Executive orders - Tom Clancy [399]
How many deaths? Jack asked bleakly.
Ben Goodley handled that one: News reports say over a hundred. There are survivors, but we don't have any kind of count yet. And we should expect that there were some Americans aboard. A lot of business goes on between Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Options?
Before we do anything, Mr. President, we need to know if any of our people are involved. We only have one carrier anywhere close, the Eisenhower battle group on the way to Australia for SOUTHERN CUP. But it's a good bet that this won't exactly help things out between Beijing and Taipei.
We'll need some kind of press release, Arnie told the President.
We need to know if we lost any citizens first, Ryan said. If we did well, what do we do, demand an explanation?
They'll say it was a mistake. Jackson repeated. They might even blame the Taiwanese for shooting first and starting it, then disclaim all responsibility.
But you don't buy it, Robby?
No, Jack-excuse me, no, Mr. President. I don't think so. I want to go over the tapes with a few people, to back-check me some. Maybe I'm wrong but I don't think so. Fighter pilots are fighter pilots. The only reason to shoot the guy who's running away instead of the guy who's closing in is because you want to.
Move the Ike group north? Bretano wondered.
Get me contingency plans to do just that, the President said.
That leaves the Indian Ocean uncovered, sir, Jackson pointed out. Carl Vinson is most of the way home to Norfolk now. John Stennis and Enterprise are still in the yard at Pearl, and we do not have a deployable carrier in the Pacific. We're out of carriers on that whole half of the world, and we'll need a month at best to move another one in from LantFleet.
Ryan turned to Ed Foley. What are the chances this could blow all the way up?
Taiwan's going to be pretty unhappy about this. We have shots fired and people dead. National-flag airline clobbered. Countries tend to be protective of those, the DCI observed. It's possible.
Intentions? Goodley asked the DCI.
If Admiral Jackson is correct-I'm not ready to buy into that yet, by the way, Ed Foley added for Robby's benefit. He got an understanding nod. Then we have something going on, but what it is, I don't know. Better for everybody if this was an accident. I can't say I like the idea of pulling the carrier out of the Indian Ocean with the developing situation in the Persian Gulf.
What's the worst thing that can happen between the PRC and Taiwan? Bretano asked, annoyed that he had to ask the question at all. He was still too new in his job to be as effective as his President needed.
Mr. Secretary, the People's Republic has nuclear-tipped missiles, enough to turn Formosa into a cinder, but we have reason to believe that the Republic of China has them too and-
Roughly twenty, Foley interrupted. And those F-16s can one-way a couple all the way to Beijing if they want. They can't destroy the People's Republic, but twenty thermonuclear weapons will knock their economy back at least ten years, maybe twenty. The PRC does not want that to happen. They're not crazy, Admiral. Keep it conventional, okay?
Very well, sir. The PRC does not have the ability to invade Taiwan. They lack the necessary amphibious assets to move large numbers of troops for a forced-entry assault. So what happens if things blow up anyway? Most likely scenario is a nasty air and sea battle, but one that leads to no resolution, since neither side can finish off the other. That also means a shooting war astride one of the world's most important trade routes, with all sorts of adverse diplomatic consequences for all the players. I can't see the purpose in doing this intentionally. Just too destructive to be deliberate policy I think. He shrugged. It didn't make sense, but neither did a deliberate attack on a harmless airliner-and he'd just told his audience that had probably