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‘I guess I can recall bombers at any time.’

‘Correct. But now, step five, missiles are launched, and there is no way to recall them or even redirect them. Time elapsed is five minutes. Nuclear war has begun.’

Pauline felt the touch of fate like a cold hand. ‘God forbid we ever have to do it.’

‘Amen,’ said Gus.

***

She worried about it all day. What she had decided to do was dangerous, and the fact that her colleagues had unanimously agreed the plan did not relieve her of responsibility. But the alternatives were worse. The nuclear option – which James Moore was calling for, as Pauline had forecast – was even more risky. But she had to strike a fatal blow at a regime that menaced America and the world.

Round and round she went, and always came to the same conclusion.

The television crew arrived in the Oval Office at seven. Footage from one crew would be shared by all channels. The men and women in jeans and trainers set up cameras, lights and microphones, trailing cables across the gold-coloured carpet. Meanwhile, Pauline put the finishing touches to her speech and Sandip uploaded it to the teleprompter.

Sandip brought her a blouse in light blue, a better colour for the cameras. ‘The grey suit will look black on television, but that’s appropriate,’ he said. A make-up artist worked on her face and a hairdresser styled and sprayed her blonde bob.

There was still time to change her mind. She circled around the argument once more. But she arrived back at the same place.

The clock ticked around and at one minute to eight the room went silent.

The producer counted down the last few seconds with his fingers.

Pauline looked into the camera and said: ‘My fellow Americans.’

CHAPTER 38

The conference room at Guoanbu headquarters in Beijing fell silent as President Green said: ‘My fellow Americans.’

It was eight o’clock in the morning. Chang Kai had summoned the heads of departments to watch with him. Some were bleary-eyed and hastily dressed. The rest of the Guoanbu headquarters staff were watching the same pictures in other rooms.

News channels all over the world had been speculating for the last twelve hours about what Pauline Green would say, but nothing had leaked. Sigint showed increased communications activity in the US military, so something was up, but what? Even Kai’s well-paid spies in Washington had failed to pick up a hint. President Chen had spoken to President Green twice and learned only that, as he put it, she was a crouching tiger. The foreign ministers of the two countries had been in communication all night. The UN Security Council was in perpetual session.

Of course President Green would respond to the Pyongyang government’s use of chemical weapons, but what would that response be? In principle, she might announce anything from a diplomatic protest to a nuclear bomb. But in practice it had to be big. No country could fail to retaliate to that kind of attack on its soldiers and citizens.

The Chinese government was in an impossible position. North Korea was skidding out of control. Beijing would be blamed for Pyongyang’s crimes. This dangerous situation could not be allowed to continue for even one more day. But what could China do?

Kai hoped President Green would give him a clue.

‘My fellow Americans, in the last few seconds the United States has launched a full-scale air attack on the military forces of Pyongyang, North Korea.’

‘Shit!’ said Kai.

‘Those forces have killed thousands of Americans with vile weapons that are banned by every civilized country in the world, and I am here to tell you –’ she spoke slowly, emphasizing every word – ‘the Pyongyang regime is now being wiped out.’

It occurred to Kai that the little blonde woman behind the big desk looked more formidable, right now, than any leader he had ever seen.

‘As I speak to you, we are launching non-nuclear missiles and bombs at every military and government target under the control of Pyongyang.’

‘Non-nuclear,’ Kai repeated. ‘Thank heaven and earth.’

‘In addition, our bomber pilots are scrambling, ready to follow the missiles and ensure that the targets are completely destroyed.’

‘Missiles and bombs, but no nukes,’ said Kai. ‘Someone get the radar feed and satellite views and put both up on our screens.’

President Green said: ‘Within the next few hours, the man who calls himself Supreme Leader will totally lose any ability to attack the United States. We will leave him utterly powerless.’

Kai took out his phone and dialled Neil Davidson’s personal number. The call went straight to voicemail, as Kai had expected: Neil would want to watch the president uninterrupted. But Kai wanted to be the first person he called after the broadcast. In the next few minutes Neil would receive a diplomatic briefing from the State Department that would enlarge on Pauline Green’s message and answer some of the questions bubbling up in Kai’s mind. He waited for the beep and said: ‘This is Kai, watching your president. Call me.’ He hung up.