Hunter Killer

“Dunno.”

“In my judgment, you would have little choice. You’d have to assassinate Jacques Gamoudi, and probably his wife as well. Because those two alone could tell the whole world what you had done.”

“But I imagine Gamoudi was very highly paid by the French government to do no such bloody thing?”

“Yes, I suppose so, Jimmy. And I expect the government’s secrets would be safe with him. But what if we got a hold of him?

What if we threatened him with crimes against humanity or something. What if we got him to tell us what happened?”

“Well, in that case the Frogs might want him dead.”

“Exactly. And if they somehow assassinated him, they’d have to assassinate his wife, too. Because wives who know their husbands have been murdered are likely to have a lot to say.”

“Christ, Arnie. You’re saying the French might right now be in pursuit of the Colonel?”

“I should think very definitely. If we want him, you’d better tell George to look sharp about it.”

Just then the radiant Kathy came in with coffee. She greeted Ramshawe warmly and asked Morgan if he’d like her to buy him a bullhorn, just in case she was ever out of range.

The Admiral stood up and put his arm around her, saying to Ramshawe, “I can’t imagine how she puts up with me, can you?”

The Lt. Commander decided this was not a question he need answer, but quipped anyway, “I’m afraid that’s the lifelong problem the lower deck has when they’re dealing with an Admiral.”

“You’ll find a lifelong problem dealing with an Admiral’s wife if you’re not careful.” Kathy laughed as she swept off the quarter deck and went back to the kitchen. “By the way, are you staying for lunch?” she called back.

“’Fraid not, Kathy. I’ve got to get back, and it’ll take me an hour in the traffic.”

The Admiral sat back in his big chair by the fire. For a few moments he said nothing, apparently lost in thought. But then he did speak. “You know, Jimmy, this is a terrible thing France has done. I guess this Nasir character has told them they’ll have the inside track on Saudi oil once it’s up and running, maybe even an exclusive agency. And they’ve always bought a lot of military hardware from the French.

“But you think about it: Can you imagine the United States doing something like that? Or Great Britain? Or the Aussies? For pure personal gain, to let the rest of the world go to hell for two years? Wiping the world’s most plentiful and best-priced oil right off the map? Bankrupting little nations? Damn near closing down Japan? Hurting just about everyone? And not caring? Jesus Christ. That takes a damn special nation.”

“Arnie, are you certain in your own mind — I mean as certain as I am — that France is at the bottom of all this?”

“I am certain that a group of rebel Saudis could not possibly have done this themselves. I am certain they had outside help, and I am certain that outside help came from France.”

“Is that sufficiently certain to start taking action?”

“Jimmy, I’m not the President. I’m not even an official government adviser. But if I were the President, I could not just sit back and see the industrial world go to hell while France sat back eating escargots and getting richer and richer off the Saudi oil industry. No. I could not do that.”

Meanwhile, over at the White House, Admiral Morris was walking the President through the entire French scenario, explaining in detail how Le Chasseur was run to the ground.

When he was finished, the President looked extremely worried — for all the reasons Admiral Morgan had pointed out to him. He was going to be blamed for the financial collapse in the United States, and on a global basis, he would probably bear the responsibility for the collapse of the free world’s economy, and some of the Third World’s.

Generally speaking, through no fault of his own, President Paul Bedford stood on the verge of making a special kind of history.

“You have any suggestions, George? I mean, what I might do? Since you and your assistant seem to be the only people in the country who understand what’s actually happening?”

“Sir, I’m not a trained politician. And I’m not that good at thinking like one. My task is to find out what the hell’s happening, and then to try and interpret what might happen next. But if I were sitting in that chair of yours, I’d most certainly touch base with Admiral Morgan. He’s the best I’ve ever met at this type of thing. Especially if there’s a chance we may have to kick someone in the ass.”

The President smiled. Five minutes later, just after Lt. Commander Ramshawe had left, the phone rang in the big house in Chevy Chase. One hour later, Admiral Morgan was back in the Oval Office, discussing with Paul Bedford another catastrophic collapse on the Nikkei, the Japanese stock exchange. In the four days since Saudi oil and gas stopped flowing, Japan’s energy analysts had been able to forecast their oncoming power grid shortfalls, and diminishing reserves of natural gas.

It looked like a six-week problem. Which meant that on around May 10, the lights would go out in one of the biggest economies in the world. Japan’s reliance on Saudi oil had long bothered these analysts, and now they could see a gigantic coop of chickens coming home to roost.

It would not be much different in the seething industrial hub of Taiwan. Nor on the west coasts of India and Pakistan, which stood directly opposite the main source of all their energy, the Strait of Hormuz, entrance to the Gulf.

China seemed to have some supplies flowing continuously from Kazakhstan, but the People’s Republic was an enormous importer of Saudi oil, and right now Beijing was bracing itself for severe shortages of automobile fuel and electric power.

Indonesia had some oil of its own, but it was still reliant on Saudi product. Canada was much the same. But Europe was in trouble. The Old World had hardly any energy resources, except for some high-producing coal mines in the east and a small amount of oil left in the North Sea. Which put Great Britain in a real spot. As bad as America’s.

Russia was smiling, and so were some of her former satellites along the coast of the Black Sea. And South America could probably manage without the Saudis. But the interlinked global economies of the big players threatened everyone.

As the Wall Street Journal observed that morning: “The ramifications of the crisis in the Saudi oil fields are very nearly boundless. The world’s leading stock markets have already shuddered, as millions of dollars have been wiped off share prices in Europe, the Far East, and the United States.

“And the stark fact remains, this planet cannot function properly without a normal supply of oil. And for the next twelve months, there is not going to be a normal supply of oil. On a global scale, that means, the only thing it can mean — bankruptcies, both large and small, market collapses, blackouts, and the failure of banks and power companies all over the globe.”

The Journal did its best with some illustrations of potential disasters — the big banks carrying a huge debt from an airline that cannot refuel its aircraft? The major automobile manufacturers who can no longer sell product to a market that’s run dry? The food industry struggling for energy to freeze and refrigerate its product? The national supermarket chains whose cold-storage facilities keep shutting down? The gas stations, the trucking corporations, oil tankers themselves?

“What happens when the industrial world starts to shut down? No one knows the answer to that. The human race is unfailingly resilient and always resourceful. But, short of war, the human race has never faced anything quite like this. And some of the most powerful industrialists in the world are surely preparing for an extremely difficult time.”

Both the President and Admiral Morgan had read the article. But their reactions were diametrically opposed. Paul Bedford went into defensive mode, wondering how he could distance himself from, and at the same time cope with, the crisis. Arnold Morgan’s mind raced ahead, to the time when the Saudi oil would come back on stream, and where the United States would stand at that time. He knew the solution to the problem rested right here in the present. Not next year.

He sensed that now was the time for action. And before him stood the specter of France. Because no one could really blame some robed religious fanatic from the desert for wanting his country free of American influence.