity. We'll restrict knowledge of this to the Cabinet, but the Cabinet must be involved."
"Very well, but I would like to suggest one more thing. If the Old Dog is to get through this, it will have to play it by ear.
A set of recall options can't be reliably built into the mission plan without compromising it. And there's always the possibility of a leak if the crew had to radio back for a go-ahead."
"What I think I'm hearing, General, is that you want me to give the strike order now, even with negotiations going on?"
The President shook his head.
"Sir, right from the beginning the Soviets have failed to negotiate in anything like good faith. They've kept us at the bargaining table under false pretenses while they've carried out their own hidden agenda. The loss of the Midgetman and Ice Fortress both happened while so-called negotiations were going on. They've demonstrated that they've never intended to do anything but stall for time. Negotiations are in name only. "There was a long silence as the President considered Curtis' words. "There's truth in what you're saying. And I'm not unaware of history… FDR thought that Secretary of State Cordell Hull could work out an agreement with the Japanese just before they attacked Pearl Harbor. He underestimated their duplicity. It seems I've made the same mistake, and for the same reasons. We both wanted a result so much we lost sight of realities For a moment all that could be heard was the ticking of the brass clock on the President's desk and the muted sound of trees swaying in the wind outside.
"All right, General… you ask Elliott if he's up to this. If he is, there'll be no turning back McLanahan and Luger were dozing in the downstairs offensive crew compartment when Elliott came over the radio: "Crew, listen up. We have received orders from the Joint Chiefs. It was why I had you accomplish a thorough equipment check a few minutes ago. Now, I want to make another check-a people check. You all remember earlier today when I told you about the planned B-1 sorties that launched early this morning. Well, it seems those B-1s were discovered and intercepted just north of Point Barrow about fifteen minutes ago."
"Intercepted?" Ormack asked.
"Somehow the Russians knew where the B-1s would be coming from. They had a Mainstay early-warning and control radar plane waiting for them, dragging two MiG-31 Foxhound fighters with it. The B-1s didn't have a chance to evade."
"Did… the B-1s get shot down?" Wendy asked.
"No, but the fighters are dogging them. They've been ordered to hold at a fail-safe orbit point over the Chukchi Sea just outside Soviet airspace. It's presumed the MiGs will follow."
"But why are the B-1s continuing?" Luger asked. There was a long moment of silence.
"Don't you get it?" McLanahan asked. "They want us to do it.
"How the hell are we supposed to make it if two B-1s couldn't?"
Elliott took over. "It'll be risky trying to get past their earlywarning radar net, much less flying over the Soviet Union, I agree. I need your thoughts, people. We've got some left wing damage but our offensive and defensive weapons and systems are all operational. We don't have proper military charts but we have general aviation charts plus, fortunately, a terrain cartridge for the Kavaznya site. We'll also get refueling support going in and fighter coverage coming out."
Elliott hoped it was sinking in, hoped his crew was buying it…
his crew?It hadn't been his crew until a few short hours ago when they were close to death in that hangar in the high Nevada desert.
"I won't go on unless I have everyone's support," he said.
"I know none of you thought you'd be part of an actual mission, much less a raid against an installation in the Soviet Union. We've only flown together a few times-hell, I wasn't even a part of the crew.
John and I are the only ones who have ever flown in combat. If we aren't one hundred percent agreed, we land in Seattle and that's that.
But consider the situation.
The Russians have continued to use their laser at Kavaznya in spite of all our diplomatic protests. They have, literally, crippled our ability to detect ballistic-missile launches over the Pacific or the Pole. If they decide to launch an attack we have only a few minutes' warning before the warheads impact. I believe that if the B-1 mission has failed-and it has-the next step is either a cruise missile attack from long range, a naval strike force, or an intercontinental ballistic missile attack on Kavaznya. The laser site can probably protect itself against all those threats. And the sight of cruise missiles or an I.C.B.M heading toward Asia could well result in someone pushing an even bigger button and triggering a thermonuclear exchange… " Was he laying it on too thick?No, dammit, he was laying out the awful option.