except for the Patriot missile battery. The second photo showed more, and
though it was a radar photo in black and white, it had been computer-
blended with another visual overhead to give a more precise picture of the
missile field. “Okay, this is seventy minutes old,” Ryan said, setting the
third one down.
“It’s a lake.” He looked up, surprised even though he’d been briefed.
‘ ‘The place is under about a hundred feet of water, will be for another few
hours,” Jack explained. “Those missiles are dead-”
“Along with how many people?” Durling asked.
“Over a hundred,” the National Security Advisor reported, his enthusi-
asm for the event instantly gone. “Sir-there wasn’t any way around that.”
The President nodded. “I know. How sure are we that the missiles … ?”
“Pre-flood shots showed seven of the holes definitely hit and destroyed.
One more probably wrecked, and two unknowns, but definitely with shock
damage of some sort. The weather seals on the holes won’t withstand that
much water pressure, and ICBMs are too delicate for that sort of treatment.
Toss in debris carried downstream from the flooding. The missiles are as
dead as we can make them without a nuclear strike of our own, and we
managed to do the mission without it.” Jack paused. “It was alI Robby Jack-
son’s plan. Thanks for letting me reward him for it.”
“He’s with the carrier now?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Well, it would seem that he’s the man for the job, wouldn’t it?” the
President asked rhetorically, clearly relieved at the evening’s news. “And
now?”
“And now, Mr. President, we try to settle this one down once and for
all.”
The phone rang just then. Durling lifted it. “Oh. Yes, Tish?”
‘ ‘There’s an announcement from the Japanese government that they have
nuclear weapons and they hope-”
“Not anymore, they don’t,” Durling said, cutting off his communications
director. “We’d better make an announcement of our own.”
“Oh, yeah,” Jones said, looking at the wall chart.” You did that one in a big
hurry, Bart.”
The line was west of the Marianas. Nevada was the northernmost boat.
Thirty miles south oi’ her was West Virginia. Another thirty and there was
Pennsylvania. Maryland was the southernmost former missile submarine.
The line was ninety miles across, and really extended a theoretical thirty
more, fifteen lo the north and south of the end-boats, and they were two
hundred miles west of the westward-moving line of Japanese SSKs. They
had just arrived in place after the warning from Washington that the word
had been leaked somehow or other to the Japanese.
“Something like this happened once before, didn’t it?” Jones asked, re-
membering that these were all battleship names, and more than that, the
names of battlewagons caught alongside the quays one morning in Decem-
ber, long before his birth. The original holders of the names had been resur-
rected from the mud and sent off to take islands back, supporting soldiers
and Marines under the command of Jesse Oldendorf, and one dark night in
Surigao Strait. .. but it wasn’t a time for history lessons.
“What about the ‘cans?” Chambers asked.
“We lost them when they went behind the Bonins, sir. Speed and course
were fairly constant. They ought to pass over Tennessee around midnight,
local time, but by that time our carrier-”
“You have the operation all figured out,” Mancuso observed.
“Sir, I’ve been tracking the whole ocean for you. What d’ya expect?”
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the President said in the White House Press
Room. He was winging it, Ryan saw, just working off some scribbled notes,
never something to make the Chief Executive comfortable. “You’ve just
this evening heard an announcement by the Japanese government that they
have fabricated and deployed nuclear-tipped intercontinental missiles.
“That fact has been known to your government for several weeks now,
and the existence of those weapons is the reason for the careful and circum-
spect way in which the Administration has dealt with the Pacific Crisis. As
you can well imagine, that development has weighed heavily on us, and has
affecled our response to Japanese aggression against U.S. soil and citizens in
the Marianas.
” I can now tell you that those missiles have been destroyed. They no lon-
ger exist,” Durling said in a forceful voice.
‘ ‘The current situation is this: the Japanese military still hold the Marianas
Islands. That is not acceptable to the United States of America. The people
living on those islands are American citizens, and American forces will do
anything necessary to redeem their freedom and human rights. I repeat: we
will do anything necessary to restore those islands to U.S. rule.
“We call tonight on Prime Minister Goto to announce his willingness to
evacuate Japanese forces from the Marianas forthwith. Failure to do so will
compel us to use whatever force is necessary to remove them.
“That is all I have to say right now. For whatever questions you have on
the events of this evening, I turn you over to my National Security Advisor,
Dr. John Ryan.” The President walked toward the door, ignoring a riot of
shouted questions, while a lew easels were set up for visual displays. Ryan
stood at the lectern, making everyone wait as he told himself to speak slowly
and clearly.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this was called Operation TIBBETS. First of all let
me show you what the targets were.” The cover came off the first photo, and
lor the first time the American people saw just what the nation’s reconnais-
sance satellites were capable of. Ryan lifted his pointer and started identify-
ing the scene for everyone, giving the cameras time to close in on them.
“Holy shit,” Manuel Oreza observed. “That’s why.”
“Looks like a pretty good reason to me,” Pete Burroughs observed. Then
the screen went blank.
“We’re sorry, but a technical problem has temporarily interrupted the
CNN satellite feed,” a voice told them.
“My ass!” Portagee snarled back.
“They’ll come here next, won’t they?”
“About fuckin’ time, too,” Oreza thought.
“Manny, what about that missile thing on the next hill?” his wife wanted
to know.
“We’re preparing copies of all these photos for you. They should be ready
in about an hour or so. Sorry for the delay,” Jack told them. “It’s been rather
a busy time for us.
“Now, the mission was carried out by B-2 bombers based at Whiteman
Air Force Base in Missouri-”
“Staging out of where?” a reporter asked.
“You know we’re not going to discuss that,” Jack said in reply.
“That’s a nuclear-weapons platform,” another voice said. “Did we-”
“No. The strike was carried out with precision-guided conventional mu-
nitions. Next card, please,” Ryan said to the man at the easel. “As you can
see here, the valley is largely intact . . .” It was easier than he’d expected,
and perhaps better that he’d not had much time to worry about it, and Ryan
remembered his firsl time delivering a briefing in the White House. It had
been harder than this one, despite the blaze of TV lights now in his face.
“You destroyed a dam?”
“Yes, we did. It was necessary to be completely certain that these weap-
ons were destroyed and -”
“What about casualties?”
“All of our aircraft are on their way back-might already be there, but I
haven’t-”
“What about Japanese deaths?” the reporter insisted.
“I don’t know about that,” Jack replied evenly.
“Do you care?” she demanded, wondering whal sort of answer she’d gel.
“The mission, ma’am, was to eliminate nuclear arms targeted on the
United States by a country that has already attacked U.S. forces. Did we kill
Japanese citizens in this attack? Yes, we did. How many? I do not know. Our
concern in this case was American lives at risk. I wish you would keep in
mind that we didn’t start this war. Japan did. When you start a war you take
risks. This is one risk they undertook-and in this case they lost. I am the
President’s National Security Advisor, and my job description is to help
President Durling safeguard this country first of all. Is that clear?” Ryan
asked. He’d allowed just a little anger to enter his reply, and the indignant
look on the reporter’s face didn’t prevent a few nods from her colleagues.
‘ ‘What about asking the press to lie in order to-”
“Stop!” Ryan commanded, his face reddening. “Do you wish to place
the lives of American servicemen at risk? Why do that? Why the hell would
you want to do that?”
“You bullied the networks into-”
“This feed is going worldwide. You do know that, don’t you?” Ryan
paused to take a breath. “Ladies and gentlemen, I would remind you that
most of the people in this room are American citizens. Speaking for myself
now”-he was afraid to look to where the President was standing-‘ ‘you do
realize that the President is responsible to the mothers and fathers and wives
and children of the people who wear our country’s uniform for their safety.