EndWar

“Nor I. But what do we do now? We can’t let her destroy those reserves.”

“No, we can’t.”

“We’ll send in two teams to find the weapons, pull out all of our forces.”

Izotov shook his head. “If we pull out, and the weapons are detonated, there will be no denying we are responsible.” Izotov thought a moment. “We could lie and say we were tipped off, but that would still mean we are in bed with the enemy. Also, our nuclear search teams would never make it in time — especially if they have to penetrate American defenses. I’m at a loss. There is no one in the GRU I trusted more than her. No one. This is… unbelievable.”

Kapalkin bolted up, walked away from the camera, then cursed and said, “Do you know what I’m going to do now, General? I’m going to do something that will shock you.”

“At this moment that will be difficult.”

“Oh, this will bring you to your feet.”

THIRTY-THREE

The Russians had cleared a path through the roadblock of demolition derby cars that Vatz and the local boys had constructed across Highway 35. Enemy rockets had reduced more than half of the vehicles to heaps of blackened and burning wreckage, though the hulks themselves could still be pushed back into place. It would take at least an hour or two for Vatz’s team to repair and reinforce the obstacle. Thankfully, the team’s little surprise for the Spetsnaz mechanized infantry had remained intact. Sadly, the eight Mounties who had been defending the area had been killed; Vatz put two of his men in charge of picking up the bodies, which would be taken back to the airport. The atmosphere was at once tense and grim.

Band-Aid had been stabilized and moved into the terminal, where one of the medics from Zodiac team had established a makeshift infirmary. Consequently, assistant medic Beethoven was cut loose and able to come along with Vatz.

He and the medic drove a civilian car nearly three kilometers north along the highway. They pulled over into a ditch and hopped out to survey the plains in the distance. Twice Vatz had tried to use the Cross Comm to pull up imagery from drones flying over the area, but the Russians were back to jamming their frequencies.

They both lay in the embankment with binoculars pressed to their eyes. Vatz asked, “Got anything?”

“Thought I saw a reflection. Gone now.”

“You all right?”

“Sergeant, I can barely keep my eyes open.”

“Me, too.”

“Can I ask you something? What if the Tenth doesn’t show up? What if they get new orders?”

“New orders? I don’t think so. They’ll be here.”

“And if they don’t come, the Russians will roll in and pounce on us.”

“I like your positive attitude.”

“I’m a realist. There’s no way we can hold this town. No way.”

Vatz closed his eyes a moment. The guy was right. They could delay the battalion, but hold them off entirely?

“Hey, Sergeant?” called Beethoven. “Wait a minute. Think I got something.”

Vatz snapped open his eyes, squinted through his binoculars.

President David Becerra wasn’t sure how to feel about the request for a conference call with President Vsevolod Vsevolodovich Kapalkin and General Sergei Izotov.

The Russians had thus far been ignoring all such requests from the JSF and Euros, and now they wanted to talk? Would it be a final threat? Would they demand surrender and want to talk terms? Would they suggest something even more ridiculous?

Becerra’s impulse had been to ignore them. Let them stew a while. But within an hour after the Russians’ request, he had asked Mark Hellenberg to get General Kennedy on the line and contact Moscow.

Three windows opened on Becerra’s screen. Kapalkin wore an odd expression. Izotov appeared so disgusted that he could barely look up. General Kennedy was, of course, her impeccably groomed self and the consummate professional, ready for battle.

“Mr. President, General,” Becerra began, acknowledging each man with a curt nod. “I’ll first say that I’m shocked by your request to talk.”

“We are shocked, too,” said Izotov. It was obvious he’d been forced into the call.

“Mr. President, we have a matter to discuss that is of grave importance,” said Kapalkin.

“Yes, we do. Get your forces out of Canada. Otherwise, I promise, you won’t recover from this one. Not this one.”

Izotov began to smile.

“You find this amusing, General?” Becerra widened his eyes, about to raise his voice.

“Mr. President, we will do as you ask,” said Kapalkin.

“Excuse me?” Becerra nearly fell out of his chair. He glanced across the cabin at Chief of Staff Hellenberg, who shrugged in confusion.

Kapalkin went on: “I said, we will comply. However, we must first work together to address another problem.”

“Work together?” Now it was Becerra’s turn to smile. “If you’d like to do that, then first you’ll cease all military operations around the globe. Your desire to expand the Russian Federation ends today.”

“Shut up, Becerra!” cried Izotov. “You have no idea what is at stake here!”

Kapalkin fired off a sharp retort in Russian, silencing Izotov. He took a moment to catch his breath, to compose himself. Then he said, “Mr. President, we’ve learned that the Green Brigade Transnational has planted two nuclear weapons in Canada, one in Edmonton, the other in Calgary. The exact locations are unknown. These are suitcase bombs, ten kiloton. We are certain they are there. The terrorists are trying to blackmail the Russian Federation and, of course, destroy the reserves.”

Becerra folded his arms over his chest. “Prove it.”

Kapalkin raised an index finger like a weapon. “You can do one of two things. You can doubt us, ignore us, and in less than two days you will have your proof because the Brigades will detonate the weapons. Or you can trust me and send in two of your NEST teams, one to each city, to find and deactivate the bombs. Your teams can get there before ours can.”

The Nuclear Emergency Support Teams that Kapalkin had mentioned were nuclear physicists and scientists working in the nation’s weapons labs. They were heavily equipped and highly trained at sniffing out bombs.

“Why hasn’t the Brigade contacted us directly?” asked Becerra.

“As I said, they’re trying to blackmail the Russian Federation and blame us for the destruction. They believe we are the instigators of this war. They will detonate the nukes in less than two days. They’re waiting for more civilians to be evacuated and more military forces to move into the cities. If we attempt to pull out our forces, we assume they will detonate the nukes. Mr. President, the loss of those reserves would be catastrophic to your economy and to the world’s. So this time, we must work together to stop them.”

Becerra’s thoughts were flooded with what-ifs. “Mr. President, if you don’t mind, I’d like to have a word in private with General Kennedy.”

“By all means.”

Becerra switched to a private channel. “General, I’m at a loss here. Are they playing us?”

The general’s gaze went distant. “Hard to say. Our NEST teams could verify the presence of nukes, that’s for sure. We can’t trust the Russians, but it wouldn’t hurt to send in those teams.”

“If they’re lying to us, then what would they gain by all this? Do they need our teams for some other purpose?”

“I don’t know. But if they’re being honest, and the nukes go off—”

“That’s what bothers me,” Becerra interrupted. “The nukes go off and the reserves are lost. What happens?