CHAPTER 23
Wednesday
Langley, Virginia
Anderson, Sara, Matt, and their new friends from the NSA burst into the Command Room like a pack of wild animals. Anderson’s voice maintained a certain calm as he began asking questions.
“Did Tom leave the Virginia yet? Someone get in contact with the George Washington. Tell them order the Virginia to abort this mission.” Everyone in the room looked back at him frozen with faces of shock.
Matt ran to his station and picked up his phone. He had set up a direct line with the George Washington. “This is Matt. We need to abort Devil’s Fork. I repeat abort Devil’s Fork.” He listened to a response at the other end, then frantically said “Radio the Virginia. Order them to abort. Order them to break radio silence and report status.”
Anderson looked at his team, “Did Tom radio in yet?”
“Not yet.” One analyst responded.
Anderson turned to one of the analysts on his right. “When are we getting the next set of satellite imagery of that area?” Sara remembered that the last satellite images they looked at were perhaps half a day old.
“Actually in about 10 minutes, John.”
Sara looked at her watch. “If we were on schedule, he would have launched the SDV by now. He would probably be parking it by now.” She turned around and saw Mark and J.D. staring at the chaos from the back of the room. They look liked they cared this time, she thought.
After a few minutes, Matt turned around, covering the phone with his hand. His face had a raspberry-like hue. “The Virginia is saying that Tom launched already. There’s no way to radio him now until he gets ashore and radios back.”
Anderson stood in the middle of the room. His arms were crossed, but one was supporting his forehead. He looked like he was in deep thought. Sara thought she could help him out.
“It might be fine. Mission plan was for him to radio as soon as he’s on the beach. So when he does that, we’ll just tell him to abort, right? He doesn’t need to go any further.”
“I hope we can do that,” Anderson said while shaking his head slowly, “But we might not be able to call it off in time. If his radio doesn’t work, or it only works after he’s a mile in, or if he gets caught right on the beach it will be too late.” Sara stared at him as she continued thinking. A part of her wanted to start crying, but she willed it away. She had to hold herself together now, she thought. That’s what Tom needed.
Anderson thought some more. He pointed at Matt.
“Matt, ask the George Washington if they can put a couple of Marine platoons on standby, with helicopters too. To get Tom out if we need to.”
Matt slowly raised the phone to his head, as he thought about the implications.
Sara turned to Anderson, “But if we send in the Marines to get him out, and they get into a firefight with the North Korean Army, it could spark a war. They could think we are invading them.”
Anderson said coolly, “I’m hoping we don’t get to that point. I want the option ready just in case. I’m hoping that the North’s military presence is still low on that beach and that they’ve only beefed up the area around that base.”
He turned to one of the analysts on his left. “Can you get in contact with the Director. Give him an overview of the situation. Tell him Devil’s Fork is compromised, and that the North Koreans found out. Tell him I’m managing the situation but would like to have approval for a possible military exfil option in case we need it. If he needs me before he briefs the President, tell him I can call him.” Anderson then said to himself, “hopefully there is a low military presence. Hopefully we can get Tom out quickly.”
Then the analyst in charge of the satellite imagery came in with the latest images. He walked up to Anderson and Sara and stood in front of them for a moment too long. Sara thought he looked like he did not want to share what he held. Eventually Anderson took the file and studied the images.
“And that is exactly what I did not want to see.”
“What?” Sara demanded.
“Look,” He gave her the images, “That whole area is covered with North Korean Army units.”
Devil's Fork Page 32