Russia,” he said resignedly. Since the American Holocaust, President Martindale had a policy of always taking calls that came directly from a handful of world leaders, and President Leonid Zevitin of Russia was one of them. Martindale got along with Zevitin and usually had productive and open talks with him, but he was dreading this call.
Zevitin, one of the youngest presidents of Russia at age forty-nine, was the second president of Russia since the American Holocaust just four years ago. He didn’t come from the Party apparatus, government, or the military, but from Russia’s rapidly growing oil, gas, and nuclear energy industry. He was educated in America and Britain and headed several large multinational energy companies in postings around the world before being chosen to head Russia’s energy ministry. His wealth, good looks, charm, and international presence made him popular in Russia as well as around the world, and when the interim military president of Russia suddenly died at the surprisingly young age of sixty-one, Zevitin was elected president in a landslide.
President Martindale scanned his computer display briefly. Every phone call prompted an automatic page on the computer that offered interesting and sometimes extremely useful and insightful information pertinent to the caller: as well as verifying the caller’s identity and origin, it gave the local time, weather, some headlines, facts on the caller’s family’s names — Zevitin had never been married — recent decisions and legislation supported or rejected by the caller, recent decisions made by the President regarding the caller, and names of the caller’s key advisers and their recent activities. He picked up the phone, and the other advisers in the room picked up theirs so they could listen in. “Mr. President, this is President Martindale, how are you today, sir?”
“Very well, very well, Mr. President,” Zevitin replied in very good English with a curious mix of Russian, American, and English accents. “Thank you for taking my call.”
“Not at all, Leonid,” Martindale responded, hoping that using the Russian president’s first name would signal an end to their use of titles. “My national security advisers are listening in as well; I hope that’s all right with you.”
“It is, sir, and thank you for so advising me,” Zevitin said. “Unfortunately for me, there is only my dog Sashi with me tonight.”
That was contrary to the usual rumors concerning the playboy antics of the Russian president, but Martindale didn’t feel like calling him on it. “How can I be of service today?”
“I’m calling about the incident in Ashkhabad, Mr. President,” Zevitin said. Damn, the President thought, he’s keeping with the titles — this was not a good sign. “I was advised of it through our embassy there. First of all, I want to say I’m sorry for the loss of your men.”
“Thank you, Leonid. Which embassy told you of this incident — the Turkmeni or the Iranian embassy?”
There was a very slight pause; then: “Both, actually,” he replied. “We also received the general notice from Iran a short time ago. I expect the Iranians to release your man right away, and if you go to the United Nations about it, Russia will join you in calling for the body to be released immediately. The incident happened on Turkmeni soil, not Iranian. They have no right to do what they did.”
“We’ll go to the United Nations as a matter of routine and diplomatic protocol, Leonid,” the President said, “but we’ll send a message directly to the Iranian government through the Swiss embassy informing them that they have created a serious and dangerous international incident, bordering on an act of war, and that we demand the immediate return of our man and all his equipment and supplies taken in Turkmenistan. If we don’t receive them within twenty-four hours of notification, we’ll take all steps necessary to recover them.”
“Mr. President, I strongly urge you to play this one carefully and quietly,” Zevitin said. “There is a major societal upheaval going on right now in Iran. Most of the government has been wiped out — murdered — by this nutcase Buzhazi. The Revolutionary Guards are being spurred on by the surviving ultraconservative theocrats that must crack down on the insurgency or find themselves either blown up by insurgents, crushed by the army, or rejected by the people. They’ll toss law, civil rights, and basic human decency out the window to save their own hides.”
“Leonid, I wouldn’t be sad to see the end of the theocracy if it meant a more moderate Iran,” the President said. “What they do to their own people is none of my concern. If they cooperate with us and give us the property they stole while in Turkmenistan, we’d be happy to step aside and let events in Iran take their course.”
“Then you would not interfere with further events in Iran if you got your man and your property back?”
“Leonid, I’m not going to tie future events in with the current crisis. Iran has to return our man they murdered and the property they stole…period. I have no other quarrels with Iran presently.”
“Then why the attack on Iran’s missiles recently, Mr. President?” Zevitin asked. “We know you have sent your secret Dreamland spaceplanes over Iran at least twice and perhaps more than that; we detected an object being launched by the first spaceplane that could have easily been an orbital or suborbital weapon that could have struck inside Iran. The second spaceplane you flew right over Russia without asking permission or even notifying us ahead of time.”
“That was an error, Leonid, and we acknowledged that and apologized…”
“I know, I know, Mr. President, and I’m not going to dwell on it,” Zevitin said in a surprisingly conciliatory tone. “I would like you to punish the officer that sent that craft over our country…General Patrick McLanahan, no doubt.” The President said nothing, only glanced at Patrick. “But that can wait for another day.
“We also know that you have sent several micro-satellites into orbits to cover Iran and have even moved your Armstrong Space Station into a sun-synchronous orbit in order to carefully surveille Iran at specific times of day,” Zevitin went on. “And we have recently received reports that several of your stealth warplanes have been moved to Diego Garcia, just a few hours’ flying time from Iran. It looks like preparation for an invasion to me, Mr. President.”
“We have to forward-deploy many of our strategic air assets because our numbers have been almost eliminated,” Martindale pointed out.
“It pains me that you bring that up, Kevin,” Zevitin said, and he really sounded as if he meant it too. Five years earlier, General Anatoliy Gryzlov, the former chief of staff of the Russian military, successfully overthrew the elected Russian government and began a large-scale buildup of the Russian military. When Patrick McLanahan and the Air Battle Force preempted a Russian invasion of Turkmenistan’s vast oil and natural gas fields, Gryzlov responded by attacking American air and ground-launched intercontinental ballistic missile sites and bomber bases with nuclear cruise missiles. Over thirty thousand Americans died and another seventy thousand injured in what became known as the “American Holocaust.”
“President Gryzlov acted irresponsibly and foolishly, and I have denounced and condemned his actions in each and every venue that opportunity affords,” Zevitin went on. “But you can well understand our concern as we watch these moves, sir: they appear to be directed toward an invasion of Iran to support a takeover of the legitimately elected government by force of arms.
“And we also know that most of your remaining stealth warplanes are commanded by General McLanahan,” Zevitin continued. “Frankly, Mr. President, Russia considers McLanahan to be quite dangerous, and any time we think he may be involved in some conflict or action, we expect and must prepare for the worst. We’re surprised he is still an integral part of your pool of military advisers, and he is considered a highly destabilizing element — on a par with Gryzlov himself.”
“Let’s get back to the issue of Iran, Leonid,” Martindale said. “I’ll acknowledge to you that the United States is keeping a careful watch over events in Iran, not because we want or support a violent overthrow of the government, but because Buzhazi’s actions or the reactions of the Revolutionary Guards could cause a ripple effect of violence throughout the entire region. We certainly retain the right to set up surveillance of any nation we fear could harm America’s interests and to forward-deploy all necessary assets to try to halt any spread of violence.”
“That’s fair, Mr. President,” Zevitin said. “But I know you understand that Russia has interests in the region as well, and American military actions directed against Iran may interfere with Russia’s interests. That’s why I urge restraint and caution, Mr. President: your forces may harm Russia just as easily as McLanahan’s spaceplanes violated Russian airspace.”
“I pledge to you that America will not intentionally do anything that violates Russia’s sovereignty or national interests,” Martindale went on. “But America considers Iran’s actions in Turkmenistan a serious violation of international law and of America’s sovereign right to operate in non-aligned territories. We respect and appreciate Russia’s call for restraint and caution, but we won’t sit back patiently while Iran kills and captures Americans and steals our property. Russia is cautioned that if they are in harm’s way when America responds, we are not
