Xi leaned close to Yeng and asked, “Is this Chakra the same nuclear submarine that India sent against us last year?” He spoke softly. There was at least two other Americans in the room that spoke Mandarin.
Yeng nodded. “She is a Russian-made Akula attack submarine, a very capable vessel. She sank more than her share of tankers and warships. She could hurt us, but I don’t understand what the Indians think they could achieve with just a single submarine.”
The Chinese ambassador turned back to face Dr. Patterson. “It is just this one submarine? Do you know their plan? What is their destination?”
Patterson swallowed hard and answered the ambassador. “They intend to approach five major Chinese ports and fire torpedoes fitted with nuclear warheads into each one.”
Confused, Xi looked to Yeng again. The general’s horrified expression told Xi he had understood Patterson’s English correctly. Xi shook his head, as if to clear it, and looked at the other Americans. Myles sat grim-faced, and finally said, in Mandarin, “It is true, Mr. Ambassador.”
Dr. Patterson said, “The Chinese ambassador to New Delhi will be briefed by India’s President Handa and his top officials. That way, your nation’s leaders will receive this extraordinary news from two different sources in two different countries.”
Xi sat silently, still absorbing the news, and she continued, “The Indian plotters have fitted Russian one-hundred-and-fifty-kiloton nuclear warheads, obtained from an arms smuggler, to five torpedoes. The weapons will likely be set to go off at the same time, after all five have been fired into their target port. We have a list of potential targets that was uncovered during the investigation.”
She handed Xi a single sheet of paper. It was a photocopy, and he could see the English names for ten ports, which were also some of China’s largest cities. Hong Kong, Shanghai, Qingdao, others. His chest was tight. He found it hard to breathe. He had family in Shanghai. “And five of these ten cities will be attacked?”
“Yes, Mr. Ambassador.” She seemed so calm, he noticed.
Yeng leaned toward him. “Can this be true?” he whispered.
The thought had not occurred to Xi. But what would the Americans gain by such an outrageous lie? And the Indians are telling the same thing to our ambassador in New Delhi? He shook his head again. “It’s incredible. I don’t want to believe this, but we will accept this as true, at least until we get more information.”
Xi was starting to grasp the implications of the India plot. “Didn’t the Indians understand that my country would retaliate after an attack like this?”
“If the conspirators’ plan had remained secret, the first sign would have been the explosions. It is likely the submarine would have remained completely undetected. Nuclear forensics would show that the weapons were of Russian origin, exactly like the one that exploded in Kashmir.”
Xi felt another shock, and confusion. “Kashmir was part of this plot?” he asked.
“Only accidentally,” Patterson answered. “The schemers had acquired six weapons, but Kashmiri militants stole one, and accidentally set it off. Thanks to that accident, the conspirators could blame Islamic terrorists for the nuclear attacks, and their Russian manufacture would clear India of any responsibility.”
“How did the Indians get these bombs?”
Patterson explained what they had learned about the barge off the coast of Novaya Zemlya, showing Xi the same photographs the Russians had given them. She described her personal role, and how the analysis of the stolen warheads had allowed the U.S. to determine that the device that exploded, and by inference the others, was a Russian 150-kiloton missile warhead. “I’m sure your government sampled the debris cloud and made their own analysis.”
Xi shrugged. “It’s possible, but I would not expect to be shown such an analysis, if it existed.”
“Ours was made public,” she replied. “Hopefully comparing it with your own will help convince you that our warning is real.”
She then described, without naming Petrov or Samant, how the Indian conspiracy had been suspected, then discovered, and finally confirmed. “President Myles informed the Indian government, including President Handa, of the plot two days ago. They acted to quash the plan, but failed to stop the submarine before it left port. We then discussed the situation and decided that we had to tell you immediately.”
Xi did the math. “They knew about this for two days and they couldn’t stop the submarine from leaving port? It doesn’t sound like they were trying very hard.”
“We don’t have a complete picture of what happened between when we notified the Indian government and when Chakra sailed,” Patterson admitted.
Myles cut in. “The Indian government,” he emphasized the word, “was as horrified by the plotters’ objective as we were, as the Russians were when they learned of it, especially since their nationals were involved in smuggling the weapons out of Russia and modifying them to fit in a Russian torpedo. Several high-level officials were undoubtedly involved, including an Indian Navy vice admiral, but they operated outside of, and without the knowledge of, the Indian government.
“Mr. Ambassador,” Myles continued, “there’s been enough blood shed already. The United States, Russia, and India all are willing to do all they can to stop this plan from succeeding. It will likely take the submarine about a week to reach Chinese waters. We can use that time.”
Myles gestured toward the CNO. “Admiral Hughes is ready to work with your navy and the Indian Navy to find and stop Chakra, sinking her if need be. In a sense, the conspirators have already failed, since their attack will no longer be anonymous.”
“Do the men on the submarine know that their plan has been exposed?” Xi asked.
Myles looked over to Hughes, who answered. “We’re broadcasting messages to Chakra on frequencies the Indian Navy says they should be listening to, telling them that the Chinese government has been warned and that President Handa is ordering them to come back. We don’t know if they’re listening, and if they are, if they will obey the Indian president’s order. But we’re trying.”
Xi Ping had been an army officer before accepting the ambassador’s post, but his intelligence background, as well as the recent Littoral Alliance war, had given him a good understanding of a submarine’s strengths and weaknesses. The ocean was vast, and if a submarine didn’t want to be found, then it was simple for it to avoid searching ships and aircraft. The few hostile submarines China had sunk in the recent war had been found and attacked after revealing themselves when they sank a Chinese ship.
This submarine would be attacking five of ten cities. Could the navy protect all ten? He wasn’t sure the navy could protect five, or even one. The People’s Liberation Army Navy had suffered many losses in combat with the Littoral Alliance countries. In the aftermath of the war, operating funds had been virtually eliminated. China needed the money to rebuild her industry, pay reparations, and buy desperately needed food and fuel.
And the admirals in charge had not been able to protest. After all, the navy had failed to protect China. Why should the country buy expensive replacement warships when the ones in service had failed to protect her vital merchant ships? The navy, stripped of funds and fuel, had essentially rotted at the pier for the last six months.
Xi realized that China would need to ask the Americans, and possibly even the Littoral Alliance navies, for help in finding and stopping this submarine. Even if China’s navy was not in rags, the threat was so great that logic demanded they should ask for assistance from anyone able to help.