by Andy Farman
He paused to look across at the SIS Chief before again fixing the PM with a hard stare.
“A conversation in which you ordered her to find, kill and dispose of the bodies of the witnesses’ I sought. Those tapes have been examined and authenticated as genuine. I am therefore arresting you for conspiring to murder Constantine Bedonavich and Svetlana Vorsoff, both Russian nationals, in order to pervert the course of justice. You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned, something you later rely on in court. Anything you do say will be given in evidence. Do you understand?”
Turning to indicate the two men beside him, the commissioner continued.
“You will recognise Sir John, the Ambassador and Mr Petrucci of course; they are here to witness this arrest.”
The commissioner then spoke to the PM’s wife who had sat quietly throughout and indicated a senior detective in the doorway.
“If you will accompany this officer he will take your written statement now, ma’am.”
The prime minister had risen from his chair, his face crimson with rage until the commissioner had spoken to his wife and mother of his children. The look she gave him before leaving the room spoke volumes in terms of contempt.
Sitting back down heavily the PM’s face was now ashen.
Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, Aldermaston, England: 1536hrs, same day
Following the discovery of the device in London it had been brought to AWRE to be examined fully and dismantled. The first task had been to ensure the weapon had no hidden surprises. Its initiation, arming and timing components were removed and the business begun of analysing the weapons design. This is a painstaking business, with 1960s, 70s, 80s original design and later upgrades along with cutting edge, present day technology married together. It would be easy to mistake a piece of hardware for something harmless, if a component of a nuclear device could ever be described as such, when in fact it is a booby trap or secondary trigger.
Had their present overtime budget not stood at zero the examination of the arming component would doubtless have taken place a few days earlier than it in fact did.
Stanley Bennett finished his task, the preliminary report on the ‘business end’ of the device that would now go for metallurgy analysis and then complete dismantlement. The core of the device would be reprocessed into fuel.
He made his way along to the department that was to do the analysis of the circuitry. As with everywhere else they had had their numbers pared down to the minimum. Genuine illness and disenchantment generated ‘flu’ and such meant that the departments were never crowded during working hours’. With nothing else to do until five Stan offered to help out his friend and colleague as Gupta Singh at last finished other tasks and began on the arming component. After one hour Gupta asked to see the suitcase body, and after seeing that Stan had indeed spoken the truth, that of its being a sealed unit when found, he sat in thought.
“There is no way for this weapon to be manually armed Stan,” he declared. Stan nodded, “The receiver is for microwave burst transmission, and the processor would be capable of coded reception and decryption, why?”
Gupta was frowning.
“There is no failsafe that I can find, nothing that permits its being disarmed,” he was thinking out loud now.
“The person planting it would arm it with a hand held transmitter I would think,” was all Stan could suggest.
“No, it would not work, if I knew the arming code I could demonstrate that nothing we have here would deliver the strength of pulse required… this is designed only to receive a powerful satellite transmission.” Unlike Gupta, Stan had been briefed on the strong possibility that this was but one of a hundred such devices. He hurried to the nearest telephone.
Kremlin, Moscow: same time
After four years of wearing civilian clothing, Colonel General Serge Alontov was again in the uniform of his country.
He was stood before his premier, waiting for his hand to be shaken and receipt of orders posting him to a command position once again.
“These are great times Serge, the rebirth of communism celebrated by the defeat of world capitalism,” he said solemnly.
“Comrade Premier, it was your vision, we merely assisted with putting the plan together and implementing it. In twelve hours’, thirty-seven minute’s time the satellite begins transmitting the arming code and detonation time. Nothing can stop them then. Provided the groups carrying out the attacks place them correctly the targets will be destroyed, even if they do not the shock and confusion of their detonations will demoralise the masses. Their servicemen abroad will be distracted by the news that their loved ones are under attack at home.”
“How is the determination of these groups, Serge?”
“They believe that they have total control of the weapons, the remote control sets we provided will tell them what they want to believe. Certainly the Muslims think they are striking a blow at the great Satan by damaging the White House and destroying a few buildings. The security forces seem to believe their road checks and restrictions will prevent the bombs exploding if they merely prevent the terrorists placing them at their targets.”
The Premier nodded in satisfaction,
“There may be a shortage of useful fools from the old times but equally stupid extremists have their uses too.” After a moment he held out a large envelope to Serge.
“Colonel General, the present commander of army Spetznaz forces is too good a man to replace and he is fully conversant with the fine detail his men’s missions, which you are not…however, I need an experienced senior officer to lead a large force of troops. You know the mission because your knowledge gave that phase of my plan feasibility.”
Serge stepped forward and took the orders from his hand. Stepping back a pace he saluted smartly and left the room.
In the anteroom without, Peridenko nodded cordially to Serge as the soldier emerged and a smile spread across the man’s face as he watched the broad shoulders depart for the last time, probably. Serge Alontov may not have a wife for the Premier to covet, but like the Jewish King David he had placed the soldier in the front rank. Men of Alontov’s calibre had to be shackled or eliminated lest they one day seek the throne for themselves. Sometimes I am so poetic it hurts thought Peridenko as he headed for the Premiers inner sanctum through the door held open by an aide.
White House, Situation Room: 1612hrs, same day.
There were many thoughtful faces in the room as Art Petrucci gave them the results of the Aldermaston AWRE examination of the London device over speakerphone. The full report was in the process of being transmitted for the technical brains to pick over but Arnie’s précis had provided food for thought to those present.
When he had finished the president thanked him and left the line open while his chief scientific advisor spoke.
“First thing that comes to mind sir is that we do not know if all the devices, if they exist, are all of the same design. The London bomb was a series up upgrades and new components added over thirty plus years. If it was originally a mass-produced weapon there is no guarantee that the remainder were upgraded the same way. Microwave communications were, after all, just chalked equations on a research facility blackboard in 1960. Originally they would have to be armed manually I would suggest.”
General Shaw spoke first.
“Excuse me Mr President; what the CSA said is all academic surely? We should assume the worst, that all the devices are of the London design…how do we stop them going off?” The CSA nodded, “Point taken, Russia has some 39 active satellites in orbit at the moment and another 12 we believe to be no longer functioning. The components the satellite would require to perform this task would be mission specific. They could not just dial into any commercial satellite and send it that way. Do we have the means to identify the satellite they will use or shut down all those 51 satellites?” The general was shaking his head
“We have four anti-satellit
e missiles on the inventory, the project was cancelled as too costly to justify more.”
“I thought as much. Then the only solution is to prevent them from going off where they would cause the most damage, it’s the best I can suggest.”
“Ben,” said the president,
“You have to bring forward your plan to hit the suspected groups, understood?”
“I’m on it, sir.” The FBI Director answered, reaching for the phone in front of him.
“Next thing…” the president addressed the room, “…is it feasible to evacuate all the target areas?”
General Shaw cleared his throat and replied.
“It is only doable at six of the sites on US turf. If we did not have a deployment taking place it would be fourteen, but the evacuees would prevent our deploying units and supplies from reaching their ports of departure. The remaining eighteen are in the middle of towns and cities, where the hell do we put…” he glanced at his notes before continuing
“...Ninety-eight million people. How do we feed and shelter them?” Letting out a sigh he continued.
“We have tentage and emergency relief stores capable of supporting 250,000 people for one month… and that’s all.”
“Ladies and Gentlemen, it is inconceivable that there is no one in this room without a friend, relative or favourite stocks and bonds advisor, in one of the target areas.” The president was looking around the room as he spoke.
“You cannot, you must not, warn any of those people of the danger. I realise this is a heavy burden I am putting on some, if not all, of you. We cannot guard against the bombers and deal with the panic...do you understand?”
There was silence in the room.
“Do you understand?” he raised his voice as he repeated his instruction. There was a rumble of, Yes Mr President’s, from around the room, all the voices were subdued.
“In the meantime we need to work on preventing the signal from being sent. Should any device be detonated on our territory or that of our allies I am obliged to consider very seriously, the option of nuclear retaliation? If I do, it will not be two kiloton’s but twenty megatons I drop on Red Square and that sonofabitch will then reply in kind!” An aide interrupted the president by handing him a note. He thanked the aide and instructed his CSA.
“Joseph, you need to find out what our research people can suggest straight away.”
As he left the president informed the battle staff that the new PM of Great Britain was online for a videoconference and all turned to face the screen suspended from the far wall as it came to life.
“Congratulations on your office Mr Prime Minister.”
“Thank you Mr President, not the circumstances one would wish for in reaching number ten, but there you are.” He smiled wryly.
“I understand you have something of importance for us?”
“Yes we do, we believe we have located the site the Russians intend using to upload the arming codes to the satellite.”
In order to discover the extent of the damage to their satellite intelligence, friendly powers had been called on to assist in the cross-referencing of their data with that of the United States. As clever as it was the subversive program could not hope to perform its photographic sleight of hand across an area as vast as the Russian Federation and the seas off its coastline. Satellite images of static sites where projects were underway were relatively easy tasks for the program to disguise. New images showing the empty births of the semi completed nuclear powered carriers had the vessels images inserted. The busy shipyards were likewise altered to show them as deserted. The insertions and overlays all took place between the data download site and the photo interpreters’ terminals.
The Mao and Kuznetsov had followed a very exact course on their way to the north Pacific; the programmers could not predict their exact positions on each pass of the US satellites. The vagaries of tides and happenstance are too wild for mathematics to accurately predict, so the entire intended route was doctored in every frame from two months before their actual departure, as had the RORSAT data.
The NSA team, under its new boss, had passed on everything they had gleaned from the program inserted by the two fugitive employees and an analyst in Britain had made a discovery.
Amidst the masses of data existed a longitude and latitude that had only appeared three weeks before, on the desolate Arctic Archipelago of Zemlya Georga, once known as Franz Josef Land, north of Murmansk.
Files showed that the Soviet Union had established a meteorology and research station there in the 50s but it had been abandoned through lack of funding in 1990. Ironically, had the Russian planners relied solely upon simple camouflage on the ground at Zemlya Georga, the subterfuge would never have been discovered. Where the US images showed snow and ice on the 3rd March, a British scientific survey’s images showed men anchoring a satellite dish.
The prime minister informed them that a Royal Air Force C-130 Hercules was departing RAF Luchars with members of the Royal Marine Commandos, Mountain & Arctic Warfare Cadre aboard. After a refuelling stop in Norway the marines would be flown below radar cover and dropped ten miles from their target. Their mission was not to simply destroy the site but to take out the dish before capturing the facility. Within the site would be the identity of the satellite the codes would be uploaded to.
The president and General Shaw exchanged glances whilst the new PM was speaking.
“Prime Minister,” began the president once the PM was finished. “Why were we not consulted before you authorised this…unilateral action?”
“Because time is of the essence and whereas your nation has twenty-four warheads hidden in it waiting to explode, my country, which is rather smaller than your state of Texas, has ten.”
The British PM gave them a moment to absorb those facts before he continued.
“We do not have an anti-satellite capability but you gentlemen do, so once our marines have obtained the satellite information it will be broadcast immediately. Can you be ready to attack the satellite in question once it is identified, you will have only about eight hours’ to prepare, is it enough?”
The general thought for a moment before stating.
“It will have to be.”
The PM smiled and nodded.
“If you will excuse me, I really do have much to do.”
As the connection ended General Shaw smiled. He had served on operations in southeast Asia with the current occupant of 10 Downing Street.
“You can’t go wrong with a marine at the helm, ex Special Forces guy too.”
The president raised an eyelid and the general added.
“Present company accepted of course.”
“Is it feasible that the Russian’s would have only one site, surely anyone with a portable satellite phone could send this?” was the president’s next question.
CIA’s Terry Jones answered him.
“You have to factor in the need for absolute secrecy sir, I imagine that the data would be contained on a disc or CD-ROM. You are going to want those kept under control and the best way to do that is to limit their numbers. Same goes for the personnel involved, limit their numbers, the fewer who know, the fewer who can blab.” The president was watching him and his mind working, looking for flaws in the argument. Terry continued.
“If you stick the personnel who are going to send it in some out of the way spot, you limit our chances of finding it and destroying it should we get wise to what’s in the wind.”
“Which we apparently have,” agreed the chief executive. “General?” he said turning his attention away from Terry Jones. Shaw was on the telephone to the air force. Finishing the call he explained what he had done.
“Sir, the original testing of the ALASATs was run out of Langley AFB; the R&D unit that was responsible no longer exists, so we are going to have to scramble to get a mission together in time.”
“Lead me through it Henry, what are the problems, is it the weapons?”
“No Mr President, t
he ALASAT, air launched anti-satellite missile is made up of proven technology. Basically it is uses an F-15 as the launch platform, the ALASAT is made up of current weapons components and the warhead. Lower stage is off a SRAM, short-range attack missile, married to an Altair III solid propellant second stage and a miniature vehicle warhead. No modified airframe is required; any F-15 can launch it. The pilot flies a set profile under ground control, the missile seeker head tells the pilot when it has acquired the target and he launches as he would an AGM. It was first successfully used to destroy a defunct P78-1 satellite. But that was back in ’85, a Congressional moratorium cancelled the program in ‘87, none of the original personnel are around any longer. I just ordered the air force to cut loose its best test pilot instructors from Edwards AFB; they’ve done the theory work on the launch technique. There isn’t going to be time to practice and they are enroute now in F-15s to upload the ALASATs. We have to knock out that satellite ASAP in case the Russians have a back-up site…I know I would.”
“I take it that ideally, more of an intelligence work-up should have been done?”
“Absolutely sir, but that would take time that we do not have. We cannot ask the Europeans or the Japanese to start manoeuvring satellites over Zemlya Georga to gain real time Intel, the Russian would see that and the game would be up. The Brits read it right; there really is no other option sir.”
The president didn’t like it but he had to agree.
“These Marines going in, they are Arctic specialists?”
Shaw pulled a face.
“I don’t like the term ‘specialist’, by definition it implies someone who knows more and more about less and less, until ultimately he knows nothing. No sir, the M&AW Cadre train to fight at altitude and in the cold. They were formed as part of ACE Mobile, earmarked to go behind Soviet lines should Norway be invaded. They are experts at working in sub-zero temperatures,” he explained.