Sword of Shiva - Страница 33

The Secretary of Defense, Mary O’Neil-Broerman, answered. “Absolutely positive,” she said. “We have the report from the Hornet pilot who survived, and his account is confirmed by the recovered sensor data from his onboard computers. It’s further corroborated by the mission tapes from the E-2D Hawkeye that was providing Airborne Early Warning for the carrier at the time. I haven’t seen the data myself yet, sir, but we have it directly from Admiral Zimmerman that the Hawkeye’s radar tracks show conclusively that the Chinese aircraft attacked without warning or provocation. One of our Super Hornets was destroyed by the first missile hit. The other Hornet engaged the Chinese fighters and sent them packing.”

The president raised an eyebrow. “Our pilot was outnumbered four to one, and he managed to get the upper hand?”

SECDEF nodded. “Yes, sir. I have it on good authority that he pretty much kicked their collective asses, Mr. President.”

“Well, it certainly sounds like it,” the president said. His voice was calmer now.

“Okay, what are we doing about it?” he asked.

This time, it was the CNO who spoke. “For the moment, Mr. President, USS Midway is doubling her Combat Air Patrols, and extending her defensive air perimeter by an additional twenty miles. Also, the screening ships in the strike group are on full alert, with Rules of Engagement that allow them to engage any potentially hostile air targets that ignore radio warnings and attempt to penetrate the carrier’s screen.”

No one at the table remarked on the fact that the word “targets” had just entered the conversation for the first time.

“I see,” the president said. “Are these additional measures enough to protect our carrier?”

“Frankly, Mr. President, they’re probably not adequate,” the CNO said. “But that’s about as far as we can go without putting our forces on a more aggressive footing.”

The president turned to face him. “What do you suggest, Admiral?”

The admiral pursed his lips. “With all due respect, sir, our people are flapping in the breeze right now. If they’re going to fight, we should take them off the leash and let them carry the battle to the other guys. If they’re not going to fight, we should pull them out of the area before any more of them get killed by so-called neutral forces. At the risk of mixing my metaphors, we need to fish or cut bait, Mr. President. You can’t win by waiting for the other guy to shoot you in the head, and then deciding whether or not you want to shoot back.”

“This is not meant to be a combat operation,” the president said. “We put the Midway strike group in the Bay of Bengal to act as a stabilizing influence.”

“Then I think we can safely say that it’s not working, sir,” the admiral said. “The Midway’s presence didn’t stop the Chinese from blasting the hell out of the Indian aircraft carrier. It didn’t stop them from trying to penetrate our carrier’s airspace. And it didn’t stop them from shooting at our defensive air patrols. I don’t know what we’re accomplishing over there, but we’re definitely not stabilizing the situation.”

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army General Horace Gilmore, adjusted his eyeglasses. “I have to agree, Mr. President. The Chinese don’t seem to be interested in stability. They’ve taken shots at our Navy and the Indian Navy. And now they’ve got a dedicated surveillance satellite sitting right over the operating area, watching every move we make. Every time we launch a helicopter or refuel a ship, they see it. If you ask me, sir, they’re tooling up for major combat operations.”

“We don’t know that for a fact,” the president said. “Right now, that’s just speculation.”

“You’re right, sir,” SECDEF said. “We don’t know it for a fact. But we probably won’t get ironclad confirmation until it’s too late. What the CNO said is true, Mr. President. If you wait for the other guy to shoot you between the eyes, you may not be alive long enough to get off a shot of your own.”

The president shook his head. “I’m not letting anybody buffalo me into making a hasty decision on this.”

The National Security Advisor spoke up. “Sir, it’s not my place to make military policy, and I don’t want to buffalo you into anything. But this is one of those cases where we don’t get to choose the timetable.”

The president looked at him. “What do you mean, Greg?”

Brenthoven looked at his watch. “I remind you, sir, that the Indian government intends to carry out their Shiva attack on the Three Gorges Dam in just about forty-five hours. If the Chinese response is anywhere close to what we think it will be, we may be looking at a significant nuclear exchange in southern and eastern Asia.”

“I haven’t forgotten,” the president snapped. “I’m just trying to focus on one crisis at a time.”

“Understandable,” Brenthoven said. “But I don’t think we can really separate one problem from the other. Anything we do for, with, or against China will impact India. Anything we do for, with, or against India will impact China. And if we try to maintain the status quo, India will press forward with their plans to devastate Central China.”

Brenthoven lifted a hand with all five fingers extended. “As I see it, we have five possible courses of action here…”

He folded down a finger. “One — we do nothing, and hope that India is bluffing about the Three Gorges attack. Of course, if it turns out that they’re not bluffing, the USS Midway strike group will be fairly close to ground zero when the nukes start flying.”

He folded down a second finger. “Two — we actively try to stop India’s attack on the Three Gorges site. This essentially means taking direct military action against India. It also means aligning the United States with China, who happens to be the aggressor in this whole bloody mess.”

A third finger went down. “Three — we leak the plan for the Three Gorges attack to the Chinese government, and trust to China to protect the dam. This is risky for several reasons, one of which being that the Indian government will pretty much know that we did it. This falls short of actually attacking India, but they will definitely move the United States over to their ‘enemies’ category.”

He folded the fourth finger. “Four — we agree to India’s terms, and throw in on the side of the Indian military. This means direct military action against China, but at least we wouldn’t be siding with the aggressor. Also, as China has attacked our forces and India has not, it makes more sense from a political and foreign policy standpoint.”

The last finger went down. “Five — we pull our forces out of the region immediately, and hope that there aren’t mushroom clouds all over Asia by this time next week.”

Brenthoven lowered his fist. “I hate to say it Mr. President, but General Gilmore, Admiral Casey, and Madam Secretary are right. It’s time to either take decisive action, or get the hell out of there and cross our fingers.”

President Wainright massaged his temples. “You’re saying that I’ve backed myself into a corner, and I don’t have any viable options?”

The Secretary of Defense shook her head. “Not at all, Mr. President. We’re saying that circumstances have backed us all into a corner, and we don’t have any attractive options. We’ve got choices, sir. You have choices. Unfortunately, they just don’t happen to be the particular choices we want right now.”

“It comes down to the same thing,” the president said.

General Gilmore frowned. “We don’t always get to choose the battlefield,” he said. “But we do get to choose how we fight, and who we fight against. That doesn’t mean we can force someone to become our ally, but it does mean that we can make them regret becoming our enemy.”

The president made a dismissive gesture. “Alright. Enough with the saber rattling. I take it your recommendation is that we throw in with India.”

“Yes, sir,” the general said. “Either that, or pull out of the region, and keep our heads down until the Indians and the Chinese sort it out for themselves.”

The president sat without speaking for several minutes. Finally, he leaned forward and rested his elbows on the conference table. “I’m not ready to decide yet. I need to think about this.”

“We don’t have a lot of time, sir,” the CNO said.

“I realize that,” the president said. “You’ve all made that point abundantly clear. But this is an enormous decision, with far-reaching repercussions. I’m not going to make it on the spur of the moment.”

“Understood,” the Secretary of Defense said. “But I have a recommendation while you’re thinking it over.”

“What’s that?” the president asked.

“I think we should authorize the Navy to take out that Chinese satellite,” SECDEF said. “If you decide to pull out of the region, it will make repositioning our forces a lot safer. And if you decide to fight, we sure as hell aren’t going to want that thing hanging over the battlespace.”

President Wainwright glanced around, taking a silent census of everyone at the table. Every head nodded.

“Fine,” he said. “Do it. Shoot the damned thing down.”

CHAPTER 38

USS TOWERS (DDG-103)

BAY OF BENGAL

MONDAY; 01 DECEMBER

1127 hours (11:27 AM)

TIME ZONE +6 ‘FOXTROT’

Lieutenant Lambert, the ship’s Combat Systems Officer, walked into CIC and headed straight for the spot where Captain Bowie and Commander Silva were standing.