Scarecrow Returns

THE WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM

THE PRESIDENT slammed down the phone. He’d just spoken with the Russian President.

“An air approach is out of the question,” he said, “and the Russians don’t have any units close enough to get to Dragon by sea within five hours. What about us? Do we have any assets in that area? Anyone who’s close enough to get there—undetected, by sea or over the ice, within five hours—and stop that weapon from going off?”

“I’m sorry, sir. The Air Force has no such assets in that region,” Air Force said.

“Neither does the Army, sir,” Army said, shaking his head.

“We do, sir,” Navy said. “Got a SEAL team in a sub about seventy nautical miles north-east of that island. Ira Barker and his boys. Doing Arctic training. They’re tough, close and all geared up. They can get there in maybe three hours.”

“Call them,” the President ordered. “Call them now and send them in. Tell them to sabotage, disable or destroy anything or anyone that will stop that device from going off. And while they’re on their way to Dragon, dispatch a larger force that can get there later, just in case these SEALs do somehow succeed in delaying this.”

While all this was happening, the Marine Corps representative had moved off to a corner of the room where he spoke into a secure phone. He hung up and turned to the President. “Sir. There’s also . . . well . . .”

“What! What?”

“I’ve got a small equipment-testing team up there, camped on the sea ice about a hundred miles north of that island. Been there for the last seven weeks. A few Marines, a DARPA guy and some civilian contractors testing new gear in extreme weather conditions. It’s not exactly an assault unit but it’s somebody and they’re up there.”

“Who’s in command?” the President asked.

The Marine general said, “A captain named Schofield, sir. Call sign ‘Scarecrow.’ ”

“Scarecrow?” the President said, recognizing the name. “The one I spoke to the French President about a few months back? The United States citizen that the French military put a floating bounty on?”

“That’s him, sir. That French business is the main reason he’s up in the Arctic now. They sent hit teams to kill him twice when he was stationed at Parris Island. Both times, he survived. We wanted to get him out of harm’s way so we sent him north with that test team.”

There were other reasons, too, the Marine general knew, but he didn’t feel they needed to be mentioned right now.

The President’s face set itself in a fixed grimace. “I asked the French President to cancel that bounty and you know what he said to me? He said, ‘Monsieur, I will accede to your demands on finance, trade, on Afghanistan, even on Iran, but I will not belay that order. That man killed French soldiers, destroyed a French submarine and sank a French aircraft carrier. The Republic of France will not rest until he is dead.’”

The President shook his head. “Call this Scarecrow. Send him in behind that SEAL team with the same orders: sabotage, disable, destroy. Tell him to do whatever he can to stop this madness.”