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plotted the area of greatest contamination, but we're waiting for a remotely piloted vehicle that is reasonably impervious to the radiation in the water. Getting the RPV up there isn't easy. It has to be flown there by a plane that can carry very heavy cargo, and the airports at Eskimo Point and Churchill are both too small to handle an aircraft that size. Canada's Mobile Command is trying to lengthen and reinforce the runways, but the work is taking far too long. For one thing, the crews have to be flown in and out for safety's sake, according to the time spent on the scene and proximity to the contamination." She looked at General Bolton and said, "She'd better be told the rest."
"All right," Bolton said. He glanced at Jamison.
Jamison dropped his fussy manner and said quietly, "The President has ordered American forces to defense condition two, and he has advised President Cherny of his order. The Canadian forces are about to take the same posture. The President and Prime Minister may tell you why. The point is that we require your cooperation. My choice of words is deliberate, Mrs. Neville. We are within hours of preparing to go to war with the Russian republic."
Anna could only stare at the man, speechless.
Jamison favored her with a bleak smile. "In spite of what you may think about Americans, Mrs. Neville, we are not eager to declare martial law, nor are we eager to suspend the Bill of Rights, and, most particularly, we do not want to go to war with Aleksandr Cherny's Russia. But if you choose to believe the worst of us, let me remind you that despite all the ethnic and financial troubles the Russians have had since Gorbachev stepped down, the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces have not been reduced; indeed, they've been increased. Their strategic forces alone still have 10,000 nuclear warheads aimed at North America, without counting those in the Ukraine and the other former Soviet republics. Those missile forces are modern, and if used, will be effective."
Jamison paused, looking at Anna searchingly. "So when

 
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