‘There’s no normal radio transmission underwater, so the frigate dropped a depth charge at a safe distance from the sub, which is pretty much the only way of communicating in those circumstances. But the sub continued to approach the base, and was therefore judged to be on some kind of attacking mission. The ship was ordered to fire one of its Red Shark anti-submarine missiles. It scored a direct hit and destroyed the sub with no survivors.’
‘It’s not much of an explanation.’
‘I don’t necessarily believe the story. More likely the sub strayed into South Korean waters by accident and they decided to prove they could be just as tough as the north.’
Pauline sighed. ‘The north attacks a fishing trawler. The south destroys a northern submarine. Tit for tat. We need to knock it on the head before it gets out of control. Every catastrophe begins with a little problem that doesn’t get fixed.’ This kind of thing scared her. ‘Tell Chess to call Wu Bai and suggest that the Chinese restrain the North Koreans.’
‘They may not be able to.’
‘They can try. But you’re right: the Supreme Leader probably won’t listen. The trouble with being a tyrant is that your position is so insecure. You can’t relax your grip for an instant. As soon as you show weakness, the smell of blood is in the air and the jackals gather. Machiavelli said it’s better to be feared than loved, but he was wrong. A popular leader can make mistakes and survive, up to a point. A tyrant can’t.’
‘Maybe we can get South Korea calmed down.’
‘Chess can talk to them too. They might be persuaded to make some kind of peace offering to the Supreme Leader.’
‘President No is a hard case.’
‘Yeah.’ No Do-hui was a proud woman who believed in her own brilliance and felt she could overcome all obstacles. A populist politician, she had won election by vowing that North and South Korea would be reunited; asked when that would happen, she had replied: ‘Before I die.’ Cool South Korean kids had taken to wearing Tshirts that said: ‘Before I die’, and it became her defining slogan.
Pauline knew that reunification would never be so simple: the cost would be huge in dollars and immeasurable in social disruption, as twenty-five million half-starved North Koreans realized that everything they had believed in was a lie. Presumably No understood that. She probably calculated that the Americans would pay the financial bill, and the momentum of her triumph would overcome all other problems.
Chief of Staff Jacqueline Brody came in and said: ‘The Secretary of Defense wants a word.’
Pauline said: ‘Was he calling from the Pentagon?’
‘No, ma’am, he’s right here, on his way to the Situation Room.’
‘Send him in.’
Luis Rivera had been the youngest admiral in the US navy. Although he was wearing a standard Washington dark-blue suit, he managed to look as if he was still in the military: his black hair was buzz cut, his tie was tightly knotted, and his shoes gleamed. He greeted Pauline and Gus with brisk courtesy and said: ‘The Eighth US Army in South Korea has suffered a major cyberattack.’
The Eighth Army was the biggest component of the US military in South Korea.
Pauline said: ‘What kind of attack?’
‘DDoS.’
This was a test, Pauline knew. He used jargon to see whether she would understand. But she knew this acronym. ‘Distributed Denial of Service,’ she said, making it a statement rather than a question.
Rivera gave her a nod of acknowledgement: she had passed the test. ‘Yes, ma’am. Starting early this morning, our firewalls were breached and our servers were flooded with millions of artificial requests from multiple sources. Workstations slowed down and our intranet was disabled. All electronic communication ceased.’
‘What did you do?’
‘We blocked all incoming traffic. We’re restoring the servers now and developing filters. We hope to have comms up again within an hour. I should add that weapons command and control, which is ring-fenced in a different system, was not affected.’
‘Something to be thankful for. Who was responsible?’
‘The incoming flood was from many servers around the world, but mostly Russia. The true origin was almost certainly North Korea. Apparently, there’s a detectable signature. However, I’m now at the limit of my understanding. I’m reporting the findings of specialists at the Pentagon.’
‘In the crèche, probably,’ Pauline said, and Gus chuckled. ‘But why now?’ Pauline asked. ‘North Korea has been hostile to us for decades. Today they suddenly realized it was time to attack our systems. What’s their thinking?’
Luis said: ‘All strategists agree that cyber warfare is an essential prelude to the real thing.’
‘So this means that the Supreme Leader thinks North Korea will soon be at war with the US.’
‘I’d say they think they may soon be at war, more probably with South Korea, but given the close US–South Korea alliance they would like to weaken us as a precaution.’
Pauline looked at Gus, who said: ‘I agree with Luis.’
‘So do I,’ she said. ‘Are we planning to retaliate with our own cyberattack, Luis?’
‘The local commander is mulling it, and I haven’t forced the issue,’ Luis said. ‘We have massive cyberwar resources, but he’s reluctant to show his hand.’
Gus put in: ‘When we deploy our cyber weapons, we want it to be a terrific shock to the enemy, something for which they haven’t adequately prepared.’
‘I get that,’ said Pauline. ‘But the government in Seoul may not be so restrained.’
Luis said: ‘Yes. In fact, I suspect they may have hit back already. Why did that North Korean submarine approach the naval base at Jeju? Perhaps its systems were down and it had lost navigation.’
Pauline said sadly: ‘All those men dead for no damn reason.’ She looked up. ‘All right, Luis, thank you.’
‘Thank you, Madam President.’ Luis left.
Gus said: ‘Do you want to talk to Chester before he calls Beijing and Seoul?’
‘Yes. Thank you for reminding me.’
‘I’ll bring him in.’
Pauline watched Gus as he talked on the phone. She was thinking about what had happened when Gerry and Pippa were away. Gerry had gone to bed with Amelia Judd and Pauline had nearly thought about going to bed with Gus. Her marriage could be rescued, she knew, and she would try to make that happen – she had to, for Pippa’s sake – but in her heart she wanted something else.
Gus hung up and said: ‘Chess is across the street in the Eisenhower Building. He’ll be here in five minutes.’
The White House was like this. Work was intense for hours, and while that was happening her concentration was unshakeable; then suddenly there was a pause, and the rest of her life came flooding back in.
Gus said quietly: ‘In five years, you’ll be out of this office.’
‘Maybe in a year,’ she said.
‘But more likely five.’
She studied his face and saw a strong man struggling to express deep emotion. She wondered what was coming. She felt shaky. That surprised her: she never felt shaky.
He said: ‘Pippa will be at college in five years.’
She nodded. She thought: What am I scared of?
He said: ‘You’ll be free.’
She said: ‘Free . . .’
She began to see where this might be going, and she felt both thrilled and apprehensive.
Gus closed his eyes, getting control, then opened them and said: ‘I fell in love with Tamira when I was twenty.’
Tamira was his ex-wife. Pauline pictured her: a tall black woman in her late forties, confident, well dressed. Once a champion sprinter, she was now a successful manager of sports stars. She was beautiful and smart and completely uninterested in politics.
Gus said: ‘We were together a long time, but we slowly grew apart. I’ve been single for ten years now.’ There was a note of regret, and it told Pauline that the life of a bachelor had never been Gus’s ideal. ‘I haven’t been living like a monk – I’ve dated. I’ve met one or two terrific women.’ Pauline did not detect any trace of boasting. He was just stating the facts. In the interests of full disclosure, she thought, and she was briefly amused at her own legalese. He went on: ‘Younger, older, in politics, out of it. Smart, sexy women. But I didn’t fall in love. Not even close. Until I got to know you.’
‘What are you saying?’