The president frowned. “What was that name again? The Rud…”
“Rudrasya khaḍgaḥ,” the Secretary of Defense said. “Apparently that’s Sanskrit for ‘Sword of Shiva.’
The president’s eyebrows went up. “Shiva? The Hindu god?”
“Yes, sir,” SECDEF said. “Shiva is the Hindu god of creation and destruction. But when he manifests in his Rudra aspect, he is specifically the god of storm, wind, destruction, and death.”
President Wainwright raised one corner of his mouth in a humorless half-smile. “Well, that sounds promising, doesn’t it? What other good news have you got for me?”
“We’re still looking at preliminary assessments, sir,” the National Security Advisor said. “But if the Rudra — the Sword of Shiva warhead — turns out to be as effective as the initial simulations suggest, then seven missiles may be overkill. It’s feasible that four would be enough to bring down the dam, with proper placement and timing, of course.”
“Of course,” the president said. “Okay, the intelligence on this plan is reasonably credible, and it’s possible that this kind of missile strike could punch a hole in the dam. It sounds like one hell of a mess for the People’s Republic, but how does that add up to a national security problem for us?”
The Sit Room Duty Officer spoke up. “The Indians aren’t just planning to knock holes in the dam, sir. Their apparent goal is to cause a complete failure of the retaining wall. This will trigger catastrophic flooding of the entire Yangtze River basin, all the way from the site of the Three Gorges Dam to the East China Sea.”
The Duty Officer keyed his remote, and the Sit Room master display changed to a topographic map of eastern central China. The meandering blue line of the Yangtze river cut across the middle of the map, dividing the northern and southern halves of the visible landmass. The black dots of three cities hugged the wandering curves of the river: Wuhan, Nanjing, and Shanghai.
“The Yangtze River runs right through the heart of China’s largest concentration of human population,” said the Situation Room Duty Officer. “Approximately 400 million people live within the boundaries of the Yangtze River basin. That’s nearly a third of the total population of China.”
He gestured toward the screen. “If the Three Gorges Dam should fail, three of the largest and most heavily-populated cities in China will be directly in the path of destruction.”
The National Security Advisor nodded. “The combined populations of Shanghai, Nanjing and Wuhan are closely equivalent to the collective populations of New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC. And these three cities form the backbone of China’s industrial and financial base. The loss of any one of these cities would seriously damage the Chinese economy. The loss of all three of them…” Brenthoven allowed his voice to trail off.
“We’re talking a nightmare scenario for China,” the president said. “Millions of short term casualties, and massive damage to their national infrastructure, followed by a crippling economic aftermath.”
“That’s correct, Mr. President,” Brenthoven said. “Not quite a doomsday scenario for the Chinese, but pretty damned close.”
President Wainwright shook his head. “Then why in God’s name did they even build the thing? The Chinese are many things, but they’re not stupid. Why would they put so many of their own people at risk?”
“They probably thought they had factored out the serious risks,” the Secretary of Defense said. “From a structural standpoint, the Three Gorges Dam is significantly over-built. They designed in more than enough safety margin to compensate for earthquakes and other natural disasters, and — short of a nuclear attack — there frankly aren’t very many bombs or missiles in the world that could put a serious dent in that thing. The Chinese politburo probably felt like they had all the important angles covered.”
“But they didn’t count on this new Indian warhead,” the president said.
“Apparently not, sir,” said Brenthoven.
President Wainwright stared at the wall-sized display screen for several seconds. “How will the Chinese government react, if India manages to carry out this plan?”
“That’s the big question,” the National Security Advisor said. “How would you react in that situation, Mr. President? Suppose the U.S. was engaged in hostilities with some hypothetical enemy, and suddenly — without warning — our adversary wiped out New York, Los Angeles and Washington, DC, killing about a third of our national population in the process. How would you retaliate, sir?”
“I like to think of myself as a man of peace,” the president said. “But if someone hit us with an attack that vicious and that massive, I’d go after them with every weapon at my disposal. I’d do my damnedest to turn their entire country into a parking lot.”
The Secretary of Defense sighed heavily. “I hate to say it, sir, but I would too. Any leader with the power and ability to strike back would retaliate just as strongly. When somebody slams you that hard, you don’t trade punches. You crush them.”
“That, I’m afraid, is our answer,” Brenthoven said. “If India really does this… If they bring down the Three Gorges Dam, China is going to hit them with everything…”
His last word hung in the air, and no one had any doubt at all what ‘everything’ meant in this context.
President Wainwright sat back in his chair. “We’re missing something here,” he said.
“We’re in the early discovery phase on this, sir,” Brenthoven said. “We’re still missing a lot of things. It may take the intelligence agencies a while to develop corroborating sources, and assemble the critical details.”
“I’m not talking about details,” said the president. “And I’m not talking about independent confirmation of the facts.”
He looked at the enormous aerial view of the Three Gorges Dam on the display screen. “We’re missing a critical piece in the chain of logic.”
“I don’t think I’m following you, sir,” Brenthoven said.
“Mary just summed it up perfectly,” the president said. “You don’t sit around trading punches when somebody slams you that hard. You crush them. Right?”
Brenthoven nodded, but didn’t speak.
“I don’t claim to understand the mindset of the Indian government,” the president said. “But they can’t possibly be too blind to know what will happen if they cripple China with an assault of this magnitude. This entire plan is practically begging for nuclear retaliation. So why in the hell are they even thinking about it?”
No one offered an answer.
“We’re missing something here,” the president said again. “Some vital piece of logical thinking.”
The Chief of Naval Operations drummed the fingertips of his left hand lightly on the table top. “What if it’s not logical?” he asked. “Before that nutcase, Zhukov, bombed Pearl Harbor, I would have said that nobody is fanatical enough to do something that idiotic. But these days, Mr. President, I’m not quite as quick to underestimate the power of stupid and crazy.”
President Wainwright grimaced. “You’ve got a point there, Admiral” he said. “But — crazy or not — our friends in India have got something up their sleeve. And we had damned well better find out what it is…”
CHAPTER 24