The Sum of All Fears.pdf - Delta Force

weapons storage facility, a secret base of some sort that I don't know about?'
'General, everything we have on such subjects is available to you. What is the
nature of your inquiry?'
'Woman, there has been a nuclear explosion there.'
'In Denver?'
'Yes!'
'Where, exactly?' she asked, cooler than the General was.
'Stand by.' Kuropatkin turned. 'I need coordinates on the explosion and I need
them now!'
'Thirty-nine degrees forty minutes north latitude, one hundred five degrees six
minutes west longitude. Those numbers are approximate,' the lieutenant on the
satellite desk added. 'Our resolution isn't very good in the infra-red spectrum,
General.' Kuropatkin relayed the numbers.
'Wait,' the woman's voice said. 'I need to fetch a map.'
***
Andrey Il'ych Narmonov was asleep. It was now three-ten in the morning in
Moscow. The phone woke him, and an instant later his bedroom door opened.
Narmonov nearly panicked at the second event. No one ever entered his bedroom
without permission. It was KGB Major Pavel Khrulev, the assistant chief of the
president's personal security detail.
'My President, there is an emergency. You must come with me at once.'
'What is the matter, Pasha?'
'There has been a nuclear explosion in America.'
'What – who?'
'That is all I know. We must go at once to the command bunker. The car is
waiting. Don't bother getting dressed.' Khrulev tossed him a robe.
***
Ryan stubbed out his cigarette, still annoyed at the 'Technical Difficulty –
Please Stand By' sign that was keeping him from watching the game. Goodley came
in with a couple cans of Coke. Dinner was already ordered.
'What gives?' Goodley asked.
'Picture went out.' Ryan took his Coke and popped it open.
***
At SAC Headquarters, a lieutenant-colonel at the far left side of the third row
of battle-staff seats consulted the TV-controller card. The room had eight TV
displays, arranged in two horizontal rows of four. One could call up more than
fifty individual displays, and the woman was an intelligence officer whose first
instinct was to check the news channels. A quick manipulation of her controller
showed that both CNN and its subsidiary CNN Headline News were off the air. She
knew that they used different satellite circuits, and that piqued her curiosity,
perhaps the most important aspect of intelligence work. The system also allowed
access to other cable channels, and she started going through them. HBO was off
the air. Showtime was off the air. ESPN was off the air. She checked her
directory and concluded that at least four satellites were not functioning. At
that point, the colonel got up and walked over to CINC-SAC.
'Sir, there's something very odd here,' she said.
'What's that?' CINC-SAC said without turning.