Robert Conroy

Castro's Bomb

Chapter One

Che Guevara watched coldly and dispassionately as the six men and two women were led from their cells and out to the courtyard. Guevara was in his thirties, a former medical student, and now a key member of the new Cuban government. He was also considered a skilled and ruthless practitioner of guerrilla warfare, along with being an almost fanatic communist.

The condemned blinked at the bright sun, which they hadn't seen in days. They also had difficulty standing, much less walking. They'd been interrogated all the time they'd been in prison and all suffered broken bones and dislocated limbs as a result.

The women might have been pretty once, but their faces were shapeless and swollen and their bodies covered with burns and knife cuts. They would never attract a man again for the rest of their lives. Guevara chuckled at the thought. That wouldn't be much longer. Fidel had forbidden rape as a method of interrogation, but once they'd confessed to their treason, that rule no longer applied and they'd been abused by a number of guards.

As to the men, they too had been beaten and burned along with having their arms and legs destroyed. Electric probes had been applied to their genitals to make them talk and they had, at least after they stopped screaming.

Dominico Allessandro, hard-eyed and with a reputation for cruelty, was Fidel's special representative. It was he who had been in charge of the arrests and subsequent interrogations. He looked pleased with the results of his efforts.

"Is this all of them?" Che asked.

"Yes, and we are reasonably certain they were unable to give any information about our plans to either the Americans or the Russians."

Guevara nodded. Allessandro's use of the word 'reasonably' disturbed him, but he accepted the fact that nothing was ever certain in war, espionage, and statecraft. Fidel was furious, and both the United States and the Soviet Union would pay for their attempt to dominate and marginalize Cuba. They would have to take the chance that the Americans and Russians were still in the dark regarding their plans.

But first, these eight people had a debt to settle.

Guards tied their hands behind them and then tied them to hooks in a pock-marked stone wall. One of the men began to cry and another of the condemned told him to be brave.

"Be a man," Guevara yelled, and then laughed, but the traitor couldn't or wouldn't respond. The eight had been found guilty of trying to send information about the coming attacks to the United States and, in one case, to the Soviets.

One of the women screamed when she saw the machine gunners set up their weapon in front of them. What did she expect, Guevara snorted. She had to have known that treason was punishable by death. The sergeant in charge of the detail looked up to Guevara and Allessandro. Che gave the signal, a downward chopping motion. A moment later, the machine gun began to chatter loudly, bullets chopping into the eight people and making them writhe and jump like insane puppets. Blood and chunks of flesh flew into the air. In a few seconds, it was over and the eight slumped over as their blood soaked the sand.

"What about the Dutchman?" Che asked.

Allessandro shrugged. "He took off in a small boat that was sunk by one of our patrol craft. His body was not found and the boat may have been empty when our boat shot it to pieces. The captain decided not to stick around because an American warship was approaching."

The news did not totally please Guevara; however, Fidel's agent was doubtless right. The Dutchman, a man named Fullmer, was doubtless dead. He did wonder, however, just who Fullmer represented. Was it the United States or Russia? Or even East Germany as Allessandro suspected? The East Germans did a lot of the Soviet Union’s dirty work, as did Bulgaria. He’d decided that neither the Russians nor the Americans liked to get their hands dirty.

Guevara laughed as the bodies were dragged away. In a very short while, the point would be moot. The war both he and Fidel desperately wanted would either begin with the Soviets and Americans killing each other, or the two superpowers would be humiliated by Cuba, a country they had tried to push aside. Either way, Cuba and communism would win.

Through the haze of pain and the increasing horror of growing delirium and loss of mental and physical control, Charley Kraeger knew he was dying. His lips were cracked and his eyes were caked over from the salt spray caused by the wind and the waves hitting his little craft. His hands were torn and swollen from trying to sail away from Cuba and towards Florida.

Surrounded by water, his thirst was maddening and he was in danger of drowning in the bottom of the small boat that had failed him so miserably. Actually, he thought ruefully, the boat hadn't failed at all, and the several bullet holes that were admitting water from the Gulf of Mexico were not a failure of the boat either. It had been watertight until the Cubans began shooting at it. Nor had the outboard motor failed. It had run out of gas because Kraeger’d had no idea how much its tank held or how far it could run when he grabbed the damn thing from a fisherman's small dock. The owners had screamed and a couple of Cuban militiamen had filled the air with bullets, some of which had struck his little craft.

What he didn't know about boats would fill volumes. Hell, he didn't even know the difference between a ship and a boat, which sometimes made his more nautically inclined friends laugh at him.

Well, they wouldn't laugh at him anymore. He just hoped one or two of his drinking buddies would remember him, at least for a little while, and wonder what ever happened to good old Charley. God, why would anybody remember him? No wife and no kids, his parents dead, and only a handful of cousins scattered around the United States. No, he'd be forgotten in a hurry, and the thought depressed him.

He tried to shift his body, but the pain in his shoulder was too intense and he wound up again face down in the oily filth of the hold and trying to keep the crud out of his mouth. He hadn't actually been shot; instead, a ricochet from a bullet fired by a Cuban soldier had driven a large splinter through the meat of his shoulder like a spear. It had started throbbing sometime the day before and, in a moment of lucidity, he’d come to the conclusion that gangrene might kill him if thirst and exposure didn't. Of course, gangrene took a long time to kill and he didn’t really think he had much time left on this earth.

It was also hard to believe that exposure could be so deadly in the warm and sunny Caribbean, but he'd lost so much strength that he had begun to shiver. His throat ached and burned from where he'd swallowed salty oily water from the bilge.

He decided it really didn't matter what killed him. Soon he would be dead no matter what the cause. He also decided he wanted to take one last look at his world, even though all he'd seen before he'd slid into the bottom of the boat was the endless ocean and large, rolling waves extending on and over the distant horizon.

Who the hell cared what killed him? If thirst and exposure didn't get him, then the Commies would, or maybe he’d provide a feast for the sharks. Did sharks jump into small boats when they smelled death? Or was it barracuda that did that? Or maybe it was piranha? Or maybe somebody at a Havana bar had been pulling his leg and it was none of the above.

His situation reminded him of Hemingway's "Old Man and the Sea." He'd seen the movie starring Spencer Tracy but hadn't read the book. He found Hemingway boring, as if that mattered right now. Nobody was going to write a thing about old man Charley Kraeger and the sea.

He wanted to cry out and perhaps he did in his anger, pain, and frustration. He was becoming more and more delirious. Twenty years as a CIA agent and this was his reward, to die in the bottom of a small boat in the middle of a very large ocean. It wasn't fair. Hell, he'd been an agent long before there had even been a CIA. Kraeger had served in the OSS in World War II and had jumped into occupied France where he'd had the intense satisfaction of killing his first Nazi, a Gestapo officer no less. He'd been wounded, decorated, and called a hero and now this was how he was going to wind up. He was going to die alone and in filth and no one was around to know about it. Forty years of life shot to hell.

Unless, of course, the commies figured out where he was and shot up the boat and dropped his butt into the briny deep for all the little fishes to eat. Back in Washington, they'd probably wonder for a while what happened to good old Charlie Kraeger who nobody liked anyhow because he was a dinosaur. His superiors had broadly hinted that he was a little too old for field work and now he agreed with them. False pride had played a real part in his being in this deadly situation.

He managed to pull himself up to a sitting position. It took almost all his remaining strength. Water, water everywhere and not a damn drop to drink was what he saw — that and a small boat coming toward him. Even through his blurred eyesight, he recognized it as a Cuban patrol boat. It began to fire at him. Bullets splashed around his little boat.

Shit.

The worst part was that he'd failed and that made him want to cry, except that forty-year old CIA agents weren't supposed to cry. He knew a secret, a secret, a secret. But the sun was so bright and so hot and he was so thirsty, he couldn't remember it. But he had a secret, a secret.

But what the hell was it?

Oh yeah.

War.

The Coast Guard Cutter Willow was old, which was normal for the Coast Guard, because the Guard was generally last on the military's budget. The glamorous Air Force was first with all its shiny bombers, sleek, sexy fighters, and neat missiles. It was followed by the Navy with its massive carriers and growing fleet of nuclear submarines, and then came the Army and the Marine Corps and, bringing up the rear, the Coast Guard. Some Guardsmen wondered why they bothered, but not all of them. Most were dedicated and did what they could with what they had.

The Willow's skipper, Lieutenant Commander Paul Watkins was one of the dedicated ones, and he loved his old ship. He was forty-four and the Willow was only a few years younger, having been built in the mid-nineteen thirties. He was never going to be promoted and neither he nor the Willow would ever get a better assignment than this. Nobody on the Willow complained. Cruising the Caribbean in the winter wasn't bad duty at all. It beat the hell out of Lake Superior in December. His friends laughed that Watkins was married to the guard and he admitted it wasn't far from the truth. He'd risen from the ranks, a rarity in itself, and never married. His friends also joked that when he retired he'd take the cutter home with him. That was going a little too far and he told his friends to screw themselves which, depending on how much they'd drunk, generally resulted in laughter. Truth be told, he would love to take the Willow home, but where the hell would he park it?

Ironically, the Willow's hull had recently been strengthened so she could serve on the Great Lakes where there was so much ice. Then came the Cuban Missile Crisis and now she was well away from the Great Lakes and any sign of ice, except in the soft drinks and ice teas served by the mess crew. Neither her captain nor her crew complained about having to spend the onset of winter, 1962, in the warm sun rather than the frigid northern waters. There was even a rumor that the ship had been forgotten by the brains in Washington and would be spending a long time cruising the Caribbean. No such luck. Watkins was in daily contact with his superiors.

Watkins loved his ship. He only wished the Coast Guard had come up with something more dramatic or elegant for her name. Willow was just too gentle for a ship of war. But then, he recalled that the Royal Navy had a whole class of ships named after flowers. Willow, he decided, was better than being captain of something named the Petunia. Or, he shuddered, the Pansy.

Watkins understood why he was never going to get promoted. There were simply too many qualified candidates for too few open slots and, hell, he was getting old. Command and rank would go to the young, eager, and better educated hotshots. The fact that he was short, overweight, and a little slovenly in appearance didn't help either. He was not recruiting poster material.

"Skipper?"

"I'm still here," Watkins said to Lieutenant Harkins, his young and just a little bit up tight executive officer. One good thing about the Coast Guard was that they weren't crazy about the perks of rank, which meant that shipboard life was a lot more casual than on a regular navy ship, and Harkins was finally beginning to understand it. The young man was actually a very nice guy when he loosened up. Watkins thought it might help if he could get him drunk and laid.

"Radar's picking up something. They think it might be a Cuban patrol boat."

Watkins yawned. The Willow was going nowhere slowly, cruising in large circles and making less than ten knots while looking for anything suspicious, which generally meant finding small boats filled to overflowing with refugees from Castro's communist paradise. Why, he wondered, if Cuba was such a worker's paradise, were so many people so damned anxious to flee it that they'd risk their lives sailing the Caribbean in dinky little boat?. They'd already rescued a number of grateful Cubans and, sadly, picked up the bloated corpses of some who'd died in the attempt.

"The Cuban Commie bastards have an inalienable right to be out in the Gulf in international waters just like we do," Watkins said. "How far away is she and what is she doing?"

"Maybe ten miles away, skipper, and she's cruising in a straight line. It almost looks like she's aiming for some specific point in the ocean."

Intrigued, Watkins arose stiffly from his chair on the bridge and walked over to look at the radar screen. As always, the technology meant little to him, except he'd just been told that the blip that kept jumping up and down was likely a Cuban patrol boat. He nodded solemnly, pretending he understood what he was looking at.

"Can you see what he's aiming towards, if anything?"

Petty Officer Wade, the radar operator shook his head. "There may be something a few miles ahead of him, but it's really small. Like flotsam and jetsam, skipper."

"Flotsam and jetsam, Wade? Who the hell are you trying to impress with your knowledge of nautical talk? Flotsam and jetsam are a comedy act, like Martin and Lewis."

Wade laughed and Watkins leaned over the screen, even Harkins grinned. Now he could see the little squiggle that was what Wade was talking about. Curiouser and curiouser, he thought.

"Whatever it is, it's dead in the water," Wade said helpfully.

"Could it really be a small boat?" Watkins asked and Wade nodded. It could.

"Well let's see," Watkins said thoughtfully as he pulled out the stub of his last cigar from his shirt pocket and lit it. "We got a Cuban patrol boat making like a bat out of hell for a place in the ocean where what might be a small boat is dead in the water, and add to that the fact that we're all bored to tears. Oh what the hell, boys and girls, let's have some fun."

He grinned and turned to his executive officer. "Make all speed and let's cut this Cuban son of a bitch off. If he wants that flotsam and jetsam so badly, then we want it worse. Oh yeah, sound general quarters, too."

The Willow was old, but not slow. She could do maybe twenty knots if pushed and it looked like the Cuban boat was only making twelve. Nor was the Willow in any way helpless. At more than two thousand tons, she was a larger cutter than the more recent ones, and a veteran of World War II where she had done some sub-chasing and convoy duties. This meant she carried a pair of three-inch guns, which along with her anti-aircraft batteries, would more than outgun any Cuban patrol craft. The Willow's crew had joked that maybe they outgunned the entire pissant Cuban navy.

The Cuban was now visible off the Willow's starboard, while her target remained invisible. "Cut him off at the pass," Watkins ordered. "If he wants that boat or whatever it is, he's not going to get it. And get some people up here with both still and movie cameras. If this turns shitty, I want documentation that our cause was just. And if it isn't just, the film will go in the ocean along with anyone who took the pictures."

Harkins grabbed his arm. "Skipper, spotters off the port see the target and it does look like a small boat and it also looks like she's sinking."

Flashes of light came from the Cuban. "Jesus," said Harkins, "Machine gun fire. She's shooting at the boat."

Watkins grinned wickedly. "Hell no, she's shooting at us. Now we have every right to defend ourselves."

Harkins was shocked. The Cuban was clearly shooting at the boat and not at them. "Sir, do you want to start World War III? Didn't President Kennedy and Khrushchev just prevent it?"

"Yeah," Watkins said reluctantly. "I guess we can't sink the little commie shit, but we can scare it. That goddamn Cuban definitely doesn't want us to reach that boat, and that really makes me want to get there first."

Harkins looked relieved. "So what are we going to do?"

"We fire a shot across the Cuban's bow. One shell from a three-incher ought to wake their asses up."

One of the guns fired and, seconds later, a large spout of water exploded about two hundred yards in front of the Cuban, which suddenly lost way, wallowing in the swells. Watkins laughed. Whoever was steering the damned thing had just flinched big time. Watkins laughed. The Cuban was probably crapping his shorts. "Can you get closer with the next shell?"

Before he got an answer, the Cuban turned away and began to head back to its homeland. Someone with more courage than sense, turned the machine gun on the Willow, kicking up splashes in her direction. Nothing hit the cutter, but Watkins was enraged.

"Dammit, now we got real proof. Sink the little shit."

Watkin's XO shook his head. "Better not, sir. There's already gonna be hell to pay for shooting first at the Commie."

"Not a chance, Harkins. We got proof on film that the Cuban opened fire on a helpless ship in peril which is against all the laws of the sea." Watkins took a deep breath and gathered himself. "Naw, you're right. Let them go. They'll go home, tell their story about us Yankee bullies, and forget it ever happened. Hell, we never hit them did we? If they do bitch, then we just roll out the films. In the meantime, let's see what the hell was so damned important."

If I'm dead and this is heaven, then it isn't what I expected, Kraeger thought as he slowly regained consciousness. For one thing, since when did heaven roll slightly and since when did heaven have bare light bulbs in the ceiling. And heaven should have clouds and not starkly painted ceilings. And be painless. Christ, he hurt like hell from a number of places. If this was heaven, it was a serious disappointment, and he’d wasted a number of Sundays going to church with his parents.

He concluded that he wasn't dead and checked to see if he was restrained. He wasn't, which meant he wasn't a prisoner, unless the Cubans or the Russians thought he was totally harmless, and that was insulting. He checked his body parts — two arms, two legs, and one pecker and, of course, he could see. All was well. The thinking exhausted him. He would have gone to sleep except for the fact that he hurt all over and his shoulder still throbbed. He closed his eyes again and let the darkness comfort and envelope him.

When he opened them again, a young man in a sailor's uniform stood over him. "Welcome back," the young man said softly and then grinned sheepishly. "I suppose I should first ask if you speak English, Mr. Fullmer?"

Kraeger nodded that he did, but who the hell was Fullmer? Oh yeah. That was the name on his passport. He tried to say something, but his voice wouldn't work. The sailor put his hand on Kraeger's shoulder. "Don't try to speak. Your throat was all crudded up with all the oil and salt water that you swallowed. We cleaned it out as best we could but you probably won't be able to speak coherently for a couple of days."

The sailor fluffed Kraeger's pillow. "Now, my name is Vitale, and I'm the medic here on the Coast Guard Cutter Willow, and when he has a moment, the captain will be here to talk to you. In the meantime, we've gotten that splinter out of your shoulder, bandaged you, and shot you full of penicillin to take care of any infection. Oh yeah, your hands were pretty much a mess, too, so we cleaned them and bandaged them up tight as well. You'll recover but you won't be performing surgery for a while."

Kraeger nodded, even smiled at Vitale’s bad joke. He was safe. The Cubans wouldn't get him. He had so much to say but no strength with which to say it. He closed his eyes and drifted off again.

When he awoke again, Vitale managed to get some water past his swollen lips by getting him to suck on a straw. It was beyond delicious and even comforted his ravaged throat. A moment later, Kraeger was staring up at a disheveled and overweight middle-aged man, a lieutenant commander.

"I'm Lieutenant Commander Watkins, Mr. Fullmer, and I'm the captain of this ship. Obviously I have some questions for you. First, what the hell were you doing out there and, second, why were the Cubans shooting at you?"

Kraeger again tried to speak but nothing happened. "Okay," said Watkins. "Let's do it the basic way. I'll ask and you nod or shake your head, okay? According to your passport, your name is Ulrich Fullmer and you're a Dutch citizen, is that correct?"

Kraeger hesitated then shook his head.

Watkins looked surprised. "Well, well, your name is not Fullmer?"

He nodded.

"Then who the hell are you?" Watkins asked and then realized to his chagrin that the man in the bed couldn't respond.

Vitale anticipated the captain's next question. "Sir, I don't think he can hold a pencil, either. Look at his hands."

Watkins agreed. Fullmer, or whatever the hell his name was, had his hands swathed in heavy bandages.

Vitali shook his head. "Sorry, sir, but his hands were all cut up and swollen. I had to bandage them like that."

"Christ, Vitale, it's not your fault," said Watkins. "You've done a great job. Blame the Cubans or even this guy for the mess he's in, not yourself."

Watkins looked around and found a letter-sized pad of paper. He took a pencil and drew quickly. Then he took the straw from the water and taped it to Kraeger's bandaged right hand.

"Okay, stranger, what I have so cleverly done is written all the letters of the alphabet on this pad along with the numbers zero through nine. I want you to tap a letter and spell out a word which I will write down. When you're through with a word, just point this at empty part of the paper. Understood?"

Kraeger nodded and Watkins smiled.

"Good, now what's your name?"

Kraeger slowly tapped out the letters of his first and last names.

"Excellent. You are now Mr. Charles Kraeger and, for some reason, you were using someone else's passport. This, of course, means you were hiding something. Will you tell me why the bastard commies were shooting at you?"

Kraeger tapped out a series of numbers. Watkins was puzzled for a moment and Vitale piped up. "Skipper, it looks like a telephone number." Kraeger nodded eagerly.

"And you want me to call that number and let whoever answers know you're alive and well, is that right?"

Again, Kraeger nodded.

"Wonderful. Now, why should I do that? Making phone connections like that are expensive and we usually don't make personal calls from a government ship. Especially not from a Coast Guard ship because we barely have enough of a budget to breathe on."

Kraeger tapped three letters on the pad. Watkins looked incredulous. His guest had spelled out CIA. "Oh shit," Watkins said.

"He's a spook," Vitale laughed and said eagerly. "We rescued a spook. Hot diggity-damn. Wait'll I tell the rest of the guys."

Kraeger again tapped three letters on the pad. This time, there was no laughter. Watkins and Vitale stood and looked in shock. The three letters simply said, WAR.

Two hours later, a navy seaplane from Florida had gingerly but skillfully landed on the gently rolling swells and CIA agent Charles Kraeger, snug in a litter, was put in a lifeboat and transferred to her. Moments later the seaplane was airborne and Lieutenant Commander Paul Watkins was told he was going to be commended for his prompt, decisive and discreet action in rescuing CIA agent Charles Kraeger.

Vitale, on the other hand, had been told by Watkins to keep his damned mouth shut and not tell any of his little chums about the CIA spook. So far as anybody was to know, their visitor was a rich guy with Washington connections who'd gotten in trouble with the Cubans while deep sea fishing.

Chapter Two

Second Lieutenant Andrew Ross, United States Marine Corp, walked up to Mrs. Desmond's desk. She was Major Hartford's middle-aged civilian secretary and a very nice lady who liked him, sometimes almost seemed to mother him. This made her a vast improvement over Hartford's clerk, Lance Corporal William Fleming, a plump and obnoxious little prick who thought he ran the place instead of the major.

"He'll be just a minute, Andrew," she said and motioned for him to sit down. Fleming sniffed and turned away. He liked telling lieutenants to wait and she had just spoiled his fun.

She called him Andrew and he appreciated it. He hated being called Andy. There'd been too many jokes about Amos and Andy and they just weren't funny anymore. The major's summons was unplanned and he wondered what he'd done now. His undistinguished tour of duty was almost over. In a few weeks, he'd be out of the corps and be a civilian and could get on with the rest of his life.

He grinned sheepishly at Mrs. Desmond. "Well?"

Mrs. Desmond rolled her eyes in mock dismay. "Well, as in did I find anything about the young lady? As in who is she, is she single, and would she be interested in meeting and possibly going out with a thoroughly average looking marine lieutenant with no future as a marine?"

He nodded solemnly., "As a matter of fact, yes."

"Andrew, I may have some good news for you. I do think I know the young lady, and I'll say something to her after Christmas. That is, if you can wait that long. Goodness, she's been here for a couple of months. A little wait won't matter."

"Do I have a choice? Just remember that I'm not going to be a marine lieutenant all that much longer."

"Don't I know it," she answered. "I just can't understand why an officer and a gentleman and a trained warrior and killer can't work up the nerve to just go up and say hello to the young lady. I really don't think she'd bite you."

"Because, Mrs. Desmond, I am a coward along with being a short-timer."

They both laughed and Fleming walked away in disgust.

Ross had joined the Marine Corps ROTC in college at the University of Indiana where he'd majored in accounting. ROTC helped pay the bills and he enjoyed the challenge of being a marine more than he'd hoped. He held the Marine Corps in highest esteem and, while in college, wondered if he'd be worthy of being an officer. He was, but just barely. Now, after the requisite time on active duty, both he and the Corps had decided it was time to go their separate paths.

While he never regretted his decision to enlist, he sometimes wondered at his motives. He'd been dominated by his mother and his two older sisters who always called him Andy, which was another reason why he hated that nickname. His father never said much of anything and rarely challenged the three women in the house. Andrew's father owned a men's clothing store and worked long hours. Perhaps, Andrew wondered, he worked them to get away from the women in his life.

Was becoming an officer in the Marine Corps a chance to tell them all to stuff themselves? Certainly they'd been upset at his decision and hoped he'd come back home just as soon as he got out. Fat chance. There was no way he was going back to Indiana and he especially wanted nothing to do with his father's store. His father understood and wished him well. He was counting the moments until he could unload the thing and retire.

"Lieutenant Ross, get your furry young ass in here so I can kill you!" came the familiar roar from Major Hartford's office.

Second Lieutenant Andrew Ross grinned at Mrs. Desmond who smiled back. "That's his way of saying he really likes you," she said.

Major Hartford, a bull of a man had only one tone of voice — loud. Mrs. Desmond, however, was not in the slightest bit intimidated, although most of the men in his command were.

Ross squared himself and walked into Hartford's office.

"Sit down and shut the door, Ross," Hartford said.

Ross did as he was told and wondered just what he'd done now. He fixed his eyes on the picture of Hartford's family on the shelf behind the desk. It showed a pleasant, plump woman named Edith who lived in Gitmo and two boys who were away at college. Despite the smiles in the picture, there were rumors that all was not well at the Hartford household. Like many service families, money, or the lack of it, was the cause of the serious problems. Andrew hoped the rumors were false. They were good people.

It was common knowledge that Hartford was a Marine Corp major who was frustrated that he could no longer command a line outfit. A foot injury, caused when he'd tripped over a log while leading his men on maneuvers, had ended the active part of his career. As a result, he couldn't wear combat boots and knew he looked silly in fatigues and wing tips. Now he was in charge of the supply outfit in which Ross worked controlling the budget and finances. Hartford openly hated it. This was not the career he'd planned for and he was reasonably certain he wouldn't be allowed to reenlist the next time. He'd get a medical discharge and he prayed he'd be able to keep his pension. Ross was pretty certain that the major's foot problems and career issues were affecting his marriage. It wouldn't be the first time. He genuinely hoped the two of them worked their way through it.

For all his gruff demeanor, Hartford was a very good man and he and Ross generally worked well together. Unless, of course, Andrew had screwed up again.

Hartford leaned back in his swivel chair and shook his head. "Ross, just when I've decided that you are a complete flaming idiot who probably had no human ancestors, you go and disappoint me by doing something both intelligent and decent."

"What'd I do now, major?" Andrew said, relaxing slightly.

"Taking Hannigan's guard duty over Christmas, Andrew. That's damned decent of you."

"Hell, sir, Hannigan's got family in Florida and I had no plans. Hannigan's also my friend, so it's not that big a deal."

Hartford smiled. "That and the fact that you're getting out in a few weeks and you're saving your leave time so you'll have more money once the Corps sets you free had nothing to do with it, right?"

Ross smiled back. Of course the extra money had been a consideration. "Nothing whatsoever, sir," he said with a smile.

Hartford sighed deeply. "If you weren't so totally un-promotable I would try to convince you to re-enlist and help the corps save the free world. As it is, it's probably better for all of us that you revert to being a lowly civilian. You're a pretty decent guy, Ross, but that will never cut it in the Corps, especially as an officer. They need nasty obnoxious hard-asses like me, not nice-guy accountants like you."

Ross reluctantly agreed. Even if he was allowed to re-enlist, he'd probably never make it higher than captain, which meant a career as a marine was out of the question. At one point an ROTC commission in the Marine Corps had seemed like a splendid idea and he looked good in the dress uniform. And it did help pay the bills, which were a major issue since his parents had him and his two older sisters to care for.

That had been a couple of years ago and he'd early on decided that he didn't want the Marine Corps as a career. Nor did the Corps want him, and with some justification. He was an okay officer, but not a great one. Not that he regretted anything, far from it. He had learned much about himself and would cherish the experience and never forget the camaraderie.

He'd been assigned to Guantanamo about a year ago, had lived through the fears of the recently contained Cuban Missile Crisis, spending much of that time in a newly constructed bunker with his M1 carbine and wondering if he was going to live through the coming few days that might end in nuclear holocaust. He had survived, of course, and now was playing out the dwindling number of days until he was discharged. His bachelor quarters were now littered with brochures and applications to law schools, and he'd pretty well settled on either Georgetown or the University of Maryland. Georgetown was his first choice. With an uncle who was chief of staff to a United States Senator, he was pretty certain he'd be able to get the recommendations needed to get in.

"You know why you never made first lieutenant, don't you?" Hartford asked.

"Yes sir. It's because I called Captain Martin an asshole."

"Partly. Let's face it, Ross, Martin is an asshole, was an asshole, and will forever be an asshole. But you were an equal asshole for calling him that in front of several other people. If it had been just the two of you, nobody would have said anything. He would have been pissed and probably called you a bunch of snotty names, too, but that would have been it, with all insults being totally deniable comments between angry adults who were acting like little kids. But others heard you and, worse, they laughed because they agreed with your evaluation of the asshole. So Martin the asshole had to do something about it. Thus the reprimand in your file that says you were disrespectful and insubordinate, and thus you're not getting promoted or invited back to play Marine Corps games even if you wanted to."

The story was true and Ross had a hard time regretting it, just like he did not regret his time in the Corps. Even though he had been a mediocre officer at best, the experience had made him grow and develop as a man, all of which would help him when he went on to law school. A lawyer with an undergraduate accounting degree and a background as an officer in the Marine Corps might just make his future career as a civilian look good, and Captain Martin would still be an asshole. Rumor had it Martin was un-promotable, too.

Nor did Ross particularly look the part of a warrior. He was just under six feet and lean, weighing in at one-sixty after a big meal, had short brown hair, and, worse, needed glasses in order to read small print. They made him look professorial and ‘Prof' was one of his cleaner nicknames and one he found he really didn't mind. It was a hell of a lot better than Andy, which, along with Amos and Andy, always made him think of someone wearing overalls and standing in a cornfield. Still, he was in excellent shape, exercised almost daily, and worked with weights even though nothing ever seemed to show. He was wiry, not muscular. He was also an excellent shot, but so too were most Marines.

Hartford continued. "You know you'll be commanding Hannigan's men, don't you, or at least those who didn't trade or sell their duty. Hey, Hannigan's not paying you to do this, is he?"

Ross laughed and shook his head. "Major, I'm not quite that hard up for money."

"Didn't think you were and I wouldn't hold it against it if you did."

A lot of servicemen bought, sold and traded duty, and, as long as a qualified body showed up to work, nobody much cared.

Hartford turned serious. "Look, Andrew, even though this latest crisis is over, or appears to be over, don't take things for granted when you're out there watching the commies. Yes, Kennedy and Khrushchev have agreed to play nice and share this Cuban sandbox, but that doesn't mean that Castro won't do anything crazy, because we all know he is crazy. Frankly, I'm concerned that we've scaled down our level of alertness to almost nothing, but, hell, I'm just a supply officer. What do I know getting ready for a war people say will never happen?"

Ross knew enough not to comment. The major's bitterness at being marginalized into a supply position was understandable. Still, he understood Hartford's concern. He wondered if either Colonel Killen, who commanded the Marine Corps Barracks, or Rear Admiral O'Donnell, who commanded the base at Guantanamo, commonly referred to as Gitmo, had concerns either. If they did, Ross thought they would keep them to themselves and not share them with Hartford or a lowly second lieutenant.

Besides, it was Christmas, 1962, and he would be a civilian in three short weeks. He hadn't dated in months. He once had a girlfriend back home, but that relationship just simply faded away due to a mutual lack of interest as he went on active duty and she went on to a career in advertising in Chicago. Time to get started on a new career and maybe meet a girl who liked skinny guys called Prof. Or maybe the new girl would be the lovely young thing that Mrs. Desmond thought she knew and who Andrew desperately wanted to meet?

General Juan Ortega lay on his belly in the scrub grass and looked through his German binoculars and down at the hated American base that squatted obscenely on sacred Cuban soil. The sun was unusually hot for December, and he was sweating profusely. He was beginning to feel older than his fifty years. He was a little overweight and out of shape for this type of endeavor and had no one but himself to blame for that situation. Too much good food from his wife, Maria, and too much good drink with his fellow officers, he admitted with only mild regrets. And yes, he could and did have others watching the Americans, but this was something he wanted to do for himself. It was his duty and he took his duty very seriously.

The gringos had stolen the magnificent Guantanamo Bay from Cuba in 1898 under the guise of helping the native Cubans liberate Cuba from the Spanish. The Spanish had been gone now for more than half a century. So why hadn't the Americans returned the bay to Cuba? Instead, they had forced the allegedly independent infant republic they'd created to deed over the bay to the United States as a permanent naval base. Yes, he knew the deed called for Cuba to take over the base at some time in the future, but he didn't believe for a moment that the Americans would ever depart voluntarily. They would have to be expelled forcibly, purged and bloodied.

And that was what he was going to do. Blood would be shed, and people would die and that would be necessary. Regrettable, but necessary, and Cuba would emerge triumphant and proud.

Ortega squinted through the binoculars and could see little or nothing unusual the American presence and that was good. Marines and sailors were going about their business, just like they had every other time he'd spied on them. There was no indication of anything unusual going on, and this meant the Americans suspected nothing.

Better and better.

Ever since Fidel Castro had taken over Cuba in 1959 and broken with the Americans, there had been Cuban military forces around what the Yankees called Gitmo. He hated the term. The proper name was Guantanamo, and it was, or should be, part of the province of Guantanamo on the eastern tip of the long, thin island of Cuba. Gitmo. It was an insult to every Cuban, like calling a dark skinned Cuban a nigger. He almost laughed. So many Cubans, like him, had very dark skins.

But it wouldn't be called Gitmo very much longer. The gradual buildup of men and equipment had gone unnoticed by the arrogant and now complaisant Yanquis.

Ever since the revolution that had ousted the previous regime of the decadent dictator Fulgensio Batista and his corrupt cronies, and the American criminal enterprises, there had been a Cuban military presence around the American base. During the crisis two months ago, the Cuban forces had been built up, but not much. Now it was different. Very different.

Cathy Malone finished her morning run, thankful that the weather wasn't terribly oppressive. It wasn't the heat, people said, it was the humidity. Bull. It was both of them.

She had run her normal five miles and endured the usual stares and occasional whistles from what she thought were really hard up sailors and marines at Gitmo. Although there were several hundred women on the base, most of them were wives, frequently officer's wives, and very much untouchable. They almost never got whistled at, poor things, no matter how cute they were, lest an officer husband or father get angry at insolent enlisted men. The rest were civilian workers like her, many of whom were older and married. She was one of the few who were both civilian and single, as well as reasonably attractive. Thus, those who knew who she was felt free to whistle at her. It was innocent fun and she often waved at them, which drew friendly laughs.

The running relaxed her, cleansed her, and she sweated profusely as she cooled down. It reminded her of her days as a cross-country runner in the small Catholic high school she'd attended in Pennsylvania. She'd been a good runner, but not a great one. No Olympics or nationals for her. Nor was she offered an athletic scholarship, because women didn't get them. The nuns at the school had mixed emotions about women in athletics. Some hated her for participating even though the school offered the sport, while others admired her for having what they cloyingly called spunk.

She'd had to work to help pay for her tuition and it had taken her more than five years to get her liberal arts degree at the University of Pittsburgh. She would become a high school English and history teacher, not solely because it was one of the few professions open to women, but because she genuinely liked teaching. The barriers to women in business were beginning to come down, but only just beginning. It didn't matter. The world of business didn’t interest her. She would teach because that's what she wanted to do.

Some of the men who had recognized her had waved instead of whistled. They knew her as the young teacher lady who'd been brought in to help enlisted men improve their reading skills so they could be promoted. After only a couple of months, she'd developed a reputation for being sincere, helpful, and successful. It made her feel that her one big adventure before settling down with a real job and real students was worth it.

In a perverse way, she liked the whistles. She almost never got whistled at back home in Pennsylvania. She didn't think she was terribly pretty. Attractive, yes, but pretty? Never.

She was about five-four, had short light brown hair, and her figure was slender to the point of being thin and, as her older sister used to joke, everyone wondered when her breasts were going to develop. Cathy was twenty-four. What she had up front was going to be it, she thought ruefully. Her sister had also joked that the real reason behind her going to Gitmo was so she could meet desperate guys who were as horny as Cathy. There were times when she wanted to strangle her sister who, she realized, might have been jealous. Cathy had gone on to college and not gotten knocked up by her high school boyfriend like her sister had, and then gotten married to the jerk at seventeen, and divorced at nineteen.

Regarding Cathy's motives in going to Cuba, her sister was somewhat correct in wanting to meet guys, but the number of dates she'd gone on so far at Gitmo was very small. Nor had they led to anything anymore consequential than some furtive gropings that she'd stopped before they'd gone any further. She had told her parents that she wanted to get over a broken relationship with a guy she'd been dating in college and they'd bought the story. However, Cathy had dumped him, not the other way around, and used that as an excuse for them to approve of her going to Cuba. She just wanted to get away from home and do something just a little exciting, and Cuba had seemed just perfect.

It was going to be a lonely Christmas, she thought sadly, but that was her choice. Well, her saving's account's choice. She'd had to decide whether to go home in the summer or Christmas, and had chosen summer. There would not be enough money for both trips. Guantanamo at Christmas had seemed like such a good idea at the time. Now so many people were taking vacation or leave that the base seemed deserted. She would have to work to find things to fill her time. She would go to church on Christmas Eve and maybe someone would invite her for Christmas Eve dinner. Good idea. She would go to church again on Christmas day and try to wangle a second meal. After all was said and done, the holidays were going to be boring. Fattening perhaps, but boring.

Not that she wished a rerun of the excitement of the Cuban Missile Crisis during which she and other civilians had been hurriedly evacuated to Virginia. Days spent stuffed in a miserable transport ship with barely adequate food and totally inadequate bathing and toilet facilities were not her idea of a Caribbean cruise. They'd all been relieved to get off the ship in Virginia. Not only were they safe in the good old U. S. of A., but they could eat and shower, along with taking a crap with some element of privacy.

Only in the last few weeks had the civilians been permitted to return. Being prudent, Cathy now kept an overnight bag filled with a change of clothing, underwear, some dry cereal, sanitary napkins and some other things she might need if another sudden evacuation should occur.

She went into the three bedroom apartment she shared with two other women, stripped off her sweaty shirt and shorts, kicked off her shoes and stepped into the shower. She thought about who she might get to invite her over for dinner. Never, never pass up a free meal.

CIA Director John McCone knew a Class-A dilemma when he saw one. His agency's reputation had almost recovered from the Bay of Pigs debacle in which he'd virtually guaranteed a decisive and swift victory over Castro. He'd announced that his Agency-sponsored invaders would meet light resistance from the poorly trained Cuban military on the invasion beaches and there would be a quick and massive popular uprising against Fidel. No problem, he and the CIA had said, and, soon after, no Fidel.

It hadn't happened, of course. The anti-communist landing force had been cut to pieces by a surprisingly strong Cuban army and air force, and the survivors forced to surrender. That President Kennedy had, in the opinion of the anti-communists, reneged on a promise to provide air cover for the invasion was but one of the causes of the debacle. Those survivors, who hadn’t managed to escape to Florida, were now languishing in Cuban prisons, primarily on the Isle of Pines on the coast south of Havana. Worse, there hadn't been the hint of a popular uprising, which led the CIA to conclude that their low estimates of Castro’s popularity were tragically flawed and that Fidel was going to be in charge of Cuba for the long haul.

For a quite a while after that, McCone had been a virtual pariah in the White House. Fortunately, he and the CIA had done a much better job when it came to proving that Castro and the Soviets had been importing medium range nuclear capable guided missiles into Cuba, which precipitated what everyone called the Cuban Missile Crisis. The relationship with the Kennedy brothers wasn't perfect, but at least McCone and the CIA were allowed to participate and their reports were given some credence.

But this report could all blow it all to hell and back.

McCone wondered just what to do with the report from one hitherto unknown agent named Charles Kraeger that said that Castro was going to attack the base at Guantanamo Bay and would do so in just a day or so.

When he first received the report, he'd been incredulous. How could Castro go against the agreement that Khrushchev and Kennedy had made to prevent nuclear war just a few weeks earlier? The agreement also said the United States would never invade Cuba. So what was going on? The answer was easy — Castro hadn't signed the agreement and Castro was nuts.

Still, it was going to be a hard sell with the Kennedys because, quite frankly, McCone wasn't certain he believed it in the first place.

It was the devil's choice. He could bury the report and wait until it was confirmed or proven false. However; should the report prove correct, any attack would have already occurred and likely with catastrophic consequences for American interests. He glanced at his calendar. It was December 24, 1962, and Christmas was obviously the next day. If the attack took place and he had done nothing, he would be worse than a pariah. He would be guilty of criminal inaction. At best, he'd lose his job.

But if he warned President Kennedy and nothing happened, he'd be guilty of being an alarmist fool who cried wolf. It could easily also cost him his reputation and his job, as well as making the Central Intelligence Agency again look like a pack of idiots in the eyes of the President and his young brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy.

Damn it all to hell. Why hadn’t he stayed on as an executive at Consolidated Steel, or even remained as Chairman of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. He knew the answer. He loved being around the seat of power and hated the thought that one foolish miss-step could cause him to lose that privilege.

He took a deep breath and made his decision. It was surprisingly easy. He could live with being considered a fool for being over cautious, but never a criminal. People would not die on his watch if he could help it. He called for his car.

Charley Kraeger was thankful that he was recovering quickly from his injuries. Perhaps he wasn't as old as he felt. His still bandaged hands could now hold a pencil and his voice could now be heard as a whisper. His arm was in a sling as a result of the shoulder infection, but, as one of his friends said, it was better than having his ass in a sling, which was the case while he'd been out in a small boat in the Caribbean. He agreed. He had lost some meat and muscle from his shoulder and would have an ugly scar, but he was alive.

Charley had been quickly and thoroughly interrogated by several senior agents and he'd repeated what he'd learned from his contacts in Cuba. He'd told them that Castro's Cubans, with or without any assistance from the Soviets, were planning to attack the base at Guantanamo Bay and were going to do it very, very soon. Perhaps even sooner if they knew he'd carried the secret with him.

And why would they know that, his CIA interrogators asked? Why else would they have tried so hard to kill him, he answered, and they couldn't respond. Unless, one said smugly, the Cubans were trying to get President Kennedy to react to a phantom threat. Kraeger had no response to that comment. Perhaps it was a trap that the Cubans were laying for the Kennedy’s?

People escaped by boat from Cuba to Florida almost daily and the Fidel's commies generally just let them pass. Good riddance. After all, weren't they Fidel's enemies? So why to shoot him up if his information was false? Nobody had a real answer to anything.

He'd told his questioners almost everything he knew. He'd only held back the name of his major source. They hadn't been happy, but they'd understood. If they didn't know, they couldn't leak the information and threaten the existence of an asset they might want to use again. After the disaster of the Bay of Pigs, American agents and contacts in Cuba were few and far between.

Kraeger swung his legs over the edge of the hospital bed. He tried not to disturb the IV contraption that was pumping his body with fluids and medicine. He was hungry as hell, but still couldn't swallow or chew and the mush he was allowed to eat nauseated him. Another day or two, the nurse had told him, and his throat could handle scramble eggs. Screw that, he thought. He wanted a steak, a big fat thick and rare steak.

He also wanted to wear real clothes and not the ridiculous backwards facing shirt that bared his ass to the world when he stood. Patience, the head nurse had said. He was in excellent shape and recovering quickly and thoroughly. She joked that maybe he shouldn't smoke for a few months until the oil cleared his body lest he set himself on fire. He didn't think it was all that funny, but the nurse did. He wanted a cigarette.

Patience, hell, he wanted to know what was happening to the information he'd brought home. It had almost cost him his life and he thought that others had died as well, and he wanted to know that his efforts had been worth it.

The door to his room opened and Jock Soriano, one of his fellow agents and a longtime good buddy walked in and sat down on the edge of the bed. The name Jock came from the fact that he was powerfully built, like the six-foot, two hundred-thirty pound linebacker he'd once been at Notre Dame. He liked to pretend he had nothing between his ears in order to get people to underestimate him. Kraeger often wished he had a trick like that up his sleeve.

Instead of the usual cheerful grin, Soriano looked grim. "Shit's hitting the fan, Charley. You feel up to a trip?"

"Where to?" Kraeger rasped. "Somewhere nice or oblivion?"

Soriano finally smiled. "More than you deserve, jerk-off. How about up north in that truly weird city on the Potomac named after our first president. McCone wants to talk to you in person."

"I'm overwhelmed," Kraeger said and he was. Someone was listening to him. "Am I well enough to travel?"

"Not really, according to the doctors. So we're putting you on a private plane along with a medic to hold your bandaged hand. It'll be a guy, so don't let him hold anything else. And that's a lot of money being spent for a worthless, middle-aged, agent like you. And yeah, you do get to wear real clothes, although I'd give a month's pay to see you running across a runway in Washington with your ass hanging out of that shirt."

Chapter Three

Second Lieutenant Andrew Ross was not impressed with his new command, and had the feeling they weren't all that impressed with him. But what the hell, it wasn't like they were going to be together for a long time. A day or two at the most out in the boonies would be about it.

The twenty men were fine, of course, but the site they were to guard or protect was anything but inspiring.

His defensive position was a small concrete bunker just off a road facing north to Castro’s Cuba. The bunker was one of a number built during the past couple of months and could hold a dozen men and came complete with a World War II vintage Browning.50 caliber machine gun that was aimed straight down the curving road and couldn't traverse very far at all. He had no anti-tank weapons and no mortars, only a score of guys armed with M1 Garand rifles that also were old when the Korean War had ended a decade earlier. The Garand had been replaced by the M14, which hadn’t made it to Guantanamo yet. This was fine with the troops because many of those who’d tried it didn’t like it.

The ammo was as old as the rifles and he wondered if it would work it they ever had to fire their weapons. Fortunately, all the experts and brass said there was only the slightest chance that they would have to shoot anything except targets on the range.

The rutted dirt road in front of the bunker led to nowhere. Once, before Castro took over, it had led to a small Cuban town and day laborers were allowed to come in and work on the base, returning each night to their squalid homes. Now it was sealed off with barbed wire, and according to Andrew's map, there were minefields flanking the road. These too had been added recently and he wondered if the Cubans knew about them. Probably. All the high ground was in Cuban territory. He had the nagging feeling that many pairs of communist eyes were watching their every move.

Behind the barbed wire towards Cuba, the ground was barren and windswept. Those who thought of Cuba as a lush tropical paradise were sometimes shocked to see what amounted to a near desert in nearby parts of Guantanamo, particularly those windswept areas to the east, where winds from the Atlantic scoured the land.

Behind the bunker were a couple of tents that would hold the men not on duty and keep them in absolute discomfort. The tents would protect against any rain, but did a marvelous job of trapping the Cuban heat. It might be winter, but they were near the Equator and the weather was hot and humid. But at least the air outside circulated and was fresh, not like the bunker, which felt like being in a hot, moist oven. Everyone who could spent as much time as possible outside it.

Andrew's senior noncom was Gunnery Sergeant Joe Cullen, a tall, lanky twenty-nine year old veteran of the Korean War. He seemed efficient, but a gunnery sergeant was expected to be good at what he did. "Not very impressive, is it, lieutenant."

"I've seen worse," Andrew said with a grin, "just can't quite place the memory."

Andrew was beginning to have doubts about his decision to help out his friend Hannigan with guard duty when he could have been ensconced in the relative comforts of the Bachelor Officer's Quarters, or even wasting time at the officer’s club bar. But what the hell, he decided, he was here and it would be over before he knew it. He could do a couple of days commanding this troop on his head.

"So what if it ain't a Holiday Inn or a Howard Johnson's," Ross said, "it's home sweet home for the short duration."

Cullen spat on the ground and glared at the emptiness down the road to Cuba. "I just hope nothing happens while we're out here. Have you looked at how miserably small this place is? The commies come down that road and we won't be able to do much more than wave at them. Twenty guys with rifles and one ancient machine gun are not exactly a modern army, sir."

Ross really didn't think the commies were coming down the road anytime soon, but he did agree that the bunker was poorly sited and the men were inadequately armed, and had doubtless lost any training edge.

"Just a thought, sergeant, do we have a fallback position?"

Cullen shook his head. "No, but it wouldn't be that much trouble to plan for one. You want me to do it?"

"Why not? The men won't like it very much but it will give us all something to do. You have any thoughts?"

Cullen mentioned a depression in the ground about two hundred yards to their rear and even Andrew saw the advantage. Men in the depression would be hidden from anyone coming down the road and could enfilade any traffic after it passed the bunker. They would not stick out like a sore thumb the way the bunker did. There was no roof on the gully, but the roof on the bunker wasn't all that strong, either. Andrew had already concluded that it wouldn't stand up to any sort of serious attack. In particular, a series of heavy mortar rounds landing on the roof would cause the whole thing to collapse and raise serious hell with anyone inside.

"What do you want to do?" he asked Cullen.

Cullen grinned wickedly. "I'll get a couple of the boys who aren't doing much and have them down here preparing firing platforms in the gully. They'll be pissed but it'll be better than them sitting around jacking off, sir."

"Let's just make sure nobody misses the hot turkey dinner that's supposed to be here tomorrow afternoon," Ross said. He had his doubts as to whether the meal would arrive or just how good it would taste, or whether anyone would want a hot meal in the stifling Cuban heat. Still, turkey dinner was something to look forward to even if all they did was complain about it.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, reviewed the material a very nervous CIA Director McCone had brought to him in the Oval Office. McCone had a right to be nervous. The president was clearly skeptical.

Kennedy placed the report on the large, ornate wooden desk that had become a Kennedy trademark. It was the so-called Resolute Desk because it was made from wood from the Royal Navy ship of that name and presented to the U.S. by Queen Victoria.

"This is more than interesting; it's scary if true. But how the hell do we know whether or not it's true or somebody's wet dream. We need corroboration before we go off half cocked and accuse Castro of doing something he clearly promised he wouldn't do and which, if he did, would cause a war."

Robert Kennedy, the president's younger brother and the Attorney General came in, took glanced at the report and winced. "Dear God."

"Tell me about your agent," the president said.

"Charles Kraeger has been either in the military or been one of our agents for a little more than twenty years. He's consistently done a fine job and is up for promotion. He doesn't drink to excess, and has never screwed up in the field. We should have more men like him."

"What was he doing in Cuba," Bobby asked, "besides spying, of course? What was his cover?"

"Kraeger was born in Milwaukee and spoke both German and Dutch from childhood. His cover had him in Cuba as Dutch merchant selling clothing and uniforms to the Cuban military."

JFK nodded. "He speaks Spanish?"

"Excellently, but with a heavy German accent."

The president grinned at the thought. "Who is his source, or sources?"

"At least one is an officer in the Russian Rocket Regiment that hasn't quite pulled out of Cuba yet. We understand he's horrified that a madman like Castro could wind up potentially involving Soviet troops in such a risky endeavor. General Pliyev, the commander of Soviet forces in Cuba supports Castro and is angry that his leaders in Moscow caved into us. It’s possible that this Pliyev would prefer that we go to war and settle all the world’s problems once and for all. It’s also extremely likely that Castro feels that way as well, if this report is true."

The president stood and walked gingerly to the wooden rocking chair by his desk. He sat down with a sigh as its motion soothed the ache in his back. The pain seemed to get worse with the stress of the job.

"Just curious, but where was your man during the Bay of Pigs?"

"Smoking a cigar and sitting on a beach in a small town outside Havana. He was not in on the plan. After the fact, he did report that the coming invasion was common knowledge and, had he been asked, he would have said that there would be no groundswell of enthusiasm for it. I did not find out about his reports until recently. They were buried with a lot of information that was unwelcome."

"Of course” Kennedy said with a sigh. “Never tell the boss what he doesn't want to hear unless you're just about ready to retire or marry into money."

The actions of the Russian military never ceased to amaze him. People thought of the Soviet Union and its armed forces as a mindless monolith with everyone marching in lockstep to directions from Moscow. In reality it was often different, with local officers frequently taking independent actions that the Kremlin had not approved.

"What are our options?" Bobby asked his brother.

JFK turned to McCone. "First, we need corroboration that a large Cuban army under this General Ortega is going to attack Gitmo and we need it quickly."

"And on Christmas," Bobby muttered, shaking his head. It was Christmas Eve afternoon and Washington D.C. was already rapidly closing down. Soon, the most important city in the free world would be a virtual ghost town.

JFK ignored him. "Second, we need to notify Cuba through the Swiss that we are on to their game, or, that we are at least hearing rumors and will do whatever we have to in order to protect Guantanamo. We will also remind Castro of the agreement between us and the Russians."

Secretary of State Rusk entered and heard the last. "The Swiss embassy is closed for the holiday, Mr. President, as is the Soviet embassy."

With diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba severed as a result of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the ever-neutral Swiss had been functioning as America's agent in Cuba.

President Kennedy looked mockingly incredulous. "Please don't tell me that the godless communists have taken Christ's birthday off as a holiday?"

Rusk declined to smile. He was aware that the Kennedy's did not have a lot of confidence in him either, although, like McCone, his efforts during the recent crisis had been fairly well done.

"So what do we do?" McCone asked. "Can we or should we increase our alert status? Seriously, sir, if the military is like my organization, then a whole lot of them are either at home or on the way home. We'd have a devil of a time recalling people. Can you imagine the mess the trains and airlines would be? And can you imagine what fools we'd look like if this turned out to be a false alarm?"

The president rubbed his forehead and tried to twist into a more comfortable position in the rocking chair. It wasn’t working. The pain continued at its intense level. He turned to McCone. "Do you believe this man Kraeger? I mean the poor guy was half-drowned, sunbaked, injured, and delirious. Could he be hallucinating or could this be a heat induced figment of his imagination?"

McCone scowled at the implication that his man might be unbalanced. "Sir, I believe that Kraeger believes that what he's reporting is the truth. And as to his possibly hallucinating, he wasn't hallucinating when he made a run from Cuba to warn us. And he wasn't hallucinating when the Cubans tried to kill him and sink that little boat he’d stolen — that and the fact that he's provided far too much detail for it to be a fantasy. What I don't know, Mr. President, is whether or not the Russians are feeding us a line through Kraeger in order to make us overreact and look like fools if the report is false. Or, are they giving us enough advance warning so that it will look like they tried to help when, in reality, there's no time to do anything about their warning.

"Sir, all I can say is that my man absolutely feels that the information he's gotten is genuine and that the threat is both immediate and real. He's en route to here and will arrive in a couple of hours. I can arrange for you to meet him if you wish and you can judge for yourself."

"Later," JFK said. "If he’s right, we’ll give him a medal in the Rose Garden. If he’s wrong, we’ll have him exiled to some shithole in Africa. I agree with what you say and what he believes is the truth. The threat cannot be ignored. First, I want to reconstitute ExComm."

Excomm was the name for the group of senior military and government officials that worked as a brain trust during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The official name was the Executive Committee. "And I want the first meeting to take place in a couple of hours and I don't give a shit if it's Christmas Eve or not.

"Second, I want a report to go out to the man in charge of Gitmo, this Admiral O'Donnell. We can't tell him the commies are going to attack, because we're not really certain of that, but we can tell him it's possible that the commie bastards will try to commit some sabotage over Christmas and he should be extra careful. Still, I don't want all his men yet manning trenches and barricades if it isn't quite necessary."

Bobby shook his head. "The second idea is good, Jack, but the first, calling a senior meeting on Christmas Eve, is a bad one. People will see the staff cars and limos and wonder what's up and we're not in a position to tell them. Contrary to popular belief, the press isn't totally stupid. They won't buy the idea that we're having a Christmas Party with only a few selected generals and admirals and a few key cabinet officials invited over for drinks and stag movies. Right now, the press is probably wondering just what the hell Rusk and McCone are doing here, and if we bring in others, it'll cause a panic. No, call the meeting, but we’ll do it by phone."

"Lines might not be secure," McCone said.

JFK thought it over. "Bobby's right. We can't tip our hand by having everyone come here. Like it or not, the meeting will be by phone and I don't care if the lines aren't secure. I want everybody except Bobby to leave and pretend everything is normal. At two o'clock, I want to discuss military options with the chiefs of staff and the Secretary of Defense."

Kennedy turned to Rusk. "After that we'll discuss diplomatic options. I assume you'll be trying to find someone alive at the various embassies?" Rusk, clearly unhappy at being left out of what was going to be the major part of the planning, nodded.

"And as to the possible lack of security in a telephone meeting, we'll have to take that chance." He laughed harshly. "After all, it's Christmas. Who'd be listening in?"

Che Guevara was the titular head of the force surrounding Gitmo, although everyone knew that General Ortega was the real military leader.

Guevara had the reputation as the mastermind guerilla commander, but real soldiers like Ortega considered him a lightweight at best. The Argentine-born Guevara had never been a real soldier and never commanded large numbers of men in regular combat. Nor was there much trust and love between Ortega and Guevara. Che knew full well what the military professionals thought of him, and dismissed it. He considered himself a man of destiny and didn't much care what more traditional soldiers thought of him. He was a liberator, not a warrior, and it was his destiny to lead the communist revolution, first in Cuba and then in other nations, and no matter how much blood had to be shed.

Guevara did not fully trust Ortega's apparent enthusiasm for the people's revolution. The general had been a brigade commander under the regime of the unlamented Fulgencio Batista and had, at the very last minute, swung his command over to Castro's side. Guevara considered that Ortega might be an opportunist who'd change back at the first opportunity and not a dedicated Marxist like himself. Still, Guevara had to admit that Ortega had so far proven to be a very good general, and his plans for taking Guantanamo were excellent. Ortega was most definitely the man for the job. He'd risen through the ranks on the basis of ability for the most part, and, prior to the revolution, had graduated from several army command schools in the United States where he had impressed his instructors with his knowledge and dedication. He would stay in command, at least for the moment.

Ortega admitted to himself that he was a Cuban first and a communist second. He considered Marxism a little extreme, but it was the movement that had ousted the despised Batista and given him a chance to redeem Guantanamo for Cuba. His support for Castro, however belated, had made him a general and enabled him to provide for Maria and the four children in a manner that befitted them. Nor had it escaped his notice that his family was in Havana, close to Fidel, Che, and Fidel's state police. They were not quite hostages to his good behavior, but close to it.

Ortega didn't like Che Guevara and wondered if the man had a personal agenda. But then, who didn't?

Che sighed. "General, there is a real possibility that our plans have been compromised. A man who was likely a spy for either the Americans or the Germans escaped from Cuba in a small boat. If the Americans have him, he could be telling them everything he knows right now. We must move our timetable forward and attack as soon as possible."

"No."

Che was taken aback. He was not used to the word. "What?"

"No."

"This is an order. From Fidel!" he said angrily.

"I don't care if it's an order from the Blessed Virgin, that nice lady we no longer believe in. No attack can take place immediately."

"I don't understand. Just order the men forward."

"Comrade, I am not surprised you don't understand, because you have never had to plan a military action this massive or complex. If we were to attack right now, as you put it, then understand that most of our men are not yet in position. In order to keep the Yankees asleep and unsuspecting, I've been moving our men in small groups during the nights and positioning them to make a final dash for the Guantanamo fences later tonight. I have allowed two additional hours for units to stumble, get lost, have flat tires, collisions, or for inept commanders to just simply fuck things up completely.

"I am coordinating the combined efforts of fifty tanks and the same number of armored personnel carriers. I have twenty thousand men, about a third of whom are regulars and the rest militia who might not be able to find their asses in the dark without a flashlight, and close to a hundred airplanes all taking their part in a very complex dance in which timing is critical. Also, there are attacks on two airfields on the base that must be coordinated as well as doing something about that damned Fletcher-class destroyer, the Wallace, that arrived the other day. If the airfields remain intact, then American planes can use them to attack us. If the destroyer is unhurt, her guns could do irreparable damage to our armor. Our planes will first take out the airfields and attack the destroyer, along with our ground-to-ground missiles and artillery doing what damage they can to American fixed defenses."

Ortega paused. His anger was getting the best of him. The men in charge in Havana knew nothing about a real military operation. He could not let Che and Fidel jeopardize what he has planned for so long.

"Comrade Che, just look at the map and you'll see the difficulties. The American base at Guantanamo is roughly a rectangle with the ocean forming the southern side. However, right in the middle is the bay itself and it extends far up beyond the base and into Cuba proper; thus effectively dividing the base into two halves, each of which must be handled independently. This is particularly important since each half has its own airfield, even though the McCalla field is not frequently used.

"What I want you to tell Comrade Fidel is that he has three choices. First, we do it my way and we will succeed. Second, if we see that the Americans are alert, we can decide to attack anyway or call off the attack and wait until another time. This would be regrettable, but necessary and would preserve our option of attacking later. Or, third, do it his way and court failure by launching premature and piecemeal attacks."

Guevara restrained his fury. He could see the irrefutable logic in General Ortega's comments. "I will tell him. He will argue and rant, but he will come around."

Ortega smiled. With Guevara put in his place, he could afford to relax and be a little jovial. "Comrade, I don't think the situation is that bad. I too saw the reports of our brave patrol boat captain and what did he say? He reported that he saw a small boat in sinking condition that might or might not have contained our spy, and that he fired on it and might or might not have killed or wounded that same spy who may or may not have been on that boat, or maybe he was on some other boat. Or maybe there was no spy in the first place, only a German tourist wondering what the hell just happened to him as he sank to the bottom of the Caribbean with bullet holes in his body. At any rate, I have been personally observing the Americans and they have changed nothing. They suspect nothing."

Even Guevara had to laugh. "Your point is well made. We will wait."

Ortega nodded. "And if the Americans appear alarmed, I may cancel the attacks, although, at a point, it will be impossible to inform all the field commanders. Simply put, at two in the morning, my officers will receive the go-ahead to attack or the order to abort. At four a.m. they will attack. Once they start moving they cannot be stopped."

Guevara smiled nervously. "Then we will wait until four."

Che also smiled inwardly. Poor Ortega. He had no idea that he was only one part of Fidel's plans for Cuba and the world. Just one small part.

President Kennedy stared at the baffling array of phones and speakers on the table in the Cabinet Room, the place where he preferred to hold his staff meetings. His engineers had told him that all of the parties would be able to speak with him and with each other. He had his doubts. In his experience, technology never worked the way the technicians said it would.

Two o'clock in the afternoon came. One by one, key members of the Executive Committee, ExComm, came on line. Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson acknowledged first, and then Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Maxwell Taylor followed along with his service chiefs, Curtis LeMay of the Air Force, Admiral George Anderson of the Navy, and General David Shoup of the Marine Corps. Technically, Shoup was not a member of the Joint Chiefs, but participated when matters pertaining to the Corps were discussed, and Guantanamo's defenses were largely manned by marines.

The only absentee was Army General Earl Wheeler. An apologetic voice identified himself as Lieutenant General Josiah Bunting, and informed Kennedy that Wheeler was out of touch and probably driving to a family gathering and would be reached in about an hour. Bunting also informed the president that he was the senior army officer at the Pentagon. The president didn't care who represented the army, just so long as someone did and that the damned phones worked.

Kennedy was well aware that the generals didn't have much confidence in him, even though the rest of the world thought he'd forced the Soviets to back down last October. The generals considered him too young, too inexperienced, and too much of a skirt-chasing dilettante to be an effective Commander in Chief of what they felt was the world's most powerful nation. He'd heard rumors that some senior military officers felt that his naval experience in the Solomons in World War II had been minimal and they even joked that he'd gotten a medal for losing his ship when he should have been court-martialed. Sometimes he thought they were right. Men had died under his command and it might just be happening again.

Unlike his dealings with McCone and Rusk, JFK often felt intimated by the military brass who had far more experience than he. Since becoming president, he had worked hard and studied harder to find out all there was to know about foreign affairs. He felt he was far more knowledgeable than he had been, but still had a long ways to go.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Maxwell Taylor, had not only commanded the 101st Airborne in World War II where he’d made a combat jump, but had commanded the Eighth Army in Korea. He was now Kennedy's advisor on the possibility of increasing America's role in Viet Nam. He could be a very intimidating character, although he and Bobby Kennedy seemed to have struck up a rapport.

The Air Force's Curtis LeMay had extensive command and combat experience, and had been the man who'd firebombed Japan during World War II. He'd also commanded the group that had dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He was fiery, belligerent and short-tempered.

Marine Commandant David Shoup had been awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the battle for Tarawa.

Admiral Anderson had served on a carrier in World War II and had been awarded the Bronze Star.

Only the army's chief, General Earl Wheeler, had not had extensive combat experience.

JFK took a deep breath. The hell with the generals and admirals and their experience, there was a job to do. The United States had just had its nose tweaked by Fidel Castro, a lawyer turned revolutionary in his mid-thirties, and something had to be done about it.

In terse language, he informed them of the situation and the possibility that Cuban forces would launch a massive and overwhelmingly strong attack at Guantanamo Bay within the next twenty-four hours. There were growls of anger. Predictably, the loudest coming from Lyndon Johnson and Curtis LeMay.

Kennedy ignored the outbursts. "Simply put, gentlemen, I want to know what our military options are, keeping in mind that the Cubans haven't done anything yet and may not ever do anything. The information the CIA has could be wrong, planted, or the action simply cancelled if they think we are aware of it. Thus, we simply cannot go bombing Havana or anywhere else, without provocation."

That comment was largely directed at the Air Force's Chief of Staff, General Curtis LeMay.

LeMay's response was a growl. "Bombing the bastards would be my first choice and we could easily do it within twenty four hours, sir. I'd have Havana glowing in the dark for the next hundred years if you'd let me. However, I do see your point. Would you permit flights by bombers and fighters over Havana and Gitmo? It'd be one way of letting them know we're onto their little game."

Kennedy thought it over. "Not without provocation first. It's Cuban air space and there are still many thousands of Russians in Cuba and we might initiate a military response from the Soviets who might not understand what we're up to. What about spy satellites to provide confirmation?"

"We can do it," LeMay answered, “but it will take time before the satellite now over Havana watching the Russians can be repositioned. Then the pictures have to be parachuted down, developed, and interpreted. If the Cuban forces by Gitmo do exist, they'll all be scattered and camouflaged. Remember, the Chinese managed to hide hundreds of thousands of men in the barren mountains of Korea in 1950 and we never suspected a thing and we were over-flying them all the time."

"What about a U-2 flight?" Bobby asked. "That would provide quicker data." He was the only other member of ExComm actually with JFK in the White House. His presence would raise no eyebrows in the press.

"Again, it would take time to set up," LeMay said, "and it might piss off the Russians since we agreed not to do it anymore."

"All right," Kennedy said. He was getting frustrated. "Admiral Anderson, what about a navy response? Where's the fleet?"

Admiral George W. Anderson was the Chief of Naval Operations. "We have one Fletcher Class Destroyer, the Wallace, actually in Gitmo. Otherwise nothing that could be there within twenty-four hours and there are no carriers nearby, although we do have a couple of transports at Gitmo that could be used to take off civilians if necessary. We can and will direct other ships to head towards Cuba since they won't be visible and won't upset anyone as long as they stay outside the twelve mile limit, and even the closest ships won't reach that for a while."

Fletcher Class destroyers had been workhorses of the fleet in World War II and JFK remembered them as formidable warships. At twenty-five hundred tons, they carried five-inch guns, and a score of anti-aircraft guns. He wondered if this ship, the Wallace, had been modernized with better guns and radar. It didn't matter. Ready or not, she was what they had. Admiral Anderson said that her five inch guns could raise hell with an armored column and her anti-aircraft guns could chew up infantry attacks.

"However," the admiral continued, "the destroyer is not heavily armored and will not be able to stand up to Cuban artillery or tanks, and, in case of an air attack, she is in confined waters and would be unable to maneuver."

"Damn," Kennedy said. Destroyers weren't called tin cans for nothing. Their hulls had little armor, hence the name.

"Stuck in Guantanamo Bay, she'd be a sitting duck,” Anderson said. “If the Cubans do attack, her orders would be to make for open water as quickly as she could."

"Wonderful," Kennedy muttered. "General Shoup, what can the Marine garrison do?"

The anger in the much decorated Commandant of the Marine Corps voice came through loud and clear. "Sir, our men will fight with everything they have."

"I don't doubt that," said Kennedy, "but how many men do you have at Gitmo?"

Shoup hesitated. "Maybe a battalion, sir. We reinforced the place heavily during the Crisis, but we've scaled back down to normal and with so many people on leave, it'll likely be a lot less than that. It'd be a couple of days before we could assemble and fly a decent sized contingent down there. We could use a few hundred sailors now at Gitmo as infantry, like we did during the last Crisis, and before the Marine reinforcements got there. Seriously, the sailors will try their best but they won't be very good."

Kennedy tapped nervously on the desk. "I'm detecting a pattern here. General Bunning?"

"Sir, it's Bunting, but there isn't much we can do here, either. The most obvious answers are the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, but too many of their men are scattered on long overdue leave just like everybody else. The only thing I can even remotely suggest is reconstituting an ad hoc airborne scratch force we started to put together to reinforce Gitmo during the Crisis. It was called Task Force Roman and it was never implemented."

"What good would that do?" Bobby asked.

"Sir, it would show we are serious and would act as a tripwire," Bunting replied.

JFK was puzzled. "How come this ad hoc group can get together but two airborne divisions can't?"

"No guarantee they can either," Bunting answered, "but they are a much smaller group consisting of people already at Fort Benning, so maybe they can accomplish something."

"Work on it, General Bunting." The president said, and, like the politician he was, emphasized the correct pronunciation of the general's name.

Kennedy rose and leaned over the table. "General LeMay, Admiral Anderson, you both have bases in Florida and other southern states, how soon can we get warplanes over Cuba."

Anderson responded. "You give the word and we'll call an alert and get some planes overhead in a matter of hours. Otherwise, I doubt that we have half a dozen fighters in the air and I think General LeMay will concur."

LeMay did and added that his bombers were all facing north, towards a possible Russian assault from over the Arctic Circle.

"I don't want a general alert," Kennedy said, anger creeping into his voice. How could all our defenses be pointed in the wrong direction? Jesus, how would he explain this debacle?

"Gentlemen," the president continued, "we are all going to be crucified because we weren't ready. How do we explain this to the American public if we are indeed attacked?"

Someone snorted. He recognized General Shoup. "Mister President, we are ready at every place where we felt we were in harm's way. Our forces in Korea, Germany, and even Taiwan, are always on high alert. But, in the United States and that includes Cuba, there is no danger of a surprise attack from either the Russians or the Chinese. Hell, sir, there are no Red armies and navies off our coasts. As a result, maybe more than half of our stateside personnel are at home with their families. For all intents and purposes, a number of our bases are virtually shut down. In short, if the Cubans do come, we are well and truly fucked."

Kennedy sighed and acknowledged the reality of what Shoup had said. "Gentlemen, if the report is correct, this is as bad as it can be. We're damned if we do and damned if we don't. We cannot attack a nation that has not yet done anything to us and yet may not, and we have no way of deterring them by reinforcing our base. The next twenty-four hours will be critical."

Shoup interrupted. "Sir, we may not have twenty-four hours. It's now mid-afternoon and that's a lousy time for infantry and armor to attack. If they do come at us, it'll more than likely be just before dawn and that gives us only a little more than twelve hours to get ready."

"Are we increasing our alert status?" LeMay added. It was currently at DefCon 4. DefCon 5 was blissful peace and DefCon 1 was total war. Four represented an alert status well short of actual combat.

The president took a deep breath. "No. If we increase to DefCon 3 it'll mean recalling troops and alerting bases. No way in hell we could keep a lid on it if we did, and, from what you're telling me, it wouldn't get troops or planes down there any sooner no matter how hard we try."

Finally, it was agreed that a small number of both Air Force and Navy fighters would be prepared and configured to fly to Cuba if hostilities commenced. Their job would be to protect the ground forces at Gitmo and shoot down any Cuban planes. Pilots and ground crew would be called to their bases in Florida and along the coast in response to a call from a fictitious ship in distress. Only when they arrived would their planes be armed and the men informed of the threat to Gitmo. They would have to wait until the Cubans actually attacked before taking off. Both Anderson and LeMay concurred that, under the circumstances, only a literal handful of planes would likely be ready to take off before dawn and by then it might be far too late.

Kennedy ended the calls with directions for the others to be ready to come to the White House at a moment's notice and to otherwise stay near their phones. He thanked Bunting for filling in for General Wheeler and hoped that the Army Chief of Staff would be located shortly. Bunting said he sincerely hoped so too, and Kennedy laughed. There wasn't much else to laugh about this day.

The president looked at his brother. There was dismay on both men's faces. This could easily be the greatest test in the first term of a Kennedy presidency and, if mishandled, could easily result in there not being a second term. If the Cubans attacked and the base was overwhelmed, then he would be blamed, and rightly so. If he cried wolf and nothing happened, he'd be taken for a fool. Either way and barring a miracle, there was a good chance that he was looking at being a one term president.

That is, if he wasn't impeached for criminal negligence.

Chapter Four

Andrew Ross was sound asleep when he was awakened by Gunnery Sergeant Cullen's none too gentle shaking. "Better get up pretty quick, sir. We just got word from on high that the base has been warned to look out for Cuban saboteurs and they think they are coming tonight and maybe down this road."

Andrew got up and re-oriented himself. He'd been sleeping on a bunk outside one of the tents where it was marginally cooler. A mosquito net had kept the bugs at bay. He had an erection and hoped Cullen didn't see it. He gratefully took a cup of coffee from Cullen and took a sip. Typical military coffee — it tasted like tar. "What do you suggest, gunny?"

"First, lieutenant, I think we should change the sleep rotation. I think we should go with half and half, one man awake while another rests, until the threat or the weekend is over."

"Good."

"Then I suggest we send a couple of men up the road a few hundred yards to see if they can spot anybody before any saboteurs get too close. The way the road bends, we don't have great line of sight to the border."

"Let's do it," Andrew said and wondered why he hadn't thought of the ideas himself. Perhaps because he wasn't a good Marine, he thought sadly. He checked his watch. It was after midnight. Merry Christmas and ho-ho-ho.

A few minutes later, Andrew and Cullen watched through a firing slit as the two Marines who'd been volunteered for the listening post, Hollis and Ward, moved up the road as quietly as they could. In the stillness of the night, Ross thought they were very loud and that he could hear them breathing. They were cognizant that the area to either side of the road had been mined, which meant they had to stay on the exposed road itself. The weather was partly cloudy which meant the darkness did not help hide them.

Their orders were not to go farther than the line of barbed wire that marked the end of the base. Everything beyond the wire belonged to Cuba and trespassing was not allowed. Their job was to listen and, if they heard anything, identify it if they could and scoot back as quickly as possible.

Andrew was nervous. "You were in combat, weren't you Gunny?"

Cullen laughed. "Yeah, if you can call it that. After boot camp and advanced training I got to Korea and spent a few days in a front-line trench before the shooting ended. I heard artillery in the distance and no one shot at me. If pushed I will admit to being scared. It hardly makes me a combat vet."

Andrew thought that over. He'd been hoping Cullen had more experience if it came to actual shooting since he had none whatsoever.

"And what about the men? How good are they?"

"I have no idea, lieutenant. This is a scratch group made up of guys who either got unlucky enough to have to pull guard duty on Christmas, or got paid to do it so somebody else could have a nice holiday. Some of them are, like me, in Lieutenant Hannigan's platoon, but half of them don't even know each other, and the only reason I know their names is because they're wearing name tags."

Andrew chuckled. He only knew a couple of them and none of them very well. "Now I don't feel so bad."

"But at least they're all Marines, lieutenant, which makes them a helluva lot better than anybody else, especially Castro's boys. If our guys were army and not marines, then we'd really be fucked."

True enough, Andrew thought. "And what about me, gunny?"

It was Cullen's turn to chuckle. "Word has it you're a decent guy and a pretty good marine for an accountant, or is it the other way around? Seriously, sir, it's common knowledge that you're playing out the string until your time's up and there's nothing wrong with that. Someday I'll be doing it, too. Still, there is no way this little mob can be mistaken for a hard-ass combat unit.”

"One last comment, gunny. Do you believe what they're telling us about saboteurs?"

"Uh, do you, sir?"

"Nope. I believe that about as much as I believe in the tooth fairy. I think it's a bunch of bullshit and that something really big might be happening really soon and we're maybe at the pointy end of the stick. Lucky us, gunny."

In the darkness, Andrew sensed rather than saw Cullen nod. "My thoughts exactly, lieutenant."

For Cathy Malone, Christmas Eve had been pleasant but not noteworthy. Dinner with the Petty Officer Pachulski, his wife, and their two little kids had been fun, especially since her Polish-American hosts traditionally celebrated Christmas on the Eve, which meant she got a chance to watch the kids open presents and generally make a mess of the Pachulski's small quarters. The fact that she liked kielbasa, kapusta, and all the other ethnic Polish items on the table had made it a very pleasant time.

She'd gotten back to her apartment a little too early and a little too full to go to sleep. She would try to run the meal off in the morning, although the idea of going for a run on Christmas Day seemed just slightly blasphemous for a reasonably good Catholic girl, which was what she still considered herself. She still planned on a second Mass and try for a dinner invite, although maybe this one wouldn't be Polish.

She and her roommate, Alice Stockton, had stayed up to talk and allow their respective meals to digest. While this was happening, they'd had several glasses of very cheap wine and Cathy knew she'd regret it a little bit in the morning. Cheap wine gave her sinus headaches and maybe she wouldn’t go for a run tomorrow. Still, it was fun and funny when Alice got drunk enough to admit that she was sleeping with her boyfriend, a sailor stationed at Gitmo as a mechanic, and how much she liked screwing him and what she and he specifically liked to do best. Cathy had to admit she never thought people could be so creative and acrobatic. Her post graduate education was increasing. She now knew that oral sex worked both ways. Amazing.

Cathy'd dated one guy fairly seriously in college, but that had fallen apart when she wouldn't go all the way with him. Part of the way, yes, but not completely, and certainly not orally, which he told her he would happily accept as second choice. She sometimes wondered if she was being a fool. At least she was getting an education of sorts here in Gitmo. The nuns she'd had in high school would crap if they knew what she was learning about in the real world.

It was well after midnight when she finally tumbled into bed. She would not go running. She would sleep in. Thank God for holidays. With a little luck she would find someone else to feed her.

Firebells in the night was the phrase that always came to mind whenever Lieutenant Colonel Ted Romanski's phone rang in the middle of the night. He thought it was something Thomas Jefferson had said but wasn't certain. The author didn't matter; firebells in the night were never good news. The worst news was that somebody had died or been in an accident or one of the boys couldn't get his car started and needed him to drive out to the middle of nowhere to help. The best was a wrong number from a drunk trying to reach someone to give him a ride home. So far, late night phone calls hadn't been for anything serious, but there was always a first time.

He decided to answer the damn thing.

He looked and saw his wife, Midge, was also sitting upright and trying to remember where she was. As always, their first thought was that something had happened to one of their twin boys who were freshmen in college. But it couldn't be them because they were home for the holidays. One had even brought his girlfriend, which had caused some logistical problems concerning sleeping arrangements. To put it politely, Midge was pissed that her little boy was sleeping with his girlfriend. Ted thought the girl was sweet and cute and that his son was pretty damn lucky.

Romanski managed to grab it on the third ring. "Lt. Col. Romanski," he said. He felt there was fuzz on his teeth. He and Midge had been partying.

"General Bunting, Ted."

Romanski looked at his clock. It was two AM. "Good morning, general." Bunting had been his commanding officer when Romanski had been assigned to the 82nd Airborne. They had a solid history together.

"Ted, this afternoon I had a conference with the president himself and he feels that something major is going down in Cuba, at Gitmo. He specifically asked me to get Task Force Roman organized and ready to go."

"Now, sir? It's after midnight." He immediately regretted the stupid comment. He realized it must be serious. After all, Bunting just said he had been talking directly to Kennedy. He had to get his brain working.

"Yes, now, and I know it's late and it's Christmas. But the word is that the commies are likely to attack Gitmo in a couple of hours, which means it's very necessary to have a tripwire force in place and ready to go. Your people are the only ones who had any plans to reinforce Gitmo, except the Marines, who aren't in any position to help for a day or two. Ted, we've got only a matter of hours if this really happens. I don't like it any more than you do, but this comes directly from the president."

"Understood," Romanski said and hung up. He spent the next couple of minutes explaining the situation to a disbelieving Midge.

She stood and clenched her fists angrily. "Damn it, this can't be right. You just went through one war scare and now there's another one? Just what do they want? You're only a few weeks away from retirement!"

"Are you done?" he asked patiently.

"And when was the last time you actually jumped from a perfectly good airplane?"

"It was a couple of weeks ago, dear. I'm not that bad off."

Romanski commanded part of the airborne training school at Fort Benning, Georgia. He'd been a paratrooper in the 82nd as well as a Ranger, and, during the Crisis, had been ordered to create an ad hoc airborne unit made up of training cadre and other qualified personnel who were currently stationed at Benning. Their job would have been to jump or fly into Guantanamo and reinforce the small garrison. He'd managed to gather and organize a force of nearly eleven hundred volunteers. They'd been armed and ready to go until Marine reinforcements arriving at Gitmo made them redundant. It had been fun while it lasted and could have been a great ending to an otherwise ordinary career.

Still, he understood the assignment. All the other airborne units had been focused on an attack near Havana. Only his group had any plans concerning Gitmo. He wondered if his group was the only one that even knew where Gitmo was?

Midge, however, was not mollified. "And, dear God, it's Christmas. Are you going to miss Christmas again? I thought all that crap was over with."

"I have absolutely no idea," Romanski admitted as he stripped to take a shower. "But I guarantee you it'll be the last Christmas I'll miss. A few more weeks and I'm out of here." But to do what? He and Midge hadn't quite decided on their future. He couldn’t live on his army pension, so a job was going to be a necessity.

Enough feeling sorry for himself. He had to make a couple of quick phone calls. He had to get a fanout started with a goal of getting everybody who'd been in Task Force Roman at Fort Benning's Lawson Field within two hours.

Midge stood before him. Her anger had dissipated and she smiled winsomely. He still thought she was beautiful. "You need a little good luck to make it through this, soldier, and a few minutes won't matter." She gently pushed him back on the bed and grinned wickedly. "And I need a pony ride."

She pulled off her nightgown and dropped her panties. Twenty years had made her a little plump, but she was still capable of arousing him almost immediately. Also, a pony ride was a traditional farewell event every time he'd shipped out. She smiled and straddled him. He quickly grew hard and he entered her as his hands caressed her full breasts and worked their way back to her buttocks. Years of practice worked and they both climaxed at almost the same time. She got up and smiled at him. Her eyes were moist with tears she would hold in until he left.

"Now go fight your damn war and try to be home for dinner."

"You hear anything, lieutenant?"

"Only the sound of my wildly beating heart," Andrew said. He willed himself to be still. "But maybe I feel vibrations in the ground."

"Same here," said Cullen. "I wonder what those two idiots have discovered up front?"

"They've probably discovered that they're scared out of their minds and can't really see or hear anything. They've also likely discovered that they're not going to re-enlist."

Cullen chuckled and grabbed Andrew's arm. "Motion."

Seconds later, they both saw the shapes of two hunched over men running towards them. It'd better be Hollis and Ward from the listening post, Andrew thought, and not a couple of saboteurs who'd managed to sneak by them. He belatedly realized they'd neglected to give the two men a password or countersign.

It was Hollis and Ward, and Andrew breathed a sigh of relief. Both men were excited and out of breath. Ward spoke for the two of them. "We heard vehicles, sir, lots of them. Sounds like trucks and tracked vehicles, but we couldn't see them. Too many low hills in the way."

"Any lights?" Cullen asked.

"Naw. Whatever it was they were running lights out."

Andrew told Cullen to radio the report up the chain of command. Trucks could mean anything from a military convoy to a bunch of farmers getting ready to work their fields, but tracks? Tracks could mean farm tractors but the farmers in the area were too poor to afford tractors. They also could mean tanks or armored personnel carriers, and if they came down that single lane dirt road, he had twenty men and an old machine gun to stop them with.

What it boiled down to was that his and Cullen's premonitions might just be correct. There were no saboteurs coming. Instead, they were confronting the possibility of a major Cuban attack. Why the hell had he volunteered to take guard duty? Of course, would snoozing in his BOQ bunk be any safer in the long run if the Cubans were attacking?

Andrew got on the radio and asked for clarification of his duties. He was told that, in the event of an attack in overwhelming force, he was to try and delay them, and then scoot for the rear. Delay them? With twenty men and a machine gun? Jesus H. Christ.

"Gunny, if the bad guys come down that road in force, we don't stand a snowball's chance in hell of stopping them or even delaying them for more than a very short time, as in a minute or two at most. If they come, I propose that we report the attack, annoy them for a few seconds, and retreat to the fallback position."

Cullen nodded. "Then you agree that they know we're here."

Andrew suddenly felt chilled. The Cubans had the high ground and had to have been observing them. "I believe they've been watching us and know everything about us, right down to how many of us wear jockeys and how many wear boxers."

Andrew tried to smile at the thought of Cuban spies checking out his underwear. He was wearing jockeys.

"Saboteurs, my ass," bellowed Major Sam Hartford. "I knew it!"

The phone call just received from the Pentagon said be alert for a major attack. Several outposts had reported sounds of vehicles and tanks and that could mean only one thing. The commies were coming. Or were they? Nobody would know for certain until they arrived with guns blazing. They could simply be driving around for some reason or because they wished to aggravate Gitmo's garrison and keep them up and alert on Christmas. These doubts meant that the base would have to wait to be hit and could not fire preemptively, even if they did see Cuban vehicles. As long as the Cubans were behind their border they could do whatever they wanted. That irked him. Who the hell decided that war had to be played fair?

He dressed as quickly as he could and again cursed the fact that he had to wear regular shoes and not combat boots. The shoes made the pain in his feet tolerable, while the boots would have killed him.

The jeep picked him up and drove him and a couple of other Marine officers to their assigned defensive position. They aroused no interest from the literal handful of people out extremely early on a Christmas morning.

Hartford's duty station was in a bunker that would be used as a backup command center if the real one was knocked out. The site was supposed to be a secret, even from the garrison, but he doubted there were very many secrets regarding Gitmo. The bunker was built into an old maintenance building close by McCalla Field. It had been sandbagged and set up during the previous crisis just two months earlier. He wondered if the Cubans knew it existed and had it zeroed in. What a comforting thought.

A dozen men were in the bunker, a captain, two lieutenants and a bunch of enlisted men. They all looked at him with apprehension on their faces and he wondered if his reflected the same.

Hell, he was supposed to inspire confidence, not fear. They were only lightly armed and the bunker was filled with communications gear. They could talk to anyone on the base. They could talk to the Pentagon if anyone was awake in that monstrous building. Hell, they could talk to the President of the United States if they wanted to. What they couldn't do was stop a major Cuban attack if one came.

Still, no one knew exactly what was going on. Only the marine garrison had been alerted, not the Navy, and that was the right way to do it. If it came to shooting, the marines were the best qualified to defend the base. The sailors, he thought derisively, still slept snug in their bunks and clutched their teddy bears to their chests. He stopped himself. That was unfair. A lot of sailors had been willing to fight the last time Gitmo was threatened two months ago. If the threat was real, they'd show up, draw weapons, and do their best.

He looked into the Bay. The destroyer anchored a half mile off shore looked like it too was sound asleep. So what was going on? No planes were taking off from either of the two airfields. Nor were any of the few armored vehicles the Marines owned on the move out of the motor pool and on to defensive positions. This was truly a half-assed alert.

He and his small command waited, smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee. After a while, the dark of night began to fade and there was the hint of dawn on the horizon. In a little while they could think about going home.

Sirens began to wail.

Shit.

Chapter Five

Cathy Malone awoke with a foul headache and to the piercing wail of sirens. What the heck was it? Was something on fire? She checked the clock on the dresser. Four-fifteen. There was the sound of distant thunder, then thunder that wasn't so distant and caused stuff on shelves to vibrate wildly like there was an earthquake. It must be quite a storm, she thought groggily.

Alice pounded on the door and opened it. Her eyes were wide with excitement. "Something big is happening. There are explosions over at the airfields. I think something must've blown up. Let's go take a look."

Cathy put a robe over her short cotton nightgown and ran outside where many of her neighbors had already begun to congregate. Their apartment building was on a low hill overlooking the bay. Below them was one airfield and across the bay was the other. A destroyer was anchored in the middle.

A jet plane shrieked overhead, flying so low that Cathy and the others actually ducked or fell to the ground. An explosion followed quickly, rocking them with its violence. Behind them, windows shattered.

"That pilot's in a load of trouble," one woman said as she picked herself up. It was Rachel Desmond. She worked for some Marine major.

"I don't think so," her husband said softly. He was another civilian worker, but one who'd retired from the navy and had seen action in World War II. "That plane's Cuban. We're under attack. This is Pearl Harbor all over again."

Cathy was stunned. She looked skyward and made out the silhouettes of other planes circling and diving over the airfields and saw others flying over the destroyer.

She grabbed Alice's arm. "Let's get dressed and see just what the heck is going to happen. I think we may be evacuated again and we'd better be dressed for it."

They had just turned to run back to the building when a massive explosion, followed by smoke and fire, erupted from the bay behind her. "That was the destroyer," someone yelled. Cathy turned. Yes, it was the destroyer. Flames were billowing from her rear. Or stern, she thought as she recalled the correct terminology. The destroyer appeared to be under way and moving slowly towards the ocean. As she watched, more planes strafed and bombed the warship, but didn't appear to cause additional serious damage.

Finally, flashing pinpoints of light from the destroyer indicated that her anti-aircraft guns were working. Her main battery opened up, sending larger shells into the sky where they exploded like fireworks. Rachel Desmond's husband cheered. "That's telling them," he exulted.

The destroyer was fighting back and that was reassuring. But the flaming ship was clearly heading for open sea. She was leaving them.

Cathy and Alice looked at each other. Evacuation? Maybe not this time. Maybe it was too late?

"I think I see something," Lance Corporal Hollis said. The road was still dark, although rays of light had begun to appear and make confusing shadows. "You want me to go out there again, lieutenant?"

"No point," Ross said. "If they are coming we'll know it soon enough."

"I think I can hear them," Sergeant Cullen said.

Andrew swallowed nervously. Suddenly, there was the rumble of thunder coming from behind him. Before he could say something to Cullen, there was the sound of shrieks in the air followed by sharper, but more savage, explosions.

"Oh Christ," muttered Cullen. "The base is getting bombed and we're about to get hit."

Andrew started to order all men to their positions when he realized that everyone was up and ready and looking to him for leadership.

"Tank!" Hollis yelled. "Damn, there's a whole bunch of them."

How many in a bunch, Andrew almost snapped, but thought better of it. One or a hundred, it didn't matter. They couldn't stop a thing with the weapons they had. He ordered his radioman to inform on the situation. He took a deep breath. The tanks were visible. There were three of them and they were followed by armored personnel carriers and trucks, and all were moving slowly but steadily down the road towards them.

And he had twenty men and an old machine gun to stop them. Now he knew how Custer felt when he saw all those damned Indians. He could see that the oncoming tanks were Russian T34s with 85mm guns. They each had a four man crew and two 7.62 machine guns along with the main gun. They weighed in at thirty-four tons and could do more than thirty miles per hour, which was all totally irrelevant considering that he had no way of stopping them. He wondered if he could do thirty-five miles an hour if one of them was chasing him.

The T34s were relics of World War II where they were the best in the world and the mainstay of the Red Army. Newer tanks were better, but the T34/85s were still damn good tanks, especially against what he could throw at them. And what were his orders? Try and delay them. Yeah. Wonderful. But he would do as he was told. Perhaps a few shots at them would cause them to think twice and turn back. Yeah, and he was a brain surgeon. Maybe they could throw rocks at the Cuban tanks.

For a crazy moment, Andrew considered asking for volunteers to run and throw grenades at their treads, or try to make some Molotov cocktails, but he decided he wasn't in the business of asking his men to commit suicide. Instead, he made sure all his men were as safe as they could be inside the bunker.

"Sergeant Cullen. We will let them get close, open fire and try to hit those trucks, not the tanks. It would be a waste. The road turns and we might have an angle shot with the.50. We will not use rifles. They would be useless and we will save our ammunition."

He'd already taken inventory and each man had a grand total of six clips for his rifle, while the.50 had only a couple of hundred rounds. They could use it all up in a couple of minutes if they weren't careful. But then, what was the point of saving it?

"I don't think we can stop them," Ross added, stating the obvious, "but we have to at least give it a try. Then we will go to our fallback position and see what else we can do."

Light flickered from the lead tank and, an instant later, machine gun shells splattered against the concrete wall of the bunker. Some made it into the firing slits and one man screamed, hopefully just in fear. The tank's 85mm cannon opened fire. The shell slammed into the ground just in front of the bunker. The concussion staggered Andrew, throwing him across the bunker.

Andrew lurched to his feet. He ordered the machine gun to fire and watched as tracers reached out for a handful of trucks that were visible because of the turning road. He grunted in satisfaction as one of the trucks seemed to stagger and stop. The gunner, Hollis, skillfully guided his weapon and the bullets chewed into the cloth covered back part where Cuban soldiers should have been sitting. Men were tumbling and jumping out of the two trucks behind the stalled one, which had begun to burn. The Hollis' gun raked the men on the ground and the two remaining trucks.

A second shell slammed into the bunker. The tank was firing at almost point blank range. The inadequate roof collapsed and Andrew could see unwelcome daylight. They'd been opened up like a can of sardines. Men were down, killed and wounded.

"Out of here!" Andrew yelled, and Sergeant Cullen joined in. They grabbed the wounded and spilled out into the area behind the tents. "Down to fallback," Andrew ordered. He would be the last man out. He looked about and saw that anyone left inside was dead. He ran.

For a few precious moments, the ruined bunker was between them and the advancing tanks, but then they were exposed. Machine gun bullets flayed the air and Andrew ran as hard as he could. Bullets chewed up the ground by his feet and he threw himself onto the ground and began to crawl furiously.

Finally, he made it to the dubious safety of the gully. Others tumbled in with him. Cullen was one of them. Andrew caught his breath and counted noses. Seven including himself. That's it? He looked over the edge of the gully and back to the bunker. A number of crumpled forms lay on the ground.

He counted again. Still seven. He had started with twenty-one men, counting himself, and now he had seven.

Worse, the Cuban column was grinding past the bunker and the fallback position. The tank that had destroyed their bunker opened fire with its main gun and chewed up both the remains of the bunker and the men lying dead or wounded on the ground.

"You want us to shoot up another truck?" Cullen asked.

Andrew thought quickly. If they did that, they'd come under attack from either a tank or a personnel carrier and they had damned little to fight back with. Still, he didn't feel like giving up just yet.

"Everybody. Get ready to fire one full clip at the last truck in the column. Then scoot like hell for the hill behind us, and don't even think of wasting time reloading. When we've done that we'll try and make it back to the base."

He paused and gave the signal. It took only a few seconds for the seven of them to fire off eight rounds and the people in the truck gave no indication they'd even noticed. Maybe it didn't carry people, only supplies.

Andrew wanted to cry but he was too angry. He'd lost all those men and they hadn't done a damn thing to slow down the Cuban advance.

John F. Kennedy had dressed hurriedly. He was unshaven and unkempt. And angry. He glared at the young Air Force captain who stood before the table with all the phones. He shook his head. It wasn't this poor guy's fault.

"You drew the short straw, didn't you, captain?"

"Sir?"

"Duty in the White House on Christmas." He looked at the man's name tag. Dudley. He wondered if his buddies called him Dudley the Dud. Right now he felt like Kennedy the Dud. He wondered if this was how history would remember him for being in charge during what appeared to be yet another monumental debacle and disgrace for the U.S. At least much of the blame for the Bay of Pigs had fallen on his predecessor, Eisenhower. In history he'd read of an Old Saxon king called Ethelred the Unready. Would that be his legacy? Kennedy the Unready? Or maybe John the Easily Fooled? Damn it to hell.

"So what can you tell me, Captain Dudley?"

"Sir, it appears that the base at Guantanamo Bay is under attack by large elements of both Cuban air and ground forces."

"Appears? Dudley, are they being attacked or not?"

Dudley flinched. He'd been hanging around politicians too long and had almost forgotten how to give a straight answer. "They are, sir. Reports are scattered and confused, but the base is definitely under attack and it does appear that both air fields at Gitmo have been bombed and shelled and put out of commission, and that Cuban armor is moving to overwhelm the base. Attacks are moving quickly and coming from several directions."

So the report from the CIA was true after all, Kennedy thought, sickened by that fact. And I will be blamed for this and rightfully so. "Are we responding, or are the generals all waiting for my authority to do something."

Now Dudley was a little more assured. "The men at the base are defending it as best they can, and there are Air Force and Navy planes headed to Cuba. Unfortunately, it will not be a coordinated response, but they will shoot down whatever the Cubans have up there."

"Did the base itself have any planes up?"

"Don't know, sir."

"Two," said a voice from one of the phones. It was Admiral Anderson. "One was shot down and the other has ditched at sea after running out of fuel. Before he ditched, the pilot claimed the two of them had shot down three Cuban MiG 17s."

"Was the pilot rescued?" Kennedy asked.

"A Coast Guard cutter is closing in on him now. As to the other pilot, the one who crashed, he's presumed dead."

Along with a lot of others who are presumed dead, Kennedy thought. He couldn't allow himself to be preoccupied by one or two men. He had to focus on the grand scheme of things.

Like how to inform the American public that they were at war.

However, that was already somewhat out of his hands. CIA Director McCone came on line and informed the president that Castro was already on the radio bragging about the attack and the imminent fall of the base that he said was a cancer on Cuban soil.

McCone continued. "Sir, he's saying he attacked with three full divisions and we had no idea it was coming. The obvious implication is that we were stupid."

And he may be right, Kennedy thought. American radio and television news broadcasts had begun to broadcast the reports.

Kennedy shook his head. "Then the base has fallen?"

"No," said Anderson, "or at least not yet. There are several reports that the Cubans have penetrated to the Bay itself, and that's only about five miles from the boundaries of the base. We're looking at a very small piece of real estate, sir, and it won't take long before it is overrun."

There's just a still hope, Kennedy thought. Maybe it can be reinforced and protected. This was quashed almost immediately by General LeMay who sounded both sleepy and angry.

"In an hour I'll have fifty planes over Gitmo and we'll blow their MiG asses right out of the sky. But by that time, the Cuban soldiers will be so mixed in among the Americans on the base that we won't be able to distinguish enemy targets from friendlies. Hell, sir, that’s likely happening already."

The president checked his notes for the names of the commanders at Guantanamo and turned to Dudley. "Where are Colonel Killen and Admiral O'Donnell and what are they saying?"

Dudley shrugged. "We haven't heard a thing from them, sir. They may be killed or captured."

"Then who the devil are we talking to?"

General Shoup answered. The fury in his voice was barely controlled. His men were dying. "A Major Sam Hartford, USMC, is in charge of the backup command post. The primary command post is not responding. Everybody's taking a lot of artillery along with the bombing and the main command center may have been hit." Which would, of course, explain why Killen and O'Donnell weren't talking, Kennedy realized.

JFK was pleased that the executive committee was getting together so quickly, considering the circumstances and if only by telephone. He needed good advice and he needed it now. He wondered if anyone was snooping in on them and decided that, again, he didn't care.

"Can this Major Hartford’s radio be patched into here?" Kennedy asked, and was assured that it could be done. "Then make it happen. And then let's get everybody here as quickly as you can. I don't like all this talking on the phone crap. I want to be able to see people."

JFK had another thought. Castro might be addressing the Cuban people and the world, but he would have to speak to the American people and explain to them just what had happened and just what the devil he was going to do about it.

Of course, he would have to figure out what to do before he said anything. He didn't want to start World War III on Christmas Day, 1962, anymore than he had wanted to just about two months prior. Then, he and the Soviets had managed to back away from the flames. Could they do it again? They would have to. But what was Russia's role in this current mess and what the hell was Khrushchev's involvement in this new crisis? Damn it, the man had to have known what was going on. What the hell did he want?

He would try to stop it, just like before, but, back then, people weren't fighting and dying like they were now. Oh, Jesus. What had happened to a quiet Christmas with Jackie and the kids? He'd been looking forward to playing with the children. He managed a small smile and admitted that he'd been looking forward to playing with their mother as well.

Ross had his few remaining men spread out as they approached the ruins of the bunker and the equally ruined men who lay, burned and shredded, on the ground and inside.

Andrew blanched. He had seen death before but it had been quiet, orderly and dignified death. It had always been death in a casket and an embalmed corpse that everyone insisted that looked like he or she was sleeping. He always thought that was stupid; nobody ever slept in a casket. They were dead. And nobody ever dressed up in a suit or a good dress to take a nap in a casket, either.

This kind of death was new to Andrew and he could tell it was new to his pitifully small command. Even Cullen looked disconcerted. He caught Andrew's eye and shook his head. One of the other Marines started to vomit and a couple of others followed. Andrew felt his stomach churning at the sight of body fragments and raw meat that was already turning black and attracting swarms of flies. Hands and heads, legs and torsos were scattered about what was supposed to have been his home for a quiet weekend on duty.

If this is war, Andrew thought, you can keep it. Let me get the hell out of this and into law school. But in order to get into law school he had to first get out of this mess. He ordered two of his men to watch each way down the road. The Cuban column was long gone, but who knew what might come next. Probably trucks with supplies and reinforcements for the Cubans fighting for control of the base. They could hear the battle that was still raging a couple of miles behind them.

"What are we doing, lieutenant?" asked Cullen.

"Checking for survivors, even though that's probably a lost cause. Then we're going to search for supplies and extra ammo and then we're going to bury the dead."

Cullen shook his head. "The Cubans will come back and realize that we survived. It's ugly, sir, but why not leave the men where they are?"

Andrew bristled. "Because they are Marines, that's why, and we take care of our people, dead or alive. Besides, they might think we buried them and then skedaddled back to the base. Or they might think some of their people did it. Or they might think we escaped and aren't important enough to worry about. Regardless, we're burying them."

Cullen nodded. "Then it's a good plan."

"Gunny, were you testing me?"

Cullen grinned and shrugged. "If I was, you passed."

Incredibly, they found two men alive outside the bunker. One, Lance Corporal Stillman, was badly wounded and unconscious, while the second, Pfc. Levin, was found under debris that had fallen from the bunker. He only had a broken arm and collarbone. Only, Andrew thought ruefully.

A germ a plan was forming in Andrew's mind and he knew it didn't involve caring for wounded, especially when he didn't have the facilities or the skill to do anything. Maybe they could take care of treating Levin, but Stillman had taken shrapnel to the skull and at least one bullet to the chest. The man needed a hospital and soon.

Ross spoke quietly with Levin who paled and then reluctantly agreed. They carried Stillman to the side of the road and rigged a shelter for him and Levin. Andrew gave Levin a pole with part of a reasonably white sheet tied to it. He wished him luck and told Levin they'd be watching and would protect the two of them as best they could if his idea turned bad.

"Trucks are coming from outside the base, from Cuba, sir."

They were coming down the same route as the tanks. He ordered his men back and out of sight and told them not to fire unless he gave the order.

Andrew realized he was holding his breath and forced himself to exhale. He smiled grimly. "Ambulances," he announced unnecessarily. The Red Cross was clearly visible on each of the half dozen vehicles.

As they approached the two wounded Marines, Levin stood and waved the white flag. The trucks stopped. After a few seconds that seemed like an eternity, men carrying stretchers got out of the last truck and approached the two wounded Marines. They placed a motionless Stillman on one and aided Levin on to the other. Once loaded, they continued on their way.

Cullen moved beside Andrew. "Good to know the Cubans aren't savages, lieutenant. Chinese Communists in Korea wouldn't have done that. I heard they bayoneted American wounded."

"I didn't think the Cubans were savages, gunny. Every Cuban I ever met was a good person. Still, it was good to see it confirmed."

The dead were still waiting to be buried. They performed that unpleasant task with grim haste. They tried to make sure that each body they buried had one head, two legs and two arms, and largely succeeded. Hopefully, they got the right parts to the right body. Wooden stakes pounded in the ground identified the site as a graveyard.

It was gruesome work. Still, they managed to bury each Marine with as much dignity as they could, and with one of his two dog tags firmly planted in each body's teeth or as close as possible to where the jaw might have been. Everyone hoped they got the right tag on the right body. Andrew thought it really didn't matter. Dead was dead. Sergeant Cullen kept the other set of tags. Hopefully they could be used to inform next of kin what had happened to their loved one.

Along with himself and Cullen, Ross had only a handful of men and he knew them only by their name tags. They were Hollis and Ward, the two men who'd manned the outpost, along with Williams, Anders, and Groth. Ward was the only black man, still a rarity in the Corps.

Now they would have to make plans if they were to survive. They were uncomfortably aware that the sound of firing was receding and slackening in the distance, which meant that there was a lot of distance and Cubans between themselves and the American lines. That is, if there were any American lines.

Cathy and Alice huddled and hugged each other tightly as explosions ripped through what had once been their quiet neighborhood. They were confused and frightened. They didn't know what to do. The fighting was now all around them and they had missed any opportunity to make it to the Bay and any ships that might take them to safety.

Sometimes they could hear voices from the outside. Terrifyingly, they seemed to be speaking Spanish.

The two women had dressed in rugged clothes suited for hiking or camping, acknowledging that dressing for style was useless in time of war. Alice had imitated Cathy by preparing an overnight bag stuffed with what each thought were necessities. They accepted that they had no idea just what might be a necessity in the hours and days ahead.

A shell landed nearby and cracked plaster, showering them with dust. A picture fell from a wall and the glass shattered. "I can't handle this," Alice said. "You can stay if you want, but I am getting out of here."

Alice grabbed her bag and ran out the back door. Cathy was numb with indecision. Should she follow Alice out into the battle that sounded increasingly like an inferno, or should she stay where she was and wait for the fighting to subside? Or wait where she was for someone to rescue her? She didn't know, she simply didn't know. Surely some American marines would come by and rescue her.

She sat on the couch and hugged her knees to her chest and tried not to give in to the panic that was clutching at her. What was happening to her world? Just yesterday she had a good job as a teacher helping young men who wanted to be helped, and yesterday was the beginning of the Christmas holiday, a time of peace and brotherhood. Today, Christmas Day, there was the strong possibility that she would die violently. She numbly hoped that her family would somehow find out what happened to her.

The door crashed open and three Cuban soldiers rushed in. They were dirty and angry, and one, a large swarthy man, had blood running down his forehead from a gash in his scalp. Cathy cowered as they leveled what looked like submachine guns at her. The larger man was first to determine that she was harmless. He laughed and signaled the others to check out the rest of the building. A moment later, they came back and told their leader that the place was empty.

Like little children, they looted the kitchen of what food was left in the cupboards and in the refrigerator, smashing and breaking what they didn’t want. One of them kicked Cathy’s small television across the room. Cathy thought of bolting out the back door, but they never quite left her alone, and at least one gun was trained on her, however loosely. The threat was clear — she was to stay put or get shot.

Cathy's knowledge of Spanish was a long ways from perfect, but she understood that they'd been separated from their unit by the stubborn resistance put up by a handful of Marines down the street and that some of their friends had been killed or wounded, which angered them. She further gathered that they weren't regulars, whom they despised, but militia, people of the country, and proud of their independence. She also felt that they weren’t terribly upset that they’d been separated from their unit and were missing the fighting.

The large one stood before her. "I am Carlos Gomez," he said, "and I speak English a little. I learned it from the yanquis bosses who used to kick the shit out of me if I didn't do my work just right. I hated them and I am glad they are all gone. They used to beat me, cheat me, all the time they were fucking the Cuban women and turning them into whores."

He grabbed Cathy's short hair in his fist and pulled her to her feet. She yelped from the pain and they laughed. The two other men held onto her arms while Carlos surveyed her. He grinned and pulled her blouse over her head and followed with her bra.

"Small tits," Gomez said laughing as he pawed her roughly. "But they'll do."

He unbuttoned her jeans and slid them and her panties down over her ankles. Except for tennis shoes and socks, she was naked. She was too stunned to even try to wrestle away from the two men who were holding her. Carlos now had his hand between her thighs and began probing her with his finger. It hurt and she screamed.

“A real tight pussy,” he laughed. “She might be a virgin.”

Gomez punched Cathy on the side of her head and followed with a hard backhand across her face. She felt pain as a large ring he was wearing sliced her cheek. She saw flashes of light and nearly passed out.

Gomez continued groping and probing her. "Yanquis pricks always made our women fuck and suck them, but we never got fucked and sucked by Yanqui women. They took my sister to a casino in Havana and made her a whore after killing her brain with drugs. Now you're gonna be our whore. You're gonna fuck us until you're full and suck us until we're dry, and you are gonna have a lot of time to learn to like it."

Carlos exposed himself. She couldn't help but stare at his erection. "Now this is a real man, a Cuban man, not a dickless American." He laughed hugely and the others joined in. They dragged her into her bedroom and threw her on the bed. She tried to get up, but Gomez pushed her back on the bed and forced her legs apart. He laughed and took out a large knife and held it against her face.

"You will not resist. If you do, I will take my knife and cut your ears and nose off so no one will ever look at you without wanting to vomit. Understand?"

She nodded. He climbed on top of her and pushed himself inside her. She tried hard not to resist but couldn't help writhing. Carlos didn't seem to mind as he thrust deeper inside her. She bit her lip and tried not to scream. She would endure the pain, the shame, and the anger. The other two cheered and said they were next.

An explosion ripped through the house, sending debris flying. One of the men who’d been holding her howled and grabbed at an arm that was broken, with a piece of bone sticking out through the skin. Carlos had been thrown to the floor and got up, puzzled and angry. He’d ejaculated, but on her leg. Small arms fire echoed from outside.

Carlos again slapped her hard alongside her head, knocking her to the bedroom floor. "You stay here, bitch. We'll be back and we’ll finish this." He zipped his fly and grabbed his weapon. The two men helped their wounded comrade out the front.

Cathy was naked and covered with dust. She tried to control her breathing, her fear, and the pain. Had he ejaculated inside her as well as on her leg? She didn't know and right now it didn't matter. Wait for them to come back? Not a chance, she thought. She grabbed her clothing and overnight bag and, still wearing only her tennis shoes ran out the back door of the apartment. There was smoke everywhere and it was hard to see, even though it was daylight. She stumbled over something and stared in horror. It was Alice. No, it was half of Alice. She was lying on her back and her eyes were glassy and dead. Her legs had been blown off at the hip.

Cathy screamed and ran. One part of her mind said she could not head towards the Bay because that's where Gomez and people like him would be. She ran as fast and as hard as she could, anywhere, but away from Gitmo.

"They're coming again!" someone yelled.

Cuban infantry in company strength and one T34 tank had been sitting in front of the back-up command bunker for several minutes. Major Sam Hartford moved to the firing slit as fast as his sore feet would let him. He estimated nearly a hundred Cuban soldiers running towards his bunker and the trenches that his men had hurriedly dug in front of it. The T34's engine roared to life and the tank moved with the infantry.

"Fire, damn it. What the hell are you waiting for? An invitation?" Sam yelled furiously.

The fifty or so rifles and BARs that covered that area of the front opened up. Cubans were hit and fell, but others still kept coming. One man waved a pistol and urged his men onward. He was obviously their leader

"Get the guy with the pistol," he urged, and a score of weapons converged on the man. The Cuban shuddered, convulsed and dropped to the ground as bullets ripped him apart. The remainder of the attackers faltered on seeing their leader drop, but the tank kept on coming.

"Keep shooting!" Hartford yelled and his men complied, dropping another half dozen before the survivors decided they'd had enough and pulled back.

"Where's my bazooka?" Hartford hollered.

Two men with a bazooka ran from the relative safety of the bunker and managed to get almost alongside the tank. They aimed and fired quickly, striking it in its more vulnerable flank. The tank shuddered and stopped. The hatches opened and smoke billowed out as the crew jumped down. One Cuban was one fire. He rolled on the ground and lay still. The other Cubans ignored him and ran back to their lines. The two Marines with the bazooka started to run back to the bunker, but machine gun fire chopped them down. Heroes, Hartford thought, almost in tears, but dead heroes. He had to get their names. He was reasonably certain that one of them was his fat little prick of a clerk, Fleming. Jesus, how could he have misjudged the kid?

He pounded the bunker's wall in frustration. Why the hell didn't they have some of the new TOW missiles that were wire guided and could be fired from the relative safety of the bunker? No, the best they could do was bazookas that had been old during the Korean War and had to be fired against the side or rear of a Russian made tank in order to be effective, which meant that anyone who took on a tank with a bazooka had to be either very brave or very foolish.

He quickly counted at least twenty-five Cubans dead and wounded on the ground before him. A check of his men revealed one dead and six wounded, along with the two men who'd killed the tank. A white flag showed from the Cuban lines and a voice yelled out in English that they wanted a truce to pick up their wounded. Hartford agreed and a handful of medics from both sides ran out nervously and gathered their dead and wounded onto stretchers. It was incongruous decency in the middle of a killing field.

Hartford turned to his second in command, Captain Tom Keppel. "Always try to keep a tidy battlefield," he said bitterly. "You never know when someone might drop in unexpectedly and run a surprise inspection."

Keppel shook his head. "How long you think we can hold out?"

"As long as we have to, I suppose."

That was a lie and he said it so the others could hear and be encouraged, if only for a moment. There were now at least a couple of hundred Cuban soldiers in front of him with more coming, and not all of them could be as bad as the militia unit he'd just decimated. Worse, half a dozen tanks were rolling across the ruined runway and were making for his position. Yes they'd managed to knock out the one T34, which was burning fiercely a hundred yards in front of them, but they no longer had a bazooka or anything else that would stop armor, and it looked like they were confronting the entire Cuban army.

Keppel laughed bitterly. "Major, surely you're not waiting for divisions of Negro soldiers on white horses to come to our rescue."

"And why not?" Sam asked. At least Keppel knew his history. In the early months of World War II in the Pacific, the situation facing American soldiers on Bataan in the Philippines grew so bad that many of the starving men became delusional and actually believed that Franklin Delano Roosevelt was going to send tens of thousands of colored soldiers on white horses to rescue them. Just how the hell they were going to get across the Pacific to the Bataan Peninsula did not occur to those men whose minds had slipped so far away from reality. No, there would be no Negro soldiers on white horses. He had to confront reality, not fantasy.

His radio operator waved him over and Sam moved slowly through a bunker filled jammed with humanity. "What is it?"

The radioman looked astonished. "Sir, it’s President Kennedy."

Kennedy leaned over the table and spoke into the microphone. "Major Hartford, I want to know just what is going on. Apparently, you are the only person with whom we can communicate right now. What is your situation in Guantanamo and please start from the beginning? All I'm getting here are rumors."

"Okay, sir," Hartford said. His voice came through surprisingly clear. "About an hour and a half ago our radar detected a large number of enemy planes inbound. They arrived and began bombing about the same time Cuban artillery started heavy shelling. Large numbers of Cuban tanks and other armor, along with infantry in trucks, blew past our outposts. To the best of my knowledge, all of our planes were destroyed on the ground and almost all of what little light armor we had was caught in motor pools where the enemy planes and guns destroyed them. Also, the airfields have been cratered by bombs and shells so that take offs and landings are impossible. It was a well designed and well-coordinated attack that has made us almost defenseless."

Kennedy took deep breath. "Where are O'Donnell and Killen?"

"No idea, sir, but I think the main command center has been destroyed."

"Are you in communication with any other American forces?"

"No sir, not a single one."

"Then you're telling me that the base has been overrun and almost totally captured."

There was the crumping sound of an explosion in the background. "What was that?" Kennedy asked.

"Cuban mortars, sir. We just beat off one of their attacks and they're pissed. And to answer your question, to the best of my knowledge we are it." To emphasize his point, a Cuban machine gun opened up, adding to the background noise heard in the White House.

"Just how far from the front lines are you, major?"

Hartford laughed angrily and Kennedy winced. "Maybe three feet, sir. Hell, this is the front line. One command bunker and some trenches we dug around it."

"How many people with you?" the president asked.

"Maybe a hundred still combat ready, but with only light arms, and another twenty wounded. Also, I've got a couple of dozen civilians, and that includes women and children, hunkered down with us."

Jesus, Kennedy thought. American women and children were in harm's way and about to be overrun and possibly killed? It gets worse and worse. "How long can you hold out?"

"If they attack in force, maybe ten minutes. Sir, they're lining up tanks about a quarter mile away and there's nothing we're gonna be able to do to stop them from literally shelling us to pieces and running right over us. We are totally out of anti-tank weapons. They're gonna run right through us like shit through a goose. And, sir, they gotta know that planes from the mainland will be arriving real soon, so they got a limited amount of time to take us out. They'll attack in a very few minutes, so, unless you got some better idea, I'm gonna seriously consider surrendering."

Kennedy sighed. He could not put the picture of American marines, along with women and children, being crushed by tanks out of his mind. "You have my permission to do whatever you think best."

Captain Dudley scribbled on a piece of White House stationery and pushed it to the President. It read, “Please give him a direct order to surrender. Otherwise, he might hesitate and cost lives. Or he will always be second guessed and reviled for surrendering.”

Kennedy read the note and nodded. "Major Hartford, I am giving you a direct order. Can others hear me?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. You will surrender immediately. Immediately, major, and that is a direct order from me, your Commander in Chief. I am directing you to do that to save lives. Do you understand and will you comply?"

"Yes sir."

"Then goodbye and good luck to all of you, major."

"Thank you, sir."

After a moment, JFK grabbed Dudley's note. He wrote "concur" and signed his name along with the time and date. He handed the note to Dudley. "Good job, captain. I should have thought of it myself. You keep this and if any son of a bitch tries to smear that Hartford man, you show it to him."

Dudley nodded, folded the now priceless document and stuffed it in his pocket. He would make a copy of it on the White House’s brand new Xerox 914 Copier and keep the original for himself.

Marinda Alvarez and her teenage nephew listened with pleasure as Cuban guns and bombs pounded the hated Guantanamo naval base.

"I cannot believe it is finally happening," laughed Manuel Hidalgo. "It is so long overdue. The Americans have caused us so much suffering and for so long."

Marinda hugged her nephew. Normally, he protested such acts of affection as unbecoming to a growing young man, but these were special circumstances and, besides, they were alone in the squalid little hut they called home.

Marinda was forty years old and a widow, and most days she felt every minute of her years and looked much older. She had worked as a field hand, laborer, housecleaner, or anything else to get food to put on her table and the occasional cash to spend on rum or tobacco. Five years ago, her husband had been beaten to death by Batista's thugs for daring to suggest that a labor union might be a good thing. They hadn't even let her collect his body. It had been dumped into the sea, and she still cried each night at the thought of sharks devouring him. Every night before she went to bed she kissed the fading photo that was all she had left of the man she’d loved and married.

Manuel's mother had died in childbirth, from lack of proper medical care. He sometimes thought he was responsible for her death, but both his father and Marinda had assured him that it had been the fault of the criminals in Havana who had deprived the poor of Oriente Province of what they needed to live.

Once, the two of them had a normal life, or as normal as it could be under the corrupt Batista regime that had been dominated by the criminals from the United States. But then came Fidel Castro and his promises of justice and a better life. Castro had turned guerilla and wound up in the nearby Sierra Maestra Mountains where he and a handful of loyal followers had hidden from Batista's soldiers until those wonderful days when they arose and the Batista regime had collapsed.

On more than one occasion, Marinda and Manuel had actually sneaked into the wilderness with food for Fidel and his men, and they had actually met the tall and bearded charismatic leader. Manuel had been transfixed by the power of the Fidel's personality and believed his promises of a better life in the future. Manuel vowed to serve Castro and Cuba, in that order.

When Castro came to power, he began to make good on his promises to the poor of Cuba. Medical services were beginning to be provided and there were promises of electricity. With electricity, Manuel had hopes of getting television. He'd seen it only a couple of times, and had been transfixed by the vague and fuzzy black and white pictures.

Castro had been heavily supported by the citizens of Santiago, and Marinda and Manuel had gone there a number of times for joyous celebrations. Once Castro himself had been there and they had been close enough for the big man to recognize them. He had singled them out and publicly praised them for their courage in bringing food to his men, taking care to say that many others had done so as well.

Manuel thought he would burst with pride.

Castro then said he was a communist, a term that meant little to either Marinda or Manuel. Later, they both understood that it meant that they would get their fair share of the wealth hoarded by the rich and powerful families that had kept them in poverty. Their hovel north of Guantanamo had a roof that leaked, packed dirt for their floor, and anywhere outside for a toilet, while the rich lived in mansions. That was unfair and unjust. Wealth should be shared equally.

They'd been puzzled when Castro had allied Cuba with Russia, a nation about which they knew very little, except that it was inhabited by white men who looked a lot like Americans. Neither Manual nor Marinda had ever seen a Russian, but they were friends of Castro and, therefore, friends of Cuba.

Like many Cubans, they'd been outraged when the Americans had backed an invasion to the west, near Havana, at a place called the Bay of Pigs, and they'd rejoiced when the interlopers had been squashed. Sadly, Manuel's father been killed fighting for the Revolution against the American and CIA backed thugs. He was proclaimed a hero, but that didn't bring him back.

Thus, they listened with unbridled joy as the Americans were being humbled. Earlier they'd watched in happy disbelief as long columns of tanks and trucks filled with soldiers had gathered near their home. They'd been told by happy soldiers that they were going to liberate Guantanamo, but didn't believe it until now.

A large, flaming explosion lit the night to their south. "I want to go and see," said Manuel.

Marinda thought about saying no, but her nephew was almost a man, even though he was skinny and wore glasses, and he might just go towards the fighting on his own. "So do I. Go put on something that doesn't look like a uniform so we don't get shot at."

Getting onto the once well guarded base was now ridiculously easy. The gates had been blown or smashed and they simply walked in. The fighting appeared to be several miles in front of them and moving away, although they did see several clusters of frightened and shaken American civilians gathered together and doubtless wondering just what had happened to their safe little world. Marinda wanted to curse at them, but decided against it. Americans had a habit of carrying guns and would certainly be on edge.

Manuel gasped. A dead body lay in the street. It was a Cuban soldier and he'd been shot a number of times. Marinda started to reach down and feel his pulse, but realized from the huge amount of blood that had poured from his many wounds that it would be an exercise in futility.

"We will continue on," she said grimly.

In a short while, they heard the sounds of cheering. Groups of Cuban soldiers ran by. "The Americans have surrendered," one of them yelled, and they joined in the shouting. Rifles were fired in the air until officers made the soldiers stop.

Manuel and Marinda continued on to the place where fighting had clearly raged. Burned trucks and a charred tank still smoldered. A column of beaten and weary Americans was being moved away from a badly damaged building.

Manuel announced that he would be joining the militia, which saddened Marinda but she recognized the inevitability. She realized that the taking of the base might just be the first step in what could easily be a long war. Would the United States simply roll over and leave them alone because they'd lost Guantanamo, or would they counter-attack? She thought she knew the answer and it saddened her.

Chapter Six

Andrew gathered the small group around him in the inadequate shade of a grove of scrub trees. He hoped the pattern of limbs and leaves would hide them from at least some prying eyes. It was decision time. They had found a shallow ditch about a hundred yards away from the bunker and had carefully enlarged it for protection. They were safe for the moment.

The sounds of battle had faded and an unreal silence now prevailed. They knew it could mean only one thing. The battle for Guantanamo Bay was over and the Cubans had won. And that meant they were totally adrift and alone in an alien and hostile land.

Andrew took a deep breath and began, "Men, the way I see it, we have two choices. First, we can find a Cuban unit and surrender to them. If we do that, the odds are very good that we will be well treated. You saw what they did for Levin and Stillman and I'm pretty confident that we'd be treated just as well. Once in a prison camp, there's a reasonable expectation of ultimately being released for the simple reason that this war can't go on forever. I believe that, in a very short while, a very pissed off United States will kick Castro's ass right up between his ears."

Hollis glared at him. "But we'd be like convicts if we surrendered, wouldn't we?"

"Yes," Andrew said. "But we'd be safe."

"I didn't join the Marines to be safe," Hollis said. "If I'd wanted to be safe, I'd have joined the navy and wear a condom all the time. Besides, didn't we all swear not to surrender unless we have no other choice? Sorry, sir, but I think we still have some better options. Surrendering's without a good reason’s for pussies."

Andrew smiled inwardly, pleased by the comment. The Code of Military Conduct prohibited surrender except as a last resort and their situation was a long ways from anything resembling a last resort. He saw the others in agreement with Hollis.

"Okay, that leaves option two. We stay out here and try to get in contact with U.S. forces and also try to be useful, whatever that means. Of course it also means that we'd be considered combatants and maybe even guerillas, in which case we might be shot if we were captured."

"Life's a bitch," PFC Groth added. "If I have a vote, I say we stay out of the prison camps as long as we can. Besides, don't the Commies torture and try to brainwash people into betraying the U.S.? I don't want any part of getting my brain washed."

"Yeah," Sergeant Cullen said somberly. "At least that's what they did in Korea, but the Cubans aren't the Chinese and I really don't think they'd try anything like that. The United States is so close to Florida that they have to know that there'd be retaliation by our side. The Cubans also must realize that this'll be over fairly shortly and they wouldn't want anybody accusing them of atrocities and later hanging their asses for war crimes. I think we'd be reasonably safe if we managed to surrender without getting shot in the first place."

Andrew nodded agreement. He thought it almost inconceivable that the Cubans would behave in any way like the Chinese Communists had done in Korea, where they'd starved, beaten, tortured, and murdered prisoners of war. However unlikely, though, such brutal behavior couldn't be totally ruled out.

Andrew smiled tightly. "Then we've decided? We stay out here and keep free for God knows however long we can and try to take part in whatever is going to happen?"

All nodded or said yes.

"Look," Andrew continued, "this isn't a democracy and we all know it. For better or worse, I'm the senior person here and I will give the orders. But I don't want anyone here who doesn't want to stay. We can't afford that, so if anybody does want to wander off down that road and find some Cubans to kiss up to, go do it and nobody will say a word. But do it now."

Nobody made a move. Andrew stood. "Okay, that's that. The next order of business is to find food and shelter."

"And toilet paper," Ward added and everyone laughed.

"No shit," Andrew grinned. "And take all the ammunition we can find as well as any weapons we can carry. The machine gun in the bunker is destroyed, but we might find some other useful stuff, so let's get scrounging. Right now we all have weapons, but who knows when we might find other strays like us or just need replacements. Let's hustle. There'll be more Cubans passing by any time now."

Cullen stood. "Heads up, people. I want you to pick up all the food, ammunition, and weapons you can find. And then grab all the blankets and rain gear, ponchos, you see. This may be Cuba, but it’s winter and, while it's not going to be very cold, it's not going to be all that hot at night, either. Anybody gets sick and they're just shit out of luck."

"That's gonna make for mighty heavy packs, sarge," Ward complained.

Ross answered with a grin. "Hell, we're all marines, aren't we? Hauling a couple of hundred pounds of equipment all day will be nothing."

A distant sound caught their attention. They looked up as it got louder. Jets.

"Ours," Cullen said, recognizing the silhouettes of American F104 Starfighters. "Finally, a day late and a dollar short, as usual with the fucking Air Force."

General Ortega was pleased. Fidel himself had phoned and was beside himself with praises for Ortega and his brilliantly conceived and executed mission. Still, it had not come without a heavy price. At least a thousand Cuban soldiers were dead or wounded and a hundred more were missing. The outnumbered, disorganized, and overmatched Americans had fought stubbornly and well. The final scene had played out only a few moments earlier with the surrender of the hundred plus Americans from their command bunker.

Taking this one bunker had cost more than a hundred casualties, including the fifty or so dead, along with one almost irreplaceable tank. It was lost when an overzealous officer had personally led a charge against the American guns. Fortunately, the officer was dead. Now he could be revered as a hero of the state instead of being court-martialed for his consummate stupidity.

Ortega had promised this Major Hartford that his soldiers would be treated well and he had every intention of keeping his promise. He was a Cuban and a professional soldier, not a barbarian. When it was appropriate, the approximately three thousand American prisoners, many of whom were noncombatants, would be moved to another site, probably the nearby port city of Santiago.

Until that time, they served another purpose as, overhead; the first wave of American fighters was busy shooting down and chasing Cuban MiGs and while avoiding heavy anti-aircraft fire that had been another unpleasant surprise for the Americans. While several MiGs had been shot down, so too had at least a pair of American fighters, although by anti-aircraft and SAM 2 missiles and not by Cuban pilots who were no match for the Americans. A shame, but Ortega never thought Fidel's fighter planes would be a major factor after the initial attack on Guantanamo.

Ortega had broadcast in the clear the fact that the prisoners were being kept in close proximity to the Cuban forces in order to keep the American planes from bombing and strafing them and, of course, his own men. When darkness fell, he would move and hide his armor. He had no doubt that the Americans would quickly and completely control the skies. Now, however, there was chaos both in the air and one the ground and it served him well.

He counted his losses. Along with the dead and wounded, most of whom were relatively useless militia and therefore expendable, he'd lost a dozen tanks and personnel carriers. He would see what could be salvaged. He would need every armored vehicle available when the inevitable American counter-attack occurred. Comrades Fidel and Che seemed to be of the mind that the Cuban military was strong enough to deter the Americans from returning to Guantanamo, but Ortega was not so foolish as to believe that.

No, the defense of Guantanamo and Cuba would depend on guile and skill. He grinned. Like his using several of the half dozen ambulances to carry him and his headquarters staff to the battle. The American planes would never attack clearly marked ambulances, which meant he was safe unless he did something stupid, and he was not stupid. He'd even stopped to pick up two wounded Americans assuming that other Marines were watching and that any false move would have resulted in a fire-fight that could have cost him his life. Had he not stopped, observers would have guessed that the ambulances were not real and might have opened fire.

Those two wounded men were with Major Hartford and the others where they would all be treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention. He ducked instinctively as yet another American fighter flew low over the base. The pilot looked down on them, but did not fire. Ortega had won. Guantanamo Bay was once again part of Cuba and Cuban was once again whole.

And he would never permit it to be called Gitmo.

The fifteen old C47 transports carried a total of three hundred well armed and veteran American paratroopers and flew southward in a long, single line. Lt. Col. Ted Romanski tried to relax, but that, of course was impossible. He was going to war.

Along with finding pilots and crew for the transports, it had taken him precious time to get the small number of men available for the interdiction mission organized and on board the transports. Instead of the thousand plus paratroopers he'd hoped for, he'd rounded up only a little more than three hundred. Still, he had his orders. General Bunting had been specific. President Kennedy had given the order for the jump onto Guantanamo and they would do their best to relieve the beleaguered forces at Guantanamo. He was very uncomfortable, but he would do his duty. He always did.

Sporadic reports from Gitmo indicated that the place was being overrun, which made him wonder if they'd have anyplace to jump onto. Their plans called for them to land if possible, but they would parachute directly on or near the airfields if they were under fire. But what if they'd fallen, then what? And how the hell would he know? This had all the earmarks of a hastily thrown together disaster, a FUBAR.

There was doubt as to whether they'd be getting fighter cover. The Cubans had Russian MiGs among other types of warplanes and lack of cover could be even more disastrous. Romanski wondered if Bunting had had all the info necessary to make a good command decision.

Master Sergeant Wiley Morton sat beside Romanski. He was a short, barrel-chested black man who stared grimly ahead. He hadn't said much, but it was evident from his few comments that he thought the mission was ridiculous at best. Still, he'd volunteered. He'd served with Romanski in the past and was part of the Airborne Training School cadre that Romanski commanded. Romanski totally respected the master sergeant and it was reciprocated.

"We're over Cuba," the pilot's voice announced over Romanski's headset. About time, Romanski thought. It seemed like they'd been flying forever. In a very few minutes they'd be over beleaguered Gitmo. He ordered his men to check their gear for the tenth time. Nobody complained. You didn't jump out of a perfectly good plane without checking your gear as often as you could.

He wondered what Midge was doing. They'd planned to go to church early and spend the rest of the day celebrating Christmas with the boys. Some celebration they'd be having. At least they'd be having a better day than he would. He hoped his efforts would serve a purpose and not be wasted. He did not want his epitaph to read, "He died for no good reason."

The plane shuddered. He looked at Morton who shrugged impassively. It was anti-aircraft fire and it was dangerously close. Something rattled against the thin side of the plane. Anti-aircraft shells were exploding very close nearby. The plane rocked again and several men lurched forward, cursing but otherwise unhurt. Romanski forced himself to be calm. It was one more thing he couldn't control. If the plane was hit, so be it. He hoped he would either be able to jump or die quickly. He kind of wished he’d gone to Confession.

The pilot's voice came back on. "Colonel, we've been ordered to abort, repeat abort, and return to base. Gitmo has fallen."

Romanski exhaled deeply. Maybe he would get home in time for a late dinner. He immediately regretted the thought. People had been killed on the ground below him.

The plane shook violently. "We're hit," said the pilot after a moment's hesitation. "One engine is out and we're losing power. We are not going to make it. Get ready to jump right now!"

Romanski stood. Through the small window he could see the left wing was burning and pieces were flying off. So much for dinner. "Everybody up," he ordered. "Like the man says, we're gonna jump right now."

The hatch opened. He was the ranking officer and should jump first. He thought for an instant that he should let the others go ahead of him, but no, there wasn't time to change places with anyone. The damn plane was going to crash. He suddenly found himself flailing around in the sky. He thought Morton had pushed him.

After what always seemed an eternity, the parachute opened and he was able to look around. A handful of other men had made it out and were still jumping from the plane when it took a direct hit and exploded in a ball of fire, with bodies thrown from the cockpit.

He swore and tried to find the rest of his column of transports. He saw the other planes peeling away and heading north, back to the United States. Another C47 was hit and lost a wing. It tumbled and cart-wheeled into the earth, where it exploded in a ball of fire. Then a third exploded in the sky.

Romanski wanted to weep. So many good men lost and for what reason? Damn it to hell, someone in the Pentagon had fucked up royally and it had to be General Bunting. Lights twinkled up and he realized that Cubans on the ground were shooting at him and the remnants of his command. It was now daylight and there was no place to hide as they fell from the sky. But the Cubans weren't shooting at him that much. They were aiming for a cluster of parachutes well behind him.

The ground was coming up quickly. He braced himself for the landing and wondered again if Midge wasn't right and he wasn't too old for this shit. He hit the ground and began the tumble that would soften the impact when his foot caught in something. A sound like a piece of wood breaking was followed by a wave of agony and he nearly passed out from the pain. He felt strong arms lifting him and half-dragging him off to someplace. He couldn't focus his eyes. Had he banged his head? What the hell was going on?

All the captain and crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Willow needed to do was steer for the column of greasy black smoke that could be seen for scores of miles and was billowing from the stern of the damaged Fletcher-class destroyer, the Wallace. The plan was to get close enough for hoses from the Willow to help put out the fire that was raging through the charred mess that had been the destroyer's stern turret.

Lt. Commander Watkins could see the five inch guns on the destroyer pointing aimlessly towards the sky. This, he decided, was a good day to help people. Already he had one pilot from a shot down American fighter in sick bay being tended to by Seaman Vitale. The pilot had a broken hip and a multitude of cuts and bruises but would likely make it.

The United States was at war and he wondered if it had anything to do with the CIA agent he'd picked up. He'd probably never know for certain, but he'd bet money that it did.

When the Willow was about two hundred yards from the destroyer, the stern of the Wallace simply exploded. Flames and debris were hurled high into the sky as ammunition in the turret and rear magazine cooked off. Pieces fell on the cutter like shrapnel and Watkins thanked God everyone was wearing helmets and life jackets. Someone screamed when he realized that body parts were part of the debris descending on them.

"That's ugly," he said to his XO, thankful that the explosion hadn't occurred when they were closer. "Lower boats. People must've been blown off into the water. And get the hoses going as quickly as possible."

Harkins relayed the orders. He would control fighting the fire on what remained of the Wallace. Soon they were close enough and hoses sent streams of water onto the destroyer, but without apparent effect on the raging inferno. Explosions still ripped through the ship, sending more debris onto the cutter. Even though all his men were protected by their helmets, they ducked nonetheless. A number were struck and badly bruised.

All too soon the Willow's boats returned with their awful cargo. Many of the wounded had been horribly mangled and burned, while the dead were almost unrecognizable as having once been human beings. The Wallace was badly hurt but not about to sink, at least not yet. The destroyer was a tough bird and her crew had been trained to a high peak of efficiency after patrolling off Cuba during the earlier crisis that could have exploded at any time. The only thing they'd been unprepared for was a Christmas day bombing attack while at anchor in the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay. The hull of the Wallace had been opened like a tin can, which, Watkins thought wryly, was what a destroyer was called.

The fire was still dramatic but the destroyer’s skipper radioed that he thought it was coming under control. Watkins hoped so, but had serious doubts. A tug was coming to take the Wallace in tow and would arrive in a couple of hours. A dozen wounded sailors from her were now in the Willow's small sick bay and an equal number of corpses were stored in the freezer. Vitale would need a lot of help with the wounded.

As he said that, another violent explosion suddenly shook the destroyer and lifted her from the water. Broken in half, she sank within a few minutes. Her captain had been terribly wrong. Scores of heads bobbed in the water along with limp and broken bodies. Weeping openly, Watkins ordered his ship to proceed and pick up all they could find. He felt a tug at his sleeve.

"We got orders, sir," said Harkins. "We're to head for Miami with the wounded."

Watkins wiped his tears away and nodded sadly. "Good."

"One last thing, Skipper."

"What?"

"Uh, congratulations. You've been promoted to commander."

Chapter Seven

It had suddenly ceased to be a normal Christmas morning. All across the United States, people who were happily opening Christmas presents or making phone calls to relatives began to realize something was terribly wrong. They turned on their televisions and radios and got the message that Cuba had attacked the American base in Cuba. Worse, the military had apparently suffered heavy casualties. War on Christmas Day? It was inconceivable except, of course, for the fact that it was happening.

Frantic phone calls were made to friends and relatives: Did you hear? The Russians just attacked us! People began to pack up and head for the perceived safety of the country. It took a few minutes for many Americans to comprehend that the attack was localized to the eastern end of Cuba. With that, the incipient panic subsided. Still, there was anguish and confusion. What did it mean?

Many didn't even know where Guantanamo Bay was and others wondered why we were fighting. If it was on Cuba, what were we doing there in the first place? Still, nothing changed the basic facts: just like Pearl Harbor, an American base had been the victim of a surprise attack and hundreds, if not thousands of American servicemen and civilians, were dead, wounded, or captured. It was not lost on most people that the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor had also occurred on a Sunday in December and it had been only twenty-one years ago. Someone born that month in 1941 was just now reaching legal adulthood, and could vote and drink.

Children continued to open presents with wide-eyed innocence while older family members wondered just what the impact would be. Would the fighting spread to other places, like Korea or Berlin, where American and Communist forces also confronted each other? Was this part of a greater plot that could result in a nuclear holocaust? What had happened to the peace brokered between Russia and the United States? Every young man wondered about his status in the draft and whether he'd be called up to fight a war in a place he'd likely never heard of — Guantanamo.

Large numbers of people who hadn't planned on going to church this Christmas suddenly changed their minds and all denominations of houses of worship were jammed. Priests and ministers who'd heard about the new war, adjusted their sermons, while those men of God who hadn't heard wondered where all the new people had come from. The crowd was larger than the usual extended Christmas congregation, what was laughingly referred to as the 'pines and palms' Christians, those who came to church only on Christmas and Easter.

Those people with fallout shelters decided to see if they were stocked with food and water, while others determined to check on how much they cost to build. Families who had them made plans to move into them very quickly. Perhaps right after Christmas dinner was over and the dishes were cleaned.

Events were particularly traumatic in military households. Phone calls had gone out cancelling leaves and ordering reservists to report for duty. Most were told off the record to finish their Christmas and then get to their stations. The world was not going to end in the next twelve or twenty-four hours.

Or was it?

On bases all over America's military world, young soldiers who'd either enlisted for four years or been drafted for two, wondered if they were ever going to get out of the service and go home. Extensions had been forced on many of them a year ago over a crisis in Berlin and they could see it happening all over again. They wondered if a two year draft or a four year enlistment had just become a lifetime vocation.

Radio and television stations broke in and announced that President Kennedy would speak to the nation at ten in the morning, Eastern Standard Time.

Charles Kraeger sat comfortably in a chair in CIA Director McCone's Conference room and stared at the television. It was a black and white RCA and he wondered why the Director of the CIA couldn't afford a color TV. He thought it was about fucking time Kennedy said something about Cuba. With only the briefest of introductions, Kennedy appeared on the small screen. He looks like hell, Charley thought. He looked like a man who'd been up all night trying to figure a way out of this mess. Charley hoped he had been.

A reasonably attractive woman in her early thirties came in and took another chair. She had dark hair and tan skin. She nodded. "Elena Santano, agent Kraeger. I'm with the Cuban desk. Director McCone wanted me to talk to you."

He thought she'd be a knockout if she'd had time to fix herself up before coming in. As it was he elevated his already good early opinion of her. "Right after Kennedy explains this big screw-up."

The camera moved in on Kennedy. "My fellow Americans. It is with great sadness that I confirm what many of you already know. Communist Cuba, under the command of the Marxist dictator, Fidel Castro, has broken the peace agreement signed only a few weeks ago by representatives of the Soviet Union and the United States of America."

He paused. What he was about to say was intensely painful and an indictment of his presidency. "Very early this morning, an estimated three Cuban army divisions, more than twenty thousand men, supported by planes and a large number of tanks, launched a savage, brutal, and overwhelming assault against our small garrison at Guantanamo Bay, on the eastern tip of the island of Cuba.

"Let everyone know that we are at Guantanamo Bay by right of a treaty with the governments of Cuba in the past, and as confirmed by the government of Cuba this fall. Until this morning, Cuba has honored these agreements which have been in place for more than half a century.

"Thus, the attack this morning was totally unexpected and unprovoked. Hundreds of our brave men have been killed and many, many more have been taken prisoner. Just a couple of hours ago, I ordered the remaining senior officer at Guantanamo to surrender in order to save the lives of his men and those of the hundreds of civilians, including women and children, who were under his protection and in danger of being slaughtered by the Cuban communists.

"For those of you looking for someone to blame, let me assure you that everything that has occurred is my responsibility. I bear the burden of making the mistake of trusting Castro. I am guilty of believing the word of a Communist dictator, and we are all now paying the price of that guilt. It should also be known that we had a few hours warning that an attack might be forthcoming. Unfortunately, there was no way we could confirm the report and, even if we had, there was no way we could have done anything to help those brave sailors and marines at Guantanamo."

Kennedy paused to let that sink in. Yes, he'd had warning, but, no, there wasn't anything he could have done about it. Hopefully, he'd de-fanged his political enemies at least a little bit.

"I will leave recriminations and finger-pointing to others. There will surely be enough of that in the future. As former President Harry Truman used to say, The Buck Stops Here. I am responsible for all failures and for everything that has and will occur. I and the leaders of this nation, both military and political, will be working tirelessly towards a response that will show Fidel Castro and his criminal henchmen that he cannot attack and murder innocent Americans.

"Let no one doubt that we will prevail. God bless America,"

Charley turned to Elena. "Interesting what he said, wasn't it? Almost as interesting as what he didn't say. Like he never used the words invade, or attack, or conquer. And he also never said he was going to ask Congress to declare war. Don't you wonder what he's thinking of?"

Elena found herself smiling. She was thirty-four and had a doctorate in Latin American studies and, for the past six years, had been solely assigned to work on Cuba. She thought all field agents were nothing but glorified thugs. At least the ones she'd met seemed that way. On the other hand, this Charley Kraeger seemed cut from a different cloth. Interesting.

She stood and wished she'd worn something nicer than an old baggy sweater and slacks, but McCone's orders had been specific: Get the hell in here as fast as you can. Now that she was here, of course, she was sitting and waiting.

"Agent Kraeger, I believe the cafeteria is open. How about we discuss this over some coffee?"

Charley grinned, happy that his voice had mostly returned. "How about over lunch?"

Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson glared at the president. There was some respect but little love lost between the two men who had both chased the presidency in 1960. LBJ as Vice President was purely a marriage of convenience. He still thought he would have made a far better president than Kennedy, a man he thought was too young and weak. Sure as hell, the commies wouldn't be pushing him around like they were Kennedy.

"Why the hell didn't you say that we were going to blow Castro’s ass from here to China if he didn't return our base and our people and, oh yeah, surrender Cuba to us?"

General Maxwell Taylor, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stifled a grin. The vice president had just asked the question all the military men had wanted to ask but hadn't. The other chiefs looked quizzically at Kennedy, their Commander in Chief, a man still in his early forties. They all wondered the same thing. Would he act like a real commander or would he behave a spoiled rich kid? Had the events of the last few months taught him anything?

"We will do what we have to," JFK said, "and if that includes a direct assault on Cuba, then that is what will happen. Still, as you fine gentlemen have all said, and as events earlier this fall showed, we cannot conjure up an invasion force overnight, or even in the next couple of weeks. Therefore, while we are building our strength and gathering our weapons, we will utilize every other means at our disposal to solve this situation and, if we can solve it without further bloodshed, then I am duty bound to attempt it."

Johnson looked incredulous. "You actually expect the United fucking Nations to come running to our aid and help push Castro out?"

"Probably not," Kennedy admitted glumly, "but we have to make the effort so the world can see the UN failing while we try our best. By the time we go in, assuming we do go in, I want as much of the world on our side as possible."

"And what about the Russians," General Maxwell Taylor asked. He'd commanded the 101st Airborne in World War II and the Eighth Army during the final days of Korea. He'd been appointed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on October 2, 1962, only a couple of months earlier. One of his first tasks was to determine why the Bay of Pigs invasion had been such a fiasco. The chairmanship was a job he'd always wanted, but now he wondered why.

"Especially the Russians," President Kennedy responded in a loud clear voice. Taylor was becoming hard of hearing and, like so many older men, refusing to admit it.

The president continued. "I seriously wonder if Khrushchev had any knowledge of this. Secretary Rusk has his people in Moscow almost literally beating on the doors of the Kremlin and the only reaction we are getting anybody willing to talk with us is puzzlement and confusion. The same with the CIA contacts with their Soviet counterparts and getting nothing but surprise. Nor is there any indication of anything really abnormal in Berlin or Korea, or, for that matter, anywhere else in the world, which I suppose is good news.

"Castro has a reputation as a loose cannon and he may have chosen this way of sticking it up our asses without telling the Soviets who might have stopped him.”

Johnson snorted. "Forgive me if I don't share your belief."

Kennedy grinned. "I'm not too sure I share it with myself, Lyndon. I really do find it hard to believe that Khrushchev didn't know anything about this."

General Taylor turned to the president. "In the meantime, we will be working hard and fast to reconstitute the forces we had ready to invade Cuba two months ago. That's the easy part, even though it will take some time, perhaps even more time since we are in the middle of the holidays. Admiral Anderson and General LeMay want to know just when they can start hitting Cuban targets with their planes, with what weapons, and what targets, if any, are off limits?"

Kennedy took a deep breath. The eyes of the military were on him. It was another damn test. "First, no nukes. Don't even think of using nukes. Second, you will not hit the Russians. We know they are mainly to the west of Havana and those areas are off limits for the foreseeable future. As long as they are in their enclaves, they are safe."

"Accidents happen," LeMay said with a sly grin.

Kennedy glared at him. "There will be no accidents, General LeMay. If the Soviet enclaves get hit, I will have the stars and the balls of whoever is responsible. Additionally, Havana is off limits as are other purely civilian targets that will be named shortly. Havana has no military significance at this time, and there would be too many civilian casualties from a population we believe would support us if given half a chance. If we get an opportunity to bounce a bomb off Castro's thick skull, I may okay a strike, but there will be no attacks on Havana or other essentially civilian areas without my say so."

Admiral Anderson smiled tightly. "Then nothing else is off limits, sir?"

Kennedy nodded. He had to show strength, both to the joint chiefs and the American people. "The American public has to see that we are hitting them back and that has to start happening real soon. Whether we will need an actual invasion is another matter." He glanced at a map of Cuba. "Keep the attacks east of Santiago."

General Taylor interrupted. "Sir, there must be coordination and planning. We simply cannot have both the Air Force and the Navy throwing planes at Cuban targets. Unless we're careful, some places will be missed and others will be hit redundantly. We need an overall commander, and, unless you change your mind, that will be me. In the meantime, Admiral Anderson and General LeMay will work with me to coordinate their attacks from Florida while our carriers close in on Cuba. Further, Mr. President, do you really wish to begin an American response on Christmas Day?"

Kennedy winced. "I believe Castro started it, General, although you make a good point. Still, the Cubans are doubtless now disbursing and hiding their men and their weapons. We stand a good chance of getting at least some of them while they're on the move. Let the attacks begin immediately."

General LeMay stood and smiled. This was not like the first Cuban Crisis where fighting was planned but never happened. The gloves were off. At least part of the way. "Then, Mister President, I would like to leave now and get my people started on killing people and breaking things, and wishing a Merry Christmas to Comrade Fidel."

Nikita Khrushchev's always volatile emotions this day ran between anger, fury, and a sense of betrayal. One of his puppets had cut his strings and was trying to walk like a real man. That could not happen. Soviet puppets did nothing on their own was the Kremlin's policy even though that policy was not always obeyed, and today's problem was a huge case in point.

"Damn it," he bellowed, his volcanic temper almost at the breaking point. "Does anyone know what exactly is going on in that pigsty of a country? What the god damn hell does that pig fucker Castro think he is doing?"

Khrushchev was considered a crude man, even by Russian standards. He was always disheveled, and some of his enemies thought he bore a striking resemblance to a hog that was able to walk upright. Although nowhere as ruthless as Josef Stalin — he had stunned the world by daring to criticize the monstrous Soviet leader of World War II — he was still a very deadly adversary. Like most Russian men he was a heavy drinker, which made him even less stable. By this time, Khrushchev had already had several shots of vodka and this did not help his turbulent disposition.

Nor did anyone one else in the room possess enough power to argue with him. It was apparent, however, that there had been a massive intelligence failure. There were forty thousand Red Army personnel in and around Havana, along with a large number of KGB operatives on hand to help Castro keep control of the Cuban population. Also, the Red Army had its own intelligence arm, the GRU, and they too had been silent regarding the Castro's unexpected operation.

Khrushchev accepted that neither the military nor his intelligence units had known anything, and that was most shocking. Either that or that someone had been complicit in this Cuban operation in order to embarrass him and possibly lead the Soviet Union down a new and possibly very dangerous path.

That the attack on Guantanamo had taken place hundreds of miles from the still active fleshpots of Havana where Soviet agents congregated might also have been a factor. Besides, he thought, who the hell would be dumb enough to think that Castro was so crazy that he would try something like this on his own. What did that raggedy-ass Cuban want and what the hell could the Soviet Union do about it?

Khrushchev paced and raged. For the time being, he could do nothing whatsoever about the situation. He had no air assets in Cuba and the Soviet navy was far, far away. He laughed harshly. He could imagine the scrawny, young, and inept John Kennedy in Washington fuming and raging as well and being just as impotent. Khrushchev took another healthy gulp of vodka and calmed himself.

America's impotence would only last for a little while longer. In October, they had gathered a massive invasion force just prior to the end of the previous missile crisis, and would doubtless do so again. Castro would be squashed by overwhelming American power. Or, Khrushchev thought, did the stupid prick in Havana think that Russia would pull his ass out of the fire just because he was a fellow communist? That was something he would have to talk over with his advisors and the members of the Politburo. Was it worth the risk of an all-out war with the United States, and possibly a nuclear one just to save the revolution in Cuba? After all, wasn't Cuba rightfully in the American sphere of influence in the first place?

Perhaps the Soviet Union and the United States could negotiate something other than a complete return of Guantanamo. After all, didn't the Cubans now have a large number of American prisoners?

Unlike Josef Stalin, his unlamented predecessor who had died in 1953, Khrushchev's rule was not absolute. All around him were other high ranking Soviet officials who were constantly jockeying for power and the opportunity to replace him at the top. Leonid Brezhnev and Alexi Kosygin were the two who worried him most. If they managed to topple him, would they let him live, or would his reward be the traditional bullet in the back of the head? They were unhappy with the way the Cuban Missile Crisis had played out; therefore, he must solve this problem and do so decisively.

Khrushchev had another thought and it chilled him. What if Comrade Castro wasn't so dumb and irrational? What if he had something else planned? More vodka, he decided.

Cathy Malone picked her way through the rubble of several destroyed buildings. The devastation on the base appalled her. Especially shocking was the destruction of what had been the homes build for civilian and military families. Cuban and American bodies lay about, giving testimony that the base hadn't fallen easily. Quickly yes, but not easily. The Cubans had been bloodied.

Good, she thought and was surprised at the depth of her feelings. She'd always thought war was horrible and now she knew that it was, but she also wanted to fight one. The Cubans had hurt her and her country.

She was scared, hurt, and angry. He fears were almost too numerous to mention. She was afraid of being seen by Cuban soldiers and captured again. Maybe the next ones wouldn't rape her, but who knew? She would not take the chance. Maybe she'd been lucky that she'd only been raped and not murdered as well. Or gang-raped and murdered. Or mutilated like she'd been threatened.

She was afraid that the Cuban sergeant, Carlos Gomez, she would never forget him or his name, had made her pregnant. That would compound the horror. Had he ejaculated inside her or just on her leg? She shuddered at the thought of the self-examination she'd forced herself to make. She'd been a virgin until Gomez assaulted her, and had always thought she'd remain one until she got married, or really fell in love. And rape was something that was whispered about and always happened to someone else. Or to someone who managed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, or got so drunk on a date that she wasn't able to stop a guy.

She was realistic enough to not be concerned that her so-called virtue had been compromised. This Gomez pig had forced it from her and she was the victim, not a co-conspirator. She knew some cultures that blamed the victim, and she'd always thought that was utterly stupid.

She remembered Catholic school catechism classes where nuns and priests glorified young girls who chose death over losing their virginity to a rapist. She'd always thought death was a wrong, even stupid, decision under those circumstances. Now she knew she was right. She wanted to live and she wanted to see Carlos Gomez brought to justice, whatever that meant. The thought of her being canonized as Saint Cathy Malone, Virgin and Martyr, was appalling. Her church, she realized, was dead wrong.

Most of the young women she knew were more or less ignorant about sex and most at least claimed to be virgins, no matter how much they experimented sexually. There was a growing movement among women that said women should be freer sexually, but she had not yet been converted to that line of thinking. Voluntarily going all the way, screwing, fucking, or whatever term one preferred was for marriage.

Cathy did not consider herself a prude and had permitted a select few boys and young men from high school and college to take what her old aunt used to refer to as "liberties" with her, but had never gone anywhere near sexual intercourse. Above the waist was her rule.

She was also afraid that the filthy and disgusting Gomez had given her what the sailors and marines called the clap. She'd heard many of the young men talk about it. Syphilis and gonorrhea were the names most commonly given to venereal disease and she wondered just when and how she'd know she had it or not. Time would tell, she supposed.

Fortunately, the physical pain was endurable and receding. She was young and would heal, at least physically. If she wasn't pregnant and didn't have the clap, she thought she could handle the mental part. She laughed bitterly. Did she have a choice? She'd have to help herself. She didn't see anyone standing around volunteering to help her by providing a shoulder to cry on. No, she would have to be tough. Either that or she might perish.

Cathy had not wanted to return to the base, but an examination of her carry bag showed serious deficiencies. She'd only planned to use it for creature comforts while on a boat or plane to the States, not for living in the wild like a refugee. Thus, and with great reluctance, she'd returned to do some scrounging. Even though it was tempting since it contained all of her stuff, she decided to stay away from her ruined apartment. She had no idea where this Gomez bastard who'd raped her might be. He said he'd be back and Cathy believed him.

Her foraging had resulted in a mixed bag. Literally. She now had a duffle bag full of C and K ration packages that she'd never tasted but heard were both awful and nourishing. She'd even steeled herself to take some off of the bodies of sailors and marines. If the military said it was food, she'd take it. She had no idea how long she'd be on the run, but part of her said it could be quite a while. It was now late in the afternoon of Christmas Day and there was no sign of any further American response. She'd cheered when she'd seen the American jets, but they'd disappeared. Cold hard logic told her she was on her own for the foreseeable future.

She was more than a little surprised to find that her wanderings had brought her outside her old apartment. Did she dare? She checked in all directions. Alice's mangled remains were gone. Had the base's new owners begun cleaning things up? Everything appeared deserted. She entered through the back door and wished she knew how to fire the rifle she'd picked up from where it had been abandoned on the street. It was a strange looking thing and she presumed it was from a Cuban, since the markings indicated it was Russian. She hoped it might deter someone if they saw her carrying it.

Cathy grabbed a blanket off her bed and hung it over her shoulder. Then she took a second one. Who knew where she'd be sleeping in the future? She stuffed some more clothing and personal items into her original bag and wrapped the blankets around some more, tying them up with electric cords. She would be weighed down but could toss them quickly if she had to.

She cautiously went out the back door. She had just taken a couple of steps when she froze in horror. A small black man wearing combat fatigues was standing a few feet away from her and was pointing a rifle directly at her.

Lieutenant Colonel Ted Romanski groaned in pain. The cast that Sergeant Morton had made out of pieces of wood was less than adequate, to put it mildly.

"You want some more morphine, colonel?"

Romanski had taken some of the painkiller while Morton was setting the break. The sergeant had tried to be gentle, but the injury wouldn't cooperate and the morphine had been necessary to calm him during the process. Still, he knew how little of the precious stuff they had.

"No thanks. Let's save it for something important."

Morton grinned. He didn't think the iron-assed colonel would've taken any more. Romanski had a reputation for being a hard driver who worked with his men even though he was at an age where he could be forgiven for sitting behind a desk.

"Did you find any more survivors?" Romanski asked, even though he thought he knew the answer to the question. Had there been any more survivors who’d parachuted with them, they'd be with them.

"No sir, but I did find evidence that some of the guys survived and were taken prisoner. I also found half a dozen bodies. I took their supplies and ammo and buried the dead as best I could."

Romanski thought Morton had done a good job and said so. Now came the hard part. They were all alone in the wilds of a very hostile eastern Cuba. He had a broken leg and the one other man with him was going to have to help him physically go anyplace, assuming, of course, that they could decide where they should go. He had no qualms asking the highly regarded senior sergeant for his opinion.

"Well, colonel, it doesn't look like we'll be doing anything useful other than surviving for a while. I don't know if and when our guys will be striking back, so I'd suggest finding a place to hole up until you get at least a little bit better."

"Then what, Morton?"

"Then maybe we should move slowly towards Gitmo. If our guys are going to come back, then that's a place where they'll likely go real early."

Romanski took a deep breath. He was exhausted, which pissed him off since he hadn't done much except lie there while Morton patched him up. "Sounds like you're reading my mind, Master Sergeant Morton. Let me get some rest and we'll begin."

"And then I said, what the hell are you doing here, Miss Malone? And damned if she didn't scream and drop everything she had in her arms including that little commie rifle she was carrying. Then I had to remind her who I was and then she came running like she was a little kid who'd just found her daddy and jumped into my arms. Been a long time since a good-looking white girl hugged me,” Ward said solemnly.

"Been a long time since anybody hugged you," Groth retorted.

Andrew Ross turned to Cathy Malone and winked. Cathy smiled weakly. She was exhausted and emotionally drained. She was safe and just wanted to go to sleep.

Ward had been one of her better pupils in the government sponsored education program. She had heard the story of her rescue or deliverance by PFC Ward a dozen times already and it had only been a couple of hours since he'd found her by her apartment. Ward had scared the poor girl out of her wits, although Ward cheerfully admitted he'd been just as surprised as she was. But he had never been scared, no sir. Marines are never scared.

She was so disheveled and dirty that Andrew hadn't recognized her at first, and her face was badly bruised, almost like someone had punched her, and there was a nasty cut on her cheek that Sergeant Cullen had cleaned and bandaged. It took a while before Ross realized he'd not only seen her several times on base, but that she was the young woman he'd been trying to find someone who could introduce him to. Now they'd met, but under some very trying circumstances. She seemed like she might be the kind of person he thought she was, but his original idea of asking her out to dinner and a movie was clearly down the crapper. So much for making a good first impression, he thought. At least she was as big a mess as he was, although she sure looked a lot cuter, bruises and bandages notwithstanding.

She was a welcome if not puzzling addition. Andrew didn't know quite what to do with her. Even if he wanted to, and he definitely didn’t, he couldn't abandon her. First, she wasn't likely to leave. The men he'd sent into the base to scavenge had returned with the information that POWs were being kept at the airbase at Guantanamo, while civilians were already being sent by train to Santiago where they would be moved by boat to Mexico and then to the United States. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't send her through Cuban lines to find a civilian train that might no longer exist. And, she was clearly terrified of the Cubans and he wondered why. She would stay with them for as long as she wanted, but it represented another burden for him.

On the bright side, his scavengers had found the base strewn with useful goodies, the inevitable debris of battle. Along with the heartily despised C and K ration packs, they'd picked up additional weapons and a quantity of ammunition. They'd also found several of what Cathy had also brought with her — Russian built AK47 assault rifles and ammunition. Andrew insisted that the men carry the AKs along with their own M1 Garands. His marines might be few in number but now they could pack a lot of firepower. Sergeant Cullen approved heartily, which shut up any complaints. After all, if things got really scary, they could lighten their load by dumping the additional stuff.

Sergeant Cullen suggested caching supplies at various spots in case they had to abandon their base camp which was now in a grove a couple of miles north of the base. Andrew thought it was an outstanding idea.

Andrew's scavengers, they preferred to be called looters, reported that the battle had not all been one-sided. They found several burned out Russian made T34 tanks and BTR60 armored personnel carriers. One BTR60 contained the corpses of a dozen Cubans who'd burned to death. Andrew wondered what happened to that truck they'd sprayed with gunfire. Had the driver reached his destination only to find a cargo of dead bodies? What a lovely thought.

Cullen was playing with an AK. He said it was named for some guy named Kalashnikov. "Not a bad weapon, lieutenant, you can fire it either semi or full automatic. Someday we'll have something like this. For whatever it's worth, I read in Mechanics Illustrated that Armalite has offered the government an automatic weapon somewhat like this, and we're considering it."

Andrew yawned. Both the M1 Garand and the M1 carbine, which was what he carried, were semi-automatic only. This meant one shot fired for each trigger pull. A full automatic was a nice option, especially for close range shooting. "The Pentagon'll reject it. If they didn't invent it, they'll decide it can't be worth anything."

Cullen laughed. "Ain't that the truth?"

Andrew was tired, but suddenly realized what he should be doing. Damn it to hell, had he shut down his brain when the shooting started? "Anybody here got a transistor radio, preferably one that has batteries and actually works?"

Three hands went up. Of course people took creature comforts with them on guard duty and they grinned sheepishly. All three radios ran on batteries. PFC Anders had one that included an electric cord if they could find a plug. Eagerly, they turned one on. At first, they couldn't pick up anything other than static and a small local station which was, of course, broadcasting in Spanish.

"Anybody understand this crap?" Cullen asked. Hollis said that he did a little, but the guy was speaking too fast to really understand. "I'll bet it's just propaganda anyhow, sergeant."

Anders climbed a tree with a wire that extended the antenna. After a bit of fiddling, a clear voice came over the air. All of them grinned at each other like idiots.

It was a radio station in Miami and the voice was speaking English.

General Taylor handed the president a manila folder. His expression was grim. "These are the latest casualty reports, sir."

Kennedy took the folder hesitantly and with a sense of dread. He was exhausted. It was almost midnight. In a few minutes it would be the day after Christmas, traditionally the day when people went in droves to the stores to return unwanted presents. He opened it and began to read. Among the military, three hundred and forty-eight known dead, six hundred and seventy-four wounded, about a third of them seriously. Thirty six known civilian dead and another twenty wounded, and all at Gitmo.

Seventy-five of the dead had been on the Wallace, along with twenty-four wounded, many of them badly burned. Twenty others were missing and presumed dead, including the destroyer's skipper. Approximately a hundred other military personnel were missing, many of them considered killed in the shooting down of three C47s during Roman Force's abortive attack.

And lastly, more than twenty-two hundred sailors and marines had been taken prisoner. According to representatives of the Swiss Embassy who had finally cancelled their holiday and gone to work, the prisoners would soon be taken to a compound rapidly being thrown together outside Santiago, on the southeastern coast of Cuba. Nobody missed the irony that Santiago was the sight of most of the fighting during the Spanish-American War of 1898. The conclusion of that short war had resulted in the U.S. getting and keeping the controversial base at Guantanamo Bay.

Six hundred civilians had either escaped by boat or had been interned by the Cubans. The civilian internees were on their way from Santiago to Havana where they would be flown to Mexico on neutral planes. The number of civilians missing was unknown at this time.

Kennedy shook his head. "Explain the civilian casualties, please."

"Nothing much to explain, sir," responded Taylor. "The Cubans were good with the accuracy of their guns, but a long ways from perfect. Several artillery rounds, perhaps even entire barrages, landed in civilian residential areas by mistake. I rather don't think it was intentional, it's just that war is hell."

"So I've heard," Kennedy said drily. Earlier he'd been recalling his own time as a PT commander in World War II. "And how good are these figures?"

Taylor shrugged. "They’re definitely not final, sir. And the figures from Guantanamo come from Major Hartford through the Cubans. The missing from Roman Force come from the commanding general at Fort Benning, and the civilian numbers are just an estimate. We simply don't know how many people were on the base at the time of the attack. Unlike military personnel, the civilians were free to come and go, and we hope to God most of them show up on the mainland during the next few days."

"And just what the devil is this ‘Roman Force,’ general?"

Taylor was confused. "This was the airborne relief assault that you authorized on, uh, the twenty-fourth."

Kennedy shook his head. He had no such recollection. "General Taylor, I dimly recall telling this General Bunning to look into it, but I did not think I gave him the signal to go ahead."

"It's Bunting, sir, and I have spoken with him and he feels that he was given explicit direction to go ahead. In all candor, sir, General Bunting is, shall we say, extremely aggressive, and might have presumed more from your words then you intended."

Kennedy sighed. Hadn't someone written about the ‘fog of war’ and how it led to confusion and well-intended mistakes?

"Let it go," he said. Maybe later he would investigate it further and crucify the son of a bitch, but not now. "Any chance any of our paratroops are alive?"

"It's possible, even likely," Taylor said. "Other planes reported seeing some chutes open."

"Good new, I guess. Now, what about the other missing military personnel from the base?"

"Again, we simply don't know. Some of them could be killed, while others could be out there unhurt and in a position to help us, which is why I was going to suggest that we don't list the names or even the numbers of missing right now. If the Cubans realize there might be American military personnel wandering around outside the base, they'll start to look for them and that could be dangerous for our boys."

Kennedy agreed. "We'll hold off on that. In fact, we'll tell the press there aren't any missing. That should confuse the hell out of everyone." He put the folder on his desk. "Now, general, please tell me our military responses are being successful."

Taylor winced. "I wish I could, Mr. President, but I can't. The Cubans have scattered and disbursed their men and equipment with astonishing speed and skill. The only sizeable numbers of Cuban soldiers our pilots can see are those guarding our POWs, and we're certainly not going to fire on them. We have shot down a couple of their MiGs and we think we destroyed a handful of their armored vehicles along with a number of trucks, but certainly nothing like what we'd hoped. We've lost three more planes to ground fire and their SAM-2 surface to air missiles and that has been an unpleasant surprise. Maybe things will be better when we get more planes in the area, as well as when our reconnaissance planes get their photos developed but likely not. This General Ortega of theirs did a helluva job of planning this thing."

Kennedy stood and Taylor started to as well. The president waved him and the others back to their seats. He just wanted to stand, to walk, to think as well as straighten out the kink in his back.

"All right," he said. "How about plans for attacking Cuba? How are they progressing?"

"We will have several options for you tomorrow afternoon and I would suggest we discuss them in light of what our goals might be."

Yes, Kennedy thought, our goals. What the hell are our goals? "Are any of the options, good ones, General Taylor?"

"No sir."

Chapter Eight

It wasn't much, but at least there was a roof over their heads and a wooden floor and nobody cared that there wasn't any furniture. There were holes in the roof but that wouldn't matter until it rained. The roof was aluminum and any rain would sound like horses running through the place, but beggars couldn't be choosers.

The abandoned frame house was in a stand of trees and in a slight depression in the ground, which meant it wasn't visible from the dirt road about a half mile away. It had four small rooms including a kitchen with a wood burning stove. There was no indoor plumbing. Reasonably clean and fresh water came from an old fashioned well that had to be pumped by hand. Under normal circumstances none of them would have given the place a second look, but this night it was an oasis. They could rest and rejuvenate themselves in relative safety and comfort.

Andrew and Gunnery Sergeant Cullen quickly organized the men into various duties that included cooking and sentry duty, along with listening for news on the radio. Andrew was insistent that they listen for the seven pm NBC news only. He said it was a means of preserving their batteries.

He also inventoried their skills. Did anyone know Morse code? Groth said he did, a little. Practice, he was told and Groth began by tapping a small rock against a larger one until the others told him to either stop or go elsewhere, because he was driving them crazy.

Could anyone build a generator to provide them with renewable electricity when the batteries inevitably failed? PFC Anders volunteered and was hired. And how about building a radio that they could use to transmit as well as receive? Anders blanched but said he'd work on it right after building a generator.

When it came to cooking, everyone automatically turned to Cathy. "You're joking, right? Yes I've cooked before and, granted nobody's died, but I might drive you back to liking C-Rations."

Nobody felt that was very likely, so Cathy said she'd give it a try. She knew it would help for her to do something, to be useful. Lance Corporal Williams said he'd help. "So much for a good college education getting me out of the kitchen," Cathy mockingly lamented. The bad news was that they had nothing to cook.

Later, Cathy sat on the floor beside Andrew with their backs against the wall. "Can I ask you what you're thinking, lieutenant?"

Andrew smiled. "First off, you're not in the Corps, so there's no need to call me anything other than Andrew. Second, I'm trying to plan ahead. This is a totally unexpected experience and I want to make sure I don't screw it up. If I make a mistake, people might die," he said, thinking of the men who had already died under his command.

"I don't want that to happen either," she said softly. "Do you think the owners of this high class hacienda will come back anytime soon?"

He laughed. The building was little more than a shed. "I doubt it. They've gone and probably permanently. Either they lost their jobs at Gitmo when the barbed wire went up and left for parts unknown, or they fled to Miami with a lot of their friends and neighbors, or, more likely, they got some of the better land that's been divvied up and given to the poor by Castro. No, I don't think anybody calls this dump home anymore. But we do have to be careful of Cuban patrols and anybody else wandering into the area."

"What will you do if that happens?"

"Not a clue," he answered truthfully. "Running rather than fighting is what I would choose if I have a choice."

Cathy decided to change the subject. "It's funny, but I don't think I recall seeing you on base. I hope you're not insulted."

"Well, unless you were fascinated by supplies and budgets, you would've had no reason to see me at work and I was just one of a whole lot of identical lieutenants. I remember you, though. I saw you running a lot in the mornings while I was working out myself."

He didn't add that he thought she looked great in a pair of shorts and with sweat dampened tee shirt clinging to her body. Fantastic legs highlighted a nice trim body.

"Wait," she said. "Did you work with Rachel Desmond?"

"Yeah," he answered, knowing where this was going.

"Are you the guy she was trying to fix me up with?"

"Guilty."

Cathy looked at him intently. "She has good judgment, I think. I'm pleased to meet you."

"Me too," he said. "Just wish it was better circumstances."

Cathy looked around. A couple of the men were already asleep and snoring noisily. She would sleep on blankets on the floor of the smaller room. "Thanks for the privacy. I really appreciate it."

"I try to be a gentleman," he said with a grin. She found herself returning it. The awful memories were receding, at least for a moment, although she knew they lurked within her and could emerge at any time. She'd known one girl who'd been assaulted on a date and it had taken her a very long time to get over it, if she ever did. Cathy didn't feel she had a choice. If she didn't control herself, she might not survive.

Now if she could only be sure that her health hadn’t compromised by the possibility of venereal disease and that she wasn't pregnant. The more she thought of it, the more she thought she wasn't, but she was far from certain.

"And not only do I have a private suite to sleep in," she added, "but I understand they've dug me my very own latrine trench. Goodness," she said with a mock southern drawl, "y'all surely know how to show a girl a good time. My own latrine. Why just the thought of it makes me want to up and swoon. And these delicious C-rations? Why you're idea of a Caribbean vacation leaves nothing to be desired."

Her voice had begun to rise. Andrew thought he sensed a note of hysteria, even panic. He gently put his hand on hers and held it. She put hers on top and squeezed hard, fighting back sobs.

"Cathy, before this happened I'd been trying to get Rachel Desmond to introduce us. So, when we get back to the States, and we will get back, I'd like to take you to dinner at the nicest place in Miami or Washington or wherever we wind up. Okay?"

She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "I was a little near the edge just then, wasn't I?"

"I don't blame you. All of us are whipped, emotionally and physically. What we need now is a little rest so we can begin to realize that this isn't a bad dream that's going to go away. Let's face it. When we all wake up, we'll still be here."

She shook her head. Her body began to shake and tears ran down her cheeks. "Andrew, I can't believe what has happened to me, to us. My home has been destroyed, my best friend blown apart by a bomb or a shell, and," here she paused, wondering quite what to say, "I saw a very good friend of mine raped by a Cuban soldier."

She let go of his hand, got up and walked the few steps to her room and turned. Privacy did not include a door. A blanket was hung in the doorway. "Tell you what, Andrew, I'll take you up on that dinner."

Any thoughts the American prisoners had regarding the possible omnipotence of the Cuban military after the sudden Cuban victory ended when they met Colonel Humberto Cordero.

The Cuban colonel knew when he was out of his depth, which was now. More than that — he was drowning. He was overwhelmed at the thought of administrating to a couple of thousand surly American POWs. Only a couple of days ago, he'd been the chief jailor in the city of Santiago, Cuba. He'd commanded a dozen guards and controlled maybe fifty or so inmates, most of whom were there because of petty thefts, drunkenness, or the occasional stabbing, along with the periodic wife-beater who he quickly released. Cuban men did not consider wife-beating a crime unless, of course, it went too far and the wife was either killed or had broken bones.

Nor was Cordero truly an army colonel. He was a fifty-year old and grossly overweight nobody and he was quickly realizing that he'd like those days back.

But they weren't coming back. El Presidente, Fidel Castro, had given him the rank of colonel, assigned him several hundred ill-trained militia, and told him to guard over two thousand American prisoners of war, all of whom would have liked to cut off his balls and stuff them down his throat.

The prison camp was located in a large field outside Santiago, which was about fifty miles from Gitmo. Construction workers had hurriedly thrown up a couple of hundred tents and surrounded the whole thing with a double fence made of barbed wire, with rolls of concertina wire inside the two fences. Watchtowers had been built and machine guns installed. It looked impressive. Cordero knew it was a shell, a sham. The watchtowers would have to be reinforced. They'd been built so hastily that they swayed in a breeze.

Major Sam Hartford understood Cordero's dilemma. In a fundamental sort of way, he even sympathized with the little fat man, and when it became evident that Colonel Cordero could be manipulated, he did so with a vengeance.

First, he convinced Cordero that it would be foolish and inefficient to separate the enlisted men from their officers, which was ordinarily done with POWs. Hartford told him that keeping the officers and men together would facilitate the administration, feeding, housing, disciplining, and controlling the prisoners. In return for that, Hartford promised that he would keep his men on their best behavior. If it occurred to Cordero that it would enable Hartford to organize the prisoners as a resistance and espionage force, he didn't seem to mind. Nor was he concerned that Hartford might lie to him, and that puzzled Hartford, but he let it go. He would not look a stupid Cuban gift horse in the mouth.

Hartford had quickly decided that Captain Tom Keppel, the man who'd shared the command bunker with him, would be his administrative officer.

"Tom, while you are getting everyone a place to sleep and something to eat, I want you to also take an inventory of a few things."

Keppel smiled wickedly. "Let me guess. You'd like to know who speaks Spanish."

"You're reading my mind, captain, but that's only a start. I want to know who managed to bring in a radio, and maybe some batteries. Then I want to know who has a weapon. I don't think anybody managed to smuggle in a Garand or a carbine, but maybe somebody has a pistol hidden in his shorts, and I'm sure there's a ton of knives out there."

Keppel agreed. The searching of the prisoners had been cursory at best. Hartford had complained vehemently to Cordero when some of his pea-brained guards had started to steal watches and cigarette lighters from the men. To his credit, Cordero had put a stop to it. Cubans did not steal, he said stiffly. At least not when someone was watching, Hartford thought.

"There's more, Tom. I want to know who has anything unusual in the way of a skill. Like building a two-way radio from scratch, or how to make a bomb, or how to dig a tunnel without killing himself. And, goodness, you're not making any notes, are you? Why not, captain?"

Keppel grinned. He knew he'd just passed a test. "Written notes have a bad way of being found by the bad guys, major. I read that in a novel once."

"Must've been a good book, Tom. And last, at least last for this meeting, I want to know how much money we have. Or anything else we can use for barter or trade. I don't expect the men to give up anything precious, like a wristwatch from gramps for graduation, or a wedding ring, but I would like to know what favors and information we can buy."

"Or steal?"

Hartford slapped Keppel on the shoulder. "I'm beginning to like the way you think."

At least Hartford now knew that the Red Cross had a comprehensive list of prisoners, which meant that his family had been notified that he'd survived the battle. That was one less thing to worry about. Now if he could only figure out a way to screw up the Cubans.

The military had promised him a plan and now they were ready to show him what they'd come up with. A very large map of Cuba hung on one wall of the Cabinet Room. President Kennedy thought Cuba looked like a squashed snake. He wished it'd been squashed.

Marine General Shoup would be the presenter. "Where do you want me to begin, Mr. President?"

"At the beginning, general. Assume nothing."

Kennedy wondered if the selection of the fifty-eight year old four star marine general was meant to intimidate him. And why wouldn't it? Shoup's record as a combat veteran was a mile long and included the Medal of Honor for heroism fighting the Japanese on Tarawa. Of course he was intimidated. All he'd done was gotten a Silver Star for losing PT-109. Maybe the critics were right. Maybe he should have been court martialed.

Shoup nodded agreement. Only a fool assumes anything, he thought. Shoup began with basic geographical facts. Cuba was seven hundred miles long and two hundred miles wide at its widest point. The island ran roughly from the northwest, Havana, to the southeast, Guantanamo Bay. The city of Mariel was just to the west of Havana and that was the presumed main location of the Soviet forces in Cuba.

A little to the west of Guantanamo and also on the southern coast of Cuba was the port city of Santiago.

Shoup jabbed his pointer at the map. "People like to say that Cuba is only ninety miles from the United States, but that's at its closest point and only important if you plan on swimming from Havana to Key West. In reality, the majority of the island, including Guantanamo, is hundreds of miles farther away, which does create a logistical problem for our land based planes. Simply put, they will not be able to spend as much time over the Guantanamo area as carrier based planes. Nor do we have the option of putting planes on the Virgin Islands or Puerto Rico. The facilities for them just aren't there. The best we can do is move planes south to Miami."

Shoup jabbed again. He seemed to enjoy it. "We see no need to reinvent the wheel, sir. We have taken the liberty of alerting those forces that were going to be involved in attacking Cuba just two months ago as outlined in Operation Plan 316, or, more simply, OPLAN 316, along with some other units that we’ve decided to add. As before, Admiral Robert L. Dennison, Commander In Chief U. S. Atlantic Command, will have overall command of the operation which will be called Joint Task Force 122, or JTF 122, as it was in October. It originally called for a naval force centered on the nuclear carriers Enterprise and Independence, plus a number of other ships including the cruisers Newport News and Canberra, and these and other ships are en route. Three other carrier groups are beginning to make the journey.

"The airborne components will be the XVIII Airborne Corps, consisting of the 82nd Airborne from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and the 101st Airborne Division, from Fort Campbell, Kentucky. The First Marine Division at Camp Pendleton will be en route shortly, as will the Second Marine Division from Camp LeJeune, North Carolina. These will be the initial landing force once the enemy is softened up enough. Follow-up Army forces will include the First, Second, and Fourth Infantry Divisions, the First Armored Division, and the 3rd Cavalry Regiment. All of these troops are packing up and will be heading south as soon as they can and as soon as their personnel show up from leave, and yes, sir, this is a significantly larger force then was planned for back in October."

Shoup looked around the room for support and saw it. "Mr. President, we strongly believe that the only way to launch an assault on Cuba is to do it with overwhelming force. We send in too small a force and we'll suffer far heavier casualties than if we hit them harder."

Kennedy agreed. People would die whatever he did. He would do what was necessary to minimize casualties.

The marine commandant continued. "The Air Force will mainly operate out of MacDill and Homestead and a number of other bases in Florida and elsewhere in the south.

Shoup paused for effect. "In total, it will number more than half a million men."

Kennedy took a deep breath. Even though he'd heard the numbers before, they were still staggering.

"At least the weather's in our favor," Shoup continued. "This is the cooler, drier season so we've got a couple of months of decent weather before it begins to get hot and rainy." He chuckled. "We wouldn't want anybody to be uncomfortable."

Kennedy squirmed. Was that a dig? The Marine Corps Commandant was known to be outspoken.

General Shoup continued. "Sir, if Castro wants a fight, we'll squash him. There are, however, a few questions that need to be answered."

"Go ahead, general," Kennedy said quietly as he tried to digest everything he was being told. Was all this firepower really at his command? It was almost beyond comprehension. And now he was already using it, sending men into harm's way. American warplanes were clashing with MiGs and dodging missiles as they spoke, and bombs were falling, however ineffectively, on Cuban targets.

Shoup stood with his arms behind his back. "We need to know our goals, sir. Are we to simply recover Gitmo, or are we to topple Castro and recover Gitmo, or are we to conquer the whole damn island? Please recall, sir, that Fidel has nearly four hundred thousand men under his command and, while we'd go through most of them like shit through a goose, there is a large number who are reasonably well trained, well equipped, and who would fight long and hard for their homeland and that would mean a lot of American casualties. I don't really give a care about Cuban casualties, but I do care about ours.

"Also please recall that the original OPLAN called for an attack near Havana, while Gitmo is at the other end of the island, about five hundred miles away. So, do we land at or near Guantanamo, or Havana, or both? We need to know so we can begin to plan in detail. Of the two, retaking Gitmo would be the easiest and would involve fewer U. S. casualties, but it would still leave Castro in charge of Cuba."

"What are we up against?" Kennedy asked.

"As stated, sir," Maxwell Taylor answered. "At they have at least four hundred thousand men in their army, more than one hundred and fifty tanks, all of them Russian T34 and T54s. They lost an unknown number taking Gitmo and more since then, but they still have a lot left over. The remainder are now well hidden and we don't know how many they have around either Gitmo or Havana."

LeMay injected angrily. "And they have more than fifty MiG 17 and 19s."

Admiral Anderson smiled. "At least their navy isn't worth much. Little more than some patrol boats.

Taylor concluded. "For a small Caribbean nation, they are very well armed."

There was silence in the room. Finally, Lyndon Johnson spoke. "Hell, I say we go in whole hog and dump Castro into a sewer where he belongs. That son of a bitch has been a pain in the ass for three years now, and he simply can't get away with killing our people and stealing our base. I know the United Nations isn't going to like that and maybe the Organization of American States will get their collective tits in a wringer too, but the hell with all of them. Both the UN and the OAS are a bunch of whiny pussies."

Kennedy thought quickly. While he basically supported the thoughts of his outspoken vice president, there were other factors to consider. The United Nations was going to meet in emergency session, and Soviet Ambassador Dobrynnin was racing back to Washington and wanted to meet with him. Add to that the fact that there were nearly twenty thousand Soviet soldiers still in Cuba, and, although their strategic nuclear missiles had gone, and there was the very real possibility of escalation if Russians were attacked.

Kennedy stood. "You will prepare two plans. The first will involve only the recovery of Guantanamo Bay and the taking of whatever surrounding areas we need to secure the base for the foreseeable future, and the second will be for the recovery of the base as well as the conquest of the entire island. Both plans will include sufficient safeguards to keep the Russians out of the fighting."

He left the room and walked back to the Oval Office. His brother followed him, a stunned look on his face. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was a media darling. He and his lovely wife Jacqueline and all their relatives lived in a fairy-tale land the press called Camelot. But who the hell just stole Camelot?

General Juan Ortega hated flying on principle and hated flying in a small plane with a passion. Thus, he was beyond miserable in the tiny Piper Cub. It contained a pilot and himself and the pilot was under orders to fly as low as possible in order to appear innocuous to the American fighters whose contrails drew lines in the sky.

The pilot, an air force captain, interpreted this to mean that he shouldn't fly more than a hundred feet above Cuban soil and much lower if possible. On several occasions treetops slapped against the belly of the plane and, frequently, people and cattle scattered in fright.

Ortega threw up twice during the trip and repeatedly cursed the pilot who cheerfully ignored him. His orders were to deliver Ortega to Havana safely and that was what he was going to do.

Ortega was relieved and able to breathe deeply again when the tiny plane touched down at a dirt field outside Havana. He thanked the pilot for a safe ride and informed him he'd be executed the next dawn. The pilot laughed and said he'd be happy to fly the general back to Guantanamo. They shook hands. The American jets in the sky had not threatened them and that was a miracle of sorts in itself.

A civilian Chevrolet met him and he was driven to Castro's secret headquarters in the outskirts of town where he was met and greeted effusively by both Fidel and Raul Castro.

Fidel was taller and reached down to embrace Ortega. "Congratulations on a job done magnificently. Guantanamo is again ours and all Cuba is rejoicing. I am sorry that we'll have to delay the victory parade, but the Americans are likely to bomb it if we present them with too many juicy targets. We believe that they will not bomb Havana, not at this time anyway, but who needs to take chances."

"I prefer to live to a prudent old age, comrade," Ortega answered. He was delighted by Fidel's enthusiasm. He had only met El Presidente a couple of times before the planning had begun on the attack on Guantanamo.

"Who wouldn't," Fidel chuckled. He stuck a cigar in his mouth but didn't light it. "Still, I want you to know that all Cuba is proud of what you have done in driving the imperialist running dogs from our land. I am going to leave you with Raul while I go and try to govern Cuba, but first, I want you to know that you have been promoted. You are, next to me, Raul and Che, the most senior military man in Cuba. This means that virtually all of our military strength is at your disposal."

Ortega was stunned. "I'm honored."

Fidel slapped him on the back and handed him a cigar. "Just as we are honored to have you on our side. Now, you and Raul must plan to defend what we have gained."

When Fidel had left, Raul Castro, younger than Fidel by five years, stared hard at Ortega. Raul had the reputation of a man who was far more severe than his older brother when it came to transforming the corrupt and capitalist former Cuba into a socialist economy where there would be neither wealth nor poverty. Many felt that Raul's hard line approach to seizing land and wealth from the rich had resulted in so many tens of thousands fleeing to Florida.

"Comrade General," Raul said, "What do you think the Americans will do now?"

Ortega didn't hesitate. "They will attack us. We have something that they want back very much. The little pinprick air attacks of theirs are of no consequence yet. They lack targets and direction."

Raul smiled grimly. "You are to be congratulated not only on the way you took the base, but how you've managed to keep the Americans from detecting our tanks and soldiers."

Ortega shrugged. "I have good people."

"Where will the yanquis attack? Here or Guantanamo?"

"Like you, I have given it much thought and I feel they will try to retake Guantanamo and the area around it, including Santiago. At least that will be their initial objective."

"Why?"

"Because it is the sore point. We took it from them and they want it back. Like a petulant child wanting his toy returned, the Americans are predictable and that can be to our advantage. Oh, they want Fidel out as president and all their corrupt businesses and gangster cohorts back in charge, but first things first and that means Guantanamo and, very importantly, the liberation of their prisoners at Santiago."

Raul nodded which further encouraged Ortega. "Also, they are afraid of the Russians. And by the way, Comrade Raul, how are our comrades in Moscow taking the little surprise we sprung on them."

Raul smiled. "They are hugely pissed. They are trying to make a brave face, but they have to know now that they cannot shove Cuba around and force an agreement we don't want down our throats. They are coming around, however, and will work with us. They have to. They will not abandon Cuba to be a third rate power. With the Russians, we will dominate the Caribbean and Central America."

"So do you agree with me that Guantanamo will be the American's target?"

"Yes."

"Then how much of the military can I use for defense?"

Raul paused thoughtfully. "Fidel will wish to keep a strong force here in Havana in case we are wrong and in case some fools attempt either a coup or an invasion from Miami. We have roughly four hundred thousand men under arms and more joining every day, thanks to your victory. You had twenty thousand men to attack the base. You will have at least a hundred thousand to defend it, including many of the best, along with approximately two thirds of our armor, artillery, and anti-aircraft guns and missiles."

Ortega beamed. "Excellent. We will make them pay in blood for any attempt to land."

Raul nodded knowingly. "And, comrade general, there are many other things occurring that will make an American landing even bloodier than you can imagine."

Ortega left. The driver and pilot awaited him. He would have to endure another gut-churning flight back to his headquarters in Santiago. But he wondered just what the hell Raul was talking about when he said "other things?"

Major Andrei Sokolov couldn't stand the sight of blood and what he saw before him was nauseating. Sokolov was an engineer, a slightly built technician in his mid-thirties who looked more like a librarian than a soldier. Like a much older man, he needed glasses to read with, but generally kept them in his pocket out of vanity. His field of expertise was rocketry, not infantry, and the sight of the three mangled corpses lying face up on the ground before him made him ill. Six dead eyes were wide open in apparent disbelief, and their throats had been sliced from ear to ear.

Sokolov turned from the slaughter and to the great hole in the barbed wire fence. The muddy trail made by the missing tracked vehicles led through it and down to the road below. The vehicle park was located outside the city of Mariel, in western Cuba and very near Havana. Thousands of Russian soldiers were billeted in the area, but no one had seen or heard a thing. They were probably all drunk, he thought bitterly. If there was one thing the Russian soldier had mastered, it was the art of getting drunk every time he could. Sokolov was not a prude, but he disliked the thought of being out of control and that's what drunkenness meant. Of course, now these three men were out of control forever.

He turned to the very uncomfortable Russian sergeant who had survived the attack. Doubtless the fool had been asleep and as drunk as the other in his guard house, while his three subordinates wandered about the vehicle park and been slaughtered. Perhaps the dead Russian soldiers had been drunk as well. He wondered if that had that made their passage from the land of the living less painful. Sokolov doubted that.

The sergeant was lucky. He would survive with only the loss of his stripes and maybe a few years in a gulag if negligence could be proven or if someone needed to be blamed for the debacle.

"When did this happen?" Sokolov asked.

"I last saw them alive about two in the morning. Everything was fine, comrade major." The sergeant was sweating profusely and had begun to shake as fear began to take over. He'd survived murder, but could he survive the next few weeks?

Of course everything was fine, Sokolov thought. You were probably so drunk you could hardly walk and your men were thrilled to be rid of you so they could get drunk, or even take some of the narcotics that were still so easy to obtain in Comrade Fidel's Socialist Workers Paradise. Like most Russians, Sokolov had utter contempt for the Cubans.

Sokolov glared at the sergeant. Could he be complicit in the thefts? Probably not. He looked terrified, not greedy, but he would leave that up to the subtle interrogation skills of the GRU, the Soviet Army's agency for discipline and spying. If the GRU, or its civilian counterpart and rival, the KGB, even sensed a hint of something treasonous or criminal, they would begin by pulling out the sergeants finger and toe nails, and then get serious with his teeth and testicles. Or at least that was the rumor.

An army staff car pulled up. "Get out of here," he told the sergeant who scurried away like a bug. The sergeant's trousers were wet. He'd pissed himself.

Sokolov saluted General Issa Pliyev, commander of all the Russian forces in Cuba. The general had been briefed on the situation. Pliyev's second in command, Lieutenant General Dankevich emerged from a second car and began to take charge.

"This is awful," Pliyev said and he was not referring to the three dead men. "Although," he sighed, "it could have been worse, a lot worse, although I wonder how."

"They only got two of the vehicles," Sokolov said hopefully.

Pliyev glared at him. "Yes, two P76 tracked launchers that can go anywhere, and four short range Luna nuclear battlefield missiles. What the god damned hell were our fucking fraternal socialist comrades thinking, major? I hope someone fires one of those missiles right up Castro's ass!"

Sokolov was surprised by the tirade. He thought that Pliyev had supported the attack on Guantanamo, which Sokolov had thought was both foolish and dangerous. That danger had led Sokolov to contact the Dutch or American spy, Ulrich Fullmer, or whatever his real name was, and tell him of the threat. Sokolov lived with the gut-churning fear that he'd be discovered. Perhaps this new crime would deflect attention from him, although, in truth, he'd noticed no additional interest in him or his actions. Every Russian in Cuba was being watched by someone, but that was to be expected in a communist state. Perhaps he was paranoid, which wasn't a bad thing to be in a post-Stalin Soviet Union.

Pliyev continued. "I can read your mind, major. Yes, I thought it was wonderful that Castro was going to tweak Uncle Sam's beard and so did the Kremlin, although after the fact. But giving that bearded idiot Castro control of tactical nuclear missiles, no matter how small they are in comparison to strategic missiles, is creating a problem that is almost beyond comprehension."

"Are the Cubans declaring war on us as well?" Sokolov asked.

"Hardly. Even though we are fewer in numbers, we have enough men and firepower to demolish them. Don't forget that, while they may have stolen four of our nuclear rockets, we still have many more and they know we would not hesitate to use them on them. No, this is an attempt to embarrass us and let us know that Fidel Castro and his pigsty island of Cuba are still important." He laughed harshly. "At least they think they are important."

Pliyev shuddered. "The absolute last thing we want is this mess to escalate again to another nuclear confrontation with America. We had enough of that two months ago." He took Sokolov by the arm and steered him towards the fence, away from General Dankevich, the dead Russian soldiers, and the several curious men who stood around. "Walk with me. Too many are trying to hear what I am saying."

A moment later, Pliyev gestured and they halted. "Do you have civilian clothes and can you pack quickly?"

"Of course," Sokolov said, "but why?"

"And I assume you are prudent enough to have some alternate identification and, preferably, a diplomatic passport in someone else's name?"

Sokolov flushed and answered weakly. "Yes."

"Because I want you to get the hell out of here and on a plane to Mexico City along with some of the American wounded who are being sent out of Cuba. From Mexico you are to go to Washington and contact your CIA friend Fullmer — his real name is Kraeger, by the way — and give him the information about the missing nukes. You will also try to convince him and his government that we will do everything in our power, everything, and that includes killing Cubans, to get those damned missiles back."

Sokolov was almost too stunned to speak and his knees felt like they could no longer carry his weight. How long had Pliyev known that he'd leaked the information to Fullmer, or Kraeger if that was his real name? His knees wobbled and he thought he'd stumble. Or maybe he'd piss himself just like that fool of a sergeant.

The general laughed harshly. "You are a terrible liar and an even worse spy, major. It served me to have you warn them, but not in time to change things. Tell me, do you have family back in Russia?"

Sokolov could barely speak. "No, Comrade General. My father was killed in the Great Patriotic War fighting the Hitlerites at Stalingrad, and my mother simply disappeared during the fighting. I was raised in a state orphanage."

"Good. Then no one will miss you, not even me. I am not fond of people who go behind my back even though it is useful sometimes. The Americans will give you a new identity and a new life, which is better than what the GRU or KGB would do if they got their hands on you. Maybe the Americans will let you start a little grocery store or even teach Russian to their spies? It doesn't matter. What you think you know of our deepest secrets is next to nothing. If you pack now and drive quickly, you will probably pass the KGB and our beloved political officer, Major General Petrenko, on the road heading here. It will likely be a number of hours before they finish investigating and interrogating that cretinous sergeant before they and I realize you are missing and, therefore, someone who should be questioned thoroughly about this and other things. One more thing, send Captain Dragan in to see me and no, I am not going to have him kill you, at least not right away. Now get the hell out of my sight."

While the military minds planned war against Cuba, President Kennedy received information from the political and diplomatic fronts, and none of it was very good.

First, the United Nations had done what it does best, which is nothing. An American Security Council resolution condemning Cuba's aggression and demanding the return of Guantanamo was vetoed by Russia and China, with France abstaining. It looked like a number of nations were enjoying America's pain and discomfort.

Another resolution, this one by Russia and condemning obvious American plans to attack Cuba, was vetoed by the United States and Great Britain. Again, France abstained. JFK wondered just what the hell that arrogant and imperious pain in the ass, Charles de Gaulle, was thinking of. Making France a permanent member of the Security Council with right of veto had been a foolish thing. The UN’s structure had been formulated at the end of World War II and now others had to live with it.

The United Nations General Assembly had debated furiously, with many smaller and newly formed countries applauding Cuba's throwing off the final vestiges of colonial chains. In the end, a resolution calling for a peaceful resolution to the problem was passed almost unanimously. Kennedy seethed when he read it. Apparently the UN thought theft and mass murder were negotiable. The motion said nothing and meant nothing.

Domestically, his political opponents were having a field day. Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater, a conservative Republican and a possible opponent in the coming 1964 presidential election was raging that the United States was taking far too long to respond to the insult and the casualties to her servicemen. He and others in both parties wondered just when the president was going to go to congress and ask for a declaration of war against Communist Cuba.

A knock on the door and he was told that Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynnin had arrived. Kennedy greeted the Communist and bade him sit. To his surprise, Dobrynnin declined and suggested they go for a walk. Did the Russian suspect that conversations in the Oval Office were being recorded? They were, of course. Too bad he hadn't thought to carry a wire under his suit.

Dobrynnin was only a couple of years senior to Kennedy but looked much older. Like most of his countrymen, he was dour and rarely smiled and his suits looked like they had never been tailored or pressed. Communism must do that to a man, Kennedy thought. Even the women went out of their way to appear plain and frumpy. He and Bobby liked to joke that they'd never seen a truly happy communist.

They went outside. It was a cold, damp day which meant the meeting would not be overlong. Kennedy flashed his winning smile. "May I wonder if the Cuban attack was as big a surprise to you as it was to us?"

Dobrynnin smiled wanly. "You can wonder all you want and I would never confirm or deny that anything would surprise us."

"Then what happened to the agreement we had?" Kennedy inquired with a hint of anger in his voice. "Or are your agreements worthless?"

"Our word is our bond," the Russian said stiffly, conveniently forgetting that the Soviet Union had torn up many agreements in the past if it suited their purposes. "Apparently, however, our fraternal socialist comrades in Havana felt that we had insulted them by not giving them a greater role in planning the agreement. They feel we dishonored them."

"I don't understand. According to the terms of that agreement, we promised never to attack Cuba."

Dobrynnin laughed. "After the Bay of Pigs and other attempts to oust Castro, do you really think they'd believe you? No, Castro wants a formal treaty between the United States and Cuba regarding Cuban ownership of Guantanamo. This will not only give Castro the base in perpetuity, which the Cuban people feel is theirs in the first place, but also make him a hero in the eyes of many Latin and Central American nations. It will also give him the opportunity to export his revolution, which is quite important to him. I'm sure you're aware that Che Guevara will be on his way to Bolivia to stir up trouble when this is all over."

Kennedy wasn't aware and made a note to check with the CIA and Director McCone. "So he really did surprise you?"

"Let's just say we were not as well informed as we could have been. Let's also say that Castro is a complete fucking lunatic who is rapidly wearing out his welcome."

"Therefore, you would not object to us ousting him."

"That depends," Dobrynnin added. "We will, of course, continue to block you in the United Nations, which is of no real concern to either of us. Who cares what those idiots do? We will have a small propaganda victory at your expense, while you regain your base, but only after expending a considerable amount of Cuban and American blood. However, we cannot agree to your conquering the rest of the island, which means that Castro would likely stay, if only for the short while."

The Soviet ambassador pretended to examine a plant that was turning brown as winter drew near. "We have a great investment in Cuba and we also have forty thousand soldiers on the island who we cannot allow to be sucked into any war between Cuba and the United States. If you want your base back, then you are free to try and take it. If you want Castro out, then do so by some means other than storming Havana. If you overreach, there could be other problems and ramifications."

Kennedy nodded. He was obviously referring to Berlin's precarious position as a bastion of democracy in a sea of East German communism, surrounded as it was by huge Soviet and Warsaw Pact armies. Berlin had been a near flashpoint on several occasions since the end of World War II.

Quid pro quo, tit for tat. It was the way the world worked, Kennedy thought. If we take Havana, the Russians will take Berlin, and many will die. "Thank you for coming by, Ambassador Dobrynnin. I believe we can agree to the assembled media that we had a frank and meaningful exchange."

"Indeed," Dobrynnin said with the hint of a smile. "You can even add that the exchange was cordial." They returned to the Oval Office and the Russian departed.

A few moments later, Bobby Kennedy poked his head into the Oval Office. "How'd it go?"

"My fucking boyish charm didn't work at all."

Chapter Nine

It was December 28, and boredom was setting in among Ross and the others. The adrenalin rush from the fighting and running from danger on Christmas day had long worn out and they were all as rested as they could be. Now they wondered just what was going to happen next.

Andrew and the others had made the dilapidated house as comfortable as possible without drawing anyone's attention. They kept a continuous watch, especially on the dirt road that ran only about a mile from the house. They'd seen only a few vehicles and most of those were clearly civilian. They were driven quickly, as if terrified of American planes. Good, they all thought. All Cubans should be fearfully watching the skies.

Food was beginning to become an issue. The C and K rations had long since ceased to satisfy. Hollis said they made him constipated while Groth said they gave him the runs. Cathy thought that they made her feel bloated and maybe pregnant, then realized that it wasn't funny. She prayed that the bloating indicated her period was coming and that she hadn't been knocked up by that bastard, Gomez.

Andrew and Sergeant Cullen discussed it, and all agreed that they couldn't just run to a nearby store, so C and K rations would remain an important part of their diet. Andrew authorized Cullen to take a couple of men back onto the base for additional supplies, and that foray resulted in cans of soup, peanut butter, jams, jellies, and other items, including more toilet paper. They wouldn't starve, at least not for a while, but the ruined base had been pretty well picked over by Cuban scavengers, so future forays might prove fruitless and dangerous. No matter how careful the scavengers were, there was always the possibility of discovery.

Cullen reported that much of what remained of the base after the fighting was being systematically blown up by Cuban demolitions squads. Andrew thought they were trying to erase what they felt was a shameful stain on their history.

Before Cullen made his run, it was admitted that no one knew how to build a radio that could send messages. This was frustrating as they could hear the news on the Miami station, but couldn't react to it. They had no way of telling anyone they were safe and free, a point that Andrew felt was becoming critical.

Their radio listening ritual centered on listening to the Miami station's news at seven in the evening. This night, only Andrew was paying strict attention. Finally, they heard the words that grabbed them and made them sit at attention.

The deep voiced announcer said, "And finally, there has been no word on the missing Canadian missionaries led by the Reverends Ross and Cullen. While it is presumed they are still safe in Cuba, it is hoped that they will be able to contact their church in Toronto, and their pastor, the Reverend Kraeger."

The announcer concluded by giving a phone number and repeating it, while Andrew and the others frantically wrote it down.

"Will somebody tell me what just happened?" Cathy asked.

Andrew grinned hugely. "Finally, I think I did something right. I hoped that Levin and Stillwell would be repatriated because of their wounds so I told them to tell the CIA or the Corps or anybody about us and to use the missionary story and see if they could get it broadcast at the right time. I guess that's what happened and that's why we’ve been listening each night at that time."

Cathy yelped and gave Andrew a quick hug while the others patted him on the back and shook his hand.

"Not bad for an accountant," Cullen said with a huge grin. "Not too damn bad at all."

"But how the hell do we get in contact with this ‘reverend’ who is obviously with our government?" Andrew asked.

PFC Ward smiled sheepishly. "Y'know, sir, when I was a kid I had a deprived childhood and all that, and one of my uncles taught me how to steal from the public utilities. Since we couldn’t afford anything we tapped into electricity, heat, and, yeah, the telephones. You get me a telephone and I think I can tap into that line that runs along the road and nobody will know anything about it."

"What do we do when we do get a dial tone?" Cullen asked. "Call home?"

"Why not?" Andrew responded. "All we can do is fail. Sergeant Cullen, would you and Ward like to volunteer to go back on base and bring us back a telephone?"

"I think we need a couple of them, sir," Ward said. "Some of them might just be smashed up and I'll have to work with parts to make a good one."

Charley Kraeger and Elena Sandano had gotten to know each other fairly well during that first Christmas morning breakfast. They had accomplished this by not discussing work. Instead, they had satisfied their mutual curiosity about each other.

Elena had been intrigued by Charley's wartime experiences and, since her mother was half-Jewish, more than delighted to find that he had killed a Gestapo officer. Her mother had lost family members in the Holocaust. Elena thought mom would be thrilled to meet Charley.

She was further pleased to find that Charley was not what she thought was a typical field agent. He was housebroken, did not eat raw meat unless it was Sushi, could actually read and write, and even had a master's degree in political science from Boston College, in part courtesy of the GI Bill. It didn't hurt that he could speak German, Dutch, Russian and French and even a decent level of Spanish, although with an atrocious accent.

For his part, Kraeger was impressed that the very attractive woman had a PhD in Latin American studies from the University of Miami in Florida, not Ohio, and that she had worked her way through college until graduating and getting a job with the CIA, after which they paid for her ongoing education. Bona fides established, they could now talk about work.

Elena was a desk person and Charley swore he was too, for now and maybe forever. "No more floating away from foreign countries while some idiot tries to fill my little boat and my delicate body full of bullet holes."

More pragmatically, his identity was now blown. "Every commie embassy in the world probably has my passport photo on its wall, if not at the center of their dart board."

"You're inflating your importance," Elena said. "The wall I'll give you, but the dart board belongs to Kennedy. They hate him with a passion."

"How about pictures of me naked as the centerfold of Pravda, or my photo in the bottom of urinals in the Kremlin?"

Elena nearly choked on her soup. They were again in the CIA cafeteria. She was working with McCone on likely Cuban civilian responses, while Charley was babysitting a telephone.

"Any word on the so-called Canadian missionaries?" she asked after recovering her equilibrium.

Charley laughed. "Only from the Canadian Embassy who wondered just who the hell these people were and, oh yes, could they assist in helping the poor demented souls get out or find sanctuary in the Canadian Embassy in Havana? At some point we might have to let the Canadians in on the secret, which would be a shame since most Canadians don't have much of a sense of humor."

"Why did you choose Canada as these so-called missionaries' country of origin, and how come you're doing this and not the Marines?"

"First, Canada is not a military threat to anyone and it's one of those do-good things that you'd expect from Canadian missionaries. As to why us and not the Marines, it's simple. We are good at the clandestine stuff, while the Marines are great at storming beaches and killing the enemy. And yes, there was some grumbling, especially from the Navy, but JFK apparently said they would do it his way, and that meant the CIA. At any rate, thank God for the Canadians. If they didn't exist, we'd have to invent them."

"I know. They're too busy playing hockey to really understand what's going on in the big ugly world. Do you think there are any other American soldiers wandering around Cuba?"

"Elena, I think it's a helluva lot more than likely, which makes it so important that we get in contact with this Ross guy. If we find him and get to communicate with him, we might get a lead on others. In the meantime, we're all in the dark."

Lt. Col. Ted Romanski's busted ankle was improving, but only slightly. He still needed a crutch to walk. He was totally dependent on Sergeant Morton for everything he ate or drank. Fortunately, Sergeant Morton was up to the task. He'd taken all the army’s survival courses and knew what fruits and vegetables were edible and how to track, catch, and cook small animals.

A tree-climbing rodent Morton identified as a ‘jutia’ was caught and cooked by Morton and eaten with gusto. "Does it taste like chicken, colonel?"

"It tastes like rodent, sergeant."

There were mangoes, avocado, papaya, banana, orange, and grapefruit trees in the area. All they had to do was find them.

Romanski couldn't believe how damned depressing he found his situation. And what the devil was Midge doing? How was she making out? Had the mindless boobs at the Pentagon told her he was missing and presumed dead, or just plain missing? Christ, he hoped they hadn't had a funeral for him. Then he wondered if he'd gotten a posthumous promotion and would he have to give it back if he got rescued?

"What are you thinking of, colonel?"

"Just wondering if they held a memorial service for me and who came and what they said."

Morton grinned. "Good question. I'd like to know the same thing. I've got a wife and her relatives are probably trying to get her the money from my life insurance policy. I wonder if people will be glad or embarrassed when we get back. I hope somebody recorded all the nice things people said about me so I can hit them for loans. Ever notice how every dead person is a saint? How come nobody stands up and says that late Uncle Freddie was a drunken shit who beat his wife and molested his children and should've died a lot sooner."

Romanski laughed and stretched his bad leg. It hurt but seemed to help. He'd also like to know more about the half-assed plan to send his several hundred men on a fool's errand. They'd been lucky, after a fashion, that only three planes full of fine young men had been destroyed. He was going to have some frank words with General Josiah Bunting and the hell with the difference in rank. Someone had screwed up royally and dozens of good people had died. And here he was, limping along in the eastern end of Cuba surrounded by tens of thousands of enemy soldiers and eating rodents.

"So let's make it a point to get back home and raise holy hell. Any thoughts, sergeant major?"

"I still think we should head south, toward Gitmo, sir. If anything's going to happen, like a landing or an attack by our guys, it's likely gonna be there or near there."

"I agree."

They understood that getting closer to a likely American landing site would also place them in the heart of Cuban defenses.

"You still don't speak Spanish, do you sergeant?"

"Just fluent Korean, colonel." It was a standing joke. Morton had even facetiously suggested he might try to pass as a North Korean officer.

Morton took out a map of Cuba. They had been moving parallel to a narrow dirt road and it seemed to be leading them to a town called Arroyo Honda, and to their north was a town called Jamaica. At least they hoped it was a town. If it meant the island of Jamaica, they were well and truly lost.

Avoiding towns was a very good idea. Towns meant police and soldiers and nosy people wondering about the two gringos who couldn't speak Spanish. This also meant that traveling was even more arduous then it would normally be and, in Romanski's case, sometimes downright painful. They generally stayed within sight of the road, but out of the view of anyone on it. At least that was their plan and so far it had worked. When they saw traffic or people they scooted down and hid, which further slowed their progress considerably.

Fortunately, there was very little traffic on the road during the day. The fear of American fighter-bombers, which they could see and hear in the sky above them, told even the bravest Cuban to stay out of sight. Romanski and Morton were deeply concerned that they would be spotted and killed by friendly fire. It seemed illogical that a plane would attack two people, but one never knew when a bored pilot might decide to have some fun, and it was far better to be safe than sorry.

During the night, the road was a more active. Columns of infantry, spread out very widely, moved down the road in the direction of Guantanamo. Trucks and what looked like camouflaged armor moved one at a time, and again very widely spaced. It was only a trickle, but a steady trickle.

It meant that they had to be careful where they walked during the day. They might just stumble on to where the Cubans were bivouacking during the day while waiting for the relative safety of night.

"How many miles to go?" Morton asked.

"Too damn many," Romanski said and wondered again just what Midge was doing. He hoped to hell that she wasn't planning a memorial service.

Major Sam Hartford was reasonably pleased at the way his new command was shaping up. Everyone had personal space in a tent, a bunk with a blanket, was protected from the elements, and the food, while bland, was in sufficient quantity and better tasting than they expected. Just as well it was bland, he thought. His stomach rebelled at anything too spicy, which meant that he’d always avoided Cuban food. He knew some of his younger men called him an old fart behind his back, but he didn't have to prove them right.

Colonel Cordero was proving himself to be a reasonably decent person. He'd arranged for clothing to be provided for those who had lost much of their gear in the fighting and had told Hartford that Red Cross packages would be allowed, and that Red Cross representatives would be visiting. The issue of sending and receiving personal mail was still up for debate. Hartford could understand that Cordero didn't want packages or secret information coming and going.

A shame, Hartford thought. That was exactly what he'd wanted to do. He thought they could compromise on sending and getting postcards, and decided to suggest that to Cordero.

He rose and walked from his tent and intentionally took a roundabout path to his destination, the small tent he would use for the conference with his “administration committee.” He hoped that any observers from the guard towers would find it virtually impossible to track the seemingly random movements of the committee members, and if they were being watched, attribute wanderings to boredom. The simple precaution of changing shirts and hats would confuse the guards watching from a distance. Having several hundreds of men milling around would further confuse any observers.

This meeting had been called by Navy Lieutenant William Skronski, who was head of Hartford's intelligence committee. Skronski had volunteered for the position even though he, like everybody else had no experience in being prisoners and gathering intelligence. The young man had seemed bright enough and certainly eager. Hartford had gratefully accepted his offer and wondered how it would turn out.

As Hartford turned a corner, Skronski reached out from a tent and grabbed his arm. "In here quick, sir."

Hartford complied and found him staring at three dark-skinned uniformed Cuban soldiers who were pointing AK47s right at his gut. "What the fuck?"

One of them laughed cruelly and stuck his weapon under Hartford's shin while the other two held guns to the side of his head. The Cuban with the gun under his chin spoke in heavily accented English. "You are under arrest for being a capitalist war monger and for committing crimes against the people of Cuba. You will be tried and then you will be executed."

Hartford turned to Skronski, a difficult task with three guns at his skull. "What have you done to me, you fucking bastard?"

Skronski raised his hand and the three Cubans lowered their weapons. Hartford realized to his chagrin that there were no clips in the guns. They were unloaded.

Skronski was grinning impishly. "Impressive, wasn't it, sir?"

The three "Cubans" were also grinning hugely. Hartford tried to will his heart to slow down and his stomach to stop churning. He had been conned and most effectively. "That was not nice, lieutenant. Well done, but not nice. Now, who the hell are these three guys?"

Skronski signaled and the three men moved to the other side of the tent and stripped off their Cuban uniforms, replacing them with marine and navy gear. "First, sir, I don't think it's a good idea to give you or anyone else their names. What nobody knows they can't tell."

"Good."

"Two of these fine young men are navy and one is a marine. All of them were born in Cuba and emigrated to the U.S. in the last several years. All of them obviously speak fluent Cuban accented Spanish and one of them even grew up here in the Santiago area. And did I mention they hate Castro?"

Hartford felt that his body had returned to normal. "Fantastic."

"We thought you'd like it, major."

"Now where the hell'd you get the uniforms and the guns?"

Skronski laughed. "We simply bought the uniforms from Cuban guards using the money and cigarettes we'd hoarded. Some of the militia are so greedy and crooked they'd sell their mothers if only they knew who they were. All we had to do was set out some feelers and hints and they came sniffing like dogs smelling bitches in heat. As to the guns, we suited up the guys and they went out with other guards and into Santiago itself where about a division of militia is hiding in buildings. Simply put, they stole the AKs, along with a couple of extra clips of ammunition."

"Jesus, Skronski, you have done good."

Skronski grinned happily. The three "Cubans" had disappeared out the tent and into the prison population where they were just three more black guys.

Skronski continued. "There's an armory in town and, since everything is chaotic, we may be able to break in and steal some more guns, although not likely AK47s. There won't be enough to arm everyone, but maybe enough to cause the Cubans some grief when the time comes."

It sounded like thunder but there were no clouds in the sky. Bombs or artillery, they wondered. Bombs, they decided. They were even too far inshore for it to be a naval bombardment.

"Up there," said Williams, pointing to the sky. A flash of light, a reflection as a plane was momentarily visible in the misty clouds.

They spotted another plane, and the pair of them began to swoop down like eagles or hawks dropping on a mouse. They never saw the bombs drop, but they did see a flash of light and then another and then the smoke. A moment later, they felt the explosions.

Cathy had mixed emotions. She wanted to exult that American warplanes were pounding a Cuban target, but she realized that the explosions likely meant that some people had died or been terribly maimed. She thought about praying for them. But they were the people who had killed her friends, destroyed her property and been among the enemy who'd raped her. Perhaps her rapist, this Sergeant Gomez, had just been obliterated by one of the bombs. Would that be a good thing or a bad thing? There were no easy answers in life.

They started to move back to the house when Sergeant Cullen held up a hand. They halted, froze, just like he'd trained them. He turned and said, "Fire drill!"

They moved quickly to the house where they gathered up everything they had. It was like a fire drill they'd practiced repeatedly. Their house was a temporary refuge and now it was time to depart. Run. Nobody asked why, they just ran. The lowest ranking marine among them could have given the command and it would have been obeyed instantly.

They'd gone maybe a quarter mile when Ross called a halt. "What'd you see, sergeant."

Cullen wasn't winded although he was sweating. "Maybe a dozen Cuban troopers moving through the bushes towards us. They were just walking along, not like they were looking for anything. Maybe one of them knew the place was there and thought it would be better than sleeping on the ground."

Why not, Andrew thought. The Cubans had just seen one of their units pasted by American planes and had to be thinking that it might have been them, which made it time to hide and wait until cover of night. It meant that he and the others would be sleeping outdoors tonight unless they could find something they could use for shelter. He thought it would be unlikely they'd find anything as nice as the farm house.

Cathy touched his arm. "Andrew, do you think they'll suspect we were there?"

"I don't think so," he answered. "I'm sure they'll know that other people have occupied the place, but these guys are just militia infantry and it doesn't look like they are looking for us or anybody like us. They'll think it was militia like them just using the place." I hope, he thought.

Gunnery sergeant Cullen plopped down beside them. "That went pretty well. The training paid off and we didn't have to fight our way out of the situation. But I do have some bad news. With all these Cubans moving down the roads at night, we will have to tap into the phones during the day and that means someone might see us."

"I don't like that," Ross said. They had reconstructed at least one phone that should work. But someone working on a line during the day would stand out like a sore thumb, and attention was the last thing they needed. "Do we have enough cord to run into a safe place and bury? Or is there a place the where the phone lines run that isn't close to the road?"

Cullen nodded. "Tell you what, lieutenant, let me find out about either or both."

Elena Sandano was not overly impressed by powerful men, but she was uneasy in the presence of President Kennedy. Granted, she was not alone in the Oval Office. Director McCone and Vice President Johnson were there as well. Still, she had the feeling that the President of the United States was mentally undressing her. Perhaps it was her imagination, although she'd heard many, many rumors of his womanizing. And Lyndon Johnson was staring at her like a wolf at raw meat. She thought she should have worn a longer skirt, like something from the Victorian age that loosely covered her to her toes or whatever the heck it was that Moslem women wore.

She made a point to look around and try to memorize her surroundings. She suspected that this, her first time in the Oval Office, could easily be her last. She wanted to remember it all, especially since her mother would pester her for every possible detail.

McCone had done the introductions and told them her professional and academic background. They seemed to be impressed. She wondered if that would be the case when she finished her presentation.

"Mr. President," she began, "you have asked for an honest and candid assessment of the situation in Cuba regarding the people of Cuba and their attitudes regarding the refugees in Miami."

Kennedy grinned. "Give me a one sentence synopsis."

Elena smiled grimly. "The people in Cuba love Fidel and they hate us and they hate the refugees in Miami."

"Not bad for one sentence," Vice President Johnson said.

"Will they fight for Fidel?" JFK asked.

"Definitely, sir. And the reason is simple. He has given them a much better life than they ever had under Batista or anyone else."

Johnson leaned forward and glared at Elena. "But Castro and his boys are communists who stole property from others."

He was trying to intimidate her, but Elena would have none of it. "The people now in Cuba consider the ones who have left to be the criminals. They hated the casino owners, the drug dealers, the prostitutes and their pimps, the factory owners, and the large landowners who, in their opinion, made the farm workers little more than serfs. Are you aware that some organized crime groups sent their thugs out in the countryside to kidnap young girls and turn them into drug addicted whores?"

"You sound like you admire Castro," Kennedy said with a smile, "Are you sure you're not a communist or a socialist?"

"Hardly, sir. I own stock in GM, IBM, and a host of others. My future is tied to the free market system. I plan on getting rich by being better and smarter than anybody else at what I do. What I'm trying to tell you is that many people in Cuba lived lives of incredible misery before Castro and under Batista, and they now see hope. They are starting to get food, medical care, schooling, telephones, and electricity. Sanitation is improving along with the Cuban people's overall health, and, if we don't consider them free by our standards, then it doesn't matter because they weren't free before Castro. Maybe they'll tire of his act in a few years, and maybe he won't be able to continue to deliver on his promises, but right now he's considered a saint, and his taking of Guantanamo has made him a hero both in Cuba and in many, many other countries, especially those in south and central America."

McCone interrupted. "In support of what Dr. Sandano is saying, every indication is that many thousands of Cubans are rushing to join the militia or Cuba's regular army to help defeat the American invaders. Castro’s military is not having to conscript anyone. These new troops won't be a factor in any coming fighting but they do show the high level of Castro's popularity."

"Just like what didn't happen at the Bay of Pigs," Elena bluntly added and the president winced. "Everyone told you there'd be an uprising against Castro and the experts were wrong, nothing happened. Now we're telling you that the situation is even worse than before. The whole of Cuba will fight against you if we try to re-take Guantanamo."

Kennedy rose from behind the massive desk in the Oval Office. He wondered just how different the world would now be if the CIA had given him that kind of candid information before he authorized that disastrous attack just after his inauguration. He hadn't been involved in the planning for the Bay of Pigs, and had allowed himself to be swept along by events. Would he have cancelled it? No one would ever know.

Kennedy asked. "And the people in Miami, Dr. Sandana, what will they do?"

Nearly two hundred thousand Cubans had fled Castro's Cuba for sanctuary in the United States and more were coming on an almost daily basis. Not even the state of war between Cuba and the United States had stopped the flow of refugees.

"The refugees in Miami are in ferment, sir. As you are well aware they are demonstrating in the streets of Miami right now and they are very close to rioting. They want a chance to fight Castro and get their lost properties back." Elena swivelled her head so her gaze took in Kennedy and Johnson. "With respect sirs, both of you have made speeches encouraging the refugees in Florida to stand firm and be prepared to return to their homeland when Castro and the current government fall. If they do, the refugees will have to fight tooth and nail against the people who now live in their houses and farm their fields."

"Those people are thieves," LBJ snapped. He had been extremely vocal and outspoken in his support of the Cubans in Miami, much to the annoyance of President Kennedy who saw his vice president laying the groundwork for another run at the White House.

"Not in the minds of the people still in Cuba," she answered firmly. "In their eyes, the government has legally given them that property. They have had it for up to four years now and absolutely feel that it is legally theirs. I don't want to make too much of a comparison with our government's right of eminent domain to seize private property for the public good, but some comparisons are valid. The people now in Cuba will kill the refugees if they come back and try to take back what was once theirs. I very strongly feel that the American government must be prepared to confront this ugly reality."

Elena took a deep breath. Had she said too much? Both the president and vice president appeared angry. Oh well. She could always find a job selling insurance.

She tried to smile warmly. "Mr. President, I understand that literally hundreds of boats of various sizes and full of armed refugees are planning to go to Cuba and that some of them may have already left."

McCone injected. "Miss Sandano is correct, Mr. President. Some may have left and they all are planning to go, but they don't have the numbers or the weapons and therefore don't stand a chance in hell of succeeding if they do invade. It will be a tragedy of epic proportions even if we do provide them with air and naval cover, which was not provided during the Bay of Pigs attack. We are trying to stop them but we may not be able to without the use of force."

Kennedy was appalled, particularly at the thought that he might have to use force to stop the Miami-based pro-American Cubans from returning to their homeland in order to protect them. He thanked Elena and McCone and dismissed them. McCone returned to his office while Elena waited outside for Charley Kraeger. When she saw him she smiled in relief.

"Who's watching your phones?" she asked.

He laughed. "They gave me a couple of guys to help me so I could eat, sleep, and go to the john. How'd it go?"

"He and Lyndon Johnson listened. They seemed to take it in, and they asked the right questions. They weren't at all happy with what I told them, but I think they understand that making them happy isn't in my job description. I'm supposed to tell them the truth."

"Were you nervous?"

"Only until I started talking. Then I could take my mind off the fact that the president and leader of the free world was trying to stare up my skirt."

Kraeger guffawed. "Yep, the leader of the free world is a piece of work."

"Ward, what do you call a column of five Cuban Army trucks traveling down a road in broad daylight?" asked Gunnery Sergeant Cullen.

"Stupid?"

Cullen rolled over on his side and gave the other man his binoculars. "Close enough. I was actually thinking targets." Ward chuckled and looked at the trucks. They were maybe a mile away and moving like they didn't have a care in the world. Cullen and Ward had left the camp and were doing some scouting, and this time they were checking out a road that ran near where they had their new base. With the exception of Cathy, everyone patrolled, and at least either Gunnery Sergeant Cullen or Lieutenant Ross stayed at their new base camp in the woods. Cullen didn't think that either Ross or Cathy minded being together.

"I guess they forgot we have airplanes, gunny."

"Yeah, maybe. On the other hand they may think the war is over because they now hold Gitmo."

Ward returned the binoculars. "Gee," he said sarcastically, "I hope nothing happens to spoil their day, like bombs raining on their parade."

As if on cue, a pair of American jets dived on the column, their engines screaming and shrieking. Rockets and machine gun bullets churned up the road and the lead trucks. A couple of them tried to dodge, but the first vehicle had quickly become a mass of flaming wreckage, and getting around it fatally slowed the column's survivors.

The jets returned for a second pass and three of the four remaining trucks were destroyed. Men were falling out of them, most didn't move. The driver of the fifth put his truck in reverse and tried to back out as fast as he could. It wasn't fast enough and a third pass by the American fighters destroyed him.

A couple of men staggered out and ran away across a field. "I'm glad they're not heading for us," said Cullen. "I'd hate to have to kill them."

"Why?"

Cullen smiled coldly. "Because now they can return to their little communist compadres and remind them that we rule the sky and the roads and anybody moving down a road is going to catch hell."

"I like that, gunny."

"Yeah, and just think how much shit we could cause if we could only contact our friends offshore."

They waited fifteen minutes to make sure the planes didn't return and moved cautiously towards the wreckage of the column. Only a couple of Cubans were still alive and they were in terrible shape, missing limbs and otherwise horribly mangled. They would die soon and there was nothing the two marines could do, so they steeled themselves and checked the debris for anything useful. Another dozen or so were dead. An actual count would have been difficult considering the fact that many of the bodies had been destroyed. Besides, who cared?

"Got me an AK47," Ward said happily, "and a couple of clips of ammo."

Cullen had found another one for himself along with a Russian made pistol. It was a 9mm Markov automatic pistol and a welcome addition to their arsenal, even though it came with only the bullets in the clip.

"Belated Merry Christmas, Ward. Too bad the other Cubans were carrying old weapons. Christ, some of these guys had old American Springfields from 1898."

They completed their search by taking some Cuban rations and blankets. "Okay, Ward, time to go back to base and tell Ross what happened."

Chapter Ten

Finding a way to plug into the phone lines had proven to be an unexpectedly difficult problem. The lines generally ran parallel to the roads which meant anyone climbing the poles during the day would be visible, while climbing them at night meant they might meet up with Cuban soldiers who were marching south.

Finally, they found a line that ran from the road and down a long driveway to a large farm compound and which wasn't all that high off the ground. Ward climbed a low pole, clamped on, and scooted down as quickly as he could as they all held their breath, praying that no one would see him. The others quickly buried the line in a shallow trench that ran about a hundred yards into some covering bushes. Cullen had once again gone back onto the base and cannibalized some telephone wires that were lying all over Guantanamo.

"I sincerely hope this is the last time any one of us has to go into that place," Cullen said of their forays into Gitmo. "It's just too damn dangerous."

Andrew Ross couldn't argue. But they needed the wire and that made the risk necessary.

It had been agreed that Cathy would be the one to make the phone call on the logical assumption that she, as a woman, wouldn't be taken for a soldier by anyone who happened to be listening in. They had no idea to what extent the Cubans monitored the phone calls of ordinary people. She only hoped her Spanish was adequate enough and that she wouldn't be connected to Finland by a confused operator. They all wondered if phone connections to the U.S. still existed. It was time to find out. If this didn't work they were going to call the Canadian Embassy in Havana and ask them to relay a message to the fictitious “mother house” of the poor confused Canadian missionaries. Cathy took a deep breath and, in halting Spanish, contacted the operator.

A few minutes later and hundreds of miles to the north, Charley Kraeger was jolted out of his reveries by the sound of the phone ringing. His thoughts had largely revolved around Elena and what she might look like without any clothes.

"Hello," he said, and then, realizing it was on the special line, quickly added in a cheerful voice, "Canadian Evangelical Missions."

A woman with a heavy Spanish accent inquired if he would accept a collect call from a Sister Catherine from the Canadian Evangelical Missions in Cuba.

Charley thought quickly. Who the hell was Sister Catherine? Was it another jokester? He'd had a couple of them since the line had been set up and wanted to strangle them all. But the operator sounded like she was Cuban.

He didn't have a choice. "I will accept the call."

What the hell, he thought. It was the government's money. As he waited the moment it took for the call to be connected, he scanned the short list of missing civilians for anyone named Catherine. He grinned as he found a young teacher named Catherine Malone.

"Hello?" It was a young woman's hesitant voice. The line was surprisingly clear considering they were in contact with an enemy country. "This is Sister Catherine. To whom am I speaking?"

"This is the Reverend Malone," he said, in a sudden burst of genius using her last name to indicate he knew who she was.

He heard her sob and then laugh on the phone and immediately decided he liked her. "Reverend Malone, it is so good to hear your voice after all that has happened."

"Are you safe?"

"For the moment yes. There is no fighting near us, although that could change at any moment if the capitalist American aggressors should attack. We would like your help in either getting us out or getting us to safety."

"How many are you?" Charley asked.

"Along with the Reverend Ross and Reverend Cullen, there are five others," and she rattled off their names. Kraeger and one of his assistants quickly checked them off a list of the missing and exulted at the find.

"Are there any other members of our flock in the area?" Kraeger inquired.

"None that I know of, your eminence."

Your eminence? He nearly choked to keep from laughing. He wanted to hug her. "How can we reach you?"

"Reverend, the telephone is very uncertain under the circumstances," she said and added a couple of addresses where mail could be dropped off. The addresses were coordinates on a map for a large field nearby.

"Sister," Charley said soothingly, "we will make every effort to contact you, perhaps even drop in on you. Be comforted. No one has forgotten you. It may take a couple of days, even nights, but be assured that you are uppermost in our thoughts and prayers."

"Thank you, Reverend," Cathy said and hung up. The others were gathered around and staring at her. Andrew had managed to hear the conversation and was breathing heavily in relief. He gave a thumbs-up to the others who all grinned foolishly.

Cathy was crying. She — they — no longer felt so alone and lost. She felt her abdomen cramp. She felt it again and started to laugh. Her period was starting. How hilarious. She'd hated having her period since she'd had her first at age thirteen, and now she was thrilled because it meant she wasn't pregnant by that pig of a Cuban soldier. She wasn't pregnant and they'd contacted the United States. She started to laugh and cry at the same time. Life was good and going to get better. She hoped.

General Juan Ortega munched on a piece of fruit and looked across the table at Colonel, now General, Humberto Cordero, commandant of the prison camp housing the American POWs. "Humberto, if I didn't need you and if you weren't related to my wife I would have you executed, just like I almost did to that maniacal pilot who flew me to Havana and back."

Cordero laughed. "If you did that, my general, you would have no one to trust and no one to make you look good by displaying my own inadequacies."

Ortega sighed. "True enough."

"And if I was so bad, then why would you have promoted me and given me control of all Santiago?"

"I promoted you because you are an honest man in your own way and, despite the fact that you have planned the prison so insanely that the inmates now run it. You have done a reasonably good job considering the human waste matter I gave you as guards."

Cordero smiled. "And now you have blessed me with a militia division of eight thousand untrained and poorly armed men with which I am to defend Santiago from the American hordes. How can I possibly thank you, dear cousin?"

"By delaying them for at least a couple of minutes when they arrive, my equally dear cousin. No, I have no illusions. The Americans can sweep in and retake Guantanamo if they are willing to pay the price. Their planes fly overhead unopposed and attack anything they think is military. If it weren't for the fact that our forces have been disbursed so widely, our losses would already be unacceptable. You have done well by scattering your division throughout the civilian areas of Santiago."

Cordero shrugged. "Which is against the Geneva Convention, but who cares? I didn't sign the damn thing."

"Nor did I and neither did Comrade Fidel, although I have been told to try and adhere to its terms as much as possible. Tell me, what are your thoughts on the American prisoners in your control?"

"They are quiet," Cordero said, "which is worrying. Their senior officer, Major Hartford, is very smart and very clever. I think they are playing a waiting game because they know that escape is virtually impossible. Even if they were to breach the wires, where would they go? This is an island and a host of gringos would stick out like a nun in a whorehouse."

"I am well aware that Cuba is an island," Ortega said. "But are they getting their hands on weapons? Are they in radio contact with the United States? What?"

Cordero sighed. "A few of the uniformed rabble now under my command have managed to lose some weapons and have been severely punished, but I have no idea if they were lost, stolen by Americans for use against us, or stolen by thieves wanting to make some money. As to the yanquis having a radio in camp, we have not picked up any transmissions coming from the camp. We assume they have transistor radio receivers and are following news broadcasts and may well be receiving coded messages."

"Of course."

"And even if we do detect a broadcast, what should we do? I'm certain that any short-wave radio will be small and easy to hide on almost an instant's notice. Just like transistor radios, we would never find them."

"Have you any spies in their camp?" Ortega asked and immediately realized how foolish the question was. American marines and sailors were running the camp under their own officers. They knew each other, which meant spies were out of the question, and the Americans hadn't been in prison long enough to seduce any of them as traitors.

"Forget I asked." Ortega sighed. "Continue to do the best you can. Now, what about those men you found?"

Cordero felt good about this. His patrols had found two seriously wounded sailors hiding just outside the base and had also located a number of bodies in the rubble, largely from the stench.

"The two sailors are recovering and will be sent to Havana so the Swiss can send them to Miami. We have notified the Swiss of the identities of the bodies and they will forward the information to the Americans. We have also located places where the Americans may have buried their dead. We are in no hurry to disinter them, although I will if you so desire it."

Ortega nodded. "I do, but send some prisoners from the camp to do it. They will treat their own dead with more respect. Such considerations will play well with other Latin nations and at the United Nations. Now, what have you heard about those Canadian missionaries? Fidel is concerned that they haven't been located, despite the fact that they managed to telephone their office in Toronto."

Cordero looked at him in disbelief. "Beloved cousin and general, do you and Comrade Fidel truly believe that they are missionaries? Or that they phoned Toronto? I got a report on the names used and compared them with the American roster and they are all on it. Missionaries my ass, my dear cousin, they are Americans marines calling for help, and the woman who made the call is a civilian employee who was among the missing."

Ortega flushed angrily. How could he and his superiors in Havana have been so stupid? Because they were busy gloating over their success and preparing for the American response, that's how.

"You will try to find them, won't you?" Ortega said sweetly.

"Of course. But not to the extent that it detracts from my main goals, which are the control of the prisoners and the defense of Santiago. A half a dozen lost and lonely marines are not a threat to Cuba. By the way, Comrade Fidel's latest speech alluded to secret weapons that will drive away the Americans. What can you say about that?"

Ortega forced himself to smile. "If I told you, it wouldn't be a secret would it? What is the saying — three can keep a secret if two are dead?"

But Ortega had heard the speech and picked up other thinly veiled references from Raul and Che, in addition to what was mentioned in Fidel's speech. What the devil were those people in Havana up to this time?

Andrei Sokolov, once honored to be a major in the rocket forces of the army of the Soviet Union, and an officer in the proud Rocket Regiment stationed near Havana, paced and waited for his contact to show himself.

He had flown from Havana to Mexico City in a plane filled with American wounded. He had been horrified by the extent of the damage to their bodies. Some were blind and others were amputees. The ones who were conscious had stared at him curiously but made no attempt at conversation. Why should they? He was dressed as a civilian. Sokolov had been impressed by their inner strength and stoicism.

Once in Mexico, he had changed into a different set of civilian clothes, bought a cheap old car and driven north. At the border between Mexico and Brownsville, Texas, he'd seen the increased surveillance brought about by the conflict between the U.S. and Cuba and been momentarily stalled. He couldn't pass himself as an American and didn't want to tell everything to an American border guard who might, after all, be as corrupt and inept as they were in the Soviet empire. He heard the Americans weren't corrupt, but who knew for certain?

But that was the bad news. He drove a few dozen miles west, parked the car, which was rattling and dying, and simply walked across the Rio Grande with his shoes tied together and looped over his neck. He barely got his feet wet. Americans derisively called Mexicans who crossed illegally “wetbacks,” but no one was getting his back wet that day.

He’d put on his shoes and walked into Brownsville trying to exude a sense of confidence he didn't feel. There had to be eyes staring at him. It couldn't be that easy to cross into the United States, could it? And where were the secret police? He’d been trained to spot them, but could see nothing to indicate their presence. Wasn't anybody watching the people? What kind of country was this? He then thought that maybe the Americans were really good at covert surveillance and that did not make him feel better. From Brownsville he took a Greyhound Bus to New Orleans and a plane to Washington National Airport where he'd looked out the window and seen the U.S. Capitol and White House displayed below him as the plane banked to land. He'd again been amazed at just how easy it had been to get into the United States, and how vulnerable that country was to determined invaders. No commercial plane would be allowed anywhere close to the Kremlin. He shuddered. This was now his new country. If they couldn't protect their own borders, just how the devil were they going to protect him from the clutches of the KGB? He wondered if he should have bluffed out General Pliyev and stayed in Cuba, but quickly decided that was not a rational option. For better or worse, he was in the United States and was going to remain there for a very long time, assuming, of course, that he wasn’t killed.

Sokolov looked around, fearfully expecting to see, not his American contact, but Georgi Golikov, the chief of Soviet intelligence in Washington, D.C. He didn't know if Golikov was KGB or not and didn't care. He'd met Golikov once and thought that Golikov would be able to identify him. Sokolov presumed that he was now a very wanted man with a price on his head and that his photo was on display at every Soviet embassy and legation in the world, and most particularly those in the United States.

He was alone in a crowd by the Lincoln Memorial and the giant statue seemed to be staring balefully down on him. He slowly realized that several muscular young men in suits had loosely surrounded him. They were observing but making no overt move toward him. Despite the chill in the air, he was sweating. He began to shiver and his hand shook. If they were KGB, would they risk kidnapping him in such a crowd? Why not? They could have a car pull up and push him in it before any of the tourists around him had a chance to even take a picture or even wonder what they'd just seen.

Or would they just take him out right here and now? A casual brush-by and a quick jab with a poison dart and he'd be dead from an apparent heart attack in a few seconds. The KGB was good at those things. He began to whimper and a couple of people turned and looked at him. He wondered just why the hell he'd ever given that information to the Americans, and he hated General Pliyev for playing him like the fool he now knew he was.

Someone was staring at him from across the plaza. Was that Golikov? Mother of God, it was and there were two other Russians with him. Had they recognized him? He was wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap that said Washington Senators, whatever they were. He'd just bought it at a souvenir stand. It was on sale because the team apparently no longer existed. It was a lousy disguise but it was all he could come up with on extremely short notice. Maybe he should have shoved cotton in his cheeks and a pillow under his shirt.

"Andrei?"

Sokolov nearly jumped out of his skin. The face was familiar and the smile seemed genuine. "Ulrich," Sokolov said, relief sweeping over him, "my good friend, Ulrich Fullmer. It is so good to see you."

Kraeger smiled and shook the Russian's hand. Sokolov pumped furiously and didn't seem to want to let go. The three other CIA agents moved closer in a protective cluster. Fifty yards away, Golikov shrugged and walked in the other direction.

"Good to see you, buddy," Kraeger said to Sokolov. "You're phone call was quite a surprise. Of course," he laughed as they steered the nervous Russian towards waiting cars, "I've been getting a lot of unexpected phone calls lately."

"What the hell is that?" Commander Sam Watkins asked. A score of blips had just appeared on the Coast Guard Cutter Willow's radar. The morning mist on the water hadn't quite burned off so the cutter's long range visibility was zilch. So too was the reliability and accuracy of their radar which had been acting up, either going down altogether or a giving false reads. Just once, he thought, it would be nice to have good equipment like the navy did.

"A bunch of small boats," was the answer. "Or at least that's what the radar says, assuming the radar is working okay."

At least it’s finally up at all, Watkins thought and swore again. Small boats headed for Cuba only twenty miles to the north of them meant only one thing: the damned refugees from Miami were going to invade Cuba and that was truly stupid on their part. His orders were simple. He was to try and keep the fools from making it to Cuba and getting killed.

A few minutes later and the mist had burned off. The swarm of boats was plainly visible. They were jammed with armed men who waved and cheered at the American warship which they assumed was going to protect them and even escort them to Cuba and revenge.

Watkins tried to raise them on the radio but they either didn't have radios or weren't responding. When he was within hailing distance he slowed the ship to barely a crawl and had one of the Spanish speaking crewmen call out over the loudspeaker and tell the boaters to halt and return to Florida. This was met with silence and the small boats continued. They had, however, stopped waving at the Willow. Several men on the boats gave them the finger.

"I think they understood," Lieutenant Harkins said.

Watkins was very uncomfortable. He didn't like for one minute the fact that he was only a couple of minutes flying time from a country they were fighting. He kept looking over his shoulder as if he could see the shoreline of Cuba. A few miles closer and he could. Still, he'd had his orders. The president wanted every effort made to stop the Miami-based Cuban refugees from invading what they thought of as their homeland. Jesus, he thought, this was as crazy as the Jews and the Arabs fighting over the Holy Land. Then he realized that Cuba was their holy land.

Watkins orders were that the large and well armed Coast Guard vessel was to try and herd the boats and turn them back, like a Border Collie corralling sheep, and all without hitting them or hurting anyone. Bullshit, he swore. Dumbest idea he'd ever heard of. You do not corral boats anymore than you can corral cats.

Nor were the Miami refugees cooperating. The Willow got within a few feet of several before they backed off and even scraped the hulls of several others Cuban boats. Now the swearing and screaming was becoming intense.

He heard shots and the sound of metal pinging against the hull. "Godammit, they're shooting at us," Watkins yelled. Everyone was ducking.

"Do we return fire?" Lieutenant Harkins asked.

"Fucked if I know," Watkins snarled. "I thought these guys were on our side. Tell the admiral that the boys from Miami aren't cooperating. They don't want to play nice."

No one had been hit or hurt from the burst of gunfire and he quickly decided that it had been the equivalent of a shot across the bows from the Miami crews. They were warning him to go away and let them recover their homes. Still, he had his orders and, if he tried to carry them out, people could get hurt if the Miami Cubans shot again and actually hit something. If that happened, he would have to return fire.

There was a sudden screeching sound and someone yelled, "MiGs!"

Two enemy planes passed only a few feet over the Willow. The Cuban planes' machine guns were spitting bullets, hitting the boats, and churning up the water with dead and dying exiles.

The Willow's guns opened up on the MiGs, accomplishing nothing. The Cuban planes were too low, too fast. Watkins quickly realized that they'd flown only a few feet above the waves and below his radar, assuming that their piece of shit radar had been working properly anyhow.

"They're coming back!" someone yelled. The MiGs banked and flew side by side toward them, their machine guns flashing. Each MiG carried a pair of bombs and the crew of the Willow watched in horror as they were dropped. Three bombs crashed into the sea in or near the crowd of mauled small boats, sending debris and torn bodies into the sky, while the fourth bomb headed directly towards the Willow.

One of the MiGs burst into flames as anti-aircraft fire from the Willow hit it. A small cheer went up as it cartwheeled into the sea. A second later, the fourth bomb exploded against the hull of the Willow. Watkins felt himself being hurled in the air, and then he was flung down hard on the metal deck. Flames and smoke enveloped him. Arms grabbed him and dragged him away from the fire. He lost consciousness for a moment. He heard someone ask for a tourniquet and wondered why. He looked down before someone could push him back. His left leg was gone. Bloody strands of meat dangled from where his knee had once been and blood was all over the place. Was it all his? If it was, he was a dead man.

He groaned and turned to say something to Lieutenant Harkins who was lying a few feet from him. Harkins would now have to take over. Watkins could speak, but Harkins couldn't. His executive officer was dead, his eyes were blank, and his chest was ripped open by bomb shards. Watkins watched as Harkins' horribly visible heart stopped beating.

"We gotta report this," he mumbled. Vitale was injecting him with morphine. The morphine, combined with loss of blood, was causing him to fade.

"It's done, skipper," Vitale said. "Planes are on the way and so are some ships. Don't you just wonder where they were a few minutes ago?"

"We heading back to Miami?" Watkins managed to ask, his voice weakening.

"As soon as we finish picking up the dead and wounded. We're safe, sir. We're not anywhere near sinking condition and the remaining MiG has disappeared."

Watkins had no idea which of his surviving officers was skippering the Willow and didn't care. They were all good men. They would definitely make it to Miami. As he lost consciousness he wondered what the hell would he do with only one leg.

Captain Miguel Rojas listened to his radio. The two planes he'd sent to attack the American warship had actually managed to hit her with one of their bombs, which was a totally unexpected bonus. When their spies in Florida radioed that a force of Miami based exiles was departing and would attempt to land near Havana, it created a dilemma and an opportunity. His superiors had been certain that the Americans would try to stop the exiles, and they also felt there was a tremendous opportunity to hurt both the United States and the growing exile community.

Thus, they’d devised the plan to attack the ship they know knew was called the Willow, along with killing a large number of exiles. It would require the Americans to launch fighters from Florida to protect them all, which would then provide a distraction to the Cuban main effort, an attack on Miami International Airport.

Rojas' flight of six swept-wing MiG 17 fighters was headed to Florida to bloody John F. Kennedy's nose. The planes were the best the Cuban air force had. They each had a 37mm nose cannon and a pair of 23mm guns in the wings, along with a 500 pound bomb. With external fuel tanks they would have no difficulty flying from Havana to Miami, along with engaging the enemy if they had to. Better, it was now very likely that the Americans were focused on rescuing their damaged ship.

Rojas was pleased at the opportunity to strike back, even though he was reasonably certain they would never again have the opportunity. Even though American carriers had not yet arrived, there were too many enemy planes in the air. The Cuban air force had suffered grievously and, after this attack, would go into hiding.

Rojas had been in on the discussions regarding their target. Homestead had been ruled out because it was already military and likely heavily defended. Therefore, Miami International with its brand new circular terminal was the target. Originally there had been a military presence, but it had been moved to nearby Homestead. Now, the airport was being re-configured to handle military traffic to fight Cuba, which made it a legitimate target.

They flew low over the lush Florida countryside, hoping they would not be sighted or picked up on radar. The MiG 17 had a passing resemblance to the American F86 and the new F4 fighters, and it was hoped that any ground observers might be confused or misled that their planes were American.

Rojas had flown over the area several times when there had been peace and he quickly located the Tamiami Canal leading from the Everglades to Miami. He clicked on his radio and the planes followed as he headed them in.

Moments later, the runways were in sight and, yes, they were lined with military transports and fighters, and there were few civilian planes near them. As planned, the planes broke into three pairs and began their runs. Only now did American anti-aircraft fire begin. It was too late. The MiGs strafed the neat lines of planes, their shells ripping into the fragile hulls. Explosions billowed into the sky and Rojas saw men running around in panic as they streaked by.

It only took a few seconds to use up their ammunition, and they dropped their bombs on what appeared to be fuel storage facilities. They were rewarded with a series of gigantic and fiery explosions.

Rojas ordered them to return to Cuba, only this time they would not go to Havana. So far it seemed to be off limits to American bombers, so the decision had been made to not tempt fate. They would land at a hastily built base farther east at Santa Clara where waiting crews would camouflage and hide their planes.

Rojas counted his planes. He had four left. The men he'd lost were among the best and they would be missed, but war caused casualties. He hoped that Castro was happy that they'd again humiliated the mighty United States.

When Rojas landed, he expected to be swarmed over by admiring mechanics and others not fortunate enough to fly planes. Instead, one soldier ran up as he started to climb down and receive their congratulations and simply yelled, "Run for your life!"

Rojas jumped to the ground and raced as quickly as he ever had for the thick woods nearby. A few minutes later, a jet screamed overhead and then others quickly followed. Bombs dropped and the field behind him erupted in explosions. What had happened was obvious. He'd been followed back to his so-called hidden base by a bunch of very pissed off Americans who'd either followed him visually or on radar. He sagged to the ground and lit a cigarette. His plane was now burning brightly and the Cuban Air Force, for all practical purposes, had ceased to exist. Still, he laughed, he had truly stuck it to the damned Americans. Better, he’d managed to survive.

John Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, and Lyndon Johnson had been discussing matters in the Oval Office when word was flashed that Miami was under attack. Within minutes, a grainy black and white picture was being shown on television and Walter Cronkite was trying manfully to decipher what was going on from his base in New York. The three men in the Oval Office were aghast at the flames and smoke billowing from Miami's airport.

Another camera angle showed near panic in the streets as civilians rushed to get away from an unseen enemy. Another shot showed ambulances racing towards the airport. CBS was using their new portable Ikegami television cameras to record the event. JFK couldn’t help but wonder if portable television was going to be the new face of war.

A quick phone call from the Pentagon confirmed what they were seeing. A small force of Cuban planes had strafed and bombed the airport. An unknown number of Air Force personnel were dead or wounded and a large number of planes had been destroyed. Also, a major fuel storage area had been set on fire and was burning dramatically. On the positive side, if there was one JFK ruefully noted, civilian casualties were minimal if any.

The Pentagon aide also said that the Coast Guard Cutter Willow had been attacked by other enemy planes and had been severely damaged. Casualties on the ship were heavy.

"When was the last time the continental United States was bombed or shelled by an enemy?" Bobby asked.

"Not counting a few puny attempts by Japanese subs in World War II, not since the War of 1812," the president answered.

"This is an absolute disaster," said Johnson, "and I mean at many levels. The Republicans are going to kill us with this. If we don't do something, we might as well concede the 1964 election to Barry Goldwater right now. That son of a bitch is going to claim that we Democrats have lost another country, along with not being able to defend ourselves, and he might just be right."

JFK winced. The conservative senator from Arizona, and presumptive Republican presidential candidate, had called for a more immediate response to what he considered outrages by an enemy and alluding to incompetence by the very young Democratic president. A call from the president had informed him as to the reasons for not bombing Havana and, so far, he had bought on to them. This, however, might change Goldwater’s mind.

Rightly or wrongly, the Republicans had been claiming for years that the Democrats were soft on Communism and had let the Reds gobble up country after country.

First was the "loss" of China that had occurred when Truman had been president just after World War II. It didn't matter that the loss was the result of Chiang Kai Shek's utterly corrupt Nationalist government now ensconced on Formosa and protected by American warships.

This was followed by the surprise attack on Korea in 1950 and the realization that the U.S. was utterly unprepared to defend her. The result had been a three year war that ending in a stalemate. Again, Harry Truman had been president. Hard-liners were furious that the war had not ended in an American victory. Some even called it America’s first defeat.

The aging but outspoken former commander of American forces in Korea, Douglas MacArthur, was again calling for an attack on the Chinese mainland after first annihilating the Cuban forces. Kennedy thought it ironic since he felt that the debacle in Korea had largely been MacArthur’s fault. It was his troops who were so totally unprepared in 1950 and it was the general who had disobeyed orders and caused a major defeat before the situation could be stabilized.

In 1961, the Soviets had built a wall separating their part of Europe from the west and the U.S. had done nothing about it.

Nor had the U.S. done anything when the Red Army had crushed a rebellion in Hungary, although that had occurred when Eisenhower, a Republican, had been in the White House.

Large NATO and Soviet armies now confronted each other in Germany, while American forces stared at North Koreans, and an American fleet protected Formosa, now Taiwan, from the Red Chinese.

Then came Castro's revolution in neighboring Cuba and his turning the country into a satellite of Moscow, all while Kennedy had been president. China was one thing, and so was Korea, but Cuba was next door, not halfway around the world. This had resulted in the Bay of Pigs fiasco, Kennedy's humiliating confrontation with Khrushchev in Moscow, and the grand finale, the Cuban Missile Crisis that was supposed to have shown the world Kennedy's bravery under stress. Instead, Kennedy was now confronting a new and potentially disastrous war.

To further complicate matters, he was also being urged to send more troops to protect a sympathetic government in Vietnam, a country he was convinced most of America's citizens couldn't locate on a map at gunpoint. Where would it ever stop, he wondered.

The war with Cuba was also a war he could not afford to lose if he had any thoughts of being a two term president.

JFK shook his head. "I will go on the air and apologize for the failure to protect Miami. I will take responsibility because it is my responsibility. However, we will not change our strategy. We will not attack Havana or anyplace where Soviet troops might be just out of spite or revenge. That is just far too dangerous. We have been provoked and insulted by the Cubans, and they wish us to rise to the bait and do something foolish. We will not do that."

Johnson scoffed. "Goldwater's gonna take you apart if something good doesn't happen and damn soon."

Chapter Eleven

Although Lieutenant Andrew Ross was young and a man, he wasn't totally stupid about the mysteries of being a woman. He had two older sisters, and, as a boy and a young teenager, had listened in on a number of their furtive conversations regarding what they referred to as “woman problems.” He had no idea why they couldn't just say they were having their period or refer to it as menstruation, but no, they always used euphemisms. At least they didn’t say they were on the rag, like some guys said about their girlfriends. Later, he realized his mother talked the same way, which probably explained his sisters' behavior.

What he did know about a woman's period was that it occurred approximately once a month, was uncomfortable at best and debilitatingly painful at worst, was frequently messy, and was not a cause for rejoicing when it occurred.

Except, he later understood, when the recipient of woman's curse realized that its arrival meant she wasn't pregnant. His older sister had been relieved to find that she hadn’t been knocked up, and Andrew had been shocked to realize she'd been having sex with her boyfriend, a guy he hadn't like in the first place because he was such a smug prick. He’d felt like clobbering the guy for screwing his sister until he realized that his sister had been fully cooperative with the carnal acts.

He now thought he understood exactly why Cathy Malone was so pleased when her period happened. She hadn't actually told him — they weren't that frank with each other yet — but he figured it out from her emotional behavior and some oblique comments.

He had always sensed that her story of a "friend" being raped by a Cuban soldier and traumatizing her was a little too facile. It was almost like someone saying they had a "friend" who was an alcoholic. No, it was Cathy who had been raped and who was ashamed that it had occurred and was scared witless that, along with being violated, might have made her pregnant.

It put Andrew firmly on the horns of a dilemma. He was very fond of Cathy and wanted to help and comfort her. But how and when did he let her know that he understood what she felt she had to keep secret?

He tried to think about what his sisters might have done and realized that his correct course of action was inaction. If and when she ever wished to tell him, he would listen sympathetically and try to be as helpful as anyone who could never be in her position could be. In the meantime, he would let her somehow know that she could trust him. He had no clue as to how he would do that.

She was seated on the ground beside him, their hips almost touching. Andrew wondered just what might become of the two of them in the future. First, he though grimly, they had to live through this ordeal in order to have a future.

He reached over and squeezed her hand. She smiled at him. "What was that for?"

"Do I need a reason? I'm glad you're here."

She squeezed back. "What's for dinner?"

"Iguana," he said teasingly, knowing she couldn't stand the sight of the lizards or even contemplate the thought of eating one. "I hear they taste like chicken."

"I bet they taste like slimy and disgusting lizards." She said but kept her grip on his hand.

Gunnery Sergeant Cullen stepped over and crouched before them. "Lieutenant, there's something you gotta see and right now."

Ross got up and followed his sergeant through the brush. They were quiet and careful. Cuban soldiers could be anywhere, hiding and waiting for darkness. Finally, they were on a hill overlooking the road that led south to Guantanamo Bay.

Ross looked and blinked. "What the hell is that?"

Cullen laughed softly. "At first I thought it looked like something from a really bad horror or science fiction movie, but then I realized what those commie fuckers are up to."

On the road below them, a large blob moved slowly. It was shapeless and formless. At least it would be to anyone flying above; thus it was unidentifiable and unthreatening. It was the same color as the dirt road on which it moved. Andrew looked through his binoculars.

"Why those clever bastards," he said.

It was a tank. Across and on top of the tank lengths of lumber had been laid to form a framework and, on top of the framework, brown and green cloths had been laid. The camouflaged tank moved slowly and raised no dust. Just behind the tank, a couple of men with brooms cleaned up the tracks. The tank was hidden in plain sight and slowly moving south. From the air and in the night, the whole thing was invisible.

"What're you thinking, Lieutenant?"

Ross put away the binoculars. "A couple of things, sergeant. First, where there's one there have to be others. Second, where the hell are they going? To Gitmo for sure, but they must have a staging area someplace and we need to find it so we can let the flyboys know where to bomb, and third, we have to figure out some way of contacting our people."

"I suppose another phone call is out?" Cullen asked.

"Yeah."

They'd attempted another call, but this time the operator tried to string them along and they realized that the Cuban military was trying to get a fix on their location. Cathy had hung up quickly and they'd disconnected the line and moved away rapidly.

Cullen nodded. "Why don't I have Ward and Groth tail this beast from a distance. It isn't like they'd lose sight of it and maybe tonight will be the night we hear from mama or the reverend in Washington."

As LBJ said with a bitter laugh, ExComm’s collective ass was in an uproar. The cumulative disasters befalling the Miami Cubans, the Coast Guard Cutter Willow, and now the city of Miami were creating shockwaves that were reverberating across the nation. Secrecy regarding the defeats had proven impossible to maintain. Ham radio operators had picked up on pleas for help from those few Miami Cubans who had managed to land on Cuban soil, or whose boats had been attacked by Cuban air and artillery.

A television showed black and white pictures of rioting in Miami resulting from what the exile community considered yet another betrayal by Washington. People were getting hurt, perhaps killed, fighting the police. Looting had begun with vandals smashing store windows and carting off appliances, televisions, and jewelry. Announcers, including Walter Cronkite, wondered just when the United States was going to do something. JFK wondered just what the hell Cronkite and the others wanted him to do. Attack right now when they weren’t ready? Permanently surrender Gitmo to the Cubans; thus admitting defeat? What? Kennedy thought it must be easy to sit behind a desk, stare into a camera, and pontificate without any care or responsibility for what might really happen.

At least the rioting in Miami had pushed the MiG raid onto the back burner. Many of the rioters carried signs denouncing both JFK and LBJ for betraying them to Castro. Johnson was surprised since he’d worked so hard to cultivate the Cuban refugees in Miami.

President Kennedy noted that all the chiefs were represented except the CIA. Where was McCone this time? He took a deep breath. "First off, tell me about the ship."

Again, Shoup was the spokesman. "The Coast Guard Cutter Willow was trying to halt a number of Cuban bound boats when they and she were attacked by MiGS flying low and fast out of Cuba. They were so low they weren't picked up by the cutter's radar, which was old and may have been malfunctioning. She shot down one of the MiGS but was hit by a bomb which killed at least twenty men and badly wounded another fifty, including her skipper. He lost a leg. The small boats were strafed and bombed with at least a hundred killed and many more than that wounded. We won't know exactly for a while and perhaps never. Apparently, nobody knows exactly who was on the boats."

JFK wondered just what a Coast Guard vessel was doing down there so close to Cuba until he recalled her earlier involvement. She was down there because nobody had ordered her out and because enough navy assets weren't there.

"And what went wrong with the exiles invasion this time," he asked.

"Everything under the sun," Shoup responded. "Despite the tragedy involving the Willow, a number of other groups made it through. Maybe three thousand poorly armed and poorly trained refugees landed at a half dozen places on the north coast of Cuba just east of Havana, where they were immediately attacked and overwhelmed by local Communist forces. We provided air cover where we could, but we had a hard time telling who the bad guys and the good guys were. They got all mixed up real fast which was probably the Commies plan."

"Did any local Cubans rise up to help them?" the president asked, half knowing what the answer would be.

"Not a damn one that we could tell, Mr. President. In fact, there are unconfirmed reports of civilians attacking the invaders and beating them or even killing them. Maybe some Cubans wanted to help out, but discretion ruled over valor."

Kennedy nodded thoughtfully. Just like that lovely lady from the CIA had said. They adore Fidel and hate us. Just wonderful.

"And the attack on the Miami airport?" he asked and watched as Curtis LeMay turned beet red.

"We lost a dozen planes destroyed and another twenty damaged along with a lot of fuel. All can and will be replaced quickly. Casualties were surprisingly light, even minimal. No more than six dead and a couple of dozen wounded, and no civilians were hurt in that shameful episode. I will also be crucifying those assholes who are responsible for assuming that we were impervious to attack by those sons of bitches."

Kennedy decided he did not want to be on the receiving end of a career ending tongue lashing from the fiery Air Force chief of staff. Heads would roll and they should. The nation had been embarrassed and insulted.

"Do we have any good news?" he asked.

General Maxwell Taylor answered. "All the land forces necessary to invade Cuba are now pretty much in place and only await your word. The southern ports of Mobile, New Orleans, Tampa, Miami, and Charleston are rapidly filling with troops. Civilian airports have been commandeered and are filled with transports for our airborne divisions as well as for re-supply. Two of our carriers and their escorts are expected on station within hours. All we need from you is the decision — Havana or Guantanamo?"

Kennedy noticed that CIA Director McCone had slipped in; he looked anxious. "We will liberate Guantanamo. The rest of Cuba will have to wait for another time."

The chiefs nodded. Perhaps they didn't agree, and LeMay clearly didn't, but they would obey.

McCone gestured. He looked distressed. "Anything to add?" the President asked McCone.

"May I speak to you alone?"

"Is it a military issue?"

"Yes, although it is political as well."

Kennedy shrugged. "Then let's have it now. These gentlemen will find out about it soon enough."

"I strongly urge that the invasion of Cuba be delayed until further notice."

"What the hell for?" LeMay roared as he lunged from his seat. "First we can't hit Havana, and now you want us to back off? Hell, let's grab them by the balls and squeeze until they squeal."

McCone looked around the room like a man wanting a place to hide. "Mr. President, the Communist Cuban army now has nuclear weapons."

McCone had their full and undivided attention. Even LeMay was shocked into silence. The CIA Director quickly and concisely brought them up to speed regarding the fact that a defector had brought them the information that Fidel's men had raided an area where the weapons had been stored.

"First," Kennedy asked, "is the defector reliable?"

"We believe so. He's the same man who warned us about the attack on Gitmo in the first place."

"Which wasn't that much of a warning," Kennedy reminded them sourly. "Maybe that was a trick and maybe this is too. Since he has defected, I think you can finally tell us just who the hell your inside source is, don't you?"

"His name is Andrei Sokolov and, until a few days ago, was a major in the Soviet rocket forces. His commanding officer, General Issa Pliyev, had supported the attack on Gitmo, but is now appalled at the thought of irresponsible people like Fidel, Raul, and Che having their hands on tactical nuclear weapons. As to Sokolov's veracity, through him we now have the Russians admitting that they’ve had a couple of dozen tactical nuclear weapons in Cuba all along. We'd suspected it, but were unable to prove it. Sokolov also says the Russian forces in Cuba are about two times larger than we thought and that means they have forty thousand Soviet troops."

"Jesus," Kennedy said. "But does that make him truthful?"

"We believe so, sir, yes. And what choice do we have at this moment?"

General Taylor leaned forward. He wanted to hear clearly. "How many nuclear weapons does Fidel have and what are they?"

"He has at least four but no more than six short range tactical missiles with warheads, with four being the more likely number. The Soviets call them Lunas while we've designated them as Frog 3. It's a rocket system widely used by the Soviets and they've provided them to a number of other countries, but without nuclear warheads. The Soviets brought twenty-four nuclear warheads into Cuba and now some are missing. The Lunas or Frogs have a range of approximately eighteen miles and each nuclear warhead carries two kilotons of power. Please recall that the bomb that hit Hiroshima was about twenty kilotons which means that these are relatively small."

"Unless one lands on your fucking lap," LeMay snarled. "Four or six of those things properly used could destroy a division or even a corps and would certainly disrupt an amphibious landing. They could easily cause thousands of American casualties. What are the Russians doing about this? Have the Cubans declared war on Russia, or vice-versa?"

"What does FROG stand for?" Kennedy asked. "I can't imagine a rocket named after an amphibian."

Even Taylor smiled. "I can't either, sir. It stands for Free Rocket Over Ground."

McCone continued. "According to Sokolov, Pliyev is launching full scale efforts to find them, along with aggressively covering his ass for losing them in the first place, and no, there is no fighting between Cuba and the Soviets. All Soviet efforts are centered on recovering the missing nukes. They will be difficult to find since the launchers are mounted on tracked vehicles, basically tank chassis, and could simply be covered up and driven down a road without anybody much noticing."

He passed around a photo. It showed a rocket in a semi-upright position on a tank chassis. It had a bulbous warhead and Kennedy thought it looked like a caricature of an erection.

"Christ," LeMay said. "I just had a thought. What would happen if one of our planes hit one of those vehicles carrying a nuke? Would the bomb detonate?"

"Quite possibly," McCone said. "Sokolov is proving a fountain of information. Apparently, Soviet nuclear tactics are quite different from ours. We think of nukes as weapons of last resort, while the Russians think they should be used right off. So, yes, it is entirely possible, even likely, that Fidel's nukes are armed and ready to go and that Castro will use them the first chance he has."

"Assuming that he really has them in the first place," Taylor injected.

Kennedy felt a headache coming on and his back was hurting. Why the hell had he ever wanted to run for president in the first place? Because his father had wanted him to, that's why. Damn it.

"Okay," he said. "Here's what we're going to do. Or not do, if you prefer. First, we tell nobody a thing about Castro having tactical nukes. Second, the invasion is on hold until further notice. You can gather forces and plan for an ultimate attack on Gitmo, but nothing moves without my say-so. Third, hold off on bombing any trucks or other tracked vehicles."

LeMay interrupted. "That means we don't bomb anything ‘cause we can't always tell from several thousand feet up whether a vehicle has wheels or tracks. It we wait until we're on top of them, it could put our planes in danger from their anti-aircraft fire. That's unacceptable."

Kennedy thought quickly and changed his mind. "You're right. And the hell with Castro if we hit one of those bombs and it goes off. Keep bombing the shit out of anything that moves. If one does go off, it'll be his fault that part of Cuba glows in the dark, and there will be one less bomb he can use against us."

"Along with a good sized hole in Cuban earth," LeMay said happily.

Kennedy saw agreement from the military and it pleased him. "Fourth, I want contacts with Russia to find out what they're doing, and fifth, I want this Sokolov's story proved or disproved and I want that done quickly."

And sixth, he thought, I want a damn drink. Maybe that will help my back.

Ross hadn't wanted Cathy to accompany them, but the alternative was to leave her alone at their temporary base camp and that was a prospect that horrified her. Given what he thought had happened to her, there was no other option but to bring her along on a mission that was as risky as anything they'd yet done.

Nor was she his only worry as they waited by the large field they'd identified as a drop point on the one call they'd managed to make to the States. Andrew worried that they hadn't gotten the coordinates right, or that they were right and any relief effort wouldn't find the field. Or, worse, the Cubans had picked up on the transmission and were waiting just behind the next tree. It was night and he could almost feel Cuban soldiers moving through the brush. It was the stuff of nightmares.

They waited until the right time and lit the fire in the middle of the field. "Sure as hell that's gonna bring Cubans," Cullen muttered.

"Maybe not," Andrew said hopefully, "We're a ways from any road or human habitation, and it isn't that big a fire." And what other choice did they have?

They waited. The silence was deafening. They looked away from the fire so its glare wouldn't destroy their night vision.

They heard a noise. It was the whine of a plane's engine. Suddenly, a dark shape lifted above the tree line, seemed to hover, and dropped to the ground, taxiing only a short distance before it was still. They could only stare in disbelief at the small plane as its doors opened and someone inside pushed out a number of boxes and containers. They started to move towards it, silhouetted against the fire, but the plane turned on the ground and headed back. It lifted off and cleared the trees by maybe a few inches. It was gone as quickly as it had come.

Andrew shook his head. Had it really happened? "Grab the boxes and douse that damn fire."

Cullen and Groth put out the fire while the others hauled and lifted the half dozen containers the plane had deposited. Ross was both disappointed and relieved. If he could have contacted the pilot, he would have shoved Cathy into the plane, and she would now be on her way to safety. But it hadn't happened and she was going to remain with them, which didn't totally displease him.

How long had the plane been on the ground? Maybe a minute. Probably a whole lot less. But at least they knew they weren't alone and that somebody was watching out for them. Just so long as Cubans weren’t drawn to the site by the fire and the sound of the plane.

When they were a couple of miles away and back at their current base camp, they fought the urge to open the containers immediately. "Hold off until it’s light," Cullen had urged and they reluctantly recognized the sense of it. They didn't want to damage what might be inside.

Dawn came after what seemed an eternity, and they carefully opened the containers. They felt like kids at Christmas. The contents of the first one made them grin. It was a two-way radio, along with a hand generator. Code books, spare parts, and instructions came with it. Another package contained medications and soap. Water purification tablets were a welcome addition. They'd all suffered from diarrhea from drinking bad water. Others were filled with rations that would last a couple of weeks if they were careful.

"I guess we can skip the iguana," Andrew teased. Cathy stuck her tongue out at him. She had a cute tongue.

They all grinned again when they found one box filled with toilet paper. They were virtually out of the good stuff and were planning on using soft leaves and rags cleaned off in local water and re-used. Cathy was confronting the same situation with her period. She had enough for this time, but what if they were still in Cuba a month from now? Her grandmother had used rags which she’d washed and used again. She shuddered. She had seen them drying on the line at grandma's house and thought it uncivilized. Would it come to that? Would they be forced to reuse rags as both toilet tissue and sanitary napkins?

Last was a package addressed to "Sister Catherine" from "Father Malone." Puzzled, she opened it. There was a note. "I discussed your situation with a nice lady named Elena and she suggested I include these."

Cathy didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Kotex.

Kraeger once again waited by the Lincoln Memorial. He wondered why spies thought this was such a great place to make a contact. Certainly it was easy to hide in the large numbers of people milling around, but it also made surveillance by the other side so easy. Maybe they should meet in a desert.

He recognized Georgi Golikov from a photo provided by the CIA. The Russian was of average height and build, excellently forgettable, which was good for an intelligence operative. Golikov nodded and held out his hand. They shook as if they were two business people who knew each other or old friends. None of the tourists milling about saw anything out of the ordinary. Charley wondered whether Golikov was KGB or the intelligence chief operating out of the Washington embassy, or both. He sure as hell wasn't the cultural attache any more than he was the tooth fairy.

Golikov looked over Kraeger's shoulder and quickly identified the two agents who had accompanied the American. For his part, Kraeger did the same, easily spotting the poorly dressed Russians who'd accompanied Golikov and were pretending to admire Honest Abe.

"Mr. Kraeger, my congratulations on escaping from the delights of the people's paradise of Cuba. And please accept my further congratulations on getting to Comrade Sokolov before we could. When you're done with him, we have some interesting questions we'd like to ask him."

I bet you do, Kraeger thought. "I don't think that's very likely. He's said he's interested in running a gas station in Tulsa."

Golikov blinked in surprise then realized it was a joke. Sort of. The steppes of Oklahoma sounded like a great place for Sokolov to spend the rest of his wretched life. "You are right, of course, and, unless you or he does something incredibly stupid, we will never see him again. Since he has nothing more to tell you that you don't already know or will soon find out, our interest in him is waning rapidly. Contrary to your movies and your spy books, we are not interested in useless vengeance. I hope he enjoys running that gas station, or perhaps cleaning dog shit in a pet shop. Perhaps he'll manage to set fire to himself at that gas station, eh?"

Sure, Kraeger thought. They'd just love to get him back if for no other reason than to put the traditional two bullets in the back of his skull as a way of telling others not to even think of defecting. "Comrade Golikov, I would enjoy knowing that General Pliyev has recovered all those nuclear warheads."

"What nuclear warheads?" Golikov said in clearly feigned astonishment. "The Soviet Union would never admit to having tactical nuclear warheads in Cuba, especially after our agreement to withdraw our strategic nuclear weapons. It would make no sense whatsoever to have such little horrors in Cuba where they might be lost and recovered either by a madman, Castro, or his lunatic assistant, Guevara."

Charley nodded and Golikov shrugged. Each man knew that the conversation was being recorded by the other side and neither wanted to say anything that would be incriminatory. In Golikov's case, incriminatory comments might get him shot.

"I am glad to hear it, but why then would Sokolov tell such a terrible lie?"

Golikov looked around. "Perhaps he's delusional."

Enough, Kraeger thought. "Then let's be hypothetical. Let's pretend you did have tactical nukes in Cuba and let's pretend that Castro or one of his henchmen stole a handful of them. What might your country's response be?"

Golikov nodded solemnly and glared. "Our anger and our fury at being betrayed, much less having several of our soldiers killed in the taking of them, which would certainly have happened in such a hypothetical event, would know no bounds. We would move heaven and earth to recover those weapons."

"If such a raid were to have occurred, how many do you think such hypothetical bandits would get?"

"No more than four. At two kilotons each, more than enough to cause of great deal of mischief, isn't it?"

Mischief? That isn't quite the word, Kraeger thought. "Of course, Comrade Golikov, it never happened and you don't believe in heaven in the first place, is that fair?"

"Very."

"Do you think Comrade Fidel understands that using nuclear weapons against us would provoke a nuclear response from us that might incinerate Cuba, turning him and Che into large cigar ashes?"

Golikov now looked nervous. "Again hypothetically, he is likely not to believe that or, if he is indeed becoming mad, might not care. My people would care very much, of course."

"Just curious, but how would that color any future relations between your country and Castro's Cuba? Hypothetically speaking, of course."

Golikov smiled grimly. "Any nuclear military actions by Cuba, or even a threat of such actions, would require a thorough reassessment of our position vis a vis any relations with a leader we cannot trust and who may be mad."

Kraeger grinned inwardly. The Soviets were thoroughly pissed off. He wondered how this might be used to America's advantage.

Chapter Twelve

Lt. Colonel Ted Romanski and Master Sergeant Wiley Morton threw themselves on the ground. The small plane had zoomed past them only a few feet above the trees and their heads. Coming at them in the dark had compounded their shock. Flying low and fast had the plane long gone before they could begin to react.

"You okay, colonel?" Morton said. He picked himself up and brushed off dirt and twigs.

"I am, master sergeant, although I am now five years older and a lot grayer than I was a few moments ago. At least I don't have to change my underwear."

Morton chuckled. "That was close for me, too, sir. How's your leg holding up?"

Romanski had begun walking while using a tree limb as a crutch. "So far, so good. Now, did you happen to see whose plane that was, or anything else that might be useful? Damn, that was a surprise."

"I couldn't pick out any markings. There might not have been any, but I think it was likely one of ours."

"Why so? It could have been Cuban. It would make sense to use small planes to ferry around important people, messages, and other things wouldn't it? A small plane flying low would be pretty safe from our planes. Our hotshot fighter pilots think it's beneath their dignity to hit a little target like that. Hell, they wouldn't even get a little red star to put on their plane to show they made a kill."

"True enough, colonel, but I still think it was one of ours. It was headed north like it had just done something, and north is the direction of Florida and our ships. If it was flying east-west I'd say it was Cuban, but not north-south."

"Good thinking, master sergeant, I agree completely. I think they were either dropping off men or supplies or both. Maybe there's a pro-American Cuban underground nearby, or maybe they're sending in men behind enemy lines like they used to do in France in World War II. I'm thinking Special Forces, of course. I've even reconciled myself to their wearing those green berets that Kennedy recently authorized. Regardless it's a good sign and I think we should follow the approximate line of flight for that little plane and see where it leads us. Not exactly like driving one of those new interstate highways, but it'll do for the time being."

Maybe, just maybe, they both thought, it will lead us to a path out of this mess.

Secretary of State Dean Rusk knew he was in trouble the moment he realized that he was almost alone in the Oval Office. Other than the president, the only other person present was Marine Commandant, General Shoup, who looked livid with anger. To his own dismay, Rusk thought he understood why both the president and the general were so upset.

"Who the hell blabbed?" Shoup asked.

Rusk sighed. "One of my people thought he was doing me a favor and putting out a fire. The Canadian government had made several inquiries regarding the safety of the so-called Canadian missionaries, and a group called something like the Council for Canadian Missionaries issued a press release saying that they'd never heard of any of their people working in Guantanamo Province. Canadian papers started asking pointed questions and someone in my office told his counterpart at the Canadian Embassy that they were marines who'd managed to escape capture, and not missionaries. He even confirmed the names of Ross and Malone and gave the Canadians the others."

"Let me guess," Shoup snarled. "The asshole who works for you made them cross their heart and hope to die and promise not to tell."

Rusk sighed again. "Not quite that bad but close enough. After promising to keep the confidence, the man at the Canadian embassy fed the information to his leaders at Ottawa, and the Canadian government then told the Canadian Missionary organization that it wasn't their people. The real missionaries were outraged at being used and told the Canadian press and then it began to steamroll."

Shoup slammed copies of several newspapers on the table. One of the headlines glared "Woman Guerilla Fights Commies." It showed a photo of Cathy Malone that had likely been taken in high school. One was clearly a graduation photo and in the other she was dressed as a cheerleader. The article also named all of the marines with Cathy, listing home towns and anything else the enterprising reporters could dig up.

"Where'd they get the picture of Malone?" Shoup asked.

"From her family," Rusk said. "They were so happy to find that she's okay, they let a reporter take one of her high school graduation pictures along with the cheerleader one. They're going to be interviewed on television, probably tonight. They think she's a heroine and I guess I can't disagree or blame them for being happy."

"Jesus H. Christ!" Shoup roared.

Kennedy finally spoke. "Mr. Secretary, I have to admit it's a great public relations triumph, but your man's carelessness has put them all in danger. We had hoped that the group, and Lieutenant Ross is obviously its commander and not Cathy Malone, would remain under Castro's radar. They and we did not feel that anyone was actively looking for them and we all rather liked it that way. We wanted them to lay low and do nothing more than feed us information. As a result of that monumental stupidity by someone at State, that situation may change for the worse."

"My associate is extremely sorry," Rusk said.

"Who the hell is he?" Shoup snarled.

"His name is Geoffrey Franklyn and he's an assistant deputy under-secretary and been with the State Department for more than thirty years."

Shoup laughed harshly. "Assistant deputy under-secretary? Shit, that sounds like an assistant produce manager at a supermarket."

Kennedy stood and glared at Rusk. "Apologies won't cut it, Mr. Secretary." The formal use of his title instead of his name caused Rusk to wince. "I want that person either fired, retired, or shipped out to some wonderful place like the Balkans where he can't get into trouble, and I want it done yesterday."

Rusk nodded glumly. For not the first time, he, a former Rhodes Scholar and president of the Rockefeller Foundation, wondered just why he'd ever gone back to government. Nor could he recall ever meeting Geoffrey Franklyn. What a hell of a mess that man had created.

Sergeant Carlos Gomez was not happy at getting new orders. He was rather enjoying himself as part of the garrison of Santiago where he could gamble, drink, steal, and whore to his heart's content, and wondered why he had been chosen out of so many for this special assignment. Simple, he'd been part of the original attack on Guantanamo and, with so many of those who'd gone in with him stationed farther away from either Guantanamo or Santiago, the choice of him was perversely logical.

That and the fact that the lieutenant and the captain over him hated his guts and thought he was a lazy, lying criminal were added factors. They would want him gone under any circumstances. Well fuck them, he thought.

Still, he was astonished to be brought to the hidden headquarters of General Ortega, who stared at him balefully, like he was examining an unwelcome insect. "You have a mission, sergeant. El Presidente is very unhappy that a band of marines led by a woman is out there rampaging over the countryside and he wishes it stopped."

Gomez was puzzled. He'd heard nothing about guerillas rampaging anywhere. He wondered how it affected him and thought he knew. "Sir, you wish me to stop them?"

Ortega smiled coldly. "I'm glad to see you're not as stupid as I'd been told."

"Sir?" Gomez practically squeaked.

"You are being given command of two squads, a total of twenty men, and your job is to track down and find these people who are such an embarrassment to Havana. Now, you're probably wondering why I am wasting my time on such a small matter as a woman and a half dozen lost marines and also talking to a total asshole like yourself. Well, it's because Comrade Fidel said it's very important that the woman and the marines be stopped, so I will now assure him that I have one of my best men looking for them. I don't of course, I have you. You are a lying, thieving, and corrupt and everyone wants you out of Santiago. You will take your men north of Guantanamo Bay and take however long you must to find those marines and the woman who leads them and I don't care if it takes the rest of your miserable life. Just send in reports that you are trying real hard."

Gomez understood that lost marines might be wandering the area, but a woman? "What woman?"

Ortega flipped a copy of a newspaper to him. It was a grainy facsimile that had been sent by telephone lines, probably from Mexico. A photo of a young, smiling woman stared up at him. She was vaguely familiar. Then he recalled. He had fucked her, or at least tried to. And she'd been gone when he'd gone back for her the next day, not that he really ever thought she'd stay. Nobody was that stupid.

Ortega had noted Gomez's reaction. "You find her attractive, sergeant?"

"Actually, sir, I think I've, ah, met her before."

Gomez smiled. The new assignment was actually beginning to look interesting. With twenty men looking for a handful of probably half-starved marines and a woman there'd be plenty of opportunities for fun and games. More and more he was becoming disenchanted with the stifling rules of the worker's paradise that Cuba was becoming, and was thinking of getting out to, say, Mexico or Florida where he could make money and didn't have to share it with anyone. That would take money to start with, and now he had a chance to acquire some if he had what was an independent command. Who knows, he might just find that woman and get a chance to fuck her again, and this time properly.

Gomez snapped off a salute. "I will do my best, general."

"Then go meet the woman again," General Ortega said. He wondered under just what circumstances a pig like Gomez would have met an intelligent and attractive young American woman. He decided he really didn't want to know.

A young Spec 4 opened the door to General Bunting's office and Midge Romanski entered. General Josiah Bunting stood and tried to smile affably, after all, they'd known each other for years. He could see that she was not in the mood for smiling and stopped.

"Midge, it's good to see you, even if it is under trying circumstances. Please, take a seat."

She took a chair and placed it closer to Bunting's desk. She was wearing a full dark skirt and dark jacket with a white blouse. Not quite a mourning outfit but close to it. Bunting caught himself staring at her shapely legs and stopped it. Not now.

Midge Romanski glared at him. "General, I will come to the point. I am not pleased to be here and I am not glad to see you, and I don't give a shit about your rank. I just want to know what the hell is going on with my husband."

Bunting sat back. He was neither surprised nor angry. This had happened far too often in the recent past. Dealing with grieving widows and loved ones was the worst part of a military career. Some cried, some pleaded, and some, like Midge, were royally pissed. He'd similar conversations a dozen times since the attack on Gitmo and hated it every time.

"Okay, Midge, specifically what is happening that's disturbing you? I thought you understood the circumstances."

Midge blinked back tears. Again, Bunting couldn't help but note again how attractive she was. "General, I was originally told that Ted was missing and presumed dead. When I thought I could handle it, my sons and I began planning a memorial service. Then some very young jackass lieutenant, he was maybe thirteen years old, shows up at my door and says that maybe I want to hold off for a while. What's the story? Is my husband presumed dead or not?"

"Midge, until we know otherwise he is considered missing and not dead. We originally told you that he was presumed dead because that's what we believed, and even saying presumed means we really don't know. His plane went down. It exploded in the air. Nobody could have lived through that and nobody did. Later, a couple of the pilots of the surviving planes said they saw a handful of men parachuting from that transport before the explosion and crash."

"Oh, God," she said and doubled over in emotional pain.

"Yeah. Then the Cuban commies decided to be cooperative. They informed the Swiss and the Red Cross that at least four men had indeed jumped from the plane. Two were killed and two were captured. Neither was Ted. The Cubans found the crash site and recovered a number of other bodies. None was Ted. He and one other man, a Master Sergeant Morton, are truly missing and we just don't know where they are or what the hell is going on with them."

Midge almost smiled. She knew who Morton was. "Do you mean he could be wandering around Cuba?"

"Don't get your hopes up. I've got to be frank. It's equally possible, maybe even more than equally, that he was killed and his body hasn't yet been found. Regardless, I sent that lieutenant, and he's twenty-two by the way and not thirteen, to suggest that you hold off on a memorial service. I don't want to get your hopes up, but it is still possible that it would be premature. I hope to God it won't be much longer before we can provide a definitive answer."

She paused a moment, digesting what he'd said. "I have another question and I'm not going to be nice. In a short while, Ted was going to retire and we were going to get on with our lives. So, I'm not going to put up with any more army bullshit from you or anybody else. I simply want to know — who was the flaming asshole who sent him on this stupid mission?"

Bunting winced. He wanted to lie, but she deserved the truth. "I believe that would be me."

"Good God, why?"

He stood and began to pace, his anger and frustration growing. "Because I honestly thought it would help the boys at Guantanamo. We had set up Roman Force during the first crisis and we wound up not needing it because the marines got there with numbers and firepower to defend the base before the situation could get hot.

"When we got last minute word that an attack on Gitmo might be imminent, I told Ted to get Roman Force ready again and wait my orders. When I mentioned it to President Kennedy, he gave me a verbal go-ahead, which he is now managing to forget. Fortunately for me, he and I were not alone in the room, so, if you care, I am not being left hanging out to dry."

Midge shook her head angrily. "Sorry, but I really don't care right now. I am only concerned about Ted."

"Midge, we had no idea the Cubans would move so quickly or in such force against us. They overwhelmed the base before the relief force could get there. When I realized what was happening, I called off the effort. I got most of the planes turned around but, obviously, not all of them."

There was pain on his face and Midge felt a twinge of sympathy. It went away.

"General, are you telling me that you really thought a few hundred men would stop the Cuban Army?"

"No. We thought it would send a message to Fidel that we were serious."

She laughed bitterly. "Didn't any of you fools in the Pentagon consider that a massive assault on an American base indicated that Fidel was already serious? Don't bother to answer."

She stood and straightened her skirt. "I'll give you a few more days to give me some firm information, one way or the other. After that, all gloves are off. I have friends at various newspapers and I'm sure they'd love to write articles comparing Roman Force's futile efforts to the Charge of the Light Brigade. You can be General Raglan. Do you remember who he was?"

Bunting's face turned red. "I believe he was the flaming asshole who ordered the charge." And, he thought, I think it's time for me to retire as well.

Cathy Malone stretched her arms. "I would like a shower. A nice long hot shower. Maybe half an hour, maybe longer, and with an unlimited supply of shampoo and scented soap."

They had all tried to clean up in ponds and streams but those were muddy and contained numerous insects that liked to nibble on human flesh. It was generally accepted that ponds and streams would not really clean anyone. It was not quite the same with rain. Yes rainfall was clean, but it was cold and one other thing Andrew's crew lacked was towels and enough changes of clothing. Body odor had become body stench for all. At least the problem was universal and they were getting used to it.

Cathy sighed and continued. "Then I would like my nails done and that includes my toes. I've never had anybody do my toes."

"Me either," Andrew said. "The Corps kinda frowns on it. I think it clashes with the dress uniform. By the way, Happy New Year."

She blinked in surprise. "It's today?"

"Actually, it was a couple of days ago. Remember how time flies when you're having fun?"

"Funny, but I don't remember having all that much fun, but I'm sorry I missed it just the same. In that case, I also wish I'd been at a party with champagne and good food and dancing the night away in my sexy little black dress. And with some people I really like. Maybe next year."

"Would I be invited?"

Cathy squeezed his arm. "Absolutely."

"Would anybody else be there?"

She laughed. "Maybe not. But I would have to do something with the other guys. After all, we've already been through a lot together. Did you hear what Hollis is saying?"

"No, and I'm afraid to ask."

"Well, he's comparing us to the cast of a bad war movie in which every ethnic group is represented. Then he realizes there's no Italian or Pole, and that the only Jew, Levin, was surrendered to the Cubans. He's happy we have Ward, who's black. Ward said he has an aunt who's Italian and that confused Hollis because that means there's an inter-racial marriage involved. He was happy when I told him my mother is half Polish."

"I am absolutely thrilled for Hollis and the fact that he has so much time on his hands. What else is he saying?"

"He says I am the movie's damsel in distress. I always wanted to be a lovely damsel, although distress is turning out to be very unappealing. So he changed it to us being Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I like being Snow White. I always liked that movie even though it scared me what with the wicked witch and the trees in the forest grabbing at Snow White. As a little girl I wanted to be a princess. Almost as good as being a damsel, don't you think?"

"Dear God. And all of this is going on behind my back?"

She laughed. "Command is so lonely, isn't it?"

"Wait, if you're Snow White, which of the damned dwarfs am I?"

She looked at him in mock surprise. "Why Grumpy, of course."

Andrew Ross laughed like he hadn't in a long time. Here they were, sleeping and living in the open, wearing clothing and uniforms that were becoming more filthy and ragged each day, and becoming personally filthier each day, and all the while trying to survive in a hostile nation, and yet his men had time to think of nonsense like that.

"Yeah," he said, "invite the guys to the party and I'll make sure they leave early. I just hope it happens soon. I just wish we could do more to help ourselves get out of here. I wish we'd been able to find where they're hiding those tanks so we'd be useful and get them blasted before the invasion."

Ward strolled by. "Lieutenant, I have a really serious question for you?"

"Okay."

"We are so in the dark here about the world outside. Do you have any idea who won the Rose Bowl? I've got ten bucks on it and I gave fourteen points to Wisconsin."

Ross made a mental note to let the men listen to scores, rather than just the news. It was bad enough missing their favorite television shows, like Ed Sullivan or Lucille Ball, even though she'd divorced from Desi Arnaz. "Then you're out ten, Ward. It was Southern Cal 42 and Wisconsin 37."

Ward shook his head in mock sadness. "I really didn't think people from cheese country could play USC that close. Damn."

The attempt to follow the camouflaged tank had failed when Cullen had come across a series of patrols and checkpoints that stymied him. Obviously the tanks were hidden somewhere behind them, but precisely where they couldn't tell anybody in the States. Other vehicles, armored and wheeled, had gone down the road similarly hidden and equally untraceable. Somewhere there was a tank park that deserved to be bombed and they couldn't say exactly where.

They'd also found dummy tanks made of wood and canvas in open fields. Obviously, they were there to be bombed and maybe to ambush American planes. They'd relayed that info back home and hoped somebody was paying attention. Regardless, it was nice to be able to transmit even vague information now that they had the radio and had actually figured out how to use the codes.

The bad news was that the Cubans now knew they existed and would be looking for them. They had been careful and made certain they changed location every day and now they would have to be even more alert. They'd made a habit of digging two man fox holes so they would be less visible during the day. In case of attack, they would serve as defensive points.

It would be relatively easy to move away from the Gitmo area, but how would they be able to do their part to help the US retake it? Granted, whatever they did would certainly be small, but there was the unspoken determination to do something, anything.

Sergeant Cullen came back to their camp from a little scouting which had resulted in him finding some fresh fruit. He saw the lieutenant sitting with Cathy and stifled a smile. Good luck, he thought. And they were going to need it. He thought Cathy was cute enough but he preferred his women a little more voluptuous. Like Marilyn Monroe. Too bad she'd gone and killed herself the past summer. What a waste. Yeah, like he was ever going to meet her.

He looked around. Okay, he thought, where is everybody? The lieutenant and Cathy were huddled by a tree and Williams and Groth were on sentry duty. He'd just checked on them so that was fine. So where were Hollis and Anders? He kicked a sleeping Ward on the sole of his foot. Ward was alert in an instant.

"Where are your buddies?"

Ward yawned. "They said they were going down the road to check out a damaged truck. They said they saw boxes that might contain food and stuff."

Cullen felt his anger rising. "Did either of those yo-yos even think to ask permission?"

"No, gunnery sergeant," Ward stammered.

"You know where that damned truck is, don't you, and stop saying gunnery sergeant."

"Yes, Gunny."

"Wonderful. Grab your weapon and follow me."

The two men walked, half trotted, through the underbrush. Cullen led and he kept an eye out for trouble. Ward told Cullen that the wreck was maybe two miles away and they thought it had been strafed by American planes. There were containers on the road and Hollis thought they might contain something useful.

"Assholes," Cullen snarled. "Did it ever occur to them that it might be an ambush, just like the dummy tanks might be? Or have you forgotten that the Cuban fucks know we're out here?"

Ward's jaw dropped, "Oh, Christ."

When they were about a half mile away from where Ward thought the truck was, they heard the distant pop-pop sounds of gunfire. When they got much closer, they were able to differentiate between the sounds of an M1 Garand and other, different, weapons, but they didn't hear the lethal chatter of AK47s.

The two marines crawled to the top of a low hill. The truck was a quarter mile away and more than a dozen Cuban soldiers were between them and the truck and were crawling towards it. The Cubans had divided into two groups. One was advancing on the truck and the other was providing covering fire. The Cubans were militia and carried what appeared to be old bolt-action rifles. Nor did they seem to be firing with any kind of accuracy. Thank God for small favors, Cullen thought. He and Ward slid over the crest and ducked behind a curve in the earth. They were behind the Cubans and he was confident they could not be seen.

"Ward, you a good shot?"

"I'm a marine, gunny."

"Don't be a smartass. Can you start picking off those Cubans?"

"Yes."

"Good. So can I. Now, start killing them from the left and I'll begin from the right."

The Cubans were about two hundred yards away, well within killing range for good shooters using their own weapons and firing from a stable, prone position.

The two marines aimed and fired, slowly, steadily, and accurately. Cubans spun and dropped. Not every shot hit but enough did. Nor did the Cubans immediately realize what was happening. They were fixated on overwhelming whoever was by the truck with numbers and gunfire. Very quickly a half dozen Cubans either lay still or writhed on the ground.

The remaining Cubans now realized their peril, wheeled, and fired on the two marines but without effect. Cullen and Ward were almost invisible.

A Cuban soldier gestured and the survivors began to break off. Ward and Cullen continued to shoot as did whoever was behind the truck and another pair of Cubans fell lifeless, including the one who'd ordered them to pull back. Always knock off the leaders, Cullen thought. When a couple of Cubans picked up wounded comrades, Cullen told Ward to hold off. The fight was over.

A few minutes later, the remaining Cubans sped off in a couple of trucks that they'd hidden off the road.

"I told you it was an ambush," Cullen said coldly. "Let's go see about Hollis and Anders."

Hollis was fine. Shaken and scratched, but otherwise okay. Anders was not so fortunate. He had a sucking gunshot wound in his chest and it was going to kill him since it had clearly ripped through a lung. But he's not going to die here, Cullen thought. He ordered Hollis and Ward to carry the wounded marine back to the camp. Even if he'd been killed, he wasn't going to lie by the truck like the dead Cubans were. There were five Cuban bodies and he lifted what weapons and supplies he thought would be useful.

Cullen did a quick check of the crates that had been so enticing to Hollis and Anders. Empty. His men had been conned, and one of them was going to die because of it. He felt like strangling both of them, or at least Hollis. He was always the leader of the two.

Of course, he wouldn't strangle anybody. Even if he really wanted to, it wasn't a good idea. They were so few and now they'd lost one of the few. He'd seen the stricken look on Hollis's face. The young man would take a long time getting over his horrible mistake. Maybe never. Hollis and Anders were buddies.

Whoever said War is Hell was absolutely right, he thought. Dammit to hell.

Cathy and the others did what they could for Anders, which was not much at all. A skilled surgical team in a first rate hospital might have been able to save him, but not a handful of people with nothing better than a rough knowledge of first aid and enough morphine to kill the pain. They pumped Anders full of morphine until he stopped moaniing.

Hollis kept sobbing how sorry he was and before he drifted off, Anders seemed to understand. In a moment of lucidity, he smiled and told Hollis that it was okay, that no one had stuck a hook in his ass and dragged him out to that truck. He had gone of his own will because he thought it was a good idea.

"Sometimes the goose lays a golden egg and sometimes she shits all over you," Anders actually managed to say before lapsing into unconsciousness. A few moments later, he died.

Ross shook his head. Anders never swore. "That was the morphine speaking. We will never tell his family those were his last words." Cathy was sobbing and he put his hand on her shoulder. He wondered if she'd ever seen violent death before this tragic Christmas and the days that had followed. Probably not. They'd all had enough since then.

"We bury him and we get the hell out of here." Ross added.

There was no disagreement. While their current hideout was well away from the site of the skirmish, the place would be crawling with Cuban soldiers looking for whoever had shot up their ambush. Andrew took Anders' dog tags and put them with the others. At least he knew Anders. It wasn't like the anonymity of the men who'd lost their lives at the bunker in what seemed an eternity ago.

He slowly realized a great truth. It was better not to know the men he would be sending into battle. It hurt too much.

Humberto Cordero was a general and it pleased him. It also pleased him that his earlier feelings of inadequacy were largely under control, although, he admitted to himself, not that far from the surface.

The prison housing the Americans was functioning as well as a prison camp full of hostile enemy soldiers could. The Americans had been docile. There'd been no mutinies, no uprisings, and, while he suspected the inmates in a series of thefts in Santiago, he couldn't prove anything. In particular, how the hell had any prisoners managed to get out of the camp and back? Nor was he going to organize a sweep of the camp, not with the Red Cross contingent encamped almost alongside the prison. The Americans would doubtless resist and there would be bloodshed. It was frustrating.

Nor did Cordero mind that the Yankees called the camp Disneyland, and had tagged him as Donald Duck. In a way, it amused him, and, if it made the prisoners happy and kept them docile, no one was harmed.

A radio was operating in the camp and that bothered Cordero a little, but there wasn't much the prisoners could do besides talk with the mainland and there was little harm in that. They'd doubtless passed on information regarding military units in the area, but he was confident the yanquis didn't know all that much.

Besides, as a general, Cordero had more important things to do than worry about the internal workings of the camp. That was why he had a staff. He was in nominal command of the five thousand man militia division that was scattered throughout and around the city of Santiago. He did not presume to give specific direction to the more senior general in actual command, not that it would have mattered. That worthy had been a union organizer until a few months ago and knew as much about running an infantry division as Cordero knew about brain surgery.

Another niggling problem was with acting sergeant Carlos Gomez who sat nervously in front of him. General Ortega was in overall command of the defenses in Guantanamo and eastern Cuba and had decreed that Gomez should report directly to Cordero.

"Tell me, how many men did you lose?"

Gomez was sweating profusely. "Five dead and three wounded."

"And how did that happen, sergeant?"

"We were ambushed and nearly overwhelmed by a much larger American force. There aren't half a dozen marines out there, general, there’s at least a platoon of them. And they are heavily armed. My men and I fought hard and well. It wasn't our fault."

Of course not, Cordero thought. It never is the fault of slime like you. He'd had one of his enlisted men talk casually with the others in Gomez's command and knew the truth. They'd laid an ambush and been ambushed instead. Only it wasn't by a large number of Americans; it was generally agreed that only two or three at most had attacked them from the rear and with such devastating results while Gomez's men had at most two marines pinned down by the truck.

Cordero sighed. "Now I suppose you want more men and I suppose you want to command them?"

"Indeed, my general. Give me a hundred soldiers and make me a captain and I guaranty that we will wipe out the nest of American snakes."

Cordero wondered how Gomez would accomplish that without getting anywhere near the action. His informants had told him that Cordero hadn't been with five miles of the skirmish. Instead, he had been with a local whore. Still, something had to be done.

"Two squads," Cordero said. "That will make good your losses and give you more men by half. I think your estimates of the number of Americans might be off. In fact, I think you are a fucking liar. You will make do with what you will get."

Gomez rose and saluted, "Of course, general."

The insult rolled right off Gomez's back. He was thrilled that he was going to keep his command and his rank, however temporary. If the Americans would only hold off on their threatened invasion, he would be able to amass a goodly amount of money, jewels, and other items of opportunity that he could use when he got out of Cuba.

Geoffrey Franklyn was most pissed. He was mad as hell and he was going to do something about it. He'd spent thirty years in the State Department and considered it more of an honorable vocation than a career. He was proud to have risen to the position deputy assistant director. He very strongly felt that he was being abused. Accepting a transfer to Albania was totally out of the question as was the tongue lashing he'd received directly from Secretary of State Dean Rusk.

First, Albania was a sewer of a country, and so backward that it made tribal enclaves in deepest Africa seem palatial and sophisticated in comparison. He was not going to Albania. He had more than enough time to retire and qualify for a pension, which he really didn't need since he'd inherited a goodly amount from his mother. What he didn't like was being forced out for doing his job in the best manner possible.

Second, what in God's name had he done? Relations between nations were built on honor and truth, not lies and deceptions, and that was what he had tried to prevent. Canada was a friend and neighbor and deserved to be taken into our trust. Therefore, telling his good friend at the Canadian Embassy that there were no Canadian religious groups lost in Cuba and, instead, that the so-called missionaries were marines wandering around and doubtless causing ill-will among the people of Cuba. He'd been to Cuba and thought the people were warm and gentle. That he'd never left Havana and that several of the warm and gentle people he'd found were very young prostitutes didn't concern him. Franklyn was deeply sympathetic to Fidel Castro and his plans for wealth distribution. He did not see the irony in his being wealthy and possibly a target for wealth distribution in a communist state.

Further, Geoffrey Franklyn did not like marines. Everyone he'd met had been smug and superior, especially those he'd met while on embassy duty in other countries. They were large and obnoxious cretins who deserved to be put in their place. The battle for Guantanamo was over. Therefore, why on earth didn't that lost group just surrender and get it over with? That would be the honorable thing to do, but the marines, he thought, were sadly lacking in honor. The whole Guantanamo Bay situation should be resolved by the United Nations, which he considered the hope of the future. He considered it wrong that the United States had a base in a foreign country when that country didn't want us there in the first place.

And now he was going to be punished for the dishonorable behavior of the marines, the CIA and, yes, President John F. Kennedy. Well, not if he could help it. He had friends all over the place and had picked up little snippets of information that indicated that the Russians in Cuba, another bunch of barbarians, had lost some very valuable weapons, weapons that might cause the ground to glow in the dark if used. Fears were rampant that they would be used on American soldiers should they try to invade Cuban soil.

He was not foolish. He would not call from a phone in the State Department. He walked a few blocks away and dropped coins in a pay phone, and asked for the long distance operator. He gave her the number of the New York Times. He had a good friend working there, and that reporter had a friend at the Washington Post. Geoffrey Franklyn smiled. This could be fun.

The Soviet Union's new elite and secret special forces were called "Spetsnaz," which was the Russian abbreviation for "voiska spetsialnogo naznachenya," all of which meant ‘special forces.’ The Red Army had always had elite units, especially during World War II, but these new Spetsnaz were being developed as a response to President Kennedy's decision to form Special Forces units in the American Army.

The new Spetsnaz were particularly trained to infiltrate and destroy American and nuclear sites in Europe in case war with NATO became imminent. They were all skilled, therefore, in handling nuclear weapons and material. Unlike American Special Forces, they did not have any distinctive uniforms or badges, preferring anonymity. General Issa Pliyev had a company of them under his command, a hundred men in ten man teams. In a different theater of operations, he would have had many more, but Moscow saw no need for additional men in such a backwater as Cuba. Each Spetsnaz soldier was highly dedicated, superbly trained, and a lethal killer. Their job was to operate behind enemy lines, and this was what Pliyev now called on them to do.

Many of them were fluent in Spanish, although none could ever pass as a native, either linguistically, physically, or culturally.

For his part, Pliyev asked for and received cooperation from Russian diplomats in Havana. Armed with quantities of money, along with threats of exposure to the Cuban government for being criminals, homosexuals, and closet capitalists, the Russians made numerous but discreet inquiries. Where would Castro have hidden four nuclear warheads?

At that point, he ordered the commander of the Spetsnaz detachment, thirty-five year old Captain Pyotr Dragan, to take charge of the investigation. Dragan was a favorite of the general’s. Slightly built, he was wiry and strong. His small size and his prematurely gray hair sometimes made people assume he was weak. Dragan was experienced, intelligent and ruthless. Pliyev was confident that he would locate the missing weapons.

There was an unfortunate delay since Dragan, like all of the Russians, was unaware of Castro’s intentions at the time of the attack on Guantanamo, and was on leave in Mexico City, where he was relieving himself of accumulated stresses by indulging in the Russian tradition of drinking heavily and frequenting some of the better whorehouses. When he was found, he returned quickly and took charge.

Several leads proved false, and at least one opportunistic Cuban functionary had his throat slit by Dragan for lying in an attempt to get a fat bribe. Finally, an informant told the Soviets that an abandoned sugar warehouse on the outskirts of Havana had suddenly sprouted antennae and was surrounded by barbed wire behind which heavily armed Cuban soldiers patrolled. After ascertaining that what the informant had said was accurate, the man was thanked and paid. On the way home, he was run over by a truck driven by a Russian who was part of the KGB.

Loose ends were deplored by the Russians.

Later that night Dragan’s Russians staged a car accident outside the barbed wire and, while the Cuban guards were distracted for the few minutes needed to decide, after much yelling and flailing of arms, which driver was at fault, slid a ten man team under the wire and inside the perimeter. They stealthily worked their way to what they presumed was the guard barracks and found four men inside. Short bursts from their silenced AK47s solved that problem. In another building they found two men on duty by the radio and telephone, and slit their throats before they realized they were in danger.

Dressed in Cuban uniforms and coming from within the wire, the Dragan’s Spetsnaz team simply walked up to the guards at the gate and killed them. Since outsiders expected to see guards on duty, they took the place of the dead Cubans and no one noticed.

Dragan fervently hoped that what they were looking for was in the warehouse. Otherwise, someone was going to have a hard time explaining the carnage. Then he realized that it was going to be difficult to explain under any circumstances and, besides, he didn't care. He had his orders and he served the Soviet Union.

Incredibly, the warehouse door was unlocked. Two mechanics were working on the PT76 tank carriage that was the missile launcher. Dragan permitted the sobbing mechanics to live. He had them bound and gagged. His instructions were to make sure the Cubans knew who had visited them. Pliyev's orders had been clear. "The fucking greasers cannot fuck with the Red Army and get away with it." When angry, Dragan thought General Pliyev had an eloquent way with words.

A column of six trucks pulled up to the gate and the "guards" let them in. Two more Spetsnaz were in the front of each and two of Pliyev's rocket engineers sat nervously in the back. When the trucks were in the warehouse, Dragan was amused when one of the Soviet engineers puked noisily at all the death. What did the fool expect? Didn't the man work on atomic bombs? What did he think would happen when one went off? Scientists were such fools.

The thirty-four foot two-stage solid fuel missiles were not on the converted tank chassis. Three were found lying carelessly on the floor alongside a wall. This confirmed Dragan’s opinion that the Cubans could not be trusted with anything as important as nuclear weapons. The engineers quickly confirmed that the 800lb warheads were not armed, and even the hard-bitten Dragan breathed a sigh of relief. He expected to die someday, but it was not his wish for today and most certainly not as dust billowing upward in part of a mushroom cloud.

After a thorough search of building and grounds, the fourth missile and warhead were nowhere to be seen. Nor was its carrier. Too bad, Dragan thought, but three out of four was better than nothing. Pliyev would not be totally pleased, however. Dragan was not thrilled either. He had a good idea just who was going to have to search all of Cuba to find it.

The rockets weighed a ton apiece so the Soviet engineers used winches to raise them and carefully remove the three warheads, which were then put in the lead lined containers they'd brought in the trucks. Dragan's orders were to leave the now useless rockets for Castro to play with. Pliyev's actual words suggested that Fidel and Raul could fire them up their asses and see if the two of them achieved earth orbit.

Dragan checked his watch. Almost time to leave. Real guards would be along in an hour or so. The Cubans weren't terribly precise about these things, but it was highly unlikely they'd be early. He decided to exceed his orders by demolishing the engines of the tank chassis and by smashing anything he could on the rockets. They were solid fuel, so the engineers told him not to be overly concerned that he would cause an explosion.

As an added bonus for Fidel and one he knew Pliyev would appreciate, he beheaded one of the two mechanics. He would let the now hysterical sole survivor try and tell his tale.

Manuel Hidalgo's militia uniform fit poorly, but it was a Cuban military uniform and he was proud of it. It was also the finest piece of clothing he'd ever owned in his seventeen years. Unfortunately, he was sweating profusely and it had nothing to do with the oppressive heat. He had disgraced his proud new uniform and nothing could change that fact. If his Aunt Marinda found out she would beat him.

Captain Salazar looked at him coldly. The captain was in charge of the guard detachment overseeing the activities of the American prisoners. Rumor had it that he had been a mortician in civilian life and his gloomy expression did nothing to dispel the rumor. It was hard to tell if the captain was angry, sad, or all of the above.

"You are an idiot," Salazar finally said, coldly and softly, "a complete and utter fool. How the living hell does a soldier go about losing his rifle? You would have been better off if you'd managed to lose your cock."

Manuel gulped. Unfortunately, he had no idea either. It was an M1 Garand, one of those captured from the Americans when the base had been taken. He'd proudly and lovingly cleaned it and oiled it. He was glad to be a soldier, even if it was only as a militiaman guarding helpless prisoners of war. He'd been given minimal training, which included firing the first couple of rounds in his life, and told to shoot any prisoners who tried to escape. He had serious doubts as to whether he could kill anyone, even despised Americans, but he hoped he could do his duty for Cuba.

As to the prisoners, they all seemed docile enough. Some of them even spoke Spanish, which surprised him. So what the devil happened to his rifle?

"Were you drunk?" Salazar asked.

"No, sir."

The captain nodded thoughtfully. "Had you been drinking the night before?"

Manuel winced at the memory. "Yes, sir."

"Let me guess. Some of your new and older friends decided to take you out and introduce you to some of the finer things in life, such as alcohol, and I'll bet they got you thoroughly, totally drunk, and maybe even got you laid for the first time in your idiotic life, and I'll bet you had a hangover this morning that made you wish you were dead and in hell just so it would feel better."

"Yes, sir," Manuel said miserably.

Some of the others had gotten hold of several bottles of Canadian Whisky, Hiram Walker, and they'd all drunk heavily. He'd had rum before, of course, but never American or Canadian whisky and he vowed he never would again. Worse, he slightly remembered trying to have sex with a whore who was almost as old as his aunt and very fat. He shuddered. Maybe it was better he didn’t remember.

"Let me guess some more," Salazar continued. "You managed to make it through your duty and were so tired that you decided to take a nap under a tree near the prison and, when you woke up, it was dark and your rifle was gone along with the two clips of ammunition you'd been issued."

"Yes sir, but I was not drunk on duty and I did not fall asleep on duty. I just took a nap. I had no idea someone would steal my weapon," he said, almost in tears.

Salazar nodded thoughtfully. This poor child should not have been given a rifle in the first place. He should be home with his aunt who was a heroine of the revolution. Damn. What to do with the incompetent boy. And what had happened to Manuel's weapon? It wasn't the first time that a rifle, or even an AK47, had been spirited away. There were those who insisted it was criminals selling the weapons on the black market, and there were others who felt that the American prisoners were somehow getting out of the camp and taking them. He thought the latter was preposterous; however, Fidel's special agent, Dominico Allessandro would be arriving in a few days for a surprise inspection. A friend in Havana had just alerted him to that unwelcome fact. Allessandro wanted to look over the camp records. If the boy was still here and the rifle not found, Manuel Hidalgo might face the firing squad.

Damn it to hell.

Finally, the solution occurred to Salazar. "Idiot, you can no longer stay here and guard anything, not even the kitchens or the latrine. You would hurt yourself in the kitchen and fall into the latrine where you would drown because no one would want to help you. No, you will go to a new unit that is forming on the coast north of La Lima. This is not a second chance, boy; this is your last chance, your only chance."

The boy gave a salute that was sloppy even by militia standards and ran out, thankful that he wasn’t going to be punished. Salazar sighed and allowed that he had done a good thing. The boy was useless as a soldier and he would be away from both the inspection and the coming fighting. Everyone knew that the American attack would come from the south, by the former base and the prison camp. Therefore, the north would was being guarded at this time by third and fourth rate troops. Hidalgo would fit in just fine.

As Manuel ran by the barb wire that enclosed the camp, a handful of the prisoners looked at him and smiled to each other. One more rifle and two clips of ammunition weren't much, but they would help.

Chapter Thirteen

The American jet dropped its bomb and pulled out of its dive. At that moment, a streak of fire lifted from the ground and sped towards it.

"No!" screamed Ross, but there was nothing he or the others could do. It was like watching a horror movie.

The pilot either saw or sensed it at the last moment and tried to juke away. Like the predator it was, the missile followed. The surface to air missile closed in on the plane and smashed into the tail. The tail exploded into a hundred pieces while a large portion of the front of the plane continued on in an obscene parody of flight until it realized it had been killed and plummeted to the ground. There was another explosion, this one mercifully masked from their view by trees. A plume of dark greasy smoke lifted into the sky.

They all looked at each other. "What chance the pilot survived?" Ross asked.

"Slim and none," Cullen answered, "but we still have to check it out. I didn't see a chute but it could've been masked by the explosions."

Cullen stood and stared at Ross. "I'll go. More than one person might attract attention and, besides, I'm the best here at working the ground."

Ross reluctantly agreed, but with a sense of relief. He knew he was competent, but the gunnery sergeant was far superior as a tracker and a war fighter. It also made sense for Cullen to go alone, but what if the pilot was still alive? How would Cullen resolve that problem?

Cullen smiled. Ross was easy to read. "He's probably either very dead or very unhurt and hiding, lieutenant. I'll solve any problem."

Cullen left almost immediately and moved as quickly as prudence would allow. He hoped that he would get to the crash site before the Cubans did, but it was not to be. At least a squad of Cuban soldiers and a couple of officers were scouring the debris littered ground around a major piece of wreckage. He got close enough to hear them talking excitedly and happily. After all, hadn't they just destroyed a gringo plane? Viva Cuba! Viva Castro! Viva the Revolution!

After a while it became obvious that the soldiers were scrounging for souvenirs, and that nothing of consequence remained. At least nothing useable remained. But that did not answer the question of what happened to the pilot.

Finally, an officer called the men together and they began to walk casually in the general direction of Guantanamo Bay. Cullen waited patiently until they were well out of site and then made a wide circle of the area. He wouldn't put it past the bastards to either leave someone behind or double back to see who showed up. He wondered if Lieutenant Ross would've thought to do that. Probably not, he decided and then wondered if he was selling the lieutenant short.

After another hour, he moved to the wreckage. Charred debris was everywhere and he had to walk carefully so as not to step on something, especially something that might have been human.

He reached the cockpit. The scent of burning flesh had already told him what he would find and his eyes confirmed it. The pilot had not ejected. What was left of him was still strapped in his seat. Cullen was not a particularly religious man, but he fervently prayed that the pilot had been dead before hitting the ground and before being so hideously burned.

He made a quick decision not to disturb the corpse. Someone would doubtless come back to do further and more intelligent checking on the man’s papers, and he didn't want them wondering what had happened to the dead American.

He shuddered. Missiles that could chase a plane around the sky and kill it? Christ. Was nothing sacred anymore?

Charley Kraeger and Elena Sandano walked hand in hand and smiled like lovers as they walked by the Jefferson Memorial. It wasn't at all difficult to pretend that they were fond of each other because they were. Charley hadn't yet convinced Elena to go to bed with him although he thought she might be weakening. Probably her conservative Catholic and Latino background was restraining her, he ruefully concluded. Still, she did like him and their kissing was getting more and more passionate. He just thought they were too old to play like they were in high school. Hell, when he'd tried to caress one of her lovely and full breasts, she'd told him no and removed his hand.

What the hell. He'd do whatever she said. He was not about to screw up a lovely relationship by acting like a jerk.

After two meetings at the Lincoln Memorial, both Kraeger and Golikov agreed that a change of venue was in order, and Thomas Jefferson's magnificent rotunda it was. When Charley told Golikov he was bringing a date, the Russian laughed and said he would as well.

Two couples meeting in a public place would not attract any attention, assuming anybody was looking. Elena accompanied Charley and a surprisingly attractive blond Russian woman named Oksana came with Golikov. Charley wondered if Oksana was a "honeypot" used to seduce potential sources of information, or if she was really a qualified member of the Soviet embassy.

Golikov and Charley separated from the two women who stood aside and pretended to gossip. "I was thinking about the hypothetical situation you presented me with," Golikov said. "And I have decided to think further. For instance, I said that we would move heaven and earth to recover any stolen items and that was and is true. I would think that such efforts would bear fruit rather quickly."

"I'm not surprised."

"I hypothesized that no more than four items would be missing. I can now say that three of them would be quickly and decisively recovered. The fourth would likely need significantly more effort to locate. Sadly, it may well be that the remaining item would prove to be out of our reach. If nothing else, the potential for damage through its misuse would be drastically reduced."

"Glad to hear it," Charley said. "Not a perfect solution, but three out of four is much better than nothing."

Charley thought quickly. If the remaining warhead wasn't in the Havana area, it was probably en route to the Guantanamo area, or was already there. Either way, it represented a major problem for the agency and the military. A two kilo bomb was relatively small but would devastate a major unit, like an infantry division, and easily result in several thousand casualties.

"How might this have affected any relationship between Cuba and the Soviet Union, had this actually happened, of course?" Charley asked.Golikov thought for a moment before responding. "I did mention a reassessment, didn't I? Ah well. Any limited military efforts on your part to protect yourselves and your property would not be considered a threat to the world's equilibrium. Berlin, therefore, would not be part of any reaction on our part."

"What about Korea and the Chinese?"

Golikov looked pained. "Why do you annoying American capitalist running dogs persist in thinking that we have any control over our slanty-eyed Asiatic socialistic brethren? When will you realize there is no massive Soviet hegemony? Just do what you have to and don't get us directly involved."

Charley didn't know how to respond. They shook hands and parted. Charley wondered exactly what Golikov meant by ‘decisively’ recovered. An interesting word, he thought. Did it mean that the Reds had used violence? Probably, and the thought made him smile. Fidel's poor amateurs wouldn't stand a chance against the Russians who would have used either KGB goons or elite Spetsnaz or both to make the recovery.

Elena slipped her arm in his. "Everything okay?"

"If you think three out of four is okay."

"Ouch."

"Tell me about the lovely Oksana. KGB?"

"Probably, but isn't everyone at the Soviet Embassy a spy of some sort?"

"True. Of course that's what they feel about our people in Moscow."

"She said she was a translator and her English is outstanding. She rather indignantly insisted that she is not a honeypot. She also said you were cute in a capitalist sort of way. I told her you were taken and she could go to hell."

Major Sam Hartford stifled a smile as General Cordero babbled on. The Cuban was trying to make it seem like he was being helpful by cluing Hartford in on what Cordero thought was a big secret.

Either Cordero was unaware that Hartford was in radio communication with brass in Washington, or knew and decided on this method to let Hartford know that the subject was okay to talk about. Hartford decided that Cordero might just be a little more devious than he thought.

"I would like your help, Major Hartford."

"And I will be happy to give it if I can, General Cordero. However, you know full well that I will not do anything that would endanger my men or compromise anything my nation might do to recover Guantanamo."

Cordero sighed. "Do you ever have problems with your Pentagon? Do they ever become fixated on a trivial problem and drive you to distraction until you allocate disproportionate resources to solve it? What is your phrase? Ah yes, like having a burr under your ass."

Hartford laughed. "Are you saying that Fidel is a pain in the ass?"

Cordero managed to look shocked. "As a good communist I would never say that about my beloved leader. However, some of his lieutenants are, shall we say, very zealous and their actions can cause hemorrhoids."

Cordero slid the copy of the newspaper with Cathy Malone's picture on it. Hartford hadn't seen it, but he had heard of it and knew of the existence of Ross, Cullen, and the others. He had been delighted to know that his favorite accountant was not only alive and well but likely raising a little hell with the Cubans. Still waters run deep, he'd concluded.

On seeing the picture, he recalled meeting Cathy Malone at some function or other. Cute kid, he thought, but a guerilla leader? Not a chance.

Hartford took the paper. "I assume I may keep this."

"But of course."

"What do you want from me, general?"

Cordero sighed. "I wish Havana off my back. Can you get this young officer, Lieutenant Ross, to surrender? If there is any question of his being in danger, I will even arrange to have him surrender directly to you with the Red Cross and the United Nations and maybe Pope John the Twenty-Third looking on."

"What about the woman who leads them?"

Cordero snorted with laughter. "Oh please, major. The woman's picture is in the paper because she is attractive. We looked her up in the base's personnel files. She's a high school teacher. She is in no danger from us. We will make every reasonable effort to see that she is unharmed. Ross, on the other hand, is a qualified marine office and Cullen is a gunnery sergeant. I am also aware that Ross worked with you, which means you know a good deal about him."

Hartford saw no point in lying, although he saw nothing wrong in exaggerating Ross’s prowess. "I do. He was, is, a very good marine and an even better officer. I can see where he would be a very formidable opponent."

"Which is why I have several hundred men out looking for him," Cordero said, exaggerating ten-fold the force searching for Ross. "And let me be candid, major, we have hurt his little group and he has hurt us. We would like that to stop."

Hartford nodded solemnly. Cordero was telling him that there had been some fighting and that Cordero's boys had gotten the crap kicked out of them. Otherwise he would have crowed about the so-called victory. Good for Ross and Cullen.

"General Cordero, Lieutenant Ross is a wolf, a predator. I am afraid that anybody searching for him and the others would be much better off not finding him. Ross is a killer." For an accountant, he added mentally. He had absolutely murdered debits and credits.

Cordero laughed. "Major, once again, please. He was a bookkeeper, not a combat marine. Any success he might have had against us is either due to blind luck or the abilities of his sergeant, this Joseph Cullen." Or the likely criminal incompetence of Sergeant Gomez, he chose not to add.

Hartford shrugged. "I would suggest that you don't sell him short. He is a well trained and highly qualified marine officer. And as to my inviting him or ordering him to surrender, that is out of the question. I appreciate the offer of safety, but our Code of Conduct would not permit it. Ross may decide to surrender if and when the situation becomes desperate and untenable, which would justify his actions, but that does not appear to be the case right now, does it?"

Cordero shifted uncomfortably. "No, it doesn't. Nor does your answer surprise or disappoint me. I would have said the same thing. Honor is not yet exhausted, is it?"

Hartford rose. "I hope it is never exhausted. I trust that your men will always treat mine according to the laws of human decency and the Geneva Convention."

Cordero also stood, aware that he had just deferred to a lower ranking officer. Damn. "I can only hope that your lieutenant's obstinance and misplaced sense of honor does not result in tragedy for him, his men, and the young woman with them. Yes, we will try to abide by the Geneva Convention as well as the rules of decency, but so many things happen in the heat of battle that it is impossible to guarantee anything."

Especially, he thought with a twinge of sadness, with an animal like Gomez searching for Ross and the others.

The Executive Committee, ExComm, was a flexible group of men that that included as many as a couple of dozen high ranking government and military officials. Usually, though, a half dozen or so represented the key areas of the military and the executive branch of the government. The president was present for this meeting, as was the vice president, the military chiefs, the attorney general, and the secretary of defense. McCone of the CIA was also present.

With the exception of John F. Kennedy and his brother, they were all angry to a degree. This time, the military was not going to use General Shoup as their spokesman. This time, it was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Maxwell Taylor who would speak for the assembled military.

"Mr. President, it is now the end of January. There are more than eight army and marine divisions either at sea or poised to attack and invade Cuba. There are five carrier groups surrounding the island and, along with ground air from Florida, they are continually but ineffectively pummeling the island. I say ineffective because you have given us no specific timetable which we might use to hit targets more specifically and intensely.

"Simply put, sir, this situation cannot go on forever. For all intents and purposes, the entire southeastern quarter of the United States is an armed camp. Airports in Miami, Tampa, Mobile, and elsewhere have been closed to civilian traffic for weeks which is causing untold harm to the economy as well as inconvenience to the civilian population.

"Sir, when are you going to turn us loose? Or are you going to cede Guantanamo to Fidel Castro?"

Kennedy felt the rebuke like a slap. He wanted to lash out at Taylor, but the hard of hearing old general was right. The situation could not go on forever. He looked about for allies. Lyndon Johnson was not in his camp. He was with the military. Secretary of Defense McNamara was deep in thought, probably counting up the cost of the military situation to date, and adding to it the cost of actually going to war. The dollars and cents cost, Kennedy thought unkindly, not the human cost. McNamara was a money man not a military man.

Even his own brother, Bobby, looked impassive and not supportive.

Kennedy cleared his throat. "Gentlemen, I want a resolution to this crisis as soon as possible, but I want to avoid war if it is at all possible."

"Appeasing Cuba would be one way," LBJ sneered.

Oh how I hate that bastard, Kennedy thought. Why the hell did I agree to let the son of a bitch be vice president? Oh yes, because the Republican candidate, Richard Nixon, was such a threat that the Democratic ticket needed a man of Johnson's stature. Well, it had worked but now he had to deal with LBJ as his vice president.

"Appeasement is not on the agenda, Lyndon, and it never will be. I want diplomacy to be given every chance to succeed before Americans start dying. I have again spoken to Secretary Rusk and he feels that it is just a matter of time before the blockade of Cuba begins to show results."

"Bullshit," said General LeMay, coming to the point and obviously speaking for the others and that included Admiral Anderson, the Chief of Naval Operations.

General Taylor looked annoyed at the outburst. "Sir, we do not believe there is any reason for Secretary Rusk to believe that a blockade will be effective. Cuba has or can grow enough food to feed her people for a very long time. A blockade will not work. And, while we are so totally focused on Cuba, there is always the chance that China will attack Taiwan, North Korea will invade South Korea, or Russia will make a grab at Berlin. I know that Director McCone has said that the Soviets will not move against Berlin, but they could always change their mind. And, as that Russian said to McCone's agent, they have no control over the Chinese. Now, we may not believe that, but it does point out the fact that we cannot go on forever with so much of our military tied up in the Caribbean."

"Don't atomic bombs worry you?" Kennedy asked.

"Of course they do," General Taylor answered with a touch of anger. "But the Cubans have only one and it's a small one. Yes, it can do a lot of damage to whoever is hit with it, but we would still have overwhelming strength. Sadly, sir, nuclear casualties may just be the price of a modern war."

Kennedy squirmed and not from his back. "The fact that the Cubans have at least one nuke will come out in a couple of days. Pierre Salinger was approached by a gentleman from the New York Times who said he had proof that we know the Cubans have a nuke. He even named the item as a Frog 3 missile."

Shoup was outraged. "There's a god damn leak somewhere."

"Obviously," Kennedy retorted. "And the FBI is searching for it. However, the fact remains that the secret is out. Almost. The reporter agreed to sit on it for one week when we appealed to his sense of national security."

“Nuclear casualties remain a price that might just have to be paid," Taylor said.

"And I'm sure you're all aware of the pressure I'm under to settle this peacefully. Last night I received another letter from Pope John XXIII who urges us to pray for peace." He chuckled. "Although I had the distinct impression that His Holiness wouldn't be too upset if we kicked the crap out of the godless communists and returned Cuba to the bosom of Catholicism and Holy Mother Church."

"The pope's a good man," Shoup said solemnly.

"And this morning I got a request from the Organization of American States. Adlai Stevenson reports that the UN is about to pass another general assembly resolution calling for us to leave Cuba to the Cubans. It won't pass, but the vote is getting closer."

Lyndon Johnson glared at Kennedy. "Have all of these worthy assholes forgotten that Cuba started this mess, that Cuba has killed or wounded hundreds of our military and civilians, and that Cuba has attacked and damaged or sunk two of our warships on the high seas? It looks like the OAS and the UN are suffering from politically selective memory."

"Lyndon, I absolutely agree and so does former president Harry Truman. He called this morning and told me to get off the pot and hit the Cubans hard and where it hurts. But that is the world we live in. And what about civilian casualties? They could run into the hundreds, if not thousands."

General Maxwell Taylor looked at him coldly. He had fought his way through Europe in World War II, including dropping behind enemy lines on D-Day as commander of the 101st Airborne Division. He had been called out of retirement just a few months earlier to take over as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

"I once said I thought that nuclear warfare was unlikely and I still feel it will not happen between Russia and the United States. However, if a rogue like Castro has a nuke, then all bets are off. He must be stopped and that nuke must be taken away from him, regardless of the cost. If we show weakness now, regarding either Guantanamo or that missile, our enemies will nibble us to pieces because they will know we will not respond with all the weapons in our arsenal, and that means we will not use nuclear weapons, although we will allow others to use them. We will have no allies and no credibility.

"And regarding civilian casualties,” Taylor continued, “they are an unfortunate necessity, a fact of life in modern war. And you're right; the numbers are likely to run into the thousands, sir, not the hundreds. Please recall, that in the weeks running up to D-Day, we bombed the daylights out of France's transportation network and did so with DeGaulle's full knowledge and reluctant cooperation. Perhaps as many as twenty thousand French civilians were killed."

LBJ glared at Kennedy. "There's an old saying, Mr. President, you can't make an omelet without breaking the eggs. The general's right. There will be casualties and we can't back away from doing the right thing because we're afraid of them."

At this moment of decision, Kennedy was torn. He wanted Guantanamo back. He hated Castro and wanted him out of Cuba. He wanted success but he wanted it to come at a cheap price. He couldn't abide the thought of American boys being killed by an atomic bomb, however small the damn thing might be. Nor could he abide the thought of thousands of innocent Cuban women and children being blown to pieces by conventional American bombs and artillery.

Before entering, Director McCone had handed JFK a note saying that his agent, Elena Sandano, had an important piece of information for him. She was waiting a few rooms away. He needed a break.

Kennedy stood. "I agree we must have a decision. I will get back to you in one hour."

"Lieutenant Ross, I have good news and I have interesting news that maybe isn't quite so good."

Gunnery sergeant Cullen had been poring over a coded message and had obviously completed the translation.

"Let me have the good news," Ross said.

"You've been promoted to first lieutenant. Congratulations and it's long overdue. I guess that asshole you insulted couldn't hold you back forever, could he?"

Andrew flushed as Cathy laughed. Did everybody know about his situation? "I think you should buy us all a drink," Cathy suggested.

"Will a sip of brackish and warm water from a canteen suffice or will you take a rain check?"

"Rain check," they chorused.

Cullen signaled that he wanted to talk to Andrew alone. Nobody questioned it. They'd done it before. The two men walked a few dozen yards away from the others and stopped.

"Like I said, lieutenant, the second part is interesting. We're instructed to be on the lookout for a tracked vehicle, a cut-down tank chassis, carrying a missile launcher."

"What kind of missile are we talking about?"

"They called it a Luna or a Frog 3, and, sorry, but those are names I'm not really familiar with, so I don't know what the hell makes them so important. I just felt just the two of us should talk about it first."

Andrew searched his memory for the answer. There had been multiple briefings on Soviet weapons systems and special emphasis had been given to those that the Cubans might possess, or that the Soviets might bring in. The only tracked vehicle that wasn't a tank or armored personnel carrier were anti-aircraft systems and they either fired regular shells or surface to air missiles. The Cubans had SAM2 surface to air missiles mounted either on tracked vehicles or Soviet Zil trucks. These were the same missiles that had shot down the U-2 spy plane piloted by Gary Frances Powers and the American jet that Cullen had seen destroyed.

So what the hell was a Frog 3? He wished he'd paid closer attention, but, hell, he was an accountant and a short-timer. It had to be important or his handlers wouldn't have bothered with the information, so why?

Oh yeah, he thought as he began to remember. It was a short range tactical ballistic missile that had a range of about fifteen miles and was nothing more than a glorified very heavy artillery shell. One of them just wasn't all that important.

Unless it had a nuclear warhead. He paled. Oh shit.

"Lieutenant, what is it?"

"Gunny, we got problems."

Elena Sandano thought the president looked like death warmed over when she entered the Oval Office with Director McCone. Only Bobby Kennedy was there. Lyndon Johnson was conspicuous by his absence. Tough. She didn't like him.

She'd gone to the trouble of wearing a skirt and jacket that were far more modest then the outfit she'd worn for the first meeting and now knew she'd wasted her time. The skirt was pleated and hung well below her knees, almost to her ankles, and the blouse was high-necked and full. This time, JFK was far too tired to stare at her legs or breasts. His eyes looked vacant for a moment, like he wished he was elsewhere. He shook off his lack of alertness and managed a politician's warm smile on her behalf.

"Good to see you again, Dr. Sandano. I trust you once again have some blunt advice for me."

"If you'd like some, sir, but I've actually come with some information."

"Really?"

"Yes sir. We have just received confirmation that Castro is going to hold a land lottery in the next week to start giving parcels of land in and around Guantanamo Bay to so-called deserving peasants and other workers. That means that, in a very short time, more than a hundred thousand civilian men, women, and children will be setting up housekeeping in and around what had been our naval base."

Kennedy looked stunned. "Which means that any bombing of that area or invasion will incur enormous civilian casualties, and I'll go down as the butcher who did it."

Elena nodded. "Pretty much, sir."

"Just how good is your information?" Bobby asked.

McCone answered for her. "Extremely high probability factor, sir. At least ninety per cent."

"To the best of my knowledge," Kennedy said, "the naval base is, was, built on land that is marginal at best for farming and there are no industries present. Almost a desert is what I've heard. How the devil are those people supposed to support themselves once they've moved in? Without outside help, they'll starve."

"Sir," she said, "Castro will support them, with Russian help, of course. Once the Russians realize they have no choice but to accept Fidel as he is, he assumes they will get over their snit and begin helping him again, and we agree. As to the people who'll move in, they will become a human barrier to counter what Castro refers to as our aggressive tendencies. It won't matter if they're economically productive or not. All they'll have to do is exist and they will deter us from invading."

JFK turned to Bobby with agony on his face. "I've gone out of my way to delay major fighting in the hope that Castro will somehow see reason. Looks like that idea's down the crapper," he said to Bobby. "Why the hell does it seem like Castro is constantly outmaneuvering us all the time."

"Because he is," Bobby replied laconically. "He doesn't have to answer to Congress or the press or his adoring public, and he can be as ruthless as he wants. He's the innocent little guy and we're the big bully in the playground."

McCone interjected. "It gets worse. Once again the exile community in Miami is planning military intervention. They're organizing yet another brigade of soldiers and will shortly insist on accompanying our invasion when it occurs."

Kennedy was perplexed. "Where the hell are they getting the manpower after all they've gone through?"

Elena answered. "Sir, there are fresh refugees arriving almost daily despite the military situation, and, even though some of them might be spies, they are filling the exile ranks. Also, there is a strong likelihood that the exile brigade will include several hundred women and older men who are desperate for justice."

The president felt helpless. The exile community had ignored his pleas to stay out of the way. The Republicans, led by Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater and former Vice President Richard Nixon, were screaming that he was an appeaser and that he was paralyzed by the specter of a war with Communist China over Vietnam that he was disinterested in events in Cuba. Even within his own party, there was anger and disappointment. It was obvious that Lyndon Johnson thought JFK would be a one-term president and had begun to position himself as a hawk regarding Cuba. Eggs and omelets, JFK recalled the tall Texan saying with an unconcealed sneer. You can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs.

The president turned to Elena. "Tell me, what are the people of Cuba and other Latin American countries saying about our efforts to find a peaceful solution to this crisis?"

Elena took a deep breath. "Sir, they are laughing at you. Their governments are polite, but their newspapers say you have no balls."

There was stunned silence. Elena looked around, memorizing the scene. Once again she was confident that her comments meant that this would be the last time she'd ever see the Oval Office, at least during this administration. She didn't care. She had told him the truth, and any president should hear that as often as possible. Charley Kraeger, she knew, would think it hilarious.

Kennedy stood, his expression grim. "We will now re-convene ExComm. They want my permission to attack? They're going to get my permission."

Commander Sam Watkins could handle the physical pain. Very quickly after surgery, he'd demanded a drastic reduction in the amount of drugs he was being given. He didn't want to become addicted like so many other guys he'd seen. Something to help him sleep was okay, at least for a while, but not for normal living. Life with pain was something he would have to endure, at least until he healed. He would not take the easy way out.

Hell, he thought, just what was normal? He cranked the bed so he was sitting up enough to see where his left leg had been. He still had most of it, but not the part that rested on the ground. As his friends told him, now he would never wear out a pair of socks because he could use both of them. Of course, he would always be stuck with a left shoe in virginal condition. With friends like those, who needed enemies?

No, what upset him was the emotional and mental anguish. He kept seeing Lieutenant Harkins's destroyed body lying beside him. Harkins had been married and had two small children. How would they make out? They'd get a pension, of course, but it wouldn't be much. His widow was attractive and might just re-marry, but how would the kids handle the loss of their dad? And how much of it was his fault?

He'd seen the list of dead and wounded and grieved for each one of them. The Willow had been small as warships go and Watkins had known all of his crew, his Coast Guard family. And now so many of them were gone, either dead or with their lives destroyed or forever altered.

Like his. He would get a pension and a wooden leg. Hell, how about a patch over an eye so people would think he was a pirate? Maybe he could get a job with Ringling Brothers, or at Disneyland. Yo, ho, ho and a bucket of shit.

"Feeling sorry for yourself again?"

It was one of the nurses. He was being treated at the Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland. She was a first lieutenant. Her name was Mary Ann Ackerman and she was in her late thirties, a little plumpish, but pleasant enough.

"A little bit," he admitted, "but I'm feeling sorrier for the men I lost. Sorry too for the guys who got mangled more than I did."

"Do you blame yourself?"

"Of course. I am — excuse me, was — the captain of the Willow. Whatever happens, from a sailor farting to the ship sinking, is my responsibility."

She sat on the chair by the side of his bed. He was supposed to be sharing the room but the second bed was empty. He wondered if that had been intentionally? Was he a pariah? Who the hell wanted to be near someone who'd lost his ship? Maybe they thought that bad luck was contagious or would rub off. He wondered if JFK had been shunned after losing PT109? Not likely, he concluded. Kennedy's family came from enormous wealth and that can always buy absolution. Regardless, he liked the privacy and hoped it stayed that way for a long while.

"Don't you think the Cubans had something to do with what happened?" Nurse Ackerman asked. "And how about the admirals who ordered you out there?"

"Them too, but I was the man on the scene."

"I hear you're getting a medal."

"Fuck the medal."

"Don't talk like that in front of me."

"Sorry. Screw the medal."

She smiled sweetly. "That's better. And like it or not you are getting better. I understand they're going to fit you with an artificial leg pretty soon, and you know you can go out and about in a wheel chair anytime you wish."

"How jolly fucking wonderful. Sorry."

"You know, it could've been much worse."

Watkins looked away. "Sure, and now you're going to tell me about the beggar who was sorry for himself because he had no shoes until he met another beggar who had no feet. Hey, holy shit. I only have one foot, so I guess I should only feel half sorry for myself."

Nurse Ackerman scowled. "You are disgusting, Commander Watkins. Some of your officers and crew are anxious to see you. When would you like to schedule it?"

Watkins turned to the window. He had a great view of a half empty parking lot. "Right after the world ends."

"Too bad. The medal ceremony will be in a few days. I don't know which one you're getting, but if I have a vote, it's likely going to be the Order of the Royal Pain in the Ass with Oak Leaf Clusters."

Despite himself, Watkins laughed. "Good one."

"Actually, I understand it'll be either the Silver Star or the Coast Guard Distinguished Service Medal."

"Semper paratus," Watkins said, quoting the Coast Guard motto, "Always Prepared." Well, hell, he hadn't been prepared. If he had been prepared, his ship would have fought back more effectively, and he couldn't claim crummy radar as an excuse since it was his responsibility to ensure that everything on the Willow was in working condition no matter what. "Seaman Vitale will be getting one, too," Ackerman continued, "because of how he worked and saved so many lives, maybe including your own annoying butt. Yours will be for your lifesaving efforts in rescuing the crew of that destroyer and for doing everything you could to put out the fire at great risk to you and your ship before and after the destroyer sank. Lord, I sound like I'm reading the commendation. Also, the ship is getting some unit citation."

She stood and straightened her uniform. He noticed that she had nice full breasts. "Commander, I will not let you feel sorry for yourself. I will not let any of my patients feel sorry for themselves. I know what they're going through and I know that you and they can get through it."

"And just how the hell do you know what I'm going through?" he snapped.

To his astonishment, tears welled up in her eyes and he immediately regretted what he'd said. "Because of the guilt I felt when I lost my husband, that's why. He was a marine pilot and he was killed in Korea when something caused him to fly a perfectly good plane into a mountain on a bright sunshiny day. I felt so guilty because I'd decided I didn't want to be married anymore to him, and he knew it because I’d written and told him. He was so obsessive and domineering and, yes, sometimes he hit me, which made him a shit, but not one who had to die for it. He told me he couldn't deal with the idea of me leaving him, so what do you think made him fly his plane into a mountain? His monumental ego, that's what. His pride couldn't stand the thought of failure in marriage or flying a plane, or anything else, and now you can't deal with your own situation."

"I'm sorry," Watkins said weakly.

"Don't be. I felt guilty for a long time. The navy sent his remains home a year later in a tee-tiny box that I could have put in my purse. I thought I'd lose my mind, and then I realized I wouldn't and I thought that was worse. Insanity would have been so helpful, such a nice dark place to hide. But no, I had to recover and go out and face the world. And so will you Commander Watkins."

He took a deep breath. She was right. Women were always so damned right. "All right, I'll recover, but only one on condition. You go out to lunch with me."

She nodded and smiled. "But only if you walk. Crutches are okay, but no wheel chair. A cane would be great. Men with canes look so dapper and distinguished, especially if it's a man in uniform with a chest full of medals. Oh yes, I want you to tidy yourself up and lose some weight. Show me you have pride in yourself. You lose twenty pounds and I'll lose ten and we'll see how we like each other's refurbished bodies."

"Agreed," he found himself saying and meaning it. "And tell the guys that if they're dumb enough to want to talk to me, I'm dumb enough to let them. Oh yeah, when we go out, will it be a date?"

"If you want it to be," she said. Lord, it had been a long time. Maybe she would take him home. She was a nurse after all and the sight of an amputated leg wouldn't be shocking.

Watkins grinned. "One last thing, will alcohol be permitted?" She touched him gently on the cheek. "Only if taken internally."

Chapter Fourteen

The rumble of exploding bombs came from only a few miles away. The actual site being hit was obscured by some low hills and the dense foliage in which Ross and the others were hidden, but they could clearly see the smoke billowing and could feel the ground beneath their feet quivering. If this was what it was like so far away from the bombs' impact point, Ross thought, what was it like up close, like right on the target? He decided he didn't want to know. Shelling by Russian-made Cuban tanks during the takeover had been bad enough, but this had to be a hundred times worse to the Cubans on the receiving end.

"We should've done it sooner," Ward said to Cathy.

"You mean a few weeks ago?" she said.

"Naw, we should've done it when Castro came to power and we found he was a commie. That would've saved everybody a lot of sweat and aggravation."

Andrew pretended he really wasn't paying attention. Ward was directing his comments to Cathy because she was a civilian and he could speak more freely to her even though everyone knew his commanding officer was listening in. The games people play, he thought.

"It would've been nice," she said, "but it was never going to happen. Since I'm a teacher, let me give you a history lesson. World War II, which we won overwhelmingly, ended seventeen years ago and the Korean War, which was something less than an overwhelming win, ended less than ten years ago. Remember, Korea cost more than fifty thousand dead Americans and many people feel it accomplished nothing."

"So what's that have to do with Cuba and Castro," Ward asked.

Cathy smiled and continued. "Because the country isn't ready for another bloodbath that doesn't accomplish very much. That and the fact that we are so vulnerable all over the world deterred us from doing anything to topple Castro other than that farce at the Bay of Pigs. We've got responsibilities in Korea and a lot of men staring at the North Koreans, we've got Berlin with a garrison surrounded by the Soviet army, and there is our commitment to protecting the Chinese Nationalists on Formosa, and now we've got our people started moving into Vietnam. Ward, do you know where Vietnam is?"

Ward grinned. "Not really."

"It's just south of China."

Ward brightened. "You mean what used to be French Indo-China?"

"Exactly," she said.

"Yeah, I've heard of that place. It's where the French got the crap kicked out of them by the little yellow locals. What're we doing in that rotten little country? I've heard it's a nasty place no matter what they call it?"

Andrew decided to answer. "The president has decided to send advisors to help the South Vietnamese train their rotten little army to better protect their rotten little country. Vietnam is divided into two parts. The north is already commie and he doesn't want the south to fall as well. It's supposed to be a small mission but we all know how these things grow when the federal government gets involved."

Ward laughed. "Yeah, we sure know that, lieutenant. All we gotta do is look around at the mess we're in right now. We all sucked up to Batista and now Batista's history and the Cubans hate us. Thanks for the info Cathy, lieutenant. Hey, Cathy, how'd you learn so much? I thought you were an English teacher?"

She stuck out her tongue. "I am, smart-aleck, but I also have a minor in history and I love to read. You ought to try it some time."

A secondary explosion shook the ground emphasizing the incongruity of their holding deep discussions during a bombing raid. Dark clouds of smoke billowed from over another hill. Tongues of flame licked within it. Another explosion and more flames billowed up.

"Gas or ammo?" Ward asked.

"Maybe both," Andrew said. "Or possibly we dropped napalm. I'm not too sure it matters just so long as we hit the target."

"And think what horrible things are happening to the people on the ground." Cathy said and shuddered. Her eyes were fixed on the terrible and angry clouds that seemed to be alive.

Sergeant Cullen trotted over and squatted beside Ross. "Lieutenant, is it my imagination or is the bombing getting closer?"

Andrew listened closely. "I think you're right, gunny. Think we should move?"

"Where?"

"You're right," Andrew said. "We can't run but maybe we can hide. I think we should start making our foxholes a little deeper."

He paused. The bombs were falling closer, but it seemed like the intensity was fading, like a summer storm. What they should really do, he decided, was to contact Washington and get their suggestion as to where the hell would be safest for them.

Miami would be nice.

The Cuban soldier thought he heard something. Curious, he began to poke at the bushes around him. He was not going to call his sergeant. The last time he did that, it had turned out to be some kind of large insect or lizard and his sergeant had cursed him fluently in both Spanish and English.

No, he would solve his own problems. He would not cry for help like a baby, which is what his sergeant had said he was the last time he'd called for help and awakened the fat prick. So what if he wasn't comfortable with the slight rustlings in the dense foliage. He was from the city, not the jungle. Maybe all these insects and little animals making noise was normal.

He jabbed at a bush with the bayonet on the end of his old rifle. Ironically, bush jabbing was better with the old, long Springfield rifle then with a new but shorter-barreled AK47.

He never saw the broad bladed knife emerge from a bush and ram into his throat, severing his spinal cord. His last expression was one of total astonishment. A black arm pulled back and the Cuban soldier dropped forward. His throat was destroyed and his body flopped lifelessly. Blood gushed out and over the black arm. In a minute, the Cuban was dead.

"Damn," said Master Sergeant Wiley Morton in an angry whisper at the mess on his uniform.

He wiped the knife on the grass and cleaned himself off as best he could. He dragged the dead Cuban into the jungle. With a little luck he wouldn't be missed for a while. With more luck, he'd be considered a deserter and quietly disappear while the animals and insects devoured his remains, which would be too bad for the young soldier. He'd been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Morton quickly searched the dead man's pockets and gear for anything useful. Food would have been nice, but no, the man hadn't been carrying his pack. Damn shame. He and the colonel were getting hungry. Morton sneaked a look at the Cuban camp less than a hundred yards away. A half dozen of the dead man's comrades rested around a small fire. They were cooking something and the smell was intoxicating.

Romanski slithered up to Morton. "Got a plan?"

"We got a little while before they miss their little hombre, colonel, but I don't want to push our luck. Still," he mused, "I surely would like to get some rations."

Two of the soldiers got up and walked away. In a moment, two more followed. "Wonder where they're going?" Romanski asked.

"Don't care, sir. But they did just give us an opportunity."

Morton crawled through the grass, conscious of the fact that it was only a little bit higher than his butt. Sunlight was fading which provided long shadows that he hoped hid him. He froze as a voice yelled. One of the two remaining soldiers swore, yelled a response, and got up. He said something to the last Cuban who grinned. Morton understood enough Spanish to know that the soldier had been told to watch the camp. The Cuban thought he was lucky.

The Cuban was fixated on the fire and saw nothing. He was also totally destroying his night vision with his contempt for his surroundings. Morton decided he must be thinking that they were safe because they were in Cuba. He neither saw nor sensed Master Sergeant Wiley Morton moving up behind him.

Morton's strong left hand clamped over the Cuban's mouth while the knife in his right, the blade that had killed his comrade, sliced across his throat. This time the blood gushed on the ground and not on Morton.

He grabbed the Cubans’ packs and anything else that looked interesting. One of them had left an AK47 and he took that as well, along with a couple of clips of ammunition. He took them to where Romanski was covering him with his rifle.

Morton ran back to the dead Cuban. He dragged him away and into the brush with the first dead one. A last trip to the camp site to kick dirt over the blood on the ground and both he and the colonel were satisfied. They dragged the corpses deeper into the jungle.

"They'll miss them immediately," Romanski said, "but I'm guessing it'll take them at least an hour to find the bodies and even then they'd have to be real lucky. By that time we'll be well away. Maybe they'll even think their buddies had deserted and stolen their gear."

"My thoughts exactly, colonel," Morton was rummaging through the packs. There was some food but not as much as they'd hoped. There’d be enough to keep hunger away for a while, though.

Explosions rumbled in the distance. They two men looked at each other. "Methinks it's going to get a little interesting around here," Romanski said while chewing on a piece of stale bread.

Within a couple of days after the establishment of the prison camp, American warplanes began overflying it. They would fly as low as they dared and waggle their wings to give encouragement to the marines and sailors below who would wave and cheer while their Cuban guards glared at them. They were not alone, and the flyboys wanted them to know it.

However, as the days became weeks, the POWs began to lose their enthusiasm. Flyovers were nice, but when the hell was something going to happen? After a while, the planes became a nuisance, a reminder of a world outside that was maddeningly beyond their reach. The men stopped waving and cheering. Instead, they cursed and gave the pilots the finger. Of course, nobody in the planes knew this and they continued to fly over the camp and the Cuban city of Santiago.

"Here comes another one, sir," said Captain Tom Keppel, USMC and Hartford's second in command.

Major Hartford shielded his eyes with his hands. "Oh joy."

"I am just so fucking sick and tired of them doing nothing but fly around all day and then return to a carrier and a nice hot meal."

Hartford glared at him in mock anger. "You don't care for the food our hosts have provided?"

Keppel grinned. Actually the food still wasn't all that bad. It just wasn't very good, either. Some of the men were calling it Spanish hospital food. They had no idea whether a steady diet of beans and bread was nutritious or not. At least it kept them regular.

They reluctantly agreed that the commandant, General Cordero, had actually done a decent job in seeing that they were cared for. Regardless, there were two thousand men in the camp who'd kill for a hamburger, French fries or onion rings, and a nice, cold beer. Keppel's preference was for a Midwestern brand called Strohs, while Hartford wish was for Budweiser. Keppel wanted mayo on his medium rare burger. Hartford called him a barbarian and said that mustard was the civilized condiment, especially for officers who needed to maintain standards for the enlisted men. It was a standing joke.

"Christ!" Keppel said and jumped up. "Look!"

Hartford's eyes followed in disbelief. Bombs were falling from the wings of the planes flying over Santiago. A Cuban gunboat in the harbor was bracketed with plumes of water that rose far higher than the little craft. It rocked violently and immediately began to sink. The sound arrived seconds after the explosions and washed over two thousand now wildly cheering prisoners. The guards in the towers and at the gate appeared stunned.

Additional bombs sought out targets in and around the city spread out below them. A fuel dump was hit and clouds of flame soared upward. Finally, they exulted, things were beginning to happen. Was the end in sight? Hartford thought of what Churchill had said: It wasn't the beginning of the end, but it was the end of the beginning, or something like that. Whatever, it felt very, very good.

More bombs fell in the city proper, sending shockwaves through the streets and starting fires. "Civilians are getting pasted, aren't they?" Keppel noted.

"A shame, but they're the ones supporting Fido, I mean, Fidel. I hate to mix metaphors, but when you dance with the devil it'll someday come time to pay the piper."

Keppel nodded. "I just wish we could radio the States so they could tell us what's up and maybe we could do something useful."

Captain Frank Tuttle, USMC, chose that moment to walk up. "Well maybe I have some good news, major."

"Is it as good as the Cubans getting bombed?" Hartford asked.

"That's up to you, sir, but we got the right blend of paperclips and Band-aids and we've finally got a radio going."

"No shit," said Keppel.

"Yep, we now got a working short-wave radio. We made contact with a ham operator in Mississippi and he's connecting us with the Pentagon. It ain't elegant but it's working, at least until the Cubans get wind of it and decide to jam it or take it out by force."

"Do the Cubans know about it?" Hartford asked.

Tuttle looked mildly embarrassed. "Unfortunately, the first ham operator we contacted was some guy just outside Havana. Who knows whether or not he'll contact the authorities."

"Maybe not," Keppel mused. "I don't think Castro's gang likes the idea of ordinary Cubans being able to radio the world. Kind of smacks of subversion. He may not tell anyone."

Not a bad day at all, Hartford thought as another bomb exploded in the city. "Tuttle, Keppel, you two like fireworks?" The two men nodded. "Well so do I and I think the show is just beginning."

"Cousin, cousin," Cordero said with a wide smile. "I absolutely love how you've turned this squalid derelict building into a squalid derelict headquarters. If I didn't know it was here, I would never have found it."

Despite the almost overwhelming pressures he was enduring as commanding general in charge of defending Guantanamo from recapture by the Americans, General Juan Ortega had to smile. His cousin was often like a large puppy whose wagging tail made everyone happy.

"I am so glad you are pleased."

In truth, Ortega was pleased. He had gone to great lengths to hide his headquarters in plain sight. It was located in an underground bunker beneath what had once been a school, and nobody wearing a uniform was allowed to be seen near the building. Nor were any large numbers of men allowed to congregate nearby. Entrance was by tunnels from either of several buildings nearby, including a couple of churches and a hotel, and vehicles were nowhere to be seen. They too were hidden in other buildings. Radio and telephone antennae were strung to other places and scattered. The whole effort had begun months before the attack on Guantanamo and Ortega was confident that the construction efforts had escaped notice.

To the spying eyes in the sky, the building was supposed to look as little used as possible. After taking Guantanamo, Ortega had given a few moments thought to using the hospital cover again, but the Red Cross was hanging around and would be very upset if he did. This way, even if they did ferret out the fact that the old school was important, they were highly unlikely to tell the Americans.

Ortega forced himself to relax. Sometimes his cousin was a fool, but even he wouldn't simply drop in to waste time. "So tell me what is so important that you have honored me with your presence."

Cordero pulled a bottle of rum out of his briefcase and offered some to Ortega. The general smiled and took a small glass. Americans liked to pour Coca Cola over it, but that destroyed the taste of the rum. A couple of ice cubes would be fine. Too bad he didn't have any ice cubes. His subterranean office was stifling.

Cordero took a deep swallow and smiled. "My dear general and favorite cousin, you are aware there is a network of jailors who meet, either in person or on the phone, discuss matters, and provide each other with information, aren't you?"

Warning bells went off and Ortega put down the rum. "No I wasn't. How many in this group?"

"At the moment two. Myself and a dear friend who runs one of the prisons near Havana. He has uncovered some very intriguing morsels of information that you should know."

"Go on."

"First, the Russians and Fidel are at each other's throats. Fidel, or more likely Che, stole some items of great importance from the Soviet pigs who are rapidly taking the place of the Yanquis as those who annoy us and think they can push us around. People were killed in the theft, Russians, and that pissed them off mightily."

Ortega perked up and poured more rum into his glass. "How very interesting," he said thoughtfully.

"Indeed. The Russians then retaliated and recovered all but one of the items and other people died. This time they were Cubans."

Ortega leaned forward. What could have been so important that killing was required? "What was taken? What is your proof?"

"The proof comes from my fellow jailor who says he has seen things with his own eyes. Bodies of Cuban soldiers with their throats sliced were brought into his jail to prevent prying eyes from wondering what had happened to them. He says that several low-ranking Soviet soldiers have been sent home in disgrace for first losing the important items, and will spend their remaining years digging ditches to nowhere in a gulag. At first they tried to claim that it was treachery on Fidel's part but then, after the loss of some fingernails, a few chunks of skin, and the sight of one eye, a sergeant admitted to doing it for money." Cordero made the sign of the cross. "I will pray for his soul."

Now Ortega was truly intrigued. "What in god's name did he do? I order you to tell me."

"In a moment, my dear cousin and commander. Think. What do the Russian pigs have that Fidel would love to own since he has none of his own?"

Ortega paled and stood. "Dear God, no. Not nuclear weapons?"

"Yes, cousin. Four were stolen and only three were recovered. The fourth is on its way here, escorted by your best friend, Che Guevara."

Ortega sat back down and pounded his fist on the desk. "Damn! And I'll bet he expects me to use the remaining one on the Americans. What a fool.”

Now he understood some of the comments Fidel had made when he’d flown to Havana. Castro and Che were insane and wanted to start a world war.

Ortega shook his head sadly. “We do that and the Americans will utterly destroy us."

Cordero took a healthy swallow of the rum and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. "I understand the missing nuke is a two-kiloton device, which makes it rather small as atomic bombs go." He laughed. "Of course, calling any atomic bomb small is an oxymoron."

"It isn't funny, cousin."

"Of course it isn't. And it gets worse. Raul has convinced his big brother that you aren't as committed to the revolution as you could be, and that your having command over such a large portion of the people's army might seduce you into thinking that you could use the army to oust him and Fidel in a coup. Therefore, he has ordered your family into what amounts to house arrest. They will be held hostage to your good behavior, or at least until your execution."

Ortega sat back down. "My what?"

"In the likely event that you lose to the Americans, you will be blamed for a lack of revolutionary fervor which led to your incompetence and the defeat of our people’s glorious army. That the Americans attacked with a quarter of a million well armed and well trained soldiers and marines and had total command of the air and surrounding seas will be deemed irrelevant.”

Jesus, Ortega thought and then realized that Castro would need a scapegoat if, when, the Americans prevailed.

Cordero smiled grimly. "After a suitably brief show trial in the Soviet style, which means you will appear as a broken husk of a man and disgraced publicly, you will be hanged or shot.”

“The bastards,” Ortega snarled.

"On the other hand, if you should happen to be victorious against the gringos, you will be quietly assassinated by Fidel, Raul, and Che because you just became a threat to them. Blame for the senseless murder will be placed on the exiles in Florida, or maybe you will die in a car crash. After either event, your family will be released to do whatever they wish. Miami would be a good place. They would be out of sight, out of mind."

Ortega shook his head in disbelief. This was all too much. A traitor? All he wanted to do was chase the Americans out of Guantanamo. He loved Cuba and wanted if free of all foreign oppressors. It was correct that he wasn't totally infatuated with communism, and he certainly thought the Russians were as bad as the Americans, but they were the means to a glorious end. But a traitor? No, never. He was a patriot.

"And you have all this through your jailor friend? And he is reliable?"

Cordero smiled grimly. "On the basis of the information we've exchanged, we trust each other with our lives."

Chapter Fifteen

Cathy tried to scream but no sound would come, at least no sound that she could hear over the roar of the explosions that buffeted and tossed her within the confines of her foxhole shelter. Sometimes she was literally lifted off the ground and suspended a few inches above the earth, which no longer existed as a solid, comforting entity. It heaved like the waves on the ocean and disintegrated like sand. Debris rained down on her as she cowered in her foxhole. She was too stunned to move, and still the awful waves of violence engulfed her.

She smelled smoke. Fire? Not fire she thought, and tried to fight off panic. Oh please, not fire, she begged. Burning to death was more frightening than anything she could imagine. What if napalm rained down on her and turned her into a human torch? The thought of her flesh frying while she was alive was a nightmare from her childhood when a neighbor’s house had burned down. Nobody had been hurt, but she easily imagined it. Could it come true now? She whimpered and felt her bladder and bowels release as more sounds and waves slapped at her, increasing her sense of terror. Explosions threatened to suck the air out of her lungs, and she focused her waning energies on simple survival.

Finally the sounds receded and the explosions stopped. Or at least the vibrations did. She couldn't really hear very much of anything. Her head throbbed and her ears rang painfully. Was she deaf? At least she was alive. For the moment.

She pushed at the debris that covered her. She had to get out of her foxhole before it became her grave. At first nothing gave. She'd been grabbing a nap in the foxhole when the bombs began to fall. And they had to be American bombs since the Cubans didn’t have any bombers. That American bombs would rain down on them by mistake was one of their worst fears.

In a way her being in the hole was a blessing. God help anyone who'd been caught outside when death rained down and shock waves swept the earth. Flying debris became shrapnel that was as lethal as the explosion itself. But now she had to free herself from what had become a trap.

She heaved again and felt the pile of debris give. She gathered her legs beneath her and pushed upwards. The debris gave way and first her head and then her shoulders were free. Smoke and dust filled the air. She could only see a few feet, although she sensed her vision was clearing. She clawed her way out and crawled over to where the ground seemed solid. She noticed that the ringing in her ears was fading.

She looked around. She was on another planet. What had been a jungle was now a moonscape from a bad science fiction move, or maybe a picture of a forest after a battle. The trees had all been blown down or stripped of leaves and limbs. There were numerous small fires simmering and she thanked God she'd been able to free herself instead of being trapped while the flames worked their way towards her.

"Cathy?" It was a voice coming from a distance, hollow and strange.

"Cathy, help me."

It was Andrew. He half lay, half sat on the ground only about fifty feet away. "I can't get up," he said. "I keep falling down."

Concussion, she thought and hoped that's all it was as she crawled over to him. She was too uncertain of her own stability to try standing just yet. They embraced and she sobbed, "I thought I was going to die."

"I thought so too," he said and kissed her on the forehead. He hugged her tightly. Neither wanted to let go. "I have to get up. I have to find the others," he finally said.

Cathy stood up slowly and carefully. She was unsteady but otherwise all right. Sergeant Cullen was a few yards away. His face was bloody but he was giving Ward a drink from his canteen. He looked over and saw they were unhurt and continued to work on Ward. Cullen was also torn and bloody, but did not appear seriously injured. Groth lurched over to Cullen and sat down. That left Hollis and Williams.

She and Andrew got to their feet. With her help, Andrew managed to get to Cullen. "Where are the other two?"

Cullen looked up from where he was cleaning a cut on Ward's cheek. "Hollis is dead. He's lying over a few yards to your left. I don't know where Williams is."

Ward looked up. "Williams was in a hole with me, sir. He lost it during the bombing and ran out screaming. If he lived through that storm it'd be a miracle."

Cathy and Andrew moved to where Hollis's body lay. A piece of tree had pierced his chest, impaling him. There was a look of utter surprise on his face. They found where Ward and Williams had been in their foxhole. They searched around and found nothing of Williams. A large crater had been gouged out of the earth maybe fifty yards away from the foxhole. Ross thought he could see specks of red in the crater and he felt nauseated. Two more of the men entrusted to him had been killed, and this time by their own side. He’d heard that many men had been killed or wounded accidentally in wars past by their own side, but this was his first experience of it. Hell, he thought, this was his first experience at any kind of fire.

Andrew took a deep breath and tried to ignore the stink of burned things. His head was beginning to clear. He thought he could stand without assistance but continued to hang on to Cathy. He thought he knew what happened to Williams — his body had been obliterated, atomized, by the bomb. They would never find enough of his remains to bury without sifting through the dirt of the crater. Even his dog tags had likely been destroyed. He mentioned it to Cathy who paled.

"Okay," he said to his shrinking group, "we're hurt and hurting, but we still got to do things. First, we've got to bury Hollis. Then we've got to pack up and move out."

"Where to?" Cathy asked.

"If we go to the east, we should find some rough ground and places to hide. It looks like our people are bombing any place the Cubans might be hiding in, and that would include places where we might also hide. Therefore, we've got to find a spot where we can stay out of sight. A cave or a gully would do nicely. I think forests and groves are out."

They gathered their belongings and prepared to move out. First, they buried Hollis. Ross commented that they were getting all too good at burying people. Nobody disagreed. Cullen got Ward and Groth organized to find stuff under the debris. In particular, the radio. When they finally did locate it and the hand generator, the radio didn't work.

"No surprise," said Cullen. "I don't think it was designed to be bombed. Should we leave it, lieutenant?"

Ward looked thoughtfully at the damaged radio. "No promises, sir, but maybe I can fix it if we can find a spot where I can take it apart and mess around with it."

"We take it," said Andrew. "We'll find a nice oasis where we can rest and heal and then figure out what to do."

Cathy stepped up and touched his arm. "I need to find some water," Andrew reached for his canteen and she shook her head. "No. Haven't you noticed how bad I smell? I lost it Andrew, totally, and now I need to clean up."

"You find your bag with a change of clothing?"

She looked distraught. "Not yet. I'll look again."

Ross nodded. Cullen had everything under control for the moment, although they would have to move out fairly soon. Cuban soldiers might begin snooping around once they felt it was safe.

Cathy shambled over to her foxhole and rummaged around until she found her pack. "There's a stream a little ways away and I want to wash up in it."

The water was only a hundred yards away and now filled with debris, but it was running which would help cleanse her. It might contain bugs and snakes, but it would have to do. It was imperative for her peace of mind that she get her body cleaned.

"Andrew, please leave me now and give me some privacy."

"No," he said. "I'll turn around but I'm not leaving you. And don't even think of undressing fully. If anybody shows up we might have to leave much faster than you want to. Just shuffle your clothes around and do the best you can."

She agreed and stepped into the water, letting it cover her up almost to her chin. It was cold and refreshing and helped clear her mind. She remembered that she had once thought such streams were too polluted for her to use, an idea that seemed ridiculous at this time. She eased her slacks and panties down to her ankles and scrubbed herself as best she could, using the remnants of soap from her pack. She did the same thing with her clothes, wondering if she would ever be clean again or if she would ever take anything as basic as laundry or a Laundromat for granted.

She put on her wet clothing and returned to Ross. "Andrew, how come this didn't happen to you?"

Ross laughed. "Cathy, who says it didn't. Now that you're done I'll go in and you watch out for me."

Geoffrey Franklyn looked through the peephole in his door to see who'd knocked. He didn't have a buzzer or a bell. He thought they were so tacky. A brass knocker was so much more sophisticated. He lived alone in a small house and was concerned about his vulnerability, especially since he was planning to disgrace the President of the United States.

He looked through the peephole. A very attractive and full-bosomed young blonde woman stood there, holding a large purse in front of her. She smiled at him and waved, obviously aware that he was looking at her. "What do you want?" he said.

"I'm from the New York Times and we need some clarifications on the information you've provided."

Ah, he thought. At long last something was going to happen with his once in a lifetime story. He'd begun to feel that his contact at the Times was not going to produce anything about Cuban nukes. He released the safety latch and opened the door, only to find himself flying across his living room. He landed on his back and immediately felt strong hands restraining him and a disgustingly filthy rag being stuffed in his mouth. An immensely powerful-looking man smiled wickedly.

"Open your fucking mouth and I'll cut your throat. Understand?" Franklyn nodded, wide eyed and frantic. "Wonderful. I am now going to take this shit rag out of your mouth. You try to yell and you will regret it for the rest of your life which won't be very long and will end very painfully." Frankly again nodded and the rag was removed.

"Who are you," Franklyn stammered. "I don't have much money but take it. Take it all." He could see their faces although it was obvious they were disguised. The two men wore dark wigs had false mustaches. They wore sunglasses, and the woman had a large mole on her cheek and he again noted that she had enormous breasts. The breasts were likely fake, along with the blonde wig, but that mole he'd remember. That they had gone to even such small lengths to disguise themselves was a small comfort. Perhaps they would let him live after they got whatever they wanted from him? On the other hand they wore rubber gloves which would leave no fingerprints, and that didn't bode well. He stated to shake and fought an almost overwhelming urge to urinate.

The powerfully built man took Franklyn's head in his hands. "We don't want your God damned money. What we want is for you to back off on this bullshit tale of yours about Cuban nukes."

"I won't. It has to be told."

"Too fucking bad," the man said.

The rag was stuffed back in his mouth and strong hands grasped Franklyn's testicles, squeezing and twisting. Franklyn tried to scream and tried to get away, but could do neither. He saw red in front of his eyes as the pain roared through him. He thought he would die.

"Hey," the big man said, "he really does have balls. Franklyn, you want me to stop?"

The answer was a whimper and a nod. The man let go and the rag was removed. Franklyn gasped and moaned. "Why? Who are you? Oh God, you're from the government, aren't you?"

"Why would you think that?" the second man said. "Look, asshole, we know there's an atomic bomb out there, but our employers want it to be used. We don't want you to raise a stink and get it halted."

"Employers?" Franklyn asked. "What do you mean?"

Big man spoke. "We work for some people who had major investments in Havana and were booted out by Castro. They’re afraid that Kennedy won't kick Castro out and give them a chance to get their money back. If American troops are nuked, Kennedy will have to go after Castro and wipe his ass out. When that happens, my employers can open up shop in Havana again and the world will come back to the casinos and other places for fun."

Oh God, Franklyn thought, these two are from the Mafia.

The big man saw comprehension and smiled. "Good thinking, asshole. Now you understand you are going to be a very quiet and very good boy. In fact, we are going to guarantee it."

The two men dropped Franklyn's pants to his knees. He squirmed. The woman was looking, laughing. A hypodermic appeared from the woman's very large purse. Big man jabbed it into Franklyn's thigh. In a moment, he was limp and barely conscious.

Big man turned to the woman. "Stay here. You don't have to see this."

Two small cameras, one of them a Polaroid, also came from the woman's purse which they took with them as they dragged Franklyn into his bedroom and closed the door. A few minutes later, they left the bedroom. The three of them left the house and drove away, leaving Franklyn shaken and sobbing on his bed. He was beginning to regain full consciousness and control over his body, and remembered what they'd said and done. They'd told him they'd find him wherever he went if he didn't stop pushing the story. They told him the pictures they'd taken would be all over Washington within moments of his going public. They left a couple of Polaroid prints to emphasize the point.

He couldn't yet move very well, but, when he could, he would pack his clothes and go far, far away.

Charley Kraeger, Jock Soriano, and Elena Sandano parked the car in front of Elena's house. They'd driven the better part of an hour to cover the few miles. If anybody had been tailing them, they'd have noticed it.

Inside, both men took off the wigs and pulled the cotton stuffing out of their cheeks. Elena took off her blonde wig and peeled the ugly mole off her cheek. She reached inside her blouse and removed the padding that had made her so huge. All three of them laughed at the changes in their appearance, especially hers.

"I thought that went well," Soriano said. "He caved almost immediately."

"What did you do in the bedroom?" Elena asked.

Charley smiled. "Stripped him and took some pictures of him naked and doing strange things to his own body. Then we took some more with him dressed in the women's clothes and doing disgusting stuff with one of those new Barbie Dolls we'd brought in that large purse. We left a couple of the Polaroids just to let him know what will happen if he doesn't back off. And thank God he's an idiot who thought he was safe using the same pay phone to talk to the reporter. That makes it a lot easier to tap."

"Won't the reporter wonder when Franklyn doesn't get back to him," Elena asked.

"Franklyn's no dummy," Jock answered. "Nickel says he tells the reporter that he was wrong, there was no story."

"I got another nickel that says he puts in for retirement tomorrow," Charley added.

Soriano stood and stretched. "I'm out of here. It's late and I'm getting old."

With the big man gone, Charley was concerned for Elena. What she had done with them was totally new for her and maybe disturbing.

"You didn't have to go with us, you know," he said gently.

She smiled warmly at his concern. "Yes I did. All my career I've sat behind a desk while others have put their lives on the line. I don't mean that muscling this Franklyn cretin was in anyway dangerous, but it did give me an appreciation of what the other half does for a living. I hate to admit it, but the whole thing was an adventure. Maybe even thrilling."

"I guess I'm glad. Does that mean you don't think I'm a thug?"

"Charley, I've never thought you were a thug. Soriano, now, may be another story."

"Don't sell him short," Charley said.

"Wouldn't think of it." She stood and looked thoughtfully at him. "Wait here," she said and walked into her bedroom. He'd been to her house for dinner a couple of times, but had never been invited into the inner sanctum.

A few moments later, she emerged from the room, wearing a long white robe that even covered her feet, which, when she moved, he could see were bare. Her hair was down and he thought she was indescribably and breathtakingly lovely.

"It was a very interesting evening, Charley, exhilarating and even exciting."

She undid the robe and let it drop. She was naked. Charley could hardly breathe. If he'd thought she was lovely moments before, he was obviously mistaken. She was a tan goddess.

She let him stare for a moment, then smiled and held out her hand, pulling him to his feet and leading him to her bedroom. "Charley my dear, I am not an innocent little waif and neither are you. Now get in here before I change my mind."

"Comrade Che, it is so good to see you," Ortega said. He tried hard to keep the sarcasm from his voice and hide his dismay at having Guevara in his headquarters.

"And I am pleased to see you as well," Guevara said with equal insincerity as he sat down. "It's been a long trip, but a safe one. The damned American planes didn't find us."

"Us?"

"My little convoy. We traveled scattered and only at night. We had some reasonably close calls, but nothing serious. The American bombers are getting so numerous and so dangerous it's a wonder that any travel succeeds. This state of affairs has to end before it destroys Cuba and the revolution."

A shame, Ortega thought as he leaned back in his chair. "The Americans are more than dangerous. My forces have suffered badly and the fighting hasn't really begun. We have no choice but to sit and take it until the Americans land and we can close with them and kill them."

"Which brings up a point," Guevara said. "Fidel wonders why you aren't using the SAM missiles and other anti-aircraft weapons you have."

Ortega sighed. "Because we used up almost half our weapons inventory when taking Guantanamo and in the immediate aftermath when the Americans launched their attacks. Unfortunately, too many of our commanders had little in the way of fire discipline and simply shot off everything they had at anything that flew, and caring nothing about actually hitting a target. American pilots quickly learned that they can outmaneuver our SAM missiles and no American B52 heavy bombers, which would have been juicy targets, were involved during the takeover of Guantanamo. Thus, I have ordered that no SAM missiles or other weapons be used until the Americans actually begin landing and we actually have viable targets."

"In the meantime, however, our brave troops sit and take it," Che said angrily.

"With regrets, Comrade Che, yes. Sadly, we have already lost far more men than we did during the battle for Guantanamo, and yes, many of our men are dispirited and their morale is low. Unless you and Comrade Fidel can conjure up an air force to fight the Yankees, we have no other choice but to sit and take it."

Guevara smiled ruthlessly. "Perhaps I can provide you with a choice."

Jesu, Ortega thought, here it comes. Just what my cousin had predicted. "What do you mean?"

"Comrade General, I have brought with me a weapon that will change the course of the war and bring us not only victory over the Americans but will give us the stature Cuba deserves in the eyes of the world. The weapon will make us pre-eminent among our sister nations and will enable us to export our revolution."

Ortega decided to pretend ignorance. "My dear comrade, what do you mean?" he said, repeating himself.

Guevara leaned forward conspiratorially. "I have brought you a nuclear missile, a Soviet Luna 3. We will launch it at the Americans when they land. It will shock and devastate them. Many thousands will be killed and wounded, perhaps tens of thousands."

Ortega shook his head. "Comrade, if we were so foolish as to do that, what do you think the American response would be? I believe they would launch many of their missiles at us and turn Cuba into a radioactive cinder."

Guevara shook his head. A beatific smile lit his face. "They won't. When part of their army is obliterated, we will tell the Americans that we have dozens more of these missiles and we will use them to destroy the rest of their army if it doesn’t surrender. We will, of course, wait until they land so they will be required to surrender to us in order to save their own lives."

"Do we really have that many rockets?"

"Of course not, but the Americans don't know that. Their intelligence is now aware that the Soviets brought in a large number of them, but they don't know where they are or who controls them. We will let the stupid Americans believe that we do. They are afraid of battle and will take the excuse to back out a conflict they think they cannot win."

"And why do you believe that, comrade?"

"Because John Fitzgerald Kennedy is a coward,” Che almost spat. “He didn't go to war against the Russians back in October and he has proven to be afraid to fight us now. He has dithered and sought compromise and so-called peaceful solutions while all the world mocks him. No, we will show some resistance, use the bomb to kill a few thousand Americans, and he will cry like a baby and pull his troops away. If Kennedy was serious, he would have attacked us a long time ago. Instead, his huge army sits and waits. It won't matter that the Luna is a small bomb, the attack will shatter him."

"How can you be certain of Kennedy's manhood, and that the Americans will believe we have more missiles?"

"Because the Russians have told me much about Kennedy’s manhood, as well as America’s fear of nuclear weapons. The fact of the missile and our declaration that we have more will come as a complete shock to the Americans. And there has been no mention of Cuban nuclear missiles in the American press. Even if they suspect that we have them they are afraid to tell their people who would flee their cities in bloody panic."

Ortega trembled in disbelief. "So you would have me use it when the Americans land."

"Yes."

"Then tell me, comrade, just where will they land?"

"At Guantanamo," Guevara said with supreme confidence. “Re-conquering that base is their goal, general. When they storm ashore you will launch the missile and Cuba will be victorious. It may take a few days of additional skirmishing, but the Americans will go into a defensive shell and be afraid to move."

Ortega sat back. "And just why do you think they will land only at Guantanamo? Or haven't you noticed that we are an island surrounded by American ships and being overflown by American planes. The Yanquis can land anywhere and everywhere, and there is precious little we can do to stop it. Yes, your one rocket will damage them but it will not stop them and I for one do not think they will believe your fairy tale about inundating them with other missiles."

Guevara smiled thinly. "You used to be a firebrand when it came to the idea of chasing the Americans out of here."

"I was," Ortega said. "But that began to change when I realized that the Americans weren't going to run away, and that we had no real allies in the world, including the Russians. Even though many nations say they support us, their support is in the form of words only. No other nation, and that includes Russia, is going to send men, planes, and ships to help us. In my opinion, we are already paying too high a price in Cuban lives and if you use that missile, you are going to raise that price to intolerable levels. Yes, I wanted the Americans out of Cuba and I still do, but not at the cost of the revolution."

Guevara laughed harshly. "I suspected as much. Therefore, I will be the one controlling the missile and I will direct and order its launch. By the way, I now desire a guards unit to help protect the rocket. I did lose a handful of men who were caught in the open and bombed by the Americans. I am certain that the Americans will land some of their Special Forces units if they haven't done so already. We cannot afford to let them stumble on it."

Ortega thought quickly and smiled to himself. He thought it likely that Che also wanted to protect himself from the fury of the Russians who were very likely on his tail and trying to recover the rocket. "Would a platoon, say thirty men, be enough?" he asked. Guevara said it would.

"Excellent. I have a skilled combat ready unit currently chasing the American terrorists. I will have them assigned to you. They are commanded by a Sergeant Gomez and they now report to General Cordero."

"That will be most satisfactory."

Again Ortega kept a straight face. Gomez's platoon was now down to fewer than thirty men as a result of desertions. Several of the so-called deserters had actually showed up to complain about Gomez's rapacity, saying they had joined to fight the Americans not loot peasants and molest Cuban women. The deserters had been quietly sent to other units.

"It shall be done as you wish, Comrade Che. By the way, I have been unable to contact my wife in the last couple of days. Has something happened?"

Guevara continued to smile although a little more frostily. "Nothing has happened to them. We, Fidel and I, thought it best that they be kept in protective custody. We heard rumors of a possible attempt on their lives by the traitors in Miami and did it to keep them safe. I'm sure you understand."

Ortega kept his expression calm, although he wanted to strangle Guevara.

"I'm sure I do."

The woman was about fifty and reminded the president of an older Ethel Kennedy, Bobby's sometimes outspoken and always spunky wife. He was ready to like her however unpleasant this meeting was going to be.

He stood, smiled, and gestured her to take a seat. Like any first time visitor, she looked around the Oval Office, maybe wondering how she could take something as a souvenir to prove to her grandkids that she'd been there. His staff would arrange something. An ashtray almost always worked, even for those who didn't smoke.

For a moment, the woman's cares had taken a back seat to the fact of where she was. It was only a moment, however, and the pain returned to her expression.

"Mrs. Malone, I am so very glad to see you, and we are all praying for your daughter's safe return."

Actually, the president was furious had having to take time out to talk with Cathy Malone's mother. She'd made herself such a pain in the ass with interviews that basically accused him of being uncaring and unfeeling regarding her daughter's safety. As a result, he'd had to invite her to the White House to meet with him. He hoped she would now shut up for a while.

"I'm honored to meet you, Mr. President. I only wish it was under more pleasant circumstances. I'm sure you've read some of what I've said, otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation, would we?"

Good, he thought, she understood the game. "I'd say that's partly correct. I have met with other families and will continue to do so, and, yes, I have read some of your comments."

"Then you understand that I do not believe you have been working hard enough to get my daughter back safely."

Of course not, he thought. I have a war to run and one lonely school teacher adrift in Cuba can't be permitted to distract me from that task. By taking time off from his busy schedule and speaking to her as he was, he was permitting a distraction.

"I have to be blunt, Mrs. Malone, we have tried to contact her and the people she's with and get her out, but it is simply not that easy to do when she's in a foreign country and a country with whom we are at war."

"I don't believe you," she said bluntly. "You have enormous resources at your disposal. You have Special Forces, CIA, submarines, and planes that can take pictures of anything. If you wanted to find her and rescue her you would do it. You have paratroopers and spies who can go anywhere and do anything if you really wanted to."

Kennedy controlled his anger. "We are doing everything we can but let me be candid — we are not going to let looking for your daughter jeopardize any military activities or cause unnecessary casualties. We can't and won't and you know that."

Mrs. Malone sagged slightly and her eyes glistened as tears began to well up. "Then for God's sake, Mr. President, at least tell me where she is and that she's okay."

Now comes the hard part, he thought. Contact with Lieutenant Ross and his group, including Cathy Malone, had broken off suddenly. There were concerns that they may have been accidentally bombed, which could have easily occurred. Certainly they had not been killed or captured by the Cubans who would have announced it triumphantly. When all else fails, tell a comforting lie and hope it turns out to be the truth. "We don't know precisely where she is, Mrs. Malone, but we are confident that she's safe. We have no reason to believe otherwise. Now please tell me — just what was she doing down there anyhow? I understand it was an educational position."

Mrs. Malone wiped her eyes and willed herself to regain her composure. "As you know, she's a teacher. Not only that, she's the first person in our family to graduate from college and we are very proud of her. She's led a fairly sheltered life and reluctantly agreed with her doing this because she thought it would be an adventure where she would actually be doing some people some good. Besides, she'd be making nearly six thousand dollars a year and that is very good money for a school teacher nowadays. We're not rich by the way."

Kennedy winced. It was an obvious dig at his family's wealth. Should he remind her he'd served in World War II and been wounded? No.

Mrs. Malone dabbed at her eyes. Kennedy gave her a handkerchief which she used. He gestured that she should keep it. It was monogrammed and might make a good souvenir.

"My husband and I, he's at home and not feeling well, were reluctant to let her go, but she's an adult and she said she had to begin to taste life. My husband told her just don't taste so much that you get indigestion. She'd also just broken up with an idiot boyfriend and wanted to get away. Well, now look what's happened."

Kennedy was no longer angry. He fully understood her grief through his own losses. A daughter had been stillborn in 1957. He stood and she accepted that the meeting was over. She'd spoken her piece but accomplished nothing. He arranged to have their picture taken together as a souvenir, along with an ashtray and the handkerchief she'd put in her purse.

Chapter Sixteen

"Don't move. Don't even think of going for your weapon. I'm an American and if you're one of the good guys, I don't want any mistakes happening to either one of us."

First Lieutenant Andrew Ross froze, painfully aware that the only thing even remotely resembling weapon was in his hand and relatively harmless. It's been said that a man was never more vulnerable than when he was relieving himself and now he understood. He was standing over a small slit trench and totally helpless as he peed into it.

But then, the unknown voice had identified himself as an American, hadn't he? "Can I finish before I have to turn around?"

"Please."

Andrew thought he heard the hint of laughter in the tone of voice. He completed his task and faced his accuser, a smallish black man in filthy remnants of an American uniform. The man was holding a Thompson and, while he looked serious, his eyes looked like he was more amused than anything else.

"Who are you?" Andrew asked.

"Master Sergeant Wiley Morton, and the man coming up slowly behind me is Lieutenant Colonel Ted Romanski. He is, was, the commander of Roman Force which was supposed to have parachuted down and helped save you marines the day Gitmo was attacked, so you know just how successful we were. Now, who are you?"

Andrew identified himself and Morton relaxed. "Thought you were an American, lieutenant, but I had to make sure."

"You said you're with a colonel? Does that mean there are more of you?"

"I wish, lieutenant, but something got lost in the translation. Most of the planes aborted but a few, like ours, managed to get shot down. To the best of my knowledge, me and the colonel are the only ones left. You got any food?"

Shit, Andrew thought, just my luck. Two more mouths to feed. The only remotely good thing about losing two more of his guys was that his already stretched rations would last a little bit longer, and now that dubious advantage was gone.

An older white man came out of the shrub. He was limping and using a branch for a cane. "Don't salute, lieutenant."

"No sir."

"As you can tell, I'm in disguise as a crippled bum so nobody will think I'm an officer and a gentleman. Now please don't tell me you're alone. We know better. We followed the trail you left after leaving the place where you were bombed. By the way, the trail looked like a herd of elephants had gone through a cornfield. Didn't anybody teach you anything about covering your tracks?"

Andrew flushed. "We'd just been bombed, colonel, and we were all concussed and shaken and two of my men were killed. We were lucky to get as far as we did."

Romanski softened. "Well, we cleaned up your tracks as best we could, but you might think of hiding a little better. Now, take me to the rest of your group."

A few minutes later and Romanski and Morton had been fed, albeit with C-rations, and given as much information as Ross and his group had.

Romanski looked dolefully at the remnants of his meal. "Never thought I'd actually say I enjoyed this, but I was getting tired of the lizards and snakes Morton was catching."

Morton grinned. "Lizards and snakes are protein, and eating the local grasses will keep you regular, even good for you. I kept you healthy, sir."

"I'm proud of every one of you," Romanski said, turning to the group. "You've had a rough time of it and it would have been so much easier to just give up and surrender." He fixed on Cathy Malone. "And you, young lady, would have been home by now."

"Maybe not, colonel,” she said coldly, "at least not after what I've seen. It's just as likely that I'd be rotting in a ditch somewhere."

Romanski pondered that comment. What had she seen? "Regardless, we're all in it together."

He gestured for Ross to come with him and the two men walked a few yards from the others, just enough to be out of hearing.

"Now what else do you know about the whereabouts of this Russian rocket, the Frog 3?" Ross had given him a quick update before they reached the others.

"Colonel, all I know is that it's supposed to be around here, but that term covers a lot of ground. Literally. We haven't seen anything resembling it."

"And exactly where are we now?"

"About five miles north and east of the base and about the same amount from the ocean. So, if the Cubans plan on using it, I figure it'll be launched from a point near the coast so they can hit our troops massed on the beach."

Romanski nodded and they returned to the group who pretended they hadn't walked off to talk privately. "Ross, you said you have a radio?"

"Had, sir. It got knocked around pretty badly and Ward hasn't been able to make it work."

Ward looked up sadly. "I guess I'm not that smart, colonel."

Romanski laughed. "I'll be the judge of that. Master Sergeant Morton, while you weren't our eating snakes while you were in the Special Forces, didn't they make you learn something about radios?"

"They did, sir. May I assume you want me to work with PFC Ward and see if we can make the thing work?"

"That would be a marvelous idea, and, in your spare time, why don't you kill us some more protein. I've changed my mind; these C-rations really are for shit."

The prison camp was closed up for the day. At sunset, everyone was supposed to be back in their tents. There the Americans could sleep, read, play cards, or anything they wished so long as they were out of sight. The Cubans knew this also meant plotting and scheming, but considered them harmless activities. After all, where could the prisoners go and what could they do?

Searchlights swept the compound looking for curfew violators. The lights were a nuisance to anyone trying to sleep, but that was it, and the Americans adapted to them and their predictable pattern in very short order. When the guards did spot someone skulking around they yelled in Spanish for the man to go back to his quarters. The men quietly disappeared and nobody got hurt. The guards weren't Nazi-like monsters and wanted nothing to do with gunning down helpless prisoners. It was live and let live.

What the guards didn't realize was that the shadows cast by the searchlights striking the tents in such a predictable manner made it fairly easy for prisoners to duck and dodge their way anywhere they wanted to go.

It also applied to a pair of Cuban intruders who attracted no attention from the guards. Even if the intruders had been seen, the guards had been told to make no notice and draw not attention to them. The two men wore American uniforms and had slipped in during the period when the gates were open to permit food to be delivered. They were armed with AK47s, dynamite and timers, and had been sent to find the clandestine radio that Havana said was broadcasting from the camp. Their job was to destroy it and kill the operators if they could be found.

But first they had to locate it among the hundreds of tents in the camp. Look for the antenna, they'd been told and their eyes had scanned the camp from the guard towers during the daylight. They'd spotted a likely target, a tent with a pole that seemed far too high for its needs.

Even though they'd marked the spot, finding it in the dark had proven difficult. They were about ready to give up and try again tomorrow when they spotted it. They grinned at each other and approached carefully. They moved the last few yards on their hands and knees.

There was no guard. They slipped the specially made silencers over the muzzles of their weapons. Their trip was not suicidal. They were to destroy the radio, kill the operators if they could, and get the hell out. A hero's welcome awaited them in Havana.

They opened the flap of the tent and stepped in. What looked like a radio was on a table. They'd barely taken a step towards the bulky item they presumed was the radio when bullets slammed into their chests, hurling them backward, killing them almost instantly.

Major Sam Hartford looked down on the two dead men. His own AK47 had also been silenced, as had the guns held by the others in the tent.

Despite that, there was commotion from the nearby tents and heads stuck out. "Civil defense exercise," Hartford said, "everybody duck and cover." The American POWs grinned and went back inside.

"Stupid bastards," Hartford said as he leaned over the dead Cubans. "Did they really think we wouldn't notice them?"

Captain Tom Keppel jabbed one of the dead men with his boot. "They wore our uniforms which makes them spies, which entitled us to kill them outright."

"Screw that," Hartford said. "They were the enemy and we killed them. And we’ve added two more weapons to our growing little arsenal."

"What do you propose we do with the bodies? Keppel asked.

Hartford thought for a moment. He couldn't have them dumped outside. That would raise too much of a stink and make it obvious that the prisoners, along with being armed, were able to go in and out of the camp at their leisure. There would have to be an investigation and maybe a search of the camp, which could not be permitted to happen. He smiled.

"We'll bury them under the chapel tent and stamp down the ground so nothing shows. We get started now and I want it all done by reveille."

Later that morning, Castro's man from Havana, Dominico Allessandro, sat in General Cordero's office and looked worried. Why not, Cordero thought. His prize plan had collapsed. The two men had been sent into the camp over Cordero's objections, and he found it hard to sympathize with the agent from Havana. He had no doubts as to the fate of the two Cubans who had not returned from their foray.

"What are you going to do now?" Allessandro asked peevishly. "They should have been back by now."

Cordero sighed and farted, which his guest didn't seem to notice. Cordero wondered how many times he would have to do it before getting the man's attention.

"Senor Allessandro, I think's painfully obvious what happened. The agents you attempted to infiltrate in were detected and have likely been killed."

Allessandro stiffened. He was a small, dark man with a perpetual scowl. It seemed affected and Cordero wondered if he thought it made him look more sinister. Still, he was one of Castro's secret police, which gave him the power of life and death. Cordero decided he would not fart again.

Allessandro leaned forward. "You will raid the camp and recover their bodies, won't you? And then of course you will prosecute the killers."

Cordero laughed harshly. "Do you think there are any bodies left for us to find? Disposing of bodies is something the American gangsters always did quite well."

A bomb went off in the harbor as another American jet flew over the city. Allessandro jumped, his scowl giving way to sudden fear. He wasn't yet used to a steady diet of bombs from enemy planes. Havana was still off limits to them. A chorus of cheers came from the camp only a few hundred yards away. Allessandro was livid with fury and frustration.

"They think we won't touch them because the damned Red Cross is squatting here," Allessandro snarled. "They'll behave differently when the real fighting ends and we are victorious."

With that, Allessandro stormed out of Cordero's office. Cordero wiped his sweaty forehead with a handkerchief that had been clean once. Yes, he thought, the Americans will be different when the fighting ends. They'll likely all be home with their families while we are all dead.

"Mr. President, the ships have sailed. The army will be in a position to attack within a day."

Kennedy nodded. It was no secret. The whole world had watched on television as a score of troopships had departed from American ports and headed out to sea to join a host of American cruisers and destroyers, along with submarines to escort them. Only battleships were missing. A shame, Kennedy thought. He'd like to have seen the Missouri and some of her Iowa-class cousins leading the American fleet while blasting the Cuban shore with their sixteen inch guns. He’d always thought it was a mistake to have deactivated them, leaving the navy without a single battleship. Sadly, it was just a little too late to activate one of them.

"Thank you General Taylor."

Taylor continued. "And there have been no major changes to the plans you approved. It will be a two-pronged assault with the army landing first on the north coast and then driving south. It's about sixty miles from the north landing sites to Gitmo. We believe that it will force the Cubans to come out in the open so our planes can hit them while they are on the move."

"And we also hope to flush out their nuke, don't we?"

"Absolutely, sir. We think it's probably closer to Gitmo than the north, so maybe we can kill it while it's on the move."

They had been over this before and the president thought it was a risky move. He'd had to admit that he didn't have a better idea.

Taylor tapped the map of Cuba with his pointer. "No more than a couple of days later, the marines will land on the south of Cuba, on each side of Guantanamo Bay against what we hope will be weakened defenses. The two forces will strike towards each other and link up. Airborne troops will be dropped on and around several small airfields which can be used to ferry in more troops before the linkup between the two landing groups. We hope the Cubans will be confused and disoriented."

We hope, we hope, we hope, Kennedy thought. He seemed to recall something about plans going to hell when the shooting started. "And what more do we know about their nuke?"

"Still nothing," Taylor said grimly.

"Director McCone, have your people turned up anything new?"

"Not a thing, sir. The Russians are looking as well, but nothing from them either. We do believe that Guevera himself is accompanying it."

Kennedy was surprised. "And how do we know that? I thought our intelligence sources had all dried up since the Bay of Pigs."

McCone smiled tightly. "We are getting intelligence because a handful of CIA operatives have been working hard at rebuilding the intelligence apparatus we once had."

"I assume you mean people like Kraeger?"

"Yes sir. That and the fact that a number of people in Havana are horrified that Castro attacked our base and that he had stolen nukes from the Russians. Some of those people are providing us with a lot of information. When we take over and Castro's gone, they hope to get a chance at running a new government. That is, of course, if they don't get a bullet in the back of the head in the first place."

Kennedy digested that last comment. Topple Castro? The Miami exiles were lusting for American help in that regard, but did they want a new Cuban regime to come from inside Castro's communist government? Damn.

"Well at least your people were able to keep that Franklyn fellow from blabbing to the press. About twenty-five years from now you must tell me what you did to shut the man up."

McCone chuckled. "You might want to wait a while longer."

Kennedy turned from the map of Cuba and adjacent waters to a larger map of the Atlantic Ocean. Several red dots showed in international waters off New England. Each one represented a Soviet submarine, riding on the surface as if they were daring the Americans to stop them. What the hell were they up to, he wondered? Hell, they all wondered. Other dots represented a Russian surface squadron, consisting of several cruisers, also headed towards the Caribbean. Would Khrushchev be so arrogant as to use them to force the blockade, or was he just showing the flag to impress the world’s other small nations?

Kraeger and Golikov met across Pennsylvania in front of the White House where large and noisy demonstrations were routinely taking place. Most of the demonstrators were Cuban exiles bearing signs calling for the American invasion and liberation of their homeland, the ouster of Castro, and for Kennedy to be a man. Opposing them were a fair number of civil rights advocates and others against war, any war, and for any reason. Their signs carried the now familiar peace symbol and called for an end to fighting for any reason and in any place.

Kraeger thought it ironic that the peaceful people were on the verge of rioting against the police and the exiles, and looked like they would be happy to use their signs to bash in the skulls of the other side. The police were having a hard time keeping the two angry groups separated.

"Amazing," said Golikov. "In your country you start a riot and call it a democracy. In my country, such nonsense would not be tolerated. A few years in a gulag would teach them the error of their ways."

"I thought the peaceniks like these demented fools were helpful to you?" Kraeger said.

Golikov smiled. "They are very helpful, but such protesters in the Soviet Union or the satellite nations would not be tolerated. You know you are fools to put up with this."

Something flew through the air and landed in front of a cop who angrily looked for the thrower. It was an egg and had come from the Miami exile team. Kraeger was glad he had decided not to include Elena in the little group. Two cops had begun to wrestle a peace demonstrator to the ground and other demonstraters were threatening to attack the cops. Maybe an American gulag was a good idea, Kraeger thought.

"Are we in danger here?" Golikov asked.

"Show them your diplomatic passport. That usually stops rocks and pisses off cops."

Golikov thought the idea was amusing. The two men moved down the street and a block away.

"You called for this meeting," Kraeger said. "So why did you want to meet this wonderful winter day?"

"To let you know what is happening in Moscow."

"Shouldn't the diplomats be talking and not us?" Despite the disclaimer, Kraeger was intrigued.

Golikov shook his head. "No. It was decided that this should be informal, what you call back-channel. Diplomats have nasty habits. They are indecisive, they argue, and then they write memoirs or leak information. By the way, the way you handled that Franklyn idiot was masterful."

Kraeger was shaken. How the hell did the Soviets find out about that? Fucking Washington does leak like a sieve. Or was Golikov saying there was a leak in the CIA? Damn it to hell.

"I'm so glad you approve. So what's happening in Moscow that's so important?"

"Comrade Khrushchev is in trouble. There are those in the Politburo who feel he has been too lenient, too generous to your president regarding the handling of Comrade Castro."

"And here I thought you people thought Castro was crazy and untrustworthy."

"He is, but that cannot be permitted to matter. He is a fool but he is our fool and more important, a communist fool who is being watched by every socialist state in the world along with those we would like to become socialist. In short, Comrade Kraeger, Fidel Castro cannot be allowed to fall or you may be dealing with ultra hard line Stalinists like Brezhnev and Kosygin."

"And if Khrushchev falls he gets a couple of bullets in the back of the skull and it's pronounced a suicide."

Golikov shook his head solemnly. "I already told you we don't do that anymore, or at least not very often. No, Comrade Khrushchev would likely be allowed to retire to a small dacha in the middle of nowhere where he would live in obscurity and fill his days by milking goats."

"I think I'd rather take the bullet," Charley said.

"Say that when the time comes, Kraeger. But let's get back to Cuba. You may get your base back, but Fidel will, must, remain in charge of a communist, socialist Cuba. Any attempt to depose him will put assets of yours in serious jeopardy."

"Berlin?"

"I did not name anything specific. However, Berlin would be in obvious peril, located as it is in the middle of East Germany and surrounded by hundreds of thousands of Soviet and East German soldiers eager to liberate it."

Kraeger took a deep breath and tried to remain outwardly calm. "An assault on West Berlin by either your forces or the East Germans would mean a major military confrontation with the United States and NATO, and result in thousands of dead on each side and the possibility of a full-blown nuclear war."

Golikov nodded. "There are those reactionary Stalinists who consider that an acceptable risk. They think so because they do not think Kennedy will risk nuclear war over such a small matter as Fidel Castro remaining in power. Punish him, humiliate him, take back your base, but you must leave him in control. If American forces approach Havana, General Pliyev's Soviet forces will assist in its defense."

Behind them, crowd noises reached a crescendo. The fighting had clearly escalated out of control. Charley wondered if he was seeing the future as it too escalated out of control.

"We presume you have noticed an increase in our submarine activity? Good. Last October we sent a handful of what you call Foxtrot submarines down to Cuba and you made fools of us as we showed our weaknesses. Not only did some of them not make it all the way because of mechanical problems, but you found the others and forced at least one to the surface. By the way, it had nuclear torpedoes and was considering using them. Fortunately, her captain had second thoughts."

Wow, Kraeger thought, but it did tie in with what Sokolov had said. Nukes were first strike weapons to the Russkis and not weapons of desperation like they were to the U.S.

Golikov lit a cigarette. "It was a humiliation and it won't happen again. This time we are sending a much larger force and they will also have nuclear powered torpedoes. They have orders not to use them unless either attacked or given orders directly from Moscow. But the threat should be clear. Even without firing shot they will raise havoc with your carrier formations and impede your invasion unless you assure us that Castro will survive in power."

"And what if Fidel is killed in action?"

"Don't let that happen," Golikov said.

A swarm of young people, the peaceniks, ran by. Many were bloodied and some were helping others get away. A group of Cuban exiles chased them and caught several, pummeling them badly. One wild-eyed exile grabbed Charley's coat and attempted to land a punch. Charley stopped that nonsense with a kick to the man's groin. He screamed and fell, writhing and clutching himself. Others began to circle Charley and a clearly worried Golikov.

Charley pulled out his ID and his gun. "Back off. I'm a cop." Sullenly, the crowd moved on, looking for easier prey. The man Charley kicked limped off with his hands covering his balls. A few seconds later, a wave of police trotted past them. Charley waved his ID but prudently put the gun away before a DC cop noticed him and it.

"Well done," said a clearly admiring Golikov. "A kick in the balls and a gun work a lot better than a diplomatic passport."

Morton and Ward got the transistor radios working quickly. Romanski and Morton had been out of touch with the real world ever since the first day and listed intently to all the newscasts emanating from Florida.

"Well," Romanski said, "the invasion must really be imminent. The news said that Huntley and Brinkley have reported on NBC television that the ships have sailed."

"So much for a news blackout," Andrew said sarcastically, "and so much for the integrity of the press showing discretion and keeping the invasion a secret. And so much for protecting the lives of us poor guys in the trenches."

"They have their own agenda," Romanski said, "and sometimes it gets guys killed."

"That's just sad," Cathy said. "Why can't they keep their mouths shut for just a little while longer? There was no reason to publicize all that information about Andrew, me, and the others."

Romanski smiled tolerantly. He rather liked the young woman and he'd quickly picked up on the fact that she was following Ross around like a puppy and that Ross rather liked having a puppy. He liked to think it reminded him of how he and Midge behaved when they were oh so young. Of course, he recalled that he was the puppy, not Midge. Damn it, he missed her.

"It goes to the fact that news is now a business," Romanski said. "The telecasts cost money and the networks get back their money by renting out commercial space. If nobody's watching then nobody's gonna buy the commercial time. Thus, they have to constantly dig up news and some of them are not above creating news if nothing much happened on that given day. That's what happened to you, Cathy. They had time to fill and they did it with your pretty face."

Cathy flushed. "I'm not pretty."

Romanski leaned forward and grinned. "I beg to differ and I think young Lieutenant Ross would disagree as well."

She was about to reply when Ward yelled and whooped.

"What's happening?" Romanski asked.

Ward grinned. "I think Sergeant Morton has our real radio working again. He's gonna try and contact Washington."

Homero Ruiz lounged against a crumbling cement wall that ran along a busy street, and concentrated on observing his world. Ruiz wore the scruffy uniform of the Cuban militia, and a casual observer would have surmised that he was just another lazy private killing a morning by goofing off in the sun.

He wasn't. Ruiz had been a crewman on the destroyer Wallace. He'd been in the base's clinic with a mildly sprained shoulder and been left behind at Guantanamo when the ship had been bombed. He'd watched in stunned disbelief as she managed to make it to sea, only to be attacked and bombed again, sinking her. He'd lost a lot of good friends when the Cubans sank the Wallace, and he didn't think it ironic that he was able to call Cubans the enemy. He was an American, not a Cuban and especially wasn't a follower of Castro. He really didn't know all the details about the loss of his ship. It didn't matter. He hated Castro even more then he had before the attacks.

Ruiz had been born in Santiago some twenty years earlier, and his parents had immigrated to the United States when he was ten. He’d enlisted right out of high school and, when he finished his tour of duty in the navy he would become a U.S. citizen, and just thinking of that made him very proud. He would then go to college on the GI Bill. He wanted to be a teacher. His parents were among the lucky ones. They had left Cuba before Castro came to power and had managed to take their savings with them. Thus, they were now the prosperous owners of a couple of grocery stores in Miami. Other relatives hadn't been so fortunate. A couple of them were in Cuban prisons and others had escaped with only the shirts on their backs. Those who’d made it out were being helped by his parents, which made him even prouder of them.

Ruiz was not concerned that anyone would recognize him. He'd left as a boy, but returned as a man. He was dark-skinned like most Cubans, betraying Negro heritage, and spoke the local language fluently. Some things are never forgotten, he concluded. Ruiz found it amusing that a few faces in the civilian population did look familiar, even though he couldn't recall their names. Just as well. He wasn't there to make friends.

Santiago had been one of the key pieces of Castro's revolution. It was called the “Heroes City” because of its citizen’s efforts supporting several revolutions, beginning with fighting the Spanish in the last century, and culminating in Castro's rise to power.

Ruiz was amused by the post-revolutionary name changes. Major streets and parks had been renamed in honor of the new order. Ruiz thought it was all cosmetic. Giving a street in a slum a new name did not mean it was no longer a slum, or that Castro wasn't a dictator. He was puzzled as to why the people seemed so happy since they still had next to nothing. There had been no new construction of any significance, yet life under Castro must be better than it had been under Batista. He would have to discuss this with his family when he got home. He laughed to himself. First, of course, he would have to get his young navy ass home.

His goal this day, as with other days, was to find out just where the hell General Cordero went when he left his office, which was in a building adjacent to the camp. The major wanted intelligence and Ruiz would do his best to comply.

The overweight and slow moving Cordero was usually easy to follow, and nobody gave a thought to an innocuous young man in uniform tailing him. Cordero frequently visited friends in the city's dwindling civilian population. Santiago's quarter of a million people was down to less than a third of that because of fear of American bombings. Tent cities had sprung up everywhere outside the city and Ruiz wondered if they were safer there than in the city. At least it meant that the bomb shelters weren't very crowded when the sirens went off.

On most occasions Cordero's trips to Santiago were very basic. He visited a house where a plump woman greeted warmly and the good general got himself royally laid. Nothing wrong with that, Ruiz thought with a laugh. He considered visiting the woman himself and seeing if she took American money. Not a good idea, he'd concluded. One time Ruiz had gotten close enough to an open window to hear their grunting and panting and concluded that no military secrets were being discussed. Although, as he'd facetiously told Lieutenant Skronski, it was clear that something was coming.

This time Ruiz was puzzled. The general had gone to a small house across a field from an abandoned and ruined school. As far as Ruiz could tell, there was nothing in the small building that would interest the general. However, Cordero had been inside for more than an hour, so something important must be going on. He'd already noted the presence of several guards in a loose perimeter around the building and had also seen other people going into that small building and another one across the street.

He got up and walked around. He debated looking inside the small building or walking across to the school, but dismissed the thoughts as foolish and maybe dangerous. There was no way he could explain his interest in the school if guards stopped him, and the guards sure as hell would stop him if he tried to go into that small building.

Then he saw it and couldn't stifle a grin. The sun and shadows brought out the outline of a filled-in trench leading from the building to the school. No, he realized, it wasn't a trench. The earth covered a tunnel. Something very, very important was under that school. Now this was something Lieutenant Skronski would love to hear.

"What are you doing here?"

Ruiz nearly jumped out of his skin. It was General Cordero. He'd come out of the building and Ruiz hadn't noticed. Ruiz managed a quick sloppy salute that seemed to satisfy Cordero's sense of military protocol.

But not his curiosity. "I said, what are you doing here?"

"Sir," Ruiz stammered. "Nothing. Just staying out of trouble." The nervous stammer was real. He was scared to death that Cordero suspected something.

"By avoiding an honest day's work? Get out of here you lazy piece of shit. I see you hanging around doing nothing and I'll have your ass nailed to a wall. Now go."

Ruiz managed another sloppy salute and ran off towards the Mancudo Barracks, the place where many of the militiamen were quartered. After a block or two he turned around. Cordero was heading in the other direction, towards the prison camp. Ruiz would wait until nightfall to sneak back inside. He couldn't run the risk of Cordero recognizing him as one of the camps "guards" and possibly realizing that whatever secret was buried underground at the school was no longer a secret.

It would be a long few hours and he was dying to tell Skronski what he'd seen. Skronski had told him that care and patience were required to be a good observer and he'd surprised himself to find that he was good at it. Ruiz preferred to think of himself as a spy. It was a lot more glamorous and the chicks would love hearing about it when he got himself home.

But first he had to get back to the camp. He squatted down against a wall like several other militiamen were doing and waited. He wanted a cigarette, but he didn't dare carry any American ones, and the ones available in Santiago were wretched. A huge picture of Fidel Castro glared at him from another wall. Ruiz felt like getting up and pissing on Fidel's face. Maybe next time.

Chapter Seventeen

Cathy Malone leaned against the warm earth and relaxed, letting the warmth of the sun dry her. It had rained. Just a sudden shower, but she and the others had gotten fairly well drenched before they could get their ponchos on. It was a reminder that the rainy season was coming and that Cuba could be miserable and unhealthy.

Andrew was off doing something and she was seated comfortably between Colonel Romanski and Sergeant Morton. The two men enjoyed her presence and liked talking to someone who wasn't in the military.

"Being a mere civilian, can I ask some questions?"

Romanski laughed. "Since you are a mere civilian, there's no way I could stop you even if I wanted."

"Okay. First off, were you concerned that Andrew would resent your coming in and taking over?"

"Does he?"

"No. He's actually relieved. Like Sergeant Cullen says, he did real well for an accountant. Cullen's teasing, but there's an element of truth in it."

"He did better than real well," Romanski said and Morton nodded. "He saved his people, at least those it was possible to save. He wouldn't be human if the loss of so many of his men didn't upset him, but he has no one to blame but the Cubans and those who hung him out to dry in the first place." He tried to stifle his anger. After all, it was much like what had happened to him and the Morton. "And I'll include a whole bunch of people in Washington who might have known the Cubans were going to attack. A lot of people were sent out to fight and die without proper resources."

"Good," Cathy said. "I was hoping you felt that way. I certainly do, but what do I really know about these things?"

Romanski stifled a smile. He'd notice how Cathy and Andrew looked at each other. If they ever got back safely, Romanski thought they were going to have an interesting future. At least they'd so far had the discretion to keep from openly displaying their developing feelings for each other. Apparently they'd gone no farther than sit close and maybe discretely hold hands when, deep down, they were probably near to exploding with emotion and unrequited passion. He smiled as he remembered just how he and Midge had behaved in circumstances when extreme discretion was required and how quickly they’d gotten out of their clothes when they’d gotten some privacy. He swallowed hard as he wondered just what Midge was doing.

"Cathy, if Andrew was planning on reenlisting, he'd get a lot of endorsements from real professionals who appreciate what he's done. Since he's not, he'll probably have to settle for a medal. As to his resenting me coming in and taking over, you're right — he doesn't resent it at all. He is relieved. I have the rank and the seniority, and, oh yeah, the experience. And even if he did resent it, tough. The military runs on a rather harsh hierarchy: rank rules and nobody cares a damn about other people's feelings. Right now, I'm top dog and he's second. Morton and Cullen come next in that order."

She smiled sweetly. "Where do I fit in?"

"Any place you want, but probably close to Ross," Romanski said with mock solemnity, making her giggle.

"I'm curious," she said. "You're retiring and Andrew, I mean, Lieutenant Ross, isn't going to reenlist. Is anybody going to be left? What about you, Sergeant Morton, are you going to stay in?"

Morton laughed harshly. "Only choice I have young lady."

"Why? The economics? Surely you can earn more in civilian life."

"But first I'd have to survive civilian life. Here, let me show you something." He pulled out his wallet and opened it. "It's a picture of my wife."

Cathy stared at it. "Oh."

"Notice something?"

Cathy recovered her poise. "Yes I do, sergeant, she's definitely not as dark complexioned as you are."

The photo was of a very attractive blond white woman in her thirties. Sergeant Morton was black and his wife was white. She'd heard of such mixed race marriages before but had never known anyone in such a strange situation. She didn't count Ward's so-called Italian aunt. Ward admitted he'd made it up just to get a reaction. People in her circles universally condemned such relationships and, in many places they were illegal. If nothing else, there was the fear for the safety of the children of such unions.

Morton put the wallet away. "Her name is Heidi and I met her when I was stationed in Germany. Her former Nazi family hates me ‘cause I'm a nigger and from an inferior race, and my side of the family hates her because she's white and they think she grabbed onto me so she could get my money and get out of Germany and into the United States. It never occurred to either sets of fools that we might just love each other."

"How long have you been married?"

"Ten years now, and we needed to jump through a lot of hoops and get permission before we could."

"Kids?"

"None and there won't be any. Won't bring half-breeds into a world that's gonna hate them because they either aren't all white or aren't black enough. Got enough troubles."

"Half-breeds? You make them sound like Indians?"

Morton shrugged. "Don't know what else to call them. Mulatto sounds like something from the Civil War. No, the children would bear the pain, the sins of the parents, if you will."

"Sad but true," Cathy said.

Morton shook his head. "Of course we'd be happy as hell to be parents, but it ain't gonna happen. Heidi even joked one time that we should adopt a Korean kid just to confuse the hell out of anyone who saw us. No, just staying alive is hard enough. Hell, Heidi and I can't even drive in the same car off base, especially down south, without some redneck yelling something that starts with the letter 'f' and ends with nigger. Once we tried driving with her in the back seat and me acting like a chauffeur but that didn't work either. Chauffeurs don't drive old light blue Ford Falcons with dings in the fenders. Even the dumbest redneck saw through that ruse.

"Hell, we can't even go to a restaurant, and that includes places in the so-called liberated north. No one's gonna seat us together and, if they did, all the nice white folks would up and leave. That and our food would be delivered cold a day or two later and probably with a cockroach's ass sticking out of the mashed potatoes."

Cathy was fascinated and horrified. This was a part of the world she'd never visited, never even knew existed. Negroes were background in her environment and seemed reasonably happy with their lot. Now she wondered just what their lot was, their place in life.

"What about restaurants for colored?"

He shrugged. "Same thing. And the food's not as good as white restaurants. And we can't go to movies, either, unless we're up north and buy separate tickets. Even then, people make remarks when we sit together in the dark. There are a lot of southern whites in the military who belong to the Klan and a lot of northern whites who wish they could. A black man with rank is barely tolerated, but a black man screwing a sacred white woman is the worst possible sin against humanity and their interpretation of God's law."

Morton smiled grimly. "So you see, Cathy, my wife and I are going to stay military for as long as we can and then find a place in or near a base to call home, and sanctuary. By the way, we always carry guns, whether we're allowed to or not. Never had to pull one yet, but you never know."

Cathy was about to respond when they saw Andrew and Cullen jogging towards them.

Romanski stood up awkwardly. His leg had stiffened up from the rain. "What is it, lieutenant?"

"Sergeant Cullen's spotted an anti-aircraft battery about a mile away, sir."

Romanski grinned wolfishly. "Well, well, and what do you fine young men propose to do about that?"

Cullen responded. "Sir, the lieutenant and I propose to take it out."

The Cuban anti-aircraft battery consisted of a pair of 24mm Swedish-made Oerlikon cannon mounted on a tracked chassis. Andrew was a little nonplussed that they'd missed the damn thing since it was so close, but Romanski let him down easily.

"Ross, it might have been moved there just recently and, besides, you have barely a handful of men to guard the camp, much less patrol the area. There's no way you could've checked a wide area even if you'd wanted to. Even though he'll never admit it, young Gunnery Sergeant Cullen found it because he was lucky."

Cullen grinned. "With respect, sir, luck had nothing to do with it. It was highly honed Marine Corp skills all the way. Semper Fi!"

Cullen told them he saw no more than four men at the guns, but agreed that others might have been in the area. Still, they decided killing it was worth the try. The weapon was a danger to American planes and should be taken out if they possibly could.

"Gentlemen," Romanski said, "we don't do suicides. If it looks too dangerous, pull back. This group is small enough as it is and we still have that Russian missile to deal with, and that is our first priority. Assuming, of course that we find the damn thing."

It was decided that Ross would lead the effort with sergeants Morton and Cullen backing him up. Andrew accepted the obvious. The two NCOs were much more experienced then he and would step in if it looked like he was screwing things up. PFC Ward was included in the group.

Morton glared at the other black man, Ward. "Somebody's gotta carry our luggage, boy."

The only one who didn't laugh was PFC Groth who protested that he should be allowed to go along, too.

"Not a chance," Romanski said. "You're as bad off as I am. Just a little while ago you were complaining of headaches and that you were still sometimes seeing double. No, young marine, you stay here with your gimpy colonel and the beautiful young lady."

Before they left, Cathy got Andrew alone. "Look, this sounds like a cliche from a bad cowboy movie, but please be careful and please come back to me." With that, she hugged him and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek that Romanski and Morton pretended not to see.

Carrying only their weapons, grenades, and extra ammunition, the four men were able to move rapidly and soon came on the vehicle carrying the anti-aircraft guns. It was camouflaged under tree limbs. They counted two men who were eating from a mess kit while they lounged around the vehicle.

"Whatcha think, lieutenant?" Morton asked

"We know there are at least two more men because Cullen saw them and because somebody had to make the food they're eating. My guess is there are a lot more than the two others Cullen saw. They don’t appear too concerned about ground security which may give us a good shot at destroying those guns."

Ross was concerned about other Cubans, but decided against investigating farther. He said there was too much risk that the other Cubans might be more alert and discover them if they did. He said they should take quick advantage of the apparent overconfidence of the men at the guns. To his surprise, Morton and Cullen agreed.

"Plans?" Morton asked.

"We keep it simple," Ross answered. "Having only four people does not make for opportunities for grand strategy. And it's going to start raining real soon and that's good. Rain'll make it difficult for them to track us after we hit them."

When the two sergeants again agreed, Ross continued. "I suggest we creep up as closely as possible to those two yo-yos and kill them. Then we dump grenades on the guns and run like hell."

Cullen nodded. "You three do the killing and I'll take care of the grenades. I'm pretty good at blowing things up."

As threatened, it began to rain, although not heavily at first. The two Cubans moved closer to their vehicle and tried to keep dry as the rainfall increased in intensity. They were looking anywhere but where they should have been, enabling the four Americans to slither up to within twenty yards of them. Finally, one of the Cubans looked in disbelief at the apparitions appearing before them.

"Now," Ross yelled. His heart was pounding in his chest and he could barely squeak out the order. No matter, all four men opened fire at point blank range, dropping the two Cubans. Ross, Morton, and Ward formed a short skirmish line. Suddenly, a third Cuban jumped up and only a few feet away. He looked puzzled and they stared at each other for only an instant before they fired into his chest and head. Where the hell had he been? Ross wondered. Probably taking a nap. Cullen jumped into the vehicle with all their grenades.

"Hurry," Ross said. The now heavy rainfall had muffled the sounds of gunfire but not entirely. They could hear sounds of confusion coming farther from their front. The Cubans would be on them in a minute.

Cullen jumped down, a length of cord in his hand. "Run!" he yelled and pulled the cord.

They needed no further urging and sprinted like they were on fire for the bushes they'd just left. Seconds later, the grenades exploded, taking with them the ammunition stored on the gun carrier, which exploded like a giant fireworks display.

More than a dozen Cubans emerged from the brush on the other side of the exploding track. One of them wore a beret and was trying to lead them. The four Americans opened fire, scattering the Cubans, who were already disconcerted by the explosion. On cue, the leaden sky fully opened up and torrents of rain drenched them. Andrew grinned. Their footprints would be wiped out. Still, they would not take the direct route to the camp. They'd head north, then east, before heading back to Romanski and the others.

After they'd gone a while, Cullen grabbed Andrew's arm. "Lieutenant, you see the guy with the beret?"

"Yeah."

"Look familiar?"

Ross had to think. There had been something vaguely familiar about the man, but then, he'd only seen him for an instant.

Then it dawned on him, "Oh Jesus. Che Guevara."

And the only reason Che Guevara would be hanging around would be that the nuke was nearby, really nearby.

A thousand paratroopers were crowded into the massive and otherwise empty hangar. The C54s that mechanics had been working on inside the structure were now neatly aligned with others on the runway outside and awaited their passengers. Each plane could carry as many as fifty men and, in one configuration or another, the venerable and reliable aircraft had been around since World War II.

They snapped to attention when Colonel Rutherford took the podium from the previous speaker who'd been discussing the deteriorating weather conditions over Eastern Cuba and what they could expect to find when they hit the ground. They immediately relaxed on Rutherford's order to carry on and be seated.

Rutherford looked over the congregation. Young men all and they stared up at him, hoping he had all the answers to questions they hadn't even thought of yet.

Rutherford took a second to stare back at them. There were so many familiar faces. His heart ached. He'd been through what they were about to experience in World War II and he wanted to keep them from it. He couldn't. They were paratroopers, men of the 101st Airborne Division and they were going to jump into what might become a living and dying hell.

"Men, before you got the latest weather report, you heard another nice major from division intelligence tell you about what the Cubans might do to stop us. He said that just about all Cuban planes have been shot down or destroyed and every defensive site the Cubans have has been bombed to smithereens. He said that resistance will be light because the Cubans are thoroughly demoralized and really want Uncle Sam to come in and settle all their problems, just like we've done in the past."

Rutherford swaggered across the small stage, a conscious imitation of what he'd seen General George Patton do during World War II. "Well, men, what do you think of the nice intelligence major's assessment of the Cuban military?"

A thousand faces split in grins. "Bullshit, sir!" they chorused. The intelligence officer tried to pretend he was shocked, simply shocked, at the outburst, but couldn't keep a straight face. He'd said what the Pentagon said to say and he knew it was bullshit, too.

Rutherford smiled back. He knew his men. He'd trained them well. Prepare for the worst, he'd always said, and the best will take care of itself. The weatherman from division really looked shocked. Rutherford smiled at him and thought, well fuck him.

"Men, do you think the Cubans love us?"

"No, sir!"

"Do you think they'll fight like hell to protect their shitty little country from us?"

"Yes, sir!"

"You believe a bunch of flyboys twenty thousand feet in the air with at least one hand on their cocks at all time got each and every Cuban plane, tank, gun, and soldier."

The men were laughing even though the joke was at their expense. "No sir!"

"Well I don't either. I think division has done a fine job but their so-called intelligence estimates are way too optimistic. Any of you ever jump into combat before?" A couple of hands were raised. Rutherford knew who they belonged to. "Yeah, just a couple of old farts like me did it and that was in World War II at Normandy. I was twenty, even younger than some of you men. What happened there was simple. Everything got fucked up. We got shot at, shot down, and pissed on and when we finally landed, and we were miles away from our drop zones. We were scattered, lost, and scared and we had to find our buddies in the night while the god-damned Nazis were trying to kill us. We lost a lot of good men that night, but we finally made it out and kicked their asses, and we will do that tomorrow no matter what happens. Who knows, maybe the intelligence will be right this time, but we ain't gonna count on it are we?"

"No sir!" they roared.

"Good. ‘Cause this time tomorrow we are all gonna be in Cuba one way or the other. Our job is to take that little air field so the rest of the 101st Airborne Division can land behind in nice comfortable airplanes and not have to jump out of otherwise perfectly good ones. And don't be afraid to be afraid. Anybody who isn't afraid is either totally unaware of his world or totally insane. Don't worry about pissing yourself or crapping your pants if you're shot at, because you won't be alone and that'll be the least of your problems. I'll be there with you and I fervently expect to be scared, although I sure as hell hope I don't piss or shit myself. But, scared or not, we are all going to do our jobs."

He paused for effect. "This is going to be a night drop and some of you are thinking about what happened to Roman Force on Christmas. Well, put that out of your minds. Roman Force went in without any real plans and absolutely no cover. No escorts and no preparation was a recipe for a total fuck up. We'll be guided in by scores of air force and navy planes. For once I agree with the intel major. The Cuban air force shows up and it's lights out for them. No, our problems will occur on the ground.

"Men, we are going first. We are the pick of the litter. Everyone here expects to do his best and he expects everyone else to do his best. When that happens, the Cubans will get the message and pull out, at least those who are still alive. God bless you all."

He turned and walked away as waves of cheers and applause washed over him. Rutherford didn't want anyone to see the tears forming.

In the back of the hangar, Second Lieutenant Chris Mellor turned to his buddy, Second Lieutenant Tom Santini. "Tom, we are totally fucked, aren't we?"

"Looks like it, Chris. I just hope I can handle it."

Mellor nodded. Fresh out of officer candidate school, the platoon he now led was his first command and he was appalled at the thought that they were all looking up to him for leadership when what he really wanted to do was throw up at the thought of going into combat. Part of his mind said that every sane man felt that way, but that didn't help very much.

Each had enlisted at eighteen, in part to avoid the specter of the draft which would screw up their lives until their early twenties, and in part because they really wanted to be soldiers. After basic, they'd applied for and passed airborne training and then they'd applied for OCS and aced the training. They were thinking they might make the army a career, although both of them were scared at the thought of making a combat jump. Each wanted to throw up at the thought, but neither would admit it, of course.

The two men stepped outside. Night was beginning to fall. Civilian houses and stores surrounded the temporary base, just outside the wire fence that was patrolled by armed guards. Their lights were reminders of their homes, places where people didn't carry weapons, jump out of airplanes, or try to kill people who were trying to kill them.

"Just curious," Mellor said. "What were you doing when you got the word the Cubans had attacked Gitmo. I was home with my family and planning to go over to my girlfriend's place about lunch time.

Santini said he'd been at his girlfriend's and had been there all night. He grinned wickedly. "I'd already opened my Christmas present at least a couple of times."

Rutherford said they'd all be in Cuba this time tomorrow. What the hell had he gotten himself into, Mellor wondered? Santini grabbed his arm. "C'mon. There's something you've gotta see."

They climbed a fire escape on a building that stood four stories above the ground. It never occurred to them that they might fall. If you're willing to jump out of an airplane, little things like fire escapes are no concern.

"My God," Mellor said as they finally made the rooftop. Laid out in front of them were hundreds, maybe thousands, of two-man pup tents. Most had a small Sterno fire going and glowing in the night. The field of tents extended towards the horizon.

"It's like the Civil War," Santini said. "Like maybe the Union Army encamped the night before Gettysburg."

Mellor reluctantly agreed. He couldn't help but think how many good men had died at Gettysburg.

The C54 rocked as winds and Cuban anti-aircraft fire buffeted it. Mellor tried hard to hold onto his lunch. It kept wanting to come back up. He didn't want to puke in front of his men. Many others had failed and the combined odors in the plane from nearly fifty men sweating, farting, and vomiting was nearly overwhelming. He concluded that a jump over hostile Cuba would be a relief, if only to get out of the stench filled plane.

Mellor ruefully concluded that Colonel Rutherford had been correct. The Cubans weren't taking all of this lying down, and they sure as hell had been prepared and waiting.

They were one plane in a flight of twenty-five C54s carrying the battalion and some other people, probably Special Forces or CIA types. Their destination was an airfield outside the city of La Lima in the Oriente Province. It was about twenty miles inland from the north coast of Cuba. Once the airfield was taken, additional planes carrying the rest of the 101st Airborne Division would land and spread out. The 82nd Airborne had a similar task. The army's infantry and armor would land on the north coast and push south through areas taken by the airborne divisions, effectively cutting the eastern portion of Cuba off from the rest of Castro-land. Although not much had been said, it was assumed that the marines would land on the south coast as the army approached the twin targets of Santiago and Guantanamo.

Being Airborne and elite, the paratroopers wondered why it was going to take the rest of the American military so long to get to them.

Santini said it was a good plan, but so too was Custer's. "You remember Custer's last words, don't you?"

Mellor snorted, "Yeah. He said don't worry men, there aren't any fucking Indians out here."

They'd been flying for what seemed like forever and evading ground based gunfire for even longer. Mellor's overheard comments from the flight crew said that at least one plane had been hit and had either crashed or been forced to abort. They'd all looked at each other. Was that information they really wanted to know? Those were their buddies on that downed plane.

The signal to finally get ready came as a shock and a relief. Pebbles rattled off the plane, echoing inside. The men looked at each other. Flak. The colonel had been right. The Cubans were going to put up a fight for their country.

They stood and faced the now opened hatch. Each man checked the man in front of him. Finally, the order came and they jumped. Mellor had no idea if he’d yelled "Geronimo" or not. It was all a blur of wind and noise.

His chute opened and he saw he was surrounded by many other billowing parachutes in the early morning sky. Good. He would not be alone. Tracers lifted off from the ground, glowing little fireflies looking for soft flesh to rip and tear.

A C54 was hit. It lost a wing and began to cartwheel down to the ground. In a horrifyingly short time, it crashed and exploded. He wondered if it had been full or empty. He hoped Santini hadn't been on it, and then realize he was hoping some other poor schmuck had gotten killed instead of him or his buddy and wasn't that greedy of him. Tough shit, he thought.

Mellor hit the ground, tucked and rolled over. He gathered his legs and released the chute which billowed away. There was small arms fire all around him. They had landed in among some Cubans. A shape appeared before him. A Cuban. Mellor pulled the trigger on his carbine. Nothing. He'd forgotten to release the safety. The Cuban fired and missed. Mellor got the safety off, fired several times. The man squealed and flopped to the ground. The poor sap must've been even more scared than me to miss at such close range, Mellor decided. He realized he'd just killed a man, began shaking and threw up.

Gradually, the firefights subsided. Mellor had gotten control and found himself surrounded by a score of men, some of whom were actually from his platoon. The airfield was supposed to be to the east. He checked his compass and led his flock in that direction. Other small groups were doing much the same thing. Everybody knew that a drop would lead to chaos, but it was the job of everyone, especially the junior officers and NCOs, to bring order out of that chaos and accomplish their assigned task. The airfield had to be taken; otherwise there was no reason for the jump. Worse, if they didn't take the field and hold it for reinforcements, it was likely they'd all be killed or captured by thoroughly pissed off Cubans.

As they went, a few more of his men found him and increased his little army. Suddenly, the ground erupted with a series of explosions from about a mile in front of him. Seconds later even more explosions sent shock waves over them.

To his astonishment, the artificial light from the explosions showed that Santini was just a little ways away. "If the Cubans did what I think they did, we are in deep shit," Mellor's friend said.

"And what might that be?" Mellor asked.

"I'll bet they've blown up the runways at the airfield. Yeah, they can be fixed and filled in, but that'll take us a long time, especially since the Commies will be hitting us fast and hard."

"So what do we do next?"

"Assuming Colonel Rutherford survived," Santini said, "I think he'll have us take the field, start filling in the craters as best we can, and be prepared to hold on for as long as we have to. Only thing that's certain is there'll be no reinforcements for us this fine day."

Cuban fighter pilot Captain Miguel Rojas considered it possible that his was the only MiG left in the entire Cuban air force. During the attack on Guantanamo on Christmas day, he'd managed to shoot up some targets on the ground, and, after leading the magnificent attack on Miami, he'd been presented with a medal by Fidel himself, even though his plane had been destroyed shortly after he'd landed. He'd been issued an older model MiG as a replacement, and looked forward to again fighting the Americans. But, when enemy planes finally appeared overhead in great numbers, the orders had been for all pilots to keep any remaining planes on the ground. He'd protested, but been told that it was important to preserve him and his plane for future works.

Rojas hadn't been surprised when his plane had been moved to a temporary runway that was little more than a straight dirt road that had been leveled and then covered with phony debris to make it look useless. Every other military base had been hammered by the Americans. He and he others, if there were any others, would stay hidden.

After a few days, his fears of being alone had been allayed. He'd managed to make contact with several of his fellow pilots and concluded that maybe a dozen planes had survived. It might have helped if they'd had the more modern MiG-21s, but those state of the art fighters were reserved for Soviet pilots who weren't taking them anywhere. He grudgingly accepted the fact that he and the others weren't nearly as good as the American pilots and would be overwhelmed and destroyed regardless of what they flew if they had to take on the Americans in combat. Thus, the remaining Cubans flew older model MiG 17s and 19s. Rojas was now assigned an even older MiG 15, a single seater from the Korean War era. He was told that it was all the Cuban air force had left, which was also quite depressing. It carried two 37mm cannon and two 23mm cannon, along with a number of rockets. He sorely missed the more modern MiG 17 he'd flown over Miami.

Rojas understood his assignment. He was not to attack American fighters no matter how much a duel in the sky tempted him. No, he was to attack the transports that carried paratroopers. He accepted this. Rojas was as brave as the next man but to live to a ripe old age. The American pilots and their planes were vastly superior to him. He would do what he could and flee.

Finally, the weeks of waiting were over. Tonight was the night. Excited radio reports told of long lines of American transport planes approaching the coast of Cuba. Fat, slow, and juicy, they were filled with elite American paratroopers. Rojas sat in the cockpit of his plane and nervously fingered the rosary beads his new government said were useless, because there was no such thing as God. He admitted that they might not save him, but caressing them like he had done for the first twenty-five years of his life was comforting.

The order came. His plane raced down the improvised runway, hoping that it was long enough, hoping there were no potholes to hit and knock him sideways, thus ending his life in a fiery ball of jet fuel.

There weren't. Suddenly, he was airborne. The radio guided him to where a flight of American transports was approaching. His orders were to stay very low, get under the planes and erupt among them. It all sounded so simple when it had been explained to him by people who would never have to leave the safety of the ground.

When he judged he was beneath the American planes, he angled upwards sharply. The big fat American planes were flying in columns of three and were silhouetted against the night sky. He reduced his rate of ascent to extend the amount of time he would be under them and slowed his speed to near stall, because they were flying so slowly. If he had to, his MiG could fly twice the speed of the C54. As soon as they were within range, he fired his rockets and then his cannon at the slow-moving targets. The Americans began to juke and try to evade. He laughed. The fox was in the henhouse.

He was through them and one transport had passed only a few feet from his wingtip. Rojas rolled his plane and turned for another sweep. He was out of rockets and almost out of cannon shells. He'd been excited and had fired too fast. He knew he had hit some of them and caused God only knew what damage to the soft flesh jammed within them. Other transports had banked so steeply that anyone inside must be badly injured.

He swept along the top of the planes and raked the flight with his remaining ammunition, again fighting a stall. An angry American fighter swept by. It wanted to kill him, but he was too close to the transports and it was too fast. It hurtled past him. He'd hoped for the obvious signs of a plane going down, but no such luck. It occurred to him that he didn't really have to shoot down a transport to accomplish his goal.

Rojas ducked down below the transports and leveled off. His day was done. He put the plane on auto-pilot and ejected. A few seconds later he watched as the MiG exploded from American fire. Some American pilot would claim a kill, but far too late. He landed safely, cut away his parachute and began to walk down the first road he came to. He had no idea where he was going and it didn't matter. His war was over.

Manuel Hidalgo found to his surprise and delight that none of his new comrades had any inkling of his disgrace in Santiago. He was issued a new rifle, this one an incredibly old Mauser, and a few bullets. He considered himself lucky to have that relic. Many of his fellow militiamen had shotguns or rifles even older than his.

Manuel's unit's job was to patrol the beaches in case American saboteurs tried to come ashore, keep an eye out for any American warships, and to dig fortifications. But most of all, they dug.

Manuel and the others spent hours each day excavating trenches, filling sandbags, and otherwise working like mules. At the end of the day, they were too tired to try to find liquor or even the occasional woman. Prostitution had been outlawed and, to everyone's surprise, the law seemed to be working, at least in the area along the northeast coast of Cuba.

He'd received several letters from his Aunt Marinda who told him she was organizing a woman's league to try and interfere with the Americans if they should be so foolish as to attempt a landing on the north coast. Manuel quietly wondered just what a bunch of women could do. He hoped they would not attempt anything that would put them in harm's way.

She also informed him that Miguel's former schoolteacher, Mr. Flores, had disappeared along with his wife and two children. At first she'd thought that they'd all been arrested for their acknowledged criticisms of the revolution, but then she’d picked up on the rumor that they'd taken a small boat to Florida. Good riddance, both he and Marinda thought. Anyone who was not for the revolution should indeed get the hell out of a brand new Cuba that was for all people, not just the elite.

But was Flores, a teacher in a one room school, part of the elite? Miguel decided he'd have to think that one over. How did a mousy schoolteacher who always wore shabby clothes become part of anybody's elite?

American fighter planes flew over, making a great noise as their jets screeched, and Miguel and the others jumped for cover. They laughed nervously as the Americans never did anything more than fly low and then continue on their way. Maybe they were intentionally tormenting the men on the beaches? Sometimes they'd see in the distance where bombs had fallen as smoke and flames billowed into the sky, but so far they were safe.

Miguel was also proud of his new body. The hard work was creating muscle where there had once only been skin. Maybe when he got home, some of the local girls would give him a look. Of course it would really help if he could get rid of the glasses he wore. He'd never really had a woman, at least not that he remembered. The closest he'd come was that memorable night before his losing his rifle. He'd been told that he’d lost his virginity to that whore from Santiago who was still working for a living. Apparently things were looser in Santiago.

He'd been told that he'd passed out after he’d gotten laid by the puta. He knew he’d passed out, but recalled nothing of any sexual conquest. Even if he had, he thought it might not matter since he wouldn't have recalled a thing. How could you say you lost your virginity if you didn't remember it?

At least he was safe where he was. Not even the officers thought the Americans would come to where they were. No, it was still the consensus that the attack would come in the south. The bombs falling inland were either nuisance attacks, distractions, or maybe somebody had gotten foolish and exposed a juicy target to the Americans.

He did wonder just why there were no Cuban planes in the air. He'd been told it was because they were being saved for the day of the attack, at which time they'd spring out from hiding and shoot down the Americans. It all sounded so good, but others said that all the Cuban planes had been shot down. He had a nagging feeling that this was closer to the truth.

Miguel Hidalgo awoke with a start. Sirens were wailing and men began to rush here and there in confusion. He rolled out of his cot, grabbed his glasses and clothes and dressed quickly. He did not want to go on alert in his underwear. Weapons, normally under lock, were beginning to be handed out.

"What is happening?" he managed to ask.

Americans, came the answer. Ships had been spotted just over the horizon and heading right towards them. Manuel was about to say that the Americans were going to attack in the south and not the north, when a tremendous explosion shook the area, raining dirt on them.

"Bombs," yelled his sergeant just as a pair of American jets flew over, only this time they did not continue on. Instead, they turned and attacked again. Only dimly visible in the half light before dawn, they shrieked low over head, their machine guns and rockets blazing.

Instead of running for their shelters, the Cuban militia headed for the bunkers and trenches they'd worked so hard to build. They poured in and took up station. Miguel squinted out into the vast ocean. It didn't matter. Even with his glasses, which were now very dirty, he couldn't see very much at all.

No, now he could. Dim shapes were appearing on the horizon. Ships, many ships, more ships than he’d ever thought existed. As he watched in disbelief, lights flickered on the horizon. A moment later, shells impacted in the area, destroying the fortifications they'd so recently built.

An officer ran by. "Pull back. Everyone out, we're withdrawing to the second line."

What second line, Miguel thought, and then asked why don't they stay and fight?

His sergeant laughed at him, "Because the fools that put us out here forgot to give us any cannon. All we have to shoot at the Yankee warships are old rifles like yours and old men like me shooting them. Now start running before you get your young ass killed."

Marinda Alvarez waited for the Americans to show their ugly white faces. It didn’t matter to her that many Cubans had white faces and many Americans had black ones. She associated Americans with people with white skin.

She and hundreds of women, along with numerous small children, many of whom were screaming in fear, awaited the opportunity to prove what they could do for Cuba and Castro's Revolution. Similar dedicated groups awaited the invaders at a score of other places near the northern shore. Some of the women had even brought their dogs whose yipping added to the din of yelling women and crying children. Fortunately, they were a few miles away from the battle raging in front of her, although that could change very shortly.The women had been thunderstruck by the intensity of the bombardment around the shore only a couple of miles away from them. The noise was unimaginable and a number of her female companions had run off in terror, especially those who’d brought their children. She was unable to blame them. She herself had seen the American warships off the coast and had watched them firing at unseen targets until deciding she was taking a foolish chance. Even though the Americans didn't intentionally target civilians, which was the purpose of her being where she currently was, who knew what accidents and mistakes might occur.

She'd waited until she'd seen the small boats jammed with soldiers heading toward the shore before leaving for the interior where they would put hers and Fidel's plan into effect.

Marinda and the others stood in the open in a field and carried white flags, which they hoped would be interpreted by the Americans as their intent to surrender. She laughed. They were in for a surprise.

Cuban soldiers who'd been manning the meager coastal defenses moved past them. Many looked disheartened and some were wounded. She wanted to treat them, but she had her orders. She and her sisters in arms would await the arrival of the hated Americans. She looked to see her nephew, but he wasn't among them. She prayed for his safety.

An American plane flew low over the field where they waited. Marinda knew very little about warplanes, but even she recognized that it wasn't a fighter or a bomber, just one of the little scout planes. It wasn’t much bigger than a crop-duster that the rich farmers used, sometimes carelessly dumping pesticide on the workers and making them violently ill. What the American pilot would see was a crowd of several hundred women, and even some children, in plain sight in a field and waving white flags. He would draw the conclusion that they were harmless and radio that information on.

Finally, a scout vehicle, a jeep, appeared. Infantry and a handful of tanks followed slowly, warily moving down the road. The Americans were expanding their beachhead. Marinda signaled her companions and they rose almost as one and moved on to the road.

The jeep stopped a few feet in front of them. A young gringo yelled at them in bad Spanish to get out of the road. They didn't move. He nudged his jeep closer until he was almost touching the lead women. He gunned the motor to scare them, but they didn't scare. He leaned on the horn and that didn't work either. Instead, the women moved forward, surrounding the lead vehicles and lying down in front of them.

"You people better get off the road," the American yelled. His face was getting red with anger. The whole American army was slowing up behind him.

The women booed and yelled back. A couple of the Americans flushed and grinned as they recognized the obscenities being hurled in their direction.

While the Americans looked on, baffled, more Cuban women lay down in front of the jeep, the tanks, and the armored personnel carriers. Some of the soldiers made to push them away, but the women went limp or resisted, whichever worked. Some women climbed into the jeeps or onto the tanks, while others grabbed onto the arms and legs of bewildered Americans.

The American column was stopped cold. Marinda allowed herself a smile. The scene was repeating itself all over the invasion area. The bravery of Cuban women was stopping the invasion.

"Viva Fidel!" they all yelled and Marinda yelled the loudest. The women of Cuba had stopped the Americans.

Chapter Eighteen

President Kennedy took his customary seat in his rocking chair. "Well, gentlemen, how are we doing? Can anyone finally tell me anything definitive? I understand all about that fog of battle crap, but somebody must know something definitive!"

Frustration was evident in his voice. The airborne attack on Cuba had begun during the night. Reports had been fragmentary and inconclusive. In frustration he'd gone back to his private quarters and attempted to get some sleep, or at least relax. Making love to a sleepy and unenthusiastic Jackie had provided some relief, but not much and not for long.

For the first time in his life, he was sending Americans out to be killed. His experiences in World War II were far from similar. While he'd been in combat, the orders were somebody else's, not his. He just obeyed them, didn't initiate them. His role in the Bay of Pigs didn't count. He was following someone else’s plans and, besides, they weren't Americans. They were Cubans out to liberate their own country, while now he was sending Americans to invade another land, Cuba. General Maxwell Taylor stood by the large map of Cuba and commenced. "We finally do have some news and I must admit that not all of it is good. As always, plans fall apart the instant they begin to be implemented and this is no different."

Kennedy nodded impatiently and Taylor continued. "During the night, elements of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions landed at sites inland. The goal was to seize the small airfields and use them to land the rest of the divisions by plane; thus eliminating the need for additional jumps. Sadly, it hasn't worked out that way.

"First, some of the men from the 101st had the bad fortune to land almost directly on top of a battalion of Cuban militia we didn't know existed. Most of the militia either fled right away or put up only a limited resistance, but a number did fight hard and are being reinforced, and we suffered more casualties than anticipated. Worse, when we reached the airfield, the Cubans blew up the runway, which means no planes can land until the craters are filled and the paratroopers on the ground don't have the equipment to do that."

"Shit," Kennedy muttered.

"Sir, we are attempting to reinforce them by air, although that means additional jumps into enemy fire, and we may have to cancel those efforts. Cuban units are moving towards our men who are digging in. Our planes are bombing as best they can."

"And the other site?" the president asked.

"The 82nd jumped closer to the landing beaches and met little or no resistance on the ground; however, they too had the airfield they were to take destroyed by the Cubans. The 82nd suffered most of its casualties in the air when one Cuban MiG got in among the transports and shot them up. None of our planes were destroyed, but a number of them were damaged pretty badly and many men were killed or wounded. One plane had all of its troopers suffer broken bones when it had to duck and dive to escape the Cuban fighter."

Kennedy fidgeted uncomfortably. "Did we at least shoot down the bastard?"

"Yes, sir, but our pilots think the Cuban pilot ejected just before. In which case, he's on the ground laughing at us."

"How many casualties?"

"Rough numbers, sir, but maybe seventy dead and two hundred wounded in total at both locations."

"And our men are simply hanging on? Don’t we have helicopters that can reinforce or relieve them?"

Wheeler disagreed vehemently. "Sir, while we have helicopters on the ground in Cuba, they are small and few in number. Their primary usage is to scout and to ferry out casualties.”

“Can’t we bring more from the states?” Kennedy persisted. “Aren’t we forming a whole division of assault helicopters?”

Taylor responded, “That’s the 11th, and it’s barely in the training stage with only a few hundred men and a few score helicopters at Fort Benning.”

“Then fly them over. That’s feasible, isn’t it?”

“No sir,” said Taylor, “they would have to make long hauls over open waters in fragile choppers. Under the best of circumstances, a number of them would have to land early and that means putting down in the Caribbean. We would lose too many men. Nor is it feasible to place carriers and other ships along the way as staging areas. No sir, we might get the 11th in Cuba in a few weeks at best, and that would be by transports."

Kennedy sighed, "And the landings themselves?"

Taylor continued. "Here the news is somewhat better, sir. Elements of the First Armored and Second Infantry Divisions have landed on the north coast of Cuba, near the town of Moa. Resistance on the beaches has been light and we are expanding the perimeter. However, the men are running into one strange problem."

Kennedy rubbed his forehead. Did he want to hear this? Hell, did he have a choice? "Go on, General."

"Mr. President, thousands of Cuban civilians, mainly women along with some old men and a lot of children, are clogging the roads, lying down and halting traffic just like the civil rights protesters in Alabama, and sometimes actually fighting with our men who are understandably loath to use deadly force on women. The women are using fists, sticks and clubs, not guns."

McCone interrupted. "Havana radio is screaming that our men are molesting and even raping the helpless women. You can bet that the pinkos and Third Worlders at the United Nations will have a field day with this."

"Please tell me the women aren't being harmed."

"Sir, we are bending over backwards to not hurt them, at least not seriously. I cannot guaranty that there won't be bruises, cuts, and broken bones as we try to drag them out of the way."

"Can't these women's groups be bypassed?" Kennedy asked. "I mean, if the roads are clogged, why don't our troops go cross-country?"

"That only works sometimes, sir," Taylor answered. "Our tracked vehicles have that capability, but many of the follow-up vehicles are trucks and need to stick to the roads. If the tanks and personnel carriers get too far ahead, they run the risk of running out of supplies and fuel. Our troops are rounding up the women as best they can and sticking them in ad hoc internment camps. It'll get done, but it's definitely delaying our advance by at least a number of hours."

Kennedy felt ill. "And, in the meantime, somebody's out there with a nuke and our paratroops are hanging on."

"Yes sir."

"If there is a major delay, General Taylor, what will happen?"

"The marines will attack as scheduled on the south coast, between Santiago and Guantanamo. The First and Second Marine Divisions are ready and eager."

"Remind me, general, why didn't we hit the south coast in the first place?"

Taylor responded with mild annoyance in his voice. This had all been covered before, many times.

"Because it’s so close to Guantanamo, the south coast is the obvious place where we felt they would expect us. As a result, intelligence says it's where they have the bulk of their defenses, and, even though suitable landing sites for a large marine invasion force are limited, the Cubans believe we will invade from the south. That and the fact that the Cuban military isn’t large enough to defend everywhere, it was decided that the first landings would be in the relatively undefended north."

"Gentlemen, is there any good news?"

McCone spoke. "Sir, we have re-established contact with Lieutenant Ross and his people, including Miss Malone, although, as we suspected, they were bombed by our planes. Two of the marines with them were killed and just about all the others were injured to some degree. They are pretty well recovered, however. They also informed me that Lt. Col. Romanski of Roman Force has shown up with them along with a Sergeant Morton."

The thought of Americans dying from their own bombs dropped from American planes sickened Kennedy, even though he knew it happened in war, and had happened when he'd been in the navy during World War II. There had never been a war in which soldiers weren't killed by shots fired from their own side.

"Have we at least notified the families that their loved ones are safe?"

"No, Mr. President," Taylor said.

"And why not?" he said angrily. He was thinking that he could inform Mrs. Malone that her daughter was safe and sound. But then he realized what Taylor was implying — was she?

Taylor continued. "Right now they are fairly safe, but they are in a combat area and anything could happen and at any time. It would be worse than hell for all concerned to tell someone that their loved ones made it through only to have to go back later and tell them that they died from something else. We strongly suggest that we keep a lid on this info until this is all over."

Kennedy grudgingly agreed. He continued to remember the agony on Mrs. Malone's face. He did not wish to compound it. If this was what it was like to be a war leader, he didn't like it at all.

Private First Class Jimmy Lawson had mixed emotions about riding point for an armored column that was probing the terrain beyond the landing beaches. The good part was that he got a great view of what was going on and didn't have to eat other people's dust or crawl through the mud that other vehicles churned up when dust wasn't on the menu.

The bad news was that he was in an unarmored jeep and Lieutenant Phillips wanted to make captain by next week and Jimmy thought he was a little bit nuts about pushing forward and getting noticed by the higher brass. Jimmy and his family didn't have all that much money, which was why he'd been drafted. He'd been going to college part time and couldn't get a deferment like the rich kid full time students could. He had mixed emotions about deferments. Didn't deferment mean he'd have to go in sooner or later? He knew of college graduates who'd been drafted after they’d gotten their degrees, so why fight it? Get it over with. Then he could get on with his life.

Of course he could have gotten married and knocked up his new wife. That would have kept him out but it would have screwed up his life in other ways. He knew a lot of girls he wanted to screw, but none that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. No, being married to a woman he really didn't love and being a parent with diapers to change was too big a price to pay. Besides, the Selective Service people could always change the rules and start calling up fathers. Wouldn't that be a crock? Married, a father, and in the army anyhow?

What the hell, he thought. No use complaining about anything. He was in the army and only had four more months to go before he got discharged, unless, of course, this stupid fucking war with the Cubans lasted a while and he got his tour extended. At least he was stuck for only two years, while the enlistees, the so-called regular army were in for four years. Good for them. The difference in tour times was a cause of rivalry and not all of it good natured. The regulars thought the draftees were a bunch of candy-asses, while the draftees thought the regulars were knuckle dragging illiterates who’d joined up because they were too dumb to do anything else.

Nothing he could do about it, he thought as he scanned the road and the trees and bushes along it. What was it the guys said? Oh yeah, if rape is inevitable, lie down and enjoy it.

Funny, but the farther away from the beach he got, the less damage from American shells and bombs he saw. So much for everything in Cuba being either bombed or shelled, or both, he thought.

Yesterday had been a hoot when the Cuban women had swarmed the jeep and the vehicles behind it. Phillips had just about gone bonkers and wanted to shoot them. Lawson had convinced the lieutenant that killing unarmed civilians was not a good career move. Instead, they and others in the column had grabbed the women and dragged them out of the way, one screaming spic bitch at a time. It had taken hours to get the absurd scene under control.

The women had cursed at the Americans who retaliated by calling them putas, which they'd been told meant whore in Spanish. The women called the GI's pricks and dicks which they guys found an amusing cultural exchange. A couple of the guys managed to grab a little tit and ass during the scuffle, but no such luck for PFC Jimmy Lawson. All the women he pushed and shoved were too much like his grandmother.

Lawson was heading up a small column of new M113 armored personnel carriers, and older M48 tanks. They were all from the Second Infantry Division that, until a few weeks ago, had been in training at Fort Benning, Georgia. When the shit hit the fan in Cuba, it was obvious that the Second would be one of the first regular divisions to go. After all, wasn't Georgia just a hop, skip, and a jump from Cuba?

Lieutenant Phillips told him to drive faster. He said the rest of the column was catching up and he didn't want tanks tailgating him. Lawson thought that they should catch up, but kept quiet and concentrated on his driving. Jeeps were slow, thin-skinned, and had a disturbing tendency to roll over when they hit a bump. And, in the case of Jimmy's jeep, they only had a thirty-caliber machine gun for protection. Stemple, the gunner, kept swinging the damn thing from side to side. He was nervous and who could blame him. They were ahead of the column and might as well be alone in Indian country.

"Slow down," Phillips finally said and Lawson complied. He would have preferred to stop, but going slowly was okay. They'd entered an open field and there was dense foliage about a hundred yards to either side. Another stand of shrubs and trees was to their front. It smelled of ambush.

"Ride on the shoulder," Phillips ordered.

Lawson understood. The road might be mined. Maybe the lieutenant wasn’t that crazy after all. Of course the shoulder might be mined, too, but that was a chance that had to be taken.

He first sensed, then saw and heard the missile shriek from the bushes to his right. It slammed into an APC behind them. It burst into flames and men tumbled out of the rear hatch, some of them on fire and screaming.

Stemple quickly opened fire on where he thought the missile had been launched. As he did so, a Cuban machine gun opened up from their front. Bullets kicked up dust around the jeep and a couple pinged off the hood. Lawson frantically turned the jeep, screwing up Stemple's aim, but he didn't give a damn. Machine gun bullets were kicking up everywhere. Phillips was screaming something incoherent.

Lawson felt something slam into his chest. He lost control of the jeep and it rolled on its side on the road. There was an explosion and the jeep jumped into the air, launching Jimmy Lawson upwards. They'd hit a mine. Jimmy landed on the ground beside the ruined jeep. He saw Lieutenant Phillips lying close by, but the lieutenant didn't have any legs and the side of his head had been blown off.

Stemple grabbed Lawson by the collar and, ignoring his screams, dragged him away from the jeep which had begun to burn. Tanks and PCs were firing at something. Another Cuban missile hit a tank and knocked off a tread. Who said the Cubans were cowards?

"We're screwed," Lawson said. Stemple grunted something and tried to stuff a bandage onto Lawson's chest. Lawson felt something warm and sticky running down his chest. He was bleeding. He realized he couldn't feel his legs. He began to cry.

Golikov separated from the lovely translator, Oksana, and greeted Charley. Elena and the Russian woman walked off, chatting amiably, pretending they were friends, and in a small way, perhaps they were.

They were several blocks away from the White House and the perpetual ring of noisy, chanting demonstrators. This time the police presence was huge and they seemed to have everything well under control.

Golikov eyed Elena, "Very, very pretty. Tell me, are you fucking her?"

Kraeger stiffened, then realized the Russian was jerking his chain, "If I was I wouldn't tell you. Secrets, you know. How about you and the lovely Oksana?"

"Of course I'm fucking her. She's been my mistress for a year now and wants desperately to be promoted to Moscow, and I so like fucking her. She's absolutely wonderful and she will definitely be promoted. I also like when she sucks cock. But so much for pleasure," he sighed. "Let's talk about your invasion of the peaceful and wonderful working people's republic of Cuba."

"Those peaceful people are surprisingly efficient at fighting a war," Charley admitted.

Golikov nodded, his expression solemn. There was no humor in people dying. "Indeed they are. They ambush your paratroops and your armored columns, and then send their women out to harass you. You will ultimately prevail. Of that I have no doubt. But you will pay a very high price for your success. Unfortunately, your army hasn't fought in nearly ten years, which means they have few veterans and even they have forgotten much of what was learned in Korea and in World War II. I sometimes wonder what expensive and bloody lessons the Red Army would have to relearn the next time we go to war."

"Is that what you wanted to talk about? You want us to re-train your troops?"

"No. My government wants to know what your government has decided about Fidel. Are you going to overthrow him or not? Comrade Khrushchev wants desperately to assure the filthy bearded man and his idiot brother that they and their regime are safe. In so doing, it will shore up Khrushchev's position in the Soviet Union. I am certain you do realize that it is far better to have him in the Kremlin than some of the others who are so primitive, reactionary, and bloodthirsty."

Charley did not admit that his own government shared that opinion. Some underestimated Khrushchev, thinking him a table pounding buffoon, as evidenced when he'd pounded his shoe on a desk at the United Nations while an incredulous world watched on. Others, more prescient, recognized Khrushchev as both an ultimate survivor and a man who wanted to avoid war while appearing warlike in defense of communism and the Soviet Union.

Still, guarantees of any kind presented problems. "You know I cannot speak for the United States government."

"Be hypothetical, then, just like the missing nuke, which, I presume, you haven't found."

Charley ignored the jibe and continued. "Let me guess. Fidel is understandably nervous about his future. Therefore, he has surrounded himself in his Havana fortress with at least a quarter of a million regulars and militia, all of whom have sworn to die for him. If we announce that he is safe, then he will see no reason to keep so many good soldiers around him and will, instead, send them to fight the Yankee invaders. Thus, it is very much in our best interest to keep your hairy-faced friend guessing and insecure and with so much of his army well out of the war."

Golikov chuckled. "That was a very good hypothetical answer. I will inform my leaders that it is in everyone's best interest to keep Fidel off balance, at least for a while. If you do not go after him, which will be evident in only a few days, then Nikita will take credit for saving his lying ass. A few days will not matter much. On the other hand, I do not envy your President Kennedy. He cannot topple Castro without losing Comrade Nikita, and he cannot satisfy his constituents without toppling Castro."

Charley smiled wryly. "It's called American politics."

Elena and Oksana walked up to the two men. Elena slipped her arm in Charley's. Charley smiled wickedly. "Elena, my good communist friend thinks you're very pretty and wants to know if I am fucking you."

Elena reached over and patted a clearly flustered Golikov on the cheek while Oksana laughed hugely. "Comrade Golikov, if I told you I would have to kill you."

Major Sam Hartford was elated. The American army had commenced landing on the north coast of Cuba and was there any doubt that the marines would soon follow? It irked him slightly that the army had landed instead of his beloved leathernecks, but what the hell. Their day of liberation was almost at hand and the men of the prison camp were smiling happily and giving their now very nervous guards a hard time. Both Cuban and American radio stations were full of the news. The American stations had the army advancing steadily, while the Cubans said the hated yanquis were on the verge of annihilation. Hartford put his money on what the American stations were broadcasting.

That said, there was the nagging feeling that the prisoners should be doing something to help out the cause. The military's code of conduct said that prisoners should make every effort to escape and, if escape was not possible, then prisoners should not in any way help their captors. This was interpreted as screwing with their captors heads as much as possible.

For all the time they'd been prisoners, it was obvious that the idea of escaping was simply not practical. As they'd discussed a hundred times, where would they go and what would they do when they got there? They were on an island surrounded by both an ocean and millions of people who hated them. The best of a bunch of bad solutions would have escapees making it into the mountains and fighting a guerilla war against the Cuban army. That a large number of gringos who didn't even speak Spanish could hide in the wilds of a hostile country was never seriously considered. The second alternative, stealing boats and trying to make it out to sea was only marginally less foolish. Even though most of the POWs were navy, few knew anything about handling small boats, much less getting their hands on enough of them in the first place.

But now, with the army landing less than a hundred miles away and the marines just offshore, they felt a screaming urge to help out. Messages from the Pentagon, or wherever the signals were coming from, told Hartford that he and his men should sit tight and wait to be liberated.

Bullshit. Marines don't sit tight. Nor, for that matter, do the sailors who made up the bulk of his command. They all wanted to strike back.

But how was the question. At least it was the question until navy lieutenant Bill Skronski brought Hartford the information that Ruiz had provided. Now Hartford had the germ of a thought and had called the others together in his tent.

"If Skronski's man is correct, and there's no doubting him, something important is going on under that abandoned school building and we might just have it in our power to disrupt it, maybe even destroy it. Tuttle, one more time; just how many weapons do we have?"

Tuttle cleared his throat. "Not anywhere near as many as we'd like. Last count was a dozen working AK47s, thirty bolt-action rifles, mainly of the Springfield variety, and a dozen handguns of various sizes, along with two dozen ancient hand grenades that may or may not go off. Each AK has two full clips, enough for maybe a minute's worth of fighting. The other rifles and handguns have maybe a full clip each. The Cubans have cracked down on carelessness with weapons so they are now very hard to get our hands on, and getting ammunition is even more difficult. All of the men have been taking their arts and crafts lessons very seriously, and have made a ton of spears and knives, but I sincerely hope you're not planning on using them."

"Don't worry about it," Hartford said. "I'm thinking of something much smaller, like a raid on that headquarters building when we're certain either someone important is there or something important is going on."

"What's your man think?" Tuttle asked Skronski.

"Ruiz thinks it's Ortega's headquarters, or at least one of them. At the very least, it's a major communications center."

"Which means we should very seriously consider putting it out of action when the time is ripe," Hartford said. "I do not mean doing it now or even anytime real soon. We hit it and the Cubans take it back a little while later, we could wind up in bad shape."

"There is something else," Skronski said and Hartford signaled for him to continue. "My people are picking up rumors that the Cubans want to ship us by rail to Havana."

"I thought the lines had all been bombed?" Tuttle said.

"They have," Skronski replied, "but the sneaky little Cubans have been working every night to repair them."

Tuttle nodded. "If that's the case, then those spears and knives might come in handy to stop that from happening. The Red Cross people will have a kitten if armed soldiers try to take on virtually unarmed prisoners."

"The Red Cross will not be a factor," Hartford said. "If the going gets hot, the Red Cross people will get going to where it's safe and I don't blame them. They're not paid to get in the way of fighting."

"So what do you want us to do, major?" Tuttle asked.

Hartford smiled, "Two things. First, let's plan for a raid on that headquarters place. Second, we contact our people in the states and get them to keep hitting the rail lines in and around Santiago. Maybe they can use SEALS and Special Forces to make sure the train lines stay broken. Contacting the Pentagon will mean broadcasting our concerns in the clear, but fuck it. I'd almost guess that the Cubans are too busy with the landings up north and the possibility of marines landing down here to give a damn about our conversations with home."

Romanski had to be certain it was Che Guevara they'd seen and there was no way he could do that. None of them had ever actually seen the man and the few photos they'd seen were grainy, blurred, and unreliable. Even if he stared the man in the face all he would be able to say was that it was a scrawny little Cuban with a scraggly beard and who wore a beret.

But ignoring the possibility that Guevara was only a few miles away was a chance they could not take. Where Guevara went, there they would likely find the nuke. Romanski's decision was simple, they would locate the Cuban group they'd attacked, and trail them until they knew one way or the other.

Cathy Malone represented a dilemma. As Ross had realized just after the first attacks, the young woman could not simply be abandoned. She was an American and deserved their protection even if, ironically, it meant putting her in greater danger. There was just no safe place to stash her and he couldn't afford to leave her with one or two of his small command. If it came down to a fire-fight over a nuclear rocket, he would need every man and gun he could muster.

Cathy understood and agreed. She also convinced him that she knew how to use the AK47 she now carried. He had his doubts, but she showed she at least knew how to load, aim, and, oh yes, release the safety before pulling the trigger. Ward said he'd let her fire a couple of rounds a few a weeks earlier. Romanski wondered if she'd hit anything other than the earth. Ward grinned and declined to answer.

They moved out slowly. Romanski's leg still wasn't up to par and he wondered if they wouldn't be better off if they left him behind. Another reason they moved out at a slow pace was because they didn't want to blunder into the Cuban camp. The trail was fairly easy to follow and it appeared that the Cubans were making no effort at disguising it from the ground. They were doubtless far more concerned about threats from the air.

Nor were they so foolish as to follow straight up the trail. They moved from side to side and kept an eye out for obvious ambush sites.

They all cursed the necessity to be so careful, especially since the vehicle carrying the nuke could easily move much faster than they could. Romanski countered by reminding them that the launcher likely wasn't going to go far, and the tracks indicated it was heading towards Guantanamo Bay where it would have to halt.

Finally, they breasted a hill and looked down on where the tracks ended at a ruined barn, the exterior of which was partly covered by a tarp and tree branches. At least a dozen men were hiding under other tarps and in trenches.

They couldn't see it, but it was now very likely that the nuclear rocket was hidden less than a mile away from them.

"Now what, colonel?" Ross asked.

Now what, indeed. Romanski rubbed his jaw and tried to ignore the throbbing hurt in his leg. They were about two miles north of the coastline and maybe a mile from the boundary of the ruined American base. The Soviet built rocket could hit anywhere on the base or along the near shore line. Guevara, if that really was Guevara, had reached his destination. He would launch from where he was.

Romanski turned to the others. "First, we'll try to pinpoint this place and get an air strike or two. If that doesn't work, we'll have to do it the old fashioned way and just kill it ourselves."

Or get ourselves killed, he thought.

Chapter Nineteen

Midge Romanski was not uncomfortable having a three-star general in her living room, mainly because she still wanted Josiah Bunting's head on a platter. Heidi Morton, on the other hand, was very nervous. Even the wives of senior NCOs did not ordinarily visit with brass except on formal and structured occasions. This situation was very unstructured. Bunting was in civilian clothes and it was he who looked truly nervous.

Midge glanced out the window. It was cold and rainy with the temperature in the low forties. It was a reminder of why she hated Fort Benning in particular and the south in general. It was too hot in the summer and clammy cold in the winter.

Bunting finally began. He was pale and his hands trembled. "Ladies, I have submitted my resignation and retirement papers and I expect they will be acted on shortly. In the meantime, I wish to make up for my failures and the deceits that are ongoing.

"Midge, Heidi, I am totally responsible for the situation that took place on Christmas and over Cuba. I overreached and sent those planes and those men on my authority. I pretended that I misunderstood President Kennedy and I hadn't. I knew he only wanted info, and for me to get back to General Taylor with the proper information regarding the unit’s readiness so that somebody higher up could make the decision. But I launched the attack on my own authority and it cost many, many lives. I am truly sorry for that and will have to live with it for the rest of my life."

Midge glared at him. He was having an epiphany and so what? She was missing a husband and a number of other families had also lost loved ones. "Am I supposed to be happy with your confession, general? Do you want me to assign you a penance?"

"No. Later you asked me and then asked the president if we had any further information and we both said no. We weren't lying. We had no further data at that time. That situation has changed."

Midge leaned forward and Heidi gasped. "What?"

"Please understand that I am under strict orders to keep this secret. It's just that I don't agree with them. You have every right to know. I only ask that you keep this to yourselves for the short few days it'll be necessary."

Midge wanted to scream at him. Keep what a secret?

Bunting looked at the two of them. "As of this moment, both your husbands are alive and reasonably well. Sergeant Morton is unhurt, while the colonel has some kind of leg injury, apparently nothing serious."

Midge felt tears welling and tried to stop them. She didn't want to cry in front of Josiah Bunting. Heidi Morton was having no such qualms. Tears streamed down her face.

"And why must it be kept a deep, dark secret?" Midge asked.

"Because they are still almost alone in a combat zone. They are obviously behind enemy lines and are being hunted. On the plus side, they have somehow managed to hitch up with Lieutenant Ross and his small band, including the teacher, but anything bad could happen to them at any time. General Taylor and the others didn't want you to know anything prematurely that might later be snatched away. I disagreed and was told to keep still. I am violating orders by telling you all this."

Bunting stood to rise. He'd had his say and was ready to leave. Midge saw no reason to stop him. "Thank you for stopping by, general, and we appreciate what you are doing for us. Don't worry, we will keep your secret."

Bunting departed and Midge turned to Heidi. "What do you propose we do now?"

"I don't know," she said. “He’s still an asshole, but at least he’s now a contrite asshole.”

"Would you like a drink?"

Heidi smiled. "Very much, thank you."

Midge smiled back. "Perhaps a couple?"

"I'm German. I don't believe in half measures," Heidi said, giggling.

Private Manuel Hidalgo lay down beside his 30caliber machine gun and peered through the firing slit of his bunker. Like so many weapons in Cuba's arsenal it was an American Browning of World War II vintage. This was of no concern to Hidalgo, the thin and near-sighted seventeen year old had only learned how to use the weapon the day before. Despite that, he felt he was ready for the Americans who would come down the road. One probe had been beaten back but they would come again and be taught another lesson. Hidalgo and the others in his platoon would cause damage, stop the gringos if they could and, if they could not, pull back to the next position.

The population of Guantanamo City and environs was firmly, solidly, behind Fidel Castro and the revolution. Castro had promised them a better way of life and was beginning to make good on the promises. Already, there was more food, and there were many jobs available working for the government. The Americans wanted all that turned back. The Americans must be stopped.

Manuel remembered cheering wildly with his aunt, Marinda, and others when the first attack on the base at Guantanamo Bay began.

It had been marvelous to see the long lines of dispirited Americans heading off into captivity. He was sorry that so many of them had to die, and had been stunned by the devastation he'd seen, but that was war and that was the price that had to be paid for Cuban freedom. He was a little sorry that the attack had taken place on Christmas Day. He still had feelings for that holy day. The base was now Cuba's and that was all that counted.

He was also sorry that he’d lost that damned rifle in Santiago.

He spat on the ground just like he remembered his father did every time he thought of Batista and he was outdoors. Hidalgo forgot once and spat in the house and Marinda had nearly killed him, while his father laughed uproariously. The thought of that made him smile.

He hoped today would be as good as yesterday. Today they were about a mile south of where they'd ambushed the American column. Manuel had sprayed the lead vehicle, a jeep, with machine gun fire and was fairly certain he'd hit people since it had suddenly careened wildly and then turned over. This day he was in a sandbagged and well hidden bunker and his lieutenant said his machine gun was positioned to enfilade the road. He and others had to ask what enfilade meant and were told that it meant shooting into the flank of the enemy. Miguel wondered why the lieutenant just didn’t say that.

Other bunkers also flanked the road, and a T54 tank was on each side of the road, dug in and hidden. Any jeeps or trucks were his to shoot. Tanks and other armored vehicles would be handled by other soldiers with heavy weapons, especially those two magnificent Russian built tanks.

They'd all been reassured that they were not to stand and die, only fight and kill. And then withdraw so they could fight again. Their job was to bleed the gringo army until the Americans realized that Cuba was too tough a nut to crack and that it would not be worth the blood price to conquer. He was seventeen and proud to be a warrior in the Revolution. He'd been but a boy when Fidel had risen to power, but now he was a man. Long live the Cuban People’s Revolution, he constantly reminded himself whenever he got nervous about the coming fighting.

The radio crackled and the lieutenant hollered that the Americans were coming. Manuel fought off the urge to piss and steadied himself. The sudden smell of urine told him that not all his comrades had been so successful. There was no shame in being scared. Only a fool wasn't. He gulped and cleaned off his glasses for the hundredth time.

A few moments later, the head of the enemy column was visible and this time the Americans showed that they had learned something. An M48 tank and not a jeep led the American force. He looked down the American column and smiled. There were a number of trucks in it, although they were at an angle and would be difficult to hit until they got closer.

"Open fire!" the lieutenant yelled. Manuel thought it was too soon, but he obeyed orders and began to shoot up the few trucks he could see. He and the others howled in triumph. An anti-tank rocket missed the American tank which began to backtrack, along with the rest of the vehicles in the column. The big gun of the tank fired and missed, the shell apparently going over their position.

The cannon from the T54 tanks boomed and hit near the quickly disappearing American tank enveloping it in dust and debris but causing no apparent damage. The American tank fired again and an explosion followed. Hidalgo wondered if one of the Cuban tanks had just been destroyed. The American tank continued to pull back.

"Stopped them again," Manuel called to his comrades who cheered wildly. The lieutenant laughed and slapped him on the back. It was time to pack up and move south. He looked through the embrasure of his bunker. A pair of dark and sinister planes was on the horizon and moving towards him with astonishing speed. He watched, slack jawed with horror as the American jets approached at incredible speed. He realized what had happened. Opening fire on the American tank had given away their position and now they were going to pay for it.

Two bombs dropped from each plane and, with lives of their own, flew towards him.

One of the bombs exploded a few yards in front of Hidalgo's bunker. Waves of the liquid fire called napalm enveloped the bunker and everything around it. Flames roared through the firing slits and into the bunker, immolating Manuel and his companions with searing, murderous heat. Manuel managed to lurch out the back. He was on fire. His skin was bubbling and peeling and one of his eyes was gone. He rolled on the ground as waves of agony swept over him.

There was silence for a while, but then he heard a voice directly above him speaking in English. "Jesus Christ, this one's still alive."

"Can't be," another voice added. "He looks like the time my mother burned the Thanksgiving turkey. There's no way he's gonna live. Hell, even his cock's been burned off."

"Hey, he's trying to say something."

"Kill me," seventeen year old Manuel Hidalgo managed to whisper through a destroyed throat.

"What's he saying?"

"I don't speak Spanish either, but I think I understand what he wants."

"What are you doing?" the other American asked.

Hidalgo felt the other American fumbling with his tortured body. "He's gonna get some morphine to kill the pain. An awful lot of it. Easy, buddy, it'll be all over in a little while."

After a few seconds, Manuel's agony went away, and then so too did the light.

The strain was beginning to tell on the president. His back was aching even more than it usually did and he looked like he hadn't slept, which was the truth, and a twitch had developed in his cheek. Not even the First Lady's now more enthusiastic nocturnal assistance could provide JFK with anything more than temporary relief from the stress he felt.

Once more into the breach, he thought as he waited for the military leaders to make their reports. Admiral Anderson said that the Russian navy's three cruiser squadron and the multiple boat submarine flotilla was maintaining itself several hundred miles north and east of Cuba. At least a half-dozen Foxtrot submarines had been sighted and were driving American reconnaissance efforts nuts by constantly submerging and then popping up a few miles away from where they'd originally been. The Soviet presence necessitated the movement of an American carrier group, along with U.S. submarines, to counter the potential threat. So far, the Soviets hadn't come close to the American fleet, but who knew what the future might bring.

General Wheeler reported that three army divisions, the First Infantry, Second Infantry, and First Armored, had landed and were consolidating their beachhead, and expanding slowly into the interior. Supplies were piling up preparatory to a planned massive breakout. There was concern that the main Cuban army had not been encountered. General LeMay was of the opinion that it had been so badly damaged by air strikes that the Cuban army was no longer a factor, and that the average Cuban soldier was either in hiding or on his way home. Wheeler and Maxwell Taylor were not so confident, feeling instead that the Cubans had pulled away from the beaches where they would be vulnerable and would be found in prepared positions inland. But both generals felt that the U.S. would come out ahead in any confrontation with the main Cuban forces. Marine commandant, General Shoup, concurred and complained that his marines had not been committed, angrily reiterating that his marines should not be used as decoys.

There were serious concerns. First, the survivors of the two disastrous airborne drops were confronting very major problems. They were outnumbered, outgunned, and running out of supplies of all kinds. Airdrops of supplies had been ineffective and the use of the army’s few helicopters for more accurate support had resulted in the destruction of two choppers and severe damage to a half dozen others. The more northern perimeter, the one belonging to elements of the 82nd Airborne would likely be relieved fairly soon, but the southern and more distant one belonging to a detachment of the 101st might soon be overwhelmed, and that would be both a military and a political catastrophe.

The vision of long lines of more Americans shuffling off to a prison camp would be intolerable to the American public. The public accepted the fact that the Cuban sneak attack on Gitmo had resulted in American POWs, but the air drop was an American attack and American attacks should succeed. Especially against the damned Cubans. Failure would be blamed on JFK and he knew it. The generals might consider it a relatively minor setback and part of the blood price to be paid, but for Kennedy the wound might prove politically fatal.

Taylor reported that Lt. Col. Romanski thought he might have found the location of the missing Soviet nuke. "Destroy it," Kennedy said emphatically.

"As always, there are problems, sir," Taylor said. "First, he cannot confirm that it actually is the nuke. Romanski reports that whatever it is it's heavily guarded and his small group has no way of getting a better look. He's asked for bombs and we're more than willing, but we can't bomb since we can't accurately locate the site. Apparently, at the moment it's in a barn or shed of some sort and we can't find it and Romanski can't quite pinpoint it for us. We've got it down to a few square miles, but that's the size of a small city. Romanski says they Cubans are moving their group of vehicles at night and hiding them during the day, which means we can't get a good fix on it. It also means that Romanski and Ross have to track it and find it each day."

LeMay interrupted. "And since the Air Force and Navy have many other targets, there's reluctance to divert large numbers of planes to carpet bomb the area until we know exactly what it is and where it is. If we attack and miss, they'll know we're on to them and simply move it and we're back to square one."

Kennedy seethed. And in the meantime, he thought, the Cubans might throw a nuclear rocket at our soldiers and marines, killing and wounding hundreds, if not thousands. The military might find these casualties acceptable and he might even agree with them if the cause wouldn't be nuclear. But an atomic bomb exploding on Americans? Never.

"I disagree," JFK said. "I want that damn missile found and destroyed. Look, we have more than enough planes out there. We can assign a number of them to be a hunter force to find and kill that nuke." He turned to LeMay. "Why the hell don't you designate a squadron of B52s to saturate an area with bombs, and I don't care if it's overkill or if innocent people get killed?"

"Does that include Romanski, Ross, Cathy Malone and the others?" Taylor asked icily, “Especially when it’s highly probable that we’d miss and their deaths would be for naught?”

Kennedy sagged and agreed that it didn't. Saturation bombing was not an option. Still, he wanted a hunter-killer squadron. Le May then reminded him that he agreed with Taylor and that they could saturate all they wanted and still not hit what amounted to a very small target.

"All they have to do is dig it in and we might as well throw rocks at it," LeMay said. "As much as I hate to admit it, but precision target bombing is more wishful thinking than it is reality. At this point, the Cubans have not launched it, which means they are either waiting for orders or a good target. As we've discussed, if we bomb too close to it, that might spook them into launching. Right now, we have a slim chance of finding it before they launch which is better than nothing. Every minute they haven’t fired the damn thing is another minute to find it."

General Taylor glanced at LeMay and reluctantly concurred, and Kennedy wondered if the military would actually do something about it or simply stall because they had bigger problems. Stalling when dealing with a nuclear threat was inconceivable to him but not to the service chiefs. The nuke was small and could be contained militarily. But not politically.

"What about using special forces to help locate it?" Kennedy asked.

"Already being done," Taylor answered. "We've got people on the ground trying to locate both Romanski and any possible bomb site."

JFK left and went to the Oval Office where his brother, the attorney general, awaited. "Please tell me you have good news," he asked of Bobby after updating him on the military situation.

"Of course not," Bobby said with a wry smile. "The word that we are not going to force Castro out of Cuba has leaked and is gaining momentum. You can either confirm it by saying something or confirm it by saying nothing. If you say we are going to dump Castro, then the Soviets are going to be pissed off and might use their forces in Cuba to keep him in place."

"Another Hobson's choice,” JFK said and laughed bitterly. “And how did your meetings go?"

"Miserably," Bobby said. "First I met with representatives of the Cuban exiles who are passionately outraged that you are not letting them take over their lost homes and property immediately and that you might let Castro stay in power, which would lock them out forever. To say they are angry is a gross understatement. Their fury is white hot and some of them aren't totally rational. They want a statement of your intent immediately or they will riot again."

JFK glared at his brother. "Let them try. I've had it with their attempts to force my hand. They riot and I'll federalize enough Florida National Guard troops to go in and squash them. Tell them that."

"I did, and they seemed to calm down, at least a little bit. Some of the younger ones want to go in with guns blazing, but the older exiles feel they can keep them in check. The second meeting was with representatives of the, ah, various business groups who've been expelled from Cuba by Castro. I mean, of course, the sugar industry and the gambling people. The sugar barons want their lands and plants back, which will not occur. As we've already discussed, other people are now on those lands and running those plants and factories that are still operational. Trying to take them back would result in either a bloody civil war, or us keeping a huge occupation force in Cuba, which would then become a target of a new crop of revolutionaries."

"Shit," said the president.

"My thoughts exactly, Jack. The gambling entities, and that, of course, means organized crime and the Mafia, want unfettered access to Cuba and they want the good old days back where Cuba was not much more than one great big whorehouse. Again, we all know is not going to happen. Unfortunately, if you do anything less than topple Castro and bring back the old regime and the old whorehouses, you will be persona non grata by them with whatever implications that brings."

Kennedy thought, and that means the Mafia will be angry and nobody in their right mind wants organized crime on their case. "I can do very little for the sugar people, but perhaps we can creatively look the other way when it comes to gambling. Perhaps some more freedom in Nevada might be negotiated."

"A good thought. But J. Edgar Hoover might not like it."

JFK sighed, thinking of all the dirt Hoover had on him and everyone else in Washington. Perhaps it was time for it all to come out. "Fuck Hoover. Anything else?

"Yes, the United Nations General Assembly has condemned us for naked aggression, for using unjustified and extreme military force, and for picking on a tiny communist nation that wants to become a nuclear power and threaten its neighbors," he said sarcastically. "Adlai Stevenson says it's sound and fury and we should ignore it."

JFK concurred. "Fuck the UN," he smiled.

The Cubans were only a hundred yards away. They had already launched one night time attack that the paratroopers from the 101st Airborne Division had beaten off. There had been a lot of the enemy and a number of them had made it to the American lines, resulting in hand to hand fighting, but they hadn't been well led and the attacks had not been well coordinated. As a result the Cubans had taken heavy casualties. Militia and not regulars was the assessment. Like it really mattered, thought Lieutenant Mellor. His unit had suffered heavy casualties as well and they were running out of ammunition.

Colonel Rutherford had gone around their shrinking perimeter and made sure everybody had at least some ammo. Half their number were either dead or wounded or missing from the jump. Along with a shortage of ammo, they lacked medical supplies and food. Food they could do without for a while and there was enough water, but it was demoralizing to be unable to help the wounded. Most of them tried to be stoic despite some terrible wounds, but many were unable to hold back their cries of pain.

Airdrops and re-supply by helicopter had not worked out very well. They'd gotten some of the packages but most of them had fallen outside the perimeter and been gathered up by the Cubans who'd hollered in English, thanking Uncle Sam for his generosity. The helicopter efforts had been even less successful. They'd watched in horror as one was shot down while attempting to get close enough to dump supplies out a hatch. Two badly burned crewmen had been rescued and were in the perimeter with the other wounded.

"Marine, you're gonna die!" came the yell from the disturbingly close by Cuban positions.

"We're airborne, you asshole," an American yelled back.

"Doesn't matter, asshole. Airborne asshole or marine asshole, you're all going to die!"

Mellor shifted over as Rutherford scrunched in beside him. "Speaks really good English, doesn't he, lieutenant?"

"Here they come again!"

A horde of Cuban soldiers emerged from their shallow holes and ran towards the Americans, firing wildly from the hip. Bullets whizzed by, most going wildly into the sky but some smacking into the earth and shrubs that were the paratrooper's cover. The Americans fired back, more slowly and deliberately then the Cubans and with deadly effect. Screams of pain and fear came from all around.

"Grenade!"

Mellor saw the grenade land on the ground by a group of Americans who stared in horrified disbelief. A soldier jumped on it and it went off. His body lifted slightly and then settled limply on the ground.

The Cubans were dying in droves but still came on. Now only yards away, Mellor and the others could hardly miss. Someone hit him and he tumbled back. A Cuban soldier was on top of him, yelling something, and trying to gouge Mellor's eyes out.

Mellor punched the man in the face, but he wouldn't get off. Mellor kneed the man in the genitals, grabbed them, and squeezed with all his strength. The Cuban writhed and fell aside. Mellor grabbed his bayonet and jammed it into the man's chest. The Cuban's body spasmed and then lay limp.

Mellor grabbed his carbine. The Cubans were retreating. Colonel Rutherford was yelling for people to stop firing and conserve their ammo. The cries of ‘medic’ filled the air. More of their small force had fallen. The Cubans were gone, but only for the moment.

A group of soldiers stood over the one who'd sacrificed himself by falling on the grenade. Mellor pushed his way through them and stared at the terrible thing on the ground.

"Aw, Christ," he said. It was his buddy, Santini. The exploding grenade had scooped out his chest and intestines like a giant spoon had worked on him. He must have died instantly. At least they all hoped he had.

Somebody said he'd get a medal, maybe even the big one, the Medal of Honor. Of course they had to get out of their current fix for that to happen. Dead men couldn't write up citations for other dead men. Mellor wondered how many true heroes had died in wars and battles past, and nobody knew about them?

He stripped some ammo from a wounded man. Now he had two clips for his carbine and one for his.45 automatic. With a little luck he had enough firepower to fight maybe a minute. He checked with the rest of his men and found them all in the same situation.

Rutherford arrived. There was blood from a cut on his head. It had run down his face and was beginning to dry a ghastly black. He had made an inventory of their manpower and firepower, and both were lacking.

"Any idea what's going to happen next, sir?" Mellor asked. "They attack again and we're all screwed."

Rutherford shrugged. He had no idea what was going to happen. The Cubans had launched massive attacks that had been beaten off with heavy losses on both sides. The Cubans had the advantage of numbers, while the small airborne force was being whittled down to nothing.

The colonel had the feeling that the average Cuban soldier didn't want to face the men and guns of the 101st, and who could blame them. But the Cubans were now so close to the American positions that any assistance from the many American planes circling the area was too dangerous for the airborne forces to even contemplate. Nobody wanted to run the risk of getting torched by their own napalm.

"Just curious, colonel, have they asked us to surrender?"

"Yeah, and we declined the honor."

Mellor managed a wan smile. "You didn't happen to say ‘nuts’ did you, sir?"

Rutherford chuckled. Nuts had been the legendary response of the 101st's General Tony McAuliffe when called upon to surrender by the Germans during the siege of Bastogne during World War II's Battle of the Bulge.

"I gave it serious thought, lieutenant, but I let the opportunity pass."

However, Rutherford thought, he might have to reconsider the honor unless something happened and soon.

General Juan Ortega wanted to be outside in the sunlight or moonlight, whichever was appropriate. He'd lost track of time. Regardless, he wanted to be above ground in the clean air and leading his men. Not necessarily from up front, of course, that would have been foolish. Generals did not take risks that would get them killed and get their plans disrupted. A decapitated army could quickly degenerate into a mob. But he did want to see and be seen. He did not want his men to think he was a kind of troglodyte, hiding in a cave. He chuckled. How many of his men even knew what a troglodyte was?

But the bunker was the nerve center of his operations, and he could not yet leave it. This was where all his communications came and went, through cables and wires buried deep underground and from well hidden antennae located throughout Santiago and wired to the bunker.

Ortega was not displeased with the way the fighting was evolving. Despite the pasting on the coast that his men had taken, he still had six divisions in blocking positions to slow or even halt the American advance. Two additional divisions waited in the south by Guantanamo and two more sat in reserve. They would enter combat if his defensive line was penetrated or if the marines who were on ships off the coast finally landed. Since the Americans could land anywhere, his troops had to maintain a high degree of flexibility. As he had carefully explained to Castro through Allessandro, he could not defend everything, no matter the size of his army. The Americans could and would land at a time and place of their choosing.

There would be no more mobs of women trying to overwhelm unsuspecting Americans. It had worked once, but it was too dangerous a place for Cuban women. The fighting was too intense and shells were too indiscriminate. Still, it had been humorous to see the American government's reaction.

Castro might not be as pleased as his messages said, but Ortega was. He had read so much about the D-Day landings in France in World War II and fully understood the German dilemma that led to the Nazi's defeat in that battle. Hitler's generals had argued over whether it was better to fight the Americans on the beaches, Rommel's idea, or wait for them to land and then attack with overwhelming force from positions inland, von Runstedt's idea.

In Ortega's opinion, both had been proven wrong. Rommel's beach defenses ultimately crumpled under the American onslaught and von Runstedt's inland reinforcements could not make it to the battle because of American overwhelming superiority in the air.

The situation confronting Cuba was almost identical to that confronting the Germans in 1944, a point which the Castro brothers and others in Havana did not seem to understand. Something else had to be done. Castro's personal representative, the oily Dominico Allessandro had virtually threatened Ortega with arrest for not hurling his army at the Americans. Ortega said he’d consider it, but only if Allessandro would lead the attack from the front. That had silenced Castro’s messenger. Ortega had made a mortal enemy, but no longer cared. As Ortega saw it, the only possible solution was to wait inland for the Americans to come to him, to attack Cuban defenses, and suffer heavy casualties for their efforts. It was how the Japanese had fought the Americans in the Pacific, especially at Okinawa in the spring of 1945. If the Castro brothers wanted to defend the beaches, they were welcome to try.

Ortega was well aware that the defenders of Okinawa had died to almost the last man and he wanted no part of that. He no longer had any illusions about being able to stop the Americans from re-taking Guantanamo if they truly wanted to, and that saddened him deeply. He really hadn't thought that the Americans would attack in such force. But he and his army would fight and bleed the Americans and maybe, just maybe, the Americans would decide that liberating Guantanamo just wasn't worth the price. A negotiated settlement, not his army’s death in battle, was now his goal. He hoped it was Castro’s as well.

Not for the first time he thanked the United States Army for furthering his military education, and at the expense of the American taxpayer.

Enough. Ortega needed to stretch his legs and suck in some air. The war would take care of itself for a few minutes. He left his desk and went down the tunnel, startling a couple of enlisted men. He greeted them cheerfully. They were goofing off and who could blame them.

Finally. He was outside and the warm sun played upon him, rejuvenating him. Several Cuban soldiers waved to him and he waved back. They were confident in his abilities to stop the Americans, therefore, he must not disappoint them.

Now if only Castro would stop calling with suggestions and Allessandro would go away, and if he could figure just what the hell Guevara and Sergeant Gomez were doing with that damned nuke.

Sergeant Gomez and Che Guevara glared at each other with undisguised contempt. Che had quickly realized that the unkempt sergeant was a slacker and a thief and not the outstanding soldier Ortega had told him. He wondered if Ortega had known that and that assigning Gomez to help him was some kind of a mad joke. Or was Ortega unaware of Gomez's real talents, which consisted of stealing and raping? When he'd arrived at Gomez's camp, Guevara had found several very young girls, some of them barely in their teens, beaten, bound and naked. He'd freed them, thus earning anger from Gomez and his men who obviously thought they were entitled to keep them as playthings. Che felt that Ortega would have some explaining to do when they next met.

Even worse, if that was possible, Gomez had only a dozen men left. The disgusting sergeant had tried to explain that the others had been casualties in valiant attempts to find American guerillas operating behind Cuban lines. Guevara believed none of it. A couple may have become casualties, but comments made by others led him to believe that the vast number of the missing had departed in disgust at what Gomez was attempting to do, which was plunder the entire province for his own benefit. One had hinted that Gomez was planning to leave the country with everything he could steal and carry away.

Therefore, the six man crew of the Luna rocket and the drivers of the remaining vehicles were the only men he could count on. So be it. He would use Gomez and his donkey-fucking thieves as perimeter security to ensure that no one attacked his group again. At least he hoped Gomez and his men would be at least somewhat reliable. He wouldn’t put it past them to disappear in the night.

The attack on the anti-aircraft battery by what had to have been American Special Forces had been an unpleasant reminder of the precariousness of his situation. They had moved since then and would move again. They would not provide a stationery target for American air strikes that the Special Forces would doubtless be trying to call down on them.

As agreed to in Havana, he had not attempted any direct radio contact. Instead, he'd listened to broadcasts from Havana for code words embedded in newscasts. Along with undisguised reports, they told him that the Americans had landed in force in the north, and that the marines had not yet attacked the south. The American tactics were surprising. Che had expected them to storm the coast near Guantanamo in order to immediately liberate their base, or nearer Santiago to liberate their POWs. The northern landings told him the American agenda was greater than just taking back Guantanamo Bay. They were after Fidel and the revolution. They wanted to bring back the American businesses and gangsters who had plundered Cuba at the direction of the United States for more than half a century.

The American strategy didn't matter. The marines would land, sooner or later. He was confident of that. And when they did, his nuclear rocket would change the history of the world. Nobody would ever ignore Cuba again.

Another sudden shower again reminded them that the rainy season was just around the corner. Cathy and Ross darted for the shelter of a tree and behind some bushes, while Romanski and Morton disappeared somewhere. They didn't care. She and Andrew each got their ponchos on before they got too wet and found themselves laughing. It felt good. Laughing was in short supply lately.

Cathy was the first to realize they were actually alone. At least they were a little bit alone. She wasn't certain where the colonel and the sergeant had gone to, only that she couldn't see them. If she couldn't see them, then they couldn't see her. She sat next to Andrew and shifted so his poncho was over hers and his arm was around her shoulders. It was as intimate as they'd ever been.

"Too bad we can't share ponchos," she said. The neck opening was too small to accommodate two necks. They joked that they'd strangle if they tried.

"Easy problem, easy solution," Ross said. He took out his bayonet and sliced the opening of his poncho wider. She quickly slipped in and, half on his lap, slipped her head up beside his. They looked at each other in pleasant surprise.

"Boo," he said with a tender smile.

"This is ridiculous," she said.

"Absurd," he answered.

They kissed tentatively, then with a little more intensity. They parted and looked at each other incredulously. "I've waited a long time, Cathy. I think it was when I first saw you running on base wearing a pair of shorts. I thought you were the cutest girl I'd ever seen."

"I wish I had known you then, Andrew, although things would have been different, wouldn't they?"

"Yeah, I would've been one of a score of guys trying to get you to go out with them."

She squeezed his shoulder. "Andrew, the line wasn't anywhere near that long. But you're right. Maybe we wouldn't have had the opportunity to get to know each other as well as we have these past few weeks. Or has it been longer? I keep losing track. Maybe I'm losing my mind."

"It doesn't matter."

"We've gotten to know each other at our worst," she said. "I'm filthy, ragged, my hair is butchered short, I have no makeup, and I've probably lost ten or fifteen pounds and I was thin to begin with. Admit it, I'm a mess."

"Yes, but you're a lovely mess. And we've actually known each other at our best, not our worst. We've fought our way through adversity. We've seen people die and been responsible for people dying, along with being hurt by people who want to kill us, and, so far, we've made it through.

She laughed. "I guess I agree, but if this is the best, I don't want to even think of what the worst might be."

"Cathy, I think we both know this time in our lives is going to come to an end, one way or another, and in a very short while. And when it does, it will be with us being together."

She squeezed his hand. "After all this, I'm not sure I want to go back to being a school teacher. What are you going to do? Still law school?"

"Yes, although I've been thinking of going to work for the FBI, or even the CIA when I’m done. You're right. After this I can't see myself writing up wills and suing on behalf of people who've been in car accidents."

Ross leaned back and looked at the sky. He was afraid it was starting to clear and that meant the others would be around.

Cathy snuggled in closer to him. "Then tell me something else. How scared were you during the missile crisis last October?"

He shifted so he could see her better. Her face was tense. "Cathy, we were all scared. Hey, here we were at Gitmo, out in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by Castro's Cubans and just about as helpless as a newborn baby. We would have put up a fight, but, like what happened later, we would have been overwhelmed really quickly.

"Fortunately, we didn't have a whole lot of time to spend thinking about it. All the offices worked around the clock giving out weapons and supplies and who cared about any paperwork. Then, during what down time we did have, we spent it all digging trenches and prepping bunkers. Then we were put on guard duty around the clock. Some of the older guys knew what could happen and they were quite serious, although I do recall a couple of marines spending a lot of time sharpening knives. I thought they were nuts. So, bottom line, I was scared, but not terrified. How about you?"

She took his hand and squeezed. She wanted to kiss him again. "I was terrified and so were a lot of people. We saw the likelihood of nuclear war, and all we ever had and loved would be reduced to ashes. When we arrived in Virginia, a lot of people thought they should move way out west and not be in a major port or a military facility during an atomic attack, which made sense. I knew some people who had shelters and they stayed in them until it was all over."

Cathy laughed at the memory. "A lot of people went to church during that period, and that includes me. Of course, they stopped going right after things calmed down and life got back to normal."

"So how do you feel about right now?"

She smiled, "After all that's happened to me, not too badly at all. I am now reasonably confident that I will survive and will get home. I'm scared, but I can function and sometimes, like right now and even though we are talking about it, I can push it out of my mind. Well, not all the way."

He reached out and gently touched the spot on her cheek where Gomez had cut her with his ring. The scabbing had gone but a scar remained. "They can probably get rid of that, you know."

She shook her head. "Not a chance. It's part of me and it's going to remain. If it fades away naturally, so be it, but no plastic surgery."

"When we do get out of here, we'll probably be sent to Washington so all the people in the Pentagon can talk to us. You will probably be on television and, who knows, maybe they'll make a movie about you. I see Natalie Wood playing you."

"No, not her. She's too pretty."

"You're right. You're a lot prettier."

Andrew was acutely aware of the feel of her small breasts against his chest and of the fact that he was getting aroused. He had no idea how she felt about little things like his erection pressed against her hip. Hell, he thought. She was a school teacher not a school kid. What did she think was happening?

"How much time before they come back?" she asked. The rain was beginning to slacken.

"Not enough."

"Then let's make the most of it," she said and they kissed with a sudden voraciousness that surprised them.

He slipped one hand over her breast and she covered it with hers. He removed it and shifted so that his one hand was inside her blouse. She reached behind and unsnapped her bra so he could caress her bare flesh. She groaned in his ear as he touched her nipples. His touch told her that what Gomez had done could never be forgotten, but it could be compartmentalized and she would lead a normal life and, hopefully, with Andrew Ross.

Enough. They had to stop. The rain had practically ended and the others would be back at any moment. Stopping wasn't fair to either of them, and particularly not to Andrew. She could feel him hard against her. It wasn't fair but life wasn't fair. Cathy gently removed his hands from her body and straightened her clothing as he did likewise. Petting like adolescents was inadequate for both of them, but it would have to do for right now.

"We can't do anything more," she said, “at least not here and now."

"I know," he said with such sadness that she almost laughed.

"I've wanted this to happen for a long time," she said.

"Me too."

"Andrew, you know a Cuban soldier hurt me, don't you?"

"I figured as much."

"And it doesn't bother you?"

"Why should it, Cathy? I'm concerned about you, not me. How are you dealing with it?"

She tucked her head on his shoulder. "Better than I ever thought I could. And now it's going to be even better with you knowing, understanding, and being on my side, and yes, touching me."

Andrew kissed her on the forehead. "I'll always be by your side."

"Will you be with me a year from now?"

He was puzzled. "That depends. Where will you be?"

Cathy giggled, "Lying naked on a bed."

He laughed and hugged her tightly. "Then you know I'll be there."

About fifty yards away, Romanski and Morton looked at each other. Morton chuckled. "I never thought you were such a romantic, colonel? Y'know we could've found a place to keep dry within a couple of feet of those two lovebirds."

Romanski laughed. "Not much fun for them if we did that, now is there?"

He remembered one time when he and Midge had gotten soaked in a rainstorm and made love on the grass while waiting for their clothes to dry. God, he missed her.

Romanski stretched and stood up carefully. The wet weather made his leg ache. "Since it's pretty well stopped raining, I suggest we make some unnecessary noise and return to the happy couple. Cullen and the others could return at any minute and we don't want them to see anything shocking. Marines are such innocents when it comes to love and sex, you know."

Major Sam Hartford looked through the barbed wire fence and tried to feign indifference. It was difficult. The three army trucks parked by the guard shack belonged to him, not the Cuban army. The insignias and unit designations were lies. Skronski had told Ruiz and his buddies to steal them and the assignment had been carried out with aplomb. The real Cubans guarding the prisoners were curious, but that was it. If someone in authority wanted to park some trucks by the guard house, so be it.

Now it was time to do something to help both their situation and the United States military. Ruiz had gotten a good look at General Ortega when he'd unexpectedly popped up during the day. The General had actually spoken with Ruiz who said that Ortega seemed like a friendly, decent sort.

Hartford thought that was just too fucking bad. Ortega was the enemy and who cared if he was kind to puppies and bunnies or had a wife and kids. The man headed the Cuban army in the area and had to go. Hartford's only problem was that he couldn't go with Skronski and the two dozen men who would be riding in the trucks. Thanks to his bad feet he just wasn't agile enough to function when the shit hit the fan.

They waited for night to fall. The guard shack was only twenty feet from the main gate and, during their time in the camp, a tunnel had been carefully dug to it from a nearby prisoner tent. The men slithered through and captured the pair of guards and the lieutenant commanding them without a fuss. The Cubans were bound and gagged. The lieutenant glared at them ferociously, but Skronski had the feeling it was all show. When he winked at the man, the lieutenant shrugged.

The drive through Santiago was uneventful. Their main concern was that American planes might find the three truck convoy a juicy target, so they departed at two minute intervals. Maybe an American pilot wouldn't want to waste a bomb on one truck.

Hide in plain sight was the plan. Skronski got his men out of their trucks two blocks from the entrance to the bunker. Ruiz, who looked and sounded Cuban because he was Cuban, was designated to "command" the column of men in Cuban uniforms. When they got to the entry point, a guard inside the bolted door asked what the hell was going on and Ruiz, with total confidence, loudly told him that the detachment was additional security against American Special Forces, and if nobody had told the guard they were coming, well, what else was new?

The guard grunted and opened the door. The Americans raced in, clubbing the Cubans in the room before they could get off any shots. Skronski started to lead down the steps to the tunnel but Ruiz pulled him aside.

"I think you still need my unique skills, sir. Nothing personal, but no fucking way you're gonna pass for Cuban and every second we fool them counts big."

Skronski agreed and settled for fourth spot behind Ruiz and the two other Hispanic Americans who'd also been prowling around Santiago.

"What is this?" someone asked as they entered the room. The question was one of curiosity, not concern. A dozen men sat behind desks or in front of radio sets. Jesus, thought Skronski, and there's Ortega himself, on the telephone and not even looking in his direction.

A young officer finally saw that the "Cuban" soldiers had their weapons pointed at them. "Treason!" he yelled and was cut down by automatic weapons fire that echoed through the room. Other real Cubans grabbed their weapons and all the Americans opened fire. The effect was shattering and deafening in the closed room. Dust and debris flew as bullets chewed up men and equipment. Cuban soldiers fell and screamed. The Americans reloaded and looked around for more targets. Dust and smoke obscured the room and people were groaning in pain and shock.

There were no more targets. All the Cubans were down in tangled, bloody messes. One American was seriously wounded and two slightly. They'd surprised and overwhelmed the Cubans who probably weren't all that great combat soldiers in the first place. Staff and communications pukes, Skronski thought.

Skronski checked the fallen Cubans for signs of life. A couple of them were still breathing, and that included Ortega who'd been shot in the chest and the arm.

"Take him out and load him in the truck," he said of Ortega. "Do first aid on the others and leave them in the tunnel."

With a little luck, Skronski hoped they'd survive and inform others that their attackers had been fellow Cubans. Treason was what one man had cried out and let them believe that, at least for a little while. As this was being done, others of his group were happily smashing the radio equipment and ripping out wires, letting loose a several month's worth of frustration.

Cautiously, they exited through the tunnel and went outside in the night. Skronski couldn't help but grin. The Cuban guards were where they left them and nobody outside the building had heard a thing. The bunker's thick walls had muffled the sounds of the shootings and the killings. Santiago had slept through it all.

"Now what sir?" Ruiz asked. Even though he wasn't the most senior in rank, Skronski thought it was interesting how the others had deferred to the young man. He would talk to Hartford and see if they could do something about that. Ruiz was definitely officer material.

"We load up and go back to Disneyland," he said. "And then we hope we get rescued before too long. The Cubans are likely to get pissed when they finally figure out that it was really us who disabled their headquarters and kidnapped their commanding general. Hey, he is still alive, isn't he?"

Ruiz assured him Ortega was still breathing and that his bleeding had been stabilized by one of the medics who'd accompanied them. With a little decent medical care, the Cuban general should survive, and wouldn't that be interesting.

When they returned to their compound, Major Hartford was more than pleased. Their prisoners from the guard shack were safely inside the camp as was General Ortega who’d begun getting medical help. The medics agreed that he would live, but wouldn't be commanding an army for a long while.

Hartford hoped that, along with decapitating the Cuban command and communications structure, they'd sown enough confusion so that the remaining Cubans wouldn't know exactly where the attack had originated. The Cubans had initially cried “treason,” and he hoped that possibility would confuse them. He also hoped the missing guards from the guard shack would be considered deserters. There had been a lot of desertions lately thanks to the bombings and the threat of an American invasion.

It occurred to him that he was hoping an awful lot.

Now, he thought, it was time to let the Pentagon know what had just gone down and he still didn't have a code to use. He would assume that the Cubans were listening to everything he said and would have to watch his words very, very carefully. He didn't want Cubans trying to liberate Ortega or wreaking vengeance on his largely unarmed command. Damn, he would have to be clever.

General Humberto Cordero thought the bunker was a charnel house. Blood in blackening pools congealed on the floor and the wall, and mangled bodies lay everywhere, stiffening as rigor mortis set in. The handful of survivors, the guards topside and two men in the tunnel, were adamant that the attackers had all been Cubans. They'd worn Cuban uniforms and had spoken Spanish, ergo, they were Cubans.

But why would other Cubans have shot and taken General Ortega? The two wounded men in the tunnel thought he'd been carried out by the attackers, which made no sense. If the idea was to wipe out Ortega's command structure, then why take him along when a bullet in the head would be more efficient.

This had all the earmarks of something Che Guevara would do, but Guevara was out in the countryside with his beloved Russian rocket. Cordero shuddered. That was something he wished his cousin, General Ortega, had never confided in him about. The idea of that maniacal asshole Guevara with his hands on a nuke was frightening.

They had already contacted Havana via short wave and Cordero had even spoken to Fidel himself. Cordero had told Fidel that the attackers had worn Cuban uniforms but he didn't think they were Cubans. Either American Special Forces in disguise or, God help them all, some of the lunatic exiles from Miami. Even Fidel had gone thoughtfully quiet on hearing that opinion.

But who was to command the army? It was locked in mortal combat with the Americans a little more than a score of miles to the north and chaos would ensue if no one was in charge. There were generals more senior and far more experienced in military matters than Cordero out in the field, but they were in no position to coordinate and command. Fidel gave the order to Cordero. First, he was to re-establish communications and then attempt to coordinate their efforts until a new general could be sent from Havana,

Cordero almost snorted on hearing Fidel say that. It would take days, if not longer, for a new general to arrive thanks to American control of the air, and even he, with his limited military experience, knew the crisis point of the battle would have long passed.

He gave the orders to clean up the mess in the bunker and replace what they could of the equipment. A new security detachment was on duty, even though he thought that a repeat of the attack was highly unlikely. The survivors of the old security detachment were sent to the front lines for their collective stupidity. They were told they could either be shot by the Cuban police or take their chances against the Americans. They chose the Americans. Cordero thought they'd take maybe thirty seconds before attempting to surrender.

Without any way to communicate with units in the field, there was little Cordero could do to affect the fighting at the moment. He walked and found himself a little ways from the POW camp. He stared at the rows of tents as a thought grew. He'd been told that yesterday there had been three trucks by the guard shack. No one had thought to ask why the trucks had been parked there. Today, though, the trucks were gone and so were the two men on night duty in the shack and the lieutenant who'd been officer of the guard. Cordero had no idea who the enlisted men were, but the officer had been a young lieutenant who'd talked about his unproven bravery and seemed terrified at the thought of actually going into combat, which had made him a good choice to guard over the prisoners.

The two enlisted men might have deserted, but he had doubts about the lieutenant. The young man had too much to lose, like his life, if he was caught. As an officer he'd be shot and not sent to the front lines to take his chances.

Cordero stared at the sprawling POW camp. The multitude of tents said nothing. A few men were wandering around, but nothing out of the ordinary. The Americans were always wandering around.

Cordero pulled out an old cigar and lit it. He had the nagging feeling that the Americans in the camp were a lot less innocent than they appeared in this matter.

Should he confront Hartford? About what? Had the POWs attacked the bunker? How the hell would they have accomplished that? Had they hidden Special Forces in the camp? A thought, but did he want to use scarce men to scour the camp? Maybe Hartford and the others did know where Ortega was. Would that matter? Everyone said he was badly wounded, if not dead. He would not be commanding the Cuban army for a very long time.

Cordero decided that he would wait. His job was to re-establish communications with Ortega's forces and that would take time. A lot of time.

The silence was deafening. It was a trite phrase that Lieutenant Chris Mellor always thought was oxymoronic and amusing. Today, however, it took on a very real meaning. Where was the intermittent sniper fire? What happened to the shouted obscenities? There was nothing but silence from the close by Cuban lines and that was even more frightening then the hostile sounds that had been replaced by the humming of bugs and the chirping of birds trying to eat the bugs. Cuba's wildlife was trying to return to normal. Why?

Mellor looked at his companions. "Well, I volunteered for this, didn't I?"

They said nothing. A couple looked away. There was only one way to find out why the Cubans were so silent and that was to go out and ask them. Well, not actually ask them, but to crawl out and see what they were up to. A couple of enlisted men had volunteered, but he would go. He was the officer and he would lead. Damn it, why hadn’t he stayed as a civilian until he’d been drafted into the army? With any luck, he’d be a PFC in a supply center in New Jersey counting down the days until he got discharged. No, he had to go and enlist in the Airborne.

Mellor slithered over the dirt embankment, trying to make himself as small as possible. It was only small comfort that a dozen rifles, BARs, and machine guns would open up and provide cover if he needed it. He clearly understood that he'd probably be dead by the time they began laying down covering fire if he truly needed it. Still, it was the thought that counted. That a handful of other men would be following him was also not very helpful. He was the lead dog and he had only one clip of ammunition.

He crawled forward, his carbine tucked in his elbows, and tried very hard to keep his ass down. He felt that his butt was sticking up as a big juicy target. He felt thoroughly exposed and vulnerable and he'd barely begun his journey. They’d guessed that the Cuban lines were only a hundred yards away. He thought he’d gone ten yards. Then twenty. He passed several dead bodies. Some had been dead for a while and stank terribly and had swollen in the heat. Most had been badly mangled and were scarcely recognizable as human. Parts of bodies lay everywhere and a pair of severed heads seemed to be in conversation with each other. The stench was becoming overwhelming and he tried not to vomit lest the noise give him away. The smell had been bad enough back in his shallow trench and while he was crawling, but this was right up close and personal. Obviously, the Cubans thought it was too dangerous to retrieve their dead. He thought Colonel Rutherford would have agreed to a truce to do it if they'd asked.

Fifty yards, and still no reaction from the Cubans. Had they mined the area? Was he crawling over something that was going to explode and rip him apart just like that grenade had disemboweled his good buddy Santini? Jesus, he told himself, stop thinking about it and get the job done.

Mellor tried to peer through the underbrush without exposing himself and realized that he couldn’t. A lot of it had been shot away, but much remained and it blocked his view. Any number of Cubans could be only a few yards away, laughing like hell at the idiot American who was trying to sneak up on them. Why the hell had he volunteered for this patrol? He could have accepted the offers of those guys who’d volunteered, but no, he had to have a sense of duty. Shut up and keep crawling, he told himself.

Why the hell had he gone Airborne in the first place? Because he was crazy, he answered himself. It was a simple answer. Everybody who went Airborne was automatically deemed loony-tunes and here he was proving them correct by trying to sneak up on an enemy army all by his lonesome. Only Airborne were crazy enough to jump out of perfectly good airplanes, or stupid enough to try and sneak up on the Cuban army.

Eighty yards. He was almost there. He could clearly see the Cuban trenches as raw slits in the ground. If the men back in the perimeter had mortars they could have clobbered the Cubans. Of course, so too could the Cubans.

A big damn spider crawled across his hand. He crawled closer. Anybody home? There was no way he was invisible to the Cubans. Anybody in their trenches could see him plain as day. How many weapons were trained on him by grinning Cubans gently squeezing their triggers? Any second now, they'd all open up and blow his ass back to Florida. Some kind of lizard hopped out of the trench and looked at him. It moved away as if offended by his presence. He moved forward to the lip of a trench. He took a deep breath and looked over.

Empty. Just some junk and debris confronted him. Candy wrappers, cigarette butts, and some papers littered the earth. No dead bodies here. The Cubans had been able to remove their dead from this area at least. The Cubans had also removed themselves.

Mellor slipped into the trench and moved carefully in either direction so he could see quite a ways. Nobody home.

He took another deep breath and slowly stood up. The birds continued chirping and that was all. He stood on a mound of dirt and waved his rifle back at the American lines. A moment later, the handful of men following him, this time not crawling, began to slip in beside him. They fanned out and began to explore further. Mellor moved a little ways deeper into what had been the Cuban rear. There was nothing but more trash. The Cuban militia unit they'd been fighting had gone away.

Two hours later, the first airdrop of supplies landed in the paratrooper's expanded perimeter, bringing ammo and medical supplies. Another hour later, the first of a steady train of small helicopters brought in medical personnel and left with the most badly wounded.

Ten hours later, a column of M48 tanks from the First Armored Division arrived at the perimeter. They'd finally punched their way through from the beachhead.

A tanker, a greasy-faced captain, grinned at Mellor. "Hey, Airborne, Kennedy sent us here to rescue you."

Mellor pretended to look puzzled while Colonel Rutherford glared. "Who the fuck said we needed rescuing? If you haven't noticed, tank jockey, the Airborne has the situation well in hand."

There was chaos as the generals and admirals tried to speak at once. It was the first time Charley Kraeger had been invited to an ExComm meeting and he wasn't impressed. He'd expected a lot more in the way of dignity and decorum and these guys were acting like grade school students.

He stood behind Director McCone who had maintained silence. Elena Sandano stood beside him wearing a navy blue jacket and slacks combination that could almost pass for a uniform. The military leaders had brought their own experts, so they were not the only civilians in the very crowded, steamy, and smoky room.

Finally, the president entered and stilled the din. He looked at the angry faces. "I will presume that there is not a consensus regarding what is happening in Cuba," he said wryly.

"That is a very safe assumption," General Taylor said. His face was drawn and Charley wondered when the old man had last slept. "Nobody knows for certain what the hell is going on."

Kennedy grimaced. "Then let's stick with the facts and leave the speculation for later. First, has there been a breakout from the beachhead?"

The army's General Wheeler responded. "There has been, sir. And elements of the First Armored have linked up with that trapped detachment of the 101st. They are being re-supplied and reinforced as we speak, and some of the more seriously wounded evacuated."

"Excellent," Kennedy said softly. The thought of any wounded saddened him. The responsibility came with the job, but he didn't have to like it.

"A number of the wounded have declined to leave," Wheeler continued. "It's a combination of unit pride — they don't want to leave or abandon their buddies, along with an intense dislike of military hospitals."

Kennedy grinned and the others chuckled, lightening the tension. "Having been a guest in a military hospital on more than once occasion, I can understand their motives. I believe the people at Bethesda would have had me handing out bed pans if they could have. But what about the overall condition at the beachhead?"

Taylor continued. "Sir, the Cubans have taken a serious pounding and it looks like their army is starting to fold. That armored column from the First managed to punch its way through without too much difficulty. We now have three full divisions on the ground, plus most of the two airborne divisions. We are expanding the perimeter and moving south. Resistance, while still present, appears to be crumbling."

Kennedy nodded. "Just how much of that is due to the chaos in Santiago? And, by the way, just what the hell actually happened in Santiago?"

Taylor answered. "We are still trying to sort that out. All we know is that an armed group wearing Cuban uniforms hit the supposedly secret headquarters of General Ortega. We know that Ortega is either dead, or badly wounded, or kidnapped, or who knows? Regardless, he's gone and the others on his staff are either dead or wounded. The Cuban army in the east is headless and that is helping our efforts since there's no way they can really coordinate their defenses. That Ortega and his staff have been wiped out are facts. That’s been confirmed by reports to Havana and by people on the ground."

"Good for us, I think," Kennedy said. He wondered what was meant by people on the ground, but decided to ask for a clarification later. "Now, who did it?"

Kraeger stood up straight as McCone answered. "We aren't certain. We have suspicions and a lot of possibilities, but nothing certain."

Kennedy glared. He wanted answers. "Run them by me."

"Sir, the Cubans are speculating, in private I might add, that it was American Special Forces."

Wheeler shook his head. "And we had none in the vicinity. So, as much as I'd like to claim credit for the army, it had to be someone else."

"No SEAL action in that area either, sir," added Admiral Anderson.

If the interruptions annoyed McCone, he didn't let it show as he continued. "The second choice is Cuban dissidents. That sounds good except for the fact that they've been pretty well crushed by the Cuban state police, so we don't think they have either the numbers, the weapons, or the skills to pull off something like this. Also, Santiago is a hotbed of pro-Castro activity, so, while there certainly are dissidents out there, I don't see them doing it."

Kennedy agreed. "What about the exile community in Miami?"

McCone shrugged. "They've been silent about it. The FBI has poked around, but they say it wasn't them and I believe it. Frankly, if it had been, I think they'd be crowing from the rooftops. The FBI says the dissidents no longer have much in the way of any military capabilities. I wonder about that, however."

Again, Kennedy agreed. J. Edgar Hoover himself had said that the Miami exiles were toothless.

"Any other suspects?" JFK asked.

"Three," McCone said. "The first is Castro himself. He might have figured that the war is lost and wants Ortega out of the way instead of being a living hero and a rival."

"You believe that?"

"No sir. The second choice is organized crime, but, again, I just don't see them being able to do this."

Kennedy smiled, "Not their style unless Ortega shows up wearing cement galoshes. What's your next choice?"

McCone turned to Kraeger and Elena. "You two figured it out, tell him."

Kraeger swallowed. "Sir, we think it was the POWs from Guantanamo."

Kennedy leaned forward, intrigued. "Go on."

"Sir, we checked personnel records and found that a number of the prisoners were from Cuba, and one had even been raised in Santiago. It isn't too much of a stretch to think of them forming a raiding group and attacking Ortega's HQ. They can't communicate with us in code because they don't have one, and they sure as hell aren't going to say anything in the clear. Havana figures out what happened and they'll smash the POWs and we'd have a lot of casualties."

"Where would they get the weapons and uniforms?" Marine General Shoup asked almost eagerly. Many of those boys in the compound were his marines. If they had pulled off the raid, he wanted the world to know it.

Elena smiled and answered, "Money talks, general. What they couldn't buy, they probably stole. We've picked up complaints from the Santiago area from officers whining about missing weapons and uniforms. At first we thought it was people who’d lost or sold stuff trying to justify it." She caught the president looking at her. Had he just winked?

Kennedy sat back and smiled. "Jesus Christ. Now what do we do?"

Shoup was agitated. "Mr. President, it's all the more reason to send the marines in now. We've got twenty thousand of them in ships off the southern coast of Cuba and right between Santiago and Guantanamo Bay. If the Cubans get wind of what the CIA suspects has happened, or they figure it out themselves, our boys in that camp will be toast."

"And what about the missing nuke?" Kennedy inquired.

Wheeler answered. "That was the gist of the argument when you arrived. Some of us no longer believe that the nuke exists, if it ever did. They believe that the time for using it has long since passed since the army is bearing down from the north. Naval air has pounded a couple of suspected sites based on information provided by Romanski and Ross. We wonder if the whole thing wasn't a red herring designed to keep us chasing our tails. Either that or it has been destroyed by our planes."

"Interesting," Kennedy said thoughtfully. "And what if it wasn't? Didn't you say, General Wheeler, that our landing on the north coast was a surprise to the Cubans? What if that nuke is still in the south and pointed out to sea where the marines are expected to come ashore? And how much longer will it take the army to reach Santiago and free the POWs?"

"Perhaps three days."

"Why so long?" Kennedy snapped.

"Mr. President," Taylor said, "Resistance is crumbling, but it hasn't disappeared. There are still many pockets of resistance where the fighting is intense. We could suffer many, many casualties if we attempt to move any faster. Also, the farther we push inland, the rougher the terrain gets, which obviously favors the defense."

Kennedy turned to Shoup. "And when can the marines land and free them?"

"Tomorrow."

There was silence while the president thought it over. He nodded as if to himself, and then sighed. "General Shoup, the marines go in and God help us if that nuke exists."

Chapter Twenty

The morning after the re-capture of the three nuclear warheads and the Luna rockets, Captain Pyotr Dragan had been called into General Pliyev's office. The general was clearly unhappy and the reason was obvious — one nuke was still missing.

Dragan had stood impassively as the general had smashed a cigarette into an ashtray with enough force to spill ashes onto the floor. "I have been on the phone with our embassy and there have been numerous radio communications with Moscow. While Khrushchev is mildly pleased that the three nukes have been retrieved, he is thoroughly angry that they were stolen in the first place and is horrified that one remains in the hands of that bearded lunatic in Havana. You are to be commended formally for your efforts. However, you have one more task."

Dragan had smiled. "Let me guess, comrade general. You want me to move heaven and earth to find the lost missile." Pliyev had laughed harshly. "You may move earth all you wish, but we do not believe in heaven. However, if it helps, do whatever you have to."

That had been several weeks earlier and, as he sat tired and filthy in a Cuban swamp, Dragan recalled telling the general that he had spent the night thinking about the feasibility of just such an assignment. Both men concluded the obvious, that the missile would be on the way to Guantanamo to protect and hold the base against the inevitable American counterattacks.

Dragan had asked for and received a squad of Spetsnaz along with a full platoon of regular soldiers. He also got technicians from the 74th Motor Vehicle Regiment. It had been from that regiment that the Lunas had been stolen and it was their men who'd had their throats sliced. Dragan had not lacked for volunteers to help disable and transport the weapon when it was found.

For equipment, he'd taken a number of vehicles. These included one truck mounted battery of Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns, and a pair of heavy trucks with cranes and winches strong enough to lift the damn thing if it became necessary to dispose of the tracked vehicle on which it was mounted. He also had a towed 37mm anti-aircraft gun, although he thought it would be fairly useless against American jets. Still, it did make his men feel good that they had one more weapon to shoot back with. His platoon of regulars traveled in regular trucks.

Driving slowly and at night, it had taken them what seemed an eternity to drive the more than four hundred miles to the boundary of Oriente Province, the home of Guantanamo Bay. It struck him as ironic that the province had also been Castro's sanctuary before the revolution when his miserable little force had hidden out in the Sierra Maestra Mountains to the west of Santiago. As he drove through the area, he could see how a handful of men could hide from an army, which was precisely his problem. Where the devil was the rocket?

Dragan's force had been halted several times by officious Cuban militia who'd questioned his need to go towards the liberated base. On most occasions Dragan had bluffed his way through, but one time he'd been forced to wipe out a militia squad and hide their bodies, hoping that, if somehow found, their deaths would be blamed on American planes. After all, he'd earlier lost one truck full of regular Red Army soldiers because they'd done a poor job of hiding themselves. Dragan accepted full blame for that action. He was in charge.

Now, however, they had a real dilemma. Yes, both he and Pliyev had agreed that the area around Guantanamo would be the logical place for the Cuban bandits to set up and launch the Luna But the area around the base was large, and it was assumed that the Cubans had only a handful of vehicles which meant they could be hidden almost anywhere.

He'd gotten a radio message that Soviet intelligence in Havana thought that Che Guevara himself was in charge of the rocket, and Dragan thought it ludicrous. From what he'd seen and heard about the Cuban firebrand, he knew nothing about missiles, much less atomic ones, and didn't have a lick of common sense.

Of course, that made Che all the more dangerous. He was liable to launch the rocket at the first decent target and scream 'Cuba Libre' while initiating World War III. Dragan shuddered. He still had relatives in the Leningrad area. He signaled the column to move out. They would set up a base north of Guantanamo. He wondered if any American Special Forces, the Green Berets he'd heard so much about, would be scouting the area as well and thought it highly likely. He wondered what they would say to each other if they should meet. Perhaps they could compare equipment. Maybe he could trade his distinctive cap for a beret? Or would they simply start shooting.

He grinned and a couple of his men wondered what was so funny. They wouldn't ask, of course. Dragan was considered a good officer, but a very formal one.

Ross, Cullen, and Morton walked carefully through the rubble left by the navy's planes. Only a little while earlier they'd again endured the helpless feeling as shock waves from exploding bombs nearly overwhelmed them. They'd been a couple of miles away from the impact area and felt momentary pity for those who'd been directly under the bombs. For Ross, Cullen, Cathy, and those who'd earlier nearly been obliterated by American fire, it had brought back bitter memories. For Romanski and Morton, the incident had come as a terrible shock.

Romanski and the others had remained back a little ways to provide cover if necessary as the three men walked carefully through the devastated ground. Romanski had tripped and his leg was acting up again. It wasn't broken, but he was pretty immobile and very upset.

"See anything," Ross asked. The two NCOs said they didn't. Nothing but craters and churned up ground and some shattered trees.

Cullen held up his hand and they halted. "Bodies."

The moved forward. Several men lay dead and mangled. From their uniforms, or what remained of them, they'd once been Cuban militia. A good sign, but where was the launcher?

A more thorough search of the area showed nothing to indicate a tracked rocket launcher or its remains. It could have been smashed to pieces, but it was as big as a tank and at least some of the pieces would still remain. There was nothing, no tires, no frame, and, most important, no rocket. The planes had missed again.

This was the third time they'd tried to get bombs on what they felt was the launcher. The problem was that it took so long to coordinate an attack and Guevara, if that's who it was, was now thoroughly spooked and keeping his nuclear toy on the move.

They knew they'd been close. They'd followed the tracks into the grove of trees and thought they'd seen it camouflaged. It had to be nearby, maybe right under their noses.

"Here's some wreckage," Morton yelled and they came running. The mangled remains of a tracked vehicle and some more bodies lay where the bombs had hurled them. But it wasn't the Luna launcher. It was a Russian built ZIL anti aircraft system. Its bulbous turret lay fifty yards away from the chassis and at least a couple of cremated bodies lay alongside.

Cullen laughed harshly. "Those guns are a nasty piece of work. Too bad it didn't help them."

Ross looked around. If the nuke wasn't there, then where was it? They began to look for tracks, and it only took a few moments to find where a tank-like vehicle had headed away from the bomb site.

"What now, lieutenant?" Morton asked. It no longer surprised him that the two senior NCOs accepted his leadership.

"Well, this ain't the yellow brick road, but I think we're supposed to follow it."

Kraeger and Golikov met at Arlington National Cemetery. This time neither man had brought a female companion. It had been Golikov's request that they be alone. A shame, Kraeger thought, Elena should be part of this and Arlington was one of the most humbling places in the world. Row upon row of headstones dedicated to those who had given their lives in the service of their country graced its gentle rolling hills. Granted, a lot of them had died in bed and there were others who had gained access through political influence, but the overwhelming majority of them were heroes.

"Where's the lovely Oksana?" Kraeger asked.

"Been promoted to Moscow where's she's doubtless fucking the brains out of some more senior member of the KGB,” Golikov said bitterly. “A wonderful woman and I miss her terribly. I hope she gets the clap and spreads it around the Politburo."

Charley laughed. The Russian was clearly annoyed at being dumped. He decided to change the subject. "So why did you select Arlington for this meeting?"

"Because I love this place," Golikov said quietly, surprising Kraeger. "Such quiet majesty and beauty, dignity and pride. We have next to nothing like this back in Russia."

"Why not?

"Because," he said somberly, "we suffered twenty million dead in the Great Patriotic War against the Hitlerites, maybe many millions more, and God knows how many additional in the First World War and the Revolution that followed. That is, if there is a God who knows these things. Most Russian men simply left their homes and villages to go fight or flee and were never heard from again. The same with Russian women as the war swept over them. They were sucked into war and died of wounds or starvation or disease or all three. If we wanted to build a cemetery to pay honor to them it would have to be as large as Poland."

Golikov smiled slightly. "Of course, there are those who think that turning Poland and other satellite nations like Cuba into graveyards is a good idea. No, we have to make do with monuments to heroic soldiers that are massive and monumentally ugly. No elegance, no dignity, no peace and grace. Nothing like this. The poet in me says I should weep, but that would be unbecoming for a KGB officer."

Kraeger knew the Soviet Union's casualties in the wars had been enormous, but, like most Americans, had never given it much thought. The numbers were beyond comprehension. Twenty million? More? Where did one begin to count?

Golikov continued. "Those obscene numbers are a large part of what shapes our foreign policy. The Jews in Israel have a saying, ‘Never Again,’ which refers to their Holocaust. We Russians had our own holocaust and you call it World War II. How would your nation behave to real or perceived outside threats if it had suffered proportionately?"

"With considerable ill will towards anyone who threatened it again," Kraeger admitted with no reluctance.

"Yes, and that is why we have surrounded ourselves with buffer states and with shit countries such as Poland, Hungary, East Germany, and the like, and that is why our nation takes the presence of American long range nuclear missiles that can hit the Soviet Union as an offensive threat, whether you intended it that way or not. The satellite nations can protect us from your tanks but not from your missiles. Is it not said that capabilities drive intentions? Your country has the capability to attempt to destroy us. Doesn’t that mean that you will someday try? As long as those rockets exist, the possibility of a first American strike remains."

"Not necessarily," Kraeger answered. "My leaders believe they are defending our nation against another Pearl Harbor, or a strike that would incapacitate us."

Golikov laughed. "Pearl Harbor? Three thousand dead? Trifling. I piss on those numbers. We suffered that many each day during the battle for Stalingrad. Or was it each hour? I forget. And please do not tell me that all your generals want only to defend your nation. Or have you never heard the rantings of General LeMay and of Patton before him? LeMay has all those bombers and all those nuclear weapons. He could start and end World War III on his own and it would be over before anybody realized it."

"We don't work that way."

"At least not yet, and that is not a chance Moscow can take."

Enough, Kraeger thought as he walked along a row of graves. "What do you want? Why did you call this meeting?"

"Just for you to once more remind your president that taking out Castro could have grave consequences far beyond Cuba. I know he knows that, and I know that you and others have been telling him, but it must be said again. The best case for continuing world stability lies in keeping Castro in charge. Let us decide when he is no longer needed, as well as easing the changeover from Khrushchev to whoever follows him."

Kraeger paused, startled. "Comrade Nikita's on his way out?"

Golikov nodded solemnly. "Back in Moscow, it is considered very likely. A growing number of the Politburo think he has royally fucked up this whole Cuban situation. He will be replaced sooner rather than later."

"And then what? Siberia or a bullet in the head?"

Golikov laughed. "Didn't I tell you we don't do that anymore? No, he will be allowed to retire to a pleasant dacha where he will be totally ignored and find himself bored to tears. He will be allowed to count trees, but nothing more substantive."

"I will tell my people."

"Please do that," Golikov said. "For me, if you don't mind I will wander this wonderful Arlington and enjoy its peaceful dignity. Did you know that some of the dead from the battleship Maine are buried here? That sinking in 1898 started the war with Spain that gave you Guantanamo in the first place. Ironic isn't it?"

Romanski had them all fan out as they walked through a field of waist high straw-like grasses. He was at one end of the short line and Ross at the other. Cathy stayed about a hundred yards behind. She was clearly in harm's way but refused to let the others out of sight.

Romanski's leg was causing him great pain and he kept swearing under his breath as they walked. He was now certain it would have to be broken again and re-set. He swore at Morton's shortcomings as a medic and wondered how long he could keep up.

The answer came suddenly. He stumbled and fell forward and it felt like hot irons were being jammed into his leg. He rolled over and got up with great difficulty. He signaled to Morton who nodded.

Damn it, Romanski thought. Now it looked like the leg wouldn't have to be re-broken. It probably just happened. At least he could still walk a little bit, although once again with something for support, so maybe it wasn't quite broken.

Cathy walked past him and looked quizzically. "You need help, don't you?"

The colonel tried to make light of it, even though it hurt so badly he thought he might pass out. "Even if I did, young lady, I wouldn't admit it, because I'm airborne and immune to pain. You go ahead and I'll cover everyone's rear."

Which, he thought, is what I should have been doing in the first place. He was too old and too banged up to keep up with the young tigers. Cathy nodded grimly and moved forward. Her mind was fixed on where Andrew Ross was and what he was doing.

The men of ExComm looked pleased with themselves, and with good reason. The Cuban forces were collapsing and victory in the Guantanamo area was virtually assured. The retaking of the base and the liberation of the prisoners held at Santiago was a matter of hours, a couple of days at most. Even Air Force General LeMay looked pleased, although still his usual belligerent self. He seemed annoyed that he was running out of bona fide targets.

"Sir, we've been bombarding them with napalm and leaflets with a very simple message. Either surrender or get killed. I'm happy to say that it's proven very effective. Several thousands of Cubans have given up and we think others are simply disappearing into the jungle. Many of the militia appear to be stripping off their uniforms, abandoning their weapons, and simply going home."

LeMay gestured towards the map. "However, some are still fighting. Those armies seem to have broken off into two groups. The first is retreating south towards Guantanamo and Santiago and continues to fight, and we are pounding it along with bombs as well as dropping leaflets. The second group is retreating westward in the general direction of Havana. They seem to be paying little attention to leaflets and we are going to continue to hit them as hard as we can."

Kennedy nodded. The Cuban troops retreating towards Gitmo and Santiago were still threats, but the ones heading away from the battle? He took a deep breath. It was time for ExComm to learn what some, like LeMay, might consider an unpleasant truth.

"General, I don't wish to slaughter men who cannot fight back. I agree that the ones in the south need to be taken out, but the troops heading west are no threat. Let them go. No massacres."

The army's General Wheeler looked puzzled. "But sir, if we let them go we will only face them later when we approach Havana."

Kennedy didn't answer. He looked down at the table. Yes, it was time for everyone to face reality, to bring out in the open what they all were thinking.

He looked up and took in all their expressions. "We aren't going to Havana."

There was stunned silence. Finally, Curtis LeMay stood up, his face red with anger. "This is bullshit, fucking bullshit. This is Korea all over again, isn't it? We have victory over the commie bastards right in our grasp and you're going to let them off, aren't you? Sir, if you do that, millions of Americans are going to hate your guts and we're still going to have a commie nation ninety miles from Florida."

Kennedy glared at him, his own temper threatening to get the best of him. "First of all, general, sit down. Second, don't ever talk like that to me again. Like it or not, and like me or not — and I do know how many of you feel about me — but I am your president and commander in chief. And yes, we are going to let them go for the simple reason that we don't want a nuclear or even a conventional confrontation with the Russians. Or have you forgotten that there are upwards of forty-thousand well-armed and well-trained Soviet soldiers with tanks and heavy weapons sitting around Havana? Or have you forgotten that they have dozens of tactical nuclear weapons at their disposal, and their doctrine, as we now understand it, is to use them first and ask questions later? How many of you want to be responsible for the bloodbath that would ensue, and what do you think the Russians would do in retaliation?"

LeMay sat, but remained furious. "They'll think we're weak, just like Korea. They'll stomp all over us somewhere else, like Korea or Berlin. Or maybe that fucking pigsty, Vietnam."

Kennedy sighed. The Korean War had ended as a stalemate to almost everyone's dissatisfaction. Hawks like LeMay and Douglas MacArthur felt that the war should have been carried to the Chinese mainland and that nuclear weapons should have been used early on. That former General and then President Dwight Eisenhower had agreed to a limited solution had puzzled the hawks. They felt that wars are fought to be won, not left as ties.

"Gentlemen," Kennedy said firmly, "our goal was the recapture of Guantanamo and the release of our prisoners. Very shortly we will have accomplished those goals. Taking Havana and toppling Castro are not worth the cost in additional American lives, especially if the Soviets fight alongside the Cubans and begin the use of nuclear bombs. And, like you said, General LeMay, let's also not forget that we are vulnerable in Berlin and Korea. I know that some don't think the Russians exert much control over the Chinese and the Koreans, but I don't think we're ready to take that chance.

"Yes, we would ultimately prevail against Havana, just as the Soviets would ultimately prevail and take Berlin as part of a bloody quid pro quo, and we might just find ourselves up to our asses in trouble in Korea if the North Koreans and Chinese march south. And what would we have accomplished beyond the loss of thousands of American lives? And that reminds me, how many Americans are dead in this invasion?"

"About a thousand," Taylor said. "And several thousand more are wounded."

"Any estimate of Cuban casualties?" Kennedy asked.

"At least ten times that," Taylor answered.

Kennedy sat back in his chair. "So many dead and wounded on top of the casualties we've already suffered during their attack on Gitmo, and how many thousands more would be necessary to actually topple Castro? I have finally, belatedly, come to the obvious conclusion that the Cuban people actually support Castro and will fight to keep him in power. Maybe they'll get tired of him some time in the future, but it isn't going to happen anytime soon."

LeMay snarled. "Then let's confront them with our bombers. The Strategic Air Command's B52s can wipe out any Cuban or Russian threat in Cuba."

The other military leaders looked aghast. Maxwell Taylor said, "The president is right. I will not support anything that threatens to escalate into an all-out nuclear war, or even a limited one. Limited wars get out of hand very quickly as history has repeatedly shown us. I for one do not wish to imperil millions of American citizens for the dubious pleasure of kicking Castro off his throne."

Admiral Anderson added his two cents. "General LeMay, as much as I would like to see Castro deposed, I too worry about the price. Have you forgotten about the Soviet navy's surface squadron and the presence of a large number of submarines in the area? What if we had to fight them as well? We'd win, of course, but at what price and for what reason?"

LeMay shook his head in disbelief. "Admiral, that surface squadron consists of three aging, World War II vintage cruisers and their submarines, which, based on previous experiences, are pieces of shit."

"But they all have nukes," Anderson insisted. "And those submarines off the coast of Cuba are only the tip of the Soviet Union’s naval strength. Of course we'd destroy them, but, again, at what price?"

"And what about the exiles in Florida?" LeMay insisted. "Don't they deserve justice?"

"We don't always get justice in this life," Kennedy said softly, silently wondering if there would be justice in the next. "If we do take even a large portion of Cuba and decide to hold it, the exiles will insist on returning to the area we occupy, and it will foment a civil war in Cuba with us in the middle, or, worse, with us on one side and the Russians on the other. You may consider my decision unjust and I won't argue the point, but the exiles cannot be permitted to return to Cuba, at least not at this time. You can argue all you want that it isn't fair, but life isn't fair."

LeMay turned as if to leave the room, then thought better of it and sat down.

"Therefore," Kennedy continued, "we will do nothing more than expand the perimeter of the base at Gitmo to make it more defensible. We will not even take Santiago. However close and tempting it might be, Santiago is a hotbed of support for Castro and we'd be inviting armed resistance from within the city and guerilla warfare later."

LeMay remained incredulous. "I just cannot believe we aren't even considering using the Strategic Air Command's bombers. Why the hell do we have those weapons if we're not going to use them?"

"Because I consider them deterrents, not first strike weapons," Kennedy said. "They are for defense, not offense."

"The exiles are going to be furious," McCone commented softly. Behind him, Charley and Elena sat in rapt fascination. Their knees touched slightly as if they were trying to communicate their thoughts as they sat watching history being made. Someday, it'd be a helluva tale to tell the grandkids.

"I know," said the president. "A few days after the fighting stops and the situation in Cuba stabilizes, I'll send Lyndon Johnson down to Miami to mollify them. He'll do that by telling the exiles what a no-good prick I am for betraying them and what a great good friend they have in Lyndon Johnson if he should ever decide to run for president." Kennedy smiled tightly. "Since Lyndon believes that I am a no good prick and he does want to replace me, he will be a very compelling speaker."

"I still can't live with this," LeMay said and stood. "You'll have my resignation as soon as this crisis is over."

Kennedy glared at him. "General, there was an Air Force before you and there'll be an Air Force after you. If that is how you genuinely feel, resign now."

"Then I resign," snarled LeMay.

"Accepted, now get the hell out of here."

The president stood and walked angrily out of the meeting and returned to the Oval Office. Bobby Kennedy awaited him, a stunned look on his face. Dear God, JFK thought, what the hell is it now?

Chapter Twenty-one

Emilio Esteban hated Haiti and the Haitians almost as much as he hated Fidel Castro. Castro had taken his parent's business, a department store, nationalized it, and driven them away from it. Castro hadn't even given them the opportunity to manage it for the state. No, Castro’s representatives said they were capitalist pigs who'd oppressed the Cuban people and deserved to live in poverty. That the Esteban family had started with nothing and worked hard to reach a level of prosperity in Cuba meant nothing to Castro and those Emilia considered his thugs. Nor did it matter that his parents had never cheated anyone. They were capitalists and needed to go.

Of course, none of the Esteban family had ever directly met Fidel Castro. His minions were the ones who'd done the deeds. Emilio's parents had tried to endure state-sanctioned poverty in Cuba, but had finally immigrated to Miami with little more than the clothing on their backs. Castro's police had even stolen their watches and jewelry.

Fortunately, the now thirty-year old Emilio had preceded them to Miami where he'd made contact with the exile community. Even more fortunately, he hadn't been part of the tragic attempt to liberate his beloved homeland in the Bay of Pigs fiasco. Still, he learned from the experience not to trust the United States and, in particular, not to trust the Central Intelligence Agency. He was not worried about the FBI. A bunch of pasty-faced white guys in dark suits who stood out like sore thumbs when observing Cubans in Miami was not going to infiltrate his new organization.

The Haitians, under their dictator, the evil Papa Doc Duvalier, were corrupt, brutal and never to be trusted. They knew that he had plans involving Castro and Cuba and, under ordinary circumstances would have stopped him or betrayed him. This time, Emilio thought, Duvalier was angry with the United States for butting into his fiefdom and with Castro for threatening to export his revolution to Haiti. This meant that anyone who wanted to hurt both and who paid cash was acceptable.

For the moment, that is. Emilio and his associates knew that Duvalier could change his mind in a heartbeat and attack either their camp or the rusting freighter they’d bought through a dummy corporation. They'd renamed the ship the Marti, after Jose Marti the legendary Cuban freedom fighter who'd been killed by the Spaniards in 1895. If they were betrayed and attacked by the Haitians, Emilio and those of his men taken prisoner would be sold to the highest bidder, probably Castro, if they were lucky, and shot outright if they weren't. Of course, being turned over to Castro might not count as luck, he thought grimly. He'd heard too many tales of life and excruciatingly painful death in Castro's dungeons.

That Emilio now had nearly a thousand well-armed men at his disposal was also deterring the avaricious Duvalier. Emilio thought it was too late for Duvalier's brutal but inept and rag-tag army to make a move against him. One nice thing about dictators like Duvalier or Batista, they ordinarily had lousy armies. Good armies were a threat to their regime, but not bad ones. Duvalier's army existed as a palace guard to protect Papa Doc, not fight an enemy force.

Nor was Emilio's goal the re-establishment of the corrupt Batista Regime. No, Batista and his goons were gone along with the casinos and brothels and good riddance. His hope was to establish a democracy in Cuba along with the return of the property taken by Castro's government. He understood that much of it had been given over to Cuban peasants, but that was just too bad. They had received stolen property and would have to return it. Even in America, no one could legally profit from receiving stolen goods. Emilio planned to play a significant role in the future Cuban government and vowed to solve the problem of property rights as equitably as possible.

And if anyone resisted, then they were communists and would get what they deserved.

Stuffed with men and equipment, the Marti left the small port of Aquin on the southern coast of Haiti. There were parts of Haiti that were very close to Guantanamo and he'd thought of launching his attack in that direction, but American naval presence was too strong, and the political impact would not be the same as landing near Havana. No, they would steam south and towards the western tip of Cuba. They would stay on the edge of the American exclusion zone, which had been moved closer to the Cuban shore as a result of protests from other nations who felt that their trade routes to Mexico other Central American nations were being impeded by a war that wasn’t theirs.

The cruise of the Marti was largely unnoticed. An American destroyer hailed them and asked them their destination. Vera Cruz, Mexico, they'd responded. The Marti was registered under her real name and was shown as Panamanian. After a brief delay, she was allowed to proceed.

As they came close to the western tip of Cuba, they turned sharply north. Their radar showed no American ships within fifty miles, although there might be a submarine lurking beneath the waves. Emilio thought it was highly unlikely that the American navy would attack a rust bucket like the Marti.

It was time to make their move. The ship speeded up as best it could and headed to their target, the sleepy port of Playa Malana, about fifty miles from Havana and on the southern coast.

At first, all they saw as they approached the shore were fishing boats and a small number of people staring at the approaching freighter. Emilio laughed. They probably thought the Marti was either lost or having engine problems.

He got as close to shore as he could and lowered the boats and rafts. They were filled with armed men who quickly made it to shore, jumped out of their small craft, and spread out, shouting that the good people of Playa Malana had been liberated from the clutches of the communists and Fidel Castro. Emilio was in the first boat.

"Who the hell are they?" one of his aides asked. Emilio turned to where the aide was pointing. Men in strange uniforms were piling into vehicles and driving away.

"Shoot them," Emilio hollered without thinking, and his men happily complied with a barrage of bullets, but apparently hitting nothing.

Then, one of the vehicles slowed and stopped. The passenger door opened and a man fell out. He tried to crawl away but gave up the effort and collapsed.

Emilio rushed to the vehicle. The driver was dead, but the passenger who’d fallen onto the ground was still alive, although barely. He gave orders for the man to be given medical help. A medic checked quickly and shook his head. The second man was dead as well.

He checked the man's uniform and papers. A chill went up and down his spine when he realized the significance of what he'd done.

He'd just shot and killed two Russian soldiers.

Shit, he thought. He hadn't planned to involve the Soviets. Now what? He heard screaming from behind him. The town's people were yelling and gesticulating at his men who were yelling back. Damn. Along with killing a pair of Russians, it looked like he'd landed his troops at a place that didn't particularly want to be liberated.

No matter. His radio was set up and it was time to broadcast to the world that liberation was at hand and that Castro’s days were numbered.

Sergeant Carlos Gomez lay on his substantial belly while the bullets whipped about him. Someone screamed in agony. That was enough, he swore. That idiot Guevara was going to get him killed.

Only a handful of Americans were advancing and firing, but that was enough since there was less than a handful of Cubans left to fight them. The war had become very small. Che Guevara was with the rocket launcher along with a couple of men who said they knew how to operate it, and that left Gomez and three others to fight off the approaching Americans.

A few days ago, he'd had twenty men, but desertions and the American bombs had whittled that number down to the few who remained. Guevara had grabbed a mobile anti-aircraft battery to help defend his nuke, and that was now a pile of burning scrap along with its crew. Gomez knew it was time to go. The enemy, the damned gringos, was coming in overwhelming strength. It was time for Gomez to leave Guevara to whatever insane plans he had and dig up the money and other valuables he had squirreled away. Gomez smiled. With all his men getting shot, there might not be anyone else to share it with.

The Americans were drawing even closer. One of his remaining men lurched forward, the top of his head blown off. Gore spattered all over Gomez, covering him in blood. Thank you, he said to his dead companion as he threw his own weapon a few feet away. Being unarmed was a chance he would have to take if he wanted to get out of this mess, Guevara's mess. He spread more blood on himself and lay face down, beside and half under his comrade's mangled body.

The Americans were close enough to hear them talk and he watched them through squinted eyes. They saw the bodies and he could hear their comments. One of them, apparently a young officer, ordered them to continue forward. Gomez closed his eyes and held his breath. They were after the launcher and any dead or wounded Cubans were of no concern to them. In a way, Gomez hoped they got to the launcher before Guevara had a chance to light up Guantanamo, but he also admitted to himself that it would be equally pleasant if a number of Americans were consumed in a nuclear fire.

What would be, would be, he decided as he lay, feigning death.

The Americans passed by without giving him a second look. He waited a few moments to give them a chance to get far enough away that they wouldn't see him. Enough, he thought. It was time to leave. He stood and grabbed his rifle. He heard a noise. He was staring right at Cathy Malone.

Cathy saw the man arise from the ground looking like an apparition from hell. He was covered with blood and looked like he should be dead. Instead, he smiled and took a couple of steps toward her. He looked somehow familiar. Then she recalled and it felt like someone had punched her in the gut.

Gomez, Gomez the bastard who had raped her. Gomez was the man who had stripped her like meat and laughed while he violated her in her own apartment and in front of other human filth like him. And now he was standing just a few feet in front of her and laughing, a gun in his hands.

"Pussy," Gomez said laughing. "Now you will come with me and we will finish what we started before I leave this damned island. One more time I will show you how a Cuban man really fucks a woman."

He pointed his automatic rifle in her direction. She was carrying one of her own, but it was pointed downward. She couldn't move. She was paralyzed with shock and growing fear. A part of her said she had to try and kill him, but her body wouldn't obey. Where were the others? Where was her help? She was as alone as the day Gomez had violated her.

Gomez laughed again and reached for her. She stepped backwards, almost stumbling. He was only a few yards away and was becoming impatient. He had to end this soon before the others came back. He slung his weapon over his shoulder. He was that contemptuous of her defenses.

"Get over here, you stupid cunt!" he snarled.

His words finally penetrated her consciousness. She screamed in animal fury, raised her weapon and fired on full automatic. Most of her shots went wild, but a line of bullets exploded across Gomez's chest and belly. He flew backwards and flopped onto the ground. A few seconds later, he stopped flopping and lay still. Cathy threw down the AK47 and dropped to her knees, sobbing.

A moment later, a badly limping Romanski lurched by. "You okay, Cathy?"

"I think so."

Romanski continued on and looked at the mutilated corpse. He had heard only the last comment the dead Cuban had made, but he thought he understood. "Tell me, was this someone you knew?"

She managed a wan smile. She was now used to the stench of death, and along with the blood, Gomez had messily evacuated his bowels and bladder as he died. She thought it was fitting that had died in his own filth.

"You could say it was."

He smiled knowingly. "Is this chapter closed?"

She reached for the weapon she'd dropped. "Damned right."

Ross crawled through the grass and the bushes. There had been a burst of gunfire from behind him and he wondered if that meant that the Cubans were in his rear or what. Regardless, the situation called for extreme caution. He knew that he was finally getting very close to the launcher and its nuclear warhead.

And finally, there it was, tucked neatly into a very small clearing less than a hundred yards away. Its rocket was in an upright position, like an obscene erection, and it was pointed south towards the ocean where everyone expected that the marines would soon be landing.

Guevara was hunched over in the vehicle, probably working the controls and two Cubans were on the ground, checking things over.

Ross looked around as best he could without exposing himself. Where were the others? The unexpected firing behind him had stopped, but Cullen, Morton, and the others were nowhere to be seen, and where the devil was Cathy? Had the firing distracted them or had they gotten separated in the underbrush? It didn't matter. He was on his own and it looked like Guevara was going to try and fire the thing at any moment.

Ross moved forward in a running crouch. About halfway there, the two Cubans on the ground spotted him. He opened fire and one of them fell while the second ran away. Guevara looked up, stunned. He recovered quickly and pulled his pistol out of its holster.

Ross aimed and squeezed the trigger. Nothing. His clip was empty. He struggled to replace it and Guevara fired several rounds at nearly point-blank range.

Ross was hit in the chest with enough force to knock him backwards and stun him. It took all his strength to roll over. Even if he could have reached it, his carbine was smashed. One of Guevara's bullets had hit it. His world began to spin and he thought he would black out.

Guevara laughed and went back to work.

A wraith in a gray uniform silently emerged from behind the launcher and jumped up and behind an unsuspecting Che Guevara. A large knife flashed and blood began to gush wildly from the Cuban's throat. The wraith pushed Guevara out and onto the ground where he lay still.

Additional gray clad wraiths leaped onto the launcher and lowered the rocket. With swift, practiced motions, they removed the warhead and laid it on a sledge which they then proceeded to drag away into the underbrush.

Andrew's mind finally accepted the fact that they were men and not phantoms and that they wore uniforms, but ones he didn't recognize.

The first one, the man with the knife, stood over Andrew. He was clearly in charge of the group. He knelt and wiped the blade on some grass.

"There is no blood, so you will live, I think," he said in heavily accented English.

"You're Russian?" Andrew managed to say.

"Spetsnaz," Captain Pyotr Dragan answered. "Tell your superiors that we have done nothing more than retrieved stolen property along with taking care of some human garbage we've been tracking for some time."

Dragan signaled and his fellow Russians disappeared like they'd never existed. The sledge with the warhead was already out of sight. All that remained was a missile launcher without a warhead. A Russian ran back and threw a grenade into the launcher’s command area. The explosion started a fire that resulted in the fuel tank catching fire. The launcher was history and the Luna was gone.

Ross lay back and tried to figure out whether the Russian was right and that he would indeed live. He checked himself over and, miraculously, found no evidence of a bullet hole. Something had hit him hard in the chest, but it wasn't a bullet and it wasn't going to kill him. His ribs hurt like hell and he thought at least one was broken.

Morton and Cullen ran to him and checked him over. A moment later, Cathy did the same thing, except that she was crying. The verdict was unanimous. He would live. Romanski finally limped up. Once again he was using a tree limb for a crutch. He looked at the launcher and the dead bodies.

"Is that what I think it is?" the colonel asked.

"Yes, sir," Ross said. "That's what we've been chasing."

"Then where the hell is the warhead," Romanski said as he looked around, deeply concerned. The marines had commenced landing a few miles south at Gitmo and east near the town of Siboney.

Ross tried to laugh, but it hurt too hard. "Colonel, let's just say that the real owners came and got it."

Chapter Twenty-two

One more thing spinning out of my control, JFK lamented silently. Worse, there was no way of containing the problem. That fool, Emilio Esteban, had been broadcasting from Cuba for nearly two hours now, proclaiming the resurgence of a free Cuba and urging the Cuban people to rise up and overthrow Fidel Castro.

"We will not help them," Kennedy said softly but firmly. "Any attempt at air support would be too close to Russian positions. The fact that this Esteban's people have already killed two Russians is bad enough. We will not further complicate matters."

General Taylor reluctantly agreed. "Their effort is doomed. Thousands of Cuban militia and armed civilians are already converging on the area. The pro-Castro forces aren't using air or sending in tanks. They're afraid our air forces would clobber them. Instead, they are just going to overwhelm the exile forces with numbers. Cuban civilians are even hindering Esteban's attackers, just like they did when we landed north of Guantanamo."

"Are we still in touch with Esteban?" the president asked.

"Yes sir."

"Then tell the stupid bastard what his situation is and that he'd better cut bait and get the hell out of there while the getting is good."

This would hurt him politically, as if he hadn't been hurt badly already. As a result of Emilio Esteban's invasion of Cuba, there'd been demonstrations and celebrations in many cities. Miami, of course, had the lion's share. Too bad none of the celebrants yet realized Esteban’s effort was even more flawed and more doomed then the Bay of Pigs invasion.

Kennedy turned to his secretary of state. "Mr. Rusk, are the Russians on board with this? Will they stay out of it?"

Rusk nodded. "They will. The loss of a couple of men is of no consequence to them if they can get out of this Cuban debacle without any loss of prestige. I am convinced they do not want any more confrontations with us as long as we don't do anything directly against Castro."

Kennedy sighed. He was getting skewered by his political opposition once more who were asking a litany of questions. Where were the American planes needed to support the attack, they asked? Why weren't more marines landing near Havana? Not only were the assaults on him coming from his political enemies, but now they were being aided by former air force chief of staff, Curtis LeMay. His resignation had been offered and immediately accepted, and the man had almost immediately gone on radio and television to proclaim that, in effect, the president of the United States was a gutless fool.

On top of all that and when all of this was done, Kennedy would have to know just how the exiles had formed an army without either the CIA or the FBI knowing about it. J. Edgar Hoover was already likely pissing all over himself trying to come up with excuses or someone else to blame. Of course, each agency had its own jurisdiction and each was filled with petty politics and turf wars. In effect, the CIA and the FBI didn't talk with each other and barely tolerated each other's existence. That too would have to change, he thought.

CIA Director McCone interrupted. "The Soviets have also informed us that all their nuclear warheads are accounted for and that any rumors that they'd lost one were myths or capitalist propaganda, and that they will vehemently deny it if anyone ever brings it up."

Kennedy chuckled. He'd already gotten a preliminary report from Romanski and Ross. The Soviets were lying through their socialist teeth about not losing a nuke, but what else was new? At least they'd recovered the lost weapon and there was no longer a nuclear threat to the marines who, hopefully, were at this moment landing on the southern coast of Cuba.

"And the landings in the south," Kennedy asked.

"Beginning as we speak," Taylor responded.

"And our POWs?"

There was the ongoing fear that the Cubans would try to ship all or some away to Havana and try again to use them as bargaining chips in future negotiations.

Taylor smiled. "Efforts are underway."

The sound of naval gunfire had merged with the thundering crash of bombs exploding in the bay and in the city of Santiago, which had largely been abandoned. The civilian population had prudently headed inland for the hills.

The war was getting closer, much closer. Major Paul Hartford and his command team all wondered the same thing. Was all this fuss about us? And, if so, when the hell would the cavalry arrive? If the bad guys attacked the camp in any force, there could be real problems.

Scouts had reported that so far there seemed to be no massing of Cordero's troops in the area. Perhaps the camp wasn’t that important to them.

Marine Captain Tom Keppel looked toward the night darkened city of Santiago and beyond it with his light sensitive high powered Soviet binoculars that were the envy of his fellow POWs. He'd bought them for twenty dollars from a Cuban soldier who'd happily said he'd stolen them from a Russian. Every so often an explosion blinded him and he cursed.

"Smoke is coming from the west of Santiago, sir. That makes sense if they don't want to attack the city directly, but it does mean that the navy is farther away from us than I would appreciate. I also don't think there'll be Negro cavalry on white horses showing up anytime soon."

Hartford laughed and concurred. The camp was filled with anxiety. In anticipation of being liberated, all of the men had packed whatever worldly goods they'd either brought with them or bought from compliant Cubans. They were ready to move out on a minute's notice, but to where? If Cuban soldiers showed up and tried to move them, should they fight or accept a move to some other place? Hartford and his wife had been to Havana once and had always wanted to see it again, but not under these circumstances. He’d just gotten a letter from her via the Red Cross in which she’d said she was proud of him and hoped they could talk when he was free.

Keppel had laughingly suggested that whether they fought or not it might depend on just how many Cuban soldiers showed up, since, other than their guards, Cuban soldiers seemed in short supply. A handful of guards were in their towers, but the remainder remained in their barracks, sullen, fearful, and angry.

All of the POWs' weapons and ammunition had been distributed. If only a platoon of the enemy, or even a company, came to move them, they'd be able to give a good accounting of themselves, perhaps even drive the Cubans off. Any larger force, however, would soon overwhelm them and inflict great casualties.

Hartford glanced towards Skronski, who nodded. "Enough chatter," Hartford said, "we execute Plan B, as in Bullshit, at two AM, which is forty minutes from now."

Captain Tuttle, chair of the so-called escape committee grinned. His men would execute Plan B as in Bullshit. "Then we have confirmation, sir?"

Hartford refused declined the bait. "Let's just say we're very hopeful."

At two AM precisely, carefully positioned American marines and sailors within the camp opened up with their small arsenal of weapons. Their targets were the watchtowers surrounding the camp. Within seconds, they'd shredded the towers and the men in them. Americans with home-made wire cutters clipped the fence in a number of places and some climbed up the towers in time to turn the machine guns on the guard barracks. The machine guns chattered insanely, ripping the fragile buildings and butchering the Cubans who tried to escape from them, and piling their bodies three and four deep.

Tuttle looked at the carnage. He was pleased. "Oh, they are going to be really pissed. How much time do you think we've bought, sir?"

"Maybe an hour, maybe a little more," Hartford said. All the deaths saddened him, but, as he reminded himself, this was war and war was hell. "Regardless, we get the hell out of here."

"What about our prisoners?" Keppel asked. These were the two gate guards and their lieutenant.

"If they want to come, bring them. Otherwise leave them tied up so Castro's boys can find them and think they didn't cooperate with us. Of course, Ortega goes with us."

Half an hour later, the camp was empty. Two thousand American POWs were winding down a path in the direction of the ocean. If the marines hadn't landed, or if the Cubans decided to follow, or if they were mistaken for Cubans, they would be in deep kim-chee as the old hands from the Korean War liked to say.

As they approached the coast, a handful of heavily armed navy SEALS emerged and guided them. Plan B, as in Bullshit, was operational.

Less than a mile away, General Humberto Cordero watched the exodus through his own binoculars. He couldn't see much, but it was clear that the camp was being evacuated. He had nearly ten thousand men in the area and thought he should send at least a number of them after the prisoners. But his orders were succinct. He was to defend Santiago, and there was no reference to the prisoners; ergo, the prisoners were not part of Havana's plan. He would ignore them.

Besides, he had other issues of a highly personal nature. He turned to his companion. "I sincerely hope this will be remembered."

Charley Kraeger nodded. "You've always been a friend, Umberto."

Cordero chuckled, "Yes, just like you've always been an East German, or a Hollander. I have to admit I was surprised to see you when you showed up here."

Kraeger poured them each another drink. Kraeger wasn't all that fond of vodka, but it was all that Cordero had. To his surprise, Elena hadn't been all that upset when he was tapped to make one more field trip on behalf of the CIA and coordinate with an old contact, Cordero. This, he guaranteed her, was the absolute last time he would leave the United States of America unless he went on vacation. Or a honeymoon, he’d assured her.

"And what about Allesandro?" Kraeger asked.

"The noxious little spy from Havana?"

"Yes. Can he be a problem for you?"

Cordero smiled coldly and checked his watch. "Very sadly, he is on the road in his car and is scheduled to be killed by an American bomb in about fifteen minutes."

Kraeger raised his class in mock salute. "My sympathies to his family on their anticipated tragic loss."

"He didn't have a family. He was spawned from the slime of the sea. Just like Castro."

The statement about Alleesandro was a clear indication that Cordero had friends who were as deeply opposed to Castro as Esteban and the idiots from Miami who had landed south of Havana and were now steaming away as fast as their decrepit ship could take them.

Kraeger handed Cordero a valise filled with Russian rubles. American dollars would have been a dead giveaway if Ortega had tried to spend them in a communist Cuba.

"I know you don't need this and didn't ask for it, but maybe you can put it to good use."

Cordero took the bag. A little too eagerly, Kraeger thought. "If I can find a way to use it to help get rid of Fidel, I will. Otherwise, it might help feed my family or, if things really go to hell, help me get the fuck out of here."

They shook hands and Kraeger departed. The bombardment to the west of Santiago had ceased. In a little while the Cubans would realize that there wouldn't be a landing in that area to cut off Santiago from the rest of Cuba. Instead, the marines would be landing directly at Gitmo.

The once proud Guantanamo Bay Naval Base more resembled a ruined German city from World War II than an American military facility. Scarcely a building remained that hadn't been at least seriously damaged and most were totally destroyed. In many cases only charred and fractured walls and piles of debris were left. Craters from bombs and artillery had chewed up the roads and made driving an adventure for those heading inland in their jeeps and M59 armored personnel carriers.

Everything useful had either been destroyed in the fighting or by Castro's forces after the takeover. Castro had sworn he would wipe the base off the face of the earth and, for all intents and purposes, he'd succeeded.

Ross recalled pictures he'd seen of the devastation in Europe after World War II and thought this was a microcosm of that destruction. It would take a hell of a lot of time, money, and effort to rebuild Gitmo, but, apparently, the United States government was going to do exactly that. Was the base worth it? Who knew? Was it necessary, or would it be done simply to prove it could be done and further aggravate Castro? It was another good question that he wasn't in a position to answer.

Cathy had been unable to find much of her apartment and that disappointed her. She had left a lot of clothing and items of jewelry in it and now they were all gone. Sure, the jewelry wasn't all that valuable, mainly costume stuff, and it could be replaced, but it was part of her life and it just seemed so frustrating and insulting for her possessions to have disappeared. She wondered if some Cuban women were parading around their villages in her stuff. She rooted through the rubble for a little while longer and gave up. At least she hadn't brought down any family valuables or anything else that was truly important. She reluctantly decided that pictures and trinkets could be replaced.

Ross had much the same situation, but, as a marine, he had little in the way of personal possessions on the base. He was not going digging in the ruins of his quarters like an archeologist and Cathy, finally grinning and accepting her own losses, concurred.

Andrew Ross's small band of soldiers and marines was disappearing. Morton had taken Romanski to a field hospital to get his leg treated. After that, they planned to hitch a flight up to the states and, hopefully, to Fort Benning where their families awaited. Their wives had been notified of their survival. Romanski had grinned wickedly and mentioned something about he and his wife going for pony rides. Cathy wondered why they didn't just stay home and celebrate.

Cullen, Ward and Groth had attached themselves to a marine unit and were going to show them the graves where the men killed in the first assault on their bunker had been buried. Andrew had thought about going with him, but had been overruled by some general, and wasn't quite certain why.

As suspected, Andrew hadn't really been shot. One of Che's bullets must have ricochet off of something, maybe his carbine, and struck him in the chest, stunning him. A medic told him he had a bad bruise and possibly a cracked rib, and that time would be the best way to heal. The pain was far from unbearable and he would deal with it, as if he had a choice. It did make walking and deep breathing difficult, another good excuse for staying put. It hadn't stopped him from enjoying the pressure of Cathy's slender body against his when she'd hugged him tightly. Some pains could easily be endured, he decided.

A few yards away, a column of marines moved by, single file on each side of the road. Jeeps and the occasional armored personnel carrier drove down the middle. Curiously, there hadn't been any tanks yet. They would come, he assumed. But did it matter? The Cuban army was doing a fine job of making itself scarce. Those who hadn't gone home were in full retreat to the west and Havana.

Scuttlebutt said that the marines heading north had linked up with the army coming south; thus trapping any Cuban forces that hadn't made it westward. It was also said that large numbers of Cuban prisoners were being bagged.

Every now and then, a passing marine would recognize Cathy and wave or holler encouragement. Others would then cheer. Obviously, she was famous, if only for a little while. She bemoaned the fact that she looked like hell. Her hair was a mess and her clothing was filthy. Andrew assured her that he thought she was beautiful.

She reached over and grabbed his hand. "What's the saying — this too shall pass?" she said.

"Just let's not us pass," Andrew responded.

She sat closer to him. "Don't worry about that. I'm just curious as to why they said to stay put and wait?"

He laughed. "Maybe it's because we're two civilians. My discharge should have come through a couple of weeks ago and you never were in the military. Maybe you'll get paid for all the time you spent with us? Of course, if it's military scale it won't amount to much."

He said it lightly, but he thought he knew why the brass wanted him isolated. Washington had also told them to avoid any contact with the press. Apparently, there would be no mention of any Russian nuke in Cuban hands. That was just fine by both of them. They would wait and see what played out.

Ross had sent a fairly detailed report to Washington in which he told of Guevara's death and the re-taking of the nuke by what appeared to be Soviet Special Forces. He had the feeling that Washington was most confused and disturbed — even more than usual.

A jeep pulled up and a man and a woman in plain army fatigues got out. Charley Kraeger and Elena Sandano showed their CIA identification and introduced themselves. Cathy hugged both of them, especially Elena as she recalled the gift package.

"Unless you guys have other plans," Elena said we're here to take you home."

They agreed that it sounded like a splendid idea.

Chapter Twenty-three

Summer in our nation's capital meant steamy, stifling weather that was oppressive even on good days. Only mad dogs and tourists would chose to go out in the noonday sun of Washington. An air conditioned restaurant, therefore, was an oasis and most had long lines at lunchtime.

However, many tourists were unaware that the cafeteria in the Supreme Court building was open to the public and, along with good food — bean soup was their specialty — and reasonable prices, it was comfortable.

The four of them, Elena, Cathy, Charley, and Andrew, liked to meet at least every couple of weeks and go over what was transpiring. First, each couple was planning a fall wedding. Not a double wedding. Instead, the ceremonies would be a couple of weeks apart so that each could attend. Nor was either person going to be a groomsman or maid of honor for the other. That was preserved for relatives, even though, in Cathy's case, it meant involving some really distant cousins that she hardly knew along, along with her sister and Andrew's two sisters. Andrew had a couple of marine buddies along with friends from back home to stand up for him.

Charley had no relatives that counted, so he was depending on Elena to provide the bulk of the crowd. She assured him that her Hispanic family was large and there'd be no problem. He'd asked Jock Soriano to be best man.

For Andrew, a number of questions had been answered. He had been de-briefed by Charley Kraeger at first and then, to his surprise, by Director McCone himself, after which he and Cathy had lunch at the White House with the president and first lady.

As surmised, the federal government wanted no talk about a missing nuke. There had been no mention of it in the press or elsewhere. The Soviets didn't want to admit that they'd lost one, and the United States didn't want to admit that their armed forces were threatened by one. As to the Cubans, the Russians had bullied them into silence. Therefore, it had never happened.

Andrew had to agree with their logic. Had he actually seen a bomb? Had he been able to identify the rocket that the Russians had taken as actually being nuclear? For that matter, was he even certain that the men who'd killed Guevara had even been Russians? Maybe the whole thing had been a bad but exciting dream?

Of course, he knew full well that it had been a nuke and the men had been Russians, but as long as there was the smallest possibility he was wrong the story could never be confirmed. The CIA and the army were still evaluating the relevance of proof of the existence of Soviet Special Forces. Maybe he’d write his memoirs in a few decades and tell of it. Of course, who would believe it? Maybe he should write it as a novel?

Only one fact was indisputable — Che Guevara was dead, apparently killed in the final moments of the battle for Guantanamo. The media was having a ball speculating that he might have been killed by other Cubans, and the US government was happy to let those rumors swirl.

Andrew wondered what would happen if he fought the decision and went public with what he'd seen, or thought he had seen. Perhaps he'd be recalled to the Corps and stationed in Antarctica for the rest of his life. Acquiescence seemed like a really good idea. He'd come out of it with a Purple Heart and the Bronze Star.

He'd gotten a congratulatory phone call from Major Hartford who had been allowed to re-enlist. After all, he was a genuine hero for getting his men out of the camp and had gotten his picture on the cover of Time, so who cared about his bad feet?

Besides, both his and Cathy's silence came with a bonus. The CIA would bankroll his law school studies at Georgetown and then give him a job at the Agency. Apparently they needed lawyers as much as spies. Cathy, too, had been offered a job by McCone and had taken it. She was going to instruct new agents in the fine art of writing legible reports and assist those agents who weren't American born with the basics of their new language. She'd already started and was enjoying it immensely as her students were, like the men at Guantanamo, highly motivated.

If these were bribes, neither Andrew nor Cathy cared. Subject to CIA approval, Cathy had also been offered a book contract and somebody wanted to make a movie about her adventures. Hollywood had gone slightly bonkers when it came out that she'd actually gunned down a Cuban soldier who'd been threatening to kill her. There would be no mention of a nuclear rocket or the fact that the man had raped her. Cathy and he hoped that whatever money she got would help buy a house. If they got twenty thousand dollars out of the deal they could buy a really good one for cash.

They finished their lunch and walked outside where the heat hit them like a club.

"Can we go back inside?" Charley moaned.

They had a fairly long walk to their cars and they would be drenched with sweat by the time they reached them. It really didn't matter. They were happy.

Charley was the first to sense the commotion. People were gathering around a man who had a transistor radio in his hand. Voices were raised in anger and in shock. Others began to gather as well.

"What the hell?" Charley said as they walked quickly over to the nearest group of people.

The recently ended Cuban war was still the main topic of conversation in Washington and elsewhere. It had been a costly victory and the funerals of dead servicemen were still raw memories. Many wounded were still in hospitals and too many were going to be there for a very long time as they learned to function without limbs or eyes.

President Kennedy continued to take a lot of heat for his actions, or, as some said, his inactions. He remembered former President Truman's comment about not being in the kitchen if you couldn't stand the heat. Well, he thought ruefully, it was hot as any kitchen right now.

The war had cost fifteen hundred American dead and another five thousand wounded. Another score were missing and presumed dead, mainly crewmen lost with the destroyer the Cubans had sunk. The body count numbers began with the day of the attack on Gitmo and on to the end of the fighting.

Cuban casualties were not announced by Havana. However, they were estimated by the newspapers at ten times America's and the bleeding hearts in the UN were crying that the United States had slaughtered helpless Cubans in a merciless orgy of violence. Bullshit, JFK thought. Had they forgotten who'd started the war in the first place? No, he thought. They just hated the United States.

The scope of the defeat had shaken the Castro regime. Castro was now even more isolated then he had been since the Soviets, his one-time close friends, were thoroughly angry with him. It was rumored that Fidel and Raul might not last very long and would soon disappear. Contenders for the throne included Emilio Aragones Navarro, the former Cuban representative to Russia who was disavowing support for the war.

The Castro brothers were trying to make Che Guevara out to be a martyr killed by brutal Americans, as a means of getting sympathy for their regime, but it didn't seem to be working.

Another curious claimant to control in Havana was a General Cordero who appeared to be in charge of Santiago and much of eastern Cuba. It was rumored that the U.S. was bankrolling his private army.

Castro's losses extended beyond the dead and wounded. For all intents and purposes, his air force and armor no longer existed, and he was not likely to get any more planes from the Soviets or their Warsaw Pact allies. Castro's leading general, Juan Ortega, was recovering in an American military hospital and, after confirming that his family had been spirited out of Havana, was cooperating fully with his captors. He'd reluctantly come to agree that Guantanamo would not be liberated in the foreseeable future and that further blood should not be spilled over it.

CIA and State Department analysts agreed that Fidel and Raul's days were numbered. Whoever replaced them would doubtless preserve at least a semblance of a socialist regime and would attempt a balancing act between the far away Soviets and the Americans next door. Regardless, it would probably evolve into a warmer relationship between the U.S. and Cuba.

Back-channel contact with the Soviets also said that the hypothetical Luna rescued by their hypothetical forces had been damaged in transit from Havana to Guantanamo and might not have been successfully launched or even gone off. It was said that the Luna would probably have been more of a threat to those trying to launch it than any intended target.

Probably, he thought and shuddered.

Kennedy had his own enemies. With elections coming in the fall, contenders for his office had appeared from both parties. Senator Goldwater from Arizona was the heavy favorite to take the Republican nomination and he'd been vehement that the military should have gone into Havana, regardless of potential consequences. It was a stance that had many middle of the road Americans thinking was extreme and dangerous. Experts said that if he persisted, he might find himself unable to win a presidential election against either Kennedy or Lyndon Johnson. Goldwater was heavily involved with a senate sub-committee investigating just how and why Guantanamo had been so thoroughly surprised in the first place. Obviously, it was JFK’s fault and the president accepted that he would get the blame. After all, he was the man in charge.

Former General Curtis LeMay supported that, and another rumor had LeMay being Goldwater's vice presidential running-mate. An aging and ailing General Douglas MacArthur had criticized JFK as a playboy dilettante who'd twice caved in under pressure and who spinelessly permitted a communist nation to exist only a few miles from Florida.

Even his own vice president, Lyndon Johnson, had condemned Kennedy's actions as wrong because they were incomplete. Of course, Johnson was running to unseat JFK as the Democratic candidate. He was not given much of a chance as much of the nation was pleased that a full-scale war had been averted. Upsetting and incumbent president didn't ordinarily happen.

Still, LBJ had become a royal pain in the ass. He had the capability of splitting the Democratic Party at a time when it was necessary to show a solid front against the Republicans. In Kennedy’s opinion, Johnson had just gotten a case of religion when it came to civil rights, something the president supported but hadn’t wanted to deal with until after the 1964 elections. Now he was going to have to support LBJ’s civil rights stance in order to keep him quiet

Good thing the vice president was down in Miami, Kennedy thought. He was not trying to mend fences for Kennedy. No, he was telling the exiles how he would have won Cuba back for them if he’d been given just half a chance, and how he’d argued for taking Havana and toppling Castro. Bastard, JFK thought. Reports were that his message was not being well received by a Cuban community that had been ravaged by the war. They felt that LBJ was connected too closely with a White House that was, as Marine Commandant Shoup said in a meeting, as popular in Miami's exile community as venereal disease in a convent. Emilio Esteban and some of his force had survived their abortive invasion and escaped back to Florida where they were loudly condemning anyone connected to the current presidency.

Not everyone was against Kennedy. Former Presidents Truman and Eisenhower had supported him as had most of the media and the polls showed that fifteen hundred dead Americans was more than enough to pay for retaking Guantanamo and punishing Cuba. The thought of many more dead and wounded had they war gone on had silenced most critics.

And what had the military learned, he wondered? Along with the dead and wounded, there had been shock that twenty-five American planes had been shot down by Cuba. Only six from combat with Cuban planes, and U.S. forces claimed at least twenty MiGs shot down by them. But nineteen U.S. jets had been killed by surface-to-air missiles, which had been a complete surprise. Both the navy and the air force agreed that new equipment and new tactics had to be developed to counter these, especially since the Russians had newer and better SAMs coming on line.

The army had learned that a people might just fight like sons of bitches for their own country and, even though outgunned, inflict serious casualties on a well armed invader. There were some in congress who wanted more of a presence in South Vietnam, which was threatened by a communist takeover, but JFK was fighting the urge. There were twenty thousand American military currently in that divided land and he was of the opinion that it was more than enough. If the current pro-American government in South Vietnam couldn't stand without more help, then so be it. No land wars in Asia, he kept repeating to himself, no land wars in Asia.

The door to the Oval Office swung open. Kennedy was startled. He wasn't expecting anyone and the intrusion was a serious breach of protocol. Press Secretary Pierre Salinger rushed in. His face was pale.

"Mr. President, there's been a tragedy. Lyndon Johnson was just shot by some Cuban exiles in Miami who may have been associated with that Esteban character. Sir, he's dead.”

Content

Robert Conroy
Castro's Bomb

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-one

Chapter Twenty-two

Chapter Twenty-three