Shepherd tried to suppress a smile, but every marine in the room was grinning from ear to ear.
The general continued. “We believe the rash of terror attacks around the world was somehow connected to this military operation. I know you guys are able to see the news once or twice a day, but the lone wolf terror attacks are continuing, especially in England, France, and Germany. The U.S. has experienced some attacks, but nothing like in the days leading up to the military operation.”
The general paused and glanced around the room to see if anyone had any specific questions. Then he addressed the crowd more casually. “Back home all the public cares about is your safety. The U.S. cares about its troops, not Eastern Europe or the independent nations that make it up. But we, as students of history, like all good soldiers should be, know that Russia is on a similar path to that of Germany pre–World War II. Our politicians may not be smart enough to see where this could lead, but we are ready to stop them here.
“Today, more tanks are joining us from Germany and France. The Red Army’s reinforcements feel more like they’re posturing. We keep asking the question, why would they fight over Estonia? Someone pointed out they probably asked the same question as they were coming over the border. But we will maintain our status quo.” A map of Estonia appeared on the giant screen as the general said, “We are stopped on this line a little more than halfway down the country. The northern half of the country has suffered little damage and we would like to keep it that way. Some idiot politician from Northern Estonia has declared independence and claims that Russia is their protector. This is startlingly similar to what happened in Crimea. Now that Russia knows we’re willing to expend military power, maybe they’ll think twice before venturing into another Eastern European country. But who knows with that knucklehead Putin in charge.”
Shepherd chuckled along with everyone else and decided he liked this general even if he was from the Pentagon. The briefing went on for almost an hour as the general took questions from every corner of the room no matter the rank. The general talked about what he thought led the Russians to this military action. He said he thought it was primarily an economic move as the ruble tumbled in value and Russia’s only decent nonalcoholic export, oil, was selling at such a low level. They had to do something, and this seemed simple at the time.
Shepherd found his mind starting to drift as he thought about how wild the last few weeks had been. He’d spent little time considering how Fannie Legat had used him and tried to kill him. His success on the battlefield in the initial days of the war had also defused any concerns the marines had about him associating with someone like Fannie. There was one interview where he explained exactly what had happened, and that was it. He was just a lonely marine far from home who was attracted to a pretty Frenchwoman. He had no idea about her connections or even that she was Muslim.
No one had found any trace of her, but an investigation had named her as the chief suspect in the bombing of the bank in Bern, Switzerland. It was hard to believe a woman he spent time with was capable of killing so many people and hiding it so well.
Mike Rosenberg had saved his ass. When they had spoken two nights ago Rosenberg told him that their friend Derek Walsh was free and clear of any suspicion in the financial crimes. He even hinted that the crimes Walsh had been accused of were connected to this military operation as well. Fate was a weird and cruel force, but it still couldn’t overcome friendship and the U.S. Marines.
Fannie Legat sat alone in the quiet room of the clinic she had been cooped up in since the day of the explosion. It was an hour north of Stuttgart and run by a doctor who was sympathetic to their cause and often treated people in her network who’d been wounded. While not a plastic surgeon, he had clearly saved her life and done his best to ameliorate the damage she suffered when the bomb went off near the café where she was meeting the American major.
It had been more than two weeks, and a steady diet of painkillers had kept her from going insane from the burns on her shoulder and face. A sturdy cement bench had deflected some of the blast, and she’d had just enough energy to stumble from the area into her vehicle on the far side of the café. By the time she had arrived at the clinic the smell of burned flesh and the melted synthetic fibers of her floral-patterned dress had faded to a miasma of nauseating aromas. The doctor had assured her it was a psychological effect, but that was all she smelled now.
She stood up from the chair on unsteady legs and shuffled toward the mirror on the medicine cabinet in the small bathroom next door. Every day, about this time, when her bandages were off for several hours, she came to stare at herself in the mirror. The left side of her face was essentially intact. When she turned in profile she looked like her old self. Even her manicured eyebrow showed no signs of her trauma. But the right side was a map of agony. Starting near her ear and moving across her cheek to her mouth and around her eye, the ravaged skin looked like something from a prehistoric reptile. The hair on the right side of her head had been singed and shaved away. No eyebrow would ever grow on that side of her face again.
She felt no sorrow or pity for herself. This was a risk she was willing to take. Her only regret was that she had not been as successful as she wanted.
She had heard nothing about her Russian major, Anton Severov. Nor had she any news about Amir. Not much information was coming from the Russians, but they were still trying to use her group of affiliated Muslims to attack the U.S. indirectly. Now, more than ever before, she was in favor of that.
Soon, when she was strong enough to leave the clinic, she could make the U.S. pay for what happened to her, as well as what they had done to her people.
Putin sat at his desk, reading every report and update on the situation in Estonia he could get his hands on. The NATO response had not been massive, but it had been enough to stop the Russian invasion. At least temporarily. He had made the decision a little more than a day after they had crossed the border, after a U.S. Special Forces unit had managed to derail a train with a huge amount of supplies on it, to hold in place and see what developed.
At the time, Russia still controlled the skies with a canopy of SAM missiles and a huge array of aircraft constantly in the air. There had been some early dogfights with some American planes, which had been stationed in Estonia, but even those had been pulled back. It was the early engagements with U.S. Special Forces that made Putin understand he needed to stop the advance. The U.S. was committing more resources than he had anticipated.
Going against his original plan, which involved simply moving the small force back into Russia, Putin attempted to split his forces and protect the northern part of the country. His troops had taken control of the capital, Tallinn, very quickly and then gotten a politician from the area to declare himself the new president and claim that he had invited Russia in to help save the ethnic Russian minority, which was being oppressed. No one in the world believed it, but it was important to get the message out.