Twenty minutes later the bomber turned and began its trip down the Korean coast. By then, Carter identified eighteen air defense radars and plotted their position. As the bomber flew down the coast, she also identified radars on the western coast of the peninsula. By the time they passed into what was South Korea, the radar sites had become less frequent. Only two were operating that night between the old border and Pusan. All of the radars were old Soviet types nearly 40 years old.
Next came the tricky part. Adams banked the bomber toward the coast and reversed his course. Now the plane would be only 100 miles away from shore as it made another run up the coast. Normally this didn’t mean much to the crew since the B-1 was a stealthier aircraft. The next move was something his entire crew thought was absolutely nuts. Adams opened the bomb bay doors for fifteen seconds. Stealth was thrown out the window and five more radars were switched on, including three missile fire control radars looking for the target that suddenly appeared and then disappeared from their screens. Once again, Carter identified the radars and plotted where they were.
“Are we being tracked?” Adams asked.
“No major, they’re looking all over the place for us, but no tracking or lock on. And none of them can track while scanning. I’m reading some 3D stuff and a conical scan, but they don’t see us,” Carter said.
Nervously Adams sat back in his seat and handed off the controls to his co-pilot. He was sweating at the thought of giving his position away. The B-1 was a great plane and had been the first relatively stealthy bomber, but it was not a B-2 and not a plane to flaunt itself. Whoever thought this one up was crazy.
Carter was in her element. The equipment successfully plotted the radars down to one square yard. That would be enough, she thought. Ten minutes later, with the previous units well behind them, she called up the pilot and had the procedure run again. This time eight missile and gun targeting radars came online. They were halfway up the peninsula.
The third time the whole console lit up. Word had come down the line and everyone was waiting for something to appear. The radars searched the sky, sending millions of watts of energy into the air to find whatever was up there. Adams was looking down at the coast when he saw a flash of light and a yellow glow that seemed to be reaching skyward. Punching the engines, he careened the B-1 hard left, toward the coast, but putting his exhaust away from any seeker that might be glued to it. Then he ducked into a cloud and cut the throttles. “Any lock ons?” he shouted.
“Negative. Nothing tracking. Probably heat seeker,” Carter yelled back.
Adams had already figured that. Just before getting into the cloud he saw the missile track away from his plane. The maneuver worked this time. The clouds helped. “Carter have you got all you need?” he asked.
“More than enough Major. Let’s head home.”
Adams checked his systems and turned the airplane to head directly away from North Korea. He accelerated the aircraft past mach 1 and zoomed away. No one else shot at them. Adams finally set the auto-pilot for a return to Guam. The tanker would rendezvous with them over Japan. A few more hours and they would be home. He hoped having the crap scared out of all of them was worth it.
Three hours later, Fleet Broadcast out of Guam sent out a special targeting message that was addressed to three submarines somewhere in the Pacific.
Kee had pulled out of the Chinese terminal eight hours before. His instructions had been explicit. He was to drive through the big tunnel just before 10 pm. Once in the middle, he was to pull a small lever on the dash. He was told it would release a pipe under the truck which would roll out of the way. Under no circumstances was he to stop to retrieve it. As a matter of fact, he was told to get out of the tunnel as fast as possible. Once again, the Chinese had loaded the truck. Once through he would deliver his load as planned and return home. Then something strange had happened. The contact he had been working with leaned in and took his hand. “Please make sure you deliver these packages on time and get as far away as possible. This is the last you will hear from us, I hope we can meet again soon,” he said.
All along the trip Kee had wondered what he was carrying. On one occasion he was tempted to get out and look it over, but the man’s warning made him continue. The tunnel was only ten miles ahead and it was only 9:05. He would make it in time.
Chapter 13
Pusan, Korea was dark. For weeks a blackout had been maintained and with the new moon it was difficult to see a hand in front of your face. The harbor pilot had two tugs with them and for some reason the lights were operating on the buoys coming into the harbor. The tugs weren’t needed.
The big automobile carriers slowly made their way in toward the main piers in the port facility. The first, Morning Sky, eased up until she was at the very head of the pier before slinging the lines out to men waiting for them. The ship’s heavy hawsers were pulled down and draped over the bollards along the pier, securing the ship. Within minutes the big ramps amidships and on the stern began swinging outward and lowering to the pier. Once the ramps were down, the big doors opened and the sound of gas turbines and diesel engines could be heard.
Almost as if the great ship was vomiting them out, the vehicles from the 1st Armored Division leapt down the ramps and onto the pier. Their orders had been explicit and brief. Get to the front and report when ready. The Abrams tanks opened up the throttles and rapidly made their way down the pier, out the gate, and through the city. The second ship opened its doors and it too disgorged its armored spearhead. A cruise ship from Carnival pulled in across the pier, followed by one from Cunard. The third auto carrier came in and started offloading. Once the first echelons of tanks and Bradleys were gone, the troop transport trucks made their way out and lined up next to the cruise ships. They were rapidly filled and took off in the same direction as the M-1s and Bradleys. Interspersed with those were fueling trucks, supply trucks, assault equipment, and heavy artillery. On the next pier two LSTs extended their ramps and the Paladin artillery pieces were rolled out and moved forward. Units from Australia and New Zealand were landing in Chinhae and pushing westward. Two more cruise ships and five amphibs were left to unload. Everyone was in a hurry. They had one hour.
Kee was stopped at the tunnel checkpoint and his papers examined. The guard waved him on and he pulled the truck onto the roadway and surged through the entrance. Immediately he could feel the heat from the other trucks coming up past him. The exhaust stung his eyes and on occasion he coughed. About four minutes later he was on the level section at the bottom of the tunnel. One thing he noticed was the guards were getting pretty lax. They were often sitting in the little booths not paying any attention to the traffic going by.
He was within twenty meters of the truck in front of him and the truck behind was closer still. With the trucks that close, he doubted they would notice the pipe fall. About half way between two of the sentry stations he pulled the handle under the dash.
The ten-inch pipe fell from its holder under the side of the truck and bounced onto the side of the roadway. The release also set the pipe spinning slightly so that it rolled all the way to the side of the road. Aside from the dull ring of the pipe when it hit the road, it went unnoticed by anyone else in the tunnel.