"Yes, Comrade Minister," replied the colonel. "They are American warplanes designed to avoid radar detection, and I am sorry to say they are most effective. Had our pilot not stumbled upon them and made a visual sighting, we would never have known they were there."
"That is most disturbing," said the portly Mining Minister in a low voice.
"Continue, Colonel," instructed Kostiashak.
"Yes, Comrade. After our pilot madeavisual sighting he was able to shoot down one of the bombers—"
"Marvelous!" shouted the Agriculture Minister while raising a big fist in the air. "A triumph of our Soviet defenses."
"Yes, Comrade," agreed Leonov. "But the pilot lost sight of the second bomber because of cloud cover… At this same time our phased-array radar station on the Caspian Sea picked up two unusual objects entering Soviet airspace from Afghanistan. They were traveling at an incredibly high altitude and speed. It was only later that I learned the objects were an American space shuttle and a smaller space vehicle of some kind, but at the time I did not knew this. In any case, because of these reentry vehicle and the stealth aircraft, I became convinced that the unannounced American bomber exercise over the Arctic ice cap was no exercise at all. I felt it could only mean that the Soviet Union was under a surprise attack. I then notified the
Strategic Rocket Forces Battle Centre and recommended a Triple Red-Omicron alert."
"Triple Red-Omicron?" barked the willowy, bespectacled Science Minister. "That is a recommendation for a first strike against the Americans."
"That is correct, Comrade Minister," agreed Leonov, "but with the presence of the stealth bombers and the unusual space vehicles, I felt I had no other choice but to recommend such an action."
The Science Minister was enraged. "I am a member of the National War Council. Why was I not informed?"
"An excellent question, Comrade," said Kostiashak. "I am a member of the War Council myself, and I was not informed either. Why do you think that is so, Colonel?"
Leonov was almost stammering now. "I have no idea, Comrade. I can only tell you that the Strategic Rocket Forces duty commander was notified in accordance with prescribed procedures, and the duty commander — a general — said he would implement the Triple Red-Omicron alert."
"Well, if that is the case, I should have been informed via my special communications device," said the Science Minister bitterly. "As you should have, Comrade Chairman."
"Most certainly," concurred Kostiashak. "That will be all, Colonel. You have performed your duties well. You may go." Leonov almost sprinted from the room.
"So there you have it," said Kostiashak with venom. "The American shuttle was hijacked. American bombers were poised to strike with their cruise missiles, and an American invisible bomber had penetrated Soviet airspace." The KGB Chairman turned on the Agriculture Minister. "Now do you think stealing an American shuttle is a schoolboy prank?"
The burly minister hunkered down in his chair. "Well, nothing happened, after all."
"Nothing happened?" barked Kostiashak. He pulled out another stack of photographs and shoved them down the table. The Politburo members picked them up and saw the blackened craters on the Baikonur runway, with part of the Intrepid's tail section and landing gear sticking out of the ground. "The second American invisible bomber blasted the spacecraft to pieces. And the Americans were obviously prepared to do more than that to prevent their precious shuttle from falling into our hands. Does a hijacking still appeal to you now, Comrade Minister?"
The Agriculture Minister hunkered down in his chair even further and remained silent, his eyes glowering from under his heavy eyebrows.
"But still," commented the Mining Minister. "These measures seem extreme for the loss of one shutde. One would expect protests. Even threats. We did that when the traitor Belenko defected with his MiG-25 to Japan. But to send warplanes into Soviet territory? And their nuclear bombers so close? All for one shutde? That puzzles me as much as it disturbs me."
"Exactly," agreed Kostiashak. "But my intelligence sources informed me that the payload aboard this particular shutde contained some components for their space defense platform. Critical components relating to their technological breakthrough. The cargo included some highly sophisticated computer parts and an isotope that would arm their gamma-ray laser."
"Ah," said the willowy Science Minister. "That explains it. No wonder they went to extraordinary lengths to destroy it." The scientist pondered the ceiling, then took off his glasses. "Had the situation been reversed, we might have been forced to do something desperate ourselves."
"Absolutely," agreed Kostiashak. "And the Americans are a very excitable and unpredictable people. Worse than the Afghans. That is why the General Secretary's crime was so heinous. He almost plunged us into a nuclear exchange with the Americans in an attempt to solidify his own position. It was folly, my Comrades. Criminal folly!"
The Agriculture Minister wasn't giving up so easily. He leaned forward and put his muscular forearms on the table. "You expect us to believe that General Secretary Vorontsky, acting completely alone on his own authority, conspired to steal an American shutde without our knowing it? I find that impossible to believe. If that had truly happened, the Americans would have been screaming for blood. Where are the protests? The threats? The howls of defiance about this hijacking?"
"You are quite right, my dear Comrade," said the little Chairman. "The General Secretary did not act alone. He had accomplices. And, as you say, the Americans did, indeed, scream." Kostiashak adjusted his silk tie before turning to Borisov. "Bring in the prisoners."
Once more the door opened, and this time two manacled figures were thrust inside. The portly Defense Minister was not wearing his usual resplendent uniform with its acre of ribbons and medals, and the Foreign Minister was sans his Italian tailored suit and Borsolino hat. Instead, they were wearing the rough gray woolen garments worn by guests registered at Lefortovo Prison.
"What is the meaning of this?" shrieked the Defense Minister.
"I demand to be released from these chains at once!" bellowed the Foreign Minister.
Kostiashak was unmoved as he slapped open the file. "Defense Minister Konstantin Zholobov, you stand accused of crimes against the state. You stand accused of deliberately cutting off the Triple Red-Omicron notification warning from the Strategic Rocket Forces to prevent the War Council from learning of your treachery. You stand accused of failing to defend the Rodina's borders against American bombers who dropped their bombs on Soviet soil. You stand accused of thrusting your country perilously close to a nuclear exchange. How do you answer these charges?"
The Defense Minister strained so hard against his chains it looked as if they might break. "What is happening here? What alert? What bombing attack? This is madness! It is a conspiracy!"
"And I would wager you know nothing of a shutde hijacking?" challenged Kostiashak in a mocking tone.
"What?" screamed the Defense Minister in an incredulous voice.
Kostiashak nodded to Popov. "General?"
Oh, what the hell, thought Popov. In for a penny, in for a pound. Sorry, old friend, he thought, it is either you or I. The stocky general gave a reluctant shrug, and said, "It was the Defense Minister who held the gun on me much of the time. I was truly frightened."
"Incredible," wheezed the Science Minister.
"Take him away," ordered Kostiashak.
"Likady! What are you saying?" screamed the Defense Minister as he lunged against his chains, but one of the KGB guards whacked his solar plexus with a truncheon and the old soldier went down like a sack of potatoes. He was dragged from the room.
"And as for you, Foreign Minister," seethed Kostiashak. "I would like you to explain these cables, which were obtained from the ministry's message centre." Borisov distributed copies. "The first cable is from Ambassador Yakolev. He relays the Americans' allegation that the Soviet Union is in communication with their space shuttle. Your cable in reply states that you and the Defense Minister investigated the matter, and that there was no communication — a bald-faced lie if I ever heard one. The next cable from Ambassador Yakolev expressed the Americans' outrage over the destruction of their shuttle — the Constellation—which they sent to intercept the Intrepid. He warns that the Americans are threatening a military response. And what do you do? You send this reply" — Kostiashak shook the pages in his hand—"instructing our honored ambassador to do nothing and to remain silent. Silent!"