The Bear

The White House

“You want me to what?” The President of the United States abruptly stood from behind his desk in his secondary office. Not all meetings were held in the famous Oval Office. In fact, few actually were. “I can’t sanction kidnapping on top of whatever else you’re planning. This is getting out of hand.”

“Mr. President, we aren’t going to kidnap anyone, but I can tell you, this isn’t going to be easy.” Martin looked over to Stephen Thorn before looking back. “We’re just going to briefly detain a few people.”

“I understand that, Martin. But sneaking a hit team into Russia is, well hell, I don’t know what the hell that is. How are you planning to do that anyway?”

“Sir, I think those details are just more than you really want to know.”

“So you want me to just approve the operation without actually knowing what’s going on?”

“Something like that, sir.”

“That’s a hard pill for me to swallow, Stephen.” POTUS sat back down into his chair and bowed his head. The room was silent for a few moments before he looked up. “We’re trying to prevent a war here. There is nothing I want less than an armed confrontation with the Russians. And that’s what we’re potentially setting ourselves up for.”

“If this succeeds sir,” Martin replied, “we’ll be avoiding a larger conflict, one that could involve not only us but NATO as well.”

“NATO?”

“Yes, Mr. President. If Russia begins to arm, that stirs the pot. Then, so does NATO.”

“And the cycle of East versus West begins again,” POTUS sighed.

“But there are new pieces in play. This isn’t the 1970’s any longer. There are new insurgents on the RISK board.”

“The Chinese?”

“I think he’s referring to the Middle East, Martin,” POTUS said. “That could give any terrorist group or their parent states unfettered opportunities to take liberties against us or our allies.”

“And not Russia?”

“Possibly. But there has been little interest in insurgency in that part of the globe for many years,” Stephen answered. “Not since we had an agent deep inside the Soviet Union.”

“Deep?” POTUS asked. “How deep?”

“About as deep as can be, Mr. President.”

“Chief of staff deep?”

“Uh, something like that, sir.”

“It would be nice to have that again, wouldn’t it?”

“Sir?”

“Stephen, just how sure are we of this story we’ve been fed? I mean, what is the risk if this is all just a big hoax? What happens if this is just a whopping, monster of a lie?”

The Director laid his arms across his chest and dipped his head. It was something he had not considered. Things were happening so fast. Too fast. Even in the intelligence game, things needed to be verified. Nothing went unchecked. Nothing. The intelligence services could not afford to cowboy their way through missions. That was television. That happened in the movies. Not in real life. He lifted his head as POTUS’s voice caught his ear.

“How do we verify this?”

“I don’t know that we can, sir.”

“It’s a hell of a pickle we’re about to put ourselves in.”

“About?” POTUS looked to his chief of staff. “Martin, this isn’t your decision.”

“I believe him sir.”

“Is that enough? Do we gamble war on the solitary word of our one-time opponent?”

“There is no rationale otherwise. If this were truly a movement by the Russian government, he would be standing behind it. He would be flying the colors in support. It is protection of sovereignty, the rise of nationalism throughout his country. Even President Novichkov would be pumping his chest over Russia flexing its muscles in the world again. None of that is happening.”

“That’s a thin line to go on, Martin.”

“Yes sir.”

President Kiger leaned back and stared at his subordinates. These were two of the most powerful men in the world and they worked for him. They were learned, not only from years of study, but from life. Life in the real world where events cast massive shadows over everything they touched. These were the men who worked through them, and worked through them with integrity. He needed to trust them when he didn’t have all the facts himself. It’s what presidents did since the beginning of the republic. The president’s chief of staff and the Director of the CIA were out the door seconds later.