Fail Safe (21 page)

"The President wants to know what the chances are of those six planes getting through to Moscow," he asked. He looked at Black.

"One or two of the six will probably get through," Black answered promptly. "Maybe more."

"Two," Swenson said into the phone. He listened, looked up again.

"Even with the entire Soviet defensive apparatus concentrating on them?" Swenson repeated the Presi- -dent's question. -

"Our Vindicators fly so fast that they won't be able to use - all of their defensive apparatus," Black said. "They just can't get it in front of the Vindicators in time. They will have to shoot down the Vindicators with what is already there plus maybe a few additional fighters. It's an intricate calculation, but we have made it scores of times and it is based on a consideration of what the Soviets have in the way of defense and what our Vindicators have in the way of evasive capacity."

"They will be unable to concentrate effectively against the Vindicators because of their speed," Swenson said into the phone.

Swenson put the phone down.

"The President is assuming that two of the planes will get through," he said slowly. "We have moved into a genuine crisis. He is going to talk to Khrushchev on the phone."

"I think we are ready to talk to Premier Khrushchev, Buck," the President said. "The operator is prepared for the call. Just tell her to complete the Moscow-connection."

Buck picked up the phone. Instantly the operator said, "Yes, sir?" -

He gave her the instructions. At once there were the sounds of a long-distance call being completed, but there was a strange lack of static on the line. As the

operator worked, Buck looked at the President.

The President seemed almost asleep. - Buck had heard of his capacity to take quick short naps. Buck realized that the President had also developed a capacity to live with crisis. If he allowed each crisis to take its toll he would have died long ago of anxiety.

Now, his eyes half-closed, his face relaxed, the President looked younger, closer to his real age. No one, Buck thought, ever makes the complete adjustment to constant tension. Responsibility had laid pouches under the President's eyes, etched lines around his mouth, given his powerful hands the slightest tremor.

"Hello," a voice said suddenly in Russian. "Khrushchev is here."

"Premier Khrushchev, the President of the United States is calling," Buck said quickly.

The President came quickly forward in his seat, picking up his phone.

"Who else?" Khrushchev said. Incredibly, his tone sounded almost jovial to Buck. "That is what the line was set up for."

Buck translated for the President.

"Premier Khrushchev, I am using the telephone line which your government and mine agreed should always be kept open. This is the first time it has been used. I am calling you on a matter of great urgency."

- This time another voice on the Moscow end of the line began to translate what the American President had said. At once the President nodded to Buck and then began to speak. Buck translated quickly, speak- -lug over the voice of the Moscow translator.

"Premier Khrushchev, because of the urgency of the matter I hope that you will agree to the use of a single translator," the President said. "Of course, I have no objection to your translator listening to make sure that my translator is giving you a faithful rendition of what

Isay, but time is very short and the problem is urgent. Two translators would only complicate it."

There was a long moment of tension after Buck had translated. Buck felt squeezed buglike between the wills of two men. Although they were separated by thousands of miles it was almost as if their strength poured through the line. Buck, for the first time in his career, felt uncomfortable while translating. He sensed that this first clash of wills was important. He wanted to -be out of the room, to remove himself physically, yet, at the same time, he was fascinated by what was happening.

Khrushchev yielded, but without giving much. "It is a little thing," he said. "I agree to using your translator."

"Premier Khrushchev, I am calling you on what may turn out to be a small matter," the President said. "But it is the first time it has happened and it could be tragic if it is misunderstood."

"Does it have to do with the aircraft we have detected flying toward Russia from - the Bering Sea?" Khrushchev asked bluntly.

The President's eyes widened a bit. He recovered and then incredibly, he winked at Buck.

"Yes, Premier, that is why I am calling," the President said. "I am sure that your radar and tracking devices are as competent as ours and that they detected a somewhat unusual pattern."

"They reported it to me fifteen minutes ago," Khrushchev said. His voice was flat. It revealed nothing. Buck felt a game of word-poker was being played through him. Khrushchev continued speaking levelly. "We have not yet made a positive identification. Ipresume you are calling to inform me that it is another of those allegedly off-course reconnaissance ifights. Mr. President, I have warned you in speeches, in diplomatic notes, through military channels, that your constant flying of armed planes around the periphery of the Soviet Union was a menace to peace. The scandalous U-2 incident was only the most dramatic example of your constant provocation. Have you ever wondered how long the patience of-"

"This is a mistake and it is a serious mistake," the President cut in coldly. Be nodded for Buck to translate, Buck talked over the voice of Khrushchev, his voice somewhat shaky. Khrushchev came to a halt. Buck repeated what the President had said.

Khrushchev grunted. "All right, tell me," he said, in a tough peasantlike voice. "Tell me the secret."

"It is not a secret," the President said. "A group of

bombers has flown past its Fail-Safe point. I assume that you understand our Fail-Safe system?"

"Yes, I understand what you call your Fail-Safe system," Khrushchev said. "You have talked enough about it in the papers. Has it turned out not always fail-safe?" What sounded like a laugh came through the phone.

The President turned white at the corners of his mouth. Then he also laughed.

"That is correct," he said. Buck sensed that the laugh came hard, but was somehow necessary. "A group of our bombers with a speed of over 1,500 miles per hour and each loaded with two 20-megaton bombs is flying toward Russia."

Khrushchev, spoke in- a musing, tolerant, shrewd voice, the voice which an older man uses when rebuking a boy.

"We shall watch with great interest while you recall them. Only two weeks ago in a speech you gave to the young soldiers of your Air Academy in Colorado you said that the Air Force could never be a threat to peace, only a deterrent to war," Khrushchev said softly. "I hope this little incident will change your mind."

The President moved a pencil in his fingers, drew a hard circle on the yellow pad in front of him.

"Premier Khrushchev, this is not the time for moral-lung. It is much more serious than you think. So far we have been unable to recall them," the President said, and his voice also was soft and tolerant. "Accidents can occur anywhere -and be made by anyone. - If the captain of your submarine the Kalinin were alive he could tell you that."

The President was referring to a secret incident in which a Soviet submarine had ventured inside the

three-mile limit off San Francisco eight months previously and had immediately been tracked and sunk by U.S. Navy destroyers and helicopters. Neither Russia nor the United States had ever mentioned the incident in public. -

The silence which spread through the vacant seconds was ominous; when Khrushchev spoke his words came slowly, each one edged with bitterness. "Are the planes from the Bering Sea being flown by madmen?"

"We are not sure, Premier Khrushchev," the President said. "It may have been a mechanical failure. Your radio-jamming devices may have made it impossible for us to establish contact with the planes. Right now they are, apparently, flying on orders which are normally received by mechanical transmissions. But we are not sure. All I can tell you is that it is an accident. This is not an attempt to provoke war, it is not a part of a general attack."

"And how is an ignorant Russian like me supposed to know that?" Khrushchev asked. His voice was harsh, but still somehow condescending, rebuking. "How do I knoW that you do not have hundreds of planes coming in so low that our radar cannot pick them up? How do I know-"

Again the President nodded at Buck and interrupted Khrushchev.

"Because, Premier Khrushchev, you have detection devices that give you almost the same information that I have," the President said. "Also if you will give me the time to explain I hope to prove to you that we regard it as a serious accident, take responsibility for it, and are trying to correct it."

The President stopped. The silence drew out, went past what was a polite break in conversation, became a test of will. Buck shifted in his chair. Again he had

the sensation of being caught, buglike and about to be squashed, between two powerful forces. It was physically unpleasant.

"Go on, Mr. President," Khrushchev said.

"As your people have told you, there is a flight of high-speed fighters which accompany each group of our bombers as they fly toward the Fail-Safe point," the President said. "Your detection apparatus will soon tell you that those fighter planes have been flying at full speed, using afterburners, to try' and overtake

- and shoot down our bombers. They are doing that at my direct order. Three of them have already run out of fuel and have, presumably, gone into the sea."

There was a short silence, but it possessed a new quality. When Khrushchev spoke Buck could tell he was startled.

"You mean you are ordering American fighter planes to shoot down American bombers?"

"That is precisely what I mean," the President said. "I have already given that order. If you have access to a plotting board you should have been able to see the fighters reverse their course and try to overtake the bombers."

"Mr. President, I am sitting in front of a plotting board," Khrushchev said. "My experts have already detected the change in number of your fighters." He paused. "We wete not sure that they really launched

- air-to-air missiles at your bombers. We are still not sure that they have run out of fuel. Perhaps they are diving at a low altitude to escape our radar and are flying back to their bases-or into Russia."

"Then sir, your radar apparatus is defective," the President said. "We dearly saw three of the planes shoot their rockets and then fall into the ocean. At

--20,000
   
feet the pilots were automatically ejected and

their capsules were clearly visible on our radar."

Khrushchev grunted softly. "They were clear on our radar also, Mr. President," he said. "I really did not doubt that they were making an effort. I wanted only to hear your explanation. I also wanted to know if they had made the pursuit at your specific order." He paused and when he spoke his voice was oddly neutral. "It is a hard thing to order men to certain death, is it not?"

"It is," the President said simply.

Again there was the sound of background conversation on the Moscow end of the conference line. Buck could pick up only a few of the words. He quickly wrote a sentence on a pad and turned it to the 'President. It said, "Someone is trying to persuade him that it is a trick, arguing for 'strike-back in full power' or something close to that."

Suddenly Khrushchev's voice came distinctly over the line. "Nyet," he said savagely. "I will make my own decisions."

Then his voice went level and was under controL

"Mr. President, some of my advisers are convinced that this 'accidental attack' and your phone call are a ruse," Khrushchev said. "They want to strike back at once. I have forbidden it. After all, Soviet air space has not yet been invaded. I must tell you, however, that if your fighters are not successful in shooting down your attacking planes we will be forced to shoot down the bombers ourselves. Then we will come to an alert and will prepare our ICBMs and other retaliatory devices. We must do this to make sure that the 'accidental attack' is not a mask for something more serious. Your single group of bombers does not disturb me in the least. We can handle them. Your real intention I do not yet know. I will protect myself."

"Premier Khrushchev, I understand that you must take these steps. I hope you will be able to shoot them down. But let me urge you to take no steps which are irrevocable. I give you my word that this is a mistake. But you are also aware that if you start to launch missiles I cannot forbid our forces to do the same. If that happens there will be very little left of the world."

"I think we will be able to take care of our interests, Mr. President," Khrushchev said and his voice was tougher.

"I want to make sure that you understand that this is an accident and to ask you to do nothing which is irrevocable," the President said evenly.

"I understand," Khrushchev said grimly. "Is there anything more you wish to say?"

"Yes, Premier," the President said. "I have made arrangements for a second conference line to be established between our tactical Air Force headquarters in Omaha and your counterpart officials in the Soviet Union. If you will give permission, that conference line can be established at once." The voice hesitated. Buck looked up. The President took a deep breath, like a tired pitcher before he winds up and throws again. "Our people in Omaha will give every assistance to your forces in shooting down our bombers should

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our fighters fail."

Khrushchev was silent for a few seconds. When he spoke, the words snapped out with what Buck considered genuine rage.

"Mr. President, the forces of the USSR are perfectly capable of defending our country. We do not need or welcome your technical assistance."

"The choice is yours," the President said evenly. Then his voice went low, so low that Buck had to ask him to repeat the words. Looking at the President, he

realized that the President was doing this deliberately. "Premier Khrushchev, I must, with regret, tell you that regardless of what you do, two of those six planes will, in all probability, be able to fight through to their target. We have new evasive devices and masking techniques, which I don't think you know anything about. My experts tell me that two of the planes will probably hit the target."