globe.
The President spoke into the sudden silence. “As I see it, we’ve got one last chance to stop this thing before all hell breaks loose in Europe. One last chance to shake these clowns awake. Agreed?”
Huntington nodded, and noticed others around the table do the same. But what more could they do? Trying to impose a peaceful resolution through the United Nations would go nowhere. The French Security Council veto made that impossible. So what was left? Then he saw it. “You intend to issue an ultimatum to the EurCon governments, Mr. President?”
“Yes, I do. I’ve spoken to both the Senate majority leader and the Speaker of the House and they agree that we have to act, and act now.” America’s chief executive set his jaw, plainly determined. “We’ve pussyfooted around with these people long enough. I want them to know once and for all that they’re looking right down the barrel of a mighty big gun.”
ASSOCIATED PRESS DISPATCH
WASHINGTON, D.C.
(AP) — The full text of a statement released by the White House at 7:00 P.M., Eastern Standard Time:
“At 3:30 this morning, French and German warplanes conducted a series of missile attacks on airfields inside Poland and the Czech and Slovak republics — killing and wounding several hundred people. Tragically, more than thirty American military personnel were among those who lost their lives.
“Like the invasion of Hungary itself, this latest aggression by France and Germany further demonstrates their intention to control all of Europe by threats, by violence, and by armed occupation.
“The United States cannot and will not allow these attacks to go unchallenged and unpunished. We urge the French and German governments to end their aggressions against their neighbors before it is too late — for France, for Germany, for Europe, and indeed, for the whole world.
“Accordingly, the United States, in concert with Great Britain, Poland, the Czech and Slovak republics, and Hungary, calls on the governments of both France and Germany to immediately and unconditionally withdraw all military forces from Hungary by midnight, Greenwich Mean Time, on June 3. If this demand is not met, we reserve the right to restore a just and lasting peace by any and all means necessary — up to and including the possible use of American and British military power.”
White House Press Secretary Michael Kennett has announced that the President will speak to the nation at 9:00 tonight. His address will be carried live on all major radio and television networks.
CHAPTER 18
Thunderclap
Vice Admiral Jack Ward kept remembering an old movie, one of his favorites. In it, the heroes, searching for treasure in a ruined temple, had entered a room and unknowingly triggered a deadly trap. Suddenly the door slammed shut on them, walls on either side rumbled inward, and rows of poisoned, needle-sharp spikes popped out.
His ships were in a similar situation.
It was easier on film, of course. A native guide, separated from the party earlier, found them in the nick of time and disabled the trap’s mechanism — just as the intrepid, if clumsy, heroes were about to be ventilated.
Unfortunately he didn’t have any native guides right now. The door could close anytime, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.
Checking the computer-driven display down in the CIC wouldn’t help, either. The situation hadn’t changed in the last fifteen minutes, and if he hovered over them long enough, some of his nervousness might rub off on his staff. This was one time when he earned his admiral’s pay by trying to be the calm, laid-back “Old Man” of navy legend.
He leaned on the rail of the port bridge wing. In the fading light Kobbergrund’s flashing light marked the westernmost extension of Anholt Island, a shallow sandbar with only ten feet of water over it. Anholt itself lay just a few miles away, a dark mass already blending with the horizon.
The island marked the halfway point in their rapid trip northward through the Kattegat, a narrow body of water lying between Denmark and Sweden. The only ways in or out of the Kattegat were through exits to the north and south. His convoy was still three hours away from entering even the dubious safety of the Skagerrak.
Anholt was Danish territory, and he was sure there were observers watching with great interest as his ships steamed past. Although Denmark had declared itself neutral, the fact that Germany lay only a few short miles beyond meant he had to consider the island a hostile shore. At least Sweden was a true neutral, jealously guarding her own territorial waters and fiercely determined to avoid being drawn in on either side. Of course, that just meant only one wall of the trap had spikes.
Ward turned and paced the narrow confines of the bridge wing. Damn it, he needed sea room and deep water! The Baltic was bad enough, with shallow water and uneven salinity and lousy underwater acoustics. The Kattegat was worse — even smaller and shallower. With a water depth of twenty, sometimes only ten fathoms, you could forget towed arrays and long-range sonar detection. It was also a major shipping channel, so there were dozens of surface contacts to track and classify. The air picture was even more nightmarish. This close to Germany, enemy air bases practically sat in his back pocket, reducing warning time to nil. Right now his Task Group’s radars showed hundreds of air contacts. How many were hostile?
He couldn’t know, and hopefully wouldn’t until the American ultimatum to EurCon expired at midnight, GMT, just four hours away.
Damn Washington for issuing that twenty-four-hour ultimatum! Ward understood the reasons for it, and even approved of them — in a detached way. But it would have been nice if the politicians had checked with the Pentagon before making that demand. Some of their promises might be hard to keep.
When EurCon had fired its air-launched cruise missiles at Poland and the Czech Republic, Task Group 22.1 was not ready for a major sea battle. Three separate convoys, with two or three merchant ships apiece, were headed south for Gdansk, each loaded with essential military supplies, crude oil, or natural gas. To escort each convoy, Ward had been forced to spread his warships too thinly for comfort or sound defense. One or two frigates, destroyers, or cruisers were enough to show the flag. They weren’t enough to fend off a massive missile or torpedo attack.
The rest of Task Force 22 was spread even further afield, from the North Sea to the Atlantic. The admiral had elected to remain embarked on
One convoy should reach Gdansk about 2300 hours, a full hour before he expected to clear Skagen, the cape at Denmark’s northernmost tip. Another was almost out of the Skagerrak, heading north up the Norwegian coast. It was already under carrier-based fighter cover. Unfortunately the four ships under his direct command,
There was no way his two northernmost formations could reach Gdansk before the ultimatum expired. If the French and Germans refused to withdraw their forces from Hungary and started shooting, the two convoys would both still be hours away from safety. Even if they could fight their way to the Polish harbor, his warships would be exhausted, isolated, vulnerable, and difficult to resupply. Presented with that fact, he had made the difficult decision to have both groups turn tail and head back north at full speed.
Every move he made in the Baltic was under heavy EurCon surveillance. Since the war in Hungary erupted, all
