Christine O’Connor entered the Situation Room in the West Wing basement, taking a seat at the conference table. On her way to CIA headquarters this morning, she had been diverted to the White House at the president’s direction for an unscheduled meeting. Already seated around the table were SecDef Tom Drapac, SecState Dawn Cabral, National Security Advisor Thom Parham, and Captain Glen McGlothin, the president’s senior military aide.
Chief of Staff Kevin Hardison, followed by the president, joined them in the Situation Room. After the president took his seat, he looked to SecDef Drapac.
“Go ahead, Tom.”
“Good morning, Mr. President. The reason for this morning’s meeting stems from USS Pittsburgh’s sinking and our assessment she was sunk by a Russian submarine. I spoke two hours ago with Defense Minister Nechayev, and he informed me that President Kalinin was planning on discussing the issue with you as well.”
“We spoke an hour ago,” the president replied. “Bring everyone up to speed.”
Drapac glanced at the others around the table. “First, we’ve located Pittsburgh on the ocean floor, just northwest of Iceland, and there are survivors. We’ve detected mechanical transients at periodic intervals, which correlate to someone banging tools on the submarine’s hull. Rescue assets have landed in Iceland and are being loaded onto a support ship, and we expect to send a rescue module down to Pittsburgh within the next eight hours.
“Regarding Russia’s position on what happened, they’ve evaluated our assessment that Pittsburgh was sunk by a Russian submarine, and while they don’t concur, they also don’t disagree. They’ve conceded it’s possible.”
“Why do they think it’s possible?” Captain McGlothin asked.
“That question gets me to the main reason for this morning’s briefing. Defense Minister Nechayev informed me that they believe the commanding officer of their newest guided missile submarine, Kazan—the submarine Pittsburgh was trailing—has gone rogue. His daughter suffers from a rare cancer and the only viable treatment is an experimental drug that costs five million dollars. Someone paid the first half of the bill, and the Russians believe the second half will be paid after Kazan conducts some sort of operation.
“We think Pittsburgh regained Kazan’s trail after her transit through the GIUK Gap, and that Kazan’s commanding officer decided to attack. It appears he doesn’t want a U.S. warship trailing him.”
“Do we know what he’s planning or when it will happen?” Christine asked.
“We don’t know what he’s planning, but we have an idea of when it will occur. Kazan’s commanding officer wrote a letter to his wife that she was supposed to deliver to Russia’s Northern Fleet command in eight days, explaining that the actions about to be taken by Kazan’s crew are his responsibility alone—no one on the crew is aware that the deployment orders they’re following are fake. He also wanted his letter to serve as proof that the Russian government wasn’t involved so there would be no retaliation against Russia.
“That provides a few clues. First, whatever he’s planning will occur in about eight days, and second—Kazan will be attacking an entity with the ability to retaliate against Russia. Unfortunately, that’s a long list. An attack on any NATO country or even a non-ally could provoke a response. Additionally, Kazan could be headed almost anywhere—to the Mediterranean per her deployment orders or somewhere in the Atlantic.”
“What kind of weapons does Kazan carry?” the president asked.
“Kazan is a cruise missile submarine carrying torpedoes and cruise missiles, with the current loadout being a mix of land-attack and anti-ship missiles. With the ordnance aboard, the list of potential targets is vast. We need more information.
“While we assist Russia in peeling this onion, my recommendation is to place our Atlantic Fleet on alert, focused on protecting our high-value warships—our carriers—from a potential torpedo or missile attack, and put a full-court press on finding Kazan.”
“You mentioned that we’d be assisting Russia on this issue,” Christine said. “Have specific arrangements been made?”
The president answered this time. “The Russians are working most of the leads—interviewing the crew’s families and friends, plus reviewing the submarine’s deployment preparations. So far, nothing noteworthy has been identified regarding any of Kazan’s crew aside from its commanding officer, who up to this point had a stellar, unblemished career and had been handpicked to take Kazan on its first deployment.
“Regarding who is ultimately responsible—who paid for the drug treatment—President Kalinin has agreed to accept our assistance due to the possibility Kazan might target the United States or a NATO ally, plus Kazan’s likely attack on Pittsburgh.
“That’s where you come in, Christine. If we can identify who paid for the daughter’s treatment, we might be able to discern the target. When it comes to corruption or terrorism, there’s an adage—follow the money. Five million dollars had to leave a trail. Find it.”