Protocol 15

Chapter 5

5

THE OVAL OFFICE

The White House, Washington, DC. June 19, 9:35 a.m. EST.

“Mr. President.”

“Goddammit, General, what is it? I’m in the middle of a call with François Hollande!”

“Sir, we’re tracking an inbound. Taepodong-class ICBM from North Korean airspace. Launched just minutes ago.”

The president stared at the man, then blurted into the phone, “Président Hollande, mes excuses. Une situation plus urgente. Urgent matters of state.”

He hung up the phone then looked at the General, whose face looked like the blood had drained from it.

“Where is it headed?” the president said. “Can we intercept?”

“Hawaii, and no.”

“Hawaii? But there’s over a million people in Hawaii! We can’t . . . we can’t shoot down the missile?”

“Population 1.4 million. No sir, we tried. Patriot anti-missile defense systems out at Pearl missed, twice. She slipped through, sir. I’m sorry.”

The president buried his face in his hands.

“Time till impact?”

“Any moment.”

“You can’t mean that!”

“A SATCOM device is being moved in here now, sir. We’ve got two communication uplinks. One to Navy Hawaii Command and the other to a NATO listening post at Kosrae, Micronesia. The listening post is tracking the missile.”

Two young Air Force officers burst into the Oval Office, flanked by the national security advisor and two members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The captain spoke into the SATCOM’s mic. “Go ahead, Kosrae. The president is listening. Repeat what you just said.”

“Roger that, captain. This is NATO listening post Kosrae, Micronesia. The hostile missile is in full descent. Time till impact on the island of Lehua, Kauai, Hawaii, sixty-five seconds.”

“What’s the population of that particular island?” the president said.

“Zero, sir,” the major replied. “Lehua is an uninhabited outlying island of the Hawaiian chain, about twenty miles off Kauai. But I don’t think that matters. If the North Korean government has finally combined long-range-missile launch capabilities with a nuclear tip, we could be looking at a total loss of the Hawaiian Islands.”

“Forty seconds.”

The volume of the president’s voice exploded. “But we’ve had security briefings for months on the topic of whether or not the North Koreans had the technology to combine a long-range rocket with a nuclear tip. Dammit! CIA was so sure that they hadn’t achieved it yet,” the president said as he slammed his fist into the desk. “Why did I listen to them? s**t, we knew they had launch capability, but not the nuclear tip. My God, if I’d only known. If I’d only known. I could have done something . . . but I had no idea that that lunatic leader would actually take a first strike at us. A madman. A madman.”

“Thirty seconds to impact.”

The president paced the room. “How come we’re not hearing from Hawaii Command right now?” he screamed. “Where are they?”

“It’s three thirty in the morning there, sir,” the major said.

“General, bring our military to DEFCON 2,” the president said.

“Fifteen seconds to impact.”

“Ah, sir?” cracked a young voice across the SATCOM radio device. “Ah, this is Seaman Jimmy Timms, Hawaii Command. Third watch, post number four, sir.”

“Seaman Timms, this is Major Walter R. Robbins, United States Air Force. Son, just stay on the line with us.”

“Yes, sir,” the young seaman mumbled.

“Ten seconds to impact. Nine, eight, seven . . .”

“Ah, sir, what impact?” Seaman Timms said with all the timidity of a mouse.

“Three, two, one,” the operator at LP Kosrae said. “Hostile missile is down. Hostile is down.”

The president’s hands dug into his hairline and he leapt toward the SATCOM device. “Seaman Timms, are you still with us? Son? Are you there? Dear God, where is he?”

“Yes, sir. I’m here, sir. I just, I don’t understand what’s happening. What was that countdown? I don’t know who I’m on the line with, sir.”

The men in the Oval Office looked at one another. The general whispered, “I don’t know. Maybe it didn’t detonate?”

“Don’t you worry about that right now,” the Major said. “You just talk to us, son. Tell us where you are stationed and what your duties are.” He released the mic and said, “General, this seaman would be stationed on Kauai, correct? Kauai is just twenty miles due east of the missile impact zone. If a nuclear blast just occurred, he’d be able to see it. Hell, he should be dead right now.”

“That’s correct, Major.”

Seaman Timms droned on in the background about his duty station, what his duties were, where he was raised, his mother’s favorite recipe for chocolate chip cookies, which he was currently enjoying. The major interrupted him. “Seaman Timms, can you pinpoint which direction is west of you right now?”

“West? Well sure, sir. The sun sets just past the flag pole right out the window over there . . .”

“Son, stand up and look to the west. Tell us what you see.”

“Yes, sir. Ah, sir, I don’t see anything really. Just darkness. It’s the middle of the night here. I mean, I can see the flagpole, of course, but after that, the hillside slopes off and drops down to the beach. But off in the distance, if that’s what you mean, I can’t see anything. No lights or anything like that, sir.”

“All right, Timms, just keep looking out in that direction and report anything unusual. Someone will stay on the line with you. Thank you, son.”

“Listening post, Kosrae,” the Major said into the SATCOM. “Can you confirm a detonation?”

“Negative, sir. We see no detonation signature.”

The president was the first to speak. “What the hell happened? The missile didn’t detonate? Was it a dud?”

The general answered. “That’s what we’ll want to discuss with the Joint Chiefs. But if you ask me, it was no dud. My bet is that the psychotic leader of North Korea is playing with us. He’s taunting us. He wants us to know he can get us whenever he wants. He’s crazy enough to do it, and he’s this close to putting a nuclear tip on one.”

“A madman. An absolute madman,” the president said as he straightened his hair. He cast a gaze on National Security Advisor James Foreman.

Foreman registered the president’s piercing gaze and a cold shiver rode his spine.

“General,” continued the president, “cancel that order to take us to DEFCON 2. Let’s find out if the public knows about this missile launch. If not, keep it quiet, very quiet. I don’t want a panic on our hands.”

The president stared out the window in the Oval Office. “Something is going to have to be done about North Korea.”