Zack did not expect them to grant his motion. He was hoping against hope. But raising the Geneva Accords, he hoped, would at least slow down the steamroller. Maybe, just maybe he could buy the U.S.
Navy enough time to find this mysterious Egyptian freighter – if such a freighter really existed. All he could do was stall. And pray.
General Smirnov looked out at Zack and snarled, "Commander Brewer, you may approach with your brief. Bring us the copies in Russian, please."
"Yes, sir, General." Zack picked up three of the copies that had been translated into Russian and walked across the marble floors to the table, where the three officers sat.
They each met him with icy stares as he approached. He nodded at each, laid the briefs on the tables before them, then quickly pivoted around into the glare of television lights and returned to counsel table.
They flipped through the pages, shook their heads, and huddled again. Their below-the-breath comments appeared heated, almost as if they were arguing with one another.
Finally General Smirnov stood. "Commander Brewer, the panel has considered your motion and we find it to be without merit. However, out of our great respect for the Geneva Conventions, and because the Russian Federation is a party to those accords, we are going to take a recess to study the matter overnight and to confer with legal counsel."
"Thank you, General."
"But let me warn you, Commander, that we will tolerate no more frivolous motions."
Zack did not respond.
The panel rose and walked out of the room.
The White House
At least Brewer bought us some time, " the president remarked, "which is something we don't have much of."
"They're sensitive about being accused of violating the Geneva Conventions, " Secretary Mauney said. "At least they want to give the appearance of considering the motion, even if they have already denied it. Great strategy by Brewer."
"Zack's our best, " Secretary Lopez remarked. "That's why we sent him."
"That's the truth, " Admiral Ayers added.
"Director Winstead, do you have that dossier yet?" the president asked, as CIA Director Mitch Winstead walked into the Oval Office with a briefcase in hand. He sat in a circle of chairs occupied by the usual group. Mack noticed that he was drawing anxious stares.
"Yes, sir, Mr. President. And I think I finally have some answers."
"Let's have it."
The CIA director extracted papers from his briefcase, made eye contact with the president, then looked down and began reading bullet points. "This is from sources inside the Egyptian Merchant Marine. Captain Hosni Sadir was born in Cairo. He served in the Egyptian Navy, where he commanded a destroyer homeported out of Alexandria. Our background shows that he is of Chechen origin and has ties there.
"His grandparents were deported by Stalin with other Islamic Chechens during World War II, and after that, Sadir's family emigrated to Egypt.
"Despite all that, the family has maintained very close ties to their relatives back in Chechnya. In 1997, when Maskhadov introduced Islamic law to Chechnya, Sadir filed paperwork to move back to Chech-nya. But then, the Russians killed Maskhadov. Then many of Sadir's Chechen relatives were massacared in a Russian attack on a mosque in Grozny."
There was a brief pause.
"So Captain Sadir doesn't like the Russians, " National Security Advisor Cynthia Hewitt said.
"That's an understatement, Miss Hewitt, " Director Winstead replied. "It gets worse."
"Great, " Mack said. "Let's hear it."
"We got a copy of the ship's passenger manifest. One of the passengers is a native Chechen named Salman Dudayev."
"Doesn't ring a bell, " the secretary of state said.
"Dudayev is an American-trained physicist – he studied at MIT -who had close ties to Maskhadov. Although Chechnya has been considered as Russia's problem, we've maintained a file on this guy because his education and political affiliations puts him in a category of persons who could be very dangerous if weapons-grade uranium or plutonium ever fell into his hands."
"You are sure Dudayev is on that ship?" the president asked.
Winstead nodded his head. "Mr. President, we paid a ton of money to get that manifest. We have absolutely no reason to doubt its accuracy, sir."
"Dear Lord, help us." Mack rubbed his temples. "Is everybody here thinking what I'm thinking?"
"It's St. Petersburg, " Secretary Lopez said.
"It's gotta be, " Secretary Mauney nodded in rare agreement with the SECDEF. "This Masha Katovich girl is proving to be reliable."
"We've got a lot of people there, " Vice President Surber said.
It came again – that feeling that someone had tossed an icepack on the back of Mack Williams' neck.
"Should we notify the Russians?" Cynthia Hewitt asked.
"Won't do any good, " Mack said. "By the time we convince them that they're in danger, St. Petersburg and our crew would already be incinerated."
"And given our current political climate with them, " Secretary Mauney added, "Moscow would blame a nuclear attack against St. Petersburg on us."
"Precisely, " Vice President Surber added.
"Which means we can expect a nuclear retaliation against the United States, " Defense Secretary Lopez said.
The secretary of state nodded his head in agreement. "We've got to sink this freighter, and we must do it now."
"And lose the evidence that we need to prove our case to the Russians that we did not sink an innocent civilian freighter?" the national security advisor asked. "We need that evidence for the world to see."
"Admiral Ayers, " the president said, "can Charlotte stop this freighter and board it without sinking it?"
"Yes, sir. We have a contingency plan for that option."
"Let's hear it."
"We disarm our Mark-48 torps and fire into the ship's propeller. If we get a lucky shot, we disable the prop, leaving her dead in the water. We surface our SEAL team and board the ship."
"What happens if they blow the ship before our SEALs can take control?" Vice President Surber asked.
"That could happen, " Admiral Ayers said, "but they may take a little time to figure out what happened. Hopefully, it's enough."
"How close are they to St. Petersburg, Admiral?"
"Close, sir. About thirty miles west of Kotlin Island. Put it this way; they're close enough that if they blew a nuclear device now, depending on the size of the device, it could devastate St. Petersburg. Depending on weather patterns, nuclear fallout could kill hundreds of thousands living along the Gulf of Finland. That includes the city of Helsinki, which is less than two hundred miles to the west, and beyond that, the city of Stockholm, another couple of hundred miles to the west and across the Baltic Sea. The weather will determine who dies, Mr. President. But unlike the Bikini Atoll tests or our tests in Nevada in the early sixties, this is a highly populated area. Hundreds of thousands will die, sir, and we have no control over the weather.
"We've got a narrow window, Mr. President, " Ayers continued. "Whatever you order, sir, we've got to act fast or we simply won't have enough time."
"I say sink her, Mr. President, " the vice president said. "We're looking at nuclear holocaust if that ship blows."
"And we might be looking at nuclear war if we don't produce that plutonium to convince the Russians we didn't sink one of their civilian ships, " the secretary of defense said.
Mack thought about that. Lord, make my decision the right one.
"Secretary Lopez, send the orders. Have the Charlotte unarm the Mark-48s. Attack her propeller. Stop her in the water. SEAL team is ordered to board and secure the ship.
"That is all."