The War Cloud

36

Sachs was on the floor groaning when the emergency lights kicked on and Kozlowski rushed over. She thought she heard him say, “Are you OK, Madame President?” But she wasn’t sure. Her ears were ringing. “What was that?” she asked as she let him help her to her feet. She felt wobbly.

He told her, “Omaha, I think.”

She heard more ringing, but it was her desk phone beeping. Captain Li came through on the speaker. “NORAD has confirmed another nuclear detonation in the continental United States. General Block at Northern Command is onscreen in the conference center.”

She felt Koz reach over her shoulder to the button and say, “The president is on her way.”

The ringing had faded for the most part by the time she entered the conference room. Block’s sour face was already on the big screen when she sat at the end of the table. Koz stood by her side. This was going to be ugly.

Sachs asked, “How many hits did we take, General Block?”

“Two,” Block growled. “They took out our Tier-One Defender anti-ballistic missile site in Alaska and paused, glaring at her, “and Strategic Command.”

Sachs swallowed. “General Carver?”

“That’s right, Madame President,” Block said, holding his stare. “This country has lost yet another great leader today, this time because of your indecision.”

Sachs felt herself shaking. She desperately wanted to hold her voice steady. “Unleashing our Minutemen III missiles wouldn’t have saved Carver.”

“No, but he would have died like a soldier in the line of fire and not like a sitting duck,” Block shot back. “And with our puny excuse for what was supposed to be a full, four-tier Defender system taken out, we have no way of intercepting the next wave.”

She exhaled and paused. “General Block, what happened to all those other missiles the early warning systems said were supposed to hit?”

Block grew quiet. “Ghosts, ma’am. They were ghosts.”

Sachs blinked. “How can several independent warning systems project so many false radar images?”

“At this point, ma’am, we have to assume it’s the work of the War Cloud, like you suggested.”

“But why would they do this, knowing we might have launched?”

Block said, “I believe they did this to prove they knew you didn’t have the political will to act, ma’am, and to prove their cyber superiority. If they can do this, they own our defense networks.”

Sachs was bewildered. “Maybe. But what’s the point of destroying the Strategic Command in Omaha if all its planes and nukes were already in the air?”

“Hard to say, ma’am,” Block said. “Because Marshall can still launch our land-based ICBMs from Looking Glass.”

Sachs started. “Pardon me?”

“The Post Attack Command Control System, ma’am,” Block explained. “If nukes destroy the Strategic Command or other command centers on the ground, Looking Glass can command American forces from the air and launch our ICBMs by remote control.”

“Let me guess,” Sachs said. “The man who designed this brilliant Post Attack Command Control System is Brad Marshall?”

Block paused. “Uh, yes.”