Power Play

CHAPTER 16 WASHINGTON, D.C.

In her West Wing corner office, Christine O’Connor hung up the phone, then shifted her computer to the classified network. As Carmen from ONI had promised, an email arrived a moment later. ONI had finished reviewing the CIA report and was providing their assessment.

Christine glanced at her watch, then began reviewing the ONI document. The daily intelligence briefing would start in a few minutes. When she reached the last page of the report, she slowed, then read it again, her face turning pale as she processed the implications.

She checked her watch again; it was almost time. She printed a copy of the report and stuffed it into a folder along with a Top Secret cover sheet, then headed down the seventy-foot-long blue-carpeted hallway toward the Oval Office. She was the last to arrive, taking her place beside Chief of Staff Kevin Hardison and the DNI staffer in chairs facing the president’s desk.

The DNI staffer delivered the day’s intel briefing, and after the president’s questions had been answered, it was Christine’s turn. She began by refreshing everyone’s memory of the Russian torpedo and Alexander investigations.

“The mission to interrogate a member of the four-person team designing new systems for their submarines went as planned. ONI has finished their assessment of the information collected by the CIA, and the situation is alarming.

“The Russians have installed a system on Alexander designed to defeat incoming torpedoes. The system projects a magnetic field out from the submarine’s hull a considerable distance. Modern torpedoes detonate when the magnetic field is strong enough, usually a few feet from the hull, instead of upon impact. As a result of this extended magnetic field, the torpedo detonates too far away from the submarine to damage it.”

Christine paused to let the president and the other two men absorb the implications. She added, “The good news is that the system is still being tested and they haven’t worked out all of the bugs. It takes a lot of power, which is the reason for the second nuclear reactor, and there are lots of negative side effects from generating such a strong magnetic field.

“However,” Christine continued, “if Russia perfects this technology, their submarines will be invincible. We will have no way to sink them.”