Even with Russian military exercises occurring near Estonia, no order to go on alert had come down. He agreed that keeping troops on alert caused stress and reduced their battle readiness if it went on too long, but this was a cost analysis. It was too expensive to keep them on alert. It went all the way back to leadership in the U.S., which was lacking by any standard. Shepherd read as much history as anyone on the planet. He recognized that a military was meant to scare, as well as fight. Russia had been held in check for decades by the idea of what the U.S. and NATO might do. Now, after the debacle in Crimea, it was obvious that NATO was simply a hollow threat. Their big move was to station twelve F-16s in Estonia, along with some older armor. That was it. With no hint of repercussions, there was no telling how far Russia might go.
Shepherd had stepped back but had not stood down. It was a slight and technical distinction. He was giving his companies two days off on a rotating basis. The time also allowed him to decompress, recognizing that a leader must rest and take care of himself if he’s going to act properly on the battlefield. He’d called the woman he met last week, Fannie. He thought he could work her into his dating rotation. His quick check on the Internet showed she had worked in finance and was from France. There weren’t any new posts from businesses in the past two years, so he figured she had a steady job and had not switched around at all. Maybe that meant he could finally go out with a woman who might pay for dinner. She answered her cell phone last night but was on a business trip somewhere in Switzerland. So far he’d only had one quick dinner with her, but she seemed like a winner. Beautiful, charming, and smart. Just the thought of her pretty face put him in a good mood.
A news story on CNN caught his attention, and he glanced up at the TV set in the corner of his office. Everyone seemed to be disturbed about a new financial issue back in the States. One of the big houses was accused of sending hundreds of millions of dollars to bank accounts used by terrorists. That’s all they needed: another financial crisis and terrorists with money to spend on operations. The name of the company, Thomas Brothers Financial, rang a bell. He thought that was where Derek Walsh was working. Maybe if he had time later on today he’d call Walsh and Mike Rosenberg. It was one way to keep his mind off the loss of his friend Ron Jackson.
Fannie Legat had not slept in two days. Once the money had come in from New York, she had disbursed it quickly. The U.S. government was able to freeze accounts far too swiftly. The other members of her network needed money to carry out operations and to survive. It was nice to show them how thoroughly she could deliver. She wanted to teach some of these fundamentalists that women were just as valuable as men in most situations. She followed the teachings of Mohammed as closely as her comrades and realized women had played a strong role in the Prophet’s life, as well as in the advancement of Islam ever since.
She had spent almost two days making all of the transfers out of the account. It was a long and complicated assignment, and she had to prioritize where the money went.
The backwoods group Boko Haram received over $800,000. They did little to help Islam and were no threat to most governments, but they tended to grab headlines and keep the world’s attention focused away from more productive groups who were preparing for major attacks. The path to a new world order. An Islamic order. What the African group lacked in education they made up for in creativity. Kidnapping schoolgirls and threatening religious orders always got the attention of the Western press, no matter how much it actually affected world politics. They had also publicly pledged their loyalty to the Islamic State.
More than $20 million had gone right back into New York City, where it would be disbursed among a number of cells. Most of these were one- or two-man operations, who were directed to start causing as much havoc as possible, building to a crescendo over the next three days. Fannie vaguely recognized that they were trying to harness the power of the mobs that had been protesting financial institutions in New York.
She had sent nearly $40 million to a number of different accounts to pay greedy bankers and European officials who turned a blind eye to her activities. She thought it was ironic that their effort to keep a distance from the transactions would ultimately be their downfall.
Now all the money was moved and she had proven her value. No one questioned the wisdom of having a woman in such an important role anymore. She wanted to take another step up the ladder and prayed that Allah would forgive her ambition. Looking at the Swiss bank building out her hotel window and knowing what would happen as soon as she got the signal made her smile in anticipation.
7
Putin had listened to all of Simplov’s news, so now he shared his own interpretation of what was about to happen.
Putin said, “We are deploying our forces at the northern end of the border so that we can conceal them more easily from satellite detection. The force is relatively small and will move quickly once we cross the Narva River. I want it made clear that we are entering Estonia at the request of some of their leaders and will liberate the ethnic Russians who live there.
“This will be as fast an operation as we’ve ever conducted. That’s what I am counting on. What we need to happen is that NATO makes the decision to save its resources and not risk a larger conflict over Estonia. Everything that I have picked up from my dealings with the Germans and the French is that they are not confident in American leadership. That leads me to believe we can do this quick strike, install the right man as president, and once again have a reliable satellite on our Western border.”
“And if your assessment is wrong?”
Putin scowled at him briefly. This was one of the few men who could challenge him. But he did appreciate Simplov’s grasp of the situation.
“If I am wrong,” Putin said, “which I doubt, the force is small enough that we will simply turn it and recross the border. At that point we’ll come up with a story about rescuing a specific family who was being mistreated by the Estonians. Something like that. There will be some loss of face, but we could overcome it.”
Putin stepped to the window and looked out over the lighted fields outside the parlor located on the eastern side of the palace. “Look at how the U.S. and NATO responded to our adventure in Crimea. They did nothing to stop us. If Ukraine weren’t a political and economic nightmare, we could roll in there as well.”
“But who would want Ukraine?” Yuri asked.
“Exactly,” Putin said. “So this is a test, a probe. We cannot lock ourselves into a course of action that can’t be changed. Still, once this has started, we must be committed.”
“We better be,” Yuri said, “if we are to take on NATO.”
“Which did nothing to prevent us from annexing Crimea,” Simplov said, “and they will do nothing now.”
Putin was aroused by the possibility of going to war.
Derek Walsh appreciated how suddenly Tonya Stratford had escorted him out of the Thomas Brothers building. It was professional and efficient, and she had not handcuffed him in front of his coworkers. It appealed to his marine’s sensibilities, but it still meant he was in trouble. Real trouble.