The director chimed in, “As you are aware, Tetsuo, the situation in China has become less and less stable. Anti-American sentiment is high. Jinshan is seen as a savior among his people, protecting them from Western religious fanatics like this American man they say killed their president. Jinshan is using his popularity and power to crack down on all political opposition. You know that Secretary Zhang, whom GIANT worked for, was the first one to go. GIANT’s ability to provide us with valuable intelligence has likely come to an end. But we think we can get him access to the Liaoning base. If he can get target information there… if he can find out where those Chinese special operations teams are headed and pass it to Chase Manning’s SOF team, that would be invaluable for us.”
Tetsuo finally spoke. “I agree that GIANT’s value as an agent has diminished, due to his affiliation with Secretary Zhang. But to send him to the Liaoning camp now, after all that’s happened? How will he even be able to get there?”
“We’re going to help him with that. One of our agents in China will help him get access as an inspector and arrange the flight. But he’ll have a short window of opportunity before he’s found out. We think he’ll only have a day or two before it’s discovered that he’s inspecting the camp. So we’ll have to coordinate with Chase Manning’s SOF team to make sure they know to grab him if that becomes necessary.”
David knew that Chase’s SOF team was supposed to be on an observation and reconnaissance mission. Extracting GIANT was considered a high-risk tertiary option.
Tetsuo said, “Sir, is this up for debate?”
“I’m afraid not. The president needs to know what’s going on there. China is becoming too hostile towards American interests. We need to know if they’re actually preparing for war, and what they’re planning.”
“Understood. What is the timing?”
“As soon as possible.”
Jinshan had been traveling a lot in the past few days. He had just finished a meeting in Guangzhou. Final preparations with Admiral Song, who would soon be going to sea. Lena rode in his car to the airport. Jinshan looked at her with admiration. She was his most precious possession. A beautiful flower that he had cultivated and grown to perfection.
She looked at him with those dark eyes, waiting obediently to hear his bidding. He hoped he lived long enough to see her achieve victory in America. Lena was the closest thing to a daughter he would ever have, and he suspected she harbored a similar filial affection towards him. He could sense it when she spoke to him.
“What have you found out about Zhang?”
She was direct and to the point. “He is purged, as you wished.”
Jinshan knew she meant dead. “And his assistant? Dr. Wang? The one we suspect may be a traitor?”
Jinshan had recently learned that Zhang’s top advisor, an old economist who had been educated in America, might have been working with the CIA. Cyber penetrations into the CIA’s clandestine archives and financial records had given his team at the Ministry of State Security almost enough information to be sure. But the MSS had decided to leave him in place in order to see who else he might try to contact.
“There is a problem with him. Somehow, he has arranged a flight toward one of our camps. The one at Liaoning.”
“How is that possible?”
“We aren’t sure.”
“Why is he going there?”
“His orders say that the visit is a state inspection.” She must have seen the surprise on his face. “I admit that I was too late in detecting and stopping the flight. I apologize. We are not sure how the flight or visit was arranged. But I have contacted the officer in charge of base security. He’ll make sure that it doesn’t become a problem.”
Jinshan nodded. “Good.”
26
Chase and his reconnaissance team were concealed on a ridgeline several miles from the Chinese military camp in Liaoning Province.
Their paradrop had been relatively uneventful, despite the unusual entry. They had landed on a flat dirt field only a few hundred feet from a forest.
The three Delta operators and Chase had quickly gathered up their parachutes and headed into the woods for concealment. The forest rose up into a small mountain. The terrain in this area was hilly. Where the rivers turned the mountainous land into valleys, towns and farms sprung up. By staying in the mountains, the four men were able to travel throughout the area with a low threat of discovery.
They had reached the first of their planned reconnaissance positions after a two-day hike. There was a source of water an hour away. The vegetation and rock formations at their location provided good cover from unwanted observers. But the position also allowed them to see deep into the next valley, where the Chinese military training was supposed to be.
Chase and the Deltas had been observing the Chinese military training for over a week now. They had watched the same routine day in and day out. Nighttime small-arms training and mortar fire. Some sort of exercise with four-wheel-drive trucks being parked in a certain way.
Then, two days ago, transport planes had begun flying in and picking up a few squads at a time.
The Chinese troops were leaving the camp. As far as Chase’s team could tell, about two hundred men had left via military transport aircraft, and only one squad remained.
The final team looked like it was getting ready to go now. A group of twelve men, their gear prestaged near the flight line.
“Where you think they’re all headed?”
Chase squeezed the brownish contents of his MRE through a tiny tear in the vacuum-sealed pouch while looking through his observation scope. This one was called chicken and rice, but they all tasted the same.
“Beats me. Maybe it’s just a school, and they’re just headed back to their normal base of operations.” The tone in the man’s voice told Chase that he didn’t believe his own words.
Chase said, “Let’s go over it again. The drone transmission is in thirty minutes. I need to have our report ready to go. It looked like they were training in teams.”
Another one of the military transports flew low overhead, the sound of the engines rumbling through the hills. Chase and the Deltas were hidden by the thick mountain bush and had specially designed tarps over their gear that would reduce and break up their heat signatures from IR cameras. But the loud noise and close proximity of the aircraft still halted all conversation until it had passed.
The camp was a cluster of buildings, vehicles and a paved runway. One of the Deltas had named it Camp Kung Pao. As Chase bit into a tasteless protein bar, he thought about what he wouldn’t give for some good Kung Pao chicken right now. He sighed, knowing that he needed to concentrate and document his findings. He tapped with one finger on the thin military-grade tablet strapped to his left forearm. He wrote short text reports that would be instantly encrypted and shot up in a burst transmission to an Air Force drone at precise times each day.
Chase had suggested that the Air Force just use the drone for the entire mission, but that idea had been rejected. The Chinese cyberattacks that had crippled their satellites had also infected many of the military datalink networks — particularly the ones that were used to control drones from long-range. While the Air Force was able to preprogram drones and retrieve information once the drones returned from their mission, they were no longer the real-time reaction platform that the military had grown accustomed to over the past two decades.
Too much reliance on technology, that was the lesson. And the US military was learning it the hard way.
Chase and the three Delta operators were able to react quickly, however. That was why General Schwartz had suggested that they go in. Their mission was to observe and report back. They were to find out what mission the Chinese special operators were training for — and what could be so important that Cheng Jinshan believed it could help China take the Pacific. They would send short updates each day and then provide a more detailed report once they were safely out of the lion’s den.