Dancing with the Dragon (2002) (18 page)

"Interesting," Scott said. "Where are the ships?"

"The Kapitan Zhirnovsky is in Los Angeles and the Chen Ziyang is docked in Long Beach."

Scott wrote a note. "When are they scheduled to sail?" "According to the voyage itineraries, both ships are departing tomorrow--within an hour of each other."

"Do you know their destinations?"

Hartwell nodded and read the itineraries. "Chen Ziyangis going to Papeete and the Kapitan Zhirnovsky is bound for Rarotonga."

Jackie raised an eyebrow. "If my calculations are right, that would place them on a course near the carrier."

"That's why we're watching them very closely. We can't prove that Beijing is getting classified information, but it seems too coincidental that the ships are scheduled to leave the day we plan to conduct flight operations near the carrier."

Scott and Jackie eyed each other.

"Well, duty calls." Hartwell rose, signaling the end of the brief. "Sorry to rush, but I have a full day ahead. I'll see you in Miramar tomorrow afternoon for a complete update before you launch."

"Yes, sir," Scott said, and shook hands.

He and Jackie gathered their notes and retraced their route to the forward exit of the VIP aircraft.

The SEAL squad waited until Jackie and Scott boarded the Lear, then climbed into the jet and secured the door.

Now in the left seat, Jackie started the engines while Scott listened to the ATIS and contacted clearance delivery. They watched Prost's air force transport taxi for takeoff while Scott copied and read back their instrument clearance to Miramar.

After Scott received permission from DEN ground control, Jackie added power to taxi the Learjet from Signature Flight Support to the active runway. As she maneuvered the airplane onto the taxiway, Master Chief Slocum looked out the window and did a double take.

"Stop the plane," Slocum shouted as he sprang toward the door. "Stop the friggin' plane, now!"

Jackie immediately applied the brakes while Scott swung around to face the frowning SEAL leader. Slocum tossed Dalton a compact submachine gun and turned back to the window.

"Skipper, we got us a big-time problem."

"What's up?"

Scott quickly climbed out of the cockpit.

"Lookit." Slocum was aggressively pointing to the window. "See that pearl-colored van over there?"

"Yes."

"The same van was at the other airport, and the side door has been removed from that bugger."

Scott studied the suspicious van for a few seconds. "Yeah, something doesn't look right--it's out of place."

"Oh, shit!" Slocum barked, reaching for the door. "Let's go! Move it! Move out! Go-go-go!"

Following Slocum, the SEAL squad vaulted out of the airplane and sprawled on the taxiway. A Ford Econoline van rapidly accelerated toward the tail of the stopped Learjet.

Scott turned to Jackie. "Get the plane out of here! Go--firewall it!"

"Get out," she shouted. Fueled by a sense of danger, Jackie shoved the throttles forward. "Jump!"

Scott leapt out of the plane and dropped to a prone position on the hot taxiway. The searing jet blast almost lifted Dalton and the SEAL squad off the ground as they scrambled to take their positions.

As the van rapidly gained speed, a man who was braced against the seat by the door opened fire with an automatic weapon. The SEALs and Scott poured a steady stream of fire into the front of the van, shattering the windshield and headlights, and riddling the hood and engine compartment. Dense black smoke poured out of the engine. The van continued to accelerate toward the SEALs and the tail of the taxiing Learjet.

"Move out," Slocum yelled at the top of his lungs.

Scott and one of the SEALs jumped to their feet and ran toward the right side of the taxiway, while Slocum and the other two SEALS ran to the left. They continued to pour fire into the van. The man in the open door went limp, dropped his weapon, and then fell out headfirst.

"Got him," someone yelled above the earsplitting clamor of gunfire.

Scott and the SEALs stopped shooting as the van passed between the opposing fire teams, then they opened up again. The van swerved to the right, then back to the left. Although the windows of the van were blown out and the vehicle was trailing thick black smoke, it was still accelerating.

Horrified to see the van catching the Learjet, Scott took careful aim and squeezed off three rounds at the back of the driver's head.

The van swerved to the left side of the taxiway, abruptly lurched to the right, missed the tail of the jet by inches, then departed the taxiway and flipped over on its left side. Less than two seconds later, the demolished van exploded in a huge, thunderous fireball that shot a hundred feet into the air.

Slocum and Dalton raced toward the burning van. The SEALs quickly checked the immediate area for other threats.

"Lear November Niner-Six-Zero Bravo Lima," the tower controller said, "you can slow down--you can stop now--it's over."

"Sixty Bravo Lima." Jackie's voice was two octaves higher than normal. "What the hell is going on?" she asked, bringing the Learjet to a smooth stop in the middle of the taxiway.

"Perhaps you can tell us, ma'am," the controller said in a flat, stiff voice. "We're rolling the emergency equipment at this time."

Jackie keyed the radio and paused. "Sixty Bravo Lima, request permission to shut down here."

"That would be just fine with us--perfect."

"Bravo Lima."

Slocum ran toward the van while Scott covered him.

"I'll be a sonuvabitch!" Slocum cautiously approached the burning vehicle and noticed some of the spilled contents. "This was a damn four-wheeled Molotov cocktail, big time."

"I noticed." Dalton slowed to a walk when he heard sirens in the distance. "A suicide bomber."

"This friggin' thing is plum full of gas cans." Slocum kicked one of the burning containers out of the way. "This here was your basic rolling bomb--a thousand-pounder with wheels."

Feeling the intense heat from the blazing van, Scott stopped to catch his breath. He turned to the SEAL leader. "From all the black smoke, it looked more like a Scud missile."

A slight smile crossed Slocum's rugged face. "Well, this here Scudmobile ain't gonna be makin' no more trips under its own power."

The other SEALs, one of whom had a minor flesh wound, ran to the burning hulk and surrounded Slocum while he checked the van more closely. A few seconds later, the SEAL leader approached Scott.

"The dead gunner looks to be Chinese," he announced, jerking a thumb in the direction of the van. "The other guy ain't gonna be recognizable."

Dalton nodded as the crash trucks raced toward the burning van. "That's a sure bet."

"I don't know who it is you're messin' with, but you may need more than half a SEAL squad."

"Well, I don't have any complaints," Scott said firmly. "You guys are incredible, no doubt about it."

Scott turned and ran toward Jackie, meeting her halfway to the Learjet.

"What a mess," she said loudly as a crash truck thundered past. "Thank God for the SEALs."

"Yeah, no kidding." Scott watched a crowd gather near the burning van. "Is the plane okay?"

"Not a scratch."

"Good. In case you're wondering, this was the work of Zheng Yen-Tsung and his Chinese thugs."

"The thought had crossed my mind," she said, catching her breath. "Do you think either one of them was Zheng?"

"I don't know, but I do know this: They sat right there and watched us meet with the president's national security adviser."

Jackie observed the crash crew. "If Chief Slocum is right, they were at Centennial earlier."

"And they didn't have the maneuvering room to ram us." Jackie shook her head. "How did they know we were going to be at Centennial, or here, for that matter?"

"I think I know, but we'll discuss it later."

"Yeah, this isn't the time or place."

Scott watched the crash crew quickly douse the raging fire. "We'd better get on the sat phone, or we could find ourselves stranded in the middle of an FBI-FAA power grab."

"Since you've already talked with Mr. Ebersole, why don't you contact the FBI, and I'll call Hartwell--he needs to keep this out of the headlines."

"You got it."

Jackie glanced at the Learjet. "My phone is in the cockpit."

"Here they come." Scott watched the stunned airport security officials approach them. "I'll bet they don't see too many heavily armed SEAL squads around here."

"Well, we've made their day." With her hands on her hips, Jackie cast a look at the security personnel. "It might be a good time to use our FBI credentials."

"Yeah, that thought occurred to me about the time the van exploded."

Chapter
13.

CIA Headquarters, Langley, Virginia

Located on the sixth floor of the building, the Global Response Center resembled a modern military command post complete with video monitors and high-tech workstations. The antiterrorism center was buzzing with a different kind of activity. Within hours, warnings had been triggered by agents in Panama, Cuba, North Korea, China, and by spy satellites monitoring North Korea, Taiwan, the South China Sea, and the eastern half of China.

The amount of intelligence collection and counterintelligence investigations had increased dramatically since the Islamic radicals destroyed the World Trade Center, damaged the Pentagon, and crashed an airliner in Pennsylvania. China alone was having sixteen territorial disputes with ten different countries. The Middle East was bubbling again and Russia was having an internal hemorrhage.

Secure phones rang as dedicated analysts studied spacecraft photographs of activity at the Chinese-controlled entrances to the Panama Canal. After the giveaway of one of America's most strategic footholds, China, the remaining communist superpower, was now the gatekeeper of the canal. Other specialists monitored a continuous flow of highly classified information about Chinese activities in Cuba.

Computer screens flashed warnings and dispatches as more information surfaced about a forward deployment of Chinese and North Korean forces, suggesting possible attacks on Taiwan and South Korea.

The president of Taiwan had again set off a huge uproar by insisting that Beijing have a dialogue with Taiwan on a state-to-state basis and not as part of China. The Taiwanese president went on to say that China was playing the terror card and that Taipei would not be intimidated.

Beijing's fighting words raised deep concerns in Washington. The South China Morning Post of Hong Kong reported President Liu Fan-ding's warning to Taiwan that the Chinese people would spill their blood and lives to maintain the motherland's territory and sovereignty. The Chinese president had gone on to threaten drastic measures if Taiwan continued to defy Beijing.

The sudden destabilization in Southeast Asia had an adverse effect on stock markets around the world. The markets took a big dive when President Liu Fan-ding threatened to use missiles to virtually close Taiwan's military airfields, civilian airports, shipping ports, power plants, and waterworks.

Shortly after that announcement Liu Fan-ding used blackmail by threatening to launch medium-range missiles to strike the countries that hosted America's forward-deployed bases.

President Macklin had dispatched his secretary of state, Brett Shannon, to have a face-to-face meeting with Liu Fan-ding in Beijing. In the meantime, Macklin and senior members of the State Department had implored the Taiwanese president to offer room for concessions, but he steadfastly refused to back away from his comment.

Macklin promptly dispatched a top State Department envoy and members of his staff to meet with senior Taiwanese government officials to discuss the crisis. The message from the White House was clear and straightforward: Resolve the issue before Taiwan is blown back to the Neolithic Age.

In Beijing a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said that Taiwan was taking extremely dangerous steps and that China was prepared to use deadly force. The ruling Chinese Communist Party's flagship newspaper, People's Daily, warned Taipei and the Taiwanese people that a formal declaration of independence would automatically provoke a military attack.

The newspaper went on to say that the president of Taiwan was doomed to failure, and those who followed him should realize they were heading into a blind alley from which there would be no escape.

The China Youth Daily published a front-page report on exercises by the People's Liberation Army in the northern waters of the Taiwan Strait. Another front-page article warned Washington against interfering in China's internal affairs.

Using vitriolic language, Beijing warned the United States and her allies not to interfere in the Taiwan-China dispute. In Washington, the State Department was put on notice by Beijing that America was playing with fire, and any intervention by the U. S. in Chinese-Taiwanese relations would be considered an act of war.

With the Western Pacific unguarded by an aircraft carrier, tensions were mounting at the Pentagon and the White House.