“Smoke?” Farber said. “What does that mean?”
“I don’t know. Nobody knows… except Caffey, if he’s still alive.” The president rose to his feet. “I think we have to assume that the colonel and his men are… have been unsuccessful in their mission.
General Olafson?”
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff nodded. “Yes, Mr. President, I think that would be a valid assumption.”
“Then we can also assume that the Soviet attack force is now sitting on our pipeline, right? Anybody got any ideas on how to get them the hell off without starting World War Three?”
The telephone rang and Kimball went quickly to it. He nodded at General Olafson, who took the extension.
“I think, Mr. President,” Farber said, “that we are going to have to negotiate them off.”
“You mean give into them?”
“I mean negotiate, Mr. President. Now that they have the pipeline — that is, they can shut off the flow—
they don’t actually have anything but a pumping station. I think perhaps we should back off of this and consider exactly what has happened here. No, no, I don’t mean give into their blackmail scheme. But I think something can be worked out. Suppose we let them have the pump station for several weeks.”
“Jules—”
“Please, Mr. President, let me finish. Suppose we let them have it. It wouldn’t be any worse than if there’d been an accident and we had to shut it down for several days or weeks. You might consider that alternative. Those soldiers can’t live there indefinitely. I mean, if the army surrounded the place and just waited them out, they’d have to give in sooner or later. And that gives us time. We can negotiate this thing, Mr. President. I’m sure the Soviets want that.”
McKenna considered it. “Perhaps, but—” He looked at Olafson. The general was just replacing the receiver. “Phil?”
The air force general stood up, addressing the president formally. “Mr. President, our IDT radar center is reporting several squadrons of Soviet aircraft leaving their security fields one hundred miles north of Yelizovo. They have climbed to sixty thousand feet.”
McKenna stared at the general in disbelief. “What?”
“At their calculated speed and altitude,” Olafson went on, “they can only be the new 28-D Backfire bombers.”
“Going where?” the president asked.
“Coming, sir.” Olafson glanced at the others in the room before looking at the president. “If they maintain their present course and speed it would put them over the Pacific Coast in about thirty-five minutes.”
“My God!”
“I’ve put SAC on alert, Mr. President. Our B-52s are scrambling, that is, they’re taking off all over the world, right now.”
“Now?”
“Yes, sir.”
Wayne Kimball moved beside the president. “The Moscow line is hot, Mr. President.”
McKenna continued to stare at Olafson. Then he glanced at Kimball and frowned. “I’m sorry, Wayne, what?”
“The Moscow line. Chairman Gorny is waiting to speak to you.”
McKenna walked to the gray phone that had no dial. A light blinked on it. He turned to Olafson. “How close can our B-52s get to the Soviet Union without actually violating their airspace?”
“Centimeters or inches?”
The president reached for the phone. “Do it.”
THE WHITE HOUSE
1530 HRS
“Good day, Mr. Chairman.”
“Good day, Mr. President. I hope you have been well since last we met.”
“Well enough to want some explanation about why you have several squadrons of bombers in the air.”
“I understand, Mr. President, that they are engaged in a special maneuver — scheduled months ago, I’m told.”
“Why is it with you people that everything is scheduled months ago? Look, Chairman Gorny, I want those planes turned around and turned around now.”
“I’m afraid I am not in a position to make such judgments any longer, Mr. President. But I will forward your concern immediately to those who are.”
“You’re not in control anymore?”
“I can only speak for… my people, Mr. President. It is they who are in control. The Central Committee has considered at some length our talk in Iceland. We wish you to join with us in a joint declaration.
Oh, incidentally, Mr. President, I am told to inform you that our special task force has reached its objective in Alaska.”
“Go on, Mr. Chairman. I’m interested to hear about this declaration.”
“In the spirit of brotherhood, in the spirit of peace between our two great nations, you declare all embargoes on the Soviet Union suspended for twenty years. The United States, which has always believed that food is an international blessing and not a weapon of deprivation, will, as a gesture for all the world to see…”
“Excuse me, Mr. Chairman, but what declaration are you making?”
“That the United States will have an uninterrupted flow of oil.”
“Surely, you’re not guaranteeing our own oil to us!”
“The Central Committee believes this to be… fair, Mr. President.”
“I don’t know what it was your Central Committee discussed at such length, but that offer isn’t any different from the original one. I expected some compromise, Mr. Chairman. What you’ve outlined is no more acceptable now than it was the first time you tried to palm it off on me.”
“Then nothing has changed?”
“Something’s changed, all right. Your Backfire bombers are a significant change, I would say.”
“I think the bombers are not a problem, Mr. President, believe me.”
“If you don’t mind, Mr. Chairman, I see that a little differently. Particularly since you are not in charge of the situation at your end. I see it very differently, as a matter of fact, which is why I have authorized the Strategic Air Command to take certain necessary steps. But don’t worry, they aren’t a problem.”
“You have alerted your B-52s?”
“Of course.”
“It is a very antagonistic move, Mr. President.”
“Antagonistic? You have invaded my country and to take appropriate defensive measures is antagonistic? Look, Gorny, you get your people off my land. Withdraw the unit and I’m sure we can negotiate this matter sensibly. But don’t push, Mr. Chairman. Don’t threaten me. You won’t solve anything, I can promise you that. The United States will not — not, Mr. Chairman— accept any terms or agree to any declaration while there are Soviet combat troops on its sovereign soil. I want to make that absolutely clear to you so you can explain it to your Central Committee. Do you understand, Mr.
Chairman?”
“Mr. President, I understand you only too well. Peace is the only imperative in this entire nasty business. I will present your views without delay to the Central Committee. I am sure arrangements will be made to bring the unit back. I will take your word that there will be no attempt to exploit this as a Soviet disaster.”
“You have my word.”
“And when the weather clears, your air force will not eliminate the unit?”
“It has been clear for the past hour, Mr. Chairman. They’re still in one piece. You have my assurance that they may withdraw peacefully. And you will guarantee that there will be no damage to the pipeline?”
“Of course. And your B-52s will return to their bases?”
“The moment I have evidence that the Backfires have changed course.”
“Then it will be done, Mr. President. I hope we will have the opportunity to meet again… under more agreeable circumstances.”