Russia's plan had been exposed and the Russians knew that that West had known. Of course it was only to be expected the Russians would bring their timetable forward, they had precious other choice.
Five goddamn hours’ up here and yet that wimpy little shit still wouldn’t let them land. The man doesn’t need more time to ‘Assess the situation’ he needs time to grow a backbone, thought Shaw.
Returning to the main cabin he sat down with the CSA and NSA director.
“What’s he say?” asked NSA.
“He says it’s too soon and wants hard Intel that there aren’t suitcases waiting to go off at every field big enough to accept us.”
“Well… .” began NSA, “… .he is in charge now, at least until the engineers have extracted the president.”
Air Force One had been orbiting above the Atlantic at 0900hrs local time in Washington in company with a flight of Navy F-14As and their own KC-131 tanker. The joint chiefs and civil emergency staffs were aboard another converted Boeing 747 several hundred miles away, known as ‘Kneecap’, the National Emergency Airborne Command Post’s communications were in a constant state of high volume traffic.
As far as the timing and target aspect of the terrorist attacks, as gleaned from the O’Connor female, it had seemed to have panned out. Granted that the Irish terrorist timetable had given them another four days grace, however the White House had lost its famous dome, along with a large portion of the roof. The wing nearest the explosion had completely collapsed, burying the kitchen level under tons of rubble. The Army Corps of Engineers were on scene and clearing the debris in order to rescue the president and staff who were the only ones at the White House that morning to escape with only minor injury.
Fires were still burning in Washington where the damage to America’s capital was massive. The FBI headquarters in the J. Edgar Hoover Building, Justice Department, National Archives along with the great museums and National Gallery were gone. Initial casualty estimates were four thousand, dead or missing and the hospitals were flooded with burn and blast injuries. The nuclear footprint, which is the shape of the fallout effected area, was to the northeast, effecting over forty city blocks but that number would increase as more of the irradiated dust filtered down from the stratosphere.
An air force sergeant handed the general a message sheet.
“Oh sweet lord… Taiwan and Japan are under long range conventional missile attack from China and an airborne assault is underway at Singapore!” He told them before striding purposefully toward the vice presidents compartment; he had not reached it before being handed three more sheets of bad news by another air force sergeant.
“Mr Vice President,” he began. “Both China and Russia have begun open hostilities. At 0930hrs Washington time, four nuclear devices, of approximately 6 kilotons yield each, were detonated off the North Cape. NATO had a submarine picket in place guarding against Russia and their allies SSN, SSGN and SSBN boats from breaking out into the Atlantic. As result we have lost contact with four of our boats, HMS Cutlass and HMS Debonair were almost on top of two of the devices. The Royal Norwegian Navies Ula and Poland’s Wilk are the other two boats. Three other NATO submarines suffered varying amounts of damage.” The vice president made no comment so General Shaw continued.
“NATO suspects that these were pre-positioned mines. Fifteen minutes after the attacks on the picket boats the surface combat task force which was backing up the boats came under air attack from TU-160 ‘Blackjack’ bombers with heavy fighter CAP support.” Shaw paused, determined to get some reaction from the man.
“What happened?” was all he got.
“Of a total of nine NATO ships in the task force, one destroyer and two frigates, USS MacGowan, the German frigates Koln and Berlin were lost with all hands, another frigate, the French Tours later sank after the crew were forced to abandon her. The light carrier HMS Invincible was severely damaged and is under tow. All the remaining vessels received damage but are still combat effective although HMS Ardent has Invincible in tow until an ocean going tug can reach her, however… ” he paused for a second.
“There is a breakout by enemy submarines in process into the Atlantic, Invincible may not make it.”
The vice president looked confused, Shaw expected him to ask what was being done about the breakout and what efforts had been made to defeat the airstrike.
“The Sea Harriers from Invincible accounted for four Blackjacks and two Floggers but all but two were knocked down by the enemy CAP. SAM’s got another two Blackjacks and the two Harriers recovered to Bodø in Norway.” Shaw went on to report the attacks on Japan and Taiwan, airborne invasion of Singapore and possible preparations by China to invade Australia.
“Mr Vice President, CNN is right now broadcasting this; we have to get this thing on the ground and start running the country. If the president is still incapacitated then you need to speak to the nation and our allies. I would suggest that 40,000 feet over the Atlantic is not the most reassuring place to do that from, do you?”
The Vice President took a deep breath and wiped a hand over his face before answering.
“You are absolutely correct General. This has all come as a hell of a shock to me. I never anticipated being in this position, not really.” He stood and straightened his jacket.
“Ok, I’ll speak to the battle staff while you tell the pilot to put us down.”
Good, thought Shaw, I suppose we all get there at our own speeds and the man was at least making an effort at last.
Returning home for the first time in three days, Joseph Ludowej entered his family’s apartment on Allee Jerozolimskie and immediately noticed something amiss. As the defence ministers personal secretary he had been far too busy to telephone since late in the night three days before, telling his wife that the country’s situation appeared desperate and he would be home when he could. His wife was a loving and understanding woman, the perfect wife and ideal mother to their three daughters. Standing inside the apartments main door he noticed that the atmosphere was cold, as if the home was emptied of its occupants. Normally the family Cocker Spaniel, Sofia, would have come bounding up to welcome him home, but there was no excited barking and scrabbling of nails on the tile floor, no sound of voices either, or even the TV.
He placed his briefcase on the floor beside the coat stand, then paused to listen midway through removing his overcoat.
“Karena, girls?”
There was no answer to his query. Weariness hung heavily about him as he completed the act of removing his overcoat. Perhaps Karena had taken the girls out for the evening, or to stay with her parents near Stupsk on the coast and no message had reached him. Many were leaving the cities as invasion once more threatened the small nation. He had been excluded, as were all the aides and personal secretary’s, from the meetings where the threat from the suitcase bombs had been discussed. When he had learnt of the plot just a few hours’ ago he had felt physically sick; the thought of losing his family in a nuclear holocaust did not bear thinking of. He loved his country but his family, Karena, eight year old Tamsin, Lucia aged six and little two year old Lulu, were his life.
The living room was empty and no notes were perched beside the telephone. He checked the bedrooms, bathroom and lastly the kitchen. All the rooms had been neat and tidy, the beds were made, no clothing was missing and all the suitcases were still in the hallway cupboard.