"When?"
"About a minute ago."
"Where's Haltman?"
"Dead."
"All right." She disconnected.
In Virginia, Elizabeth thought hard and fast. The Pentagon would already know something had happened. They would inform the President. The missiles would trigger the Russian defenses. Orlov would retaliate, probably with his newly deployed medium-range cruise missiles. That in turn would require a larger response. It wouldn't be long until things went out of control.
What could she do? The world was minutes away from war. Her encrypted satellite phone was on the bedside table, where she always kept it at night. She picked up the phone. Her finger hovered over the button that would connect her to President Rice.
If the Russians knew why the missiles had been launched, if they knew it wasn't a deliberate act ordered by Washington, it might be stopped. But how to convince them it was the work of a madman and not the opening shots of world war?
Vysotsky. Call Vysotsky.
She entered Vysotsky's number and glanced at her clock. It was a little after four in the morning, which meant it was after five in the afternoon in Russia. Vysotsky would be awake, probably at his office in Yasenevo. After one ring, he picked up.
"Da."
"General, it's Elizabeth Harker."
"You have nerve calling, Director. Your country has launched an unprovoked attack upon us. You will regret it. I am too busy to talk to you now."
"Wait, General. That's why I'm calling. We didn't do it. This must be stopped before it gets out of control."
She could hear background noise that told her Vysotsky was in a car.
"We know they are your missiles," Vysotsky said. "Do you deny this?"
"I don't deny it," Harker said, "but we did not launch them. Someone else did."
Vysotsky laughed, an ugly, angry sound with no humor in it.
"Oh? A rogue commander, perhaps? Do you seriously expect me to believe this?"
"Hear me out," Elizabeth said. "I understand your anger, I would feel the same way. Let me explain."
"I am on my way to the Kremlin, Director. I will give you two minutes to convince me."
It wasn't much time to prevent the end of the world. Elizabeth took a breath and began. Five minutes later, Vysotsky was still listening.
"Haltman is dead," Elizabeth said. "There will be no more missile launches, unless you retaliate. If you do, it will be impossible to stop. Our two countries will be at war. You know what that means. Please, General, you must speak with Orlov and get him to hold off until this can be straightened out. Shoot them down but don't retaliate."
Elizabeth waited. Over her phone, she heard only Vysotsky's breathing and the sound of the car as it sped toward the ancient fortress of the Kremlin.
Finally, he said, "I will speak with our President."
Vysotsky disconnected.
Elizabeth's next call was to President Rice.
"Yes, Director. I don't have much time, I'm moving to Marine One and then Kneecap."
Marine One was the helicopter assigned to the President on a twenty-four hour basis. Kneecap was the designation for Air Force One in time of war. It was a complete, airborne command center, away from the nuclear bull's-eye that was Washington.
"Mister President, I have discovered who launched the missiles. There are nuclear tipped Tomahawks among them."
"Those missiles came from THAAD sites. They're defensive, unarmed. We don't have any cruise missiles stationed on the ground in Europe."
"Sir, that's not entirely true. A site in Poland was disguised as a THAAD installation but was armed with Tomahawks. The missiles were triggered by the man who designed software for the guidance systems."
Elizabeth took a breath. "Sir, on my own I contacted the Russians and explained what happened. We may still be able to avoid war if Orlov keeps his head about him."
She heard people yelling in the background.
"You talked with Orlov?" Rice asked.
Elizabeth heard the beat of rotors over the phone. Rice was approaching Marine One.
"No sir, I spoke with General Vysotsky. He was on his way to the Kremlin."
"Very well. I'll talk with you again when I'm in the air."
Rice disconnected.
Nothing to do now but wait and pray, Elizabeth thought.
CHAPTER 51
Nick sat next to Selena on the couch in their loft, looking out over the Potomac River. He had his arm around her shoulder. A Paul Kleé painting hung over the couch, a gift Selena had given him when he still lived in his apartment.
It was early evening. A bottle of wine sat on a coffee table in front of them.
"Rice is going to give us a medal," Nick said. "Of course we don't get to wear it, just hold it for a little bit until they put it away somewhere."
"We don't deserve a medal. We didn't stop that bastard from launching those missiles."
"No, we didn't. But we knew what had happened. That meant I could tell Harker and she could tell the Russians. If she hadn't gotten hold of Vysotsky, we wouldn't be sitting here. That river down there would be glowing in the dark."
"It was close, wasn't it?"
"I thought I was the one that understated things," Nick said.
Selena picked up her glass and drank.
"Is it all right for you to drink that now?"
"You mean the baby?"
"Yes. Junior."
"What if it's a girl?"
"You're not answering my question."
"After saving the world, I'm entitled to one glass of wine. But it's the last one for a while."
"We were really lucky," Nick said. "If one of those Tomahawks had gotten through, Moscow would've gone up in a mushroom cloud. As it was, some of the THAAD missiles did a lot of damage when they hit."
"I imagine the Pentagon is busy analyzing the Russian defense system," Selena said. "It's a lot better than we thought it was."
"That's not all they're analyzing. First they had General Sanford handing over plans to North Korea, then it turns out there's a rogue element in the Pentagon that thinks we should have nuclear tactical weapons on the ground in Europe. Their little stunt just blew the whole nuclear proliferation treaty to hell."
"Maybe in the end it'll be a good thing," Selena said. "Everyone will be forced to go back to the negotiating table after this. Who knows, we might even get an agreement to reduce these weapons."
"Yeah, maybe."
Nick refilled his glass.
"We need to talk. About you and the team."
"I know. When I was driving toward that gate, I wasn't thinking about much except going through it without getting killed. But afterward, I started thinking about us. I could've lost the baby. I don't know why I didn't. I hit the ground pretty hard when I jumped out of that truck."
"You can't go into the field anymore."
"We talked about this before. Even if I hadn't gotten pregnant, it was time. I want to go back to the languages, studying and translating ancient writings. Teaching people about them. I'm good at it and I miss it. It's less exciting than chasing down assholes like Haltman, but in its own way it's just as challenging."
"We'll still work together," Nick said. "The only difference is you're back in a consulting role. Like when we met."
"I hope not quite like when we met. That wasn't the most peaceful day I've ever had. I really loved that car."
Selena snuggled up against him.
"What are we going to name him?" Nick asked.
"Her," Selena said. "What are we going to name her?"
NOTES
The world that the project works in may be fictional, but it is based on real-life possibilities and events. I weave things that are real with things that are not in these stories. For example, Black Dolphin may or may not be real but underwater drones do exist. It doesn't take much imagination to see how they could be used for destructive purposes.