B018R79OOK EBOK Read online

  Hammond got a pained look on his face. “Mike, don’t you think I have enough to do?” he asked.

  Clarity held up both hands. “No, you need to read this. Our illustrious Flag Lieutenant completed his task. I took a look at it last night. Didn’t get to sleep until three a.m.” He looked hard at Hammond. “Admiral, I’ve never seen anything like it in my career. You really need to read it,” he emphasized.

  Hammond looked at the binder. “But it’s only been a week and a half. It can’t be that good.”

  Clarity lifted an eyebrow. “I said the same thing, but you won’t believe what he’s come up with. Our Tennessee boy just impressed the hell out of me. Besides, you have an eight hour flight. You have nothing better to do,” he grinned.

  The CNO entered the office. “All set?”

  Hammond placed the binder under his arm. “Yep. Aren’t you coming?”

  Johnson shrugged, “No, I have to go over to the White House. But your transportation is all set,” he said.

  Hammond nodded. “Fine. By the way, how much can I share with these folks? I was thinking about the new materials we tested at David Taylor and the drone stuff,” he said.

  Johnson thought a moment. “Share what you need. We’ll probably need to give the stuff to them anyway. They need to know what you are thinking and what we can do to help. Make them feel better about things,” he said.

  Hammond nodded. “Will do.” He started out the door then turned back to Johnson. “By the way, don’t feel bad about messing up the weekend. Turns out Patricia has to go to the funeral anyway, so I just can’t hold it against you,” he said with a smirk.

  “She’ll probably have more fun than you will,” Johnson said from the door as Hammond left the office.

  Hammond and Clarity made their way down the corridor and exited the doors by the river entrance. The official car was there to take him to Andrews Air Force Base where the Gulfstream was waiting. Lieutenant Jeffers was there holding the door. “Your bags are in the trunk. Wish I was going with you,” he said.

  Hammond smiled at the young man. “I wish you were too, but this will be fast and dirty. But I have a little something of yours to read,” he said holding up the binder, “so I doubt I’ll have much time to myself. We’ll talk when I get back,” he said as he climbed into the car.

  Closing the door, Jeffers watched as the car went down the ramp and around the corner of the building. He had been working day and night to do something to help his boss. Somehow he knew that Hammond was being looked at for something special. He hoped he could be there with him.

  Krakow

  Bugayev was already in his safe house. All of his team had been captured, but in reality it didn’t make any difference. A separate group would carry out the final big demonstration, then his job would change. From the invasion until the operation was over, he would run an underground unit to sabotage what military operations he could.

  He pulled his coat tighter around him. It was getting colder and being in a damp basement wasn’t helping. All he had now was a small cot, a two burner hot plate, a table and a chair. He swore at the circumstances. How did they find out about his operations? The unit that cornered them was with the state police. It was only with the sheerest luck that he had been able to scramble to the laundry chute and pull himself up to the second floor using the rope he had managed to attach to a steam pipe. The SVR training he had received had saved his life. True, he had to continue with a backup crew, but he would be able to continue. At the same time, he would discreetly check on each of the men at the meeting. One of them must have betrayed him. He would find out which one, then take care of that business personally.

  Buckingham Palace

  It wasn’t often you met a King. In this case it was for the second time. King William V had come aboard USS Iowa when she had led the round the world cruise after the Korean War. This time, the meeting was more business than pleasure. The King had a keen interest in the military and was very concerned about what nearly everyone knew was a coming war with Russia. He had urged his Prime Minister and military leaders to begin moving toward a war footing early on, but was concerned that it may be too late. Sitting in the meeting with the Prime Minister, he asked the most questions of all the people in the room.

  Most of the questions they had were of his opinion on where the Allied cause should go and how they might accomplish their goals. More to the point, how would the United States respond? Although he had told them that he didn’t really know how far the United States would go, he did assure them that there would be a large response. Europe would not have to proceed alone. Hammond also shared his ideas on using every technology each nation possessed to suppress the enemy. He shared several technologies the United States was working on and was surprised to hear of several in Great Britain itself. He urged the sharing of information and manufacturing so that they could be exploited to the fullest. As the conference wound down it became obvious that Hammond needed to make a sort of closing statement.

  “Your Majesty, Prime Minister, I appreciate your asking me to come and share my views concerning the possible conflict in Europe. As my President has said, this is a cause which involves all of us – not just Poland or Germany, but every European nation. Each of us brings a unique part and portion to the battlefield, whether it is in armor, people, materials or technology. We all have our own unique warfare style and history. That is no more felt than the history of this great nation and island. My own family history started right here outside London. All my life I have studied the military tactics and exploits of English leaders. It is the richest of any nation. So what you bring cannot be measured. The United States, by comparison, has only been around for a relatively few years, but few understand that our history is also your history. We too have proven ourselves on the field of battle and the ties between us are unbroken.

  “In the coming days we shall come together again. We shall join nations large and small, but join them we will. In my NATO role, I hope to be a small part of this immense operation. It will be a daunting task, since we are outnumbered by a large margin. But remember, we have been outnumbered many times before. The Spanish Armada was far larger than any English force. Nelson found himself rushing in against the odds. In the Pacific, we both were on the losing side before Midway. Even the pundits thought we would lose that battle. But it wasn’t numbers that won the battles, it was strength of will. This is no different. If war comes, we shall win because we must do it. To do otherwise would be unthinkable. I truly look forward to working with each of you,” he said as he sat back in his seat.

  For a long time no one spoke. Then the King stood and walked over to Hammond, taking his hand. “Admiral, you make us all proud to be a part of this. Thank you for sharing time with us today,” he said warmly.

  “My pleasure, Your Majesty,” Hammond said softly.

  Prime Minister, would you be so kind as to accompany me for a moment?” the King asked. The Prime Minister nodded, “Of course, Your Majesty.” The two left the room via a separate door as the others in the room gathered round to shake Hammond’s hand before leaving. Sir Richard was the last. “Bloody hell,” he expounded. “You certainly know how to stir the loins. I felt like I would pop down to Portsmouth and get underway. Heaven help the Russians,” he boasted as he shook Hammond’s hand. “Come on, let’s stop by a pub on the way. I feel like a good wet.”

  In the corridor the King stopped and looked at Nicholson with a questioning face. “What is your opinion?” he asked.

  Prime Minister Nicholson took a deep breath. “Your Majesty, if we put any European officer in charge, the same old bickering and squabbling will occur. From what Sir Richard tells me, that man even got the French to agree with him. We both know he is brilliant and he has demonstrated that he has the tact and patience to get the job done. I believe that, once again, we need an American to spearhead this effort,” he said.

  “I agree. Did you notice he even had a grasp of ground warfare? I believe h
e listens a lot. That tells me he’s not just a seagoing officer,” said the King.

  “Indeed, it is clear that President O’Bannon thinks highly of him, but he is careful not to push it to us. He is letting us make up our own minds,” said Nicholson. “At least I am convinced.”

  The King chuckled. “You know, when we met him six years ago, I could tell there was something about the man. It appears he has our support as well.”

  “Then I shall contact the President straight away and let him know of our desires,” Nicholson said.

  “I understand the President believes him one of his best personal friends. I may wager that it will be the same over here as well,” the King said with a twinkle in his eye.

  “Be careful, Your Majesty. His wife is a rising star in their political system. We may have to find ways of working with both,” Nicholson said with a grin.

  Sir Richard and Hammond made their way out the room and down the most ornate hallway Hammond had ever seen. Exiting at the side of the palace, they entered Sir Richard’s Bentley. Ten minutes later the two men stepped into the Albert Pub on Victoria Street. Several military men in uniform were there. Almost immediately the two were called over to join them. One pint became two. After a meal upstairs, the two men returned for one last drink before reentering the Bentley for the drive back to Sir Richard’s townhome. Hammond had never experienced a night like this before. The mixture of uniforms, comradery and honor in the ranks left him with a much better understanding of how the British military thought and worked. It made him feel much better about their chances.

  Once the men returned to Sir Richard’s flat, Hammond brought over a large three ringed binder. “Do me a favor, Sir Richard. Take a look at this and tell me what you think. When I come back from Germany, maybe we can discuss it.”

  Sir Richard eyed the binder, then opened it to the first page, glancing at the title. He gave a surprised look. “Some ideas you have?” he asked.

  “A few. It may be nothing, but I’d appreciate your thoughts.”

  “Then I shall devote some time to it,” Sir Richard said as he placed it under his arm. He stopped at a decanter in the study and poured himself a glass. “You have a long day tomorrow, and it’s late. I’ll come down and join you at breakfast,” he stated.

  “Fine. Good night, Sir Richard,” said Hammond as he made his way to the stairs.

  Sir Richard watched him go, then reopened the binder. He sat in his favorite chair and began to read. After a few minutes his forehead began to furl and his eyes focused in on the pages. He took another sip from his glass. “Bloody hell!” he muttered aloud.

  Krakow

  “Don’t feed me that line!” Bolin screamed at Kursov. They were in a small brightly lit room with another officer and a line of microphones and cameras. Kursov was sitting at a plain table while the others stared down at him. “I have photos of you at those demonstrations. I have photos of you with a known Russian agent! Telling me you know nothing insults my intelligence and I know it will insult a jury. I shall give you one chance. Just one! You cooperate and tell us everything or I will see to it that you are convicted and then publicly hanged as a traitor. And I will see to it that you hang in front of your family and friends. That means no matter what, they will be the ones to pay the ultimate price for your actions. Is that what you want? To have your children branded for life as the son or daughter of a traitor? Answer me. Is that what you want?”

  The interrogation had already lasted four hours. Kursov had thought he could withstand such things, but the mention of his children suffering for his actions caused his shell to crack. Bolin saw it the moment it happened. Kursov’s face changed. His hands began to shake. Bolin knew to ease up. The tone of his voice softened. “Look, Kursov, I know you were born there and have some feelings for your mother country. But what you have done is placing all of us in danger, including your children. Do you really think the Russian army won’t come here with guns blazing? They won’t care who helped them or who is fighting them, they will simply plow through us like a tractor. Can you see your son Petyr or your daughter lying dead in what is left of your house after an artillery bombardment? Some things you simply cannot prevent. But in your case, you can. I need you to tell me everything. In return, you will be allowed to return home to your family. No one will know what has happened. Your sons and daughter will never know what you have done from me. They will still see their father as an upstanding member of the community. I will promise you that. So what shall it be?” he asked.

  Kursov’s eyes began to water. He couldn’t bear for his wife or children to hate him or be ashamed of him. There was no other choice. He looked up at Bolin, “What do you want to know?”

  Bolin nodded. So far all but three of the men had chosen to cooperate. They would all get the same promise, although there would be a few repercussions. Right now, they just needed the facts. If they were lucky, they might be able to do something constructive with this.

  The White House

  Jim Butler walked past the Secret Service agents and into the Oval Office. “You called, Boss?”

  The President motioned him to a chair. “I just heard from the others. It’s unanimous. We need to get the Joint Chiefs over here. It’s time to decide on who will be doing what. I also heard from the Polish Prime Minister. It seems they captured some of the ringleaders for those violent demonstrations over there. A Russian agent was leading them.”

  Butler looked up. “That’s interesting. Did they get him or her to talk?”

  O’Bannon shook his head. “They lost him. Got away right under their noses, but with the search they are conducting, I doubt he will get far,” the President said.

  “If this does blow up, this is evidence of a conspiracy and premeditated actions. A war crimes trial will love it,” said Butler.

  “I agree, but right now we need to get our forces on high alert. How about calling a meeting for this afternoon. I want to take us up to DEFCON 2. Then I need recommendations on how we get ready beyond this point. Tell them to come ready to rumble,” the President said.

  Butler got up from his seat. “I’ll make it happen. I hope no one squawks much on the choice.”

  O’Bannon grinned. “If it comes to that, we can honestly tell them it didn’t come from this office. It seems all of Europe wants him.”

  Moscow

  “The Americans have heightened their alert status,” announced the briefer at the military summit in Moscow. “We are noticing that they have gotten some of their carriers out to sea. There are more patrols and some of their army troops are doing more exercises. But most of those are still in the United States. There haven’t been any big ship movements to bring troops and equipment to Europe. The only thing we have seen leaving the United States were Korean automobiles headed for France. They arrived yesterday. We anticipate a few thousand more new cars on the roads, but that is nothing we need to concern ourselves about. All of our fleet assets are ready. Our submarine force is all underway and our line of missile ships has arrived on station. Our air force units are staging now. They will move to the forward bases immediately upon the start of hostilities. Army units are concealed along this line here,” the briefer said pointing to several positions on the map. “They are fully fueled and equipped. At zero hour they will move across the border as rapidly as possible. Artillery positioned with the units will bombard positions in front of the advance and move up each day to match the advance. Air units will pound further ahead to prepare for the advance, but nothing will go until zero hour,” he said.

  “You are certain that we have successfully hidden our assets so that the allies cannot be forewarned?” asked Borodin. “Everything depends on surprise.”

  “Yes, President Borodin. We have placed decoy units well behind the lines so that any snooping will see them and not the real advance,” the briefer said.

  “Good. When will the last riot occur in Poland?” asked Borodin.

  “Two days before, Comrade President,
” said General Pusko. “Our agent there has done a magnificent job of unsettling the population. I understand he was nearly captured at one time, but managed to escape and continue his mission. After this event, he will change his efforts to help our ground troops,” Pusko said.

  “Excellent. So we are in all respects ready to make our moves?” Borodin asked.

  “There is one other thing,” said Admiral Sovolov, the Commander of the Naval Forces. “With your approval, we need to change our initial attack just slightly from the original plan,” he said.

  Borodin eyed the man with a frown. He didn’t like changing a plan, especially at this late a date. “Tell me what you recommend,” he said.

  “I believe we have covered all the major assets of their fleet except for one thing. We allotted three missiles for each of their battleships. For any normal ship, this would be more than sufficient, however, my staff is urging that we increase this coverage to at least five missiles,” he said.

  “Five Missiles!” Borodin exclaimed. That would mean an expenditure of thirty five missiles. What reason do they use?”

  “Comrade President, these are the most heavily armored ships in the world. On one class alone the steel is more than seventeen inches thick. If you recall during the Korean War one of those ships was hit by three of these type missiles. Not only did the ship survive, but it went in and destroyed the missile battery that fired at them. I have been told that there was not one loss of life. Even our honored Admiral Gorshkov made a statement to the Americans that, and I quote, ‘You do not realize what formidable warships you have in these battleships. We have concluded after careful analysis that these magnificent vessels are in fact the most to be feared in your entire naval arsenal. When engaged in combat we could throw everything we have at those ships and all our firepower would just bounce off or be of little effect. When we are exhausted, we will detect you coming over the horizon and then you will sink us,’ unquote. We re-opened that study and it still holds true. Our best bet is to hurt them as much as we can to delay their deployment and then sink them with our submarines. That is why we ask for the increase in missiles. If we can so damage their upper works, they may be delayed long enough that we will have completed our objectives. In which case, their usefulness will be negated,” Sovolov said.