The Bear and the Dragon - Tom Clancy [341]
"The Russian Federation gladly accepts the offer of the United States of America. Together we once defeated the greatest threat to human culture. Perhaps we can do so again—better yet, together we may forestall it."
"In that case, sir, I will report your agreement to my president."
Adler checked his watch. It had taken twenty minutes. Damn, you could make history in a hurry when you had your act together, couldn't you? He stood. "I must be off then to make my report."
"Please convey my respects to President Ryan. We will do our best to be worthy allies to your country."
"He and I have no doubts of that, Mr. President." Adler shook hands with Golovko and walked to the door. Three minutes after that, he was back in his car and heading back to the airport. Once there, the aircraft had barely begun to taxi when he got on the secure satellite phone.
"Mr. President?" Andrea said, coming up to Ryan just as the plenary session of the NATO chiefs was about to begin. She handed over the secure portable phone. "It's Secretary Adler."
Ryan took the phone at once. "Scott? Jack here. What gives?"
"It's a done deal, Jack."
"Okay, now I have to sell it to these guys. Good job, Scott. Hurry back."
"We're rolling now, sir." The line went dead. Ryan tossed the phone to Special Agent Price-O'Day.
"Good news?" she asked.
"Yep." Ryan nodded and walked into the conference room.
"Mr. President." Sir Basil Charleston came up to him. The chief of the British Secret Intelligence Service, he'd known Ryan longer than anyone else in the room had. One odd result of Ryan's path to the Presidency was that the people who knew him best were all spooks, mainly NATO ones, and these found themselves advising their chiefs of government on how to deal with America. Sir Basil had served no less than five Prime Ministers of Her Majesty's Government, but now he was in rather a higher position than before.
"Bas, how are you?"
"Doing quite well, thank you. May I ask a question?"
"Sure." But I don't have to answer it, Jack's smile added in reply.
"Adler is in Moscow now. Can we know why?"
"How will your PM react to inviting Russia into NATO?"
That made Basil blink, Ryan saw. It wasn't often that you could catch this guy unawares. Instantly, his mind went into overdrive to analyze the new situation. "China?" he asked after about six seconds.
Jack nodded. "Yeah. We may have some problems there."
"Not going north, are they?"
"They're thinking about it," Ryan replied.
"How good is your information on that question?"
"You know about the Russian gold strike, right?"
"Oh, yes, Mr. President. Ivan's been bloody lucky on both scores."
"Our intel strike in Beijing is even better."
"Indeed?" Charleston observed, letting Jack know that the SIS had also been pretty much shut out there.
"Indeed, Bas. It's class-A information, and it has us worried. We're hoping that pulling Russia into NATO can scare them off. Grushavoy just agreed on it. How do you suppose the rest of these folks will react to it?"
"They'll react cautiously, but favorably, after they've had a chance to consider it."
"Will Britain back us on this play?" Ryan asked.
"I must speak with the PM. I'll let you know." With that, Sir Basil walked over to where the British Prime Minister was chatting with the German Foreign Minister. Charleston dragged him off and spoke quietly into his ear. Instantly, the Prime