Free Skydancer by Geoffrey Archer

he’s only going to want to bet on certainties,’ Buxton concluded with a smile.
    â€˜Aah!’ the Prime Minister exclaimed, slamming the flat of his palm down on the table. ‘Now we have the makings of a plan, I think. How about some counter-intelligence, Dick?’
    Sir Richard Sproat stroked his chin uneasily. ‘Well, I’m not so sure. It seems a bit early to launch into that sort of game,’ he cautioned. ‘I mean, at this stage we don’t even know if the Russians are involved, let alone whether or not they’ve actually got hold of the plans.’
    â€˜I tend to agree with Dick,’ the MI6 chief added. ‘But if we do set something up, it should be too difficult to sow doubts about the stolen papers in the appropriate quarters, when the right moment comes along.’
    â€˜I’ve had a thought,’ Peter Joyce announced. ‘The first test of the Skydancer warheads is due to take place a few days from now. The Russians will be watching that trial shot very closely indeed from their spyships and satellites. If they do have the plans, they’ll be trying to check that the re-entry vehicles behave as the blueprint says they should.’
    â€˜Ah, yes,’ the CDS muttered, guessing at what was about to be suggested.
    â€˜Now, it is possible to re-programme the missile, to get the space-bus to do something that utterly contradicts the description in the drawings. It would pretty well invalidate the test for us from a scientific point of view, but it would also certainly confuse them in Moscow,’ he concluded with the hint of a smile.
    â€˜But how would you ever be able to test the thing properly, without giving the game away?’ Michael Hawke demanded.
    â€˜That could be a problem,’ Peter conceded, thinking hard. ‘But if its main purpose is to deter, rather than to be used as a weapon, what matters most is that the Russians should be convinced the missile works properly. So as long as we express confidence and satisfaction with Skydancer, even if it’s never fully tested, that might be enough.’
    There was a snort of derision from the Home Secretary. ‘And a bloody convenient way of avoiding being held to account if the thing’s a flop,’ he muttered.
    â€˜Don’t you think we should just wait for a while, until we know if the Russians have got those papers?’ Sproat persisted with his caution.
    â€˜We may never know that for certain, judging by the past performance of our intelligence operations,’ the Prime Minister countered bitterly, remembering how his predecessor in Downing Street had finally lost the post he now held. ‘No. We must assume the worst case,’ he continued, ‘and I suggest that Mr Joyce should make immediate moves to set his deception plan in motion. All agreed?’
    The intelligence men shrugged their shoulders. In the face of the concurrence of the politicians with their leader, there was no more they could say.
    The Prime Minister then insisted that Joyce’s mission should be kept a total secret. No one outside that roomshould learn about it unless it became absolutely essential.
    As the meeting broke up, Peter Joyce took Field-Marshal Buxton to one side.
    â€˜Look, I could be ready to move this afternoon if I really work at it,’ he confided. ‘If you can fix me a plane, I could fly over to Florida and do most of the work during the journey. Should have everything ready by the time I get on board
Retribution.
I’d need to take an assistant with me, and we’d want a power supply for our portable computers.’
    â€˜You’re on,’ Buxton agreed. ‘I’ll get Brize Norton to provide the flight. The sooner we get this moving, the better.’
    Peter hurried out through the front door of Number 10, and into the back seat of the official car that had brought him to London earlier that morning. There was much to do if he was to keep