“Definitely teams. And they only trained at night.”
“We only observed them for a week. Could be that we just didn’t see them training during the day.”
“Nah. They were doing training at night for a reason. Whatever they’re doing, they’re doing it at night.”
Another of the Deltas said, “Each team was set up the same way. Three vehicles, along a road. Two vehicles on the outside as a barricade road block, protecting the interior team. About ten, twelve guys per squad, tops. The ones in the middle were the mortar experts. The ones on the outside were providing perimeter coverage, security, and feedback with range-finding equipment.”
Chase nodded. “That’s what I saw, too. What was your evaluation of how well they operated?”
“They sucked compared to a US Tier One unit… but for the Chinese? Pretty okay. And I agree with the assessment that they’re from special operations units — you see the uniforms? No patches or name tags. Really good equipment compared to what the PLA issues. And the way they’re moving in unison through those shoot-houses? Quick and efficient. They’re good. Much better than your average run-of-the-mill PLA regulars.”
Chase knew that this was as good a compliment as these Deltas were likely to give to a foreign adversary. Compared to the elite US special operators, they were right. The Chinese soldiers they had spent the last few days observing didn’t look exceptional. But that was like comparing a college football player to an NFL football player. Either one would score a touchdown when playing against a high school team — especially when the high school team didn’t know that the game was about to begin.
“So, what do you guys think the target is?”
“Based on the attack coming from a mortar, about a mile away from its target? Don’t know. Could be any number of things. But it’s interesting the way that they trained.”
“What about it?”
“The way they set up with the three vehicles every time. I think they intend on being in an urban or suburban area. Somewhere with a road, obviously. But somewhere that they think they will encounter resistance soon after they begin firing their mortar rounds.”
“So, a military target? A base?” asked Chase.
“Could be.”
Chase tapped a little black device with a thick rubber antenna that was placed on the ground next to him. It was the same device that would transfer information to and from the drone each day. Since the drone could only send and receive its transmission once per day without alerting Chinese signals intelligence, Chase’s team needed to be the constant presence in the field.
Chase said, “All I know is that today’s transmission should be our last. If there isn’t any training going on here, they’ll bring us home—”
The device began whirring, and Chase noticed flashes of text on the small digital readout.
“Drone?” one of the Deltas asked.
“Yeah. It’s taking our daily report.”
The drone was an Air Force RQ-180, one of the super-secret stealth projects created by Northrop Grumman out in the deserts of the American West. It was nearly invisible as it transited its preprogrammed route at thirty-seven thousand feet, taking high-resolution video of the camp and storing the encrypted data that Chase had spent the previous day typing on his armband. When the aircraft landed in South Korea in a few hours, it would quickly be taxied into a closed hangar. Personnel from three-letter agencies would extract and analyze the data that it collected and pass it up the chain, ending up on the SILVERSMITH desk an hour later.
The men listened as the transmission device stopped making noise. Chase tapped a few keys on his armband, inputting his code that allowed him to see what messages they had. He knew he would have less than two minutes to read it before the data was erased from the hard drive.
THIS ORDER CHANGES PREVIOUSLY COMMUNICATED PLAN. GIANT EN ROUTE TO BASE AT LIAONING, WHERE HE WILL ATTEMPT TO RETRIEVE VITAL INFORMATION. SUSPECT GIANT COMPROMISED AND IN DANGER. YOUR PRIORITY IS TO RECOVER DATA PROVIDED BY GIANT VIA BURST TRANSMISSION. IF POSSIBLE, SECONDARY OBJECTIVE IS TO EXTRACT GIANT FROM CAMP AND EVACUATE TO LZ.
Chase swore as he read the message.
“What is it?”
“You guys aren’t going to believe this.”
GIANT arrived on a small white passenger jet a few hours later. Chase and team watched as he entered the compound at the center of the camp, a handful of military personnel providing him escort. They were now only one mile from the camp — precariously close — as they had hustled to the nearest ridge immediately upon receiving their new orders.
“How many do you suppose are still on site?”
“Rotating shift in the guard tower. Couple dozen in the barracks. A rover team in the jeep about one mile to the north. My estimate is about fifty personnel in total, give or take. All lightly armed.”
“Looks like his plane is all turned around and ready to go.”
“Think he got what he needed yet?”
That was where the plan would get hairy, Chase knew. So did the Deltas. The message from the drone gave them no indication of when or how to extract GIANT. Just do it. They had decided to give him two hours inside. If he didn’t come out, they were going to storm the camp and hope for the best. The word covert would no longer be a descriptor in their mission type.
But if he did come out before the two hours were up, they would have to grab him before they placed him back on the plane. If they placed him back on the plane…
Just how was GIANT compromised? And what kind of danger was he in? No. That wasn’t the right question.
“This is FUBAR, man.”
“Yup,” replied Chase.
“Wait. Manning, you see that? That’s our boy, right? Where are they taking him?”
Chase uncapped his observation scope and looked through the sight. It was GIANT, alright. They had just taken him out the back exit of the building he had been in. Now GIANT was in the rear seat of a military jeep, squished in between two uniformed PLA soldiers. The jeep was being driven by a third soldier up a dirt road, winding along the smaller mountain in between their position and the camp.
“Don’t look like they’re taking him for a joy ride, does it?”
Chase followed the dirt road, advancing ahead of the jeep to try and identify where they might stop. “Come on. We need to move. It’ll wind around about a half mile from us. But we’ll need to get there before they do. We may have just caught a big break.”
The Delta operators took about one second to process the request and conduct the risk-reward ratio, then they quietly began their sprint down the thickly wooded mountainside. Chase weaved in between spruce trees, racing as fast as his legs would take him. Their boots plowed into hard packed dirt and tree roots, making way more noise than he wanted to as they headed towards the bend in the road that might be their only chance to intercept what he assumed was going to be an execution.
Upon arrival, the four men crouched low to the ground, hiding behind tree trunks and boulders a mere twenty feet from the bend in the road. Any second now…
The group didn’t have time to confer on tactics. Two of the Deltas fired from silenced submachine guns, hitting the tires and the engine block. The smoking jeep ground to a halt on the gravel road. Confused by the noise and the sudden stop of their vehicle, the PLA soldiers began stepping out of their vehicle. One of them had his weapon out and was peering over the smoking holes on the hood.