The President stares at Lundahl, and beating out each word.
THE PRESIDENT
Arthur. Are. You. Sure?
Lundahl looks around the room. Everyone is hanging.
LUNDAHL
Yes, Mr. President. These are nuclear
missiles.
The men come to grips with their own fears, own anger.
BOBBY
How long until they're operational?
LUNDAHL
General Taylor can answer that question
better than I can.
General Taylor drops a memo on the table WHICH BECOMES:
EXT. FIELD TABLE - MISSILE SITE, CUBA - DAY
SCHEMATICS slapped down on a camp table. A group of Soviet
site ENGINEERS point and gesture as they study their ground
from a shaded hillock. CLEARING CREWS and SURVEYORS work and
sweat in the distance.
GENERAL TAYLOR (V.O.)
GMAIC estimates ten to fourteen days.
However, a crash program to ready the
missiles could cut that time.
INT. CABINET ROOM - DAY
Taylor sees the grim looks all around.
GENERAL TAYLOR
I have to stress that there may be more
missiles that we don't know about. We
need more U-2 coverage.
Kenny lets out his breath. He catches Bobby's eye. This is
unbelievable.
THE PRESIDENT
Is there any indication - anything at
all - that suggests they intend to use
these missiles in some sort of first
strike?
GENERAL CARTER
Not at present, sir. But I think the
prudent answer is we don't know.
THE PRESIDENT
Do we have any sort of intelligence from
CIA on what Khruschev is thinking?
GENERAL CARTER
No, Mr. President. We don't. We just
don't know what's happening inside the
Kremlin at that level.
BOBBY
They lied to us. Two weeks ago Dobrynin
told me to my face Khurschev had no
intention of putting missiles into Cuba.
They said themselves, this is our
backyard.
There's angry agreement. The President cuts it off.