Another rattle of silenced fire, and two of the three men were down. The third, the PLA soldier standing on the far side of the jeep, fired wildly back at them.
Chase placed the crosshairs of his weapon over the man’s head with a controlled movement and pressed the trigger. His target’s head snapped back in a burst of red, and his lifeless body fell down the wooded mountain on the far side of the road. Chase got up and ran forward.
The Deltas were pulling GIANT out of the rear seat.
“GIANT’s hit,” one of them said, opening up a medical kit. The Delta operator’s experienced hands moved fast in an attempt to stop the bleeding and stabilize his patient.
“That gunfire was loud. You think they’ll send others?”
“Maybe. Maybe not, if they were taking him out here to be shot.”
GIANT tapped his breast pocket. His eyes were going in and out of focus, and his breathing came in shallow gasps. One of the Deltas reached where GIANT was tapping on his chest and pulled out a black object about the size of a quarter, handing it to Chase. GIANT nodded at him and whispered in English, “Answers. Plans.” He took another rasping breath and looked at Chase. “They are going to invade.”
Chase held the man’s shoulder. “We know. What were they working on here?”
The man pointed to the black object, now in Chase’s hand, saying, “Take it to CIA. But warn them. The attack begins very soon. Jinshan uses misdirection. He wants to take the Pacific in one blow.”
The man let out a spasm of coughs, wincing in pain.
Chase looked around. Two of the Deltas were spread out and kneeling, looking through their rifle scopes, surveilling the surrounding countryside. The Delta operator who had been working on GIANT walked up to Chase, whispering, “He’s gonna bleed out. We need to go. Nothing we can do for him, man.”
Chase nodded.
The old man hadn’t heard the exchange, but the look in his eye said he had arrived at the same conclusion. “You must leave.” He grabbed Chase’s arm. “Hawaii and Guam. Jinshan will attack each. You must warn…” He gripped Chase’s arm in a final show of strength, emphasizing the importance of his message.
The old man shut his eyes, wheezed for a few more seconds, and then silence.
Chase signaled the Delta operators to rally on him. “We need to put the bodies in the vehicle and roll it down off the road. That’ll buy us a little time. Extraction is in five hours.”
The group of four elite special operators moved quickly, piling the bodies into the jeep, taking off the parking brake, placing it in neutral, and rolling it down the hill. It slammed unceremoniously into a large pine about one hundred feet down, far enough away from the road to make it difficult to see. Then they humped it up the mountainside, leaving the smoking jeep and dead bodies behind.
They spent the next half day traveling to their LZ. Finally, two hours after sunset, the shadowy figure of an Air Force Special Operations CV-22 Osprey hovered over an empty field, a dozen miles away from the nearest set of eyes.
NVG-equipped pilots landed the tilt rotor aircraft, and a pair of Air Force PJs stepped onto Chinese soil, their weapons aimed into the tree line as the team of four jogged up the rear ramp.
A joint Air Force and NSA electronic and cyberattack had crippled radar and electrical power throughout much of the region during the hour that the Osprey was over land. The Chinese systems came back online just as the Osprey went feet wet, headed to Osan Air Base in Korea.
27
Cheng Jinshan arrived at the remote mountain base early in the morning. This underground fortress was located fifty miles to the west of Beijing. He had arrived by convoy of helicopters, along with dozens of his staff and military generals. Caravans of vehicles were also headed this way and would be there in a matter of hours.
The secretive mountain bunker fortress was originally built in the 1960s. Construction had been ordered by Chairman Mao Zedong, fearful of a Soviet nuclear attack. Many such bunkers had been created, scattered throughout the Chinese countryside. But this one was for leadership. By Jinshan’s order, the cavernous concrete halls and passageways were filled with LED lighting, high-tech security systems, ventilation systems, and communications networks. Surface-to-air missile batteries were set up on the surrounding mountaintops, and a battalion of highly trained PLA troops had been deployed to the area, guaranteeing his protection.
This was to be Jinshan’s wartime headquarters. Remote, heavily fortified, and highly secure. It was designed to withstand a direct nuclear attack, and arrangements had been made to transport him away to one of several other locations in the event that such a catastrophe occurred.
During the first half of the day, Jinshan listened to updates from his generals on the status of forces. He received a brief on the timeline of events, asking very few questions, since he had helped to tailor the plans to his specifications. Things were going well. Everyone was where they needed to be, before the curtain went up.
“Mr. Jinshan, we have a call for you from the island.”
He picked up the phone and heard Lena’s voice. “Is everything ready?”
“Yes, Mr. Jinshan. We are standing by.”
There was something in her voice. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“I was informed by one of my cyber experts that Natesh Chaudry may have seen something that he wasn’t supposed to.”
“What did he see?”
“He accessed files on the South Sea Fleet plans, and the merchant fleet…”
Jinshan lifted his head, thinking. “How was he able to access that information?”
“Our cyber team is looking into it.”
“I’m afraid it is time for us to dispose of him. Would you mind taking care of that?”
“Of course, Mr. Jinshan. We are in our no-fly window right now, but—”
“Wait until the day’s activities are over. I don’t want to risk you getting injured. And I need you to oversee things on the island. Make sure no one makes any mistakes, Lena. I wish every one of my employees was as talented and reliable as you. Good luck.” He hung up the phone and walked into the chamber where his most senior military leaders were waiting for him.
The battlefield was a quiet forest, with the scent of smoke in the air. Fire was coming. The Americans no doubt suspected that something was about to begin. But it would be too late for them to respond. His life’s work was about to be realized. There was only one final thing to do. Cheng Jinshan raised his hand, his eyes cold. His generals each stared down the long table back at him.
“Attack.”
Chase’s V-22 landed at Osan Air Base just after 0800 local time. A dark blue sedan waited for him. A tall Asian man in sunglasses and a green canvas jacket stood next to the driver’s door, beckoning Chase to get in. He bid the Delta operators farewell and got respectful nods in return.
The driver was young — he couldn’t have been more than twenty-six or twenty-seven. Chase figured that he must have worked for the Agency out of Seoul Station.
“Tetsuo here yet?”
“Just arrived. He’s with the analysts in the trailer.”
The tires squeaked as they pulled into a hangar on the other side of the airfield. Chase and the young CIA operative walked to the CIA trailer inside the hangar. It was propped up on cinderblocks, with two armed guards standing outside the door. The guards watched carefully as the CIA agent who was escorting Chase used both his fingerprint and an eye scanner to gain access. A guard checked Chase’s ID before they were allowed any further.