State Of The Union

“That’s true. The president green-lit a series of tactical teams to go to the European locations where our man-portable nukes were hidden, only to discover that they had all been removed.”

“By the Russians, of course.”

“That’s what we’re assuming,” replied Morrell.

“So, where’s that leave us?”

“It leaves us with only one operational nuke.”

“Frank Leighton’s,” said Harvath.

“Correct.”

“But if the Russians knew the identities of all of the other Dark Night operatives and the location of their nukes, how’d they miss Leighton?”

“We don’t think they missed him,” said Morrell.

“Wait a second. You think they not only know who Leighton is, but where he and his nuke are?”

“Yes.”

“But why would they purposely let him slip through the net?”

“He isn’t all the way through yet.”

Harvath wasn’t following. “I can understand them wanting to get their hands on Gary. He was in charge of the operation. He had knowledge that could prove valuable to them. They might have even believed he knew about more than just his own op, but Leighton doesn’t make any sense. If they let him get this far only to grab him, then…”

Morrell almost could see the light bulb go on over Harvath’s head as his voice trailed off.

“Then?” coaxed Morrell, leaning back in his chair.

“They would be catching Leighton, an American, in the act of actually trying to smuggle a nuclear device into their country,” said Harvath, the pieces beginning to tumble into place.

“And they could claim it was a covert attempt at a first strike by the United States.”

“But I’m sure we would disavow any knowledge of Leighton. It would be a tough sell, butone guy withone nukecouldn’t bring down an entire country. It would be somewhat embarrassing for us, but-” Harvath let the sentence hang in the air as he thought about it for a moment and then realizing said, “Shit.”

“What?” asked Morrell.

“If the Russians plan to blackmail us failed somehow, they’d have a huge ace up their sleeves. With ten other American-made man-portable nukes in their possession, they could lie and claim they had found them hidden all over their country. It would be no use for us to disavow Leighton. It would just look like he was the only American operative unlucky enough to get caught and that we were denying what everyone else would see as a fact. Add it all up and the Russians would have an overwhelming case against us as being the aggressors. Considering the state of international opinion against us these days, the rest of the world would probably buy the Russian story no matter what they had done to start everything.That’s why they let Leighton live.”

“That’s what we believe.”

“Then we’ve got to stop Leighton. The Russians probably have him under surveillance right now and are just waiting for him to sail into their territorial waters so they can pop him.”

“Well, you’ve uncovered theman part of the Minotaur. Now let’s get to thebull.”

As Avigliano slid three hard-shell equipment cases out of the closet and opened the lids so Harvath could see what was contained inside, Morrell continued. “Exact working replicas of the American nukes the Russians already have in their possession.”

“The beauty of it all is that they aren’t even a quarter of the weight of the real deal,” added Carlson. “One person can lift these without even breaking a sweat.”

“But that’s the thing. They aren’t real,” said Harvath. “You’ve got all the Preparation, but no H.”

“Yeah, but the Russians don’t know that,” answered DeWolfe.

“What are we planning to do, plant fake nukes all across Russia?”

“Not only are we planning to do it, we’re going to do it,” answered Morrell. “Carlson and DeWolfe will be on one team, and Avigliano and I will be on the other. We’re going to conduct a whirlwind photo tour of as much of the country and its critical infrastructure as possible.”

“They look awesome,” replied Harvath, “but there’s still only two of them.”

Morrell empty the contents of a padded manila envelope onto the table. “That’s why we have a little something I like to refer to as our force multiplier.”

Harvath examined the square metal objects. “Interchangeable serial number plates. Good move.”

“The Russians are going to enhance the photos we send them, just like we did theirs.”

“Let’s say they do buy it, where’s that put us?”

“At best, they think America had another ace up her sleeve that they never caught and the board is rebalanced.”

“And at worst?” asked Harvath.

“They don’t buy it and you sure as hell better pull off your part of the assignment.”

“Which is?”

“Taking down their air defense system.”

“Well at least I get the easy job,” said Harvath. “Russia’s about how big a country, do you think?”

“Six million, five hundred fifty-two thousand, seven hundred square miles,” offered Avigliano. “Please make sure you let Agent Kate Palmer know that in addition to being tall, blond, andgood -looking, I also have quite a head for geography.”