Brown, Dale - Patrick McLanahan 06 (49 page)

 
          
“Headbanger,
this is
James Daniel
on fleet common
tactical one. Suggest you clear the area and head east. Stay out of this area.
We are responding to inbound bandits at this time. Clear this frequency.”

 
          
“Second
flight of bandits, low altitude, eleven o’clock, forty-eight miles,” Atkins
reported. “I’ve counted eight inbounds so far in two formations. There’s
probably more. I need another radar sweep.”

 
          
“JD,
this is Headbanger. You have at least eight inbounds on an antiship missile
attack profile, and we’ve got more than twice that number after us,” McLanahan
said. “Let’s make a deal—you get the fighters, we’ll take the attack planes.
Deal?”

           
There was an excruciatingly long
pause; then a different voice responded: “Okay, Headbanger, it’s a deal. This
is the TAO on the JD. Stay north of us, and we’ll keep your tail clear.”

 
          
“Copy
that, JD,” McLanahan said with relief. “Give us your search and track bands to
avoid.”

 
          
“Stop
buzzer on India-three through Juliet-ten to keep our scopes clear,” the tactical
action officer on the
James Daniel
replied. “You’re clear to jam all other freqs—and I hope you’re not a bad guy,
or else we’ve just screwed ourselves. You got a wingman?”

 
          
“Affirm,”
McLanahan said. “He’ll be coming in from the north.” “Keep him north. Good
hunting.”

 
          
“Center
up on the heading bug, heading three-zero-five to intercept,” Atkins called
out.

 
          
In
the meantime, Nancy Cheshire was on the secure satellite frequency to
Headbanger Two: “Two, this is lead, how copy?”

 
          
“Loud
and clear, Nance,” Colonel Kelvin Carter responded from the second EB-52
Megafortress.

 
          
“Authenticate
echo-echo.”

 
          
“Poppa.”

 
          
“Loud
and clear,” Cheshire said. “Stand by.”

 
          
“I
got ’em,” McLanahan said. He centered his cursor on the trailing formation of
Chinese fighters, the ones closest to Carter. As he did so, the information
from his attack computers was being shared with the second Megafortress, which
meant Carter’s crew did not even have to activate its attack radar. “Two, this
lead, there’s your bandits.”

 
          
“Tied
on radar,” Major Alicia Kellerman, the OSO on Headbanger Two, replied. “I show
you’ve only got two Scorpions remaining, lead. Maybe you better bug out.”

 
          
“Let’s
see what kind of havoc we can cause first,” McLanahan replied.

 
          
“Have
fun. Two’s in hot.”

 
          
It
took only the last two of Atkins’s Scorpion missiles to break up the first
formation. The formation consisted of eight Q-5 Nanchang fighter- bombers,
copies of the Soviet Sukhoi-17 fighter-bomber, armed with four AS-10
electro-optical attack missiles each. The fighters broke up into four groups of
two, spread apart and in trail by several miles—Atkins merely locked up the two
lead formations. The Q-5 fighter, with variable- geometry wings, was fast and
agile, but the AS-10 missile had a maximum range of only six miles and required
the pilot to acquire the target using the TV sensor on the missile itself.
Atkins jammed the Q-5’s mapping radar, which meant the Chinese pilots had to
climb so they could visually acquire the two Navy frigates—and that made them sitting
ducks for Atkins and his Scorpion missiles. Both missiles hit dead on target,
destroying two Q-5s, and their wingmen promptly did a one-eighty and headed for
home.

 
          
“Pilot,
mil power, heading two-zero-zero,” Atkins ordered. “I’ve got two formations of
two still inbound. They split up, but we know who they’re going after—they
gotta converge soon. We gotta be there ahead of them.” The Megafortress banked
hard in response, speeding southward toward the two Navy frigates. “Okay, I’ve
got the closest bandits at our seven o’clock, ten miles—they’re only a few
miles from their launch points. Stand by for Stinger launch. Give me a hard
turn to one-five- zero.”

 
          
As
Elliott threw the Megafortress into a hard left turn, Atkins activated the
tail-mounted Stinger self-defense rockets, locked up the formation of Q-5
bombers to the west, and began laying down a string of Stinger airmines in the
path of the Q-5 fighters. The airmines exploded far ahead of the
fighter-bombers, probably too far to be seen, but Atkins was hoping that he
might catch one or both of the fighters with the large cloud of flak pellets
generated by the exploding rockets. When the Megafortress was just a few miles
from the northernmost formation, Atkins shouted, “Hard right, heading two-five-oh!”
and as the bomber turned, Atkins started pumping out rockets in front of the
second formation.

 
          
This
time, they were closer to the Chinese fighters—one direct hit. The pilot of the
single-engine Q-5 fighter, his engine shelled out by hundreds of steel pellets
from the Stinger rockets, bailed out seconds before his Q-5 fighter exploded
when the engine tore itself apart. His wingman stayed on the attack run and
launched all four of his AS-10 missiles, copies of the American-made Maverick
attack missiles, at the
James Daniel.
The Chinese pilot locked all four missiles on target, then started a hard right
turn away from the frigate—directly into the lethal attack cone of the
Megafortress’s Stinger tail cannon. At least six of the Megafortress’s Stinger
rockets hit home, shredding the Q-5’s canopy, engine, forward fuselage—and
pilot.

 
          
“JD,
this is Headbanger One, one fighter launched on you!”

           
McLanahan shouted on the satellite
fleet common frequency. “We show four inbounds!” But the warning came too late.
The frigates Phalanx close-in weapon system, a 30-millimeter radar-guided
Gatling gun, destroyed two of the AS-10 missiles that had auto-locked onto the
frigate, but the other two hit home. Their forty-pound high-explosive warheads
struck the helicopter hangar and the forecastle. The nearly one-inch-thick
Kevlar armor around the command spaces protected the bridge and forecastle, but
the other missile destroyed the
]ames
Daniel's
starboard- side helicopter hangar, the
15
-millimeter gun, and the amidships Mk 92 fire-control radar
antenna, and an explosion in one of the starboard Mk 32 anti-submarine torpedo
tubes created a fire and extensive damage.

 
          
Fully
loaded and hungry for vengeance, Kelvin Carter and his crew aboard Headbanger
Two attacked the second large formation of Chinese attackers from maximum
range. The second formation of Chinese aircraft was four H-6 bombers, copies of
the thirty-year-old Soviet Tupolev- 16 Badger heavy bomber; each bomber carried
two huge Hai Ying-4 Sea Eagle anti-ship missiles. Two H-6 bombers were hit by
Scorpion missiles and were forced to break off their attacks, but the other two
got within range of the Navy frigates, fired their cruise missiles, and turned
for home. Carter’s crew launched their last six Scorpion missiles at the Sea
Eagle missiles, destroying two of them. The
Duncan
managed to destroy one with its 76-millimeter gun and damage the last one with
its Phalanx close-in weapon system, but even damaged, the three-quarter-ton
cruise missile devastated the
Duncan.
The missile hit the aft starboard quarter, tearing a huge hole in the stern.

 
          
It
took several more minutes for Atkins and McLanahan both to declare the area
secure. At least eight Taiwanese F-16 and F
-5
fighters were nearby, patrolling the airspace from sea level to forty thousand
feet. “JD, this is Headbanger, how copy?” McLanahan called.

 
          
“Loud
and clear,” the
James Daniel's
tactical action officer responded. “We show clear to the north. The Taiwan air
force showed up and kicked ass to the south.”

 
          
“What’s
your status?”

 
          
“We
both got hit pretty bad,” the TAO reported. “We’re still under way, but fires
up on deck are still not under control.
Duncan
is heavily damaged—we’re setting up to receive survivors. She probably won’t
make it.”

 
          
“Crap,”
McLanahan cursed aloud. “JD, Headbanger One is going to clear off north and hit
the tanker. Headbanger Two will stay on station, in case the PLAN shows up.
We’ll be rotating our coverage as long as you need us. We’re fully anti-ship
capable. We’ll still need the Taiwan Air Force in the area to help with antiair
coverage.”

 
          
“Copy,
Headbanger,” the TAO replied. “We sure would appreciate all the help we can
get. I sure as hell won’t bad-mouth you zoomies anymore.”

 
          
“Sorry
we couldn’t be more help,” McLanahan said. “We’ll be watching your backside.
Headbanger One clear.”

THE PRESIDENT’S STUDY, WHITE
HOUSE OVAL OFFICE,
WASHINGTON
,
D.C.

WEDNESDAY, 18 JUNE, 2151
HOURS ET

 
          
It
was right there, on a CNN “Breaking News Special Report”—live video of a
sinking Chinese ferry, about twenty miles from Quemoy Island. Again and again,
CNN also replayed the videotape that had been turned over to them at their
Beijing bureau by the Chinese government—a video showing two missiles slamming
into the ferry, the explosions, the fire ... CNN was also showing videotape of
a similar attack on the Chinese aircraft carrier
Mao Zedong,
during Reunification Day celebrations. First they
showed the fireworks, the children, the flags, the awestruck civilians on
tour—and then they showed the devastation just seconds after torpedoes from an
unknown attacker slammed into the carrier. The videotape clearly showed the
damage, showed the injured and dead civilians . . .

 
          
.
.. and it showed what caused all that death and destruction, a captured
Taiwanese attack submarine, forced to the surface, captured, then sunk by
Chinese shore- and carrier-based naval forces.

 
          
“My
God,” someone muttered. “This is the most incredible tape I’ve ever seen. We’ve
got to respond right away.”

 
          
“The
first damn thing I want everyone to do is to
calm down,”
the President of the United States, Kevin Martindale,
said as he swiveled uncomfortably in his chair. The members of his staff and
the military representatives were on their feet watching the TV monitors in
absolute shock and horror. “I’m not taking any more phone calls from the media
for the rest of the evening, especially from CNN. I don’t care if Jane Fonda
herself calls asking for more information.” With the President in his study
adjacent to the Oval Office was Philip Freeman, the President’s National
Security Advisor; Robert Plank, Director of Central Intelligence; and chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral George Balboa, representing the uniformed
services.

 
          
Entering
last and standing beside and slightly behind the President was his chief of
staff, Jerrod Hale. “Secretaries Chastain and Hartman are not available,” Hale
told the President. “The Vice President and Mr. Ricardo are en route, ETA ten
minutes.”

 
          
“I
need to talk to Jeffrey and Arthur ASAP,” the President told Hale. Turning to
his assembled advisors, the President began, “Phil, get us started.”

 
          
“Yes,
sir,” Freeman said, opening a red-jacketed folder with the words “TOP SECRET”
emblazened on the cover. “About an hour ago, approximately seven p.m. Washington
time, eight a.m. Hong Kong time, several very unusual and deadly events
occurred in the Formosa Strait region almost simultaneously. We’re seeing the
press reports of what happened, but I have the preliminary field reports, and
they paint a much different picture.

 
          
“First,
several missiles were fired at two U.S. Navy frigates operating near Quemoy
Island,” Freeman said. “One frigate, a Naval Reserve Fleet ship named the
Duncan,
was hit by two torpedoes and
slightly damaged. The EB-52 Megafortress was in the vicinity at the time of the
attack, and the crew reported that it detected the missile launch and
pinpointed the ship that launched the missiles. Without permission, the
Megafortress attacked.”