“Surface-to-air missiles being launched from the Japanese warship Myoko, sir.”
The Chinese air force officer who commanded the radar plane heard the call over his internal communications circuit. He watched his display screen as volleys of Japanese surface-to-air missiles began racing towards the Chinese anti-ship missiles. Decades of Chinese military modernization were about to be put to use. Would the advances in Chinese technology be as good as advertised? Would there be enough missiles to overcome the air defense systems?
The commander looked at his two groups of attacking air units. He said, “Vector two of the SU-30s towards the Japanese ship. I see multiple surface-to-air missiles originating from vicinity of the USS Carl Vinson, to the south. Send the rest of the SU-30s towards her. Those two carriers are our priority.”
“Yes, sir.”
The SU-30s, inbound from the north, received their new instructions from the KJ-3000 radar controllers. Two of them immediately turned towards the Japanese destroyer, firing their KH-31 anti-ship missiles. The KJ-3000 was using electronic attack measures to spoof the destroyer, tricking and confusing their radar picture.
The KH-31 missiles traveled only fifty feet over the ocean at nearly three times the speed of sound. The Japanese destroyer knew that they were coming but wasn’t able to do anything about it. Their anti-air resources were no match for the electronic malfunctions from the EMP attack coupled with the electronic attack from the KJ-3000.
The missiles detonated on impact.
Two hundred pounds of high-explosive shaped charge collided with the steel hull at a speed of fifteen hundred miles per hour. The center of the Japanese destroyer exploded, and those who weren’t killed in the blast either died in the fires that followed or went to the bottom of the ocean as it sank.
The commander of the Chinese radar aircraft zoomed out on his display. His datalink was being updated in real time by all the connected Chinese units. All over the Western Pacific, Chinese air and naval forces had begun their attacks. He looked at Taiwan — it was a jumble of red and blue air tracks. Most of them missiles launched from the Chinese mainland. Both Taiwan and Japan were being inundated by Chinese conventional missiles.
North Korea was invading the South. That would keep the Americans stationed there, and the South Korean military, more than busy.
31
Chase and the other CIA employees were sitting in the pitch-black trailer.
“Why aren’t the backup lights coming on?” someone asked.
“Must have been a transformer. You hear that boom outside?”
“Yeah, but the backup lights should still come back on.”
Chase was as blind as a bat, feeling his way around the compartment. He could hear more cursing as one of the other CIA agents shuffled their way to the door. The ambient noise level of the room was eerily quiet without all the electronics and cooling fans running.
Then one of the guards opened the door from the outside, and a rush of light and air came in. “You guys okay?” They all walked outside of the trailer, the guard locking the door behind them.
“What’s going on?”
“Don’t know. Everyone’s power just went out.”
Chase didn’t think that was it. “Anyone have a cell phone?”
One of the guards got his phone out of his bag. “Yeah, here. Hold on, the power’s off. That’s weird, I never turn it off.” He kept pressing the power button. “Shit. It won’t turn on. Sorry.”
Chase said, “I don’t think it’s just you.”
Another giant boom reverberated throughout the hangar. It sounded much closer. The group ducked in unison as the ground rumbled beneath their feet. Through the hangar doors, Chase could see clouds of yellow and black explosions billowing up on the far side of the runway.
Tetsuo said, “My God.”
Chase watched as more smoke plumes rose from the runway and hangars. The sounds of explosions followed a second later. And there was a new sound. The ripping roar of fighter jets overhead.
“Come on.” Tetsuo tapped him on the shoulder, and they cautiously walked out of the hangar. Dark aircraft silhouettes maneuvered thousands of feet above them, yellow tracer rounds shooting out ahead of them. Chase couldn’t see what they were firing at.
He looked around the flight line. Base fire trucks sprayed water on burning buildings. Medical teams raced to help the wounded. But the wounded were everywhere, and the attack had just begun. All around him were chunks of metal, stone, and flesh.
“What is that?”
Chase looked to the north. Flying just a few dozen feet over the rooftops were a pair of large old biplanes — they looked like they were out of an old World War I movie.
“What the hell?”
The aircraft climbed up and turned to parallel the runway. Then tiny black figures began falling out the side of each aircraft, parachutes streaming open as they fell, their white canopies filling with air and then floating down to the ground. Floating down to the grass next to the runway, Chase realized.
“I think those are North Korean soldiers.”
Chase shook his head in disbelief. There couldn’t have been more than thirty of them, most still parachuting slowly to the ground. Chase now had a Sig Sauer P228 in a thigh holster, but he had put the carbine into a locker in the CIA trailer. He was about to tell Tetsuo that they should go get it when he saw movement on the far side of the runway.
The Delta operators were on it. The same three men that Chase had been in China with for the last week. They must have seen the North Korean paratroopers and were now taking up firing positions, two on rooftops and one in a jeep. Chase watched as the North Korean soldiers began going down, one by one.
A group of five North Koreans were running toward one of the base medical teams, who were working on an injured person. The five each hit the pavement within seconds of each other, courtesy of the Delta operators’ quick shooting.
Some of the paratroopers hadn’t even landed before they took rounds in the chest. Chase thought about whether that was an honorable way to kill, but he quickly shook off the thought. These North Korean soldiers had just invaded, and their missiles and artillery were now killing civilians in the area. This was about economics, not honor. They needed to kill as many of the invaders as possible before they could do damage.
The war had begun. And Chase was standing on the front lines.
He looked up and saw a cluster of dark green helicopters — Chinooks — flying north in formation. Those would be the South Korean or US Army helos, executing a preplanned response.
“Chase!” Tetsuo shouted at him as more explosions lit off nearby.
“What?” He could barely hear anything over the ringing in his ears.
“We need to get out of here and get to Natesh,” Tetsuo yelled into his ear. “We need to see if we can get a flight out somewhere. But we’re in a target zone. North Korean rockets and artillery are too close to take off here…”
Chase nodded. He was right. They had to assume that this North Korean attack coincided with Chinese plans. And if China was attacking…
Susan needed them to get to Japan. They had to find Natesh and see if he could provide intelligence on the location of Chinese merchants. Something was on those ships that was going to be a game changer for the Chinese, and they needed to stop it before it happened… if it wasn’t already too late.
They found the young CIA operative who had driven Chase earlier. He waved them to follow, and they jogged around the back of the hangar and got into a Humvee. They drove along the base perimeter and then turned to travel outside the gate.