"The dead gunner looks to be Chinese," he announced, jerking a thumb in the direction of the van. "The other guy ain't gonna be recognizable."
Dalton nodded as the crash trucks raced toward the burning van. "That's a sure bet."
"I don't know who it is you're messin' with, but you may need more than half a SEAL squad."
"Well, I don't have any complaints," Scott said firmly. "You guys are incredible, no doubt about it."
Scott turned and ran toward Jackie, meeting her halfway to the Learjet.
"What a mess," she said loudly as a crash truck thundered past. "Thank God for the SEALs."
"Yeah, no kidding." Scott watched a crowd gather near the burning van. "Is the plane okay?"
"Not a scratch."
"Good. In case you're wondering, this was the work of Zheng Yen-Tsung and his Chinese thugs."
"The thought had crossed my mind," she said, catching her breath. "Do you think either one of them was Zheng?"
"I don't know, but I do know this: They sat right there and watched us meet with the president's national security adviser."
Jackie observed the crash crew. "If Chief Slocum is right, they were at Centennial earlier."
"And they didn't have the maneuvering room to ram us." Jackie shook her head. "How did they know we were going to be at Centennial, or here, for that matter?"
"I think I know, but we'll discuss it later."
"Yeah, this isn't the time or place."
Scott watched the crash crew quickly douse the raging fire. "We'd better get on the sat phone, or we could find ourselves stranded in the middle of an FBI-FAA power grab."
"Since you've already talked with Mr. Ebersole, why don't you contact the FBI, and I'll call Hartwell — he needs to keep this out of the headlines."
"You got it."
Jackie glanced at the Learjet. "My phone is in the cockpit."
"Here they come." Scott watched the stunned airport security officials approach them. "I'll bet they don't see too many heavily armed SEAL squads around here."
"Well, we've made their day." With her hands on her hips, Jackie cast a look at the security personnel. "It might be a good time to use our FBI credentials."
"Yeah, that thought occurred to me about the time the van exploded."
Chapter 13
Located on the sixth floor of the building, the Global Response Center resembled a modern military command post complete with video monitors and high-tech workstations. The antiterrorism center was buzzing with a different kind of activity. Within hours, warnings had been triggered by agents in Panama, Cuba, North Korea, China, and by spy satellites monitoring North Korea, Taiwan, the South China Sea, and the eastern half of China.
The amount of intelligence collection and counterintelligence investigations had increased dramatically since the Islamic radicals destroyed the World Trade Center, damaged the Pentagon, and crashed an airliner in Pennsylvania. China alone was having sixteen territorial disputes with ten different countries. The Middle East was bubbling again and Russia was having an internal hemorrhage.
Secure phones rang as dedicated analysts studied spacecraft photographs of activity at the Chinese-controlled entrances to the Panama Canal. After the giveaway of one of America's most strategic footholds, China, the remaining communist superpower, was now the gatekeeper of the canal. Other specialists monitored a continuous flow of highly classified information about Chinese activities in Cuba.
Computer screens flashed warnings and dispatches as more information surfaced about a forward deployment of Chinese and North Korean forces, suggesting possible attacks on Taiwan and South Korea.
The president of Taiwan had again set off a huge uproar by insisting that Beijing have a dialogue with Taiwan on a state-to-state basis and not as part of China. The Taiwanese president went on to say that China was playing the terror card and that Taipei would not be intimidated.
Beijing's fighting words raised deep concerns in Washington. The South China Morning Post of Hong Kong reported President Liu Fan-ding's warning to Taiwan that the Chinese people would spill their blood and lives to maintain the motherland's territory and sovereignty. The Chinese president had gone on to threaten drastic measures if Taiwan continued to defy Beijing.
The sudden destabilization in Southeast Asia had an adverse effect on stock markets around the world. The markets took a big dive when President Liu Fan-ding threatened to use missiles to virtually close Taiwan's military airfields, civilian airports, shipping ports, power plants, and waterworks.
Shortly after that announcement Liu Fan-ding used blackmail by threatening to launch medium-range missiles to strike the countries that hosted America's forward-deployed bases.
President Macklin had dispatched his secretary of state, Brett Shannon, to have a face-to-face meeting with Liu Fan-ding in Beijing. In the meantime, Macklin and senior members of the State Department had implored the Taiwanese president to offer room for concessions, but he steadfastly refused to back away from his comment.
Macklin promptly dispatched a top State Department envoy and members of his staff to meet with senior Taiwanese government officials to discuss the crisis. The message from the White House was clear and straightforward: Resolve the issue before Taiwan is blown back to the Neolithic Age.
In Beijing a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said that Taiwan was taking extremely dangerous steps and that China was prepared to use deadly force. The ruling Chinese Communist Party's flagship newspaper, People's Daily, warned Taipei and the Taiwanese people that a formal declaration of independence would automatically provoke a military attack.
The newspaper went on to say that the president of Taiwan was doomed to failure, and those who followed him should realize they were heading into a blind alley from which there would be no escape.
The China Youth Daily published a front-page report on exercises by the People's Liberation Army in the northern waters of the Taiwan Strait. Another front-page article warned Washington against interfering in China's internal affairs.
Using vitriolic language, Beijing warned the United States and her allies not to interfere in the Taiwan-China dispute. In Washington, the State Department was put on notice by Beijing that America was playing with fire, and any intervention by the U.S. in Chinese-Taiwanese relations would be considered an act of war.
With the Western Pacific unguarded by an aircraft carrier, tensions were mounting at the Pentagon and the White House.
The USS Kitty Hawk and her battle group had been ordered to return to the Strait of Taiwan, the USS Theodore Roosevelt was en route from the Adriatic Sea to the northern region of the South China Sea, and the USS John C. Stennis was hurriedly making preparations to get under way from San Diego, California. Stennis would take up station in the southern area of the Yellow Sea to act as a deterrent to North Korea and China.
Located ten miles north of San Diego and five miles from the Pacific Ocean, Miramar is home to approximately 225 aircraft, including KC-130 Hercules, F/A-18 Hornets, CH-53 Stallions, and CH-46 Sea Knights.
The late afternoon sun was casting long shadows across the air station when Jackie greased the Lear 35A onto the runway.
"Twenty seconds early," she noted with satisfaction. "Make the reservations at the Grant Grill for seven-thirty and bring plenty of money — it's going to be the meal of the millennium."
"Actually, I have another plan."
She lowered her head and looked at him suspiciously. "You're not going to try to weasel out, are you?"