Stopping at Nothing
December 14,2020 – New York
"Back so soon?" Jackie Hansen asked as Decker arrived at the Italian Mission in New York. "I expected you two to be gone for at least a week." Decker showed himself into Christopher's office and signaled without speaking for Jackie to follow. "What's up?" she asked after she closed the door. "Where's Christopher?"
"He's still in Israel," Decker answered. "He's going to be there for about a month and a half." Decker was hoping to make this explanation as simple as possible, but it wasn't going to be easy.
"A month and a half! "Jackie exploded. "He can't do that! He's got things to do, meetings to attend, speaking engagements." Decker held up his hands to stop Jackie so he could continue his explanation, but she had never yielded to that ploy in the past, and she wouldn't now. "I'll just give him a call and point out a few things to him! "What's the number at his hotel?"
"He's not at a hotel… "
"Fine. What's the number where he's staying?"
"Jackie, it's just not possible to reach him."
"Well, I'll just call him on his pocket phone."
"Jackie, stop! He doesn't have it with him. Please, just wait a minute." Jackie crossed her arms and stopped talking. For a moment at least, she was listening. Decker quickly seized the opportunity. "We found Robert Milner."
Jackie dropped back against the edge of Christopher's desk. "Is he all right? Is he alive?" she asked. After being missing for sixteen months, nothing could be taken for granted.
"He's fine. He looks just fine." The news of Milner had the disarming effect on Jackie that Decker was hoping for. Now perhaps he could try to explain without Jackie interrupting. "Christopher is with him," he said. It was a little less than the truth, but a lot easier to explain.
"Well, they must be staying somewhere," Jackie said, getting back to her previous track.
"Yes, of course. But there's no phone and there's no way to reach them."
This understandably made no sense to Jackie. "You mean they're camping out or something?" she asked, offering the only suggestion she could think of.
"Well, yes. In a manner of speaking, I guess you could put it that way."
"But it's the middle of winter. They'll freeze!"
Decker had run out of simple explanations. "Look, they'll be fine. You know how I feel about Christopher; he's like my own son, the only family I've had since the Disaster. I wouldn't leave him there unless I was sure he'd be all right." As he finished he realized his words had been as much to reassure himself that he'd made the right decision as they were to convince Jackie.
"But why didn't he at least call?"
"I know it sounds crazy," Decker said, "but there just wasn't an opportunity to call." Jackie's expression told him that the part about it sounding crazy had been a correct assessment. "Look, I don't really understand it either. Milner said it all had to do with some New Age stuff."
"Oh," Jackie said, not as though she now understood, but rather as though suddenly she no longer needed to. "Well, uh… then I guess I'd better get to work canceling Christopher's appointments."
Decker was dumbfounded by Jackie's sudden change of attitude but was glad that he didn't need to explain Christopher's absence any further. Now he could concentrate on his own anxiety about leaving Christopher in Israel in the first place – not a very comforting accomplishment, he realized.
"Jackie, there's one other thing," Decker added, "something I need your help with. When Milner and Christopher are finished with whatever it is that they're doing in Israel I'm supposed to meet them there and brief Christopher on everything that's happened at the U.N. while he's been gone: not just things that concern Italy or Europe, but everything. I'll have someone in my office compile and index every press release that goes out of the U.N. Printing Office. I'll take care of any reports, studies, speeches, white-papers, etc. Christopher is especially interested in any information on Ambassador Moore's activities. I know you've got friends in nearly every office… "
"Not in Moore's office," Jackie interrupted.
"What about through the Lucius Trust?" Decker suggested.
"Moore doesn't let anyone from his office associate with the Trust."
"You're kidding! Barring free association of employees is against international human rights and labor laws."
"Well, he doesn't exactly prohibit it. It's more a matter of 'very careful hiring.' Secretary Milner looked into it a few years back and apparently didn't think we could prove anything."
'Too bad," Decker said.
"Maybe somebody I know knows someone in Moore's office," Jackie suggested. "I'll try to find out."
"Great," Decker said. "But you need to be very careful in how you go about it. It could be very damaging if any of this gets back to Moore."
"Of course," Jackie answered.
December 15,2020
Two days later Jackie Hansen came up with a contact, a friend from the Lucius Trust who had a friend who was a low-level staffer in Moore's office. This meant that any information the staffer provided would be limited to what was said around the office, and then further limited by what he remembered and how well he remembered it, and then by what he was willing to tell Jackie's friend. Finally, it would be passed to Jackie, who would commit it all to paper for
Decker. By the time the information reached Decker it would be in at least its fourth telling. Still, it might help fill in some holes along the way and, as Decker well knew from his days in the press, any bit of information could be important.
The first piece of information to emerge was simply a vague indication that Moore was leaning on General Brooks to end the war as swiftly as possible, hardly a major news item. But it did help explain Brooks' action a week later when he issued an ultimatum to Chinese arms merchants to immediately cease the sale of weapons to the combatants. The move did not set well with Ambassador Fahd, the Middle East Security Council Primary. The arms from China were not going in the generic sense to the 'combatants,' as Brooks described them, but rather to only one of the combatants: Pakistan, a country in Fahd's region. Stopping the sale of Chinese weapons would only benefit India. And Pakistan was not the only Middle East country with an interest; the Chinese arms were being purchased with oil money.
Fahd attempted to get the Security Council to condemn Brook's ultimatum but was supported only by the West African representative. The Security Council was reluctant to interfere with the specific actions of the World Peace Organization. They saw their role as one of setting policy, not regulating tactics. As long as General Brooks' actions stayed within the conventions established in the WPO charter, the Security Council could be expected not to interfere.
China abstained from the vote. Ambassador Lee felt that voting to condemn General Brooks would be seen as tentative approval of the arms sales from her country. China's official position had always been that while it opposed the sales of arms, it was not willing to interfere with the free trade of its citizens. Ambassador Lee, however, did proceed quickly and quite forcefully to prohibit Brooks from crossing into Chinese territory to enforce his ultimatum. Any efforts to interdict the flow of arms from China would have to be at the border with Pakistan. Her motion passed nine to one, with only India opposing the directive.
Coincidentally, it was to be one of Ambassador Lee's final acts as a member of the Security Council. Two days later, while taking her regular early morning walk, Ambassador Lee was struck by a hit and run driver and died on the way to the hospital. Following her death, the Security Council voted to take a two week recess to allow China to select a replacement. A memorial service was held for Lee in the Hall of the General Assembly before her body was returned to China for burial.
January 6,2021
"Welcome back, Mr. Ambassador."
"Thank you, Gerard," Ambassador Moore responded, as he hung up his overcoat.
"How was your flight?"
'Too long. We sat at DeGaulle Airport for over an hour before we even got off the ground." Moore sat down at his desk and began flipping through a short, neatly-stacked pile of papers. "What's the news from General Brooks?" he asked his chief of staff, without looking up.
"Things appear to be going well. As you predicted, the interdiction of Chinese arms into Pakistan has resulted in a distinct advantage for the Indian forces. General Brooks estimates that it will probably take another few weeks before we see the full effect, but I think we can look forward to a swift resolution of the conflict and, more importantly, to India's support on your next bid to become Secretary-General. I think Ambassador Gandhi will find it difficult indeed to vote against you under the circumstances."
"Good. And our relations with Ambassador Fahd? Anything new there?"
"No. You're scheduled to have lunch with him tomorrow, so you should get a clear reading on his thoughts then. So far there has been no indication that he holds you personally responsible for General Brooks' actions. I think your support for Ambassador Lee's motion to prohibit U.N. forces from entering Chinese territory helped delineate you from Brooks in the minds of most of the Security Council."
Moore didn't respond; he was distracted from the conversation by one of the documents in the stack of papers. Poupardin knew the look and waited silently as Moore examined it. After a moment, Moore began to glance through the rest of the accumulated stack, and picked up the conversation exactly where it had left off. "Yes," he smiled, "that couldn't have worked better if I had planned it."
"A few more fortuitous circumstances like that and you might have gotten China's support without having to… "
"Fortune is a very uncertain ally, Gerard," Moore chided. "Besides, we do not have the luxury of waiting for fortune to strike. Mark my words, if a new Secretary-General is not chosen within the next six months, I'm convinced that the Security Council will vote to do away with the position altogether and have the responsibilities permanently rotate among the Council members. We must make our own fortunes." Poupardin nodded in agreement. "What about the Chinese situation?" Moore asked.
"You're scheduled for dinner with the new Chinese ambassador tomorrow night. I've prepared a briefing packet for you." Poupardin handed the packet to Moore. "I don't think you'll find anything outrageous there. Our intelligence on him indicates he's basically a reasonable man. He doesn't expect any promises. His main criterion in selecting a new Secretary-General is simply that the candidate be willing to give a fair hearing to China's position."
"Well, I think I can convince him that I'll be all ears," Moore smiled.
"Of course," Poupardin continued, "since he's not asking for anything, we can't really count on his support. But if you can convince him that you'd be the kind of Secretary-General who's willing to listen, I think you can at least count on him not to oppose you."
"Excellent," Moore said, as he put the papers back in a pile on his desk. "Then I'd say we made a pretty good trade for Ambassador Lee."
"Yes, sir."
"What about Kruszkegin?"
"We're watching his schedule closely for the right opportunity."
"Be sure you clear it with me before you authorize any specific action. We can't afford any mistakes."
"Yes, sir."
"Well, if there is no more pressing news," Moore said, as he opened his briefcase, "I picked up a few video disks for you while I was in Paris. They came very highly rated."
"These look great," Poupardin said, as he took the disks from Moore and eagerly examined the photo collage on the cover of one of the disks. "We can watch these when you come over tonight."
"It sounds like fun, Gerard, but I promised Suzanne and Betty I'd take them to dinner when I got back," Moore said, referring to his wife and daughter. Poupardin was obviously disappointed. "I'm sorry, Gerard," he said, and then looking at his watch, added, "I suppose we have a few minutes right now, if you'd like."
Poupardin smiled and went to lock the door.
January 8,2021
Ambassador Lee's replacement was a much younger man in his early fifties. His stamina for the responsibilities of his new office would soon be tested. As the Security Council reconvened they tasted the first bitter fruits of General Brooks' ultimatum and the resulting blockade at the Pakistan-China border. Forced to take up fixed positions to enforce the blockade, U.N. troops had quickly become the targets of sniper fire and guerrilla attacks by Pakistani forces. The Pakistani government officially condemned the attacks, stating that the attackers were independents, not associated with the Pakistani army. They also took the opportunity to reiterate their position that since the blockade was not in the host country's interest, the U.N. forces were not acting within their charter or in accordance with the original invitation from Pakistan for the placement of troops within its borders. They went on to explain that since all available Pakistani forces were engaged elsewhere, there was really very little they could do about the guerrilla attacks.
Far worse than all of this, however, were the threats of a rogue Pakistani militia called the Pakistani Guard. According to the reports, the Guard, fearing that the war would soon swing in India's favor, had planted nuclear devices in eight major Indian cities. Though it seemed unlikely that the Guard could have acquired nuclear weapons, the magnitude of the threat compelled the Security Council to take them seriously. The Guard's demands were straightforward enough. First, all U.N. and Indian forces must leave Pakistan, and second, for good measure, India must surrender the long-disputed Jammu-Kashmir province to Pakistani control. Prime Minister Rajiv Advani would consider neither demand, and thus far was satisfied to hurl insults and counter threats.