Free Red Phoenix by Larry Bond

the President’s voice fell flat, but the anger in it was real enough.
    “And it’s not just the press,” Putnam continued. “We’ve got to deal with the House and Senate as well. You know about this Barnes sanctions bill that got dropped in the hopper yesterday?”
    Fowler nodded. “I read the summary Legislative Affairs put out last night. Frankly, I can’t think of when I last saw such a piece of dangerous stupidity—”
    Putnam cut him off. “I don’t give a great big goddamn for your uninformed opinions on legislation, Blake.” He made a visible effort to control himself. “The point is, the bill’s not going to go anywhere, but we have to form an administration position on it. And for once I want a single administration position.”
    Putnam looked over at his desk clock. “So what I want you to do, Dr. Fowler, is put together a top-notch, interagency working group to analyze the potential effects of the Barnes bill. Get all the key players involved—State, Defense, Commerce, CIA, and all the rest. Do it ASAP and make sure that all the documents flow through me, okay? I want a final report on my desk inside of two weeks from now.”
    Fowler mentally wrote off two weeks’ worth of dinners at home with his family, his daughter’s school play, and a lot of domestic tranquility. “You know that either State or Defense will fight like hell to chair this thing. And they’ll want to route through their respective bosses first.”
    Putnam smirked. “I know. So what you do is this. Put me on the group as chairman, and then I’ll just have you fill in for me. Got it?”
    Fowler nodded his understanding. Putnam might be a slimy son of a bitch and he might not know squat about foreign affairs, but he did know how to play the bureaucracy game. The Korean situation involved everything from foreign policy and military strategy to questions of international trade anddomestic politics. And all of that made the President’s national security adviser the logical choice to head up an interagency group on South Korea. That gave Putnam power, because only the designated chairman of an interagency group had the right to present the group’s final report to the President.
    “Okay, Blake, I’m sure you’ve got work to do, so I won’t keep you any longer.” Putnam’s eyes flicked over to the clock again. “Besides, I’ve got an important meeting right now.”
    Fowler stood, took his folder off Putnam’s desk, and walked to the door. He opened it, but Putnam’s voice stopped him with his hand still on the knob. “By the way, Blake, try not come in looking like a refugee all the time. I expect my senior staff to set the right tone for this shop, all right?”
    Fowler didn’t say anything. He just fought down the urge to go back and kick his boss in the nuts and went out—brushing past the man waiting in Putnam’s outer office. Behind him, he heard Putnam trying out his best “one of the guys” tone of voice: “Hey, Jer! Good to see you! Come right on in.”

______________
CHAPTER
4
    In the Shadows

    SEPTEMBER 13—PYONGYANG-EAST AIRBASE

    The “Internationale” sounded odd to Colonel Sergei Ivanovitch Borodin. Its harsh, blaring refrain rebounded off the concrete-reinforced granite walls of the hangar—echoes chasing one another with nowhere to go. After a while Borodin swore he could have closed his eyes and heard the same series of notes three times over.
    It was distracting, and he didn’t need the distraction. There were too many things he needed to watch carefully, too many things to remember. This mission was as much a diplomatic gesture as it was a military assignment. Of itself that held no great concern for Borodin. He’d served the State in a similar capacity across half the globe. But this place was so—he searched for the right word—so confined, so suffocating. Nothing at all like the vast, open deserts beyond Tripoli or the rolling grasslands around Harare.
    This feeling of walking a