The Third World War: A Terrifying Novel of Global Conflict

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A screen slid up from the floor at the end of the Cabinet table in Downing Street. It concealed the whole wall behind it, and as it flickered on it divided itself into four squares, each settling into a different picture. Stuart Nolan's Foreign Secretary was on his way to Asia. The Defence Secretary was at the command headquarters in Northwood in a north London suburb. Nolan had just spoken to the prime ministers of Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia, advising them of what he was doing.

'The screen on the top left is the camera inside HMS Vengeance,' explained Colchester. 'You will see the joint keys which the captain uses with the chief engineer to confirm your orders. On the bottom left is the image of the surface of the South China Sea through which the two missiles will break, courtesy of military satellites being relayed through NIMA in Washington. On the top right is one of the bases in North Korea. We'll switch it to black and white in order to get sharper resolution. On the bottom left is satellite imagery of the Chagai Hills. There is cloud moving in there, but a Global Hawk unmanned aircraft has been deployed, so the image might switch to that. If everything goes to plan, North Korea will be hit within one minute of the strike on the Chagai Hills.'

Nolan nodded. He was trying to find the right thoughts for this moment, but none came. He had not consulted Parliament. He had not notified the monarch. He had not called in the Cabinet. To have done any of those things would have been to delay and possibly postpone until it was too late.

'Let's do it,' he said. 'Send out the press release.' As Colchester took his seat beside Nolan, the Downing Street press statement was flashed on the screen as it was emailed to thousands of news outlets around the world. 'Following consultations with members, Britain and its allies in the Five Power Defence Agreement — which protects stability in South-East Asia — have declared war on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.'

At exactly the same time, Nolan watched as the captain and chief engineer of HMS Vengeance each turned a key. Then the captain pressed the button for the launch. On the screen below, crystal-clear blue water swelled, creating a circle of white froth, which heaved upwards. Two ballistic missiles burst through, seemed to hover for a split second in indecision, then flared skywards towards North Korea.

The screen on the bottom left went blank. 'Cloud cover,' said Colchester quietly. Slowly it became grey. Then, just as more distinct contours of the Chagai Hills appeared, they vanished as quickly again.

'Thermobaric explosives,' continued Colchester. 'Pierce is carpet-bombing the place with them. It's about as close as you can get to a nuclear attack without actually going nuclear.'

Nolan walked closer to the screen, squinting to get a closer look. The picture jumped. The Global Hawk must have been buffeted in the turbulence. 'How high is it?' he asked.

Colchester glanced at a separate monitor displaying data by the telephone. 'Seventeen thousand feet, and holding it,' he said. He pointed to another section of the screen. 'Over there.'

The image over North Korea was more distant but more stable. Colchester used the remote to split the screen into two again.

'Can't see a damn thing,' said Nolan.

'On the left is foliage,' said Colchester. 'On the right the side of a mountain. A lot of snow there.'

The smoke of two explosions slowly filled the screens like sprays of white salt, sending them into flickering whiteness, before revealing the black cloud that covered the satellite's view.

'Right,' said Colchester, unfolding a map and spreading it on the table. 'That was a confirmed hit on Chunggang-up, the base from which the smallpox missile was launched. And the second,' he paused, checking the data monitor, which was feeding information directly from the National Security Agency at Fort Meade to Menwith Hill in Yorkshire, then through a fibre-optic cable to London and Downing Street, 'yes, and the second confirmed hit is on Kanggamchan.'

'Still can't see a damn thing,' said Nolan. The success of the strikes and the varnished glare of the imagery left an empty feeling in him. He stared at the screen, trying to see victory, but instead found disappointment. He knew the phone was not about to ring with Park Ho's surrender.

'It takes a couple of minutes,' said Colchester, as ever fascinated by the technical. 'We'll be getting an integrated picture — that's a composite of images from satellites, unmanned vehicles and the fighters which have just been scrambled.'

'Park would be in Pyongyang, wouldn't he?' muttered Nolan to himself. 'That's where I'd be.'

'The Americans have launched on Kanggye now,' said Colchester. 'Thermobaric carpet-bombing. Twenty thousand work underground there. If they penetrate the mountain, they will have crippled his war machine.'