Read Online Arc Light by Eric Harry - Free Book Online

slammed shut and the background noise diminished. “Dispersion of forces, higher alert statuses, et cetera, for all forces other than the forces actually engaged in Korea, which are already on 1, and the strategic forces at Air Combat Command, which are on 2. It’ll put shorter range nuclear weapons—the navy’s cruise missiles and carrier-based nuclear-capable A-6s and F/A-18s—on Combat Alert Status along with the ground-launched cruise missiles and FB-llls and F-16s in Europe. I’ve also ordered the ACC bombers from ground alert into the air on Minimum Interval Takeoffs, twelve seconds in between. They’ll stand by on airborne alert. In addition, Alternate Reconstitution Base teams, which set up air bases to receive ACC bombers after return, have been dispatched to their sites at civilian airports and various stretches of interstate highway around the country and in Europe. It also means emergency combat capability—maximum possible generation—out of the ICBMs, and subs to their firing stations.”
    â€œIs it really necessary to evacuate like this?”
    â€œMr. President, we’re assuming Attack Condition Bravo, sufficient warning to evacuate full staffs. If it should turn out to be Alpha—surprise destruction of peacetime headquarters—we’ll be down to skeletal staffs at all branches of military and government.”
    â€œBut we’re not even under attack. I don’t see why—”
    â€œEvacuation is automatic with DEFCON 3, sir,” Lambert interrupted. “This has never happened before, Mr. President, because we’ve never had anything like it. The Russians are going to launch ICBMs, missiles that are alternately aimed at this country, from silos in Siberia. They switched from the old single-target tapes years ago. Those missiles now have stored in their targeting banks cities and military facilities in the U.S. We won’t get confirmation that their targets are in fact in China until those missiles complete their burns and roll over to the south—somewhere between six and eight minutes after launch. Until then, we have no way of knowing, other than General Razov’s word, that they are heading to China. We have to play it safe. If those ICBMs are in fact coming this way in a coordinated attack, the SLBMs from Russian submarines in the Atlantic fired on a depressed trajectory would be just eight to tenminutes away from D.C.” The thought sickened him, and he mentally urged Jane on. “There is the risk of a decapitation strike, sir.”
    â€œNow wait a minute,” the President said. “Is there any reason to expect that this is a Russian surprise attack, for God’s sake?” He sounded exasperated, and he was clearly growing angry.
    â€œSir,” Lambert said, reiterating, “the issue at a time like this is stability. Getting you airborne, sir, buys us time to stay ahead of things. We don’t want any mistakes.”
    â€œShit,” the President said. “I’ve got State ringing up foreign governments to tell them what’s happening and what we’re doing, and I’m already starting to get calls back. ‘Chancellor Gerhardt—holding, line two,’ ” he said, obviously reading. “ ‘Prime Minister Barrow.’ I’ve got to take some of these. What am I going to tell them? Who all are we evacuating?”
    â€œJEEP, the Joint Emergency Evacuation Plan,” General Thomas said, “calls for immediate evacuation by army and air force helicopter of forty-six JEEP-1 cardholders. They’re mainly people in the line of presidential succession who’re tracked by the Automated Central Locator System, but they’re also key military leaders, Mr. Lambert, and others, necessary to ensure continuity of government. Within four hours, two hundred forty-eight JEEP-2 cardholders—other senior officials, personnel in key posts at various