“The best thing is to say that we have no knowledge of this incident,” Elliot said. “If we admit knowledge, we have to assume some responsibility.”
“This is a singularly bad time to lie,” Ryan said forcefully. Even he thought he was overdoing it. They won't listen to you if you shout, Jack, boy…
“Tell that to Narmonov,” Elliot shot back. “They attacked us, remember?”
“So the reports say, but—”
“Ryan, are you saying our people lied?” Borstein snarled from Cheyenne Mountain.
“No, General, but at times like this the news is chancy, and you know that as well as I do!”
“If we deny knowledge, we can avoid taking a stand that we might have to back down from, and we avoid challenging them for the moment,” the National Security Advisor insisted. “Why are they bringing this up now?” she asked.
“Mr. President, you used to be a prosecutor,” Ryan said. “You know how unreliable eyewitness accounts can be. Narmonov could be asking that question in good faith. My advice is to answer it honestly.” Jack turned to Goodley, who gave him a thumbs-up.
“Robert, we're not dealing with civilians, we're dealing with professional soldiers, and they ought to be good observers. Narmonov is accusing us of something we didn't do,” Elliot countered. “Soviet troops do not initiate combat operations without orders. Therefore, he must know that his accusation is false. If we admit knowledge, we will appear to admit his charge is true. I don't know what game he's playing — whoever that is at the other end of the line — but if we simply say we don't know what he's talking about, we buy ourselves time.”
“I strongly disagree with that,” Jack said, as calmly as he could manage.
PRESIDENT NARMONOV:
AS YOU KNOW, I AM MAINLY CONCERNED WITH EVENTS WITHIN OUR OWN BORDERS. I HAVE AS YET NO INFORMATION FROM BERLIN. THANK YOU FOR YOUR INQUIRY. I JUST ORDERED MY PEOPLE TO CHECK INTO IT.
“Opinions?”
“The bastard's lying through his teeth,” the Defense Minister said. “Their communications system is too good for that.”
“Robert, Robert, why do you lie when I know you are lying…?” Narmonov said, his head down. The Soviet president now had his own questions to ask. Over the past two or three months, his contacts with America had grown slightly cold. When he asked for some additional credits, he was put off. The Americans were insisting on full compliance with the arms-reduction agreement, even though they knew what the problem was, and even though he'd given Fowler his word face-to-face that everything would be done. What had changed? Why had Fowler retreated from his promises? What the hell was he doing now?
“It's more than just a lie, more than just this lie,” the Defense Minister observed, after a moment.
“What do you mean?”
“He has emphasized again that his interest is in rescue of casualties in the Denver area, but we know he has placed his strategic forces on full alert. Why has he not told us of this?”
“Because he is afraid of provoking us…?” Narmonov asked. His words seemed rather hollow even to himself.
“Possibly,” Defense admitted. “But they do not know the success we've had reading their codes. Perhaps they think they have concealed this from us.”
“No,” Kuropatkin said in his command center. “I must disagree with that. We could hardly fail to see some of these indicators. They should know that we are aware of some aspects of their strategic alert.”
“But not all.” The Defense Minister turned to stare at Narmonov. “We must face the possibility that the American president is no longer rational.”
“The first time?” Fowler asked.
Elizabeth Elliot nodded. She was quite pale now. “It's not widely known, Robert, but it is true. The Russians have never placed their Strategic Rocket Forces on alert. Until now.”
“Why now?” the President asked.
“Robert, the only thing that makes sense is that it isn't Narmonov over there.”
“But how can we be sure?”
“We can't. All we have is this computer link. There's no voice link, no visual link.”
“Dear God.”
40
COLLISIONS
“Ryan, how do we know it's really Narmonov over there?”
“Mr. President, who else would it be?”
“God damn it, Ryan! You're the one who brought me the reports!”
“Mr. President, you have to settle down,” Jack said, in a voice that wasn't particularly calm. “Yes, I brought you that information, and I also told you it was unconfirmed, and I just told you a few minutes ago that we have reason to believe that it may not ever have been true at all.”
“Can't you see your own data? You're the one who warned us that there might be some missing nukes!” Elliot pointed out. “Well, they turned up — they turned up here, right where we were supposed to be!”
Christ, she's even more rattled than he is, Helen D'Agustino told herself. She traded a look with Pete Connor, who was pasty-white. This is going too fast.
“Look, Liz, I keep telling you that our information is too damned thin. We don't have enough to make any kind of informed judgment here.”
“But why have they gone on nuclear alert?”
“For the same reason that we have!” Ryan shouted back. “Maybe if both sides would back off—”
“Ryan, don't tell me what to do,” Fowler said quietly. “What I want from you is information. We make the decisions here.”
Jack turned away from the speaker-phone. Now he was losing it, Goodley thought, now Ryan was pale and sick-looking. The Deputy Director of Central Intelligence stared out the windows at the CIA courtyard and the largely empty building beyond. He took a few deep breaths and turned back.
“Mr. President,” Jack said under taut control, “our opinion is that President Narmonov is in control of the Soviet government. We do not know the origin of the explosion in Denver, but there is no information in our possession that would lead us to believe that it was a Soviet weapon. Our opinion is that for the Soviets to undertake such an operation would be lunacy, and even if their military were in control — after a coup about which we have no information at all, sir — such a miscalculation is unlikely to the point of — the likelihood is so low as to approach zero, sir. That is CIA's position.”
“And Kadishev?” Fowler asked.
“Sir, we have evidence just developed yesterday and today to suggest that his reports may be false. We cannot confirm one of the meetings that should—”
“One? You can't confirm one meeting?” Elliot asked.
“Will you let me talk?” Jack snarled, losing it again. “Damn it, it was Goodley who did this work, not me!” He paused for a breath. “Dr. Goodley noted some subtle differences in the nature of the reports and decided to check up on them. All of Kadishev's reports supposedly came from face-to-face meetings with Narmonov. In one case we cannot reconcile the schedules of both men. We cannot be sure they met in that case at all. If they didn't meet, then Kadishev is a liar.”
“I suppose you've considered the possibility that they met in secret?” Elliot inquired acidly. “Or do you think
