I always had a small issue with the idea of NECAP having mechanical failure. Not saying it is impossible, but...unlikely if there is increased alert levels.
Now, here is a possibility, some KGB sleepers who weren't caught in the initial sweeps when the war broke out, were activated shortly before the exchange broke out. Their orders were to wreak some havoc, but not to attack any members of the Administration, as they didn't want to provoke the Americans into going after members of the Defense Council (Not to mention the potential for escalation).
Well, our intrepid heroes of the Soviet Union screwed up...they seeded the grounds around Andrews with Strela-Blok, the day before the Thanksgiving Massacre...they thought they'd bag a general in a VC-20, or the like (They had no idea the Soviets were about to cross the Strategic Nuclear threshold, and thought the President had already relocated to Camp David or elsewhere within the Federal Arc).
They were of course, wrong. The Bloks worked perfectly, blowing 2 out of 4 engines off of the 747 while it was climbing out from the runway. The flight crew had no time to activate countermeasures, and the sudden loss of power stalled the airplane some 1000 feet off of the ground, it was non recoverable and smashed into the ground, nose first, with the President and most of his staff being killed on impact.
Our drunk is a former member of the President's Secret Service detail who had the good fortune to be using the aft lavatory when the missiles hit...
So, what do you guys think?
|