Marshal Moskanko glared at Smirnov, who returned his look calmly. The two KBG officers watched the defense minister.
“We have arranged a comfortable dacha for you at Sochi on the Black Sea,” Omskuschin went on. “You will not need for anything, and you will not have to fear any retribution from—”
“You sniveling bastards!” Moskanko roared. “You have been with me in this from the very first moment, but I am the one chosen to fall.” Spittle forming at his lips, Moskanko lunged toward them. “You cannot—”
The two KGB officers moved simultaneously and forced the defense minister back into his chair. He pulled against them, but they pinned his arms. On a signal from Fedoseyev, they forced Moskanko to his feet and led him to the door. Smirnov stepped aside, smiling mockingly. “I will give President Stark your regards, Marshal.” The police pulled the raging Moskanko away from the premier, who turned his back and walked over to the hot line. He handed a sheet of paper to the operator. “Send this immediately.”
Behind him the two marshals of the Soviet Union watched Moskanko struggling down the hallway into oblivion.
At the television screen in the Maryland mountain, no one stirred. The President’s shirt was soaked with sweat, and his cigar had gone out several times as he alternately puffed on it and laid it down. Eight hundred and sixteen Soviet missiles were now poised along the arc of the Soviet heartland, but Stark saw only four on the screen. They hypnotized him as he waited for them to vault toward the orbiting Samos camera.
At precisely 11:42 P.M., the hot line chattered, and William Stark stiffened in his chair. Randall ran to the machine, and someone said, “This is it.” The President leaned over Randall’s shoulder to read the print as the Bagman jostled his elbow with the opened satchel.
TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA FROM THE PRESIDIUM OF THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS:
THE SOVIET UNION DEPLORES THE SENSELESS ACTS OF CERTAIN DISSIDENT ELEMENTS WITHIN ITS OWN GOVERNMENT IN THE PAST WEEKS. THE NUCLEAR DETONATION NEAR TASHKENT SHOULD NOT BE CAUSE FOR FURTHER BREAKDOWN OF RELATIONS BETWEEN OUR TWO NATIONS. ABSOLUTELY NO COUNTER-MEASURES WILL BE INITIATED BY OUR ARMED FORCES. PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE AND STATE YOUR INTENTIONS.
As he read the final lines aloud, William Stark had tears in his eyes. The room erupted in cheers and whistles as men pounded one another on the back and hugged their neighbors. General Stephen Austin Roarke, his face a mixture of awe and triumph, offered his hand to the President.
“Mr. President, you’re one helluva man. If I didn’t know otherwise, I’d swear you were from Texas.”
Stark shook his hand and mumbled, “Thanks, Steve,” as Sam Riordan forced a Scotch into his left hand. “And Steve,” Stark added, “tell NORAD to kill the alert.” Sam put his arm around the President and whispered: “Bill, you and you alone saved us.” He raised his glass to the President, and Stark started to accept the toast until he remembered the ugly mushroom in the Central Asian desert. He quickly put the drink down and reached for a chair. As the revelry in the room swirled around him, the President of the United States put his head in his hands to blot out the joyous scene.
At the wall screen Sam Riordan watched the concrete doors of the Soviet missile silos at Novosibirsk slowly close back over the warheads. He switched off the screen and went to refill his drink.
About the Author
William Craig (1929–1997) was an American historian and novelist. Born and raised in Concord, Massachusetts, he interrupted his career as an advertising salesman to appear on the quiz show Tic-Tac-Dough in 1958. With his $42,000 in winnings — a record-breaking amount at the time — Craig enrolled at Columbia University and earned both an undergraduate and a master’s degree in history. He published his first book, The Fall of Japan, in 1967. A narrative history of the final weeks of World War II in the Pacific, it reached the top ten on the New York Times bestseller list and was deemed “virtually flawless” by the New York Times Book Review. In order to write Enemy at the Gates (1973), a documentary account of the Battle of Stalingrad, Craig travelled to three continents and interviewed hundreds of military and civilian survivors. A New York Times bestseller, the book inspired a film of the same name starring Jude Law and Joseph Fiennes. In addition to his histories of World War II, Craig wrote two acclaimed espionage thrillers: The Tashkent Crisis (1971) and The Strasbourg Legacy (1975).