Deep Cover

The toilet flushed and Nicole emerged from the lavatory. “You ought to clean up that loo sometime, Leo.” She took the empty chair beside Ramsey Douglass, and Belsky saw Douglass move slightly away from her. It was one of the things that made Belsky uneasy, the relationship between Nicole and Douglass—uneasy because he had not been able to determine the nature of it. On the surface they gave the impression of a pair of mutually destructive organisms drawn together by some curious masochistic force—but there had to be some explanation for it. They were all needed, these people—he needed their faculties and it disturbed him whenever hints of neurotic weakness revealed themselves. Douglass appeared calm enough but there were signs that not far under the surface was a potential for violent hysteria; if the man was likely to come apart in a crisis it was no good.

“Eighteen-thirty hours. For those of you who don’t go by the military clock that’s half-past six P.M.” Belsky looked at his watch. “It’s now almost eight so we have forty-six and a half hours.”

They reacted mainly with alarm; several of them blasphemed quietly and Fred Winslow’s face took on the expression of a man about to burst into tears.

Ramsey Douglass said, “Then we’ll need to know the targets. Right now. The cards have to be punched so we can reprogram the guidance consoles.”

“I’m quite certain none of our targets has been overlooked by American pla

He let them babble a moment before he cut them off. “It’s no good asking me why. I don’t make policy and it doesn’t concern you. Now shut up and let me finish. You have eighteen missiles here, each containing three warheads—fifty-four nuclear devices. There will be forty-seven separate targets; the additional seven warheads will be used for secondary strikes on hard silos which need to be hit more than once. An hour ago I prepared this list—two copies.” He took the handwritten sheets from his pocket and unfolded them on the felt table cover; passed one of them to Winslow and said, “Well?”

“I’m not sure. I’ll have to check to be positive. But you’re probably right—I’m sure we’ve got all these programmed already. They’re logical targets in case of war. The nuclear installations, the big cities, some military bases. I see you’ve got more of a concentration on army bases along the Russian border than we’d probably figure on ordinarily, but I expect all these have been programmed.”

“Memorize that list. You can’t afford to be caught with it in your possession. The first thing you’ll do when you return to the base is check the computer files to be sure there’s a card for each of these targets.”

“Yes,” Winslow mumbled, staring at the sheet of Chinese words. Beads of sweat stood out on his forehead.

Belsky pushed the second copy across the table to Nick Conrad. “The same for you. It’ll be your job to provide the proper coded commands for these targets. The codes are scheduled to be changed tomorrow evening, isn’t that right?”

“Yes.”

“Then you’ve got the better part of twenty-four hours. Substitute our codes for the real ones and distribute the bogus code envelopes to all stations. Then, prepare the proper code sequences for Captain Ludlum to use when he simulates the issuance of attack orders from NORAD and the President. You understand this perfectly? Are there any questions?”

Conrad brooded over the list. “The time factor’s tight but I don’t see why we can’t do it. But you’ve got to be damned sure there’s no way for a legitimate signal to leak in or out.”

“That’s not your job. Concentrate on your own assignment. Do you foresee any difficulty?”

“Difficulty? Sure. But nothing impossible.”

“Then we can rely on you for that.” Belsky turned to Nicole. “Your job is to assemble all Amergrad perso

“So that he can be liquidated, Comrade?”

“Yes. You can see what the result would be if even one of us remained behind to reveal what had happened here.”

“Makes sense,” Hathaway said. “But how do we work the getaway?”

“Colonel Winslow will arrange for the presence of a C-141 Starlifter jet on one of the alternate runways of the municipal airport at the appropriate time.” He turned to Winslow. “The plane must be fully fueled and ma

“It’ll be a hell of a squeeze. We’ll be like sardines in there.” Winslow’s face was tight with strain. “The number you’re talking about is the number of Amergrad agents in Tucson, isn’t it? Agents alone—not their children.”

“The number represents the surviving members, yes. Two arc dead.”

Nicole said, “That makes two hundred and three. I take it the two hundred and fourth passenger is yourself.”

“Correct.”

“I suppose that’s meant to convince me you weren’t pla

Winslow interrupted. “What about our families? Our children? We have to know, Dangerfield. What happens to them?”

“Nothing.”

Hathaway said, “We have somebody tailing your son around town, Colonel. Just to make sure you stay in line. But nothing’s going to happen to him unless you make it happen.”

Winslow wasn’t letting it go. “You mean we’ll just leave them behind. Never see them again.”

Belsky said, “Can you think of another way to handle it? The children are Americans. They know nothing of the truth. In Russia they’d represent a threat to us all. Here they offer no threat to anyone since they know nothing of value. Their parents simply disappear without warning. They’ll be upset, naturally; they’ll go to the police, hire private detectives, what-have-you, all of this assuming such institutions are still in operation following the nuclear disruption. The children will survive your disappearance if they survive the war.”

“The war,” Winslow murmured. “It’ll be that, won’t it? I mean, there’ll be retaliation.”

“To some extent. Once these missiles have exploded over China there won’t be a great deal of retaliatory capacity left in China.”

“But Russia will come to China’s aid.”

Belsky said, “I can tell you this much. Russia will not come to China’s aid. I have been authorized to disclose that much to you so that you won’t be unduly concerned about the likelihood of your children being killed in a nuclear holocaust. Russia will not bombard the United States unless the United States attacks Russia first, and that is most unlikely. There is a certain risk from Chinese counterattack, yes, but your children stand a good chance of escaping harm since the Chinese retaliation will most likely be directed at American bases in the Pacific and along the West Coast—their ICBMs haven’t the range to reach too far inland.”

Winslow said, “My daughter is in school in California.”

“I’m sorry, Comrade. But that’s no proof she’ll be hurt.”

Douglass said, “This jet plane. Where’s it going to take us? Cuba?”

“Of course,” Belsky said. “And from there to the Soviet Union on board an Aeroflot plane.”

Winslow, clearly, still had his mind on his family, but by evident effort he wrenched it away and said uncertainly, “There’s one thing we haven’t covered that bothers me. Our whole system is geared to a second-strike premise. That is, we’re set up to fire these missiles only in the event of enemy attack.”