“Wait in here. I’ll get you once Andropov is gone.”
Christine stepped through the opening and a heavy metal door slid shut behind her.
18
GELENDZHIK, RUSSIA
Yuri Kalinin settled into the chair behind his desk, waiting for General Andropov. Footsteps echoed off the marble floor, growing louder until there was a knock on the study doors. Kalinin acknowledged and the doors opened, revealing his executive assistant standing between General Andropov and an Army colonel Kalinin didn’t recognize. Andropov gripped a briefcase while the colonel carried a sealed classified courier pouch. Kalinin tried to read the two Army officers. Andropov’s face was an impassive mask, whereas tension registered from the colonel.
Before Kalinin could assess further, Andropov spoke. “President Kalinin, we need to discuss an issue in private.” The general glanced at Yelchin.
Kalinin waved his executive assistant away, and Yelchin closed the doors as he left. “What is the issue?” Kalinin asked.
Andropov glanced at the colonel, who placed the courier pouch on the edge of Kalinin’s desk and entered its combination. After opening the pouch, he slid his hand inside and withdrew a pistol, which he leveled at Kalinin’s head.
Kalinin assessed the situation, then turned to Andropov. “What do you want?”
General Andropov placed the heavy briefcase on Kalinin’s desk.
19
OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE
Just south of Omaha, Nebraska, within the confines of Offutt Air Force Base, lies the United States Strategic Command or USSTRATCOM, one of nine unified commands in the U.S. Department of Defense. Established in 1992 as the successor to Strategic Air Command, USSTRATCOM is responsible for nuclear strategic deterrence, global strike, and operating the Defense Department’s Global Information Grid.
Deep beneath the surface inside USSTRATCOM’s new $1.2 billion headquarters building, Admiral Bob Aronson sat in his chair in the command bunker, a facility encased in a concrete shell inside a thick steel cube. Large displays were affixed to the far bulkhead, displaying the status of America’s nuclear assets. Every console in the five-row command center was manned, with supervisors pacing behind them, occasionally stopping to look over an operator’s shoulder.
About to commence this afternoon was a rare combined strategic deterrence exercise, testing the response of all three legs of America’s nuclear triad. In a few minutes, USSTRATCOM would simulate a nuclear attack from country Orange, and Admiral Aronson’s staff would assess the Blue force response. Simulated ICBM launches would occur and B-2 bombers loaded with dummy warheads would sortie. The exercise also included an FCET — Follow-on Commander’s Evaluation Test — an actual launch of a Trident II missile from a submarine. The missile’s nuclear warheads had been replaced with inert instrumented payloads that would record data through every phase of the missile’s flight, all the way until impact far out in the Atlantic Ocean.
Admiral Aronson’s eyes shifted from the main screen, displaying the status of America’s nuclear assets, to a live video feed from just off the East Coast. It was a bland video, displaying the Atlantic Ocean with whitecaps cresting the swells in the brisk wind. Lurking several hundred feet below the surface, however, was USS Maryland, an Ohio class ballistic missile submarine, with its communication buoy deployed, floating a few feet below the surface.
When the clock struck 14:00:00, the exercise began.
Warnings flashed on several consoles in the first row, and a supervisor shifted the main display screen to country Orange, which was the same size and shape as the Russian Federation and in the same location. Triangles appeared at several dozen ICBM silo locations in Orange, and red lines began arching westward. The command center’s computer algorithms took over, calculating the warhead destinations. White circles appeared in the United States around several major cities and military bases. As the red traces arched toward their apex, the circles contracted as the algorithms calculated the aim points more accurately.
The information was passed to the National Military Command Center in the Pentagon, where the watch captain in the Operations Center would simulate contacting the president and secretary of defense, who for this exercise were two Air Force colonels filling in. The faux president would be informed of the attack and after providing his authentication code, would authorize a nuclear response and select an attack option. For this exercise, the American response would mirror the Orange attack.
An Emergency War Order arrived on Admiral Aronson’s console display, simulating the release of nuclear weapons. Not long thereafter, Emergency Action Messages were transmitted over all circuits, executing the training attack option specified in the War Order. Although ICBM launches would be simulated today, four B-2 bombers would sortie and the submarine leg of the nuclear triad would launch a Trident II missile.
Aronson watched a video feed from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, observing four B-2 bombers take off, then shifted his attention to the Atlantic Ocean. A moment later, a Trident II missile emerged from the depths, its first-stage engine igniting once it cleared the surface, leaving behind a white trail as it raced upward.
20
GELENDZHIK, RUSSIA
Minutes earlier, after the heavy metal door closed behind Christine, low-level lights flickered on in the six-by-eight-foot room, growing brighter until fully lit. One wall was filled with a dozen video displays, all dark, with several rows of buttons beneath each monitor. On the counter beneath the displays were four backpacks, sitting beside four semiautomatic pistols in a stand, along with eight loaded magazines. Beside the pistols were four smart phones — green ruggedized military versions, each in a charging stand.
There was a single chair in front of the displays, and on the other end of the room was another closed metal door. The walls were made of concrete as were the ceiling and floor. After examining her surroundings further and finding nothing additional noteworthy, she rummaged through the backpacks. Each contained an identical assortment of items: a flashlight, dry food rations, and water bottles.
There was a button beside the far door, which Christine pressed. The door slid open, revealing a dark, musty passage. After retrieving a flashlight, she illuminated a staircase leading down until it disappeared in the darkness. She turned off the flashlight and closed the door.
Christine sank into the chair. After staring at the dark monitors for a while, she pressed one of the buttons beneath the far-left display. It energized, providing a view of the mansion entrance. She hit a different button beneath each display and was soon looking at eleven different sections of the mansion and surrounding grounds, plus one Russian television news feed. Her eyes were drawn to the monitor showing the study on the other side of the wall.
An Army colonel was pointing a gun at Kalinin’s head.
Christine sucked in a sharp breath. Her eyes went to the four pistols, evaluating whether she should intercede.
Kalinin didn’t seem fazed, though, sitting calmly at his desk as he spoke, but there was no sound from the video. Christine found what looked like a speaker button, selecting it to the desired monitor. The speaker energized as General Andropov placed a briefcase on Kalinin’s desk.
Andropov opened the briefcase, revealing a Frankenstein version of a laptop, cell phone, external display, and trackball, wired into a custom-made circuit board. He looked up at Kalinin, then explained his plan.