“Mr. Minister, yes. I think it’s definitely worth looking into.”
The Minister shifted his gaze to Gregory, who all that time had been standing to attention by his side.
“Gregory, about tomorrow, have you already arranged their flight to Murmansk? Make sure that they receive the best treatment there, and get them out as soon as possible.”
“Yes, sir”, Gregory readily replied. “They are expected there tomorrow. There’s a team there that has already started working on the requests and they have already found a fishing boat, and a full crew has been taken from a Navy supply ship. The crew will board the fishing boat tomorrow and prepare it for its mission.”
The Minister’s directions to Gregory made the think tank members realize that it was again Yevgeni, with his healthy common sense and creativity, who had saved them from another painful head-on collision with the Minister. This young man is a genius, pure genius, and exceptionally brave, thought Dimitri.
The Minister’s loud voice boomed out again.
“Colonel Yevgeni will continue.”
“Mr. Minister, I shall continue my briefing on the activity beginning tomorrow in Murmansk. After we install the equipment on the fishing boat and solve the issue with the bomb, we will sail out to sea with the submarine and conduct a full test. There are still two issues that we need to address thoroughly before the wet run at sea. Colonel Nazarbayev, together with other people, will have to finish all the preliminary computations that he needs to make regarding the precise location of the blast and the distance from the submarine. The second issue is that we don’t have the American submarines’ training schedule for the next few days. Naturally, this is essential so that we can lay in wait in the fishing boat for the submarine at the right place and at the right time.
“In fact, we know their navigation courses very well, as they haven’t changed very much in the past few years. However, we don’t have the precise timetable of these navigation exercises. Dimitri, excuse me, Brigadier General Dimitri, has already made contact with our people in Washington and they are very optimistic. They believe they can provide us with all the missing data within two days. These are the main issues, Mr. Minister.”
Marshal Budarenko went into a short huddle with the woman at his side and with another man who had arrived with him, but who had not yet joined in the discussion. After their confidential exchange, the Minister turned back to the team.
“Now, assuming that the plan succeeds, though I still have my doubts”, he said, “I want you, Colonel Yevgeni, to start outlining the outcomes and consequences of our operation.”
“Mr. Minister, you mean how the American submarine will react after its captain is led to believe that the United States has been attacked by one or more nuclear missiles?” asked Yevgeni.
“Exactly.”
“Mr. Minister, I propose that Brigadier General Dimitri present this scenario.”
The Minister motioned impatiently with his hand as if saying, if you insist on Dimitri, then let it be Dimitri.
The Brigadier General stood up and approached the Minister and his retinue.
“If everything goes as planned and the American captain responds according to his orders”, said Brigadier General Dimitri, “his submarine will then launch what they call the first portion of two or three nuclear missiles on the Soviet Union. The submarines are equipped with either 16 Poseidon missiles or 24 Trident missiles. After the launch of the first portion, the submarine Captain must wait for an order to launch the second salvo, but of course, in our case, this order will not arrive.”
It was obvious that the Defense Minister did not like what he was hearing, and he was quick to cut Dimitri short.
“Wait a minute, stop. Do we know, or can we know, in which direction these two or three missiles, what you call an appetizer, will be launched?” the Minister of Defense asked.
“No, Mr. Minister. We have checked the issue thoroughly with our Washington people. It turns out that even this submarine Captain does not know where his missiles are aimed at. This is predetermined, and nobody in the submarine can interfere with the targets.”
The Minister motioned restlessly at Dimitri, who stopped his presentation again. The Minister lit another cigarette and huddled again with his two experts.
“I understand the significance of being hit with several nuclear-tipped missiles”, said the Minister. “On the other hand, I am actually encouraged that most of the 10,000 nuclear warheads that the Americans have are pre-assigned to targets, and I assume that most of the missiles are programmed to fall in our territory. So statistically, it is likely that the two or three missiles that we are hit with will not destroy our most important and highest-priority targets, out of the thousands of targets that the Americans have marked for destruction in case of all-out war. Furthermore, in the first stages of the war, I have no doubt that the Americans will not attack cities and population centers with nuclear weapons, except in response to such an act from us. It is most likely that their first target will be a heavy industry plant, an airport, or a seaport.”
The Minister took another drag from his cigarette and leaned back to blow the smoke up towards the ceiling.
“What I want to say is, I can live with that”, said the Minister after a pause. “Especially when the entire heavy industry of the German Federal Republic will fall intact into our hands during Stage B. This will be a pretty good compensation for the damage we will sustain from those two or three missiles.”
It appeared that for the Minister of Defense, all this was just a game of chess on a wooden board. The Minister seemed to concern himself only with probable missile hits on the Soviet Union, assessing the damage that they could cause, without mentioning, even in one word, the casualties and panic that they could create. Thus, the minister concluded this scenario, with the laconic, chilling five-word sentence: “I can live with that.”
Chapter 7
Three hours had passed since the five members of the special team had boarded the Antonov 12 transport plane from Moscow to the northern port city of Murmansk. The loud, monotonous noise created by the plane’s four turboprop engines all but prevented the team members from holding a conversation. Colonel Yevgeni had to shout into the ear of his colleague Brigadier General Dimitri.
“Can you hear me?”
“More or less. Talk loudly and slowly”, Dimitri shouted back.
“You remember what we said about our sixth team member, the hard to identify fellow? His name is Vladimir, right?”
“Yes, Vladimir, from Military Intelligence, who is following our every move”, Dimitri concurred.
“Exactly. Here is proof that we were right. We decided that the four of us would go — you, myself, Nazarbayev and the General — and suddenly we are five again.”
“Yes, you’re absolutely right. In fact, only Sergei, the Minister’s assistant, isn’t with us.”
“We are taking a risk”, said Yevgeni, “by conducting all the tests in Murmansk, of all places. It is our largest naval base and the closest to Western countries, and I’m sure that the Americans focus their intelligence resources there and that Murmansk is constantly monitored.”
“It makes sense, Yevgeni. But we don’t have time to travel to the proving grounds on the other side of the country, like the one in Lensk, for example.
“Murmansk, for us, is like a huge supermarket. All you need to do is reach out to the shelf and take whatever you want. You want a fishing boat? You got it. You want a nuclear assault submarine? It’s yours that same day. Over there in the East and at this time of year, the weather could shut us down for quite a few days. What would we do then? Do you think that you can make up another story for the Minister?” Dimitri asked.