“Such as.”
“A month ago, three Russian planes, an airborne sentry and two Su-35 fighters came over the pole, right to the edge of U.S. airspace. They turned away at the last moment.”
“What’s so unusual about that?”
“General, in the last six weeks more and more of the planes sortieing close to our borders have been some of their newest versions. Before that, their sorties had been mostly older craft.”
“Could be just an upgrade to the fleet.”
“Could be sir. Perhaps they are testing the newer technology, but historically, they do that in low-key situations. Would you put a brand new untested F-35 up against a veteran Russian pilot in such a mission?”
“Probably not.”
“And I wouldn’t think they would either.”
“Where else? You said there were some patterns.”
“Well, other than the use of equipment, look at all these sorties. They have been creeping closer and closer to our airspace with each successive week.” He pointed down the map to the Russo-Chinese border. “Even here, tensions have been raised. Chinese fighters intercepted Russian patrols twice in two months.”
“Anything else?”
“Yes sir. Most of the increasing action has been in the east, but almost all of it has involved the air force.”
“Almost?”
“Yes sir. Almost.” Tonney pointed to the coast along the Barents Sea. “Last month, they launched a new sub class out of Severomorsk, a Yesin-class. We have no info on it at all. We believe it traversed the GIU gap between Iceland and the U.K., but we can’t confirm that. If it’s so quiet it can slip by the SOSUS nets…”
“That’s a problem,” Foxx replied.
“Yes sir. Ever since the cold war ended, those have not been kept up. They’re almost a non-functioning barrier.”
“How does an Air Force puke know that, Lieutenant?”
“My brother wears a dolphin on his collar, sir.”
“Good man then.” Foxx pointed to the other red marks scattered about the map. “What about all this other stuff?”
“Too soon to tell, General. Perhaps another set of eyes might help.”
“I want to keep this low-key. You’re the brains of this right now Lieutenant.”
“What do you think is going on, General?”
“I’m not sure, but I just don’t think this is an isolated incident. The crash is, but not the incursion.”
“I’ll keep looking sir.”
“You do that Tonney. You do that.”
“So we never found any trace of Captain Wills?”
“No sir. No trace of the Raptor was even seen. The Navy is still looking, but the odds aren’t good this time of year.”
“Thank you.” The airman snapped off a salute and was quickly out the door. General Foxx leaned back on the edge of his desk. For his age, he was fit as a fiddle, a sure sign of working to keep up with his junior officers. He’d seen many a commander get the middle-aged spread, and he was determined that wouldn’t happen to him. A knock on his door brought him to a standing position.
“Captain Will Jenner reporting, sir.”
“Thank you Captain.” Foxx waved to the chair across from his desk as he returned to his own seat. “What can you tell me about what’s happened?”
“Probably not much more than you already know, General.”
“Why did Dulles send you over? What are you going to bring to the table?”
“Well sir, I was there when this all went down. I’ve also come up through intelligence. Had a posting there for a few years. I have a minor in Russian studies as well.”
“You might be the guy then.”
“For what, General?”
“We’re running an analysis of Russian movements over the past six months. Trying to keep this in-house. My young hot shot lieutenant hasn’t come up with anything in three days. He’s good, but he doesn’t have the experience. General Dulles said you were good.”
“What’s your theory, General?”
“I don’t know that I have one yet, Captain.”
“Sir?”
“Something just doesn’t feel right about this. There’s no reason for the Russians to start putting pressure at the top of the world, or anywhere else, for that matter. Now, all of a sudden within a few weeks, things are happening. Things that aren’t so big that a whole lot of people would notice.”
“But you noticed, General.”
“I’m supposed to notice things, Captain. It’s my job.”
“Where do I check in, sir?”
“You’ll have two places you’ll be working right off.” Foxx leaned back into his chair as his left hand reached to his drawer. Out popped a thick cigar, the wrap tinged with a hint of green. He lifted it towards Jenner who politely nodded ‘no’. Foxx slid it back into his drawer.
“I had enough of those when I worked on the farm, General. Gave them up years ago.”
“Farm?”
“I did some summers working on a tobacco farm in high school.” Captain Jenner leaned back slightly in his chair, a slight smile awash across his face. “Those make me sicker than a dog, sir.”
“You just had the wrong smoke, son.” Foxx slid the roll beneath his nose before slipping it back into the drawer. “Several from Costa Rica come close to rivaling the Cubans.”
Will Jenner nodded again.
“You’ll work in tactical to try and pick up as much intel as you possibly can and help my young Lieutenant assemble it right outside my office. We call it the ‘map room’. You’ll see every piece of intel I can get my hands on. Where that info comes from, I don’t really give a damn.”
“Do we have a time frame on this, General?”
“As quick as can be, Captain. I don’t want to be caught off guard if something happens.”
The next two days passed much too quickly for Captain Jenner, but he had to give Tonney credit. He’d done a remarkable job in beginning to see patterns in Russian movements, especially for someone who hadn’t been trained in what to look for. A damn fine job. He’d laid the groundwork, but sometimes, you just had to see the intel with your own eyes. Will Jenner poured over every detail Tonney had eyes on, retraced his steps and his thoughts. But something was missing. That was what he was here for; uncover the last details.
Jenner ran his fingers through his hair as another pile of intel and intercepts was plopped on the table. He rocked back in his chair, pressing his head against his interlocked hands. He was tired. More, he was nearly exhausted. He was now on day three and knew nothing was coming together the way he wanted. But he also knew it didn’t work that way. Intelligence was more than being smart, the joke went. It was about working to an end. It was putting together a puzzle that didn’t have any edge pieces. All you had were middle pieces and you had to make sense of it all without a picture. And after three days, the picture wasn’t forming. It was time to get some sleep.
He awoke with a start, his eyes searching in the darkness. That was it! That was the key. Jenner threw off the covers and ran to the door of his room. Good thing he hadn’t bothered to undress. He hit the hall running at a full clip and was standing at the map in ten minutes. Then the papers began to fly. Pile after pile began to circle around the map as he sorted. Other papers began to hit the floor, discarded like yesterday’s scraps. A single page then caught his attention, a red circle around the word Brezhnev. That was it.
Jenner began sorting all the papers with ‘Brezhnev’ against those without. And he began to smile.
“What’re you doing?” Jenner spun at the sound of the deep voice behind him, and the tell-tale smell of the cigar. “I thought you went to get some sleep?”
“I did, General. But, I couldn’t. Something was nagging at me and I think I’ve figured it out.”