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Chapters (60)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Foreword
  4. Preface
  5. Prologue
  6. PART ONE
  7. Kharkiv, Ukraine
  8. The President’s weekly defense and foreign policy meeting, The Kremlin, Moscow
  9. Comprehensive Crisis Operations Management Center (CCOMC), Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), Belgium
  10. Briefing Room, Boryspill Air Force Base, Ukraine
  11. The Kremlin, Moscow
  12. Washington, D.C.
  13. Residence of DSACEUR La Belle Alliance, Erbisoeul, Belgium
  14. North Atlantic Council Conference Room, NATO Headquarters, Brussels
  15. Banks of River Daugava, Riga, Latvia
  16. Ādaži Training Camp, Latvia
  17. Riga, Latvia
  18. National Defense Control Center, Moscow
  19. Ādaži Training Camp, Latvia
  20. NATO Headquarters, Brussels
  21. National Armed Forces Joint HQ, Riga, Latvia
  22. Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), Mons, Belgium
  23. Central European Time 1600 hours, Eastern Standard Time, The White House, Washington, D.C.
  24. Lielvārde Air Base, Latvia
  25. Lielvārde Air Base, Latvia
  26. Camp David, Catoctin Mountains, Maryland
  27. British Embassy, 5, J.Alunana Street, Riga, Latvia
  28. The Russell Arms, Butler’s Cross, Buckinghamshire
  29. HMS Queen Elizabeth Middle Slip Jetty, HM Naval Base, Portsmouth
  30. National Defense Control Center, Moscow
  31. Comprehensive Crisis Operations Management Center (CCOMC) SHAPE headquarters, Mons, Belgium
  32. Somewhere in the forest, Gauja National Park, Latvia
  33. 10 Downing Street, Whitehall, London
  34. HMS Queen Elizabeth in the Baltic Sea
  35. Control Room, Kilo Class submarine Krasnokamensk, Baltic Sea
  36. PART TWO
  37. Prime Minister’s Office, House of Commons, London
  38. The Presidential Dacha Barvikha, Odintsovsky District of Moscow Oblast
  39. The White House, Washington, D.C.
  40. NATO Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium
  41. Gauja National Park Forest, Latvia
  42. PART THREE
  43. “The Tank,” Pentagon, Washington, D.C.
  44. North Atlantic Council NATO Headquarters, Brussels
  45. Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), Cheltenham, England
  46. GCHQ, Cheltenham, England
  47. Forest south of Pravdinsk, Kaliningrad, Russia
  48. Headquarters, Kaliningrad Special Region, Kaliningrad
  49. The President’s Office, The Kremlin, Moscow
  50. Forest south of Pravdinsk, Kaliningrad, Russia
  51. Comprehensive Crisis Operations Management Center (CCOMC) SHAPE headquarters, Mons, Belgium
  52. Command Bunker, Iskander Missile Battery Pravdinsk, Kaliningrad
  53. Over Wroclaw, Poland
  54. Forest north of Pravdinsk Iskander Battery, Kaliningrad
  55. 25,000 feet above Kaliningrad
  56. Close to the Pravdinsk Iskander Battery, Kaliningrad
  57. Epilogue
  58. Glossary
  59. Acknowledgments
  60. Notes

“You’ve got it in one, Prime Minister . . . if they weren’t matched by money spent on strong conventional forces. If you put all your money into Trident, you either accept defeat or you make mutually assured destruction—or MAD—more, not less, likely. Can you put your hand on your heart and say you’d order the captain of the at-sea Trident boat to launch when you know that, whatever happens, millions upon millions in Britain are going to die? I doubt it. When it gets to that point, you can forget the theology of nuclear deterrence. Second strikes and all that. It becomes a moral issue. Are you going to respond to one apocalyptic war crime with another?”

“You’re saying we’d have been better putting our money into conventional defense?”

“Spot on again, Prime Minister, although backed up by Trident; conventional and nuclear deterrence are two sides of the same coin. As I’ve told you, one needs the other to work properly. But there’s more to it than that. It’s one thing to have capability, you’ve also got to communicate your determination to use it. That means telling the world, as your predecessor did, that your army isn’t for fighting but is there for humanitarian relief, is not only downright dishonest, it’s fucking dangerous. Our enemies have been watching and listening. Wars start when one side thinks the other side is so weak it can get one over it. Which is why we are where we now are . . .”

“So, where does that leave us, CDS?”

“We’re going to have to be seriously clever, Prime Minister,” said Kydd, looking somber. “Either that or kiss goodbye, not only to the Baltics, but to human civilization as we know it . . . Which is why, right now, I see a sneak attack on Kaliningrad as the only possible option. You need to speak to President Dillon and the NATO Sec General as soon as possible, if we are to begin to get this show on the road before next Christmas.”

Little looked at Walker. “Trev, fix that. As soon as you can, please.”

Then he turned to Everage. “And you’re sacked!”

“But, Oliver,” Everage spluttered in indignation. “You agreed those cuts. You were the one who demanded savings to deal with the deficit. Surely you—”

“Enough,” the Prime Minister interrupted. “I agree. I did. But that was then and this is now. I’ve changed my mind, as I’m entitled to. The military clearly have no confidence in you and nor do I. Leave now. Your resignation speech will have to wait as well. CDS and I have got much bigger problems to deal with.”

1900 hours, Saturday, June 3, 2017

The Presidential Dacha Barvikha, Odintsovsky District of Moscow Oblast