Red Hammer 1994

The old man nodded and shook his sagging jowls in defiance, like a lion after the kill. “First,” he said, jabbing a sausage-like finger in Thomas’s face, “you will fly all your bombers to Latin America, where they will be turned over to the host countries for internment, until after a permanent peace treaty. We shall do the same, to African airports. The arrangements have already been made.”

Thomas blanched. The Russians didn’t have enough bombers left to mention, while the United States still retained fifty or sixty operational B-1Bs, B-2s, and old cruise-missile carrying B-52s.

“Next,” Burbulis said with a flair and a thump on the felt-covered hardwood table, “all your Trident submarines, along with our Delta and Typhoon ballistic-missile submarines, will report to designated European ports, to be put under United Nations guard before they are summarily scrapped. Only skeleton crews will be allowed to remain. Attack submarines are excluded.” Burbulis swung to the audience, who beamed in anticipation with a renewed sense of hope. “We consider this a worthy sacrifice to peace, to part with these seaborne weapons of mass destruction, a gift to future generations, if you will.” He nodded his massive head, very pleased with himself. The room overflowed with gasps of wonderment and spontaneous excitement; a torrent of whispers resonated to a crescendo that threatened to blow out the windows. The Spanish repeatedly called for silence. “Once these actions have been taken, peace will fall into our laps. It is quite easy, you see.”

Hopkins punched numbers into his workstation in an avalanche of keystrokes. The initial results trickling down the screen were sickly and catastrophic. His stricken face must have mirrored the panic sweeping his STRATCOM bosses back home. Burbulis had conveniently omitted ICBMs, where the Russians still had the edge, and verification was all but impossible. Thomas’s mind went blank. In all the detailed preparations, they had never considered a move such as this. The Russian missile boats had been slaughtered wholesale and sent to watery graves in the Pacific and Atlantic. They might have one or two left. The Russians were pushing unilateral disarmament at the Americans’ expense, and the rest of the world, especially the Europeans, would give a standing ovation. Nothing would please them more than for America to rid herself of the Tridents.

Burbulis delightedly watched Thomas squirm; a sinister smile curled the corners of his thick-lipped mouth. “These are the only terms acceptable to the Russian government. We shall see if this American president truly wants peace.” Burbulis broke into a grin that sent shivers down Thomas’s spine. Every second he hesitated worked against him. He pressed forward.

“The Foreign Minister has conveniently omitted ICBMs from his offer. Perhaps he wishes to rethink the proposal.”

“They are destroyed,” Burbulis countered. “They are not a factor. Your Special Forces were very clever and very effective, I must admit.” The Russian chess master was using the Americans’ own success against them. It was mate in two moves.

“Our satellites show otherwise,” Thomas shot back. “Hundreds of mobile ICBMs remain in your inventory. In fact, you were in violation of the START Treaty levels by as many as three hundred missiles.”

Burbulis dismissed the charge with a wave of his liver-spotted hand. “Speculation,” he demurred. “You Americans see mobile missiles under every tree and rock. We have a standing offer for observers. If they dare brave the fallout from your indiscriminate attacks against our country.” Burbulis looked to the old marshal, who sat pensively. “Perhaps you have real proof?” Then to Strelkov. “But then, maybe not,” he said with a huff.

Thomas’s clear blue eyes were on fire. His throat ached from holding back the tide of epithets. His fury was beyond containment. “Your terms are on the surface most appealing, Foreign Minister,” he said with a snort, “but I’m afraid a short history lesson is in order. Your country precipitated this war with a brutal-and-savage surprise attack,” he said, his face seething with anger. “The United States rightly defended itself. Your plan failed miserably but not until after the deaths of millions of our citizens, but now we have the advantage. Your so-called terms are nothing more than a ploy to gain through deceit what you failed through treachery.”