Stan sat alone inside a comm-shack with the latest high-tech equipment. He could hear the air-conditioner switch on and begin to buzz with effort. General Taylor of V Corps had personally explained it to him. General McGraw had flown to Alaska, and a special comm-drone had been sent aloft between Asia and North America somewhere over the Bering Sea. The signal from this comm-shack bounced off the drone to General McGraw in his Alaskan site.
Stan viewed McGraw on the computer screen. Tom had bags under his eyes and his features showed strain. McGraw didn’t smile, although he attempted it a time or two.
“Stan, old son,” McGraw said. “I’ve got to talk to someone who will tell me the truth.”
“I see,” Stan said, on guard now. Caesars seldom wanted the truth from anyone. Still, it appeared as if McGraw had taken elaborate procedures to speak with him alone. What did that portend?
“Can I trust you to tell it to me straight, General?” McGraw asked.
“Sir, I’m an American soldier. I don’t believe in lying to my superior officers.”
“Nice evasion,” McGraw said. “But I’ll take you at your word. Stan, General, what is your estimation on the Chinese soldier.”
“I’m not sure I understand the question, sir.”
“By what you’ve seen in Manchuria, do you think the Chinese are scraping the bottom of the manpower barrel?”
Stan pursed his lips. “They’re far from that. But I will say that although the soldiers facing us in Shenyang are brave and determined, they’re not like the Chinese we faced in the early days in North America. Those soldiers knew their trade, and they were willing to fight. The Chinese here… they’re still learning their trade.”
“But they’re brave, you say?”
“At the beginning of this campaign in Heilongjiang Province, a lot of them ran away after their unit sustained… hmmm… ten percent losses. They were on the short end of the stick and they knew it. The ones now aren’t giving up. I’m sure you’re studying the reports. Far fewer Chinese formations that are surrounded surrender until they’re starving to death or have taken fifty, sometimes sixty percent casualties.”
“Can we take Shenyang?” McGraw asked.
“We might with the men at hand, but it would cost us, and it would likely be the last major offensive we could make for some time.”
“You’re speaking about our boys?”
“The US 3rd Army Group,” Stan said. “If you want my opinion, sir…?”
“Yes, go ahead.”
“The Russians are running out of desire, while the average Chinese has hardened his heart. There are a lot of enemy riflemen, Militia and guerillas. Many of those hardly know the front end of a gun from the back, but they have desire. Ever since Changchun I’ve begun to wonder—”
“Wonder what?”
“What we’re really doing in Manchuria,” Stan said. “The 3rd Army Group isn’t going to do much more than secure Manchuria. Holding onto it might be a lot harder than taking it with Russian help.”
“You realize major reinforcements are already in the pipeline.”
“We’ve gotten a few and I’ve heard many more are on the way, but I don’t know if you’re sending enough. Now if we had some Behemoths…”
“They’re guarding Texas and New Mexico.”
Stan nodded. He understood that.
“The Chinese appear to have bounced back then,” McGraw said.
“Historically, an invaded people usually do.”
McGraw opened his mouth, and he hesitated. Finally, he nodded. “Thank you, Stan, old son. You’ve told me what I needed to hear.”
I don’t believe that, Stan thought. You were going to ask me something else, but you just lost your nerve. What’s really going on, Tom? I wish I could ask you.
“How’s my son?” Stan asked.
“I thought you’d ask about him. Jake went to the hospital and he’s fit for duty. I believe he’s already back in his platoon.”
“You couldn’t send him home?” Stan asked.
“If I did, Homeland Security might take him again. I don’t think you want that.”
The information put heat in Stan’s heart. “So we’ve become America’s new legions, eh?”
“What’s that mean?”
“We’re only good so long as we fight overseas?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” McGraw said.
It hit Stan then. He didn’t say anything, and he didn’t believe he gave anything away on his face or in his eyes. Jake was here, and so was he. He knew Taylor and the other generals of V Corps felt similarly as he did. Stan used to think that was a coincidence. Now he wasn’t so sure. But that would mean…
“It’s good to talk with you again, Stan. I wish I were over there with you. I envy you the ability to hurt our enemy where it counts, in his own backyard.”
“We’d love to have you here, sir.”
McGraw gave him a careful look before smiling. “I’m on a fact-finding mission, trying to take the pulse of our Expeditionary Force. Once all the reinforcements arrive, we have some surprises in store for the Chinese. I think we have them on the ropes, Stan. I think it will take a few more hammer blows to make them cry uncle.”
“Is that why they attacked in Inner Mongolia as they did? They don’t care about losses.”
“Who knows Chairman Hong’s mind? It’s a mystery.”
“If we could hit with all our THORs, we would have a much better chance of making them cry uncle. I think there’s your answer.”
“That will be all, General,” McGraw said. “Thank you for your time, and good luck.”
“To you too, sir,” Stan said. Afterward, McGraw cut the connection, leaving a thoughtful Higgins to ponder these new, inner revelations.
Shun Li took her place at the conference table. It was a full meeting of the Ruling Committee. Marshal Kiang sat down beside the new Minister of the Navy. She finally understood that Hong and the Army would always be at odds with each other. Both Hong and the Police must leash the Army, or the Army leaders would rule over them.
Yes, that has been the trick all these years, the politicians and the police holding the twin leashes that kept the crocodile of the Army from devouring each of them in turn.
For all his supposed madness and brutality, Hong was the most cunning among them. Perhaps as bad, he could change course with abrupt suddenness, catching others by surprise.
Is that the great trick—to fake one way and then go another? He also used another tactic. The Chairman slays his most powerful enemies, killing each of us one by one. If I am to survive, must I kill Hong first in self-defense?
Such a strike was worth careful consideration. The danger of trying it and failing, however, would be catastrophic to her life.
“I am here to report wonderful news,” Hong told them. “Unfortunately, none of us can tell anyone else about the news, at least for a time. We must hold this secret until we can unleash it at a pivotal moment.” The Chairman cleared his throat. “Some of you may know that I spoke with a personal envoy of Premier Konev.” He nodded to Shun Li.
She smiled in an approximation of joy, but her cheek muscles felt frozen and stiff. She had helped spirit the envoy from the airport to Hong and back again to the airport.
“The Russians are concerned,” Hong told Marshal Kiang. “Your latest offensive in Inner Mongolia convinced them of the futility of their invasion—that we will fight for a thousand years to keep our freedom.”
The Army Minister shook his head. “I cannot take credit for the… the so-called offensive. It was your own creation, Leader.”