Brown, Dale - Patrick McLanahan 06 (80 page)

 
          
“So
you’re concerned about the money aspect of a conflict with
China
,” the President said.

 
          
“Of
course I’m concerned about the financial aspect, and so are you,” Finegold
said, stepping a bit closer to Martindale as she spoke, letting the language of
her body speak to the most powerful man on planet Earth as much as her words.
“We’re concerned with whatever it takes to make
America
grow and prosper, and one of the largest
untapped resources in the world that we need to exploit is
China
, especially a strong, capitalist-leaning
China
united with
Hong Kong
,
Macau
, and
Taiwan
.

 
          
“Mr.
President, you know, and I know, that
China
will become the next
United States of America
in terms of its economic and industrial
strength,” Finegold went on. “China is where America was three generations
ago—mostly agrarian but becoming more urban, isolationalist, suspicious of all
foreigners, but expanding rapidly and embracing change, as innovation and new
ideas sweep across the frontier.
China
will not be ruled by warlords forever. We
must stake our position to steer
China
in a direction that’s right for them
and
right for
America
.
You
want to be instrumental
in shaping
China
to meet
America
’s needs. We cannot allow
China
to become isolated.”

 
          
“Barbara,
I agree with your sentiment...” the President began.

 
          
“Then
stop this saber-rattling,” Finegold said, her bright eyes locking tightly onto
his. “Be the peacemaker, be the visionary. Let us join forces, Kevin. You and
me. We can take control of this situation
together.
” She knew she had far overstepped her bounds by calling the President by his
first name, but her powers of personal seduction were one of her formidable
strengths, and she was determined to use them—even here, in the Oval Office,
with her adversary surrounded by his generals and chiefs, a place where she had
almost no leverage at all.

 
          
“First,
keep the carriers and the fighters away from
China
,” Finegold went on. “Their very presence is
destabilizing and a direct threat to
China
. Besides, we’ve proven that we can’t keep
our carriers safe from saboteurs. If the carriers aren’t within striking
distance,
China
won’t feel as if they need to use nuclear weapons to counterbalance the
threat.”

 
          
“I’ve
already ordered that the
George
Washington
and the
Carl Vinson
stay in the Pacific for the time being,” the President said. “Our fighters
based in
South Korea
,
Japan
, and
Alaska
are committed to the defense of
South Korea
right now. They’re not a threat to
China
.”

 
          
“Very
good,” Finegold said. “Second, keep the long-range bombers out of the fight.
Admiral Balboa has explained to me that the bombers are all on nuclear ground
alert. I don’t agree with the decision to put nuclear weapons on them, but
keeping them on the ground in the
United States
is the best option.” The President merely
nodded, casting an irritated glance at Balboa. So he
had
continued to talk with Finegold, he thought.

 
          
“Thirdly,
agree to make a statement saying that we support
eventual
reunification. You don’t have to mention or reverse your
statement supporting Chinese Taipei’s independence—the press reports say that
Lee Teng-hui’s government won’t survive for long anyway, that they’ve all fled
the country. If the Nationalists can’t survive, how can you be expected to
support them?”

 
          
“The
facts don’t agree with your sentiment, Senator,” the President said firmly.
“First of all, we have no independent confirmation that President Lee has fled
the country and his government has collapsed, and I am not going to abandon him
at his greatest hour of need.” Finegold heard how Martindale said the word
“Senator” instead of “Barbara,” and she could feel their intimate connection
breaking down—she realized that the President was made of sterner stuff than
she had ever given him credit for. He stepped back from her, reincluding the
others in their conversation as he went on: “Second, it’s obvious that
China
is not willing to peaceably wait a hundred
years for
Taiwan
to join them—they are not willing to wait a hundred
days
, or even a hundred
hours.
Their uninhibited use of nuclear
weapons proves that.”

 
          
“
China
pledges to cease all military attacks and
withdraw its troops from disputed territory.”

 
          
“That’s
not
what Foreign Minister Qian said,
Senator,” Secretary of State Hartman said. “
China
promised to stop all
nuclear
attacks and withdraw troops as soon as it is safe to do so.
That’s not the same as a military withdrawal.”

 
          
“You’re
mincing words, Mr. Secretary,” Finegold said. She watched the President relax,
allowing his advisor’s words to surround him like a stone wall. The spell was
now broken, Finegold realized—they were back to being adversaries again. So be
it. “What it means to me is that we’ll stop the nuclear threat, and that’s
what’s important here.” She turned to the President again. She had tried to use
reason and logic, tried to use a little vainglory, and tried a little
sweetness—and failed. Now she had to try the direct approach, in
none-too-subtle earnest: “It is
very
important that you
carefully
consider
this opportunity to make peace with the Chinese, Mr. President.”

 
          
The
President turned toward Finegold, both curled locks of silver hair suddenly,
angrily visible now on his forehead. Jerrod Hale uncrossed his arms, his body
stiff with anticipation; at that same instant, Philip Freeman shut off and
checked his pen-size pager in his jacket pocket, cleared his throat, and stood
to use the phone on the President’s desk. Both men’s actions did nothing to
relieve the thick tension that had just invaded the Oval Office. “Excuse me,
Senator, but that sounded like a threat to me,” he said.

 
          
“It’s
not a threat, Mr. President,” Barbara Finegold said. “But there have been . . .
rumblings, from certain important government quarters, that cast some doubt on
your legal and ethical motivations in this crisis, beginning with the
Persian Gulf
conflict—”

           
“No doubt bolstered by your Senate
hearings and your statements in the press,” Nicholas Gant interjected.

 
          
“We
are not going to tolerate intimidation or political blackmail, Senator,” Vice
President Whiting said angrily. “Your attacks on the President are nothing more
than partisan politics, taking advantage of the crisis in
Asia
to further your own political agenda. The
American people don’t buy it.”

 
          
“My
political agenda is not the topic of discussion, Mrs. Whiting— its the
President’s I’m worried about,” Finegold said bitterly. “I’m worried that the
President will sacrifice the lives of more brave soldiers and sailors just to
try to show who’s the cock of the roost! ”

 
          
“That
is
enough
, Senator! ” Jerrod Hale
exploded. “You are way out of line!”

 
          
“Hold
on, Jerrod, hold on,” the President said after listening to the message Philip
Freeman had just whispered in his ear. “I’ve just been informed that an attack
is under way against mainland
China
. An air raid has severely crippled the
Chinese armies that were poised to invade
Quemoy
Island
.”

 
          
“An
attack? Air raids?” Finegold sputtered. “Excuse me, Mr. President, but we’ve
been sitting here listening to you explain how you’ve got things under control,
that you’re not trying to stir up a military free-for- all in three different
regions of the world, that the capture of our sub by Iran was nothing more than
a cat-and-mouse game gone awry—and now you tell us that you’ve staged a sneak
attack on the Chinese army? ”

 
          
“You
don’t understand, Senator—this attack doesn’t involve any American military
forces,” the President said. “I haven’t authorized any air attacks against
China
.”

 
          
“But
whoever’s done it really did a good job,” Freeman added. “Initial estimates say
that up to one-tenth of the Chinese invasion force that had amassed in southern
Fujian
province near
Xiamen
was destroyed or crippled—that could be as
much as fifteen, twenty thousand troops and thousands of vehicles. Components
of four infantry divisions have been badly hit.”

 
          
“Four
divisions?” Secretary of Defense
Chastain remarked. “It must’ve taken three or four heavy bomb wings to do that
kind of damage.

 
          
“You’re
joking, right?” Senator Barbara Finegold asked, searching the President’s and
each of his advisors’ faces carefully for any signs of playacting. “You’re
telling me that someone—you don’t know who—has just killed as many as
twenty thousand men,
and you don’t know
who it was?”

 
          
“That’s
right, Senator,” the President replied with a sly smile. “But whoever it is,
they probably deserve a medal . . . unless they plunge us into global
thermonuclear war in the next few minutes.”

 
          
“Jesus
Christ...” Joseph Crane gasped. “You seem pretty damn casual about this, Mr.
Martindale! ”

 
          
“There’s
not a damn thing I can do about what’s happening out there, Mr. Crane,” the
President said, with his sly grin again. The only sign of concern on his face
were the two silver locks of hair curling down over his forehead, but both
Crane and Finegold were too stunned to notice. “If you’ll excuse us, we’re going
to start monitoring this situation.” The President and his advisors did not
wait until the members of Congress recovered from their surprise before he
stepped quickly out of the Oval Office to his private study.

OVER
SOUTH-CENTRAL
CHINA

THAT SAME TIME

 
          
David
Luger counted no fewer than twenty Chinese fighters buzzing in their area—it
was a miracle the EB-52 Megafortress did not collide with them.

 
          
Luger
and the crew of the Megafortress were skimming less than 200 feet above the
southwest side of the high, steep
Tienmu
Mountains
. The area was dotted with dozens of small
mining towns, and it took a lot of course changes to stay away from them as
they headed northbound. McLanahan and Elliott would have liked their overall
cruising altitude to be much lower—some of the Chinese fighter patrols were
going down as low as 10,000 feet to look for the Megafortress—but that was
impossible in this area. The valley floors were 500 to 1,000 feet above sea
level, but would rise to 5,000, 6,000, even 7,000 feet in less than ten miles.
The EB-52 was operating at peak efficiency, but even lightly loaded it could
not climb more than 3,000 feet per minute without ballooning over a ridge.