Sword of Shiva - Страница 23

He allowed the image to linger on the display for a few seconds, and then pointed a remote at the screen. The architectural drawing was replaced by an aerial photograph of what was presumably the retaining wall of the dam, with the expansive spread of its attendant reservoir lake.

“This is the largest hydroelectric project ever built, sir,” the Duty Officer said. “It’s also one of the largest manmade structures in the world, second only to the Great Wall of China. The site reached full operational capacity in 2011, and now it produces approximately 85 terawatt-hours of electrical power per year. That’s slightly more than twice the annual output of China’s entire nuclear power industry.”

“Impressive,” the president said. “I assume there’s a reason that you’re bringing this to my attention?”

The Duty Officer nodded. “Yes, sir. A few hours ago, we received preliminary intelligence that the Indian military may be planning to destroy the Three Gorges Dam.”

“Destroy it? How? That thing is a monster!”

The National Security Advisor, Gregory Brenthoven nodded. “It is a monster, Mr. President. But the Indians are apparently planning to bring it down with a coordinated cruise missile strike: seven Nirbhay missiles armed with advanced hard target penetrator warheads.”

President Wainright raised a hand. “Two questions, Greg… First, what’s our source for this information? Second, will it work?”

He looked back toward the screen. “That thing really is a beast. Unless they’re planning to nuke it, I can’t see cruise missiles bringing it down.”

The National Security Advisor fished a small leather-bound notebook from his pocket. “The source was HUMINT,” he said. “A CIA field operative in New Delhi, with contacts in the Indian Ministry of Defense. He, or she—I don’t know which — managed to lay hands on a copy of the engineering analysis and targeting plan for the strike. The operative’s report was forwarded to the South Asia desk at Langley, and the analyst who received it was smart enough to flag it for immediate high-level attention.”

The president nodded. “So we’re relatively sure that this information is legit?”

Brenthoven flipped open his notebook and scanned a few lines of text. “The confidence level is listed as ‘moderate.’ That basically means that the information is plausible and the source is considered credible, but there isn’t enough external corroboration to support a higher level of confidence.”

“Then I assume that we’re going after corroboration,” the president said.

“Of course, sir,” the National Security Advisor said. “We’ve got CIA, DIA, and ONI all searching for confirmation. But if the plan is locked down tight enough, we may not find a corroborating source. Our current source may be all we have to go on.”

The president paused for a few seconds, and then nodded. “Understood. Let’s move on to my second question. What are the odds that a few cruise missiles can knock out a structure as massive as the Three Gorges Dam?”

“Sir, we’ve got the Office of Naval Research running simulations on that right now,” Brenthoven said, “but our quick-look analysis suggests that it might be feasible, if the missiles carried the correct kinds of warheads.”

“Do the Indians have the right kind?” the president asked.

Secretary of Defense Mary O’Neil-Broerman leaned forward in her chair. “We think they do,” she said. “The Indian military inventory has an indigenously-produced hard target penetrator that might well be powerful enough to crack that dam wide open.”

The president turned to stare at his Secretary of Defense. “You’re telling me that the Indian military developed a highly-specialized missile warhead, on the off chance that they might one day have to bomb a giant Chinese hydroelectric site?”

SECDEF shook her head. “No, sir. Ironically enough, they developed the warhead for the Air Force. Our Air Force.”

President Wainwright rubbed the back of his neck. “Tell me you’re kidding, Mary.”

“Unfortunately, I’m not kidding, Mr. President,” the Secretary of Defense said. “The warhead was developed by India’s Defense Research and Development Organization to capture a U.S. Air Force contract for a Next Generation Penetrator. What the Air Force calls an NGP. The Indian defense industry apparently decided that a major Air Force R&D project would be a great way to get their foot in the door for future U.S. defense programs. Their design didn’t make it through the down-select, but they decided to move ahead with developing their own Next Generation Penetrator. They call it the Rudrasya khaḍgaḥ. From what we understand, it’s incredibly effective.”

The president frowned. “What was that name again? The Rud…”

“Rudrasya khaḍgaḥ,” the Secretary of Defense said. “Apparently that’s Sanskrit for ‘Sword of Shiva.’

The president’s eyebrows went up. “Shiva? The Hindu god?”

“Yes, sir,” SECDEF said. “Shiva is the Hindu god of creation and destruction. But when he manifests in his Rudra aspect, he is specifically the god of storm, wind, destruction, and death.”

President Wainwright raised one corner of his mouth in a humorless half-smile. “Well, that sounds promising, doesn’t it? What other good news have you got for me?”

“We’re still looking at preliminary assessments, sir,” the National Security Advisor said. “But if the Rudra — the Sword of Shiva warhead — turns out to be as effective as the initial simulations suggest, then seven missiles may be overkill. It’s feasible that four would be enough to bring down the dam, with proper placement and timing, of course.”

“Of course,” the president said. “Okay, the intelligence on this plan is reasonably credible, and it’s possible that this kind of missile strike could punch a hole in the dam. It sounds like one hell of a mess for the People’s Republic, but how does that add up to a national security problem for us?”

The Sit Room Duty Officer spoke up. “The Indians aren’t just planning to knock holes in the dam, sir. Their apparent goal is to cause a complete failure of the retaining wall. This will trigger catastrophic flooding of the entire Yangtze River basin, all the way from the site of the Three Gorges Dam to the East China Sea.”

The Duty Officer keyed his remote, and the Sit Room master display changed to a topographic map of eastern central China. The meandering blue line of the Yangtze river cut across the middle of the map, dividing the northern and southern halves of the visible landmass. The black dots of three cities hugged the wandering curves of the river: Wuhan, Nanjing, and Shanghai.

“The Yangtze River runs right through the heart of China’s largest concentration of human population,” said the Situation Room Duty Officer. “Approximately 400 million people live within the boundaries of the Yangtze River basin. That’s nearly a third of the total population of China.”

He gestured toward the screen. “If the Three Gorges Dam should fail, three of the largest and most heavily-populated cities in China will be directly in the path of destruction.”

The National Security Advisor nodded. “The combined populations of Shanghai, Nanjing and Wuhan are closely equivalent to the collective populations of New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC. And these three cities form the backbone of China’s industrial and financial base. The loss of any one of these cities would seriously damage the Chinese economy. The loss of all three of them…” Brenthoven allowed his voice to trail off.

“We’re talking a nightmare scenario for China,” the president said. “Millions of short term casualties, and massive damage to their national infrastructure, followed by a crippling economic aftermath.”

“That’s correct, Mr. President,” Brenthoven said. “Not quite a doomsday scenario for the Chinese, but pretty damned close.”

President Wainwright shook his head. “Then why in God’s name did they even build the thing? The Chinese are many things, but they’re not stupid. Why would they put so many of their own people at risk?”

“They probably thought they had factored out the serious risks,” the Secretary of Defense said. “From a structural standpoint, the Three Gorges Dam is significantly over-built. They designed in more than enough safety margin to compensate for earthquakes and other natural disasters, and — short of a nuclear attack — there frankly aren’t very many bombs or missiles in the world that could put a serious dent in that thing. The Chinese politburo probably felt like they had all the important angles covered.”

“But they didn’t count on this new Indian warhead,” the president said.

“Apparently not, sir,” said Brenthoven.

President Wainwright stared at the wall-sized display screen for several seconds. “How will the Chinese government react, if India manages to carry out this plan?”

“That’s the big question,” the National Security Advisor said. “How would you react in that situation, Mr. President? Suppose the U.S. was engaged in hostilities with some hypothetical enemy, and suddenly — without warning — our adversary wiped out New York, Los Angeles and Washington, DC, killing about a third of our national population in the process. How would you retaliate, sir?”

“I like to think of myself as a man of peace,” the president said. “But if someone hit us with an attack that vicious and that massive, I’d go after them with every weapon at my disposal. I’d do my damnedest to turn their entire country into a parking lot.”