Man on Ice: Russia vs the USA - in Alaska

THIRTY

A smell of coffee and pizza hung in the Oval Office. Suits were crumpled, faces unshaven, eyes red and focused. By the time Harry and Stephanie arrived everyone, including Holland, was there and Swain was ending a call with the Chinese President. ‘He’s refusing to condemn the Russian occupation of Little Diomede,’ he said to the room. ‘He referred to it as a routine border dispute and raised our issue with them over the South China Sea.’

‘We could take out their South China Sea positions in half an hour,’ said Holland.

‘Then what?’ said Swain dismissively. ‘Fight wars on two fronts?’ He addressed Stephanie. ‘New Jersey was a work of art, Ambassador. I must ask the Prime Minister to lend me your speech writer.’

‘That would be him, sir, and he’s on his way to London now.’

‘So, is Europe with us?’

‘Depends how many more aircraft get shot down. It’ll hold for a day or two. After that, as always, Europe will fracture.’

Swain turned his attention to Harry. ‘Good to see you, Harry. What’ve you got for us?’

Harry told it exactly as he had to Stephanie: the convoy, the Japanese agent, the camera catching the white forearm, the missile scientist Dmitri Alverov. He ended with Stephanie’s question: whether the team wanted to be spotted and if so, why?

Swain gave nothing away. No anger. No apprehension. No surprise. He drank from a plastic bottle of water, and his gaze shifted to two of his trusted security principals, the lean and alert Mike Pacolli from Defense and the rotund and avuncular CIA director Frank Ciszewski. He asked what either of them had that added to or contradicted Harry’s analysis.

Pacolli described a North Korean defector who claimed to have worked as an engineer at the Toksong missile site. ‘He says it’s been expanded a lot since the Trump presidency crisis. It’s a large, deep underground facility with four independent silos and launch pads and, from his description, it could have been redesigned to accommodate the Topol-M.’

‘Going back over our IMINT,’ said Ciszewski, glancing across to Stephanie. ‘That’s imagery intelligence, Ambassador Lucas. Examining vehicles from known armament factories and matching them with traffic going into Toksong, it is possible that between September 28th and October 7th dismantled parts of a mobile Topol-M were transported to North Korea. That would coincide with Alverov’s first visit. Nothing is concrete, sir. We’ve been at it for an hour. It’s a job that should take weeks.’

‘That was before the election,’ said Prusak. It was a salient observation. In October, a month before voting, the polls were neck and neck, meaning that Russia would have been making contingencies for this operation now regardless of who was in the White House.

‘We need to call Lagutov. Tell him to back off,’ said Holland.

Being President isn’t that simple, thought Stephanie. She caught Harry’s eye and checked her phone. It was filled with messages from everywhere, but nothing more from Sergey Grizlov. Prusak saw her, his eye questioning. She shook her head. ‘Where is Captain Ozenna?’ Swain asked.

‘Still alive, but Russian troops were closing in on him,’ said Pacolli. ‘Since then two have been killed.’

‘That man is lethal,’ said Holland.

‘It may not have been him. Radio traffic indicates that the shooter was the Eskimo tracker from Goose Creek Correctional, Don Ondola. He stole a snowmobile and escaped after guiding our men to Little Diomede.’

‘You mean without orders?’ Swain raised his eyebrow with a complex expression of anger and respect.

‘Essentially, yes,’ said Pacolli. ‘He’s an escaped civilian prisoner.’

‘Where is he now?’

‘He may be with Ozenna.’

‘A damn stupid idea to use either of them,’ said Holland. ‘We need to get them back and under control.’

Swain ignored him. ‘Could they get to the Russian base, and do we still need them there?’

‘The base becomes irrelevant, if the North Korea play is real,’ said Pacolli.

‘It is real, because it’s moved into our frame,’ said Swain.

If Carrie was still alive, thought Stephanie, she would be at that base now, as were the mother, her baby, and two of her family. That made five American civilians. But would they be safer if Ozenna made it to the base, or if the base were left alone?

Harry spoke, half-answering her question. ‘The operation is being run by Alexander Vitruk and right now he is on that base, sir,’ he said. ‘We don’t know exactly what he’s doing, but I can tell you this: we can knock a North Korean missile out mid-flight, no problem. But with a Topol-M, we would be up against world’s finest long-range ballistic-weapons science in the world. It has a good chance of getting through. So, if we want to stop this, we need to stop Vitruk.’

Harry nailed it hard. In the jugular. Holland stiffened, his face reddening, mouth open but, like an actor who had suddenly forgotten his lines, unsure of what to say. Pacolli and Ciszewski stood with hands clasped, alert, ready, awaiting instructions. Harry bristled with purpose and confidence.

Instead of showing pressure, Swain’s face took on an extraordinary aura of calm. ‘The marine unit remains on standby on the north of the island,’ he instructed. ‘It only moves in if there is a real fear for the hostages in the school. Tell Ozenna, if you can reach him, that he has a window to complete his mission. If Ondola is with him, use him too.’

Holland found his voice. ‘You cannot do this without consultation. I will inherit your mess.’

‘You have no standing, Bob,’ Swain replied softly. ‘By calling Beijing, you undermined our national security in the middle of a crisis. But the presidency is bigger than one man, and to see something like this through, a President needs the full support of the American people. Therefore, you should step back and distance yourself from my decisions.’

‘But where are these decisions, Mr President?’ Holland’s tone was laced with sarcasm.

Swain checked his watch. ‘It is now just past two in the morning. I will give Ozenna an eight-hour window to get to that base. In that time, we need to establish the existence of the Topol-M and what’s going in Moscow. Ambassador, are you able to follow up on your message from Sergey Grizlov?’

‘Yes, sir. I’ll try,’ said Stephanie.

‘If we hear nothing from Ozenna and have made no progress by ten o’clock, two hours before the inauguration, I will assume the worst.’

Swain paused as if making sure the choice he had made was right and fully understood. Those receiving his orders were some of the most powerful men and women in the United States. They hung on his next words.

‘After the window closes, we will hit the Big Diomede base and, if necessary, risk and sacrifice the hostages in the school.’