Blackmail

50 WASHINGTON, D.C.

Seated at her desk in her West Wing corner office, Christine rested her fingers on her computer keyboard as she stared at her display, replaying President Xiang’s words in her mind for the thousandth time.

Should I be as ruthless as you?

His question at the end of their meeting had stung. She wasn’t ruthless by any stretch of the imagination, yet Xiang implied she was more ruthless than him. How was that possible? By ordering the invasion of Taiwan, Xiang was responsible for the death of over one hundred thousand men and women. Yet by killing one defenseless man, she was more ruthless? She wondered if something had been lost in translation.

There was a knock on Christine’s door, and after she acknowledged, Colonel DuBose entered. “Good afternoon, Miss O’Connor. Just a reminder, the briefing begins in five minutes.”

“Thanks, Colonel.” She’d lost track of time. Grabbing a notepad from her desk, she joined the marine, then headed down one level into the Situation Room, where they joined Hardison, McVeigh, Dawn, and CIA Director Jessica Cherry.

It wasn’t long before the president arrived, taking his seat at the head of the table. He wasted no time, turning to Dawn. “Bring me up to speed on the diplomatic front.”

“I’ll start with Lithuania and Ukraine. NATO leadership is still debating the use of military force and it looks like several countries are preparing to submit a no vote to the secretary-general. Russia is taking advantage of the indecision within NATO, continuing to push for a continental security summit, and a few NATO countries are considering Kalinin’s offer. The Alliance is unstable, and could capitulate to Kalinin’s demands at any moment.

“In the Pacific, there’s been no word from India, but thanks to Christine, President Xiang has agreed to remain neutral, and our embassy in Beijing has received the list of concessions he’s requesting. We’re negotiating a few things, but when the dust settles, we’ll have a deal.”

The president replied, “Do you think we can trust China?”

There was silence in the Situation Room as the president’s eyes canvased the men and women at the table. His question was rhetorical. No one knew the answer.

Turning to McVeigh, the president asked, “Where do we stand militarily?”

McVeigh answered, “The Eisenhower and Bush strike groups are on their way across the Pacific. However, positioning four strike groups in the Indian Ocean will telegraph our intention and we’ll lose the element of surprise. To cover our tracks, we’ll jam Russian and Indian satellites, and those of any other country that might be inclined to pass intel to Russia.”

“Won’t jamming the satellites alert Russia that we’re up to something?”

“Jamming isn’t the best term,” McVeigh replied. “We have the ability to upload modified satellite images, like a closed-circuit camera being fed prerecorded tape. It’ll look like the two carrier strike groups leaving the West Coast are headed to China, to replace the two we’ve sent into the Indian Ocean.”

“Got it,” the president said.

“Although we’re moving naval assets into position,” McVeigh said, “we’re having difficulty with Air Force units. Every country in the region except Afghanistan is refusing to let us base military assets in their territory, fearing Russia will blow their pipelines in retaliation. That means we can’t get tactical missile batteries close enough to the Gulf of Oman, and Afghanistan is too far away for significant tactical air support. The best we can do is provide air support using long-range strategic assets, which will play a role at the beginning of the conflict but quickly lose relevance once the battle begins. Given those constraints, however, we’ve developed a plan.

“It’ll be a phased approach,” McVeigh said, “taking out the Russian air bases in Iran before attacking Russia’s surface combatants. We’ll then concentrate on the mobile land-based missile batteries once they engage and give away their positions, hoping they don’t do too much damage before we take them out. Once we begin the offensive above the water, we expect Russia will attack with their submarines, and their two-to-one advantage poses a significant challenge. The plan is to hold off the Russian submarine assault long enough to eliminate Russia’s surface combatants and missile batteries, which will allow the carrier strike groups to focus their efforts on the subsurface battle or vacate the area if things get out of hand.”

“What about NATO naval assistance?” the president asked.

McVeigh answered, “As Dawn explained, NATO countries are currently paralyzed, refusing to commit military assets to the conflict. It’s not much of a loss, though. Compared to our Navy, other NATO maritime assets are marginal.”

“Thanks, Bob,” the president said. “Where do we stand on the pipeline sabotage? We can’t move forward in the Persian Gulf unless we’ve disarmed the explosives.”

McVeigh turned to CIA Director Jessica Cherry.

“I have mostly good news,” Cherry said. “We’ve extracted the Russian who designed the detonators, and there is indeed a code that will disarm them. He’s agreed to give us the code, but on one condition.”

Cherry went on to explain what happened to the Russian’s daughter and the deal they had made. “Unfortunately, this is going to be a difficult operation for two reasons. The first is the target itself.” She paused, as if to heighten the tension, then explained. “The man who supposedly murdered our friend’s daughter is Russian Defense Minister Boris Chernov.”

Christine sucked in a sharp breath. Chernov had wandering eyes, but she had never suspected anything sinister. “You’re sure?” she asked.

“We’re not,” Cherry replied. “But our Russian friend believes it and that’s what matters. We kill Chernov and we get the code. However, there’s another complication. We need to establish a video link between the killer and our Russian friend just before Chernov is axed, so our friend can watch him die and Chernov can see his face before he takes his last breath. That means we can’t kill him from afar, with a sniper, for example, by wiring his car with explosives, or by destroying his house with a missile. It has to be an up-close-and-personal affair.

“This wouldn’t be difficult if the target was an ordinary citizen, but we’re talking about a high-ranking government official, who happens to be well guarded due to two attempts on his life, courtesy of our Russian scientist.” Cherry let everyone absorb the challenges they were facing, then continued, “We’re working on a plan, leveraging Chernov’s reputation as a ladies’ man, hoping to get him alone with the right beautiful woman. We’ve already selected the agent.” Cherry opened a folder in front of her and passed out several copies of a portfolio.

“Elena Krayev,” she said. “An ethnic Russian working at the U.S. embassy in Moscow as a translator. She’s also a highly trained field agent, who runs errands for us on occasion.”

Christine received a copy of Elena’s portfolio and turned to the first page, containing a head shot and full-body picture. She was stunningly beautiful.

“The last element of the plan we’re working on is how they meet. It needs to be innocuous, in a way that doesn’t raise Chernov’s suspicion, nor that of his security detail. We’re thinking about some sort of official government reception in the evening, because he rarely leaves without a beautiful woman on his arm. Unfortunately, Russia’s invasion of Lithuania and war with Ukraine have put a damper on these types of activities. I understand time is critical, but we’re currently at a loss on this aspect of the plan.”

Christine suggested, “Kalinin’s continental security summit. Would that work?”

Cherry pondered Christine’s suggestion, then replied, “Yes, that would work. Elena can be assigned as a translator for the American representatives.” Cherry looked to the president, who turned to Dawn.

“Agree to the summit,” he ordered, “and get it scheduled ASAP. Try to get as many NATO countries as possible to attend, but time is critical, so give them a twenty-four-hour deadline to decide, then move forward with whoever has agreed. While you’re at it, let the Alliance leaders know we don’t intend to capitulate to Kalinin’s demands; we’re working on something. But don’t mention Elena. We can’t afford to let our plan leak out.”

Turning to Christine, he said, “You’re familiar with the players and have experience negotiating with the Russians. Accompany Dawn to Moscow for the meeting, and you can introduce Elena to Chernov.”

After Dawn and Christine acknowledged the president’s order, McVeigh said, “Mr. President, it’s going to take time to get our naval assets into position. With your permission, we’ll begin uploading fake images into the appropriate satellites.”

The president gave his concurrence, and after reflecting for a moment on the day’s briefing, he said to McVeigh, “I want… a plan B.”

“Plan B?” McVeigh said.

The president spent the next few minutes explaining his idea while McVeigh took notes. When the president finished, he asked, “Can we do this?”

“Yes, Mr. President, it’s doable. We’ll have to begin mobilizing assets and redeploying others, but I don’t foresee any obstacles.”

“Good,” the president said. “Get started.”