O’Bannon thought for a moment. “Bob, I am going to be frank with you. There is an investigation, but not through my office. I asked the FBI to check into something Harmon did while in office and they did so, uncovering enough that the Attorney General appointed a special prosecutor. I have nothing to do with what the prosecutor is doing and don’t know anything more of the matter. What I do know is that it is touching on one of the most secret efforts the United States has ever achieved. Quite frankly it scares me that word about this program may have gotten out.”
“Is it based out of the CIA?”
“Yes, but being used by the Department of Defense.”
There was a pause on the other end of the line. “Mister President, this is putting us in a difficult position,” Kelso said.
“Think about it from my perspective. This is something we never talk about. At the same time, I gave you a promise to answer your questions. I want you to trust me and this even makes me feel insecure. Can you answer one question for me?” asked the President.
“Sure.”
“I know you can’t give your sources, but are they from a government agency like the CIA or Defense, or even my staff for that matter?”
Kelso thought a second. “Mister President, our sources are not from any of those agencies. I’m not sure I would go any further than that,” Kelso said.
The President let out a sigh. “Well, at least it’s not coming from the people I’m working with. Let me think a second,” O’Bannon said as he placed the receiver on his chest. Butler stared at the man and could tell he was grinding through some options. The President put the receiver to his ear again. “Bob, how many media outlets are involved at this time?”
“Only the ones I mentioned, Mister President, although there could be more at any time. We’ve kept this to ourselves so far,” said Kelso.
“I tell you what. Can you all come to the White House tomorrow by 9 am? I would like to give you a little something that may help you understand my concerns,” said the President.
“Yes, sir, but I hope it’s not just another explanation.”
“No, but I thought you might like to see what it’s all about,” the President said.
The morning dawned clear with a calm sea. During the night a message had come through saying the Mayor of Sevastopol would meet with Allied representatives aboard the ship when it arrived. Nothing was mentioned of the military commanders. As the sun came up, Iowa separated from the two other battleships and made her way toward the harbor entrance. The southern tip of the Crimea was heavily populated. Yalta, on the other end of the peninsula, had already fallen. Odessa, Ukraine, had been taken the week before. Now Sevastopol was surrounded.
Iowa sailed slowly past an old abandoned and recently shelled runway on the tip of land going in toward Sevastopol. The crew could see the remnants of an old early warning radar station beside it. Turning northeast, they passed more abandoned military areas, some sprouting old antennas and gun emplacements. The beaches looked rocky and uninviting. Aboard the ship all eyes scanned the shore looking for missile or gun emplacements that might open fire on the ship, but none were seen.
Iowa soon saw her destination. The mouth of the harbor had a concrete breakwater with a quarter of a mile opening. There was a small lighthouse on one end. What concerned them most was the old fortress guarding the harbor. Painted white, it had multiple openings in the side, but no one could see what was inside it.
Rhodes turned to Jeffers conning the ship. “I sure hope those prayers to Father Danner did some good,” he said. Entering the harbor, Iowa made her way just inside and then stopped. They would not anchor. That would give them time to get back underway quickly.
Most of the harbor was surrounded by high rise housing and shoreline establishments. Marinas sprouted along the shore along with shipping terminals and tourist attractions. On the right side was a huge monument with two soldiers, one holding up a rifle. They began to notice that along the shoreline, people were already coming out to watch.
The motorcade drove to the north entrance where the Secret Service and Pentagon security forces had everything set up. The media got out of two black Suburbans, were met by General Black and some staff members and ushered into the Pentagon. They stopped in a small conference room and asked to sit. One minute later the President came in. He went to the head of the table.
“Gentlemen, thank you for meeting with me today. Bob, I appreciate you getting this set up,” the President said. “Gentlemen, Bob told me about your concerns and they are my concerns as well. I have a feeling what you have been getting is politically motivated. So I decided to do something that is grossly irregular. I am going to show you what this is all about. When the war started, this system had just been placed online. Mr. Harmon failed to act on the early warning this system provides which could have saved countless lives. That is why I asked the FBI to investigate. But now you need to know why this can never be revealed to anyone. Never. This agreement I have with you on media coverage works both ways. I am now showing this to you and only you so that you fully understand why I must ask you not to let this get out. I feel once you see this you will agree with me that it is something too vital to our national interests. Do you agree that this is a fair request?” he asked.
The men around the room nodded. “We agree,” said Kelso.
The President smiled. “Okay then, but prepare yourselves. You will not believe your eyes.”
The door opened and the men were led down the corridor to an outer office full of security. They were then led into a darkened room. In the center of the room on a huge table was Eyeball.
“Oh my God,” exclaimed Brad Freeman from CBS. “Is this what I think it is?”
“Yes it is,” said Roger Hammond as he stepped in from another door. “This is Poland, Belarus, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine and points west. This image is from one of the cameras. The computers alert us to any and all movements of troops, planes, equipment, supplies or anything else going on in Europe. From there, we can move in for more graphic detail,” Hammond said as he motioned to a technician. The three dimensional image zoomed into one of the battle areas where the true value of Eyeball could be seen. The men watched as planes flew into and out of the area, saw tanks advancing along with ground troops and even some sort of flying bugs in advance of the Allies engaging enemy troops.
“Are you telling us this is real time?” asked one man.
“We are maybe about a second behind. It takes time for the light to get to the satellite and then back down to us,” said Hammond.
“I never thought something like this was possible,” said another man.
Hammond chuckled. “Neither did I,” he said. “And that’s why I flew all the way here to give this brief myself. You don’t know this, but when this war started the Russians had six to one of everything we and the Allies had. When they asked me to take the job, I told them that in order to have any chance, we needed to use every bit of the technology we possessed to even the playing field. This,” he said spreading his hands over the table, “is the biggest piece of that technology. It has allowed us to see every move the Russians have made from the battlefield to the supply lines. It allows us to stop them before they get things started and to hit them where they are the weakest. They have no idea we are watching. Several of you have gotten a little miffed because we have not been sharing our casualty numbers. Part of that is because of this and because no one would believe us. I will now share those numbers with you. To date, the Allies have lost 10,560 troops killed and another 16,010 wounded. Most of those losses were at the start of the war. But because of this, we know that the Russians have lost two million some odd killed and another eight hundred ninety thousand wounded.”