"General," it was a woman's voice, probably that Elliot woman, SACEUR thought. I want to be very clear on this. Are you sure that the Soviets initiated the attack?"

"Yes, ma'am!" SACEUR replied heatedly. "The commander of the Berlin Brigade is probably dead. The XO is Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Long. I know the kid, he's good. He says the Russians opened fire on the brigade without warning while they were responding to the alert you sent out from D.C. They didn't even have their tubes loaded. I repeat, ma'am, the Russians are the ones who started shooting, and that's definite. Now, do I have your permission to reinforce?"

"What happens if you don't?" Fowler asked.

"In that case, Mr President, you have about five thousand letters to write."

"Look, okay, send in the reinforcements. Tell Berlin to take no offensive action. We're trying to get things settled down."

"I wish you luck, Mr President, but right now I have a command to run."

PRESIDENT NARMONOV:

WE HAVE RECEIVED WORD FROM EUROPE THAT A SOVIET TANK REGIMENT LAUNCHED AN ATTACK ON OUR BERLIN BRIGADE WITHOUT WARNING. I JUST TALKED TO OUR COMMANDER, AND HE CONFIRMS THAT THIS IS TRUE. WHAT IS HAPPENING? WHY DID YOUR TROOPS ATTACK OUR TROOPS?

"Have we heard anything from Berlin yet?" Narmonov asked.

The Defense Minister shook his head. "No, the lead reconnaissance elements should be getting in now. Radio communications are a disaster. Our VHP radios work poorly in cities because they are line-of-sight only. What we're getting is fragmented, mainly tactical communications between sub-unit commanders. We have not established contact with the regimental commander. He may be dead. After all," Defense pointed out, "the Americans like to go after commanders first."

"So, we really do not know what is going on?"

"No, but I am certain that no Soviet commander would open fire on Americans without just cause!"

Golovko closed his eyes and swore under his breath. Now the Defense Minister was showing the strain.

"Sergey Nikolay'ch?" Narmonov asked.

"We have nothing more to report from KGB. You may expect that all of the American land-based missiles are fully on alert, as are all their submarine missiles at sea. We estimate that the American missile submarines in port will all have sortied in a matter of hours."

"And our missile submarines?"

"One is leaving the dock now. The rest are preparing to do so. It will take most of the day to get them all out."

"Why are we so slow?" Narmonov demanded.

"The Americans have two complete crews for their boats. We have only one. It's simply easier for them to surge them out this way."

"So, you are telling me that their strategic forces are totally ready, or nearly so, and ours are not?"

"All of our land-based rockets are fully prepared."

"President Narmonov, your reply to the Americans ?"

"What do I say now?" Andrey Il'ych asked.

A colonel entered the room. "Report from Berlin." He handed it to the Defense Minister.