Henry sipped his tea and removed his feet from the chair in front of him. “Why don’t you just blow it up?”
“Their space launch facility? We have tried. We lost two submarines attempting to get close. It’s in a very strategic location, heavily protected by submarines and air defense, and near their coast. The only submarines that can get close enough are too important to risk with an attack.”
The Air Force officer said, “We do have weapons that could strike it.”
The scientist added, “Nuclear weapons, he means.”
David nodded. “But for various reasons, we don’t want to use them.”
Henry slapped his knees, looking relieved. “Oh, thank God. I’m glad to see you all have at least some sense. But humor me, what are the reasons?”
“Aside from triggering a massive nuclear reaction from the Russians, nuclear winter, and the instant mass annihilation of fellow humans?”
Henry raised an eyebrow. “Is slow annihilation better?”
One of the civilian DOD experts said, “This is a larger strategic issue that speaks to the entire reason why the Chinese are able to come over here and attack us through conventional means. The political leverage they have is significant, and with the Russians pointing their own highly capable nuclear arsenal at us, the Chinese are not deterred. The Russians would love for us to lob another nuclear missile at China. It would give them the excuse they’ve been looking for.”
Henry looked at the speaker. “You can’t be serious. You think the Russians actually want that?”
The man shrugged.
Henry said, “What about conventional ballistic missiles?”
A female Air Force officer replied, “The problem is that any ballistic missile launch will be interpreted as a potential nuclear threat.”
“And you can’t use…”
David held up a hand. “Henry, trust us. We’ve been through a million different options. We need a way to disable the Chinese satellite advantage. And we need it soon. It’s like a geyser. We don’t know when it will let off steam, but when it does, it’s quite impressive. And it’s their tell. Whenever they make one of those mass launches, it’s a critical time on the battlefield. If we can disable their ability to communicate and target using their satellite network, that would at least put us on an even playing field.”
Henry removed his sunglasses, folding and stuffing them in his shirt pocket. “Well, I’m not going to lie. This sounds very challenging.”
The group looked at him warily.
Henry finished, “You guys are lucky you called me when you did.”
The NASA woman rolled her eyes.
The next day Chase arrived from Panama.
“How bad is it?” David asked.
Chase let out a sigh. “The worst I’ve seen. Panama City is a war zone. The Canal Zone stretches for fifty miles. That’s become the front. All of the major bridges have been destroyed. The swampy jungles and farmland, the cities in the area…they’re all crawling with US and Chinese divisions on either side lobbing mortars and artillery. Missile and rocket attacks.”
Susan said, “Any sense on how it’s going for us? Are we making progress?” Both David and Susan read the daily intel reports, but it was best to hear it from someone who had been on the ground.
Chase looked at her. “Both sides have put up modern air defense shields. Most air cover is useless, because it gets shot down as soon as it’s picked up on radar. When I was with General Schwartz, we had to drive fifty miles north just to get to an LZ that was safe enough for a helicopter extraction.”
David said, “What happened with the Rojas mission?”
Chase shook his head. “I accompanied a SOF team on a snatch and grab for one of our suspected hostage sites. Turned out to be someone else. Some local politician that the Chinese had taken to a safehouse for interrogation. General Schwartz understands the importance of finding Rojas. He told me to tell you that he’s still working on it as a priority.”
They entered the small auditorium where the Silversmith team held its daily intelligence brief. About halfway through, the briefer showed a slide of the Mid-Atlantic coastline, with large red patches over the ocean.
Chase leaned over and whispered to his brother, “Why are we talking about the Atlantic?”
David pointed at the screen.
The briefer said, “These are our areas of uncertainty. Passive sonar and other signals intelligence suggest that Chinese and Russian submarine activity has picked up in these areas. A Russian intelligence collection ship is also operating just outside our territorial waters.”
Someone said, “Increased Russian submarine activity on the east coast of the US?”
The briefer said, “Correct.”
Susan said, “Has there been any coordination between Chinese and Russian naval forces?”
“It does appear that way, yes, ma’am.”
“That would violate the Russians’ own agreement.”
“Only if they are caught.”
An Army one-star sitting in the front row said, “Tell them the good part, Jim.”
The briefer said, “We got a signals intel intercept yesterday that suggests the Russians may be prepping for an attack on a US base.”
Susan said, “Which one?”
“We don’t know yet, ma’am. We’ll pass on any new information on this intelligence stream as soon as we get it.”
The meeting went on for a while longer, and after the group was dismissed, Chase turned to his brother. “I’m headed to Norfolk.”
David gave him a hug. “Be careful.”
After meeting with Susan, David headed back to speak with his special project teams together.
“It will never work,” said the NASA woman.
“It might,” replied the DIA man.
“What might work?” David asked.
The DIA man said, “We’re preparing for the next mass wave of Chinese satellites. Henry thinks he knows a way to infiltrate the Chinese satellite network.”
David cocked his head and grinned at Henry. “And that’s why we plucked you from the Mullet Toss. Show me.”
“What’s a Mullet Toss?” the NASA woman asked.
Henry ignored her and walked up to one of the white boards. “The island they conduct their mass satellite launch from is also their central command and communications center.”
David nodded. “Meaning that all of the datalink and reconnaissance satellites get their orders from a ground station there. So…”
Henry said, “So it turns out it was built by one of the companies I consulted with. I’m very familiar with the systems they’ll use. Now I can’t write the program, but I imagine the NSA will have people who can.”
“We do,” the NSA cyber expert said.
Henry said, “They’ll need my help, of course. I can guide them to develop something that can inhibit the Chinese military’s ability to use their satellites.”
“How long would it take for us to execute?”
Henry held up his hands. “Hey, I only know about these satellite communications…”