Acts of War

roadblocks on your map—'

'Martha, calm down,' Hardaway said. 'Bob, you too. You've been up all night. And I'm running out of time here. The Striker issue may be academic in any case. The President plans to decide by seven-thirty this morning whether to destroy the ROC with a Tomahawk missile fired from the USS Pittsburgh in the Mediterranean.'

'Aw, Christ!' Herbert said. 'He was supposed to give us time!'

'He did. Now he's afraid the Kurds will use the ROC against the Syrians and Turks.'

'Of course they will,' Abram said, 'if they aren't using it already.'

'You're assuming they've figured out how,' Herbert said. 'Getting the ROC up and running isn't like starting a goddamn rental car.'

'If someone shows them how, it is,' Abram said.

Herbert glared at him. 'Watch it, Bill—'

'Bob,' Abram said, 'I know you and Mike are close. But we have zero intelligence on what the terrorists might have done to persuade our people to talk.'

'I'm sure your brother officer would appreciate that vote of confidence.'

'This isn't about Mike,' Martha said. 'There are three civilian hostages as well. They aren't made of the same stuff Mike is.'

'Not many people are,' Herbert said., 'Which is all the more reason to get him the hell out! We need him. And we owe it to the others we sent over there.'

'If feasible,' Martha said. 'It may not be.'

'Especially if we give up!' Herbert barked. 'Jesus, I wish we were all on the same page here.'

'So do I,' Martha replied coldly. 'The question is whether the hostages are lost to us and whether we should redirect our assets to Damascus.'

'Martha's right,' Hardaway said. 'If that missile is launched we'll have no choice but to abort the Striker mission. Otherwise, the entire unit may get tagged along with the ROC and its crew.'

Herbert folded his hands tightly in his lap. 'We've got to give Striker time. Even if the Tomahawk flies, it'll take at least a half hour to reach its target. That may be time enough to get the ROC crew out. But if you withdraw Striker, Mike and the others are dead. Period. Is there anyone in this room who disagrees with that? '

No one spoke. Hardaway looked at his watch again. 'Two minutes from now I've got to give our recommendation to the President regarding the situation at the palace. Martha?'

'I say we divert Striker,' she said. 'They're equipped, they're in the field, and they are the only legally defensible option we have.'

'Bill?'

'I agree,' said Abram. 'I also think they're better trained than Delta, certainly better than the Marine guards at the embassy.'

Hardaway looked at Herbert. 'Bob?'

Herbert rubbed his hands on his face. 'Leave Striker alone. They can still get clear of the Tomahawk with a window of five minutes to impact. That gives them at least a half hour to get the ROC crew out.'

'We need them in Damascus,' Martha said slowly.

Herbert pressed his fingertips to his forehead. Suddenly, he dropped his hands to his lap. 'What if I can get someone else to help Paul and the ambassador?'

'Who?' she asked.

'It's a long shot,' he said. 'I don't know if the Iron Bar will let me have them.'

'Who?' Martha repeated.

'People who can be there in about five minutes.' Herbert picked up a secure phone on a small table near the wing chair. He pressed an unlit line and told his assistant to put him through to Major General Bar-Levi in Haifa.

Hardaway looked at his watch. 'Bob, I've got to call the President.'

'Tell him to give me five more minutes,' Herbert told the hollow-eyed Assistant Deputy Director of Op-Center. 'Tell him I will get Paul and the ambassador out without using Striker, or my resignation will be on Martha's desk before noon.'

FORTY-SEVEN

Tuesday, 12:17 p.m.,

the Mediterranean Sea

The Tomahawk is a cruise missile which can be fired from torpedo tubes or from specially constructed vertical launch tubes. There are four kinds of Tomahawk: the TASM or antiship missile; the TLAM-N or land-attack missile equipped with a nuclear warhead; the TLAM-C, a land-attack missile with a conventional warhead; and the TLAM-D, a land-attack missle equipped with low-yield bomblets.

After the twenty-five-foot-long Tomahawk has been launched via rocket booster, small wings snap from the sides and lock into place. The rocket shuts down within a few seconds of firing and the missile's turbofan engine kicks in. By then, the Tomahawk has attained its flying speed of over five hundred miles an hour. As it scoots low over the land or ocean, its guidance unit keeps it on target with input from a radar altimeter. Following a computerized flight path, the Tomahawk quickly reaches its pre-landfall waypoint. This is the site which enables the missile to spot and lock on its first navigation point — typically a hill, a building, or some other fixed structure. After that, the onboard Terrain Contour Matching system or TERCOM carries the Tomahawk from point to point, often through sharp turns, sharp ascents, or dizzying dives. Corroboration of the course is provided by the Digital Scene Matching electro-optical system, a small television camera which compares the actual visuals to those stored in the TERCOM's memory. If there is any discrepancy, such as a parked truck or new structure, the DSMAC and TERCOM will quickly determine whether the rest of the image is correct and that the missile is on-target. If not, it sends a signal home which can be answered with one of two commands: continue or abort.

The TERCOM data is prepared by the Defense Mapping Agency and then forwarded to a Theater Mission Planning Center. From there, it is transmitted via satellite uplink to the launch site. When previously unmapped regions are targeted, up-to-the-minute satellite imagery is employed by the DMA. Depending upon the accuracy of the mapping, the Tomahawk is precise enough to destroy a car-sized target thirteen hundred miles away.

Presidential Directive M-98-13 was received by the communications shack of the USS Pittsburgh at 12:17 p.m. local time. The encrypted order was sent digitally, via secure satellite uplink, and was quickly decoded and hand-carried to the submarine's Captain George Breen.

The task directive gave Captain Breen his mission, his target, and his abort code. One of the twenty-four Tomahawks his submarine was carrying was to be launched of 12:30 p.m. local time toward a target in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. The precise coordinates were provided, backed up by the DMA TERCOM data for the missile itself. If the target were moved, the Tomahawk would switch to a fallback guidance program. The missile would search to the horizon for visual, microwave, electromagnetic, and other characteristics which in combination could only describe the target. It would then lock onto the object and destroy it. The only way to order the missile to self- destruct before reaching its target was if the captain received the abort code HARDPLACE.

Captain Breen signed the directive and passed it to Weapons Officer E.B. Ruthay. Stationed in the control room, he worked with Console Operator Danny Max to load the flight data into the Tomahawk's computer. After it was downloaded and checked, the USS Pittsburgh slowed to a speed of four knots. It rose to periscope depth. Captain Breen gave the order to launch the missile. The hydraulically operated doors of one of the submarine's twelve forward-located vertical launch system tubes was opened. The pressure cap used to protect the missile was ordered withdrawn. The Tomahawk was ready for firing.

Captain Breen was informed of the missile's status. After making sure that there were no hostile aircraft or surface ships within detection range, he ordered Ruthay to fire at will. Acknowledging the order, the weapons officer inserted his launch key into the console, turned it, and pressed the firing button. The submarine shook