Wild Fire

by Nelson DeMille

  Scott Landsdale inquired, “Does Mikhail know anything about Project Green? Or Wild Fire?”

  “Of course not,” Malox replied. He thinks these devices are to be planted in cities in the Middle East, which makes sense to him and is all he needs to know.”

  “Where is he now?”

  “He lives on the East Coast and works for an American university. That’s all you need to know. He understands that this is urgent.” Madox smiled and said, “For fifty thousand dollars a visit, I think he’ll get here as soon as possible.”

  “And you trust this guy?” Landsdale asked.

  “Not at all. But I offered him a million dollars if and when the nukes detonate. Prorated, of course, based on how many detonate and the approximate yield.” He added, “Mikhail has good incentive.”

  Landsdale asked, “And when they go off in American cities—rather than Middle Eastern cities—how will Mikhail react to that?”

  “I have no idea. And does it matter?”

  “What happens to Mikhail after the detonations?”

  Madox commented, “You ask a lot of questions, Scott.”

  “I’m very security conscious. I have this unsettling thought of Mikhail having one vodka too many and telling someone that his part-time job is maintaining nuclear devices at the Custer Hill Club.”

  “I don’t intend for that to happen.”

  “Does that mean you’re taking care of Mikhail?”

  Madox glanced at the other three Board members, then said to Landsdale, “Don’t worry about it.”

  Harry Muller listened to a gentlemen’s discussion of murdering a witness. If Mikhail, who only knew a piece of this, was going to get whacked, then he, Harry Muller, didn’t stand much of a chance, though he knew his chances had been around zero anyway.

  Madox continued, “Obviously, this is all on a fast track since Detective Muller’s unannounced visit, but I see no reason why we can’t get Project Green in place in the next few days.” He glanced at Landsdale and went on, “In fact, gentlemen, our hand has been forced, and we have no choice but to move forward.”

  Paul Dunn, the president’s adviser, said, “Bain, I’m thinking we could hide those nuclear devices until a better time—”

  “The time, Paul, is now. I believe—from recent information—there are people in the government who are beginning to suspect something, and we have to go forward before they show up here. Those nukes need to be at their destinations in a day or two, and you need to be back in Washington, close to the president, so that when we initiate Project Green, he will initiate Wild Fire.” Madox asked Paul Dunn, “What does the president’s schedule look like on Monday and Tuesday?”

  Dunn glanced at a piece of paper in front of him. “The president will be in the White House Monday morning—Columbus Day—then he flies to Dearborn, Michigan, arriving at Oakland County International Airport at about three-thirty. Election Day is less than three weeks away, as you know, so the president will make a speech in support of Dick Posthumus for governor of Michigan. Then, he motorcades to the Ritz-Carlton in Dearborn, where he’ll make a dinner speech in support of Thaddeus McCotter for congressman of that district. Then, he leaves on Air Force One and should be back at Andrews Air Force Base about ten P.M., then he helicopters to the White House and arrives on the South Lawn about ten-thirty.”

  Madox thought about that, then said, “Monday, Columbus Day, might be a day that Islamic terrorists would decide to detonate nuclear bombs in American cities.”

  Paul Dunn said, “Bain, for a variety of reasons, a holiday is not a good day to . . . to do this.” He explained, “For one thing, neither I nor Ed will be with the president when he’s on the road Monday, and Scott will not be at the White House either.” He looked at Landsdale for confirmation.

  Scott Landsdale said, “I have a company picnic and softball game on Monday.”

  Madox laughed. “Well, then, we have to postpone the nuclear attack on America.” He turned to Edward Wolffer. “Maybe we need some information on JEEP to help us make this decision.”

  Wolffer nodded and replied, “You probably all know a few details about JEEP—the Joint Emergency Evacuation Plan. During the Cold War, the plan called for the president and a select group of military and political leaders to be taken as quickly as possible—by vehicle or helicopter—to either Andrews or National Airport, whichever is closer to where the president happens to be.” He continued, “At the designated airport is an E-4B jet aircraft ready for takeoff at a moment’s notice. This aircraft is called the National Emergency Airborne Command Post—NEACP—known by its code word of Kneecap, sometimes referred to as the Doomsday Plane.”

  Wolffer glanced around the room and continued, “The president, of course, would have the nuclear football with him, and he could launch a retaliatory attack from the airborne command post. But there is a post-9/11 variation of JEEP and Kneecap, which goes into effect when the attack on America is not from intercontinental ballistic missiles. If it’s determined that the attack was initiated by terrorists, then it’s assumed that we don’t have the ten or fifteen minutes’ warning that an inbound ICBM would give us, and that a hidden nuke could be detonated in Washington at any second. Therefore, the response is different—the president needs to get on the Marine helicopter on the White House lawn as soon as possible, and he’ll be flown by helicopter to a secure location, far away from Washington, which, of course, is a potential terrorist target.”

  Madox said, “Well, we know it’s not one of the cities on our target list for obvious reasons of national survival.” He smiled and added, “Not to mention that you gentlemen will all be there at zero hour. You can all look like heroes by staying at your posts during the panic and confusion that will follow the nuclear detonations. You three men—Ed, Paul, and Scott—will need to influence events.”

  Wolffer noted, “In fact, we’ve already done that by pushing for this variation on JEEP.” He explained, “The Marine helicopter is not as well equipped as Air Force One or the E-4B Doomsday Plane to handle large volumes of communication or certain types of encrypted messages, so that time between attack and response will be largely eaten up by the evacuation procedures, and there’s less likelihood of the president receiving any messages or getting bad advice that might cause him to think about interfering with Wild Fire.” Wolffer concluded, “The time the president spends on the Marine helicopter is always a period of less-than-ideal command, control, and communication.”

  Madox responded, “That’s actually quite ideal for us.” He asked Paul Dunn, “So, what does the president’s schedule look like on Tuesday?”

  “The president,” Dunn replied, “will be in the White House all day. At two P.M., he is hosting a White House conference on Minority Homeownership. The rest of the day, he will be in the Oval Office. Dinner is with friends, select staff, and the first lady.” Dunn added, “Scott should be working late that day in his West Wing office, and Ed should be as close to the secretary of defense as possible all day. Jim should be in the Pentagon, keeping track of the movements of the Joint Chiefs.” Dunn concluded, “I will be dining at the White House.”

  Bain Madox seemed lost in thought, then said, “All right . . . Tuesday seems like the best day to initiate Project Green. That gives us a comfort zone to accomplish what needs to be done.” He explained, “First, Mikhail needs to be here, and he may need some time to service the nuclear devices. Second, I need to be certain my aircraft are here and ready for departure. Third, I need to have the diesel generators serviced to power up the ELF antenna. Then, the ELF transmitter needs to be checked out, which I’ll do myself . . . and then there are the logistics of the two flights to the designated cities.”

  Harry listened to Madox, but he wasn’t quite sure what the guy was talking about, though everyone else seemed to know.

  Madox continued, “So, let’s say Tuesday, early evening. I know the president retires early, and I don’t want him dragged out of bed and put on the Marine helicopter in
his pajamas.” He grinned. “Let’s say sometime during the dinner hour when Paul and the first lady are with him, which will make the helicopter evacuation much easier for everyone. Exact time to be determined by me, and passed on to Scott and Ed, who will be working late that night in their offices.” He looked at General Hawkins and said, “And you, Jim, will be working late in the Pentagon.”

  Hawkins nodded.

  Madox finished, “So, gentlemen, the New World begins Tuesday evening—three days and about three hours from now. And you will all stay in touch with one another. And you, Scott, will calm down the situation by announcing that you have hard intelligence that the cities that have experienced a nuclear attack are the only cities that will suffer this fate.”

  Landsdale nodded. “I’ll do my best, but not many people are believing the CIA these days.”

  “The White House believes you about the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Which, by the way, I don’t think exist.”

  Landsdale smiled and replied, “Maybe they do, maybe they don’t. In any case, post–Wild Fire, that will be a moot question, which is good for everyone.”

  Madox nodded and turned to Wolffer. “How does Wild Fire actually go into effect? Take us through this.”

  Edward Wolffer explained, “After it is reported and confirmed that an American city or cities have been attacked with a weapon of mass destruction—which in this case will be nuclear—then the secretary of defense sends a coded message to Colorado Springs that says simply, ‘Wild Fire is go,’ followed by the response level: the A-list, or the A- and B-lists.” He looked around the table and continued, “If Washington itself has been destroyed, and/or there is no message from the secretary of defense or the president, then Wild Fire goes into effect anyway.”

  No one commented, so Wolffer went on, “The protocols and safeguards are similar to the ones in place for MAD, and although Wild Fire is less of a hair-trigger response than MAD, this is one of those rare cases when common sense prevails. In other words, as soon as the people in Colorado Springs know—from any reliable source—that an American city has been nuked, they will send out an encoded message to the missile silos that have been designated as Wild Fire response sites, and to naval operations in Norfolk and Pearl Harbor, who will contact the submarine fleet. These subs and silos will be given a pre-launch command. Wild Fire calls for a thirty-minute interval between pre-launch and launch.”

  Wolffer made eye contact with each man. “During this time, the people in Colorado Springs will await any encrypted message from the president that may modify or cancel the launch.”

  Landsdale said, “I thought the president couldn’t cancel the Wild Fire response.”

  Wolffer replied, “He can, but only if he has overwhelming evidence that the nuclear attack did not originate from Islamic terrorists. And he’s got only thirty minutes to come up with this. And if he’s on the Marine helicopter, flying to a secure location, there is less chance of him receiving such information. As we discussed earlier, there is a strong presumption of guilt against Islamic terrorists, especially since 9/11. In effect, these nuclear devices will appear to have Al Qaeda’s fingerprints all over them. Lacking any other evidence, such as that the attack was initiated by North Korea, for instance, or, as wildly improbable as this sounds, some domestic group that knows of Wild Fire”—he smiled—“Wild Fire targets the land of Islam. In effect, we shoot first and ask questions afterward. If we were wrong about the source of the attack, we’ve still accomplished a worthwhile goal.”

  Madox said, “It’s my understanding from Paul that this president will not attempt to cancel Wild Fire.”

  Paul Dunn responded, “The president was again briefed on Wild Fire, right after 9/11, and very recently on the one-year anniversary. He seems comfortable with this and understands that all he has to do is nothing.”

  Wolffer said, “If Colorado Springs has heard nothing from the president after thirty minutes, then that silence is an order to launch. So within, say, an hour of the nuclear attack on America, we will have accomplished the nuclear obliteration of those responsible.”

  Landsdale pointed out, “I hope not. We are responsible.”

  Madox didn’t see the humor and replied, “No, Scott, the Islamic extremists are ultimately responsible for the destruction of their homeland. They’ve been fucking around with us for too long, and if you play with fire, you get radiation burns.”

  Landsdale commented, “Whatever makes you feel good.” He asked Madox, “What are the logistics of getting these suitcase bombs to where they belong?”

  “I have two Citation jet aircraft, which are unfortunately not here at the moment, but I’ve contacted the pilots, and the aircraft are inbound to the Adirondack Regional Airport. Sometime tomorrow, or Monday the latest, when Mikhail tells me that the nukes are hot, the pilots and co-pilots will transport the four suitcases in two Jeeps to the airport and put them aboard my two aircraft.” Madox glanced at the black suitcase and said, “They’re called suitcase bombs, but, as you can see, they don’t look like anything you’ve ever seen from American Tourister or Samsonite, so before they’re out in public, we’ll put each of them in a wardrobe trunk with a carbon steel padlock.” He continued, “Then, the pilots and co-pilots will fly to two different cities, where they’ll take a taxi to designated hotels—with their suitcases—and await further instructions.”

  Landsdale asked, “Can you trust these guys?”

  “They’ve been with me for a long time, and they’re all former military. They follow orders.”

  “Will they be told when to leave their rooms?”

  Madox replied, “Unfortunately, they’ll still be in the rooms when the suitcases detonate. Obviously, they don’t know what’s in the suitcases, but they know the contents are valuable and can’t be left unattended.”

  Harry Muller listened to all this. He’d lost track of the body count a while ago, but he knew his chances of getting out of there alive just dropped a few more points below zero.

  He stretched his ankle shackles, then pushed his foot down on the chain. He realized he wasn’t going to break the shackles, but his hands were free, and assuming none of these men were armed, maybe he could break out. Harry glanced furtively at the door, then the curtained windows.

  Madox noticed and said to him, “Are we boring you? Do you have someplace to go?”

  Harry replied, “Fuck you.”

  Paul Dunn said, “Bain, we don’t need him here any longer, if we ever did.”

  Madox replied, “I’m afraid this is the best place for Mr. Muller for now. We don’t want him speaking to the guards and upsetting them with crazy talk about nuclear bombs.” He looked at Muller, then said to the others, “I have a sedative on the way here. Mr. Muller needs to be asleep until Tuesday.”

  No one responded, except Harry, who said to the other four men, “This bastard is going to kill me. You understand that?”

  No one spoke, or looked at Harry, except Scott Landsdale, who patted Harry on the shoulder. “No one is going to hurt you.”

  Harry pushed Landsdale’s arm away and snapped, “You’re all fucking murderers.”

  Madox interjected, “Harry, you’re getting yourself worked up for no reason. Maybe you need that sedative now. Or do you want to shut up and hear the rest of this?”

  Harry didn’t answer, and Madox said to his Board, “As I was saying, the pilots and co-pilots will remain at their posts, and sometime on Tuesday, when Paul tells me the president and first lady are dining in the White House, I’ll activate the ELF transmitter here and send the coded radio signal that will detonate all four nuclear devices.” He continued, “By the time the president has finished his salad, he’ll have gotten the terrible news, and the clock will begin ticking toward Wild Fire as the president and the first lady are flown by helicopter to a secure destination.” He asked, “Are any of you designated to be evacuated with him?”

  Paul Dunn replied, “I am, but only if I happen to be close by.”
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  “Well,” Madox observed, “you can’t be much closer than at the same dinner table.”

  General Hawkins cleared his throat and said to Madox, “I know we once discussed the placement of the nuclear devices, but now that the time is here, I’d like to know specifically what you have in mind. You mentioned two cities, but we have four nuclear devices.”

  Bain Madox said, “As I indicated, these are low-yield weapons, and perhaps not as reliable as we’d like. So, in consultation with Mikhail, the plan is to place two suitcases in each of two cities. This is so that if one doesn’t detonate, we still have the other to rely on. If both detonate at maximum yield, we have a nicer explosion.”

  He looked around the table and continued, “So for instance, if we pick, say, San Francisco as one city, then the pilot checks into one hotel with one suitcase, and the co-pilot checks into another nearby hotel with the other suitcase. Now we have two ground zeros, which will be within the total destruction radius of each other so that if only one device goes off, it will obliterate the hotel of the other. This is important so that afterward an unexploded suitcase—and a stunned pilot—are not found in a hotel room that can be traced back to . . . well, me. In other words, one explosion will destroy the evidence of a possible dud bomb—and the pilot—in another location. If neither device detonates, then I will call my pilots with further instructions.”

  General Hawkins asked, “How reliable, exactly, are those devices?”

  Madox replied, “Mikhail has assured me that each device is over ninety percent reliable as to detonation. Regarding their maximum design yield, we won’t know until they detonate.” He explained, “As I said, they’re old—about 1977 vintage—and because they’re mini-nukes, they’re actually more sophisticated and complex than, say, a one-megaton atomic warhead. But they have been maintained by Mikhail, who tells me the design is good, and the detonating device and plutonium core are in excellent condition.”

  General Hawkins commented, “Weapons, especially nuclear weapons, are the one area in which the Soviets excelled.” He smiled and added, “During the Cold War, we used to joke that we didn’t have to worry about Soviet suitcase nuclear bombs because the Soviets didn’t have the technology to build a suitcase.”