“What crisis do you have now, Dix?” asked the president.
“Which one do you want?”
“Which one should I worry about?”
“Teamsters are threatening a three-day walkout beginning of next week over the price of diesel.”
“Good. That will send it down.”
“George — ”
“I have no influence with them. And I’m not joking — if the trucks don’t drive for three days, demand will be less and the price will go down.”
“I was thinking you could have Senator Leiber try and talk to them. You’re going to see him at breakfast.”
“The only friendly face I’ll see all day. Not counting yours.”
“Mine’s not friendly. The Fed is going to raise interest rates — ”
“Again? My God, is the recession not deep enough for them? Unemployment is over sixteen percent!”
“What we need to do is get some bankers unemployed,” said Theodore. “Then it will come down.”
“Give that to Jablonski. Tell him I want to use it. In New York, at the Al Smith Dinner.”
“You’re not invited.”
“I will be. Next problem.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure.” The dinner, the major political event of the year in New York City, was only a few days away.
“I’ll bet you on it if you want,” said Greene. “What’s the next problem? More talk of impeachment if we help Vietnam?”
“I thought you didn’t want to hear reports on that anymore.”
“I don’t want reports. I want names.”
“Half of Congress will impeach you if you ask for aid to Vietnam. The other half is ready to impeach you no matter what.”
“Good to have a mandate.”
They continued their half banter, half briefing all the way down to the Secure Communications Room. National Security Adviser Walter Jackson and Peter Frost, the CIA chief, were waiting.
“So who made the coffee?” President Greene asked as he walked into the room.
“It was here already,” said Jackson.
“Always dangerous,” said Greene, helping himself.
“There’s sandwiches,” said Frost.
“Can’t eat. Gotta break bread in the lion’s den after this.”
“Grasso?” said Frost.
“Who else?”
“You have assassins on your payroll, don’t you, Peter?” asked Jackson.
“Don’t even tempt me,” said Greene.
“Mr. President, Hanoi is ready,” said the communications specialist.
“Let ‘er rip.”
Greene pulled his seat out just in time to see General Perry’s face come on the screen. The transmission quality was a little off; the general’s face was blotched with patches of magenta.
“Have you had a good day, General?” asked Greene.
“So far, it’s been acceptable. Vietnam is still here.”
“That’s a plus.”
“If they don’t get some sort of relief very soon, Mr. President — ”
“I’m working on it, Harland. Trust me, I’m working on it.”
“Major Murphy did come up with an idea, as you requested,” said Perry, who didn’t look at all relieved by the president’s assurances. “He believes a diversionary raid against the Chinese assault force before they have a chance to actually launch their invasion will delay it at least a week. I have to say, Mr. President, I think it’s a bit far-fetched.”
“Just a week?” Greene rubbed his forehead. It was one of several tics he had when he was trying to figure a way out of a bad situation — a habit he’d picked up while in a prisoner of war camp in Vietnam, ironically enough.
“Maybe more,” conceded General Perry. “It’s designed to get the Chinese thinking they left a major hole in their intelligence. The Chinese seem to react to every new situation with caution. They still haven’t broken out of the reservoir perimeter.”
“So let’s hear it,” said Greene.
Perry briefly described it. Greene liked it- but then he liked most special operations. He turned to Frost.
“You think it will work, Pete?” he asked.
“Well… If it goes off exactly as planned, if they buy it, it will confuse them. But… I will say that if those tenders were destroyed…”
Frost was hesitating, calculating in his head. Greene had known him for so long that he could read the hesitation: the plan was close, but not quite there yet.
“If the tenders are destroyed, then you’ve got real possibilities,” said the CIA chief. His words started coming faster. “Because that’s going to be where the fuel for their aircraft is. They won’t launch an invasion if they don’t have air cover. A lot of it, and not just from Hainan. They’re very cautious.”
“How many commandos does Major Murphy say the Vietnamese need?” asked Jackson, his voice clearly skeptical. “And when are they thinking of launching this mission?”
“Those are good questions, sir,” said Perry. “Major Murphy recommends a relatively small but highly trained force. The Vietnamese really don’t have a dedicated special ops force. They could put together some spies and marines, but it would be very ad hoc.”
“They’ll never take out the tenders,” said Jackson. “There’s no time. You know how long SEALs would practice to do something like this? And they train all the time.”
“The right people could do it,” said Frost. “SEALs could do it.”
“How hard would it be to hit those tankers with Tomahawk missiles?” Greene asked.
“Child’s play,” said Jackson drily. “And then the Chinese will declare war on us. And you’ll be impeached.”
“Not if they don’t know they were Tomahawks,” said the president.
“Easily identified,” said Jackson.
“I’m afraid he’s right, George,” said Frost.
“We used them against the dams,” said Perry. “The Chinese haven’t identified them yet.”
“The missiles struck the bottom of the dams,” said Jackson. “The evidence is buried under a lake. We won’t get away with that here. Or at least we can’t count on it.”
“What kind of missiles do the Vietnamese have?” Greene asked General Perry.
“Very few.”
“They have about a half dozen Kingbolts in their inventory,” said Frost. “Probably rusting at a base near Ho Chi Minh City.”
“Kingbolt. What is that? Chinese?”
The name sounded familiar to Greene, a former Navy aviator, but his memory was faulty: it was an air- launched Russian weapon, sold to some foreign governments — including Dubai’s. Jackson, who loved to show off his knowledge of military minutiae, lovingly detailed the missile’s origin and capabilities.
Greene cut him off before he got down to mentioning the type of explosive the warheads held.
“We can get some of those from Dubai easily enough,” said Greene. “And quietly. Can we launch them?”
“Have to talk to the Navy about that,” said Jackson. “I don’t know if they’d go for it.”
“We’ll see about that,” said Greene.
“We might use some of the assets we used in Malaysia,” suggested Frost. He was referring to mercenaries loosely connected with the government air force — and not so loosely on the CIA payroll.
“Good,” said Greene. “So if we made this look like a Vietnamese attack — add an air element in there —
