Dancing with the Dragon (2002) (45 page)

The Situation Room

The president drummed his fingers on the conference table while General Bancroft updated him on the inbound ballistic missiles. When CINCNORAD paused to talk to his deputy commander, Cord Macklin looked at his advisers.

"Four in all, two headed for Alaska and two tracking toward Hawaii."

"What about the time?" Hartwell Prost asked.

The president glanced at his wristwatch. "As of now, approximately twenty-nine minutes to Hawaii--less to Alaska. Warnings have gone out to all military commands in the targeted areas and to the appropriate civilian authorities."

General Chalmers was on another phone talking to the senior officer at the secret experimental missile defense site in Alaska, and to his colleague on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Chalmers cupped the phone in his hand and turned toward Macklin. "They're ready--going to do the best they can with what they have."

The president looked at Pete Adair and Les Chalmers. "Our response needs to be equal but measured--even if these are nukes."

Aleutian Islands, Alaska

The scientist and engineers, both military and civilian, were working at a feverish pace at the national missile defense test site. They had two exoatmospheric kill vehicles ready to launch, but they wouldn't have time to ready a third interceptor.

On Kwajalein Atoll they had only one EKV ready for immediate launch. It would be aimed at the first East Wind en route to Hawaii.

The kill vehicles were quickly launched and the nerve-racking waiting games began. As the technicians proclaimed, the challenge was akin to hitting a bullet with a bullet.

Guided by experimental radar units and space-based sensors, the EKVs zeroed in on their prey. Once free of its booster rocket, the ungainly-looking 120-pound assortment of thrusters, star-sighting telescopes, mirrors, antennae, liquid propellant tanks, and batteries closed on the enemy ICBMs at incredible speeds.

The men and women at the test sites prayed as they watched the clock and monitored the EKVs. The control rooms were totally silent. The gravity of the situation had sunk in.

The scene was the same at NORAD and at the White House. The waiting was painful and the results weren't guaranteed. With only a limited missile defense system in place, they all knew at least one ICBM would penetrate the barrier and reach the Hawaiian Islands.

Hawaii

The residents of the island chain were extremely fortunate. The EKV interceptor launched from the Kwajalein test site shattered the first ICBM into a million fragments. The second East Wind missile, which developed a minor malfunction in the inertial guidance system, flew directly over Honolulu and exploded in the Kaiwi Channel between the islands of Oahu and Molokai.

The tremendous explosion created an intense light flash, a sudden wave of superheated air, and an earsplitting roar. The shock wave echoed across the water and slammed into the southeastern side of Oahu and the western side of Molokai. A ball of fire rose rapidly, followed by a huge mushroom cloud that billowed to more than sixty thousand feet. The trade winds carried most of the fallout away from the islands.

The horrendous explosion boiled the ocean water for a radius of nine hundred yards, created a ten-foot tidal wave, and vaporized or heavily damaged several private boats, killing sixty-three people and injuring more than two hundred others in the area. Although the aftereffects were minimal compared to what could have happened had the nuclear missile landed in the middle of Honolulu, the message was clear; Hawaii had dodged a major disaster.

Anchorage, Alaska

The leading DF-31 survived a close encounter with the first kill vehicle, but the second EKV destroyed the trailing East Wind ICBM. Aimed at Elmendorf Air Force Base, the home for the Eleventh Air Force, 3d Wing, and other commands, the first missile impacted ninety miles north of Elmendorf near the Talkeetna Ranger Station.

Miraculously, due to faulty engineering, the nuclear warhead did not detonate, but the powerful blast killed two rangers and seventeen tourists who were on a nature-hike camping trip. It also destroyed the ranger station and started a fire that would take two days to extinguish.

Chapter
31.

The Situation Room

President Macklin placed the phone receiver down and propped his head in the palms of his hands. Everyone in the room was aware of the two kills and the two payload impacts. Even though the missiles weren't as accurate as the experts had thought they would be, and one of the warheads had not detonated, the threat was real. China had nukes that could easily reach Hawaii and Alaska. It was time for a decision.

The president raised his head. "When you consider the potential for disaster, we were damn lucky this time. I'm reconsidering our response."

He looked at Adair. "What's the smart thing to do?"

"Mr. President, if we don't respond forcefully to Beijing, they'll use us as a punching bag. We'll be their new test range. Worse yet, North Korea may decide to attack South Korea if we don't show our resolve."

"Hartwell, what's your thinking about our next move?"

Prost shrugged his shoulders. "If we don't do something to stun them into submission, we could soon have nuclear-tipped DF-5s raining down across the mainland."

"The DF-5 is an old, liquid-fueled missile," Adair said. "How reliable could it be?"

Hartwell was trying to be patient. "Accuracy is apparently not China's forte--range is. The East Wind has an approximate range of five thousand miles, but the DF-5 can travel more than seven thousand five hundred miles. How accurate do you have to be when you're terrorizing your opponent in his own backyard?"

"We have to try diplomacy first," Macklin said. "If we don't have any success, I'll warn them that Beijing will go next--if they launch another attack--then Shanghai, et cetera."

The president frowned. "Sometimes, as history sadly reminds us, you have to get people's attention the hard way."

Silence filled the room as everyone contemplated the enormous havoc and destruction the atomic bombs had caused at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945.

Prost turned to the president. "In the meantime, we had better get every Aegis-equipped ship we have along the West Coast, Alaska, and Hawaii."

Chalmers nodded in agreement. "And we had better have as many kill vehicles as we can muster standing by in Alaska and Kwajalein."

With Lieutenant General Wentworth minding the store, General Bancroft had managed to slip away for some food, a shower, and a nap. Both men were determined to remain at their posts until the crisis was over. They were privy to the White House plan to retaliate if China fired another intercontinental ballistic missile at the United States.

Feeling refreshed, the Canadian general returned to relieve his deputy commander. "Any news?"

"Not yet. You know, if this situation gets out of control, we could set off a global free-for-all that could kill hundreds of millions of people."

"Or worse," Bancroft added. "With nukes flying in every direction, the planet might not be habitable when it's over."

"We may have to flatten Beijing to get their attention," Wentworth said. "Trouble is, Russia might jump in and do something stupid--then we're all cooked."

"That's the risk . . . and it's real."

The Oval Office

It was early morning, and President Macklin was so angry he could barely contain his rage. After all the hard work by the State Department and scores of people on both sides of the issue, China and the United States were again locked in a standoff.

Liu Fan-ding had unexpectedly issued an ultimatum to the president of the United States. The Panama Canal had to be returned to Panamanian control in the next three hours or China would launch more nuclear missiles at American cities.

"That sonuvabitch," Macklin said through clenched teeth. He turned to his secretary of state. "Brett, I want it made graphically clear to everyone in the Chinese loop--especially Liu. The canal will not be returned to Chinese control, and, if they launch nukes at us, they will rue the day."

"Yes, sir," Brett Shannon said, fatigued from lack of sleep.

Macklin's hand shook as he picked up his coffee cup. "We may take some damage, but their cities--their country--will be flattened like a pancake. Make damn sure they understand that."

"I will, Mr. President."

Macklin turned to General Chalmers. "Les, are you confident if we have to use our Triad?"

"Yes, sir, very much so."

The chairman of the joint chiefs looked directly into the eyes of his longtime friend. "This clash we had over the Taiwan Strait, and the situation that prevails right now, has caused North Korea to go back into their bunkers."

"Good. They better damn well stay there--or they'll be next."

The Pentagon

The Joint Chiefs of Staff had gathered and more people were pouring into the building. The official word was quickly spreading. The news of the Chinese president's demands--some called it a case of blackmail--had been leaked to the mainstream media, and the big-name news anchors were rushing to their studios.

At the White House, President Macklin was preparing to leave on Marine One to travel to Andrews Air Force Base and board the E-4B National Airborne Operations Center.

The State Department had sent North Korea a stern warning not to become involved in the situation or they would suffer dire consequences.

NORAD was briefed for the worst, and America's nuclear deterrent Triad, including land-, sea-, and air-based systems, was primed. The most powerful strike force on the earth awaited the president's order.

The Learjet

Scott carefully adjusted the power to climb over some mountains that rose to more than eight thousand feet. "Jackie, you may want to try Hartwell again."

"For sure--we're getting closer to the coast." She tried and still could not maintain a signal. "I'm going to try the one in back." "Yeah, we have to get something going."

She stepped into the cabin, picked up the Honeywell multichannel satcom terminal, and placed a phone call to Prost at his office. Hartwell was greatly relieved to hear from Jackie, and he was very excited about the hard drives. He didn't have any comment about the tragic fate of Dr. Richard Cheung.

Hartwell then gave her a quick overview of the situation with China. Three minutes into the lively conversation, Jackie put the satellite phone down and went to the cockpit to check their position on the GPS. "I caught him just before he was headed to Andrews."

"Good."

She wrote the coordinates on a piece of paper and went back to the phone. Jackie quickly copied the information and gave Hartwell their aircraft satcom identity.

Passing south of Shangtang, Scott began a gradual climb to weave through the mountains in the distance.

When Jackie returned to the cockpit, she sat down and looked at the rising terrain. "The clash with the Chinese has taken on a new twist."

"What now?"

She filled him in on the ICBMs.

"That's crazy."

"I agree, and things aren't looking very promising." She closed her eyes and leaned her head back. "But it looks like we have an option--if we have enough fuel to get there."

"Well, out with it."

Jackie opened her eyes. "He's extremely happy that we're alive and that we have the hard drives--he couldn't believe it."

"What did he say about Dr. Cheung?"

"Nothing--not a word."

"What about a carrier?"

"The Kitty Hawk, after the crew finishes recovering aircraft, will be on its way to a rendezvous with us. I have their current position and they have ours. It looks like we should be overhead the carrier when they're approximately seventy miles north-northeast of Taipei."

Scott reached for a chart. "We're going to be cutting it mighty close. Is there anything closer--another carrier or a ship we could ditch beside?"

"No, the Kitty Hawk is our only option in the next couple of hours--if we can stretch the fuel that far."

"Well," Scott said, calculating the fuel burn, "we still have to make our way to the coast without being shot down."

"They're sending fighters to escort us from Songcheng." "Songcheng?"

"It's on the coast just north of our route." Jackie checked the fuel. "We'll be in contact with a Hawkeye--call sign Liberty Bell--in about forty-five minutes."

"That's good news."

"Yeah, but they don't want me to use the radio--a female voice could set off alarms."

"Makes sense. What's our call sign?"

"Kilo Hotel Zero One."

"Kitty Hawk?"

She nodded. "We're the number-one priority at the moment--actually, the hard drives are number one."

The satcom in the back chimed. Jackie stepped into the cabin and sat down. After a brief conversation with Hartwell, she entered the cockpit. "Not good news."

"What?"

"The seas are very heavy and they--the skipper of the carrier and the admiral--recommend that you not ditch the plane. They know you're a tailhooker and they want to 'barricade' you."