them. “We’ll get you down there in under twenty minutes” Kraus said as they climbed aboard.
“In the meantime I’ve got a couple dozen questions for you” McGarvey said. “Yes, sir, I expect you do. I’ve been instructed to brief you on the way down. Mr. Trotter is already on site” The instant they’d strapped in, a crewman jumped aboard, closed and dogged the hatch, and went forward into the cockpit leaving them alone. They lifted off with a sickening lurch and swung left as they climbed, the helicopter taking a nose-down attitude as it rapidly picked up speed. The pilot was sparing nothing. Kraus reached up behind him, flipped on a small overhead light, and turned back to McGarvey. He pulled a map of downtown Kaiserslautern from his jacket pocket and spread it out between them. “I’ll give you the broad strokes first” Kraus began. “A man identifying himself as Air Force Colonel Brad Allworth managed to steal a nuclear-armed Pershing missile and transporter from Ramstein Air Force Base. He drove it off the base and onto the autobahn where he was met by two other men …
identification at this point unknown. They placed what appears to be a plastique explosive around the outside of the missile body itself, which they promise to blow if we make any threatening moves. From there they drove directly into the city of Kaiserslautern where they parked in front of the train station. They haven’t moved since”
“Any casualties” McGarvey asked” Major Tom Mccann was found shot to death in the Pershing’s missile bay”
“Anyone else”
“Eleven German nationals were injured and three killed on the autobahn just outside Ramstein. The transporter ran over one car and touched off a chain reaction. Four of them are in critical condition in the base burn unit”
“They mean business” McGarvey said. “Yes, sir, that they do”
“Any communications with the transporter” k aus nodded. “Colonel Bob Collingwood, the man in charge of Ramstein security, has been talking with them … or at least with the one who has been identified as Brad Allworth”
“He’s not” McGarvey said.
“Sir”
“He’s not Brad Allworth. His name is Arkady Kurshin”
“Russians” Kraus asked, his eyes widening. “Sonofabitch. What the hell are they up to”
“Whatever it is, it’s not going to be pleasant, I can tell you that much. And I can also tell you that Kurshin is a pro. He’ll have this entire operation figured out to the last detail, including his escape”
“Pardon me, sir, but I don’t think that’s possible”
“Perhaps not, but Kurshin evidently thinks so” McGarvey said. “What’s the present situation”
“As of 1630 the missile and transporter were parked, as I said, in the middle of the square in front of K- Town’s main railroad station. Two men, one of them apparently this Arkady Kurshin, and another man, have been outside the transporter doing something to the missile’s control units” McGarvey nodded. “Reprogramming its guidance system, no doubt, and probably disarming the fire control officer’s abort function.
“That’s our best guess. “Have they made any demands, given us any sort of a time limit”
“No demands so far, other than to leave them alone. They’ve promised that they would make their intentions clear at 2000 hours” McGarvey glanced at his watch. They had a full hour. “But” Kraus said. “And this is the part that has everyone worried. They say they intend raising the missile into launch position. McGarvey sat back in his seat and lit a cigarette. “Kurshin wouldn’t have taken the risk of stealing a missile unless he intended launching it”
“We’re hoping not, sir” Kraus said. “Collingwood seems to think that they’ll make some demand and when it’s met have us provide them transportation into the east zone”
“No” McGarvey said, Baranov’s picture rising up in his mind. “He’ll launch the missile and then make his escape”
“Launch it where, for God’s sake”
“The sixty-four-dollar question” McGarvey said, shaking his head.
“What’s the Pershing’s range, a thousand miles or so”
“This is a Pershing IIA. She has a range of more than two thousand miles”
“The warhead is armed” Kraus nodded glumly. “You can say that again.
Five hundred kilotons”
“But it’s a cruise missile”
“Not quite, sir. It’s RADAG controlled … Radar Area Guidance. It’s set for a latitude and longitude, and once it gets near its target the radar unit compares the returns it’s getting from the ground with what’s programmed into it”
“What’s its target”
“That’s highly classified McGarvey just looked at him. “Kiev”
“They’ll change it”
“They’d have to have a systems expert with them. None of ours is missing. It’s the first thing we had Langley check. There aren’t many men around who have that knowledge”
“Whoever is working with Kurshin does” McGarvey said. “You can bet your life on it”
Kurshin looked up as another helicopter came in for a landing a couple of blocks away in what he was assuming was the market square they’d passed through on the way in. It made the third since he and Schey had gotten out of the tractor and climbed up on the trailer with the missile. “How much longer” he asked the East German. Schey looked up from the open hatch in the missile’s side.
“I was finished ten minutes ago. You asked me to stall for time. “It’s set on the new target”
“Yes, of course, providing the data you supplied me with is correct”
“It is” Kurshin said curtly. “What about the abort mechanism”
“Disconnected”
“At this point then, once the missile is launched there is no way for their Missile Control facility to recall it or destroy it” The East German shook his head. “Short of sending a fighter interceptor after it and shooting it out of the sky-an almost impossible feat-no. “Very good” Kurshin said, glancing over his shoulder again toward the blockade at the south side of the plaza. “Button it up, let’s begin”
Schey closed and relocked the small hatch on the missile’s radar guidance system, and then replaced the section of outer skin he’d removed, dogging it down with a dozen flushmounted fasteners. “What about the plastique collar” Kurshin asked. “It will fall harmlessly away within the first few seconds after launch”
“There will be no effect on the missile’s course”
“None that the guidance system won’t correct for”
“Good” Kurshin said, his eyes hard. He jumped down from the trailer bed and one at a time lowered the hydraulic stabilizing jacks at each corner, while Schey was connecting the four launch control umbilical cords. If there was going to be trouble, Kurshin thought, sweating lightly, it would come now. They would be fools not to try to stop what was happening here. But then they had been fools at the base with lack of security. This would never happen in the Rodina, not even now, though if it ever did it would shake up those pricks in the Kremlin even nwre than the German kid had done by flying his little toy airplane into Red Square.
Ten minutes later, Schey checked all the wires and steadying jacks to make certain everything was in order, then opened a control hatch at the side of the trailer and flipped a switch. The Pershing missile began to slowly rise from the trailer bed.
“Oh, Jesus Christ” Colonel Collingwood said as the missile began to elevate from its transport trailer. McGarvey had been looking through binoculars at the two men. The taller of them, dressed in an Air Force uniform, had turned several times, giving him a good look. He had the same bulk and general appearance as Kurshin, but his face was different. From here he looked very much like the photographs McGarvey had been shown of Brad Allworth. He lowered the binoculars.
“Blow the missile now” he said. Trotter, who had met him when the chopper had set down, stepped back a pace and Colonel Collingwood’s eyes widened. “Is this the hotshot who was supposed to come up with the good ideas” the security chief spat at Trotter. He looked coldly at McGarvey. “Do you know what such an action would mean? Do you know what it would do here”
