“Yes, ma’am,” said MacWhite. “We’ve also got some satellite photos to show you.” He nodded at Bear, who unpacked his laptop, placed it on the table where Dillon could see it and switched it on. MacWhite then leaned forward to brief her on his recent Tandberg VTC conversation with Admiral Howard. The latter’s report had been devastating in its implications.

“Madam President, Admiral Howard was talking in his capacity as COM EUCOM . . . forgive me, ma’am.” MacWhite apologized for his free use of acronyms. “That’s Commander European Command. SACEUR is double-hatted as a national, as well as a NATO commander. He reports that USAFE, that’s US Air Force Europe, have managed to get a pair of F-16s out of Riga. They were the advance flight of the eight due to land last night, following your approval of the mission on Thursday. They took off from Lielvārde Air Base in Latvia as it was being attacked by Russian aircraft, as a prelude to what we must assume will be an airborne assault to seize the airfield.”

“What happened to the other F-16s we ordered to Latvia?” Dillon looked anxious, obviously expecting bad news.

“We turned them around in mid-air when we picked up the first intel reports of an imminent Russian attack. There was no point in risking them when any deterrent effect had already been lost.”

Dillon nodded.

“The F-16 flight commander, Major Bertinetti, was ordered to return to his base at Aviano to prevent the Russians capturing any US fast jets, but shortly after takeoff he destroyed two Russian aircraft, probably Su-25 Frogfoots. He was attacked as he was on the runway. So it was self-defense. But the really bad news is that we had around three hundred men from the Four-Thirty-Fifth Contingency Response Group on the ground at Lielvārde. We’ve lost contact with them and we have had to assume they’re either dead or prisoners.”

Dillon looked puzzled and MacWhite explained. “We had to send them there to set up the operating base before the F-16s could land.”

“But the F-16s are no longer there,” Dillon exclaimed in annoyance.

No one had thought to explain the logistical complexities of the operation to her and Bear guessed from her frown that she must have assumed the fighter planes could just fly in and bug out, as and when required.

“Exactly . . .”

Bear could see that MacWhite had decided to bludgeon through this issue as they had discussed in the helicopter. The President was the Commander-in-Chief and it was MacWhite’s duty to brief and advise her, but she also had to take some responsibility for learning the basics of the way things worked on the ground. This crisis was already developing a dynamic of its own; a dynamic that was speeding up, and MacWhite did not have the time to explain every detail of what was planned and the consequences. That way nothing would get done.