Plan of Attack

land-based missiles made it.”

Venti nodded to an off-camera screen. “As far as the bomber fleet goes: If you’ll look at the DSP satellite readouts, sir, you’ll see that three very critical bases were destroyed: Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota, and Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri,” he went on. “We don’t know how many bombers based at those locations survived. This leaves just one B-52 wing at Barksdale, near Shreveport, Louisiana, capable of executing a nuclear strike.”

“How many bombers are based there?”

“Eighteen, sir.”

“That’s it? That’s all the heavy bombers we have left?”

“Those are all the nuclear-capable bombers we have left, sir,” Venti said. “There may be other surviving bombers that were airborne at the time of the attack. General Kuzner, what other forces do we have available?”

“We have just one base with B-1B Lancer long-range bombers left — Dyess Air Force Base just outside Abilene, Texas,” Kuzner responded. “It has about twenty aircraft, plus their air-refueling tankers. However, we deployed four of Ellsworth’s B-1 bombers to Andersen Air Force Base on Guam and six to Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean as part of a contingency fast-strike and naval surface action group air support force for the Middle East and Asia. So it appears we have a total of about thirty B-1 bombers left. We also have another twenty to thirty B-1 bombers in flyable storage, which is the most ridiculous oxymoron ever invented — most of those planes would take months to make flyable, and some will never fly again.

“Keep in mind, sir, that B-1s cannot carry nuclear weapons without significant and lengthy work. However, they can now carry cruise missiles — they have always had the capability of carrying cruise missiles but were prevented from doing so by the START treaty. I think it’s safe to say that all treaties with the Russians are null and void at this point.”

“I will inform you about which treaties are in force and which are null and void, General Kuzner,” President Thorn snapped.

“Of course,” Kuzner went on angrily, ignoring the president’s remark, “we’ve converted so many nuclear cruise missiles to conventional-warheads-only that there aren’t enough for the B-1s to carry. Barksdale lost all of their ALCMs and has only enough advanced cruise missiles to equip its own fleet of B-52s—”

“General Kuzner, go get yourself a cup of coffee,” General Venti said, and he reached over and punched a button that deactivated Kuzner’s video-teleconference camera. He turned back to his own camera. “I apologize, Mr. President. He’s a little upset. General Kuzner’s family is from Cheyenne.”

“We’re all a little upset, General,” Thorn said. “Have him resume his duties as soon as he can think and speak clearly. Understood?”

“Perfectly, sir.”

“So what do we have left to retaliate against the Russians with, General?” Vice President Busick asked.

Venti added up the numbers. “At the present time, sir, we have six Ohio-class ballistic-missile submarines on patrol, three each in the Pacific and Atlantic, each loaded with twenty-four D-5 Trident II sea-launched ballistic missiles — SLBMs — each of which has five independently targeted nuclear warheads,” he said. “We have another four subs that can be deployed in a short amount of time.”

“Where are the other subs?”

“Undergoing extensive overhauls, sir. Each overhaul takes about a year.”

“What sort of targets?”

“On day-to-day patrol, each SLBM has target coordinates only for ice packs,” Andover responded. “That’s a safety measure set in case of accidental or terrorist launch. But when we changed the DEFCON level, the crews would have changed to normal SIOP targets — military bases, command-and-control facilities, and major lines of communications.”

“You mean cities?”

“Yes, sir — telephone and data-switching stations, power plants, gas and oil pipelines and distribution systems, highways, railroads, ports — any civilian infrastructure that could support sustained military operations,” Andover said. “The goal is to eliminate Russia’s ability to fight an intercontinental war.”

“Even though it obviously means greater civilian casualties?”

“We don’t specifically target civilians. We don’t attack cities or towns indiscriminately,” Venti said.

“What other nuclear forces do we have left that we know about?” the president asked.

“We have fifteen heavy bombers that can be generated for nuclear strike missions, plus two more undergoing depot-level maintenance and one in extended local-level maintenance status — meaning it’s the ‘hangar queen,’ being used for spare parts until more come in.

“Fifteen bombers? That’s it?” the president exclaimed. “My God!”

“And the thirty surviving B-1s are not nuclear capable,” Venti reminded him. “The only long-range nuclear air-attack forces left are the eighteen B-52s left at Barksdale, plus any other bombers that were airborne or deployed during the attack. We think only two B-2 stealth bombers survived. That could leave us with about twenty nuclear-capable long-range bombers.

“We do have other forces capable of delivering nuclear weapons, but it will take time to generate those forces, and they’re not as survivable as the heavies,” Venti went on. “As I mentioned, there are about thirty B-1B bombers that can be converted back to carrying nuclear weapons. The Air Force also has about one hundred and seventy-five F-15E Strike Eagle tactical fighter-bombers that are capable of delivering nuclear weapons, based at six locations in the continental U.S. and Alaska — unfortunately, we closed the F-15E base at RAF Lakenheath in England and brought all of the nuclear weapons stored in Europe back to the U.S. Although no warships except the ballistic-missile subs carry nuclear weapons, ships can be quickly supplied with nuclear cruise missiles and gravity bombs — the F/A-18 Hornet carrier-based fighter can deliver nuclear weapons.”

“I think it would be wise to disperse those bombers and any other bombers that survived around the country,” Secretary of Defense Goff said, “to make it harder for the Russians to attack them. If they want to go after bomber bases, they’ll be next.”

“I sent a message to Air Combat Command to suggest exactly that,” Venti said. “We can phone or instant- message all the commanders from the NAOC, just as you can from your phones and computers aboard Air Force One. General Muskoka of ACC is on his way back to Langley. He was en route to Offutt Air Force Base for a meeting with STRATCOM, NORAD, Space Command, First Air Force, and Eighth Air Force commanders to discuss reestablishing a tighter air-defense network in the continental U.S. and perhaps putting the bomber force back on twenty-four/seven alert.” He paused, swallowed, then added, “I’ve received no response from General Samson of Eighth Air Force, who is the commander of the bomber forces. His staff thinks he had just arrived at Offutt when the attack took place. Air Force has also not heard from General Shepard of NORAD, General Wollensky of Space Command, General Craig of First Air Force, and General Houser of Air Intelligence Agency. They may have been at Offutt as well.”

“Oh, Christ,” Goff breathed. “That’s most of the Air Force’s senior commanders.”

“We need replacements for the dead and missing generals, and we need them fast,” the president said. “Then I need to talk to them right away. I can’t even begin to try to plan a response to this attack before I know what we have and what they have.”

“My staff is working on all that as we speak, Mr. President,” General Venti said. “I’ve already been in contact with the deputy commander of the Nine-sixty-sixth Information Warfare Wing, Colonel Trevor Griffin. He’s taking a military jet from San Antonio and will be at the Pentagon in a few hours. The STRATCOM ops detachment here at the Pentagon can brief us on the status of strategic forces anytime you’re ready.”

“Have Griffin contact me as soon as he’s briefed, General,” Thorn said. “What about civil defense and securing the blast sites?”

“The governors of each affected state and several of the neighboring states have activated their national guards,” Secretary Goff responded, “and we’re working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and U.S. Northern Command to secure the impact sites and provide relief services. It’s too early to tell the extent of contamination — the weapons were detonated underground but were extremely small, so the hazard of radioactive fallout might be minimal.”

“Thank God,” the president murmured. He rubbed his eyes wearily. “All right, everyone, my first order of