Fallout

29

“Look at this,” Cindy said as she gave Morrissey the final report. Morrissey was so tired he knew he’d never read a report right now. “I don’t have time to read it. What does it say?”

“I think you need to read it. It’s the final conclusions of Naval Intelligence on the submarine angle.”

“Let me guess,” he said, sitting back and rubbing his eyes. “They don’t know what kind of submarine it was, and the reason is that the people who saw it couldn’t tell them. And the reason they couldn’t find the submarine, in spite of trillions of dollars spent on antisubmarine warfare in the last decades, is that nobody told them soon enough to get assets in place in time. And because of all of that, they have no idea what kind of submarine it was, and therefore their report can go into the shit can.” He looked over at her. “Pretty close?”

“Not even. They think they do know whose sub it was.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

“Who?”

Cindy knew better than to deliver that kind of news to her boss. She’d seen too many messengers shot in her days at the Agency. “See for yourself.”

Morrissey took the report and began reading it quickly. His eyes grew large, and he stopped breathing. He flipped to the last page and read the conclusion. Then he closed his eyes and shook his head. “I’ve got to go to Nevada. Get Helen Li on the phone for me. Tell her to pick me up. Get Lane to meet me at the airport. I want him to go over this report with me.” He stood and grabbed his briefcase. “If this report is right, we’ve been had.”

Luke stopped his MiG on the highway and broadcast on his radio. “Mayday! Mayday! We have an airplane down. Vlad has gone down. Request immediate SAR assistance! Prekash, do you copy?”

“Affirmative. We’ll get someone over there. State your position.”

“We’re near a road, about thirty miles west of position Lima on our charts.”

“Roger. On the way.”

Luke felt horrible. Vlad had fought bravely, valiantly. He’d shown what he was made of. Luke set the parking brake. He shut down the engines and opened the canopy. He realized he didn’t have a ladder to get down. He didn’t care. He undid his harness and stood on the seat. He threw his left leg over the side, then his right, and held on to the canopy rail with his hands. He lowered himself as far as he could, then dropped the last four feet to the ground. He stumbled and fell but stood again, uninjured. He removed his helmet and his other flight gear and began running toward the burning hulk of Vlad’s MiG a half mile away. As he closed on the fire, he saw a figure walking toward him, dragging a parachute behind him.

“Vlad!” Luke exclaimed.

Vlad stopped and sat on the soft green ground. Luke knelt next to him. “Vlad, you all right?”

“Yes, I am fine.” He tried to stand again.

Luke unfastened the parachute from his harness and helped him remove his flight gear. “What happened?”

Vlad stretched his back, then straightened up. “Nothing happened, really. The airplane was fine. Nothing wrong.”

“Did you run out of gas?”

“No, it had gas.”

“Why’d you punch out?” Luke asked, perplexed, then looked up to see if another fighter was around, someone who had shot Vlad down.

“I had to.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You have been very kind to me, Luke. You have given me everything. Another chance. It is the happiest I have ever been in my life. But I have to tell you: I was not completely honest with you. I was dismissed from the Russian Air Force because I had a drinking problem. I think I have it under control, but it is a constant battle.”

“Don’t worry about it. We can—”

Vlad put up his hand. “The way I got out of Russia got me tied up with some very bad people. They owned me. They were helping Khan, and they tried to force me to join them by allowing Khan to succeed.”

“Are you—”

“Let me finish, please.” He sighed. “I did not help him. I would rather die. But now they know I helped defeat them. I have no chance against them. They have threatened my sister, her children, my mother—whatever I have, they will destroy.”

“Vlad. I’ll help you…” Luke protested.

“No. This is my battle. I ejected because you are going to go back to the United States and tell everyone that I was killed. I crashed in landing. Very tragic. Horrible accident, but my name is to be honored. And my Indian friends will tell everyone here that I was killed. Those in Russia who want to kill me will think I am dead.”

“What are you going to do?”

“You called for help when you saw me go down, I assume.”

“Sure.”

“Good. And you sounded distressed and upset?”

“Probably.”

“Good. The Indians will send a helicopter, and you will get in it. They have already sent another one to pick me up.”

“How did they know to do that?”

“I had a chat with Sunil. I told him what I was doing. He said he had some scores to settle with these Russians, too. He offered his assistance.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“I am going back to Russia. I have some things I have to attend to.”

“Then what?”

“I don’t know.”

“Come back to Nevada. Build the school with me.”

“Who knows? If I make it out again, who knows?” He extended his hand. They shook hands as the sounds of a helicopter came from the horizon behind them.

Luke tried to sleep aboard the Air Force transport plane. He was completely exhausted, but his mind couldn’t stop going over everything that had happened. The more he thought about it, the more he felt as if he’d been operating in the dark. Others had known things he’d only glimpsed.

On orders from the U.S. government, the transport flew straight in to Tonopah—no customs, no international flight terminal, just a gray Air Force airplane landing in the desert so far away from any population center that no one would know it had even arrived.

Every instructor waited with Brian and Katherine in the ready room. Even Thud’s father was there. Bill Morrissey, George Lane, Helen Li, and some other government officials sat in the back of the room. They had arrived unannounced, looking concerned and out of sorts. Katherine had to convince Dr. Thurmond that they could come in. They all stared at the television tuned to CNN.

The President of India was holding a press conference to comment on what had already been reported, that Pakistan had attempted to attack an Indian nuclear power plant but was driven back and defeated by the Indian Air Force. There had been footage of the four downed F-16s, including shots of the Pakistani tail markings and helmets from the dead pilots. The President of India was outraged, telling the world that Pakistan’s claim of a runaway pilot attacking the United States might have been believed, but no one could possibly believe that a strike from Pakistani territory with Pakistani jets and pilots into Indian territory was done without the backing of the government of Pakistan, especially the same week as the attack on the United States. It was impossible. Outrageous. But India was going to resist responding to such an aggressive attack, calling instead for international condemnation of Pakistan, including dismissal from the UN and universal economic sanctions until the government resigned and was replaced by an elected group of what he called “rational” people. Pakistan was obviously beholden to the Islamists and other irrational forces, and India wasn’t going to let them plunge South Asia into a war, he said.

Finally, Luke walked into the ready room. He was smiling, but it wasn’t the smile of a conquering fighter ace returning from the war. It was the smile of someone who was glad to be home, and not in a body bag. Katherine got up slowly and walked to the back of the room. They embraced silently. He kissed her.

Katherine looked behind him. “Where’s Vlad?”

Luke shook his head. “He didn’t make it.”

“What?” Crumb asked.

Luke tossed his flight jacket onto the back of one of the ready-room chairs. “We found Khan. He tried to get the nuclear plant. Vlad had the whole thing figured.”

“What happened?” Stamp demanded.

“We staged off a road. Just Vlad and me, with an entire squadron circling low over the plant in case Khan got through.”

“And you got them?”

“Big night fight. Unbelievable. We ultimately got all of them.”

“How’d they get Vlad?” Crumb wondered.

“They didn’t. We were about out of gas, so we landed on a road in the middle of nowhere. I was rolling out, and before I know it, Vlad’s pitched over, inverted, and hits the ground a half mile from where I am.”

“He just flew into the ground?”

“There was something wrong. He had to have had a mechanical failure.”

“He didn’t get out? What about the magical ejection seat?” Stamp asked.

Luke looked at Stamp and could tell that only Katherine and Stamp were able to see his face. He gave Stamp a quick wink, then said, “You’ve got to eject for it to work.”

Stamp got it. “That’s too damned bad. He was a great guy.”

“How many of them did you get?” Crumb asked.

“We each got two of them.”

“You got Khan? You sure?”

“Yeah. I’m sure.”

“Archer?”

“Nope. Ended up having to gun him.”

“You ever fired a MiG gun before?”

“Nope.”

Crumb smiled. “Wish I could have seen that.”

Luke looked around the room and saw the instructors, and Brian, and felt at home. He glanced back at Morrissey, whom he hadn’t even noticed before. “What brings you here?”

“You,” Morrissey said, looking at Helen and Lane. “I brought a nice, wet blanket.” Morrissey walked to the front of the ready room; the instructors watched him. “Congratulations on your flight in India, by the way. Nice job.” Morrissey looked at the rest of the room, then turned to Luke. “The submarine. You thought it was probably a Kilo. Right?”

Luke rolled his eyes. “I told you, I told him,” he said, looking to the back of the room at Lane, “I wasn’t sure. I’m still not.”

“It was our suspicion, and yours, I believe, that Pakistan had been deceiving us all along and was in fact behind the entire operation. They used the rogue Air Force officer excuse, the Islamic radical excuse, to hide. It allows them to achieve their objectives and claim no involvement. It makes our response very tricky, because if we come down hard on them, it looks unfair. Reactionary. Exactly what they would like. But we couldn’t be sure. It could have been anybody’s submarine.”

“We’ve been through all that,” Luke said, glancing in annoyance at Helen Li, who was still sitting in the back of the room.

Morrissey started walking back and forth. “But Pakistan doesn’t have any Kilo-class submarines. Who does? Iran, of course. So we all chased the rabbit that led to Iran. Maybe they picked Khan up off the coast.”

“Exactly,” Luke said. “That’s what India implied. Or at least one guy—”

Morrissey nodded knowingly. “Who exactly?”

Luke was getting an awkward, cold feeling. “Intelligence guy. Gave us the final stuff on when the strike was going to happen. He said they’d been following Khan for years. It was kind of odd. Everybody else left when he was there.” Luke recalled the conversation. “He said he’d told you guys,” Luke said, “but you wouldn’t listen to him. He said the United States always assumed that anything India said about Pakistan was full of lies because it’s in India’s interest to upset our relationship with Pakistan. He said we would never believe what he said. Looks like he was right.”

“When did you see him?” Morrissey asked icily.

“The night of the attack.”

Morrissey nodded. “Good-looking guy. Sophisticated, British accent—more than usual.”

Luke was startled. “How did you know?”

“Sunil, right?”

“How do you know all that?”

Morrissey said nothing.

Lane spoke. “Iran has only two Kilo-class submarines. Both were in port during the attack on San Onofre. The only Kilo not in port was an Indian Kilo.”

Luke looked at Brian and the others, who all looked as confused as he felt. “What are you saying?”

“This photograph is of an Indian Kilo.”

Luke frowned. “Indian?”

Morrissey nodded.

Brian couldn’t stand it anymore. “Why in the hell would an Indian submarine pick him up?”

“The very question I’ve been wrestling with for the last three days. Then I read the Naval Intelligence analysis,” Morrissey replied. “It finally occurred to me, and I checked with several sources—sensitive and highly placed sources we can check with only once. An Indian Kilo was deployed during that time. We thought it was operating off the coast of India. That’s what India told us when we inquired. But our sources confirm that it was somewhere far away and was transiting faster than it had ever transited before. No one knew what it was doing, at least no one I could find.”

“What are you saying? What the hell are you saying?” Brian demanded.

“It is my belief that Khan was assisted by India.”

“What? India? Why?”

“Intense and irreparable damage to Pakistan. There are some new people working in Indian intelligence who aren’t just sitting back and taking Pakistani aggression anymore. They’re becoming much more active, bolder. This is the boldest and most aggressive move I’ve ever seen, if I’m right.”

“They were helping Khan attack us?” Luke asked, his head spinning.

“Khan was what we thought. Part of some splinter group.” Morrissey shifted his weight, obviously debating with himself whether he was saying too much. “We think this entire thing started when the Chief Executive of Pakistan addressed the UN General Assembly in New York. He told them Pakistan was prepared to sign a no-war pact with India, that they were ready for mutual reduction of forces, ready to agree to a nuclear-free South Asia, and ready to talk to India anytime, anywhere, at any level. Khan and his people saw that they were doomed unless they acted quickly, and dramatically, not only against India but to get rid of a Pakistani government that would utter such heresy.

“Khan thought he had an inside guy. A guy I understand who went by the false name of Shirish. He thought he was using Indian intelligence to kill the current Pakistani regime. But Shirish was one of Sunil’s agents, an Islamic Indian, I’m told. He convinced Khan they could help him, even to attack the Indian nuclear plant. He promised to alert Khan if anyone was suspicious of an attack and warn him of preparations. If there were no suspicions, Khan would succeed in his attack and certainly start a war between Pakistan and India. There were already hundreds of men strategically placed by Khan’s group in Kashmir—dressed as both Indian and Pakistani belligerents—to fight in both directions so each side could claim the other started it. They know that the next time there’s fighting over Kashmir, it won’t stop.” He studied their shocked faces. “President Clinton didn’t call Kashmir the most dangerous place on the planet for nothing.”

“And it was all a trap?”

“Sunil lured Khan into a very deep trap. He used him to disgrace Pakistan and—you’ve seen what the President of India is saying—avoided the very war that was inevitable if Khan succeeded. Pakistan has lost its credibility for fifty years. He made sure you were waiting for Khan when he came. He took out perhaps the greatest threat to peace in the region. They were prepared to defend their nuclear plant on their own, but when Vlad offered to help—passed on to India by the Russian intelligence people—Sunil must have laughed out loud. Perfect symmetry. Use an American and a Russian to stop the Pakistani. He didn’t even have to risk an Indian pilot.”

Luke sat down and put his head back. The others in the room simply stared at Morrissey, who continued, “But there’s one thing I need to know.”

Luke didn’t know what to say. His mind was spinning. “What?”

“Did this Vladimir Petkov try to do you harm in India? Did he try to prevent you from stopping Khan?’

Luke shook his head. “No. He kept me from getting killed. Why?”

“We had developed information that he was controlled by the Russian Mafia. And they were tied in with Khan somehow. It’s probably lucky for him that he died over there. If he hadn’t, I’ve got a feeling he’d be on somebody’s shit list.”

Luke continued shaking his head. “I can’t believe it.”

Morrissey put his hands in his pockets. “So here’s the wet-blanket part. Nobody else would believe it either. That’s why we can’t go public with it. If we did, we’d look completely foolish. You’d look like a dupe, and nobody would buy it. You don’t even buy it,” he said, looking around the room. “India is the big winner. They get to say Pakistan is full of nuts who attacked the United States and then India. They’ll say that what happened to the U.S. is terrible, and it almost happened to them, but fortunately, thanks to their skilled Air Force, they were able to defeat the attack by the Pakistani Air Force on their nuclear power plant. They’ll rub Pakistan’s nose in this for decades. And Pakistan had nothing to do with it.

“As for us, the wind stalled and saved our population centers. But the Southern California coast is ruined for several lifetimes. All because we couldn’t get our act together about nuclear-waste storage.”

Brian was stunned. “How sure are you of all this?”

“In this business you deal in degrees. But I’m pretty sure. Your brother’s pretty sure.” Morrissey looked around. “I normally wouldn’t tell a group like this all of that. But I know that each one of you has held a top-secret clearance in the past—except Katherine. I’m asking all of you to keep this to yourselves. We can’t handle a public discussion of this, and if I didn’t tell you what was behind it all, you wouldn’t have listened to me; somebody here would have talked to the press, to proclaim your greatness and your role in restoring world peace. Hell, I would have if it were me. But you can’t. “

Brian replied, “I didn’t know India’s intelligence operations were that… I don’t know… sophisticated.”

Morrissey smiled ironically. He hesitated. “Well, it’s been changing.”

“How?”

He scanned the room. “In the summer of 2000, the head of Mossad and General Security Services of Israel went to New Delhi.” He let that thought sink in. “The Indians turned to Israel to help them combat Pakistan’s border incursions and terrorism. In exchange, they agreed to share nuclear information with Israel.”

“The Mossad?” Luke asked, incredulous.

Morrissey nodded. “I’m afraid the Indians were good students.” He reached into his briefcase pulled out a stack of papers, and started passing them around. Those in the room began to read as soon as each got one of the sheets. “What you have in front of you is a nondisclosure agreement. If you sign it, you agree to keep everything you know about the Indian operation to yourselves forever. You can never speak about it, or write about it, or even hypothesize about it, without the prior written consent of the United States government.” A couple of the pilots put the documents on the seats beside them.

“Why should we sign this?” Luke asked, still reeling.

“Because if you don’t, I’m afraid Ms. Li has been instructed to conduct an extensive investigation into this school and its operations, beginning this afternoon. It would require the school to be closed for at least three months, and if she finds anything out of the ordinary, the MiGs will be confiscated and the school will be closed permanently. But if you sign, you are free to return to full operation. Immediately.”

Luke stood up and looked at the other officers, then at Morrissey. “We risk our lives, and all we get from you is a threat to close us down? You promised!”

“And my promise is still good. If you sign.”

“I’m not signing,” Crumb said. “Stick, how many did you get in India?”

“Two.”

“Hell. We’ve got to be able to paint them on the wall at the O’ Club! And Thud’s kills? We’ve got to be able to put it up.”

“What do you want us to do?” Brian asked. “It’s your school.”

Luke looked at Katherine. He looked around the ready room and the school they had built.

“Sign it,” Dr. Thurmond bellowed from the back of the room.

Helen stood and walked to the front. She looked at Luke and nodded slowly, telling him to sign.

“I’m not exactly eager to tell the world we got duped by an Indian intelligence puke who got us to fight his fight for him. Let’s do this,” Luke said, pulling a pen out of the shoulder pocket of his flight suit.

The rest of the officers went along. Morrissey collected the papers and deposited them in his briefcase. “Thank you. There are a lot of things yet to be done,” he remarked as he put on his suit coat. “But your work is done. We appreciate it.”

Luke smiled. “Sure,” he said, tired of Morrissey, and the government, and the world of intelligence and all it stood for.

Morrissey walked out of the room with Helen and Lane and the others.

The rest of the room watched as Dr. Thurmond stood and came up to the front. He turned and looked at them, then spoke. “When Luke came to see me about starting this school, I warned him. I told him that when your existence is dependent on the government, you are at risk. But even I didn’t have in mind that foreign governments would target us. They have. And we got had. But frankly, I am proud of the way this school responded. I wish Quentin were here to talk with us about it. I am so proud of him…” He fought the emotion that charged into his consciousness. “Thud would have wanted this school to go on. It’s the first thing he has ever wanted on his own. But you need some leadership. You need someone who can push back when the government pushes. I want to be a part of this school. Luke,” he said, “I think it’s time I took over as CEO. You be the chief instructor, I’ll run the day-to-day operations. Okay with you?”

“Sounds good to me,” Luke responded.

“And we should rename the O’ Club after Thud,” Crumb said loudly as he stood. “Thud Alley.”

The others nodded.

“Let’s go over to the O’ Club now,” Thurmond insisted. “Enough of this.”

Luke pulled out a videotape and tossed it to Crumb. “You wanted to see it?” he asked.

Crumb caught the tape and stared at Luke. “What’s this?”

“Khan.”

“You’ve got Khan’s shoot-down on tape?”

“Gun-camera film,” Luke replied. “Splice it into the O’ Club tape.”