Page 283 of Never

‘In any case, this should end now. I will take no further military action if you will pledge the same.’

‘How can you say such a thing? You have sunk an aircraft carrier, killing thousands of Chinese, and you have attacked North Korea with nuclear weapons, but now you ask me for a promise of no military action. This is absurd.’

‘To anyone who wants to prevent world war, it’s the only reasonable course.’

‘Let me make something clear,’ Chen said, and Pauline had the unnerving feeling that she was hearing the voice of doom. ‘There was once a time when the Western powers could do as they wished in East Asia without fear of repercussions. We Chinese call it the Era of Humiliation. Madam President, those days are over.’

‘You and I have always spoken as equals—’

But he had not finished. ‘China will respond to your nuclear aggression,’ he said. ‘The purpose of this call is to tell you that our response will be measured, proportionate, and non-escalatory. After that, you may ask us for a pledge of no further military action.’

Pauline said: ‘I will choose peace, not war, for as long as I can, Mr President. But now it is my turn to make something very clear. Peace ends the moment you kill Americans. General Pak learned that lesson this morning, and you know what has happened to him and his country. Don’t imagine it would be any different for you.’

Pauline waited for Chen’s response, but Chen hung up.

She said: ‘Fuck it.’

Gus said: ‘He sounded as if there was a commissar pointing a pistol at his head.’

The Director of National Intelligence, Sophia Magliani, said: ‘That may be the literal truth, Gus. The CIA in Beijing thinks there has been some kind of shuffle at the top, maybe a coup. Chang Kai, the Vice-Minister for Foreign Intelligence, seems to have been arrested. I say “seems to” because there has been no announcement, but our best agent in Beijing got the information from Chang’s wife. Chang is a young reformer, so his arrest suggests that the hardliners have taken control.’

Pauline said: ‘This makes it more probable that they will act aggressively.’

‘Exactly, Madam President.’

‘I read the China Plan some time ago,’ Pauline said. The Pentagon had war plans for several contingencies. The biggest and most important was the Russia Plan. China’s came second. ‘Let’s run over it so that everyone knows what we’re talking about. Luis?’

The Secretary of Defense looked haggard, despite being as carefully groomed as ever. They were all heading for their second night without sleep. Luis said: ‘Every Chinese military base that has nuclear weapons, or might have, is already targeted by one or more ballistic missiles armed with nuclear warheads and ready to be launched from the US. Firing them will be our first act of war.’

When Pauline had reviewed this plan it had been abstract. She had studied it carefully, but she was thinking all the time that her real mission was to make sure the plan was never needed. Now it was different. Now she knew she might have to do it, and in her mind she saw the hellish orange-red bloom, the crumbling buildings, and the horribly charred bodies of men, women and children.

But she maintained her tone of brisk practicality. ‘The Chinese will see them on their satellite and radar feeds within seconds, but the missiles will take thirty minutes or more to reach China.’

‘Yes, and as soon as they appear the Chinese will launch their own nuclear attack on the US.’

Yes, she thought. The mighty skyscrapers of New York will collapse, the gleaming beaches of Florida will turn radioactive, and the majestic forests of the west will blaze until there is nothing left but a carpet of ash.

She said: ‘But we have something the Chinese don’t have – anti-missile missiles.’

‘We certainly do, Madam President: interceptor sites at Fort Greely in Alaska and Vandenberg Air-Force Base in California, plus smaller systems of sea-based interceptors.’

‘Do they work?’

‘They’re not expected to be one hundred per cent effective.’

Bill Schneider, who as always wore a headset that connected him with the Pentagon, growled: ‘They’re the best in the world.’

‘But they’re not perfect,’ Pauline said. ‘I understand that if they kill half the incoming ordnance they’re doing well.’

Bill did not contradict her.

Luis said: ‘We also have nuclear-armed submarines patrolling the South China Sea. We have fourteen such vessels, and currently half of them are within range of China. Each one is armed with twenty ballistic missiles, and each missile has between three and five warheads. Madam President, any one of those submarines carries enough firepower to devastate any country on Earth. And they will immediately open fire on mainland China.’

‘But presumably the Chinese have similar.’

‘Not really. They have four or five Jin-class submarines, each carrying twelve ballistic missiles, but the missiles have only one warhead each. The firepower is nowhere near comparable to ours.’

‘Do we know where their submarines are?’