Boris Luzhkov paced his office, as he had been doing for some minutes, the room was full with the haze of cigarette smoke, Boris always chain smoked when there were decisions to make, and there had been many of them over the past few years. Luzhkov pined for the old days when Russia meant something in the world, like most ideologies the break up of the Soviet Union had come swiftly. Then at the end of the twenty- teens the long running dispute with the Ukraine had ended in a nuclear device devastating Moscow, the hard thing to swallow was that it was one of Russia's own devices. The government had been wiped out in one stroke and Russia had for eight years acted like a headless chicken, almost slipping into a feudal system. Anatoli Nisselovich, a Ukrainian Russian, had brought Mother Russia together, uniting the several factions under one flag. Now the country was civilised again, at least, but the world regarded her as an outcast.
'Was not Russia European?' Boris thought, 'so why are we being rejected, they fear us still,' he decided at last. Luzhkov opened the outdated Com-unit on his desk and tapped an entry from the list. The connection opened, “Minister Ar Karimi,” he asked, “this is Boris Luzhkov, president of Russia.”
“I know who you are President Luzhkov,” Minister Karimi said with some boredom in his voice, “what can I do for you.”
“It maybe more what I can do for you Minister,” said Luzhkov, “I have a proposal for you.”
“And what might that be Sir.”
“We have a mutual enemy Minister, and that enemy seems to be annihilating you,”
“We are not beaten yet Mr. President,” answered Karimi.
“No, but I think you may benefit from the direct support of my country,” suggested Luzhkov.
Suddenly Minister Karimi was much more open to Luzhkov's approach, “What are you proposing Mr President, we have one of the largest armies the world has ever seen, so, although very welcome, mere support is not helpful.”
“We can of course provide extra manpower,” said Luzhkov, “but we have an army of specialists, numbering one and a half million, we also have a great deal of attack and defence hardware, and I know you are now limited in that area as so much has been destroyed by Israel in the last week. We do have missiles left, and our launch sites could be at your disposal. Can we form an alliance Minister?”
“I am sure we can Mr. President, I'm sure we can.”
Boris cut the connection and immediately contacted his Armed Forces Minister, Dmitrij Utkin, “ Dmitrij, that possibility we were discussing; it is a go, can you set the wheels in motion.”
“Da, Boris, I have already placed our forces on stand- by, we should be able to fly the first ground troops in by the beginning of next week.”
“Can we get the air support in any sooner,” Luzhkov asked.
“Three days, maybe, but I fear that our aircraft are no match for the Israeli Air-force.”
“I am hoping,” said Luzhkov, “that if we can get other states to align, with Iran, the sheer weight of numbers will force Israel to capitulate. I am going to call in some favours, there are many in that part of the world that owe us Dmitrij.”
Abe Marks tripped on the top stair of the staircase that led to the floor on which the chiefs had their offices, such was his haste to get to Sir James Hennessey's office. Out of breath, he knocked upon the office door and at the same time pushed, without waiting for the customary, 'Come'. “What is it Abe,” asked Sir James, looking up from his endless paperwork.
“Sir James, we got something from the bear's ear, (which was the code name for the Russian Embassy bugs) they've thrown their lot in with Iran.”
“Since when,” asked Sir James.
“Must have been in place for a week or so, seems that they have started to move troops and aircraft in already, but that's not the worst of it, the Russians are getting other middle-eastern states to join them, or at least that's what they are proposing.”
“This is serious Abe,” said Hennessey, as he tapped the button that gave him a direct connection to the Prime Minister's office.
“Sir James, what can I do for you,” asked Frederick Matthews.
“On the subject Abe Marks and I discussed with you last week, we have some dire news,” said Sir James, “I think it may be necessary for us to pop over to meet with you Prime Minister, if that is convenient.”
Matthews recognised the code word 'convenient', the signal that this was an urgent request and answered, “Of course, do come over immediately.”
The two spooks were conducted directly to the Prime Minister's private office to the rear of ten Downing Street. Matthews ordered coffees and indicated two easy-chairs for his guests, “Now what's the panic,” he asked.
“The floor is yours Abe,” said Sir James.
Marks explained to his Prime Minister about the information they had gained from the bugs in the walls of the Russian embassy, when he had finished, Matthews asked, “Implications?”
“I haven't had a chance to analyse it yet Sir,” explained Abe.
“Fair enough, but until you do, what do you think, just off the top of your head” asked the PM.
“I think it is becoming a very dangerous situation, the Israeli's have no ambition to conquer the world, and they just want to live and let live. On the other hand the Iranians and most of the Islamic block do have that world domination ambition, always have had, they win and it's usually convert to Islam or die. If Boris Luzhkov does persuade most of the Muslim states to join in, it may just turn the tide against Israel.”
“What are his chances of doing that,” asked Matthews. “Very good Sir, we think that Iraq is already involved, and it will not take much to sway Syria, Russia has always supported them and they have a score to settle with the west and Israel. Other Islamic states are more moderate, however, no matter how much they fight among themselves, you attack one and they all become brothers. We also need to consider the intel we have about Islamists that have infiltrated the west, we know they are here but we just don't know how many there are. If the word goes out to activate the sleepers, well. . . “
“I thought we'd caught most of them in Britain,” commented the Prime Minister.
“No Sir,” corrected Sir James, “we detected some twelve-hundred or so, but intel suggests there are hundreds of thousands spread throughout Europe and the US, maybe even millions. However Sir, I do not believe that they will activate them until they have wiped Israel of of the face of the Earth, that is their first priority.”
“Well that's encouraging news,” said the PM shaking his head, “what's your threat level?”
“At the moment it's at six, but depending who joins the party, that could easily rise to eight,” suggested Abe.
“OK gentlemen, thank you for the heads-up,” said the PM as he stood, “I will need to take this to cabinet, which just happens to be here as we speak, I need to brief the full cabinet and then have discussions with security and armed forces committees. Can you hang around Sir James; I may need to call you in. Good work Abe let me know immediately if you get anything else.”