War Plan Red by Peter Sasgen

Author:Peter Sasgen
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Technological, General, Espionage, Fiction
Publisher: Pocket Star
Published: 2004-11-29T18:30:00+00:00

Radford checked the time. “I’m to brief the President after lunch. Let’s see what you have.”

Radford pressed the remote video control. Again the screen went to blue, then to an image of the western coast of Norway recorded earlier by an SRO KH-13 reconnaissance satellite that had turned reality on its head: On the screen, Norway was magenta, the Norwegian Sea pea green.

“This was taken yesterday,” Radford said. “We’re looking at coverage between North Cape and Vanna.” He pressed a button on the remote and inserted an electronic pointer like a white arrowhead into the image. He moved the arrowhead down the coast and parked it beside a dark blue, cigar-shaped blob a few miles north of Sørøya.

“We picked this target up on a blue-green laser sweep at zero-eight-thirty.”

“A submarine.”

“You bet.” Radford moved the arrowhead behind the form and jiggled it. “See this plume? Wake heat scarring. Typical submarine signature.”

“Nuclear or diesel?”

“Could be either. What makes this target especially difficult to identify is the fact that he’s in littoral waters, Norwegian littoral waters, not where you’d normally expect to find a nuke. A diesel, maybe, but not a nuke. And not a Russian Akula: They’re too damn big for littoral operations.”

“Then whose is it?”

Radford ignored this and changed images. “Twenty-four hours later. Now you’re looking at coverage between Vanna and Andfjorden.” He moved the pointer to the blue blob. “Same target but farther south this time. Whose is it? I’d like to think it’s Zakayev in the K-363.”

“But you’re not sure.”

“I know what you want me to say, Paul, but I can’t be certain it is the K-363. We’ve analyzed these images every way imaginable but can’t make a positive ID.”

Friedman levered himself out of his chair and stood looking down at Radford. “For Christ’s sake, Karl, what else could it be but the K-363?”

“We and the Russians are not the only ones with submarine fleets. The Norwegians have diesel boats; so do the Swedes.”

“Bullshit. You have those Norwegian comm intercepts. They say they had a SOSUS contact?”

“Their SOSUS is suspect.”

Friedman gathered his papers. “A sub contact is a sub contact. What more do you need?”

“This. Tell me what Zakayev is up to. Why would he head south in a stolen Russian sub? He knows that his chances of survival are zero. What’s he’s planning that’s worth the sacrifice?”

“He’s a terrorist, Karl. They’re irrational and don’t think like us. What did they think they could gain by killing a thousand civilians in Moscow? That the Russians would capitulate? All they know how to do is kill people. They’re filled with hatred. They want to die for a cause. Zakayev and his friend Litvanov want to be martyrs. Well, I’ll be glad to accommodate them, because it’ll solve our problem.”

Radford was on his feet too. “Paul, you miss my point. A terrorist doesn’t steal a Russian sub that’s not armed with cruise missiles or nuclear torpedoes just to prove he can do it. No, Zakayev is planning something, and we don’t have a clue what it is.

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