“I agree. Did you notice he even had a grasp of ground warfare? I believe he listens a lot. That tells me he’s not just a seagoing officer,” said the King.
“Indeed, it is clear that President O’Bannon thinks highly of him, but he is careful not to push it to us. He is letting us make up our own minds,” said Nicholson. “At least I am convinced.”
The King chuckled. “You know, when we met him six years ago, I could tell there was something about the man. It appears he has our support as well.”
“Then I shall contact the President straight away and let him know of our desires,” Nicholson said.
“I understand the President believes him one of his best personal friends. I may wager that it will be the same over here as well,” the King said with a twinkle in his eye.
“Be careful, Your Majesty. His wife is a rising star in their political system. We may have to find ways of working with both,” Nicholson said with a grin.
***
Sir Richard and Hammond made their way out the room and down the most ornate hallway Hammond had ever seen. Exiting at the side of the palace, they entered Sir Richard’s Bentley. Ten minutes later the two men stepped into the Albert Pub on Victoria Street. Several military men in uniform were there. Almost immediately the two were called over to join them. One pint became two. After a meal upstairs, the two men returned for one last drink before reentering the Bentley for the drive back to Sir Richard’s townhome. Hammond had never experienced a night like this before. The mixture of uniforms, comradery and honor in the ranks left him with a much better understanding of how the British military thought and worked. It made him feel much better about their chances.
Once the men returned to Sir Richard’s flat, Hammond brought over a large three ringed binder. “Do me a favor, Sir Richard. Take a look at this and tell me what you think. When I come back from Germany, maybe we can discuss it.”
Sir Richard eyed the binder, then opened it to the first page, glancing at the title. He gave a surprised look. “Some ideas you have?” he asked.
“A few. It may be nothing, but I’d appreciate your thoughts.”
“Then I shall devote some time to it,” Sir Richard said as he placed it under his arm. He stopped at a decanter in the study and poured himself a glass. “You have a long day tomorrow, and it’s late. I’ll come down and join you at breakfast,” he stated.
“Fine. Good night, Sir Richard,” said Hammond as he made his way to the stairs.
Sir Richard watched him go, then reopened the binder. He sat in his favorite chair and began to read. After a few minutes his forehead began to furl and his eyes focused in on the pages. He took another sip from his glass. “Bloody hell!” he muttered aloud.
“Don’t feed me that line!” Bolin screamed at Kursov. They were in a small brightly lit room with another officer and a line of microphones and cameras. Kursov was sitting at a plain table while the others stared down at him. “I have photos of you at those demonstrations. I have photos of you with a known Russian agent! Telling me you know nothing insults my intelligence and I know it will insult a jury. I shall give you one chance. Just one! You cooperate and tell us everything or I will see to it that you are convicted and then publicly hanged as a traitor. And I will see to it that you hang in front of your family and friends. That means no matter what, they will be the ones to pay the ultimate price for your actions. Is that what you want? To have your children branded for life as the son or daughter of a traitor? Answer me. Is that what you want?”
The interrogation had already lasted four hours. Kursov had thought he could withstand such things, but the mention of his children suffering for his actions caused his shell to crack. Bolin saw it the moment it happened. Kursov’s face changed. His hands began to shake. Bolin knew to ease up. The tone of his voice softened. “Look, Kursov, I know you were born there and have some feelings for your mother country. But what you have done is placing all of us in danger, including your children. Do you really think the Russian army won’t come here with guns blazing? They won’t care who helped them or who is fighting them, they will simply plow through us like a tractor. Can you see your son Petyr or your daughter lying dead in what is left of your house after an artillery bombardment? Some things you simply cannot prevent. But in your case, you can. I need you to tell me everything. In return, you will be allowed to return home to your family. No one will know what has happened. Your sons and daughter will never know what you have done from me. They will still see their father as an upstanding member of the community. I will promise you that. So what shall it be?” he asked.
Kursov’s eyes began to water. He couldn’t bear for his wife or children to hate him or be ashamed of him. There was no other choice. He looked up at Bolin, “What do you want to know?”
Bolin nodded. So far all but three of the men had chosen to cooperate. They would all get the same promise, although there would be a few repercussions. Right now, they just needed the facts. If they were lucky, they might be able to do something constructive with this.
Jim Butler walked past the Secret Service agents and into the Oval Office. “You called, Boss?”
The President motioned him to a chair. “I just heard from the others. It’s unanimous. We need to get the Joint Chiefs over here. It’s time to decide on who will be doing what. I also heard from the Polish Prime Minister. It seems they captured some of the ringleaders for those violent demonstrations over there. A Russian agent was leading them.”
Butler looked up. “That’s interesting. Did they get him or her to talk?”
O’Bannon shook his head. “They lost him. Got away right under their noses, but with the search they are conducting, I doubt he will get far,” the President said.
“If this does blow up, this is evidence of a conspiracy and premeditated actions. A war crimes trial will love it,” said Butler.
“I agree, but right now we need to get our forces on high alert. How about calling a meeting for this afternoon. I want to take us up to DEFCON 2. Then I need recommendations on how we get ready beyond this point. Tell them to come ready to rumble,” the President said.
Butler got up from his seat. “I’ll make it happen. I hope no one squawks much on the choice.”
O’Bannon grinned. “If it comes to that, we can honestly tell them it didn’t come from this office. It seems all of Europe wants him.”
“The Americans have heightened their alert status,” announced the briefer at the military summit in Moscow. “We are noticing that they have gotten some of their carriers out to sea. There are more patrols and some of their army troops are doing more exercises. But most of those are still in the United States. There haven’t been any big ship movements to bring troops and equipment to Europe. The only thing we have seen leaving the United States were Korean automobiles headed for France. They arrived yesterday. We anticipate a few thousand more new cars on the roads, but that is nothing we need to concern ourselves about. All of our fleet assets are ready. Our submarine force is all underway and our line of missile ships has arrived on station. Our air force units are staging now. They will move to the forward bases immediately upon the start of hostilities. Army units are concealed along this line here,” the briefer said pointing to several positions on the map. “They are fully fueled and equipped. At zero hour they will move across the border as rapidly as possible. Artillery positioned with the units will bombard positions in front of the advance and move up each day to match the advance. Air units will pound further ahead to prepare for the advance, but nothing will go until zero hour,” he said.