Chapter 50
The President, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Director George O’Neil gather in the Situation Room. They huddle over a large map of the Middle East on which O’Neil points to recent Iranian troop movements. He indicates key silo locations. His information corroborates that of the Chiefs, except that they were unaware of the troop movement to the Strait of Hormuz. This information brings a disconcerting development because the Strait is vital to the U.S. Navy and oil transportation. If it closed, one-fifth of the world’s daily source of oil would disappear.
“I need to explain something more,” O’Neil says. “We’ve discovered that the Chinese Army has troops in Pakistan and appears to be headed to the Gulf of Oman. We surmise they’re preparing to strike the USS Gerald R. Ford.”
The
