Debt of Honor - Tom Clancy [232]
"How's he loaded?" Mancuso replied, knowing that if he'd really done his job right over the past few days the question would have been unnecessary.
"Twenty-two ADCAPs, six Harpoons, and twelve TLAM-Cs. They're all warshots," the chief replied. "He's ready to rock, sir."
ComSubPac nodded. "Tell him to stand by for mission orders."
"Aye aye, sir."
"Good skipper?" Jones asked.
"He got the Battle-E last year," Chamber said. "Tim Parry. He was my XO on Key West. He'll do."
"So now all he needs is a job."
Mancuso lifted the secure phone for CINCPAC. "Yeah."
"Signal from State Department," the Air Force communications officer said, entering the room. "The Japanese Ambassador requests an urgent meeting with the President."
"Brett?"
"We see what he has to say," SecState said. Ryan nodded agreement.
"Any chance at all that this is some kind of mistake?" Durling asked.
"We expect some hard intelligence anytime now from a satellite pass over the Marianas. It's dark there, but that won't matter much." Ryan had finished his briefing, and on completion the data he'd managed to deliver seemed very thin. The baseline truth here was that what had evidently taken place was so wildly beyond the limits of reason that he himself would not be fully satisfied until he saw the overheads himself.
"If it's real, then what?"
"That will take a little time," Ryan admitted. "We want to hear what their ambassador has to say."
"What are they really up to?" Treasury Secretary Fiedler asked.
"Unknown, sir. Just pissing us off, it isn't worth the trouble. We have nukes. They don't. It's all crazy…" Ryan said quietly. "It doesn't make any sense at all." Then he remembered that in 1939, Germany's biggest trading partner had been…France. History's most often repeated lesson was that logic was not a constant in the behavior of nations. The study of history was not always bilateral. And the lessons learned from history depended on the quality of the student. Worth remembering, Jack thought, because the other guy might forget.
"It's got to be some kind of mistake," Hanson announced. "A couple of accidents. Maybe our two subs collided under the water and maybe we have some excitable people on Saipan. I mean it doesn't make any sense at all."
"I agree, the data does not form any clear picture, but the individual pieces—damn it, I know Robby Jackson. I know Bart Mancuso."
"Who's that?"
"ComSubPac. He owns all our subs out there. I sailed with him once. Jackson is deputy J-3, and we've been friends since we were both teaching at Annapolis." Lo, these many years ago.
"Okay," Durling said. "You've told us everything you know?"
"Yes, Mr. President. Every word, without any analysis."
"Meaning you don't really have any?" The question stung some, but this was not a time for embroidering. Ryan nodded.
"Correct, Mr. President."
"So for now, we wait. How long to Andrews?"
Fiedler looked out a window. "That's the Chesapeake Bay below us now. We can't be too far out."
"Press at the airport?" he asked Arnie van Damm.
"Just the ones in the back of the plane, sir."
"Ryan?"
"We firm up our information as fast as we can. The services are all on alert."
"What are those fighters doing out there?" Fiedler asked. They were now flying abeam Air Force One, in a tight two-ship element about a mile away, their pilots wondering what this was all about. Ryan wondered it the press would take note of it. Well, how long could this affair remain a secret?
"My idea, Buzz," Ryan said. Might as well take responsibility for it.
"A little dramatic, don't you think?" SecState inquired.
"We didn't expect to have our fleet attacked either, sir."
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is Colonel Evans. We're now approaching Andrews Air Force Base. We all hope you've enjoyed the flight. Please bring your seats back to the upright position and…" In the back, the junior White House aides ostentatiously refused to fasten their seat belts. The cabin crew did what they were supposed to do, of course.
Ryan felt the main gear thump down on runway Zero-One Right. For