“I’ll lock his cell at Leavenworth permanently myself if he’s to blame for all this,” the President said angrily. “How about any of our ships? Could they have launched a nuclear weapon?”
“None of our surface forces in the Pacific theater have nuclear weapons deployed on them, sir,” Freeman said. “We have three Ohio- class ballistic missile boats on patrol in the Pacific-Indian Ocean fleet; only one, the West Virginia, was in range at the time of the explosion. We’re trying to get in contact with him.”
“How often do they check in?”
“Varies, but it’s much more often than during the Cold War,” Freeman said. Nuclear-powered ballistic missile subs on patrol, even now years after the end of the Cold War, did everything they could to remain undetected for long periods of time, sometimes spending as long as a month sitting on the ocean bottom. These days, they spent less time in total seclusion, but it was still important for them to remain undetected and autonomous, so contacting one was never an easy job. “All of the Los Angeles- and Sturgeon-class attack subs had their nuclear weapons removed five years ago.”
“Double- and triple-check everything, including all vessels that could have had nukes on board — I don’t care how long it’s been,” the President ordered. “If there’s even the wildest possibility that a ship could have loaded and fired a nuclear missile, I want it checked out. What about Taiwan? Do their ships carry nukes?”
“The Hsiung Feng anti-ship missile, which is a license-built version of the Israeli Gabriel, is reported to be able to carry a nuclear warhead, although the Israelis never deployed the missile with them,” Freeman replied. “We believe one of the frigates involved in the skirmish carried these missiles. The larger frigate carried American-made Harpoons and Standard missiles and ASROC rocket-powered torpedoes, which all were at one point or another capable of being fitted with nuclear warheads. Although we never sold any nuclear-capable weapons to Taiwan, if it once had nuclear warheads, there’s every possibility that Taiwan could have readapted their weapons with small nuclear warheads. But chances are very low the explosions were from Taiwanese weapons.”
“Doesn't exactly fill me with confidence,” the President said grimly. “I want to talk with President Lee of Taiwan as soon as possible, and I hope the hell he comes clean with me.” He paused, deep in thought; then: “Let’s talk about China going to nuclear war with Taiwan — or us,” he said grimly. “Any thoughts?”
“Becoming more and more of a reality, sir, considering what’s happened,” Freeman replied. “Last year, despite their threats, I would’ve said it was virtually impossible. Last week, I’d have thought it was improbable. Now I think it’s possible that we could see more low-yield attacks against Taiwan…” He paused, then added, “… and possibly Okinawa, Guam, South Korea, even Japan. Like you said, sir, the genie’s out of the bottle.”
The President slumped in his chair and put a weary hand on his forehead, shielding his eyes as if fighting off a massive headache. “Damn,” he muttered. “Was it a mistake to send those bombers over the Strait? Would any of this be happening?”
“I think it would be ten times worse, Mr. President,” Jerrod Hale said.
“I agree,” Freeman added. “Quemoy might be a smoking hole in the ocean, and Formosa might be under attack as well. Those bombers — in fact, that one bomber — deterred the PLAN from continuing their attack.”
“But we weren’t talking about China destroying Okinawa, Guam, or Japan before,” the President said. “Shit, maybe it would’ve been better if they succeeded in their invasion.”
“Then we’d still be here, talking about our options — except China would have attacked and perhaps destroyed an independent, capitalist, pro-America democracy in Asia,” Freeman said. “Sir, this isn’t your fault — the People’s Republic of China is driving events here, not you. The best we can do is anticipate, react, and hope we don’t escalate the conflict any faster than it’s already moving.”
The President stopped and considered that point of view, then nodded his agreement. “Sometimes I don’t know if it’s my guilty conscience, or the press, that makes me think I’m responsible for every disaster in the world these days,” the President said. “But I’m not going to sit on my ass and watch China or anyone else start World War Three.”
He paused again, shaking his head as if scarcely believing the words that were forming in his head. Finally, he said, “Philip, contact Arthur and George Balboa — I want the commanders in place to prepare to put our nuclear forces back on alert.” The Presidents study seemed to get very quiet, as if all of the air had suddenly been sucked out of the room; even the unflappable Jerrod Hale had a shocked expression on his face. “I want it done as quietly as possible. Just the commanders for now — no aircraft, no subs, no missiles. I want them formed up and ready to start accepting their weapons, but they don’t get any weapons until I give the word.” Hale looked at the President, silently asking, “What about Balboa? ”—he knew that there was no way this could be kept quiet with Balboa chairing the Joint Chiefs of Staff. But the President remained resolute.
Freeman nodded. “HI draft up an executive order for your review and signature,” he said. “The order will stand up the Combined Task Forces inside U.S. Strategic Command. The CTFs will meet in Omaha and organize their staffs, but nothing else until you give the word.” The President nodded absently — he could afford to forget that aspect of this growing threat for now. But Freeman pressed another problem into the foreground: “What about McLanahan and the Megafortresses? Keep them on patrol for now?”
The President recognized that Freeman had phrased the question carefully, interjecting his own opinion into the question — he wanted the EB-52s, with their powerful offensive and defensive weapons, to stay. The President nodded. “As long as they pass a security review, they stay on patrol.”
“Balboa probably won’t like that,” Hale offered.
“Probably not,” the President responded. “But the reason we sent those things out there — because we needed something out there right away, something that could keep an eye on the Chinese and respond in case the shooting started — has come to pass. We need them now more than ever.”
“Admiral Balboa will call for sending in the carriers,” Freeman said.
“No way I’m going to send them in now — they’d be sitting ducks for another nuclear attack,” the President said immediately. “I’m not going to send any carriers into the region. We got one carrier in Japan and the other near Pearl Harbor?”
Freeman nodded. “Both are ready to get under way as soon as ordered. The Independence can be in the area in less than two days. Washington in about four days.”
“Good,” the President said. “If we need them, I’ll send them in— until then, we put diplomatic pressure on China to back off, and we keep the Megafortresses on station. Now let’s finish up what in hell we’re going to tell the media, before someone else fires another shot at my backside.”
NOW ENTERING THE VIDEOCONFERENCE, the computer-synthesized voice announced, LIEUTENANT GENERAL BRADLEY ELLIOTT, RETIRED; COLONEL PATRICK MCLANAHAN, RETIRED; MAJOR NANCY CHESHIRE, USAF, ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, GUAM. CLASSIFICATION, TOP SECRET. VOICE AND DATA SERVICES TERMINATED; PLEASE CHECK OPERATIONAL SECURITY AND REENTER SECURITY ACCESS CODES. A moment later: THANK YOU. FULL VIDEOCONFERENCE SERVICES ACTIVATED.