Dragon Fire

General Headquarters, Rawalpindi, Pakistan

‘Sargodha and Multan are out of action, sir,’ said Masood. ‘We have lost communications. Kahuta is paralysed. We have lost twenty-three of our thirty nuclear-capable airfields. The pilots have taken the aircraft wherever they can to avoid them being destroyed. Most are in Kabul and Kandahar in Afghanistan, Saravan, Zahedan and Khash in Iran and Kashgar in China. Sialkot is vulnerable and we are facing defeat there. Lahore remains under artillery bombardment.’

‘The good news?’ said Hamid Khan.

‘We are winning decisively in the Kashmir Valley. The Indians have lost thousands of men and dozens of helicopters. They were ill-prepared.’

‘What of Rawalpindi?’

‘The Chaklala airbase is badly damaged and unusable at present. Apart from that, we do not appear to have been a target.’

‘Good,’ said Khan. ‘So far it is as I had planned.’

‘I’m sorry, sir?’ said Masood, looking confused.

‘We have lost nothing which we need if Pakistan is going to be a modernized state with no external enemies. Airfields can be rebuilt. But we are winning Kashmir and now we must talk to the world.’

‘Do you want President Tao in Beijing?’

‘No. We will have no communication with China. The signals will be picked up. Get me John Hastings in Washington.’