Page 224 of Never

‘And mine too.’

‘Thank you, Mr President.’

‘Thank you, Madam President.’

They hung up, and General Schneider immediately said: ‘The North Koreans have now launched cruise missiles, and bomber aircraft are taking off.’

Pauline looked around the Situation Room and said: ‘Chen was very clear. China will stay out of this conflict if we stay out of North Korea. Bill, that must form the basis of our strategy. Keeping China out is the best thing we could possibly do to help South Korea.’

Even as she said it she knew how much scorn would be poured on this approach by James Moore and his supporters in the media.

‘Yes, ma’am.’ Bill Schneider was aggressive by nature but even he could see that this made sense. He went on: ‘US troops are ready to act within Chen’s constraints. As soon as you give the word, we will commence artillery attacks on North Korean military facilities. Fighter planes are on the runways, ready to combat incoming bombers. But at this stage we are not sending manned US planes into North Korean airspace.’

‘Deploy the artillery now.’

‘Yes, ma’am.’

‘Put the fighters in the air.’

‘Yes, ma’am.’

More screens came to life. Pauline saw pilots scrambling to jet fighters at a base that she guessed was Osan USAF Base, thirty miles south of Seoul. She looked around the room. ‘Opinions, please. Can North Korea win this?’

Gus answered. ‘Unlikely, but not impossible,’ he said, and Pauline saw heads nod agreement around the table. Gus went on: ‘Their only hope is a blitzkrieg that will quickly close all South Korean ports and airfields, preventing the arrival of reinforcements.’

‘Just for a moment, let’s consider what we can do if that seems to be happening.’

‘Two things, though both bring fresh hazards. We could massively increase our forces in the region: more battleships in the South China Sea, more bombers to our bases in Japan, more aircraft carriers in Guam.’

‘But the Chinese might see reinforcements as a provocation. They would suspect the ordnance was directed at them.’

‘Yes.’

‘And the other option?’

‘Even worse,’ said Gus. ‘We could disable the North Korean military with a nuclear attack.’

‘That will be what James Moore advocates on TV tomorrow morning.’

‘And it would risk nuclear retaliation, either from the remnants of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal or, worse, by China.’

‘All right. We stick with our present strategy but closely monitor the battle. What we need from the Pentagon now, Bill, is an on-screen running tally of North Korean planes and missiles downed, and those remaining in the air. Gus, I’d like you to talk to Sandip. He should give the media hourly bulletins; please make sure he’s kept informed. I need the State Department to brief our foreign embassies. And we need coffee. And sandwiches. It’s going to be a long night.’

***

When the sun went down in East Asia and dawn broke over the White House, General Schneider announced that North Korea’s blitzkrieg had not worked. At least half the missiles had failed to reach their targets: some had been shot down by anti-missile fire, others had been made to malfunction by cyberattack interference with their systems, and some had crashed for no obvious reason. Several bombers had been brought down by fighter jets.

All the same, there had been many casualties among troops and civilians, both American and South Korean. CNN was showing video of Seoul and other cities, some of the footage captured from South Korean television, some taken from social media posts. It showed collapsed buildings, raging fires, and ambulance crews struggling to help the wounded and pick up the dead. However, no ports or military aerodromes had closed. The attack continued, but the result was no longer in doubt.

Pauline was wired on coffee and tension, but she thought she could see the end in view. When Bill had finished, she said: ‘I think we should now propose a ceasefire. Let’s get President Chen on the phone again.’

Jacqueline began the arrangements.

Bill said stiffly: ‘Madam President, the Pentagon would prefer to complete the destruction of North Korean military forces.’

‘We can’t do that remotely,’ she said. ‘We would have to have boots on the ground in North Korea, and that would start a new war, one with the Chinese, who would be a hell of a lot more difficult to defeat than North Korea.’

There were sounds of agreement around the room, and Bill said reluctantly: ‘Very well.’