Ryan said, “We have to assume Klaus is right. Malenkov, orwhoever’s behind this, is going to launch a strike before daybreak.”
Admiral Kent said, “These drones, as Klaus described them, are designed for spraying. We can’t completely discount a biological attack. That said, given the delivery of hardware for handling nuclear material—it seems almost certain we’re looking at a radiological attack.”
“With the aim of driving up the price of crude oil,” seconded Mary Pat.
“Area denial?” Ryan conjectured.
Heads around the room nodded.
The concept of drones delivering autonomous attacks was nothing new, a point driven home with an exclamation point when Ukraine had used swarms of them launched from trucks to decimate Russia’s strategic bomber fleet. Ryan had personally ordered a review of potential vulnerabilities to such a strike—the kind of predictive threat analysis referred to in the intel community as a “left of bang” assessment. Large-scale radiological attacks had made that list, but they’d filtered to the bottom, the logistics of such an attack seeming too complex to coordinate. Now it was happening, and the repercussions could be immense. Dispersing a radioactive isotope from the air could render a targeted area untouchable for years, even decades.
“Oil fields?” Arnie van Damm speculated.
“That’s the simple answer,” Burgess replied. “The Middle East would have a vast number of potential targets.”
“It can’t be just oil fields,” Ryan argued. “Ten drones can’t cover a huge area and shutting down a few square miles of oil wells wouldn’t precipitate a crisis.” He studied the map, and added, “Let’s focus on these drones. How far can they go? If we draw amax-range circle around this airfield the target might become obvious.”
“On it,” said Kent.
A map of the region was displayed on the central monitor. As Ryan studied it, he wondered aloud. “How did we miss this?”
The SecDef, who was clearly having the same misgivings, said, “The war in Libya has gone cold. It’s a part of the world we haven’t been watching closely. NRO confirmed that we won’t have any scheduled satellite coverage until tomorrow morning. The nearest available Predator would take six hours to get on station.”
“Too long,” Ryan said.
“I agree,” seconded Mary Pat.
The President looked directly at the SecDef. “Find out what Navy assets we have in the area.”
“Will do.”
After a lengthy silence, Mary Pat said, “What about Clark?”
Ryan looked at her questioningly. “Clark?”
“He’s already flying, maybe a couple of hours away. He knows the situation better than anyone.”
“What are you suggesting? That we have his Gulfstream do an overflight…like reconnaissance?”
“That’s one option,” Mary Pat replied. “But our targetisan airfield.”
“You’re saying we send him there to intervene?” Burgess inquired. “Klaus told us there are dozens of mercs working security at this compound. He’d be flying into a hornet’s nest. Maybe a radioactive one at that.”
“I’m saying he’s our nearest asset. At the very least, he should go have a look. Clark can evaluate the situation from the air. Maybe we’ll come up with a better option in the meantime, butright now Task Force 99 is our quickest way to get eyes on target. If they overfly this airfield, it could also send a message. It would put Malenkov on notice that his operation has been compromised.”
Van Damm added, “If it delayed the launch of these drones even an hour or two, that would buy us time to come up with better options.”
Ryan weighed the idea. “Okay, it’s worth a shot. I’m not sure what the endgame is, but we need to leverage every available asset.” He addressed Mary Pat. “Get in touch with Clark. Assuming their jet has enough gas to do it, have them fly toward this airfield. We’ll get back to them later with specifics.”
She reached for a phone.
SecDef Burgess ended his call with the Pentagon. “We have one carrier strike group in the Med,” he announced. “TheFordis west of Sardinia, roughly nine hundred miles from this airfield.”
“Is that too far to launch a strike?” van Damm asked.
“No, it could be done with external fuel tanks. But to get jets configured, launched, and then fly that distance—we’re talking at least three hours. Four or five is more realistic. I’m not sure if we have that much time.”
“What about Tomahawks?” Kent asked. “Wouldn’t they be quicker?”
