Most of the fires were still burning, he saw. The aircraft fuel dump nearest the base was ablaze, but the main storage tanks five kilometers away seemed intact, and, he could see, were already guarded by a BMD assault vehicle and some men. The assault regiment commander met him on one of the undamaged runways.
“Keflavik air base is secure, Comrade General!” he proclaimed.
“How did it go?”
“Hard. The Americans were uncoordinated-one of the missiles hit their command post-but they did not give up easily. We have nineteen dead and forty-three wounded. We have accounted for most of the Marines and other security troops, and we are still counting the other prisoners.”
“How many armed troops escaped?”
“None that we know of. Too early to tell, of course, but some undoubtedly died in the fires.” The colonel waved at the smashed base area to the east. “How is the ship? I heard he took a missile hit.”
“And we were strafed by American fighters. He’s tied to the dock, and the equipment is being unloaded now. Can we use this airfield? I-”
“Getting that report now.” The colonel’s radio operator handed his radiophone over. The colonel spoke for a minute or so. A five-man party of Air Force personnel had accompanied the second wave and was evaluating the base facilities.
“Comrade General, the base radar and radio systems are destroyed.
The runways are littered with debris, and they tell me that they need some hours to sweep them clear. Also the fuel pipeline is broken in two places. Fortunately it did not burn. For the moment we’ll have to use the airport’s trucks to transfer fuel. All of them seem to be intact . . . they recommend that the airlift come into Reykjavik. Have we secured that?”
“Yes, and it is intact. Any hope of getting information from the American aircraft?”
“Unfortunately not, Comrade. The aircraft were badly damaged from incoming missiles. Those that did not burn of their own accord were burned by their crews. As I said, they fought hard.”
“Very well. I’ll send the remainder of your two battalions with your equipment as soon as we can get things organized. I’ll need the third at the dock for the moment. Set up your perimeter. Start the cleanup, we need this airfield operational as soon as possible. Get the prisoners together and ready to move. We’ll be flying them out tonight. They are to be treated correctly.” His orders on that score were very precise. Prisoners are assets.
“As you say, Comrade General. And please get me some engineers so that we can repair that fuel pipe.”
“Well done, Nikolay Gennadyevich!”
The General ran back to his helicopter. Only nineteen dead. He’d expected a higher number than that. Taking out the Marine command center had been a real stroke of luck. By the time his Hip returned to the dock, the equipment was already rolling off. The ship’s barges had been fitted with loading doors in their hulls, like miniature landing craft, which allowed vehicles to roll straight out. The units already were being organized on the dock and nearby lots. His staff officers were fully in charge of things, the General saw. To this point, Operation Polar Glory was a total success.
When the Hip landed, it refueled from a line draped down from the ship’s side. The General went to his operations officer.
“Reykjavik airport is secure also, Comrade General, and there we have complete fueling facilities. Is that where you want the airlift to come in?”
The General thought about that one. Reykjavik’s airport was a small one, but he didn’t want to wait until the larger Keflavik was clear to bring in his reinforcements. “Yes. Send the code word to headquarters: I want the airlift to begin at once.”
HILL 152, ICELAND
“Tanks.” Garcia had the binoculars. “A bunch of ’em and they all got red stars. Heading west on Route 41. This oughta convince ’em, sir.”
Edwards took the field glasses. He could see the tanks, but not the stars. “What kind are they? They don’t look like real tanks.”
It was now Smith’s turn. “That’s BMPs-maybe BMDs. It’s an infantry assault vehicle, like an amtrak. Holds a squad of men and a 73-millimeter gun. They’re Russian, that’s for sure, Lieutenant. I count eleven of the bastards, and maybe twenty trucks with men in ’em.”
Edwards broke out his radio again. Garcia was right. This did get their attention.
“Okay, Edwards, who do you have with you?”
Edwards rattled off the names of his Marines. “We bugged out before the Russians got into the base.”
“Where are you now?”
“Hill 152, four kilometers due east of Hafnarfjordur. We can see all the way into the harbor. There are Russian vehicles heading west towards Keflavik, and some trucks-we can’t tell what kind-heading northeast towards Reykjavik on Highway 41. Look, guys, if you can whistle up a couple of Aardvarks, maybe we can kill that ship before she unloads,” the lieutenant said urgently.
“I’m afraid the Varks are a little busy right now, fella. In case nobody told you, there’s a shooting war in Germany. World War III kicked off ten hours ago. We’re trying to get a recon bird up your way, but it might take awhile. Nobody’s decided what to do about you either. For right now, you’re on your own.”
“No shit,” Edwards replied, looking at his men.
“Okay, Edwards. Use your head, avoid contact with the enemy. If I read this right, you’re the only friendly we have there right now. It figures they’ll want you to keep the reports coming in. Observe and report. Conserve the battery power you have. Play it nice and cool, guy. Help will be coming, but it might take awhile. Just hang in there. You can listen for us on the hour, on even hours. You got a good watch?” In the meantime, the communications officer thought, we’ll try to figure a way to find out if you’re really who you say, and that you haven’t got a Russian pistol at your head.
“Roger, it’s set to Zulu time. We’ll be listening. Out.”
“More tanks,” Smith said. “Jeez, that ship sure is a busy place!”
HAFNARFJORDUR, ICELAND
The General would not have believed how well things were going. When he had seen the Harpoon coming, he was sure that his mission would be a failure. Already a third of his vehicles had rolled off the ship and were en route to their destinations. Next, he wanted the rest of his division flown in. After that came more helicopters. For the present, all around him were a hundred thousand Icelanders whose friendship he did not expect. A few hardy souls were watching him from the opposite side of the harbor, and he’d already sent a squad of men to get rid of them. How many people were making telephone calls? Was the telephone-satellite relay base still intact? Might they be calling the United States to tell what was happening in Iceland? So many things to worry about.
“General, the airlift is under way. The first aircraft took off ten minutes ago with a fighter escort. They should begin to arrive in four hours,” his communications officer reported.
“Four hours.” The General looked up from the ship’s bridge into a clear blue sky. How long before the Americans reacted and threw a squadron of fighter-bombers at him? He pointed to his operations officer.
“We have too many vehicles sitting on the quay. As soon as a platoon-sized grouping is together, move them off to their objectives. There is no time to wait for company groups. What about Reykjavik airport?”
“We have one company of infantrymen in place, with another twenty minutes away. No opposition. The civilian air controllers and the airport maintenance people are all under guard. A patrol going through Reykjavik reports little activity on the streets. Our embassy personnel report that a government radio broadcast told people to remain in their homes, and for the most part they seem to be doing this.”
“Tell the patrol to seize the main telephone exchange. Leave the radio and television stations alone, but get the telephone exchange!” He turned as a squad of paratroopers arrived at the crowd on the far side of the harbor. He estimated perhaps thirty people there. The eight soldiers approached quickly after dismounting from their truck, rifles at the ready. One man walked up to the soldiers, waving his arms wildly. He was shot down. The rest of the crowd ran.
The General shouted a curse. “Find out who did that!”
USS CHICAGO
McCafferty returned to the attack center after a brief visit to his private head. Coffee would always keep you awake, he thought, either through the caffeine or the discomfort of an always-full bladder. Things were already not going well. Whatever genius had decided to order the American submarines out of the Barents Sea in the hope of avoiding an “incident” had neatly gotten them out of the way. Just in time for the war to start, the captain grumbled, forgetting that the idea hadn’t seemed all that bad at the time.