Brown, Dale - Patrick McLanahan 10 (43 page)

 
          
Most
of the President’s advisers were surprised by the swiftness of the President’s
decision: “I want a flight of B-2 bombers loaded up for nuclear strike sorties
against Libyan, Sudanese, Syrian, and Iraqi targets,” he said. “Then I want
them launched to positive control orbits over the Med.”

           
“The subs and surface forces in the
Med can be ready to fly nuclear sorties in half the time,” Secretary of Defense
Goff pointed out.

 
          
“But
then the whole world will think I’m ready to go to war” Thom said evenly. “I
want the carriers and subs on full alert, but I don’t want them going nuclear
unless this situation gets completely out of hand.”

 
          
“The
rest of the strategic force, sir?”

 
          
“Get
them warmed up and ready to go,” the President said. “Russian and Chinese
target sets—I think we’ll have enough forces ready in the Med if it goes
nuclear without the ICBMs.” General Venti nodded as he made notes to himself.
“What kind of reconnaissance do we have in place over the theater, General?”

 
          
“Strategic
and theater recon is by satellite,” Venti replied. “We usually fill in with U-2
spy planes and carrier-based unmanned reconnaissance aircraft when requested.”

           
“You said ‘usually’?” Thom asked.
“I take it in this current political climate that
Egypt
is not allowing us to use their bases or
fly freely through their airspace?”

           
“Yes, sir,” Secretary of State
Kercheval said. “
Egypt
has currently suspended overflight privileges for American military
aircraft. Because of the upcoming elections and because of the confusing
situation over the area now, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry says that no
overflights by military aircraft or landing privileges by combat-coded aircraft
of any kind will be allowed—only civil transport and humanitarian missions
permitted.”

 
          
“When
did this happen?” Busick asked.

 
          
“Just
last night our time,” Kercheval said. “Shortly after it was announced that
those prisoners would be taken to
Egypt
. Their ministry claims they don’t want to
accidentally shoot down any of our aircraft.”

 
          
“Bullshit,”
Busick snarled. “It’s that Muslim Brotherhood thing. Khalid Khan wanted to be
elected and align
Egypt
with the Muslim Brotherhood, so he cut our military access in
Egypt
. Whole lot of good that did him.”

 
          
“
Egypt
is an important friend of the
United States
, a moderate Arab nation, and one of the
most powerful nations on the African continent,” Robert Goff said emphatically.
“It’s also one of the most geopolitically and strategically important countries
on the planet, for reasons almost too numerous to list. Whatever affects
Egypt
will eventually affect
Europe
and
North America
. I feel it’s important to defend
Egypt
with everything we’ve got.”

 
          
“I
agree, Mr. President,” Kercheval chimed in. “Quite frankly, sir, the Libyan
action, although horrific in the loss of life and the use of nuclear weapons,
was relatively minor. We still have a chance to prevent them from attempting an
invasion of
Egypt
or widening the conflict.”

 
          
“I
agree with Secretaries Goff and Kercheval, sir,” General Venti said. “The
Libyan attack hasn’t destabilized the situation in north Africa—yet. We need to
get in there and tell the world that we won’t tolerate any more actions like
this.”

 
          
Vice
President Busick waited for the President to respond; when he didn’t, he turned
to him and said in a low voice, “I’m afraid I agree with your advisers here,
Thomas. I know you don’t go for things like this, but I’d like to slap
Libya
down hard. If you don’t want to go in after
Zuwayy and kick his ass for using nuclear weapons, at least park the Sixth
Fleet right outside his front door and make our displeasure clear.” He paused,
then added, “And I know you’re thinking of a second term. This would be a good
time to exercise your military muscle.
Libya
is a pushover. If there’s a shooting war,
it’ll be over quickly.”

 
          
The
President nodded that he understood the veteran politician’s view, then
quizzically glanced at Doug Morgan. “I have a feeling you have something else
that might influence my decision, Doug,” he said.

 
          
Morgan
produced another briefing folder, sighed, then opened it. “I’m afraid I do,
sir,” he began. “I think our friends the Night Stalkers might be involved in
this Libya-Egypt conflict.”

 
          
“Oh,
for chrissakes ...,” Busick moaned. “Those bastards are going to get their
butts kicked one of these days.”

           
“I think that might have already
happened, sir,” Morgan said. “I already reported on the unexplained attacks on
that Libyan missile base where chemical weapons and possibly nuclear materials
were detected. We thought it was the Israelis, and then Egyptian special
forces—we still have no concrete evidence of either. I also reported that the
Libyans attacked several ships in the
Mediterranean Sea
following that attack, apparently in retaliation or perhaps looking for
the commando team’s base of operations. The identities of all the ships were
verified—two Greek, Italian, French, Moroccan, and a Lithuanian vessel, all
sunk or heavily damaged. The Egyptian navy rescued crew members from four of
the six ships, including over sixty men and women from the last ship that was
attacked—the Lithuanian salvage vessel.”

 
          
“Salvage
vessel?” the President asked.
“Lithuanian
salvage vessel?”

 
          
“Yes,
sir,” Morgan said. He could tell the President had been doing his homework—he
recognized the clues immediately.

 
          
“Don’t
tell me,” the President said. “The so-called survivors of the Lithuanian ship
captured a helicopter right off the deck of an Egyptian warship and spirit off
into the darkness.”

 
          
“Worse
than that—I think the survivors
captured
the entire Egyptian warship
.”

 
          
“What?”

           
“We intercepted some interesting
radio traffic between one of the Egyptian frigates and their military base at
Mersa Matruh,” Morgan went on. “At first we thought a little mutiny had broken
out between some rival factions on the ship. But then it occurred to us that
someone else other than the crew had seized the ship. A couple days later, the
vessel returned to port and everything else was back to normal.”

 
          
“And
you think the guys that seized this frigate were Martindale’s crew?” Venti
asked.

 
          
“It
fits,” the President said. “Operating off a salvage ship—just like an
Intelligence Support Agency cell, which a lot of those Night Stalkers once
were. Martindale would certainly have the ability to get one of his ships
flagged by
Lithuania
—he practically saved that country himself
when the Russians attacked. And blowing up a Libyan missile base—that’s
signature Martindale; or, more accurately, McLanahan. Doug, did you ... ?”

 
          
“Ask
about McLanahan? Yes, sir. We requested a report from the FBI, who still has
Sky Masters under special surveillance.” Morgan turned to another page in his
report. “General McLanahan, his wife, Colonel Luger, and Colonel Briggs are not
at the Sky Masters facility in
Arkansas
.”

 
          
“Doesn’t
mean they were involved in the Libyan attack,” the President said.

 
          
“Mr.
President, I’ll bet you my Orange Bowl box seats they’re involved—up to their
eyeballs,” Vice President Busick exclaimed heatedly. “They have opportunity,
and they certainly have the means. Are any of them traveling overseas?”

 
          
“Yes.
..”

 
          
“You
see!” Busick exclaimed. “I’m sorry, Mr. President, but I’m getting sick and
tired of that bunch of wanna-be heroes creating a mess and then fading off into
the sunset, letting someone else clean up their messes afterward.” Thom raised
a hand to his vice president, silently informing him that his point of view was
clearly understood and asking him to tone it down, then turned back to Morgan.
“You mentioned something about them getting their butts kicked, Doug,” he said.
“What else do you have?”

           
“Another piece of the puzzle—but a
corner piece, I think,” Morgan said. “The remains of one Paul McLanahan were
reported by customs agents in
New Jersey
being flown in from Tel Aviv by a funeral
director based in
Sacramento
,
California
. The FBI’s preliminary investigation
confirms that Mr. McLanahan was involved in a suicide bomber attack in
Rehoval
,
Israel
, ten days ago. He was a guest at the Hilton
Tel Aviv Hotel, checked in the day before. Airline tickets, visas, guided tour
schedule—all checks. He was there on vacation.”

           
“Baloney!” Busick exclaimed. “It’s
either the most incredible coincidence I’ve ever heard, or it’s a lie, a cover-
up. Paul McLanahan is one of the Night Stalkers—hell, he’s their main guy, next
to his brother Patrick and former president Martindale himself. Martindale
could have easily created the fake hotel registration, airline tickets, even
police reports. McLanahan and the Night Stalkers are in
Libya
. I know it. He got killed in that raid on
the Libyan missile base, and I’ll bet the Night Stalkers are still in the
region, in Egypt or Israel, getting ready to finish the job— or grab some
payback.”

 
          
“So
if the Libyans thought the Egyptians engineered that raid, the attack in
Egypt
could’ve been retaliation,” Kercheval said.
“If this thing goes hot on us, McLanahan and Martindale could be responsible
for igniting a major war in the Med.”

 
          
“You
know what it is, don’t you?” Busick asked angrily. “It’s Sky Masters Inc. and
Jon Masters. He’s supplying the Night Stalkers with the weapons they need to do
these damned secret missions. Those are weapons
we
funded. That high-tech combat armor, the aircraft, the weapons—
he’s supplying them all for this private little mercenary army of
Martindale’s.”

 
          
“We
should slap Sky Masters with sanctions for their support of those nutcases,”
Kercheval exclaimed. “We should just shut them down, once and for all. And the
Justice Department needs to conduct an investigation of Kevin Martindale. He
can’t be allowed to continue organizing private military operations all over
the world. If Justice can’t do anything, maybe the press should be told about
this....”

 
          
“That’s
already in the works,” Robert Goff said. “Some of our Navy interceptors caught
up with one of Masters’s research aircraft—refueling a modified B-52 bomber
over the
Mediterranean
Sea
.”

 
          
“What?”

           
“I’m afraid we have photos—positive
proof,” Goff said. “It appears they had expended weapons too. It’s still
circumstantial evidence, but it’s pretty convincing to me. We have Masters’s
refueling plane in
Greece
right now, questioning the crew, after we
think they had rendezvoused again with a Megafortress bomber last night. The
bomber got away both times—it’s too stealthy to track except up very close, and
it doesn’t let us get close enough.”