Page 103 of The Devil's Ransom

Secretary of State Amanda Croft said, “Just what we predicted. They’re saying they have no idea what we’re accusing them of, and are professing confusion about the entire event.”

“Your take?”

“Well, I obviously wasn’t in the room, but the Swiss seem to think it’s genuine. According to the Swiss proconsul, they were genuinely taken aback, first by the demand for a meeting, then by what the meeting was about. According to him, they didn’t even know we’d launched a rocket to the space station. Had no idea. But once he relayed the message, they went into overdrive.”

“What’s that mean?”

“According to him, they took the threat seriously. He said they assumed the regime change comment was real, and this was the end.”

Palmer said, “Good. Do we still have access to the Swiss, if they decide to send something else?”

“Yes. They’re standing by, but I’ll tell you, eventheythink this is a trumped-up thing to depose the mullahs. They aren’t buying it.”

“Well, when that Valkyrie capsule either destroys the space station or comes home to earth in a flaming mass, they’ll see it wasn’t trumped up. It’s real.”

“I’m just relaying what they said.”

“Do you mean they believe we’d kill our own people just to start a war?”

“I don’t know. All I know is they don’t believe the Iranians are behind it, and aren’t even sure it’s real, because we’ve kept a lid on the entire problem set. It’s not like Apollo 13, where the entire world was watching. We’ve kept it secret.”

“Okay, okay, that was by design. General Oglethorpe?”

The SECDEF said, “I’ve got the Fifth Fleet notified, with all ships in the Hormuz Strait on alert for attacks, with the USSNimitzcarrier strike group taking the lead. The 2nd Bomb Wing at Barksdale has a warning order, as do the B-2 bombers at Whiteman. The 82nd Airborne is on alert, as are two Ranger Battalions and the 3rd Infantry Division. The 173rd in Italy is mobilized, and we have a slew of assets in Europe prepositioned because of Ukraine that we can use, but our main problem is staging.

“We gave up Bagram Airfield, and Iraq won’t let us in without significantly tipping our hand. In other words, I have them readyto go, but there’s no way to pre-stage without telling Iran we’re coming for them. We need to put something out officially, letting the world know what’s going on, because the minute we start moving, Iran will assume it’s for hostile reasons.”

President Hannister said, “We will, if we have to, but now’s not the time. We do that publicly, and I believe we’ll have crossed the Rubicon. It’ll be a self-fulfilling prophecy.” He looked at Palmer and said, “Continue.”

Palmer said, “Yes, sir.” He turned to the Director of National Intelligence and said, “What’s the assessment from the intelligence community?”

The DNI said, “I’d like each component to talk directly, starting with General Kirby from the National Reconnaissance Office.”

Wolffe knew that the NRO controlled the U.S. arsenal of spy satellites, and was interested in his response.

General Kirby said, “We’re seeing significant movement from all of the key players in the region. Hezbollah in the Bekaa Valley is showing abnormal activity, the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units—the militias under the sway of Iran—are creating new signatures we haven’t seen before, and the IRGC in Iran itself looks like someone kicked over an anthill. Basically, we’re seeing massive displacement of irregular forces, but none of it is indicative of a pending attack. Or at least pointing to a single attack.”

Palmer said, “So we know they’re taking the threat seriously. NSA? What are you seeing?”

General Baggetti said, “For Dark Star, it’s a little strange. It’s all confusion inside the IRGC, with elements blaming each other for starting a war, and nobody admitting they’ve conducted the operation. Basically, it’s a bunch of higher-ups trying to pin downwho did the hit. Because we said it, they believe they did it, but they can’t figure out who is responsible in their network cells.”

President Hannister rolled his eyes and said, “That’s just great. Are you saying it’s some rogue element that hacked us and they don’t know who it is? So they can’t actually turn it off?”

“Maybe, maybe not. If they find the cell, I’m confident they’ll turn it off. They don’t want to die any more than we want to go to war. The question is whether this really is a rogue element, or if it’s so compartmented that only a select few know about it, and the rest are now running around in the dark. Given the stakes of the attack, that’s possible. They know our ability to listen, and would want plausible deniability, which is what they’re getting with the SIGINT reflections. Could be either one.”

D/CIA Kerry Bostwick cut in at that point, saying, “Or maybe they aren’t behind it. Jesus Christ, do you hear yourself? We have SIGINT reflections showing the Iranian command is dumbfounded at what’s going on, and you turn that around to mean that’s precisely what they intended to happen, and proof they’re behind it?”

Palmer said, “Hang on, Kerry. We’ll get to the CIA.” He turned back to Baggetti and said, “Continue.”

“Well, outside of the Dark Star component, everything else backs up what General Kirby said. Hezbollah is talking about attacking Israel and the PMUs are talking about attacking United States assets in Iraq. The IRGC is doing the same, discussing fast-boat operations in the strait.”

“Is that something new? Don’t they always say that?”

“Yes, it’s nothing we haven’t heard on a daily basis, but the sheer scale of the SIGINT reflections is what’s compelling. It’s exponentially greater than normal, and it’s precise. Not like weusually hear. In addition, Cyber Command is seeing an increase in attempted penetrations of energy and telecom assets here in the United States. We assume that’s also coming from Iran.”

Palmer nodded and said, “Okay, Kerry, what are you getting at CIA?”

“Mainly it’s coming from Israel. They’re seeing the same threat stream we are and are bashing us in the head as to why. They want to know if the activity and chatter they’re seeing is because of something we did, or if it means Israel is in the crosshairs. So far, we’ve just shrugged our shoulders, but if we keep this up, Israel may preempt both us and Iran in a hard strike that drags everyone in. They can’t afford to ignore the signs, because it’s an existential threat. They did that once in ’73, and trust me, they aren’t going to again.”

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