CARRIER 3: ARMAGEDDON MODE

“Could be. We could take the history lesson back farther if you like. The Mayaguez- World War I and unrestricted U-boat attacks. The War of 1812. The Barbary Wars when Moorish pirates captured our ships and people and held them for ransom.”

“We won those too.”

“Yeah, but they weren’t foregone conclusions at die time. Hell, the odds against us in 1812 weren’t dial much better than We’re facing now, and in the case of the Mayaguez, we lost more Marines killed than the number of merchant seamen we Rescued. In each case, the only thing that pulled us through was .tire willpower to finish what we’d set out to do … or what

forced on us in the first place.”

“This thing goes beyond principle, Admiral. Or finishing we started. A lot of reputations in this town are riding on big carriers. You know that, don’t you?” When Magruder cautiously, the President went on. “Critics of the ^puclear carriers have been saying for years that a single missile

*-COuld sink one, that they’re big, slow, vulnerable . . . and ^expensive. Can you imagine me uproar if Jefferson is sunk or

by an Indian attack?”

“And is that why you’d have them pull out, Mr. President?” The. President sighed. “No. Once, maybe. Not any longer.” ; appeared to be studying his hands, clasped before him on e desktop blotter, very carefully. “Things could have gone wrong for us at Wonsan. Or at Bangkok too, for that We could have lost ships there. We did lose men.”

•i;1 “Maybe the question is whether the men die for nothing. Or ::ff it means something.”

-,’ \The President looked up at Magruder. “I should hire you to do my speeches. You have my speech writer beat all hollow.”

“I only get passionate when I’m telling the truth, Mr. ‘President. All I know, sir, is that if those big carriers of yours are to have any credibility in die future, you have to use them. ;Seems to me if you don’t, you risk losing the whole damn fleet, iSimply because they’re no longer a threat.”

Magruder paused and swallowed hard. He was thinking of

Matt. What he was saying now was going to have a very direct

bearing on Mart’s future, maybe even on whether he lived or died,

and the knowledge was a searing pain in his breast The

^irrepressible Tombstone would be in the forefront of the fight no

^Batter what Winner of the Navy Cross at Wonsan, of the

itamathepbodi—the Thai equivalent of the Medal of Honor—at

Bangkok, the hero …

But he had to say what he believed.

“Mr. President you know as well as I do how important the

206

Kerth Dougtos

ARMAGEDDON MODE

209

credibility of our fleet is in the world. You also know as well as I do how much we lose when the world sees us sacrifice principle for … for convenience. If the Indians attack, we fight. We have to. And if there’s any way on God’s Earth to get in mere and separate those two before they start throwing their nuclear toys at each other, well … I think we should. We have to.”

The President studied Magruder for a moment that dragged on and on. Then he nodded. “I know, Tom. And I agree.”

“Testing me, Mr. President?”

“No, Tom. Testing myself.” He reached out and pressed a button on his desk. A Secret Service man appeared in the door seconds later.

“Yes, Mr. President?”

“Ed, would you take the Admiral down to the Situation Room? Log him through on my say-so.”

“Yes, Mr. President.” Magruder looked at the President, who grinned.

“Go on down. I’ll see you there after my meeting with His Excellency, Mr. Nadkami, who’d better not be late. Then we’ll see how the battle goes.”

Magruder frowned. “Are you . . . managing the battle from there?” He remembered past attempts by Washington-based politicians and generals to manage fights halfway around the world. Carter had been in that same room while die helicopters were refueling at Desert One in Iran.

“Hell, no,” the President said. “I’m no tactician. That’s Vaughn’s job. But we’ll sure as hell be the first to know if he screws up.”

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137

Leave a Reply 0

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *