As fires raged down there, and Chinese trunks and jeeps burned, Stan finally gave the command. The East Lighting officers were dead, with jin-jin soaked in their tunics. One after another, the Lees clanked down the road, with American IFVs following.
We’re doing it. We’re surprising them and hopefully, creating havoc and panic to the Chinese soldiers and commanders ahead of us.
Shun Li ran down a corridor in the main Police Ministry Building of the city, following an adjutant. The woman ahead of Shun Li turned into a chamber. Out of breath, Shun Li followed, coming to a halt before a wall screen. It showed an angry Chairman Hong staring at her from his secure headquarters in Beijing.
Shun Li checked an impulse to throw herself cringing on the tiles. She had rarely seen him so visibly angry. His dark eyes shined wetly, and his lips pressed firmly against each other.
As her bosom heaved, she bowed before his image on the wall. She tried to inject serenity into her motion. It was impossible.
“The Americans have brushed aside the Taken Defenses,” Hong said in a dangerous voice. “This morning, I awoke to grim news. The enemy has flown like a bald eagle, going wherever they desire. I imagine they’re less than a half hour from Harbin.”
“Leader?” Shun Li asked, amazed at this news.
“Do you mean to tell me that you have wallowed in luxurious sleep while the Americans battle around the clock?”
“No, Leader. I mean, yes, I was asleep, but only after a night of hard work, preparing the city defenses.”
“And who mans those defenses?” Hong asked. “Dirty peasants?”
Shun Li stared at him in shock. She didn’t know what he wanted to hear.
“Blow up the city,” Hong said. “Do so immediately. The Americans must not be allowed to take Harbin intact.”
Shun Li began to tremble. How could she say this without losing her life?
The Chairman glanced down at something out of sight in his headquarters. “What is this?” he asked. “You are highly agitated.”
“Leader?” she whispered.
“You would be surprised at my instrumentation here. It monitors your heart rate, among other things.”
Shun Li moistened her lips. He realized she feared. Did he already know? It was more than possible. She must project utter honesty.
“Leader,” she said, “I have not yet installed the nuclear devices.”
On the wall-screen, Hong froze, and she could see her death in his eyes. “Tell me truthfully. Why have you failed to implement China’s will?”
“Leader, I have not yet received the nuclear devices.”
“You lie!” he shouted.
“No, dear Leader, I speak the unvarnished truth. There has been a delay in the delivery of the devices.”
Hong breathed heavily. He no longer stared at her. He didn’t seem to look at anything, but had glazed eyes.
“You are now given a holy task,” he finally said. “You must race south and find the devices. They must have stopped somewhere along the route. Then you must rush back with them to Harbin and plant the bombs. I demand that you mine the city. We will bury the Americans under tons of irradiated brick. We will destroy their invasion army.”
“Yes, Leader,” she said. “Ah…”
“What now?” he snapped.
“I have noticed a phenomenon lately.”
“What could you perceive that I have not?”
“May I speak truthfully?” she asked. The giant image made Hong seem like a god.
“I demand you tell me the truth,” he said.
“Leader… people fear your displeasure.”
“That is absurd. I am a reasonable man.”
“The most reasonable on Earth,” she said. “Yet they fear to displease you. I suspect because of that they hide truths from you.”
“Do you think anyone is capable of hiding anything from me?”
“Not in the long run,” Shun Li said. “But in the short run, yes.”
He studied her, until finally he barked harsh laughter. “You have rare courage, Shun Li. I appreciate that. Yes, in the short run, liars can succeed. Tell me this truth you’ve discovered?”
“Sometimes, the first reports are exaggerated. Maybe the Americans aren’t as close to Harbin as we believe.”
“No,” Hong said. “I cannot accept that. An hour ago, two hundred American Jeffersons demolished a supply depot at Fun-Won Junction. That is forty-five kilometers from Harbin. Nothing stands between these Jeffersons and the city. I imagine the entire US army group pours after them.”
“Leader, while I search for the nuclear devices, I ask for permission to send a reconnaissance team to Fun-Won Junction.”
“The Americans will slaughter them. But yes, do it. Let us see if your truth holds. Now go. On no account can I allow Harbin to fall into American hands.”
Stan overran two more supply depots and annihilated three convoys, leaving burnt hulks and dead personnel everywhere. One corpse had lain there completely naked and in perfect condition, with the dead man’s hands peacefully folded on his hairless chest. The enemy jammed his communications now. All he heard was growling in the radio. By lofting a drone high enough, he finally talked with General Taylor for three minutes.
It made all the difference.
As they clanked for Taw-Do Junction, the Intelligence captain informed Stan that thirty-two Chinese Marauder light tanks headed fast for them.
At Lao Pin Central Farm, Stan set up an ambush. He positioned the Lees behind three hills overlooking G1011 and the farm. Below on the road, he inflated twelve dummy Lees. Three IFVs had carried the inflatables for just such an occasion.
Infantrymen attached heaters, which gave off infrared signatures on the dummy tanks. They barely sprinted into nearby milk sheds as the first Marauders appeared up the road.
Stan lay on the reverse slope of the middle hill. He’d taken a mobile laser rangefinder from the Lee. The tank was also behind the hill, with its Hellfire II launcher ready.
The Chinese light tanks slowed. They must have spotted the dummies on the road. The Chinese Marauders were small, turretless tanks, each with a big 153mm gun.
Loud booms and long tongues of flames from the barrels showed that the Marauders fired. What did the Chinese commander think? Several rounds passed right through the inflatable dummies, beginning to deflate them. Machine guns opened up from the Chinese, and they used their inner wheels, rushing the dummy Lees at speed. Now several inflatables exploded, simply disappearing like popped balloons. What would the Chinese make of that?
From his position on the slope, Stan aimed a laser, pinpointing one of the lead Marauders. From the other hills, more Lee commanders did likewise. With a whoosh, a Hellfire II roared to life behind Stan. It left the barrel, flew over the top of the hill and sped down toward the Marauders.
Chinese antimissile fire from the Marauders knocked it down so the missile plowed harmlessly in dirt, but not the Hellfire II following behind the first one. The second missile slammed against a Chinese light tank, and it exploded with a boom, injecting a thin jet stream of hot metal inside the tank, killing the crew.