Reckless (William Nicholson) by William Nicholson

Author:William Nicholson
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Quercus
Published: 2014-01-30T00:00:00+00:00

28

The increase in the number of Soviet freighters docking in Cuban ports in August was noted by the CIA. Interviews with Cuban refugees in Miami revealed that the cargoes were being unloaded under conditions of maximum security. Trucks were being lowered by crane into the holds of ships, and lifted out again with the payloads covered by tarpaulins.

‘So what’s going on, John?’ Bobby Kennedy said to John McCone, the Director of the CIA.

They were gathered in the Oval Office, the close-knit group round the president. Mac Bundy had his glasses off and was polishing the lenses, frowning at the news. Kennedy himself was sitting sprawled across one of the armchairs, his legs dangling.

‘Well, it’s weapons, that’s for sure,’ said McCone. ‘The question is, what weapons? What if it’s nukes?’

‘Are you telling us the Soviets are putting nukes on Cuba?’ said Bundy, sceptical.

‘We’ve no hard evidence of that,’ said McCone. ‘But my hunch is they will.’

Bob McNamara shook his head, irritated.

‘Khrushchev would be insane to put nukes on Cuba.’

‘Maybe so,’ said McCone. ‘But the intelligence shows that Soviet military aid to Cuba is increasing all the time. Even if they’re not bringing in nukes, they’re arming Castro to the point where we’ll never get him out of there. And so long as Castro controls Cuba, the Soviets have got themselves a launch pad right by Florida.’

The president listened, swinging his legs, saying nothing. He turned his gaze on his Secretary of State, inviting his views.

‘We can’t launch an unprovoked attack on a sovereign nation,’ said Dean Rusk, ‘because of something they might do to us in the future.’

‘Fine,’ said McCone. ‘Don’t say I didn’t warn you.’

‘I hear you, John,’ said the president. ‘I don’t like this arms build-up any more than you do. But if we make a move against Cuba they’re going to retaliate. They’ll take Berlin. We can’t risk that.’

‘Can we risk letting them put nukes on Cuba?’

‘No. That would be unacceptable. But let’s be damn sure they’re doing it first.’

‘Then send the U2s out again, sir.’

Mac Bundy shook his head.

‘You do that, they’ll shoot ’em down.’

‘Can they do that?’ said Kennedy.

‘It’s a risk,’ said McCone. ‘We believe they have at least eight SAMs at operational level.’

Kennedy blinked at him. Slowly he pulled himself upright and rose from the chair.

‘You’re telling me there are operational Soviet missiles on Cuba?’

He was imagining the newspaper headlines. ‘Anti-aircraft missiles,’ said McNamara. ‘Defensive, not offensive.’

‘This thing is moving too damn fast,’ muttered Kennedy. He crossed to his desk, grimacing at the pain in his back.

‘Send in the U2s,’ said McCone. ‘Then we’ll know what’s going on.’

‘And have a SAM knock one of our boys out of the sky?’ said Bundy.

Kennedy was looking over his desk diary.

‘Aren’t you supposed to be getting married, John?’ he said to McCone.

‘August 30th, sir. We’ve planned a honeymoon on the French Riviera.’

‘Can I come?’

Everyone laughed.

‘So what do we do?’ said Kennedy.

‘Maybe we should fire some kind of warning shot,’ said Bundy.

‘I’m with you there,’ said Bobby Kennedy. ‘We need to slow these fuckers down.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.