Max picked up his phone, pausing before dialling.
“Go keep Ms O’Connor company, I’ll get back to you”.
The large committee room echoed hollowly to voices, some charged with emotion. Unlike the previous sessions there were only eight person’s present. Minister Pong, Marshal Lo Chang, Alontov and Premier Chiu were sat around the head of the table. Further along were Krusov and Gorebitski, the Russian political and economic experts with a very stressed interpreter from the Premiers confidential staff. Peridenko was at the far end of the room speaking angrily into a cell phone to a female in England. At least Serge assumed his colleague would not address a member of the male gender as a ‘Depraved dyke psycho bitch’ at the top of his voice, as he had done after a minute of quietly listening to the other party. As an insult, coming as it did from Peridenko, Serge decided he would definitely not wish to make the acquaintance of whoever was on the other end of the telephone.
Serge remained calm as three other occupants in the room ranted and accused, he listened to their concerns being voiced, albeit with passion at times. Whatever they were paying the interpreter, it wasn’t enough he thought. The poor man was trying to be diplomatic and filter out the harsh language flying back and forth in two languages. He noticed that the Premier was keeping his own council for the time being too. The Chinese sundry Ministry’s had been excluded from the meeting; the plan was likely to have totally fallen apart in this room with the full politburo being present. It was bad enough with those few who were here.
Serge heard Peridenko’s final comments to the London end.
“I want him dead, slowly, and as for the girl… . I want her starring in one of your friends movies, make her co-star a German Shepherd and make it a snuff movie, understood?” A snuff movie was the term for underground films where the star died on camera for real at the end. Serge made himself a promise, once this business was finished he was going to kill his colleague, which was the only way he would ever feel clean again.
Peridenko terminated the call and put away the phone. The Premier also saw the call had ended and silenced his top soldier and defence minister with a single word. The Russians voices trailed away as they realised attention was focused elsewhere.
As Peridenko walked back toward the group he was aware he was now the centre of attention, his mind raced with its search of some means to deflect blame from himself. Alontov was watching him with a cynically knowing half smile on his face. The soldier had built up a lot of kudos with these people; if it came to a face-off with the man he knew he, Peridenko, would lose in the eyes of the Chinese. So, forget about blaming the military, which just left the Irish. He was gambling that the Chinese would not learn the full extent of the London debacle.
Clearing his voice he addressed the group.
“It would seem the Irish terrorist group were compromised by fate. Following a shootout with the English police the weapon fell into the hands of their security forces”. An understatement and a massive avoidance of the truth if there ever was thought Serge, who was aware of far more of the true facts than Peridenko knew. The premier was looking at Peridenko unblinkingly, trying to judge the truth with his eyes before he spoke.
“How does this effect operational security Comrade Colonel General?” Serge could see Peridenko bridle at the slight from the Chinese Premier, security was Peridenko’s province, and his own was purely military. Deciding not to declare open war with his colleague he looked over at him.
“Anatoly?”
Peridenko nodded at Serge before stating to the premier.
“They have found one device, one out of a hundred. There will be confusion-fuelled conjecture as to its presence in London and in the current climate the finger of blame will likely fall on the collusion of Bin Laden with other terror gangs. However, expert examination will show it to be of Russian manufacture. We can argue that away by blaming deserters but there are likely to be calls for UN sanctions against my country.
“What of these terrorists, where any captured and if so what can they divulge under torture?” was the premier’s next question.
“The armed police unit was wiped out without casualties to themselves, they are now in a secure safe house” Peridenko answered before adding. “After a week the hue and cry will have relaxed, we can still proceed on schedule”.
The plan had called for the nuclear attacks on financial centres, as well as government, military and communications targets. The London bomb, detonating in the Rotherhithe tunnel below the river would have destroyed the nearby modern international financial centre around Canary Wharf. The British parliament would have been sitting for Prime Ministers Question Time. With little to impede the blast wave, and a river borne tidal wave would have destroyed the Palace of Westminster where Parliament sits.
“Is there any way of replacing the captured device?” asked the premier.
Peridenko nodded affirmation
“Yes comrade Premier”.
“Then see to it please” ordered Premier Chiu. He stood and the meeting was at an end.
Only from orbiting the Earth can some of Mother Nature’s works best be viewed by man. The great forest fires and El Nino for example, are such disasters and phenomenon that are photographed, and then downloaded to the planet for fire fighters and scientists to work on.
The SeaSpace B was non-military and owned by a commercial venture but the camera package was under evaluation by the US government. Plugged by its makers as far superior to that presently in service it was being put through its paces monitoring and recording the oceans swells and giant ripples about the globe. These were being digitally downloaded for the oceanographers at the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command at Stennis Space Centre, Mississippi, USA.
The analyst’s at the space centre are used to seeing ships and their wakes appear in the frames but these do not cause much distraction from the real work at hand. However, the wakes of several ships in apparent naval formation do come under some scrutiny, if only out of professional curiosity. Several frames of one such group of ships heading south, 100 miles off the island of Komandorskiye Ostrova in the North Pacific Ocean were passed to the office of naval intelligence. Once there they were compared with RORSAT shots of the same area taken just 20 minutes before, the brown stuff hit the fan in the shape of the discoveries of compromised security in the United States vaunted satellite surveillance program, and that of the PLAN nuclear powered aircraft carrier Mao.
As days in politics’ go America’s chief executive was having a bit of a bad hair day, what with nuclear terror alerts and all. He was now speaking on the phone to a disgruntled large campaign contributor who wanted action on an environmental issue that could prove costly to his company. The Chief of Staff, Luke Garry and General Shaw, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs entered unbidden and caused him to lose track of his conversation. He was tempted to just hang-up but oil money had been largely responsible for his being in office and he owed markers they would not let him forget. He glanced up in annoyance at the two men, Luke looked away but General Shaw met his gaze. The marine was clearly not in the mood to pussyfoot with niceties. Cutting the platitudes short he ended the call. As with most people in office, who had never worn a uniform, let alone never been shot at he found the military a strange breed. Correction, strange and expensive.