The Bear and the Dragon - Tom Clancy [390]
"If we live, I will see you promoted, Colonel."
"I've always wanted to be a general officer. But I want to see my children enter university, too. So, let's try to stay alive."
"What of the border troops?"
"I have transport assigned to each post—where possible, two sets of transport. I've sent some of the reservists in BTRs to make sure they have a little protection against the artillery fire when they pull out. We have a lot of guns in the photos from the M-5, Comrade General. And fucking mountains of shells. But the border troops have ample protection, and the orders have gone out so that they will not need permission to leave their posts when the situation becomes untenable—at the company-officer level, that is," Aliyev added. Commissioned officers were less likely to bug out than enlisted men.
"No word on when?"
The G-3 shook his head. "Nothing helpful from Intelligence. The Chinese are still moving trucks and such around, from what we can tell. I'd say another day, maybe as many as three."
"So?" Ryan asked. "So, the overheads show they're still moving the chess pieces on the board," Foley answered. "But most of them are in place."
"What about Moscow?"
"They're going to arrest their suspects soon. Probably going to pick up the control officer in Moscow, too. They'll sweat him some, but he does have diplomatic immunity, and you can't squeeze him much." Ed Foley remembered when KGB had arrested his wife in Moscow. It hadn't been pleasant for her—and less so for him—but they hadn't roughed her up, either. Messing with people who traveled on diplomatic passports didn't happen often, despite what they'd seen on TV a few weeks before. And the Chinese probably regretted that one a lot, pronouncements on the SORGE feeds to the contrary notwithstanding.
"Nothing from inside to encourage us?"
"Nope." The DCI shook his head.
"We ought to start moving the Air Force," Vice President Jackson urged.
"But then it could be seen as a provocation," Secretary Adler pointed out. "We can't give them any excuse."
"We can move First Armored into Russia, say it's a joint training exercise with our new NATO allies," TOMCAT said. "That could buy us a few days."
Ryan weighed that and looked over at the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. "Well, General?"
"It can't hurt all that much. They're already working with Deutsche Rail to get the move organized."
"Then do it," the President ordered.
"Yes, sir." General Moore moved to make the call.
Ryan checked his watch. "I have a reporter to talk to."
"Have fun," Robby told his friend.
Zhigansk, on the west side of the Lena River, had once been a major regional air defense center for the old Soviet PVO Strany, the Russian air-defense command. It had a larger-than-average airfield with barracks and hangars, and had been largely abandoned by the new Russian military, with just a caretaker staff to maintain the facility in case it might be needed someday. This turned out to be a piece of lucky foresight, because the United States Air Force started moving in that day, mainly transport aircraft from the central part of America that had staged through Alaska and flown over the North Pole to get there. The first of thirty C-5 Galaxy transports landed at ten in the morning local time, taxiing to the capacious but vacant ramps to offload their cargo under the direction of ground crewmen who'd ridden in the large passenger area aft of the wing box in the huge transports. The first things wheeled off were the Dark Star UAVs. They looked like loaves of French bread copulating atop slender wings, and were long-endurance, stealthy reconnaissance drones that took six hours to assemble for flight. The crews got immediately to work, using mobile equipment shipped on the same aircraft.
Fighter and attack aircraft came into Suntar, far closer to