EndWar

FOURTEEN

After President Becerra finished speaking with that fighter pilot up in the Northwest Territories, he took a video call from the Canadian prime minister, Robert Emerson. He’d met Emerson on several occasions, an elder statesman who was about as low-key and conservative as they came.

Which was why Becerra was taken aback by Emerson’s immediate hostility. “Just what the hell is going on up there, Mr. President!”

“I don’t have all the details yet. What I do know is that thirty to forty Russian helos are moving south toward Yellowknife. They fired on two of our fighters training up there. In the meantime, they knocked out a couple of our satellites over the Arctic, and I’ve lost contact with one of my subs up there.”

“I warned you what would happen if this war came to Canada.”

“Prime Minister, it’s not a coincidence that they’re moving toward Alberta. I told you this day would come,” Becerra reminded him.

“And I told you they wouldn’t dare,” Emerson snapped.

“Four years ago, on the day the Saudis and Iranians exchanged nuclear weapons, Canada became the home of the world’s largest oil reserve.”

“Our bitumen is still more expensive to produce, and the Russians have exploited the European markets far better than we have.”

“But they know we’re not entirely dependent upon them anymore. And they know what will happen if we’re allowed to continue exploiting this reserve.”

“I don’t believe it.”

“Prime Minister, how long did you think the Russians would let you control the supply? If this is the prelude to a major invasion, then you’ve got a very important decision to make. But I’ll say this: it is in the best interests of the United States to have you in charge of those reserves. If the Russians attempt to take that power from you, I’ll have no choice but to send in my troops. Join us,” Becerra urged.

“We can’t support this war. We don’t believe in it. Our economy cannot suffer that kind of blow.”

“Then watch from the sidelines, as you have been. But when the time comes, don’t stop us. Turning on each other is exactly what the Russians want us to do. It’s exactly what they tried to do between us and the Euros.”

“If I allow you on my soil, they’ll consider that aiding and abetting.”

“And if you don’t?”

Emerson sighed explosively. The Prime Minister raked fingers through his thinning white hair. “Mr. President, please keep me informed the minute you know more.”

“Of course. And if you want to mobilize your military for a training exercise, I’m sure no one would stop you.”

“One more thing, Mr. President. If the Russians are coming in by helicopter, they had to have used carriers or some other ships.”

“That’s why I’m trying to reestablish contact with my submarine. They might be able to confirm that.”

“Meaning your submarine was operating illegally in our waters.”

“Let’s not go there. The debate whether the Northwest Passage waters are international or Canadian is irrelevant right now. There are only four words that are important to us: the Russians are coming.”

“Mr. President,” called Chief of Staff Hellenberg from across the aisle. “Sorry to interrupt you, but General Kennedy is on the line.” Hellenberg’s expression said it all.

“Mr. Prime Minister, I have to go, but myself or a member of my staff will update you as soon as we know more.”

With that, Becerra, ended the call and switched to the other video line. “You don’t look happy, General.”

“No, sir. It seems we’re backed into a corner on this one. We’ve attempted several different scenarios, but at this point, the ANGELS satellite has attached itself to the ISS. No communication at all from the crew inside. We suspect that the Russians have already killed the Japanese and Brazilian crew members. The ISS will be within range of one of our kinetic energy platforms in approximately fifteen minutes. The Russians could destroy that platform,” she pointed out. Unnecessarily.

“Understood.”

“All I need is authorization from you.”

Becerra rubbed the corners of his eyes, took a deep breath. “You have it, General. Take out the station.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll connect you in to the platform’s cameras.”

Hellenberg came over and stood behind Becerra. “I’m sorry, Mr. President.”

“For what?”

“For this difficult decision you’ve had to make.”

“It’s cut-and-dried now, Mark.”

Voices of the ANGELS satellite controllers sounded in the background as an image of the ISS, floating over the blue globe of Earth, dominated the screen. They had a spectacular view of the station and listened as one controller, in a cool, even voice finished his sentence with the words, “… and detonate…”

A small flash came from the underside of the station, followed by a much larger, more orange explosion haloed in white-hot specks.

The station’s long, rectangular arrays, perhaps its most prominent and memorable feature, suddenly broke away and began tumbling end over end, as the rest of the laboratories and connecting modules began their own strangely graceful ballet, moving with underwater slowness in the vacuum of space.

General Kennedy returned to the screen. “Sir, the threat has been eliminated. Now I suggest we turn our attention to the next one.”

“Those helos up in Canada.”

“That’s right. But sir, we count more than sixty heavy Russian transport aircraft with fighter escorts lifting off from every air base along the east coast of the country. Could be one or more brigades, with accompanying vehicles. We believe they’ll put down just north of Alberta.”

“Let’s get some fighters up there to stop them.”

“There are far too many aircraft, and many of our units in Alaska have been deployed to Europe. The squadrons we do have are already in the air.”

Becerra held back a curse. “Kapalkin has been working on this one for a long time, carefully weakening us, spreading us out too far.”

“Well, as we like to say, Mr. President, the balloon is going up. At the very least, we’d like to get boys from the Tenth Mountain up there, along with some Marines from Pendleton. And we have a Stryker Brigade in Alaska we’ll bring down, along with another one we’ll bring up from Fort Lewis, so long as you can work out a deal with the prime minister.”

“What about air strikes?”

“They’ll have limited effect, because if we’re right, the Russians will be attempting to seize key infrastructure, pipelines, refineries, and so on, intact. We can’t risk damaging those facilities, so for the most part, we’ll be on the ground, with close air support at our shoulders. We’ll need to hold back on the bombers and kinetic energy weapons as our very last resorts.”

“I think the prime minster would agree.”

She smiled crookedly. “Mr. President, I also have to point out that the Russians could cut off their noses to spite their faces.”

“You mean if they can’t control the Alberta reserves—”

“They’ll destroy them. In fact, if those inbound Russian aircraft were bombers, we’d assume that’s the mission. Still could be.”

“General, can we do this? Can we fight this war on multiple fronts and put more people up in Canada?”

“We think so, sir. And remember, the Russians are further dividing their own forces to continue their push. But the key is the prime minister. If you can get him to commit his forces, we’ll be in a lot better shape.”

“I don’t think that’s going to happen, not in any official capacity anyway. There will always be some Canadian units that’ll fight if attacked, no matter what the prime minister says.”

“So in that regard, the Russians might be doing us a favor.”

“Yes, sir. In the meantime, we’ll get what fighters we can in the air to disrupt those incoming aircraft.”

“Good. You know, I just spoke to an F-35 pilot operating out of a little base north of Yellowknife. She took out more than half a dozen of those Russian helos. I want her up there.”

“I’ll make sure of that, sir.”