by James Rosone
Just then, a Turkish officer walked in and whispered something to General Mehmet Yamut and handed him a note. General Yamut was the Turkish military representative, responsible for coordinating Turkey’s efforts in the war against Russia. He turned his head slightly and then did a double take at the officer that just brought him the note. He whispered something back and the officer only nodded, then quickly left the room.
At first, no one responded. Then all eyes turned to General Cotton and then to General Yamut, who raised his hand to signal that he needed to address the group. Cotton nodded for him to go ahead. “Colleagues, I want you to know that I do not agree with this decision,” Yamut began. “Most of the general officers within the military will be unhappy as well, but our president has directed that no Turkish military forces will participate in this war against Russia. Our nation conducts a large percentage of our international trade with Russia, and our President does not wish to upset that relationship--even if it means not honoring our agreement with NATO,” he explained as he squirmed in his chair. He was clearly not comfortable with providing this statement in front of the other NATO member states
General Cotton already knew the Turkish government was not going to support NATO in the current war with Russia. He also knew what he had to do, as uncomfortable as it might be.
“I understand your position, General. I also understand that this is a political decision being made by your government and not something the military agrees with. However, if Turkey is not going to honor its military commitment when the organization was clearly attacked, then Turkey can no longer be a part of the planning of the war or take part in any of the war updates. My understanding is that Ambassador Wilkins, at the direction of our President, will move to have Turkey removed from the alliance for its failure to live up to its obligation.”
A collective gasp filled the room.
General Cotton continued, “While this is a political decision, as the SACEUR responsible for the defense of Europe and the lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers, I cannot allow you to remain privy to the war plans being developed or implemented by NATO.” He took a deep breath before he dropped the final hammer. “I kindly ask that you excuse yourself from the room while we continue to discuss the war.”
Many of the generals in the room had their mouths wide open in surprise. No one had ever asked another member state to leave before, and no one had ever told a member state they could no longer participate in any further military discussions, planning, or updates either.
General Yamut nodded. He was upset to be asked to leave, but he also understood. He gathered his things and walked out of the room, while everyone watched in silence.
With the uncomfortable tension still hanging in the air, General Cotton addressed the rest of the representatives at the table. “Before we continue with the war update, are there any other member states who are not going to honor their military agreements?”
Silence filled the room as everyone stared down all of their counterparts. Then, to everyone’s shock and horror, first the Hungarian general and then the Spanish general both stood up and walked out.
“What in the world is going on?!” thought General Cotton. However, there was no time to dwell on it. There was only time to move forward.
Before You Leave
Kiev, Ukraine
Sergeant Childers counted to two, then leaned slightly out the window and dropped the grenade he had been holding into the gaggle of soldiers stacking up against the wall of the ground floor below him. The Russians immediately dove for cover as the grenade went off, killing and injuring many in the group that had been piling up to breach their building. As Childers quickly ducked his head and arm back inside the building, the window sill began to explode into splinters and shards; the soldiers below him and outside the building began to open up on where he had just been. Lying on his belly, he crawled quickly out of the room and into the hallway before getting up and running quickly to the back of the building and into the next room. One of his soldiers was waiting for him as he arrived and waved him through the hole they had cut out in the wall that allowed them to pass from one building to another.
“You sure stirred up a hornet’s nest out there, Sergeant,” the private said with a wicked grin.
“You could say that,” Luke responded, snickering. Then his facial expression quickly went serious. “Hey, they are going to breach the first floor shortly. Get the charge set, and let’s get out of here. We need to get to the next building before they arrive.”
Childers stopped a minute to catch his breath as the other soldier finished tying the tripwire to the claymore mine. When the Russians saw the hole between the two buildings, they would rush through it in hopes of following the Americans. If they did, then they would hit the tripwire, causing the claymore to go off. Hopefully, it would take several more of them out.
The Russians had finally punched through the NATO lines at the outskirts of the city ten hours ago, and it had been a mad melee of house-to-house fighting ever since. The German brigade was supposed to fall back in an orderly manner and allow time for the new lines to form, but the Russians had gotten to them before they reorganized, and the brigade collapsed. A group of Su-25s dove on the Germans and took out a good chunk of their tanks. The Russians saw a weak spot and fully exploited it, resulting in the breakdown of part of the city’s defenses. Once they had a hole in the lines, they rammed as many units as possible through it, crumpling much of the NATO lines.
Nemesis Troop was forced to take cover in a block of buildings not far from Patona Bridge. British engineers had dropped the Darnyts'kyi Bridge when the breach in the lines occurred, but were unable to successfully destroy the Patona bridge before it was captured. A company of American tanks tried to recapture the bridge with support from a British infantry unit, but was summarily beaten back by waves of precision guided anti-tank missiles. At first, no one knew where the missiles were coming from, since there were no Su-25s in the area. Then a British soldier spotted them off in the distance--drones. The Russians had brought forward nearly a dozen of their newest anti-tank infantry support drones for this battle, the now-infamous Zhukovs.
Each one of the drones carried six anti-tank missiles, which quickly wiped out the American tanks attempting to re-secure the bridge (or at least get in position to destroy it). It was a blessing and a curse when those drones finally left--a blessing because they had run out of missiles, a curse because everyone knew they would be back and wreak further havoc.
The remnants of SFC Childers’ platoon was now held up in a building several blocks away from the bridge, doing their best to slow the Russians up and find a way out of the city themselves. Word had come down from the higher-ups that NATO was going to abandon the city and that the Allied forces should begin conducting a fighting retreat. This made a lot of sense; however, the problem was, a lot of Allied units had been lost or cut off in various parts of the city from the other main elements, leaving thousands of soldiers in a bad spot. Unless the area commander could figure out where the pockets of Allied soldiers were all taking cover and find a way to break some of them out, a lot of soldiers were going to end up being captured as they ran out of ammo.
Taking Flight
Warsaw, Poland
US Embassy
Ambassador Duncan Rice could not believe how badly things were playing out in Ukraine. He had tried to warn the President and his national security team of the grave consequences if they backed Russia into a corner, and now everyone was paying the price for it. As he sat in the Chancellery, reading the latest intelligence summary, he thought he might get sick. NATO had really underestimated the Russians’ capability to wage war and overestimated their ability to defeat them.
It had only been twenty-four hours since his own Embassy in Kiev had to be evacuated to Warsaw. Ten hours later, the Ukrainian government fled to the city of Lviv in Western Ukraine when it became clear NATO was not going to be able to hold Kiev. There were reports now
of numerous US, German, and British units trapped in various parts of Kiev as the Russians continued to envelop the city, attempting to capture as much of the NATO army as possible.
Just then, Duncan’s phone rang. Looking at his secured smartphone, he saw the caller ID. It was the Beijing Embassy, and he knew it was his old friend Vincent Jones, one of the senior political officers at the Embassy. They had gone through their diplomatic training together many years ago, and had stayed in touch ever since.
“Hello, Vincent. How are you doing my friend?” he asked jovially.
“I am doing good, Duncan. This was the first chance I’ve had to call and see how you are doing. I heard they had to evacuate the embassy yesterday,” he said with genuine concern in his voice.
“Yes, the Russian army was advancing quickly on Kiev. It’s believed they will capture it sometime today,” Ambassador Rice responded sadly.
“That’s terrible,” replied Vincent. “From what we are following, it looks like the war is not going well for our side. Is there anything Jennifer and I can do for you and your family?”
“No, we’re fine. My wife and the kids flew back to the States two weeks ago, so they are safe. I’m just trying to do what I can to help mediate things and see if we can work out a ceasefire, but I’m not hopeful,” Duncan said candidly.
“You are probably too busy right now, but things are starting to take a turn here in China as well. The Chinese see the US in a weak position with how the war is shaping up in Ukraine. Our DAO and others at the Embassy had a briefing with the Ambassador, showing a significant troop increase all along China’s southern and southwestern borders. We are not sure what is going on yet, but they may be looking to take advantage of the situation and expand their own borders, knowing that the US has little in the way of stopping them.”
Duncan thought for a moment, “This is troubling. Petrov has practically staged this entire event to turn out the way he wanted. Now things are starting to heat up with Iran in the Straits of Hormuz, and China is moving soldiers to their borders. Could this possibly be a well-orchestrated global event? It certainly would make sense, given how fractured politically we have become at home.”
“This is rather disturbing, my friend,” Duncan said aloud. “I need to let you go…I have to talk with someone about something. Some pieces are finally starting to fit together. Please stay safe, and we’ll talk again soon.”
As he hung up the call, he leaned back in his chair thinking for a minute. “What could all of this mean. Could it really be a global conspiracy? Is there a plot to taint our 2016 elections, cause scandal after scandal, and then orchestrate a military expansion in Europe and Asia while we are distracted?”
Duncan had to shove those thoughts aside for the moment. He had a briefing with the embassy staff in a few hours, and he needed to get caught up on the latest happenings in the war. The Ambassador in Poland was going to reach out to the Russian Ambassador here, and see if they couldn’t find a way to end the fighting.
Ten minutes into reading the various intelligence summaries, it became clear that as bad as the military front was, the diplomatic front was in even worse shape. Due to the sustained disinformation campaign being played out by the Russians, the general population in each of the NATO member states was increasingly against their country joining the war. Yesterday evening, President Yavuz announced that Turkey would not participate in any armed conflict against Russia. That announcement was quickly followed by Hungary and Spain also signaling that they would not participate in the war.
As Ambassador Duncan read on, there were at least some glimmers of hope in the responses of the world leaders. The British Prime Minister had called this a blatant act of sabotage to the NATO alliance, and chastised the heads of Turkey, Hungary, and Spain publicly. The Presidents of Italy and France, along with the Chancellor of Germany, announced their support of the alliance and, at long last, released their armed forces to the command of SACEUR and NATO high command. President Gates (along with the leaders of France, Germany, and the UK) had called for the removal of Turkey, Spain, and Hungary from NATO for failure to honor their military obligation.
Several other members of NATO said this was too rash of a move to make while in the midst of a war, while others said any member not willing to honor its agreement should lose its membership.
While the politics of NATO was quickly becoming a mess, President Gates had announced the deployment of 250,000 US Soldiers to Europe and called on all able-bodied men and women in America to answer the nation’s call to arms and join the military. He was attempting to rally the nation to unite against Russia. Had the Russians not carried out a domestic attack against America’s energy export industry, his call for unity might have failed. As it was, Gates was able to fully capitalize on this supreme political miscalculation by Moscow; the people of the US were hot for revenge.
Then the President asked for a formal declaration of war by the US Congress, even though a state of war had essentially existed for several days. He also asked Congress to double the size of the current Armed Forces and announced the activation of the entire Reserve and National Guard Forces. This war was spiraling out of control fast. If someone did not get things under control in Washington and in Europe, this could turn nuclear.
Just as Duncan’s thoughts were starting to turn dark, his phone buzzed. He looked at it and saw on the caller ID it was from the White House. He picked up and said “Hello, this is Ambassador Rice.”
“Hello, Ambassador Rice, please hold for the President,” he heard the voice of the White House operator say. Duncan was in shock.
A minute went by and then he heard the President pick up, “Ambassador Rice. I think you and I should talk some more. I am in need of some clear level-headed advice on this unfolding disaster in Ukraine, and I believe you may be able to help provide that. Can I count on you to travel back to Washington and give us some insight?” asked the President.
Duncan didn’t know what to say at first, this was exactly what he had wanted, and now the opportunity had presented itself. This was a real chance to help right this situation before it could spiral any further out of control. He knew there was only one answer he could give. “I’ll be on the next flight to Washington, Mr. President. Thank you for thinking of me,” he replied, and then the President hung up.
*******
Less than twenty-four hours later, Ambassador Rice was standing under the covered entrance to the JW Marriott hotel in Washington, DC. His chartered flight from Warsaw had arrived nine hours ago, which meant he had only had enough time to catch a couple of hours of sleep, talk briefly to his family and get dressed for his meeting with the President. As he stood under the covered entrance, looking out at the city, everyone was rushing around doing their normal activities as if it was just any ordinary day. Being there, it was as if there was not a major war with Russia going on, and there were no men and women dying in a foreign land.
Just as he was about to get lost in his thoughts, a black Chevy Suburban pulled up. As it came to a halt, the front passenger door opened, and a solidly built African American man with a black suit, sunglasses, and an ear piece stepped out and walked up to him.
“Are you Ambassador Duncan Rice?” he asked in a very serious tone as he surveyed the surrounding area.
Duncan had not been expecting the Secret Service to pick him up for this meeting; he thought a regular State Department vehicle would collect him for his White House meeting. Duncan nodded and replied, “Yes, I’m Ambassador Rice.”
The agent then walked towards the rear passenger side door and held it opened for Duncan. As he walked over to the door and began to get in, he saw Secretary of State Johnson sitting in the other seat.
“Mr. Secretary, I was not expecting you. Good Morning,” he said as he proceeded to get into the vehicle. The Secret Service agent then closed the door and the vehicle began to move the short distance to the White House.
“I wanted to personally greet you Duncan, an
d welcome you home. You were placed in a tough position in Ukraine. I wanted to let you know you have done a good job trying to diffuse the situation and prevent this war from happening.”
Rice snorted slightly before responding. “It doesn’t seem like any of that did any good at preventing this war from starting though. I fear things are now going to spiral out of control, and I am not sure what can be done to stop that from happening,” Duncan replied, clearly dismayed.
Johnson sat there for a minute, not saying anything as he looked out the window. They were approaching the vehicle entrance at the back of the White House. The driver flashed his ID and so did his partner. The vehicle was quickly waived through, directed over to the area for further inspection before being allowed to drive up to the building.
Secretary Johnson turned and looked at Duncan. “I know you are frustrated, and you have every right to be. Right now, it is our job to provide the President with the best possible counsel and advice we can to help bring an end to this war, or at least ensure it stays conventional. Do you think you can work with me and the President on doing that, Duncan?”
As Duncan thought about what his boss had just said, the phrase, “keep it conventional” sent shivers down his back. Russia was a nuclear power, and it was not out of the question that they could potentially use those horrible weapons to achieve the political and military outcome they were looking for.
He turned and faced the Secretary, “I will do my utmost to help end this conflict, Sir.”
Before either man could say anything further, their doors were opened and they exited the vehicle. They followed their escorts into the building and through security to the corridor that would take them to the West Wing. The last time Duncan had been to the White House was during the last administration, when he had been officially appointed as Ambassador to the Ukraine. It had been the crowning achievement to his diplomatic career, to be officially recognized as an Ambassador on behalf of the United States.