Here he was, a guy that traveled halfway around the world with a mission to find ways to get back at the United States, and he had ended up contacting the very people he had grown to hate. People in the White House who were now treating him like some kind of a hero because he tipped them off to a secret plan. It all sounded like the plot of a summer movie, not a school report. But what now? He had no money, no job and he had a woman to care for. Where should they go from here? As he thought about it, he had absolutely no idea.
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
THE WHITE HOUSE
“The Pacific Ocean covers thirty-five percent of the earth’s surface,” Ken Cosgrove said, pouring over a map in the Situation room. “How the hell are we going to find this damn ship?”
Hunt Daniels leaned over and pointed to an area in the East China Sea. “I know. This is going to be a bitch. Seventh Fleet is out here, of course, all over the area from Russia and North Korea down to the Philippines, Australia. The whole shebang. We should be getting a report from Ignatius any minute now.”
Ken called over a Sit Room staffer. “When will that teleconference be ready?”
“We’re lining up all the participants right now, sir. Should only be a few moments.”
Ken and Hunt watched as images of the secretaries of Defense and Navy and the Coast Guard commandant flickered onto one of the big screens. Each was surrounded by several staff members exchanging papers, maps, and photos.
“Welcome gentlemen. We’ve got a helluva mess on our hands right now. That is if this crazy story is to be believed. But as we all know, we can’t take a chance on its being a hoax. Since the morning briefing, the president is waiting for a report from each of you about the plans to try and track down this ship, fishing boat, whatever the hell it is that has probably already taken off from a port on the China coast. If it indeed is headed for San Francisco, as we believe, at least that cuts down our surveillance area. But since no one knows what route they might take, we have to cast a wide net here.” Addressing the SecDef, Ken said, “So, Bill, bring us up to speed on your plans so far.”
“As you said,” Bill Ignatius began, “even though we can cut down the area from the 48 million square miles that the 7th Fleet covers, we’re still talking about a gigantic challenge with not much time to deploy. Right now I’ve got about sixty ships, two hundred fifty aircraft and forty thousand Navy and Marine personnel assigned to the fleet. But it’s going to take time to move even some of them to our target area. Let me bring in the Navy secretary here for an update.”
“At the president’s direction, we have sent an alert out to all ships, surface and submarines in or near our target section of the Pacific,” the Navy secretary said. “We have a number already patrolling off the China coast, but as you’ve said, the ship we want has probably left, though we don’t know that for sure. Is there any word about the president’s contact with the president of Kazakhstan?”
“He put in a call this morning. Got hold of Surleimenov in the middle of some dinner and confronted him with the information we have so far. He seemed shocked at the whole story. At least that’s how the president described the conversation. Surleimenov denied it all and said he’d had enough troubles in dealing with us, what with the sanctions and freezing of their assets. He almost didn’t take the call, but used it as a plea for us to let up and reinstate the trade, the contracts, well everything. Evidently, the conversation went further downhill from there when our president again demanded inspections and a halt to their obvious weapons program. Our people are analyzing the whole encounter. Oh, and one other small point, Surleimenov was particularly agitated because he said that in addition to the problems we had foisted on him, that was his word by the way, foisted, he also had to deal with spies in his palace. He said that his food-taster had been murdered. At least he didn’t accuse us of that. But the bottom line is that he’s got a lot of problems but said nothing useful, and so the president moved on and put in a call to the president of China.
“In that call, again he got a complete denial of complicity. Beijing is saying that they have no knowledge of a ship leaving one of their ports with a crew from Kazakhstan on board. He denied cooperating with President Surleimenov, but when pressed, he finally agreed to launch an investigation,” Ken said.
“Fat chance of getting anything out of that,” Hunt mumbled.
“We’ve got Mutual Defense Treaties with Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, and Thailand, though the last three are too far away. Nothing with China, of course. But we could exercise our rights with the others under those treaties and ask for help,” Ignatius said.
“The president is already taking that under consideration,” Ken replied. “We’re trying to keep this under wraps at the moment. I’ll get to that later, but now, what about the Coast Guard?”
The four-star admiral who currently serves as commandant spoke up. “If that vessel is headed our way, we’ll have the entire West Coast covered. I’ve sent word to our Pacific Area headquarters in Alameda, California, and we’re bringing in our best resources, cutters, HH-65A Dolphin helicopters as well as our 14 HH-60 Jayhawks. We’ve also sent out a general alert to all of our maritime contacts to be on the lookout, though we have no idea what flag that ship might be flying. With all of the traffic in the Pacific, it’s going to be extremely difficult to find one small vessel. However, if any ship we find refuses to identify itself, you can be sure we’ll take action.”
“Same for the Navy, of course,” the SecDef said.
“Just remember the new rules of engagement here. If we can locate the ship, you must notify the secretary of Defense and the White House immediately for further orders. And we must ensure that there are no casualties in this operation because we have given our word that one member of that crew, a man by the name of Nurlan Remizov, a non-combatant, is not, I repeat not to be harmed in any way. You all got that order, right?”
The three nodded their assent. “This could be tough, though,” the SecDef said. “If we find them, a big God-damn if at this point, but if we do, and if they start shooting, this could get real ugly.”
“We all know that,” Ken said. “We have a whole host of defensive measures we are ordering in the event the ship is not found and they try to launch a weapon. Any type of weapon, but particularly a nuclear device, which we’ve been told is on board.”
“As we said this morning, we’ve got the interceptors at Vandenberg Air Force Base at Santa Barbara geared up,” the Defense secretary said. “They’re tied in right now to the radar at Fort Greely, Alaska, and our satellites are combing the area as well. So if these bastards do try to launch something toward San Francisco, we should be ready to knock it down.”
“But with all due respect, Mr. Secretary,” Hunt interjected, “I know you’ve been pretty successful with the latest tests against ballistic missile targets, but this thing, whatever it is, is an unknown. I mean the word we have is that they intend to launch it high over San Francisco so it detonates at least 50 to 100 miles up. At least that’s what happened in Kazakhstan, and it sounded to us like they’re going for a repeat performance. The trajectory would be unique, and I would hate to have us rely on a single kill vehicle to knock out this sucker. There’s just too much at stake.”
“Yes, I understand your concerns,” Ignatius replied. “But that’s not all. If, again the big if, but if we can get a location on the enemy ship, we’d also have the airborne laser deployed to the area. And, yes, I know we’ve only had one test of the laser since the damn Congress cut us back on that one. But I’ve got funding reserves that we’ll re-allocate to testing and rapid development for the ABL. And I know that Dr. Talbot has been coordinating that with her people out in California. And thank God their facility is right there on the West Coast.”
“Let me make one more point,” Ken said. “This whole operation is to remain Top Secret. We discussed this at our meeting this morning. Since then, the president has emphasized that this must not le
ak out. It could cause complete panic in San Francisco and the entire surrounding area. He does not believe that an orderly evacuation could take place quickly enough and besides that, as we’ve also discussed, it appears that the intent of this attack is to create an EMP which would not affect the lives of people on the ground. Well, not initially.”
“But it would certainly change their lives for months, if not years,” Hunt said under his breath.
“So for right now, I want reports every four hours,” Ken ordered. “Are we clear on this?”
“Right.”
“Yes”
“Every four hours. Got it.”
The screen dissolved to black, Ken gathered his maps and notes, nodded to Hunt and said, “Let’s get back up to the Oval and brief the president.”
“Not that we have anything good to report, though,” Hunt said, pushing back from the table and heading upstairs.
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
ASTANA, KAZAKHSTAN
“First we’ve got sanctions, then freezes, then spies murdering my staff and now a leak about my special project,” President Viktor Surleimenov bellowed across the room as his vice president came through the office door. “Find the leak. I want to know who’s trying to sabotage my plan by telling the White House, the White House of all places, about an attack on California.”
“Sorry, Viktor, I won’t be your errand boy on this one. Actually, not on this one or any other one.”
“What are you talking about? We have crises on our hands. We’ve got countries berating us for our nuclear program. We’ve got handcuffs on our energy contracts. We’ve got an election coming up where Baltiev is spending money on ads every single day. And by the way, I’m positive it’s him. He’s responsible for the food poisoning. I’m sure of it. And that gives me even more reasons to see that the ship gets through and knocks out communications, especially that man’s bank accounts in San Francisco.”
“I told you before and I’ll tell you again,” the vice president said, stalking across the room to confront his president. “This is madness. You must recall that ship. Contact them immediately and call this off. You have absolutely no idea of the complete chaos it will cause. And now that there’s a leak about the operation, don’t you think the Americans will finger you with all of this? You think they’ll just sit back and lick their wounds and not fight back?”
Viktor sat back and steepled his fingers. “We will simply say that it must have been a copy-cat attack. We’ll speculate that other groups, terrorist groups, saw what happened by the Caspian and figured out they could damage the West Coast of America with just such an attack. You know they’ve all been trying to bring down the United States for years now. This would be their perfect solution. No, the Americans would not blame us. They would not dream that we would have the nerve to stage such an operation. And they wouldn’t understand our motives. We’re not a terrorist state. I’m just trying to protect this country.”
“Well, you certainly have a crazy definition of protection! In fact, by your actions, all of your actions, the test, the nuclear plant, the denial of inspections and now this insane plan, you are putting this country in mortal danger. I used to think you were a leader with a vision. A vision for Kazakhstan, a vision for all of us. But now it’s as if your food taster isn’t the only one who’s been poisoned. Something is poisoning your mind, and I no longer want to be a part of it,” he said in a vehement tone. “Listen to me, Viktor. If you go forward with this lunacy, I will resign my position and run against you in the election.”
The president leaped up from his chair, ran around his desk and grabbed the man by his lapels. “So now you’re a traitor too? I trusted you. I brought you on board. I made you my vice president, and now you think you can stand there and threaten me?” he roared. “I control the military. I control the security service. I control the election campaign. I control …”
The vice president interrupted, “But you don’t control the people!” He turned and hastily left the room, slamming the door behind him.
Surleimenov stared at the heavy door that rattled on its hinges. “We’ll just see about that.” He turned back to his chair and slumped down. Reaching for the phone, he muttered, “I’ll see who leaked my plan too. If it’s someone on that ship, I’ll find him.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND
Traffic was light on the Beltway as Samantha moved to the left lane and veered onto I-270 toward Rockville, Maryland. On any day but Saturday, she knew this road would look like a parking lot. Whenever she drove in this part of Maryland, she thanked her lucky stars that she lived in Georgetown and not out in the burbs where a fifteen-mile commute could sometimes take well over an hour on a work day. She checked her directions, drove several more miles, took a turn off and finally pulled up to a sprawling three story industrial complex. She parked in a Visitors’ slot, grabbed her shoulder bag and walked between rows of poplar trees bordering the entrance to Bandaq Technologies.
When she pushed through the massive glass double doors, she saw a flurry of activity with some employees walking briskly across the reception area, others piling in and out of elevators and a quartet of military officers huddled in the corner in a deep discussion.
“May I help you?” the receptionist asked in a cheerful voice.
“Samantha Reid to see Dr. Talbot, please.”
“Certainly. Just one moment.” The young woman spoke into the phone, hung up and said, “She’ll be out in a few minutes. There’s reading material on that table over there if you want to sit down.”
Samantha strolled over, took a seat and plucked a copy of the defense contractor’s annual report off the table. She leafed through it and found a photo of Dr. Cameron Talbot and her “team of missile defense specialists” standing in front of what looked like two giant cigar shaped tubes that were described as Kinetic Energy Boosters, whatever those were. Here she was pairing up with an obviously brilliant woman who kept her eye on the sky when Samantha had been trained by her dad to keep her eyes on the ground and study geologic formations looking for oil and gas. Boy was she out of her league in this place. She tried to push thoughts of her father out of her mind as she read through the article about Dr. Talbot’s various inventions and exploits.
Now that they were all working feverishly to locate the enemy ship, if there really was one out in the Pacific somewhere, the White House was putting a lot of its chips on Dr. Talbot’s game table, praying that she’d come up with a way to win the hand. Sure, the Navy, Coast Guard and Missile Defense Agency were all being dealt in, but Cammy was seen as having the best odds of scoring in this one. Talk about pressure. And since Samantha was working with Ken Cosgrove to keep tabs on all the players, she had decided to drive out here to Cammy’s lab and get an update.
“Hi Samantha, glad you could come by,” Cammy said, coming across the lobby and extending her hand. In her khaki slacks and a white sweater, she looked like any other typical young woman dressed for weekend chores. But this was no typical woman. “Come on back and I’ll show you around.”
Samantha was glad she had brought along a blazer when she realized that the rooms were kept quite cool. Must be because of all the computers and equipment in this place. Cammy peered into a small box to the right of a set of doors. “Retina recognition system,” she commented, as they both heard a click and pushed through to a long corridor. “There’s a lot of security around here. Then again, probably nothing like what you’ve got at the White House, right?”
“I’m not so sure about that. Seems like the private sector is usually ahead of the government in most everything these days,” Samantha said following Cammy down the hall. They passed several offices and then came to a series of doors to what looked like a command center of some sort complete with a dozen computers on tiered desks with large screens where staffers were pounding the keys, making notes and calling out various commands.
“I’m afraid it’s a little crazy in here today,” Ca
mmy said, heading to her station on the far side of the huge room. “We’re running a bunch of simulations.”
“Is all this tied into our missile defense systems?” Samantha asked, surveying the cavernous space.
“Some of it is. We can get connections to the X-band radar, certain satellite systems and the interceptors at Vandenberg. But we have some systems here that we test on our own. The trouble is, in this particular situation, I see those systems as more of a back-up. What I’m trying to figure out is a way to stage a pre-emptive strike. That is if we can ever find the guys with the nuke. Anything new from the Navy or Coast Guard?” She pulled up an extra chair and motioned for Samantha to sit down next to her.
“Nothing yet. We’re getting reports every few hours, but figuring the time line of when the transport left Atyrau and must have landed in China, if that’s where it really went, then allowing time to off-load and re-assemble everything onto a ship of some sort and then sail out of there, it looks like we have two to three more days before they could possibly get anywhere near the West Coast.”
“That’s what we’ve been told too, which is why everyone here is working 24/7 on every project we could possibly employ.” Cammy reached for a cup of coffee, took a sip and scrunched up her nose. “Cold, as usual. You want some? We’ve got fresh in the next room.” Samantha nodded. “My assistant will get it,” Cammy said. She reached for her phone. ”I don’t know what this gang would do without caffeine. How do you like it?”
“A little cream and sugar would be great,” Samantha replied. As she watched Cammy place the order, she realized that the woman did have some faint circles under her eyes and the headband holding back her blond hair was slightly askew. “You’ve really been working hard, haven’t you?” she asked sympathetically.
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