“That might make sense,” Kinsley said. “Mars isn’t like Earth, where you can live off the land. They’ve got major, centralized stockpiles of the stuff they need. Food. Water. Air. That makes them vulnerable.”
“Where are the food supplies kept?” Severin wanted to know.
“There are stockpiles at both of the major bases, sir,” Warhurst replied. “Candor and Cydonia. But the main stores are at the big base at Candor. I gather shuttles fly supplies out to all of the active bases every week or so.”
“So does he have a chance?” Harrel asked. “I’ll tell you, General, I’ve got to walk over and talk to the Man next door when this meeting is over. What do I tell him? Can a handful of US Marines take back our bases on Mars? Or at least get us something to bargain with?”
“They are United States Marines, sir,” Warhurst replied evenly. “If anybody can do the job, they can.”
“There have already been casualties,” Admiral Gray pointed out. “Certainly UN casualties. Apparently Marines as well…at least Colonel Lloyd. We may already be over the brink on this thing.”
“You’re saying we can’t micromanage things on Mars from here,” the DCI said with a grin. “Kind of galling for us behind-the-lines types, isn’t it?”
“I believe,” Warhurst said, “that we can trust Garroway’s assessment of the situation. He’s experienced. He’s well trained. He will take whatever action he feels is justified, given his understanding of the tactical and political situation on Mars. I don’t think we should try second-guessing him on that. And if there’s any way to support him, we should—”
“My suggestion, my strong suggestion,” Matloff said, interrupting, “is to disavow Garroway’s people. Immediately. If necessary, explain to the UN that some of our Marines may have, ah, misunderstood their orders…ah, may have interpreted them too strongly, in fact, and that UN forces on Mars should take measures to beef up security around the Candor site….”
Warhurst was on his feet. “You can’t do that!”
“Sit down, General,” Admiral Gray said.
“Sir! With respect! We can’t just—”
“We understand your concern, General,” Harrel said. “I think, however, that it would be best if you would wait outside. Please.”
“The Marine Corps has a tradition, gentlemen,” Warhurst said. “A very old one. We never leave our people behind. Never.”
“That’s quite enough, General,” Harrel said.
Gray took Warhurst by the arm. “Come on, Monty,” he said. “Wait outside until this is over.”
“That…that bastard is about to throw away the lives of our people!”
He turned to glare at Matloff, but the man refused to meet his eyes…probably out of an instinctive sense of self-preservation.
Fists clenched, not trusting himself to speak further, Warhurst shook off Gray’s hand and slowly walked for the door.
Beyond the conference-room door was an outer office and waiting area manned by a couple of Army Special Forces security guards standing at rigid and unresponsive attention. Furious, Warhurst paced the blue-and-white carpet for several moments, trying to organize his thoughts. When he’d told the tale of O’Bannon and his Marines at Derna, he’d neglected to tell them the ending. The very day that O’Bannon’s men stormed the fortress, an agent of the US State Department had signed a humiliating treaty that granted a $60,000 ransom to Tripoli in exchange for the freedom of captured American seamen and an end to hostilities, though news of the treaty didn’t reach Derna for another week. Eaton and the Marines were forced to abandon their Arab allies by slipping quietly out of the harbor on an American ship.
There would be a fine comparison with history, Warhurst thought…to have the diplomats resolve this whole business on Earth while Garroway’s Marines were embroiled in a small war!
He cooled his heels in the outer office for another fifteen minutes before the members of the NSC Principals Committee began filing out of the vault door. Except for Admiral Gray, none stopped to speak or even look his way, and Warhurst had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. They couldn’t follow Matloff’s advice. They couldn’t….
But then, he knew Washington well enough to know that that was exactly what they would do, if they felt they had to.
Gray clapped a hand on Warhurst’s shoulder. “That’s got to be a first, Monty. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a guest at one of these meetings go for a cabinet member’s throat before.”
“I apologize for my behavior, Admiral.” The words came woodenly, without feeling. It was impossible to really mean them.
“I think everyone knew how you felt, Monty. And, well, they know about Ted.”
“Sir, I—”
“Matloff can be a thoroughgoing bastard. If a war starts after all of the negotiating he’s been doing here and in Geneva, he’s going to look very bad. It could ruin his whole career.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry for the man!” Warhurst managed to pack the words with acid. “So they’re going to turn our people over to the enemy to save his career. Is that it?”
Gray didn’t meet his eyes, and the sinking feeling got worse. “They’re not turning them over to the UN, no. But Harrel’s going to tell the president that we should adopt a wait-and-see attitude. Matloff, I’m afraid, is going to see the president later today and pass on his own recommendations. Which is his right, of course. He is the cabinet member tasked with maintaining peaceful relations with the rest of the world…however unreasonable they seem, sometimes.”
“So? What do you think the president is going to do?”
“If I knew that, Monty, I’d be president.” He shrugged. “Hell, Markham’s pro-military, which is a point in our favor, and I have the feeling he’d grab at just about any chance, however slim, to get us out of this bind with our honor intact as well as our territory. But I also know that Matloff is right about the odds we’re facing. Our best hope, the country’s best hope, is for a settlement with the UN that gives them most of what they want…and lets us maintain our sovereignty a little bit longer.”
“Admiral, you can’t agree with that…man.” He stifled the urge to use a stronger word, and it nearly choked him.
“The trouble is, Matloff is right. Sooner or later, that one-world state we’ve been hearing so much about is going to happen, just to make sure food and resources get properly distributed all over the globe, if nothing else. When it does, the United States is going to lose an awful lot of its power, its prestige, and maybe its territory as well. If it comes down to a choice between giving up on what we’ve built on Mars, and having the UN occupy the US the way they did Brazil, well, I know what I would have to choose.”
“So…our people are on their own.” He thought of Ted, alone on the embassy rooftop as the transport lifted off without him. He felt sick.
Gray hesitated for a brief moment, then dropped his eyes. “Yes.”
“I’d
