wished either. I had made sure
they were being treated well. Food and water had been provided as well as
medical attention for Irina’s leg that was still freshly wounded from a
firefight in Los Alamos.
Rachel, Dog, Martinez and myself sat in another room with
Colonel Crawford, Captain Blanchard and General Triplett, the commander of
Tinker. Various other Air Force staffers were in attendance, taking notes and
video taping the debriefing. Kathleen Clark, the new President of the United
States and Admiral Packard, CINCPACFLT and the ranking US military officer, were
listening in, their images displayed on a large screen mounted to the front
wall of the room. Normally each of us would have been debriefed separately, and
certainly without POTUS in attendance, but times were hardly normal.
I had been speaking for the better part of an hour, relaying
the details of our mission to deliver the three nuclear bombs to the Russians.
The only way they’d gotten me to sit still this long was by tasking a Security
Forces Major with trying to locate Katie. I was antsy as hell, angry that I had
to sit on my ass while my wife was out there somewhere. My mood was apparently
evident in my tone as there were several times when Rachel had reached under
the table and placed her hand on my leg in an attempt to calm me down.
When I reached the point where the Marines had arrived and
plucked us out of the desert, I stopped my narrative. Admiral Packard flipped
through several pages of notes he had taken; pausing to read when he found the
page he was looking for.
“Major, I’d like some clarification.” He said, still
looking down at his notepad. “You said Mr. Cummings stated that the President
had opened a dialogue with the Russian president and was not in support of the
coup being attempted by the GRU?”
“That is correct, Admiral.” I said, flicking my eyes to the
half of the screen displaying the President.
“And you stated that, in your opinion, the rendezvous was a
ruse by the Russians to get our remaining three devices out into the open and
capture Captain Vostov. Correct?” He looked up over the top edge of his
reading glasses at the camera, staring at me out of the high definition screen.
“Yes, sir. That is correct. They were in place ahead of
us. If all they’d wanted was to arrest Captain Vostov they could have done so
before she departed Kirtland. They wanted the nukes off the table, sir.
Didn’t want us with any type of strike weapon.”
“And it seems that part of their mission succeeded. You
detonated two of them, the third one destroyed in one of the explosions.
Correct?” This from President Clark.
“Yes, ma’am.” I said, seething internally that I was
wasting time repeatedly going over the same facts when all I wanted was to be
searching for Katie.
“Colonel?” Her gaze shifted to Crawford.
“Initial interrogation of Captain Vostov confirms the facts
Major Chase has provided. We’ve lost all three devices. Mr. Cummings was
killed in a missile strike on the Russians who ambushed the meet.” Crawford
answered.
Packard looked around the room before leaning back in his
chair and exhaling a deep breath.
“Madam President,” he said. “We still have signal intercept
capability and I’d like to play an audio file for you that was intercepted
yesterday.”
“What’s on the recording, Admiral?” She asked, her face
neutral.
“It’s a satellite phone call made by Mr. Cummings from
Tinker Air Force Base prior to the team’s departure for Texas, ma’am.” The
President stared into the camera on her end for several long moments before
shaking her head.
“That won’t be necessary, Admiral. I need to think about
these developments. I’ll be in touch.” A moment later her image disappeared
from the screen.
“Well if this isn’t just a cluster fuck of monumental
proportions.” He said. “Colonel, we need to
they were being treated well. Food and water had been provided as well as
medical attention for Irina’s leg that was still freshly wounded from a
firefight in Los Alamos.
Rachel, Dog, Martinez and myself sat in another room with
Colonel Crawford, Captain Blanchard and General Triplett, the commander of
Tinker. Various other Air Force staffers were in attendance, taking notes and
video taping the debriefing. Kathleen Clark, the new President of the United
States and Admiral Packard, CINCPACFLT and the ranking US military officer, were
listening in, their images displayed on a large screen mounted to the front
wall of the room. Normally each of us would have been debriefed separately, and
certainly without POTUS in attendance, but times were hardly normal.
I had been speaking for the better part of an hour, relaying
the details of our mission to deliver the three nuclear bombs to the Russians.
The only way they’d gotten me to sit still this long was by tasking a Security
Forces Major with trying to locate Katie. I was antsy as hell, angry that I had
to sit on my ass while my wife was out there somewhere. My mood was apparently
evident in my tone as there were several times when Rachel had reached under
the table and placed her hand on my leg in an attempt to calm me down.
When I reached the point where the Marines had arrived and
plucked us out of the desert, I stopped my narrative. Admiral Packard flipped
through several pages of notes he had taken; pausing to read when he found the
page he was looking for.
“Major, I’d like some clarification.” He said, still
looking down at his notepad. “You said Mr. Cummings stated that the President
had opened a dialogue with the Russian president and was not in support of the
coup being attempted by the GRU?”
“That is correct, Admiral.” I said, flicking my eyes to the
half of the screen displaying the President.
“And you stated that, in your opinion, the rendezvous was a
ruse by the Russians to get our remaining three devices out into the open and
capture Captain Vostov. Correct?” He looked up over the top edge of his
reading glasses at the camera, staring at me out of the high definition screen.
“Yes, sir. That is correct. They were in place ahead of
us. If all they’d wanted was to arrest Captain Vostov they could have done so
before she departed Kirtland. They wanted the nukes off the table, sir.
Didn’t want us with any type of strike weapon.”
“And it seems that part of their mission succeeded. You
detonated two of them, the third one destroyed in one of the explosions.
Correct?” This from President Clark.
“Yes, ma’am.” I said, seething internally that I was
wasting time repeatedly going over the same facts when all I wanted was to be
searching for Katie.
“Colonel?” Her gaze shifted to Crawford.
“Initial interrogation of Captain Vostov confirms the facts
Major Chase has provided. We’ve lost all three devices. Mr. Cummings was
killed in a missile strike on the Russians who ambushed the meet.” Crawford
answered.
Packard looked around the room before leaning back in his
chair and exhaling a deep breath.
“Madam President,” he said. “We still have signal intercept
capability and I’d like to play an audio file for you that was intercepted
yesterday.”
“What’s on the recording, Admiral?” She asked, her face
neutral.
“It’s a satellite phone call made by Mr. Cummings from
Tinker Air Force Base prior to the team’s departure for Texas, ma’am.” The
President stared into the camera on her end for several long moments before
shaking her head.
“That won’t be necessary, Admiral. I need to think about
these developments. I’ll be in touch.” A moment later her image disappeared
from the screen.
“Well if this isn’t just a cluster fuck of monumental
proportions.” He said. “Colonel, we need to
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