A knock at the door and Susan entered, sitting down as the door closed behind her. Nods of greeting from around the room. She said, “Sorry to interrupt. Please, continue.”
David turned to the DIA man. “So in summary, for Susan, COA 1 is to outproduce China, which we think is impossible given our structural disadvantage. COA 2 is to stretch out their supply chain, which isn’t yet possible given their uninhibited dominance of the South Pacific, but pending a potential military victory in the coming days it may be possible soon. COA 3 is to bomb the crap out of mainland China, which we can’t do until we achieve a military foothold within range of an air campaign.” David sighed. “That about sum it up?”
The DIA man said, “There’s one more. COA 4: kill the Great Leader. If Jinshan is the driving force behind China’s war, could we replace him with someone else we like better?”
David and Susan looked at each other, but neither spoke. Then David said, “Your suggestion is noted. That’s all we will discuss regarding that matter.”
The DIA man met David’s gaze. Everyone knew what that meant, and all further conversation came to a halt.
David said, “All right, team. Thank you for the high-level ideas. Please start building out how we might accomplish each one, and what would need to be true.” David and Susan left the room, stopping in the empty hallway outside.
General Schwartz’s plane, escorted by two F-15 interceptors, landed at NAS Pensacola and taxied up to the tarmac where David and Susan were waiting. When the general’s plane lowered the stairway, David followed his boss inside.
General Schwartz was joined by a single staff officer who was told not to take notes.
“What have you got, David?” the general asked.
“LRASMs, sir.”
“Long Range Anti-Ship Missiles?”
“Yes, sir. Right now we’ve got most of them deployed to the Pacific. The USS Ford’s air wing and the Air Force jets in Mexico City are loading up for the coming engagement with the PLA Navy fleet off Panama.”
General Schwartz said, “This sounds right…”
“This is going to use up over sixty percent of our country’s LRASM inventory. We need to double production. Our special project team has developed a plan that will streamline output not just on the missiles but on fully mission-capable aircraft trained and loaded with those weapons. That is the key metric we’ll need to boost. Our end goal isn’t just to win next week’s battle. We want to increase that key performance indicator — fully mission-capable aircraft, trained and loaded out with LRASMs — to a level one hundred times our current state.”
General Schwartz said, “What do you need me to do?”
David turned to Susan, who handed the general a single-page document. Susan said, “We’re going to need to pull back some of the aircraft deployed to the west coast. Send them to these three bases near Norfolk.”
The staff officer said, “Admiral Funk is going to cry bloody murder.”
General Schwartz nodded agreement. “The Pacific fleet is about to go into combat. They’re going to need these aircraft and missiles when they come into contact with the enemy.”
“We tried to only list units that were still INCONUS,” David said. “California- and Texas-based aircraft, and ships already in the Atlantic. We’re already working with the defense contractor to increase production. The bases listed will become hubs for training and ordnance installation. A lot of these aircraft will need maintenance to make them capable of using the LRASMs.”
The staff officer said, “This will still eat up the reserve aircraft numbers, sir.”
General Schwartz said, “You really think this is important enough to risk that?”
David nodded. “Yes, sir. We need to think long term. The Chinese supply chain across the Pacific should be our focus.”
“Very well.” He looked at the document. “You’ve got ships listed here too. These combined numbers are quite large. You won’t be able to hide this. It’ll ruffle some feathers.”
“We know, sir.”
The general grinned. “That’s what I’m here for, right?”
“We appreciate your support, General.” After he and Susan stood, David looked around the aircraft and said, “Where are you heading?”
“Central America. I want to get down there and speak to my commanders before it begins.”
After the general’s plane departed, Susan and David headed back into the Silversmith building to meet with another special project group.
“Any word from Beijing?” David asked.
“Tetsuo sent his latest report this morning. Secretary Ma and Minister Dong have both met with Lena. In Jinshan’s presence, no less.”
“This is very good.”
Susan said, “Yes, it is.”
They reached the conference room of David’s last team and entered to find a group of exhausted men and women. Bleary eyes. Frazzled hair. Empty coffee cups strewn about. They were arguing loudly enough that they barely noticed David and Susan enter.
Susan looked at David sideways. “Which group is this?”
“These are the space, satellite, and cyber geeks. They’re the ones who are supposed to figure out how to overcome the surveillance, global positioning, and communications problems.” They hailed from agencies like the NSA, NASA, DARPA, and the NRO.
David whistled to get their attention. “What’s the problem?”
The arguing stopped and they looked at him. Several of them began talking at once, in what sounded like a foreign language. David knew technology and acronyms, but these guys were on another level.
He held up his hands and the group quieted down. “Can someone please translate?”
Karen Baltzley, a petite red-haired woman who had come to them from NASA, said, “We have an idea how we might be able to jam the new Chinese mini-satellites if they execute another mass surveillance launch.”
Susan said, “That sounds like a good thing. Why are you at each other’s throats?”
“We aren’t able to execute the idea,” Karen said.
One of the engineers was red-faced. “We’ll figure it out eventually!”
“Some people don’t want to admit that we need another team member.” She glared across the table, and an overweight man in his late thirties frowned back.
Karen said, “We have a knowledge and experience gap. We need someone who’s worked with both American and Chinese communications companies in the past couple of years, including their newer projects on mini-satellite constellation WiFi.”
“Like the projects that one big tech company was going to launch…connecting the world with satellite WiFi?” Susan asked.
“Yes, exactly. Only a handful of people in the world know this stuff well from both the American and Chinese side. And most of them live in China.”
The red-faced engineer said, “Where the hell are we going to find someone qualified to do that?”
David rubbed his chin. “You know, I may have just the man…”
Three hours later, David stood in a sunny parking lot near the beach, one foot on the Florida state line, the other in Alabama. In front of him was a dilapidated two-story wooden building that looked like it had been pummeled by multiple hurricanes. Next to it was a liquor store.
A giant American flag hung next to a sign that read “FLORABAMA Lounge and Package Store.”
David was traveling with a pair of FBI special agents who helped track down his newest recruit. Now the three men were surrounded by sunburnt locals. Most were several drinks in.
One of the FBI agents smiled as a pair of bikini-clad women walked toward the shore. “Guess we better head to the beach,” he said.