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War II, and that was ancient history as far as General Leiber was concerned.
There was no way, no earthly way, that either the U.S. or the USSR, or China
for that matter-and everyone knew how crazy they were-was going to provoke a
thermonuclear exchange and risk everything. Including their summer homes.
General Leiber had counted on that. It was his sole rationale. No realistic
threat of a world war existed in the nuclear age, and therefore America's
military might was so much window dressing. And given that assumption, who the
hell cared if a nuclear missile couldn't get out of its silo or the occasional
aircraft fell out of the sky? It was all for show.
Until exactly 3:13 this morning, when a steam locomotive struck within yards
of the White House. Now the entire nuclear force was on Defcon Two. If the
Soviets so much as got wind of that, then they would go to their defense
condition two-or whatever they called it over there. And if the Russkies went
to red alert, so would the Chinese. Itchy fingers would hover over
missile-firing keys and all it would take to ignite global conflagration would
be a sea gull showing up on some idiot's radar at the wrong moment.
General Leiber cleared his Pentagon desk of the cold remnants of his lobster
meal with a swipe of one uniformed arm. He moved his telephone to the bare
center of his desk. Beside it he placed a yellow legal pad and two
number-three pencils.
He was going to have to deal with this matter. Forget profit. It was time to
worry about his ass.
First he would have to figure out what to tell the President. He couldn't tell
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him the truth. Not without looking like a total fool. They would laugh at him,
the general who ordered a high state of alert over a falling locomotive. Never
mind the very real nature of the crisis. The press boys wouldn't address that.
They'd go with the lighter side of the story. In no time, General Leiber knew,
he would be reduced in rank. Probably to one-star. Maybe worse. He tried to
remember what rank was right below general. He could not. He'd been with the
Pentagon so long he had blotted out his pre-general days.
"What I need is a better fix on the threat factor," he said, sitting up. He
began dialing. He knew a guy at NASA who might give a reading on this thing. A
blinking red button indicated an incoming call. Annoyed, General Leiber
transferred to the incoming call.
"General Leiber," he said crisply.
"This is the President, General," a stern voice said. "I'm still working on
it, Mr. President."
"I can't stay down here any longer," the President said. "I've just been
looking at teletype reports. The media want to know where I am."
"Let me suggest that you put out a press release, sir."
"Press release! Are you serious? You don't cover firstday absenteeism with a
press release. I have to put in an appearance."
Mr President, let me tell you why you don't want to do that."
"What is it?"
"I didn't want to tell you this until we have more information, but we have a
tentative ID on the hostile."
"Hostile? Hostile what?" the President wanted to know.
"It's just an expression, sir."
"Oh. Go ahead."
"Well, Mr. President, I don't know how to break this to you-"
"I have to know. I'm President now."
"Yes, Mr. President," said General Martin S. Leiber, taking a deep breath. He
plunged in. "The hostile is what we military call a Kinetic Kill Vehicle, or
KKV for short."
"Good grief I never heard of the KKV."
"With all due respect, Mr. President, you are new at this."
"Yes, but I thought I'd been thoroughly briefed by my predecessor."
"It's a complicated world, Mr. President. Perhaps he overlooked KKV's. They've
just been deployed for the first time."
"Still, I must return to the Oval Office."
"We could be just minutes away from a second strike, sir. "
"You've been saying that for hours. Everyone's been saying that. Look, this is
day one of my administration."
"It's already evening, sir. Almost nine o'clock. Why don't you get some rest
and we can discuss this in the morning? When you're fresh."
"I've made my decision. I'm coming up. I want you in the White House
immediately for a complete briefing. Everything you know, General."
"Yes, sir, Mr. President," General Leiber said reluctantly. "Will there be
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