Arctic Storm Rising
- Автор: Браун Дейл
- Серия: Nick Flynn #1
- Год: 2021
- Язык: английский
- Год: William Morrow
- ISBN: 9780063015050
- Жанр: Триллеры
Электронная книга - «Arctic Storm Rising». Краткое содержание книги:
She shrugged. “There isn’t one, sir.” Her gaze was unwavering. “We’ve reached out on the hotline. But we’re not getting responses from any senior Russian officials, either military or civilian.”
“They’re not taking our calls?” Neary asked in disbelief.
“Either that, or President Zhdanov and his top people are all still in transit to safe locations,” Chao said bluntly. “Like the nuclear command and control bunkers outside Moscow. Or their new Mount Kosvinsky Kamen special facility deep in the northern Urals.”
Neary stared at her, as did almost everyone else in the Emergency Conference Room. “Are you seriously suggesting that the Russians are preparing for war?”
“We can’t ignore the possibility.” She brought up a series of satellite images. They showed dozens of advanced fighter aircraft and Tu-160M2, Tu-22M, and Tu-95 heavy bombers being fueled and armed at bases across the Russian Federation. “There is a serious concern that all of this unprecedented activity could be the prelude to a surprise military move against the United States or some of our allies.” That created a tremendous stir across the crowded room.
Taylor leaned forward. Behind his thick lenses, the secretary of defense’s eyes were watchful. “Do we have any intelligence that might argue against that rather unnerving possibility, Admiral?”
“Yes, sir,” Chao admitted. She tapped another button. New images appeared, these showing the docks and submarine pens around Murmansk and Vladivostok. “So far, we see no indications that Russia’s ballistic missile submarines or surface combatants are changing their peacetime operational patterns.” More detailed satellite pictures appeared, this time of major Russian army bases. Row after row of parked main battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, self-propelled artillery pieces, mobile antiaircraft weapons, and other vehicles were visible. Plainly labeled “before” and “after” images showed no significant changes over the past several days. “Nor do we detect any evidence that its ground combat forces are moving to a higher state of readiness.”
“What about their ICBM force?” Neary asked.
The admiral spread her hands. “It’s difficult to say, General. We haven’t yet picked up any firm evidence that their mobile and silo-based strategic nuclear missiles are moving to a higher state of readiness… but I’m not sure we would in any case.”
Neary nodded grimly. Keeping track of Russia’s road-mobile long-range missiles was a difficult task at any time, and Moscow had secure landline connections to its hardened ICBM silos. If the Kremlin actually issued strike orders to its land-based strategic nuclear forces, the U.S. probably wouldn’t know anything until its satellites spotted the heat plumes from hundreds of separate missile launches. And at that point, Washington would have less than thirty minutes’ warning before a devastating hail of nuclear warheads detonated across the United States. It was the nightmare scenario that had haunted American presidents and military leaders for decades.
“But as far as we know now, this unprecedented level of military activity seems limited solely to Russia’s Air Force, surface-to-air missile regiments, and surveillance radars?” Taylor asked pointedly.
Admiral Chao nodded firmly. “That’s correct, Mr. Secretary.”
Taylor looked along the table toward Jonas Murphy, favoring him with a shrewd, amused smile. “Which brings us around to you, Jonas.”
“Me?” Murphy said, trying his best to sound surprised.
“Yes, you,” the older man said wryly. “Earlier today, your office transmitted a top secret alert to all of our U.S. Air Force formations deployed in Turkey, Afghanistan, and Iraq, right? An alert that raised the possibility of a Russian aircraft making an unauthorized transit through their areas of operation?”
Crap, Murphy thought, feeling suddenly cornered. “That’s true.”
“So why did you send out this highly unusual alert?” Taylor asked bluntly, not bothering to beat around the bush.
Left with no other choice, Murphy fell back on partial truth. “The CIA received intelligence from what appears to be a high-level Russian source. Intelligence which suggested the possible defection of a pilot flying one of their most advanced military aircraft sometime in the next twenty-four hours.”
“What type of aircraft?” Taylor pushed.
“Tupolev’s PAK-DA experimental stealth bomber prototype,” Murphy admitted.
That drew the reaction he’d expected. General Neary and the other Joint Chiefs of Staff seated at the table with him looked stunned at first and then somewhat predatory. The prospect of getting a close, hard look at the technology that Moscow had openly boasted would rival and even exceed that of America’s own stealth bombers was irresistible.
“How reliable is the CIA’s intelligence on this?” Taylor asked directly.
Murphy shrugged. “That’s unknown, I’m afraid. We don’t have any history with their source… yet.”
“A defection attempt of that magnitude could certainly explain the frantic Russian air and radar activity we’re seeing now,” General Neary mused out loud, looking up at the wall screens. Then he turned back to Murphy. “But do you have any honest-to-God confirmation that such a defection is actually underway?”
The DNI glanced at the secure smartphone he’d laid faceup on the conference table in front of him. There were no new messages from Miranda Reynolds, the head of the CIA’s clandestine operations service. He shook his head. “Unfortunately, I don’t.”
“Which means what you’ve been sold could be typical Russian disinformation,” Neary pointed out. “Part of a deliberate plan to sow confusion and slow our response to the increase in military readiness we’re seeing right now.”
Murphy nodded uncomfortably. “That’s certainly possible.”
“Which leaves us with the question of how we’re going to respond to what we do know right now,” Taylor broke in. “Which is that the Russians are rapidly bringing their combat air units and ground-based air defenses to wartime levels of readiness.” He looked along the table. “Suggestions?”
After a glance at his colleagues, Neary leaned forward. As the chief of staff for the Air Force, this was largely his bailiwick. “My recommendation to the president is that he immediately raise our own alert status to DEFCON Three, both here at home and abroad.” The other senior officers around the table nodded, signaling their agreement. DEFCON Three would put the entire U.S. military on full alert, with the Air Force ready to move at fifteen minutes’ notice. “And I also strongly recommend that he contact our allies and urge them to take similar precautionary measures.”
Murphy interjected. “I concur, but with the caveat that we still urge caution by our air units operating near Russia’s southern frontier. If a Russian pilot really is trying to defect, I’d rather that we weren’t the ones who shot him down.”
“Doing so carries risks of its own,” Neary warned. “Even a single aircraft conducting a surprise strike can inflict a hell of a lot of damage using modern weapons.”
Taylor considered that carefully. “That’s true, General,” he said after a few moments. “But Director Murphy has a good point, which I’ll pass on to the president.” The defense secretary spread his hands. “Anyway, if the Russians are preparing a serious attack against us, they aren’t going to use just one plane — no matter how well it’s armed—” He broke off abruptly as new digital maps opened on the far wall. These depicted regions of northern and western China. More symbols appeared, thickly clustered near the People’s Republic of China’s border with Russia.