“I am 1/8 Russian on my mother’s side.”
He smiled. “What is your name?”
“Carol, Carol Turner.”
“What can I do for you?”
“We need several more trucks to move the injured—”
He snapped his fingers and a lieutenant stood at attention. “See that she gets the trucks immediately.”
“Yes General — right away sir.”
“You could have called this in ….”
Her eyes sparkled. “I wanted to the see the man who is responsible ….” Her voice choked with emotion. “Bless you General Dimochka. You are a saint and your country is doing a wonderful thing here.” A tear trickled down her cheek. “I simply had to see for myself. Thank you for allowing me to meet you.”
“You may visit with me anytime you wish. I am a busy person; however there will always be time for Carol Turner.” He said “Carol Turner” as though it was of special significance. “Do you have a phone with you?”
“Yes.”
He made a gesture and she pulled a BlackBerry from her pocket and handed it to him.
He punched in a number. “There it is. That will reach my staff.” He handed her a military phone. “This phone you will use to call me directly. Use the other only if I do not answer. It is encrypted. We are comrades forever.”
“I will take you up on that.” She removed her hat and silky hair spilled across her shoulders. “Are you sure?”
“Comrades forever — some things are meant to be.” His face lit up and a broad smile crossed his face. “There are forces beyond our comprehension that have brought us to this moment. A Russian General and a Red Cross worker meet in a forgotten nation on the plains of Somalia. Both with one common goal — what else could it be?”
“Goal?” She fit the hat back onto her head, fiddled with some pins and tucked in her hair.
“To bring about peace — to put an end to human suffering. I do it with my armies, you do it with healing. One without the other is… is….”
“Incomplete.” The trucks had arrived, a horn was honking. She turned and jumped aboard then disappeared down the steaming tarmac.
She looks like my dear Aleksandra. Had he been one step closer to the curb he could have pulled his daughter from the passing truck on that fateful day that forever etched into his memory. Bitterness filled his heart for a decade and he cursed God each morning for his torment. He felt that God had abandoned him and his reason for living had left him. It was years before he quit the morning ritual of pulling a Luger from the drawer and placing it to his temple and cocking the hammer. He would try to find a reason to live for one more day and would return the pistol until the next time.
God has brought her to me. For the first time in years he was happy to be alive.
“Kismet — some things are meant to be,” he muttered and went back to his work.
“Green Dog III — we have some hostiles approaching….”
Chapter Thirteen
Robinson and Fegan discussed the events of the day in the SecDef office.
Robinson read an article hidden in the back pages of the Wall Street Journal. “New Pipelines Operational in Russia. They have been working on this for years. It says they bought out most of their partners: LukArco, BG, Oryx, Mobile, and others.”
“It must have cost them a lot of money,” noted Fegan
“Yes, it would. Buying out partners in proven oil fields is almost unheard of,” said Willy Baumgartner from behind the desk.
Robinson glanced at the SecDef while he noted the wild stock market swings in the Wall Street Journal. He was a heavy set man, immaculately dressed in a tailor made tan suit purchased from a shop on Pennsylvania Avenue with a corner of handkerchief peeking from the pocket. His face was accented with gold wire-rimmed spectacles and a balding scalp with three strands or less dangling about his ears. He carried a silver-plated pocket watch, a birthday present from his wife that had passed away two decades ago. He liked to pull it out during cabinet meetings and set the stop for sixty seconds. He told everyone the president’s time was precious and anything important could be said in a minute.
His position was secure as he was a part of the D.C. establishment for three decades. He obtained a MBA in political science at the University of Maryland and graduated third in his class. He did a stint in the armed services as an officer in the Marines patrolling a battle cruiser on the Asian Seas. When he returned home, he became involved in local politics. He sold cars in Baltimore where he appeared on TV and became a local celebrity. He won his first election as a DemRep in his thirties, he quickly moved to prominence with smaller chairmanships of the Workforce Protections Committee, the Conservation, Credit, Energy, and Research Committee, and then the Select Committee on Energy and Independence and Global Warming.
Willy examined an article in the New York Times. “Tourists Disappearing in Europe. It says a couple of hundred tourists have disappeared in the last ten days. They can’t make heads or tails of it either — no ransom notes, no terrorist plots.”
That is strange,” observed Fegan while he examined the comic strips. “I’d bet ransom notes turn up soon. Are Americans involved?”
“It says that it seems random and reports that around two dozen of our citizens have been abducted.”
We could get our embassies involved and be sure they warn everyone when they depart the planes.”
“That’s about all that could be done. If there are abductions let’s hope someone makes a break for it and puts an end to it all.”
Robinson gathered up the paper and carried it under his arm. “Thanks, Willy, for letting us hang out for a few minutes. We are going down to the Press Room.”
Whittman was winding up his comments when they arrived and took seats in the back row. “… And the Somalia situation looks better with each passing day. It looks as though the Russians are progressing nicely in their effort to maintain order. They have chosen a strategy in which they secure a city on a massive scale and turn it over to the citizens before they move on to the next. Mogadishu, while somewhat chaotic the first several days, is now under control and we can report from the multinational forces and the Red Cross that the Russians have been warmly received and are to be commended for a job well done.”
He sipped on a glass of water. “We will now take a few questions.” He looked at his watch. “I have another meeting with the president shortly and may need to cut this off.”
Linda Neuenfeldt from Newsweek began. “Has the president decided to do anything more to encourage the Iranians to give up their nuclear weapons ambitions?”
“This is something that weighs heavily upon his mind and he has been exploring more options with other world leaders, mainly Amir Harazi, who I understand has come up with some ideas. It would be premature for me to announce any of those ideas. As of now nothing has been finalized. I can assure you that any decision he makes will be well thought out.”
“The Assembly considered booting the Iranians out of the UN recently and this caused quite a stir in Pakistan. Is the US in favor of this proposal?”
It would be premature to say as the president has discussed this and is on the fence with this idea, and anything that might be proposed in the Assembly. I can tell you that he is a president that believes in diplomacy above all and that, although tempers may flare at the UN over various proposals, that everything is on the table when it comes to Iran.”
“Including military action?”
“Everything is on the table.”
He answered more questions and then nodded to Ted Croft. “There have been no reports of any Somali hijackings recently. How do you account for this?”