“Furthermore, as this information implicates that some senior Indian military officers are behind the conspiracy, I could only disclose it to the civilian leadership of the Republic of India.”
Myles paused briefly to let his last statement sink in. “President Handa, we Americans have a reputation, deservedly, for being excessively blunt. But I would much rather risk a diplomatic faux pas than allow significant pain and suffering to occur to a nation that I consider to be a friend.”
Handa nodded slightly, accepting Myles’s explanation for the highly inconvenient meeting. Pointing to the men with him, Handa made a quick introduction. “You know, of course, my Prime Minister, Shankar Pathak, and my Foreign Secretary, Gopan Jadeja.” Both men bowed their greetings.
“To the left of Foreign Secretary Jadeja is Mr. Vishnu Kumar, the Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation, the highest law enforcement agency in India. Given the vague reference to a potential ‘military conspiracy’ in Ambassador Eldridge’s messages, I thought it wise to include Mr. Kumar in the discussion. Now, please, tell us about this information that concerns you so deeply.”
Touché, Mr. President, thought Patterson, as she let out a sigh of relief. The thin smile on Handa’s face showed his tenseness had eased some. Myles, also smiling, quickly introduced Lloyd, Geisler, and Patterson, and then motioned for everyone to be seated. Joanna walked up to the podium, brought up her title slide, and formally introduced herself. She wasted no time in getting to the point.
“President Handa, it is typical in U.S. policy briefings to provide ‘the bottom line up front,’ followed by the supporting evidence. Therefore, I must ask for you and your compatriots’ indulgence. Our message is not a pleasant one.”
She hit the button to pull up the BLUF slide and spoke quickly; the fuse was now lit.
“We have multiple collaborating sources that indicate elements of the Indian Navy are planning to attack five of China’s largest ports with nuclear weapons similar to the one that exploded in Kashmir last month. The weapons are to be delivered by torpedoes launched from the Project 971U submarine, INS Chakra. We know the mastermind behind this planned attack is Vice Admiral Badu Singh Dhankhar, although it is likely other flag officers…”
That was as far as she got before the Indian officials at the U.S. embassy exploded in a cacophony of noise. They could not believe what they had just read and heard. It was impossible for Joanna to go on over the indignant shouting. What little the Americans could pick out told them that the Indians not only refused to accept the idea, they were insulted at the very thought. Myles motioned for Joanna to stop; understandably, President Handa and the others were upset and needed to blow off some steam before she could go on.
In Hyderabad, Samant covered his eyes and groaned as he watched the turmoil unfold. The reaction was pretty much what he expected, but that didn’t make it any easier. He prayed that Handa and the others wouldn’t slam their minds shut to the evidence.
Petrov saw his friend’s pained reaction and spoke quietly. “I’ve known Joanna Patterson for over ten years now, and she can be very… direct. But, I’m alive today because of that directness. She knows what she’s doing, Girish.”
“I’ll take your word for it, Aleks,” Samant whispered. “I just hope President Handa doesn’t have a heart attack!”
The Indian president finally managed to rein in his subordinates and turned, seething, to the camera. “President Myles, this is an outrage! Admiral Dhankhar is a noble officer and is highly respected by my office and his colleagues! To levy such an accusation is unmitigated slander…”
Myles rose to his feet. He raised his voice. “Mr. President! Please let Dr. Patterson present the considerable evidence that supports it. You’ll see there is no possible alternative!”
Handa closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. He knew the American president was not the kind of man to shout at meetings. Struggling to control his anger, he slowly sat back down and said carefully, “Very well, proceed.”
“Dr. Patterson, please continue,” commanded Myles.
Joanna pulled up the next slide with a photo of a barge surfaced in ice-laden waters and started to describe the source of the nuclear weapons. She explained how she was part of a submarine mission that discovered the barge off the Russian island of Novaya Zemlya in June 2005, and of the subsequent recovery of two nuclear warheads for Soviet SS-21 intermediate-range ballistic missiles. It was the analysis of the nuclear material from these warheads that allowed the United States to claim with high confidence that the Kashmir explosion could not have come from an Indian weapon.
She then told them of their meeting with the Russian ambassador, where the United States admitted their less-than-legal activities and asked for their help in recovering the weapons. The Russians did so promptly, but reported that another six weapons had already been removed from the barge, and recently. The Russians also said that a disgraced admiral by the name of Kirichenko was undoubtedly the individual who knew about the barge’s location and likely recovered the weapons and had offered them on the black arms market. Kirichenko’s whereabouts had been unknown for years.
Her next slide showed a diagram highlighting the significant changes to Chakra’s refit. She emphasized the abruptly shortened time period and the change in focus that concentrated the work on sonar, fire control, and torpedo upgrades. The vast majority of the engineering-related repair items were suddenly deferred, repairs that India had already purchased expensive parts for. None of these changes made any sense; all had been approved by Dhankhar’s staff, and all occurred after the Kashmir explosion. Next came slide after slide of close-up, detailed photos taken on board Chakra and in the base workshops. She didn’t bother to point out the obvious that the photos came from secure areas within the naval shipyard at Visakhapatnam.
Petrov and Samant watched the Indians’ reactions closely. All were angry, but as the photographs of Chakra appeared, different officials showed confusion, disbelief, and surprise.
Patterson spent some time describing the modifications to the fire control, torpedo tubes, and torpedoes. “All this work was to be performed by a single Russian national, a Mr. Evgeni Orlav, who worked alone in an isolated workshop. And based on rumors from numerous Russian and Indian shipyard workers and supervisors, he reported directly, and only, to Admiral Dhankhar.
“The Russians later volunteered information that Orlav was a retired naval engineering officer who specialized in the care and maintenance of ballistic missile reentry vehicles — to include the ‘physics package.’ With the loss of one warhead to the LeT terrorists, who accidentally detonated it, the five remaining warheads were removed from their reentry vehicle casing and reassembled into five UGST-M torpedoes, two of which were visibly identified at the shop where Orlav did the majority of his work.” There were muted exclamations at the photographs of the torpedo shop interior and the torpedoes, as well as the ominous shape on the workbench.
One of her last slides showed the picture of the crumpled piece of paper with the list of Chinese ports. A total of ten were on that paper; all were major ports that supported China’s export economy, her petroleum infrastructure, and/or her financial markets. An accompanying table showed the historical throughput capacity of each of the ports in terms of standardized containers and barrels of oil. The numbers were staggering.