May 23, 1998
Nothing official for the day. Unofficially,
The passes in Washington State's Cascade Mountains have cleared enough for Janet Clancy, daughter of the late Vice President Pemberton, her father, two Secret Service bodyguards and the family's cook to emerge from the remote cabin where they have sheltered since the Thanksgiving Day Massacre.
In the early morning hours the Japanese minesweeper Takashima declares the area between the damaged Rhode Island Freedom and the nearby port of Kokura "reasonably clear" of mines. The American freighter is towed into the harbor, where it is determined that the ship has taken on so much water that it has to be partially unloaded to avoid running aground before reaching the pier.
After two days in Swedish military custody, CIA officer David Hudson is transferred to a plainclothes civilian who identifies himself as a police officer. (He is likely an intelligence agent. Hudson knows better than to inquire.) They depart on the afternoon ferry to the mainland.
The Hungarian 53rd Mechanized Brigade in eastern Siberia decides to strike out overland, abandoning the Trans-Siberian Railroad, which is pockmarked with craters from American nuclear bombs dropped by B-2s flying "Golden Spike" missions along the route.
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I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like... victory. Someday this war's gonna end...
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