THE SOVIET UNION DEPLORES THE SENSELESS ACTS OF CERTAIN DISSIDENT ELEMENTS WITHIN ITS OWN GOVERNMENT IN THE PAST WEEKS. THE NUCLEAR DETONATION NEAR TASHKENT SHOULD NOT BE CAUSE FOR FURTHER BREAKDOWN OF RELATIONS BETWEEN OUR TWO NATIONS. ABSOLUTELY NO COUNTER-MEASURES WILL BE INITIATED BY OUR ARMED FORCES. PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE AND STATE YOUR INTENTIONS.
SMIRNOV
As he read the final lines aloud, William Stark had tears in his eyes. The room erupted in cheers and whistles as men pounded one another on the back and hugged their neighbors. General Stephen Austin Roarke, his face a mixture of awe and triumph, offered his hand to the President.
“Mr. President, you’re one helluva man. If I didn’t know otherwise, I’d swear you were from Texas.”
Stark shook his hand and mumbled, “Thanks, Steve,” as Sam Riordan forced a Scotch into his left hand. “And Steve,” Stark added, “tell NORAD to kill the alert.” Sam put his arm around the President and whispered: “Bill, you and you alone saved us.” He raised his glass to the President, and Stark started to accept the toast until he remembered the ugly mushroom in the Central Asian desert. He quickly put the drink down and reached for a chair. As the revelry in the room swirled around him, the President of the United States put his head in his hands to blot out the joyous scene.
At the wall screen Sam Riordan watched the concrete doors of the Soviet missile silos at Novosibirsk slowly close back over the warheads. He switched off the screen and went to refill his drink.
About the Author
William Craig (1929–1997) was an American historian and novelist. Born and raised in Concord, Massachusetts, he interrupted his career as an advertising salesman to appear on the quiz show Tic-Tac-Dough in 1958. With his $42,000 in winnings—a record-breaking amount at the time—Craig enrolled at Columbia University and earned both an undergraduate and a master’s degree in history. He published his first book, The Fall of Japan, in 1967. A narrative history of the final weeks of World War II in the Pacific, it reached the top ten on the New York Times bestseller list and was deemed “virtually flawless” by the New York Times Book Review. In order to write Enemy at the Gates (1973), a documentary account of the Battle of Stalingrad, Craig travelled to three continents and interviewed hundreds of military and civilian survivors. A New York Times bestseller, the book inspired a film of the same name starring Jude Law and Joseph Fiennes. In addition to his histories of World War II, Craig wrote two acclaimed espionage thrillers: The Tashkent Crisis (1971) and The Strasbourg Legacy (1975).
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1971 by William Craig
Cover design by Mimi Bark
Cover image © blackstroke/Shutterstock Images
ISBN: 978-1-5040-2135-7
This edition published in 2015 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
345 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014
www.openroadmedia.com
WILLIAM CRAIG
FROM OPEN ROAD MEDIA
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