She straightened her back and walked into the Situation Room.
The screens around the walls showed all the available sources of information: satellite, infra-red, and the TV news in the US, Beijing and Seoul. Her most important colleagues and advisors were at the table. It was not so long ago that she had liked to begin Cabinet meetings with a joke. Not anymore.
She sat down. ‘Put him on the speaker.’ She made her voice friendly. ‘Good morning, President Chen. This is very early for you.’
His face appeared on screens around the room. He was wearing his usual dark-blue suit. ‘Good morning,’ he said.
Nothing else. No polite preliminaries, no chit-chat. His tone was cold. Pauline guessed he had people in the room with him, monitoring every word.
She said: ‘Mr President, I think we both have to end the escalation of this crisis. I’m sure you agree.’
His reply was instant and aggressive. ‘China has not escalated! The US has sunk an aircraft carrier, attacked North Korea, and deployed nuclear weapons! You have escalated!’
‘You bombed those poor Japanese sailors in the Diaoyu Islands.’
‘That was defensive. They had invaded China!’
‘That’s a matter of dispute, but in any case they used no violence. They did not harm one single Chinese person. But you killed them. That’s escalation.’
‘And what would you do if Chinese soldiers occupied San Miguel?’
Pauline had to think for a moment to recall that San Miguel was a large uninhabited island off the coast of Southern California. ‘I’d be very angry, Mr President, but I wouldn’t bomb your people.’
‘I wonder.’
‘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.