"The hell with it," he said aloud. He didn't have time for this. The General backed up a few feet and started to maneuver around before the driver even got out. He didn't check his mirror. As he changed lanes, he was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer doing about twenty-five. It was enough to drive the General's car over the concrete divider and into the face of another car. Wilkes was killed instantly.

CHAPTER 39

Echoes

Elizabeth Elliot stared blankly at the far wall as she sipped her coffee. It was the only thing that made sense. All the warnings they'd had and ignored. It all fit. The Soviet military was making a power-play, and targeting Bob Fowler had to be part of it. We should have been there, she thought. He wanted to go to the game, and everyone expected him to, because Dennis Bunker owned one of the teams. I would have been there, too. I could be dead now. If they wanted to kill Bob, then they also wanted to kill me

PRESIDENT NARMONOV:

I AM GRATIFIED THAT WE AGREE ON THE NECESSITY FOR CAUTION AND REASON. I MUST NOW CONFER WITH MY ADVISERS SO THAT WE MAY ASCERTAIN THE CAUSE OF THIS HORRIBLE EVENT, AND ALSO TO BEGIN RESCUE OPERATIONS. I WILL KEEP YOU INFORMED.

The reply that came back was almost immediate.

PRESIDENT FOWLER: WE WILL STAND BY.

"That's simple enough," the President said, looking at the screen.

"Think so?" Elliot asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Robert, we've had a nuclear explosion at a location that you were supposed to be at. That's number one. Number two: we've had reports of missing Soviet nuclear weapons. Number three: how do we really know that it's Narmonov at the other end of this computer modem?" Liz asked.

"What?"

"Our best intelligence suggests the possibility of a coup d'etat in Russia, doesn't it? But we're acting as though such intelligence did not exist, even though we've had what very easily could be a tactical nuclear weapon - exactly what we think is missing - explode over here. We are not considering all of the potential dimensions here." Dr Elliot turned to the speaker phone. "General Borstein, how hard is it to get a nuclear device into the United States?"

"With our border controls, it's child's play," NORAD replied. "What are you saying, Dr Elliot?"

"I'm saying that we've had hard intel for some time now that Narmonov is in political trouble - that his military is acting up, and that there's a nuclear dimension. Okay, what if they stage a coup? A Sunday evening - Monday morning - is good timing, because everyone's asleep. We always assumed that the nuclear element was for domestic blackmail - but what if the operation was more clever than that? What if they figured they could decapitate our government in order to prevent our interference with their coup? Okay, the bomb goes off, and Durling is on Kneecap - just like he is right now - and they're talking to him. They can predict what we're going to think, and they pre-plan their statements over the Hot Line. We go on automatic alert, and so do they - you see? We can't interfere with the coup in any way."