Blackmail

63 ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA

Forty feet underground in the Pentagon basement, the president strode down the hallway, bracketed by SecDef McVeigh and Colonel DuBose. Upon reaching the end of the corridor, McVeigh swiped his badge and punched in his pass code, and the door opened to the Current Action Center of the National Military Command Center. The CAC dropped down in increments, with workstations lining each tier, descending to a fifteen-by-thirty-foot electronic display on the far wall. Unlike the adjacent Operations Center, which focused only on nuclear weapons, the CAC handled all aspects of the country’s defensive and offensive operations around the world.

McVeigh led the way to a conference room along the top tier, where the president stopped to examine the monitor on the far wall, displaying a map of the Indian Ocean. Blinking green circles in the Arabian Sea marked the planned starting positions of the four carrier strike groups, while blue circles tracked their present locations. Two strike groups were loitering in their starting positions, with two more rapidly approaching from the southeast, not far away.

The president entered the conference room and took his seat at the head of the table. Joining him on one side were the Joint Chiefs of Staff — the heads of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and National Guard, along with the chairman and vice chairman. On the other side of the table sat Vice President Bob Tomkins and members of the president’s staff and cabinet — McVeigh, Dawn, Hardison, and Colonel DuBose. On the far end of the table was CIA Director Jessica Cherry.

McVeigh kicked off the brief, with each applicable service chief outlining his service’s role in the operation. The Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Brian Rettman, whose forces were by far the largest component of the operation, spoke at length, outlining the possible Russian responses and America’s plan to counter each one.

The Admiral finished with, “It appears our fake upload into Russian and Indian satellites is working. There’s no indication Russia has detected the two additional carrier strike groups entering the Indian Ocean. All available submarines in the Pacific are on station, and will coalesce around the four carrier strike groups when the operation begins.”

When the brief concluded, the president asked McVeigh, “Where do we stand on disarming and removing the pipeline explosives?”

“The override code worked as advertised. We’ve successfully removed a half-dozen detonators from explosives attached to the Alaskan oil pipeline. We’ve also informed our NATO allies that they can remove the explosives from the pipelines and pumping stations in their territory, and will inform all other affected countries once military action against Russia commences; we don’t want word that we’ve disarmed the detonators to leak out to Russia until after we engage.

“However,” McVeigh added, “we have more details on the operation to assassinate Minister Chernov, which I wasn’t aware of until Director Cherry provided more information.”

When the president looked in Cherry’s direction, she said, “The plan to kill Chernov had to be modified. Chernov worked late after the summit reception, leaving no time for a liaison with Elena Krayev. Then he traveled to his villa in Sochi for the weekend, and unfortunately, he didn’t take Elena with him.”

“Then how was he killed?”

“He took Christine.”

The president raised an eyebrow.

“She did an admirable job,” Cherry said, “establishing the video link before she killed Chernov. However, there’s a complication. Someone was attempting to enter Chernov’s bedroom as Christine killed him, and we don’t know if she was able to pass his death off as a heart attack or she was discovered.”

“What’s the plan?”

“She hasn’t requested assistance, but we don’t know if that’s because she doesn’t need help or doesn’t have access to Elena’s phone. If we bust in with an extraction team, the Russians will figure out what we’ve done, plus there’s the possibility Christine will be killed in the process. We’ll monitor the situation via satellite and communication intercepts from Chernov’s villa. Until we know whether Christine is in danger, I recommend we sit tight.”

After a moment of reflection, the president nodded his concurrence.

Silence settled over the conference room until McVeigh said, “Mr. President, all preparations are complete and we are ready to proceed.”

The president didn’t hesitate. “Engage Russia with all assigned units.”