sadness. However, he had not summoned his senior security advisor to join him in grief. And Admiral Morgan knew that. Before the door was closed, he heard the President say, “Well, Arnold, that’s that. You were right. That theory of yours has panned out. There’s someone out there shooting down airliners. I don’t think any reasonable person could arrive at any other conclusion.”
“Nossir. And they have to be doing it from a submarine. And there’s only one submarine that could be doing it, and that’s the missing one from the Royal Navy. As you know, sir, in my opinion there’s also only one man who could be doing it. And he’s not as dead as we thought.”
The admiral laid out his Navy chart on the table. And he pointed at longitude 20 West. “Twenty minutes before
Just then, one of the private phones rang, and the president picked it up. Then he handed it to the admiral. “It’s for you.”
“Morgan. Hi, George…yup…yup…what was it?…merchant ship…Jesus Christ! We’re gonna have trouble keeping this one quiet.”
He replaced the receiver, and said, “This is developing into an even bigger horror story. A British merchant ship in the area, running 20 miles due south of the datum, reported in on the air-sea rescue band, that they saw the smoke trails from two missiles, one of which seemed to have exploded right above the water. Then they saw a much longer trail going very high…. Then they thought they saw fire and wreckage falling toward the water. They’re heading into the area right now. That means the Irish and Brits know something diabolical has happened.”
“They’re right, too. It has. But you and I alone, Arnold, cannot have the luxury of grief. Not right now. We have to get this into line. And we have to stop this sonofabitch. I mean…. Jesus…he can’t just park himself in the middle of the Atlantic and keep firing missiles at passenger jets.”
“Yes he can, sir. He can in that submarine. It’s just like the Russian Kilo. If he stays deep and slow, we might not find him in a year. Not if he can find a way to refuel without us catching him…which he obviously has done, several times already. If he can find his way to relatively shallow inshore waters, which is what that submarine was designed for, we might
“Arnold, there has to be a way.”
“Sir, whether there’s a way or not, we sure as hell have to try. I was about to call Joe Mulligan and give him the new search datum. I’m assuming the Royal Navy is sending in a couple of ships to try and locate whatever floating wreckage there may be. I’m afraid we’re running out of deep-submergence submarines. At this rate we need a new one every couple of weeks. Do you have to broadcast, sir?”
“I’m not certain. But I guess so. Tonight.”
“Well, sir, I better go and establish who knows what, and who has already said what to whom. Will we reconvene in, say, one hour.”
“Yes. Come right back here…make it ten o’clock. Give me a little time to chat with Dick Stafford and Harcourt. Jesus, this is unbelievable.”
The admiral’s inquiries seemed to be overtaken by a new development every five minutes. But he noted the hard, salient facts down in his log in the manner of an ex — nuclear submarine commander.
261304(GMT)FEB06. 53N, 20W app.
Oceanic Control, Shannon, has tape of Colonel Jaxtimer’s voice confirming missile sighting. Tape removed by station chief in accordance with international airline agreements. Now held securely, pending arrival of U.S. ambassador from Dublin and U.S. naval attache from London.
Shannon alerted all air-sea rescue networks to crash. They estimate it took place 470 miles due west of Galway.
The Irish and British press found out that
Gander ATC not involved.
One Irish operator, and one supervisor heard Colonel Jaxtimer’s last words. Both men reputedly senior, and reliable, and bound by classified-information rules inherent in their job. Nonetheless, they know, and they are not under our control.
British merchant ship saw two missile smoke trails. Broadcast this information on air-sea rescue networks. May have been heard by several ships, but we have not located
MOD, Whitehall, unhopeful of cast-iron secrecy even if no one else did hear merchantman’s broadcast. But the captain will be met in Cardiff by MI5 agents, plus reps from U.S. Embassy, London. The captain was ex — Royal Navy, former surface ship lieutenant, which is hopeful.
Assessment of chances of keeping the missile attack secret — not high. We must plan for it to leak out inside a week.
Assessment press angle when they find out — they’ll go for terrorism since we are not at war.
At which point the admiral closed his book, and called Admiral Mulligan for the third time in forty-five minutes.
“Hi, Arnold. We got two L.A.-Class boats up that way, both attached to the
“I know. It’s a fucking frustration, right?”
“Yeah. That, and the fact that in twelve hours, even if he’s only making 5 knots, deep and quiet, he’s still going to be somewhere in a circle radius of 60 miles, or, somewhere in the middle of 10,000 square miles. If he makes a fast run for it, which I don’t think he’ll do because of SOSUS, you could very quickly double that.”
“Why do you think they heard him, Joe, just before he fired?”
“I’d say he wasn’t happy with his position off track, and with the Boeing charging in toward him, he had to make his adjustment very fast. He took the risk, ran the boat flat out to get into the best firing position, and they caught him. But then he went slow again. And they never heard him again.”
“You know the problem with this bastard, Joe? He’s a perfectionist in a submarine. Hardly ever takes a chance, never makes a mistake. I must say I’m filled with foreboding about this…but we have to catch him, Joe. I’m just afraid he’ll strike again before we do.”
8
The death of Martin Beckman was a staggering blow to the morale of the Western world. The United States was stunned, coast to coast, and it was the kind of public grief hitherto reserved for John F. Kennedy, and his brother Robert, and for Martin Luther King, Jr. For men whose vision had given great swaths of the populace a reason for hope, and optimism. No Vice President in the entire history of the nation had ever come close, in death, to causing such a widespread outpouring of mass despair. In London, the former New Jersey senator had touched a chord of high, unselfish principle and reasoned promise, just as the Kennedy brothers, and the Reverend King did, most every time they spoke publicly.
Late Sunday afternoon, in churches of every denomination, all over the country, services were concluded with renderings of John Lennon’s everlasting song. And all through that night, thousands and thousands of ordinary American people would keep a candlelit peace vigil outside the White House. By six o’clock the vast crowd was already massed all the way back to the Washington Monument. Huddled together in coats, parkas, scarves, gloves, and fur hats, they crowded the icy acres of West Potomac Park, along the Reflecting Pool, right to the steps of the
