The Hundred Gram Mission (9 page)

"Suyin, you are a girl. You should not hit people."

"Why not? Boys can hit!"

"They shouldn’t, either. But it is very bad for girls to hit. It is not what a lady does."

"I don’t want to be a lady! I want to be a General, like Daddy!"

"Go and stand in the naughty corner."

2046, Hainan Island, Yulin Naval Base

"Move! Move!"

The night-clubbers were stunned like deer in the APC’s headlights.

"Get out of the way, idiots!"

Slinky black dresses scattered off the street. The column of ZBL-11s
[xvi]
roared by, rattling forgotten drinks on outdoor tables. The stunned streets were lined with gold watches and designer evening wear. Purses and arms were clutched. People dialed stupidly, congesting the networks. Police sirens replaced booming Mandopop. A honking fire engine stormed after the APCs, firemen on squawking military radios.

Captain Suyin Lee, People’s Liberation Army, unbuttoned the hatch and looked out.

Outside, silence had broken out in the Yalong Bay resort district. Some hotels were blacked out, perhaps by choice or panicking city controllers. Erupting smoke and drawing helicopter fireflies, was the Sanya Hilton. Its fires burst windows, showering firemen. Were there nerve agents? She checked the seal on her gas mask.

Overhead, the air boomed twice.

"What was that?" asked someone from inside the APC.

"Supersonic booms. Must be J-15s from the
Liaoning
."
[xvii]

The hatch next to her opened and a soldier climbed up.

"Here," he broke a honeydew-flavored power bar in half. "Energy boost."

They ate as they drove past a burning shop. A black mass had caved its roof in, metal shrapnel crunched under the APC’s treads.

"Must have been a dud," said the soldier. He had the stripes of a Lieutenant.

She shook her head, "It was shot from orbit.  Laser satellites will aim for the warhead."

"Pity it didn’t save the Hilton."

"It’s not programmed to. The cruise missile must have been on a bad trajectory, anyway. The satellite wouldn’t have wasted the shot on it."

"What the hell were they thinking?"

"That a pre-emptive attack on a carrier group and a submarine pen, was their only chance. It was. They failed."

"Latest on Battlefield Control is that a Type 052E has come under attack near the Paracel Islands, but it’s holding its own."

"I’d expect that from a drone carrier. They should have focused their cruise missile attacks on it. The
Liaoning
is practically a floating museum."

"A floating museum they had a better chance at sinking. And one that we’re about to go aboard."

A few minutes later they hit a snarl of honking trucks and swearing transports. They dismounted and jogged the rest of the way to the naval base.

"That’s everyone, Captain!"

The lieutenant had to shout over the rotors of the Z-15
[xviii]
helicopters. Unfriendly loudspeakers made announcements across the base. Logistics crews ran carrying hoses from fuel trucks, while pilots opened panels and checked instruments. A ship’s horn sounded as a destroyer began pushing away from its dock. A Chinese flag flapped angrily.

"Good!" she yelled back. "I’ll see you aboard!"

He saluted, then turned and climbed aboard his helicopter. It lifted up and away.

A Dong Feng pattern Humvee pulled up, and a soldier with white gloves stepped out. He saluted Suyin, and handed her a folded printout.

"What’s this?"

"New orders, Madam."

"My unit is already leaving."

"This is just for you, Madam."

"What?"

"Colonel’s orders."

She pulled open a door and climbed into the Humvee, "hurry up, I have a war to fight."

"Colonel Chen, I don’t understand these orders. My men could be in Hanoi tomorrow, and I need to be there with them."

The middle-aged dress uniform looked across his desk at the standing woman in the battle fatigues. Her helmet was tucked under arm. Slung round her neck was an assault rifle.

He cleared his throat.

"Captain Lee, your orders are very clear. You are being transferred to Chengdu without your unit. There you will be on standby, until further notice."

"Am I being punished? Whose orders are these?"

"Why, General Lee of course, your father."

She cursed. Like a man.

He gave her a hard look. "You may be under the wing of powerful party members, but you will not conduct yourself like a peasant soldier in my presence."

"I’m sorry Sir."

"You can leave now."

"Sir," she put her hand down on the table, "There has to be something you can do. You are in command here. They have to respect the decision of the officer on the ground."

Something snapped.

"Listen,
Captain
. Your Daddy gave you and your brother some toy soldiers to play with, but yours now have to go and fight - and probably die. Your Daddy knows you can’t get married if you get shot in your pretty face, and that’s that."

"No Sir, I can't accept that."

He glared, eyes popping out and rolling on his desk. "You can't
accept
that? It's not what
you
accept, that matters. You are a woman officer in the PLA!"

"What does
that
mean? I earned my rank!"

"Your father earned your rank! And it means you
follow orders!
"

They stare-battled.

"There is a flight to Chengdu in two hours. Make sure you are on it, and off my base."

Indonesia, Central Kalimantan, 2051

"You call this Chrysanthemum tea?" she looked down at her cup and made a face. "No wonder terrorists are trying to kill us."

Rain poured down on the parked ZBL-11 armored carriers. Men in camouflage and body armor walked between them. A pair of ponchos and bandannas jogged off into the jungle. German sniper rifles with oversized power packs were on their backs.

Seated operators with headsets crammed the armored command vehicle. Ruggedized screens streamed street, air, and infrared views of a large house. Standing in the middle was a tall woman with her hair in a bun.

"Lieutenant Colonel, we’re getting a transmission from orbit," the operator turned and said to her.

"Put it through," she said.

"Tiger Command, this is Yaogan 211. How copy, over?"

"Solid copy Yaogan. Go ahead."

"Support request received, I shall be above the AO in three minutes. However, I am still charging my capacitors. Laser support will not available for another twenty minutes, over."

"I don’t need them all, or at full power, 211. How quickly can you get me a couple of head shots? Just something that will cook someone’s brains, over."

"Understood. Partial recharge in two minutes, over."

"Excellent. Command out." 

She looked to another operator. "Update from the drone carrier?"

"The UAVs have arrived, and are orbiting the target, Ma’am. A Z-15 Medevac is leaving the
Wenzhou
, now."

"Just now? It’s true then, the imbeciles are all in the Navy."

She stepped to a street view screen. In it, policemen were arguing with tuk tuk drivers and motorcyclists. Behind them, soldiers in PLA green, laid razor wire across the road.

"Tiger Three, report."

"Three, reporting. We’ve started cellular jamming and the road block is in place. The local police are telling people it’s a toxic leak from a Chinese tanker."

"Good work. Do the locals believe them?"

"Even the police believe it."

She looked over to a different screen, showing the outside of the house. A stray cat glared at the camera before leaving, ass in the air. Beside the display was a set of ECG tracings. All normal.

"Tiger One, report."

"All quiet here, Lieutenant Colonel. We have the entrance and Tiger Two has the rear.  We’re ready to make forced entry on your command."

"Standby, Chief Sergeant. We wait till Tiger Four gets here," she turned to a controller. "Where are my special forces operators now?"

"Southwest Falcons ETA is eighteen minutes. Plus or minus, they say."

"
Plus or minus?
"

"I diverted a UAV to take a look. A water buffalo herd is crossing further up, traffic is at a standstill."

"Where are the Americans now?"

"They’ve deplaned, and some are on their way here. Ma’am, their ETA is less than ten minutes."

"Fucking great."

"Shall I just ask Tiger Three to keep them out, till the operation is done? The Americans can’t have a problem with that."

"No," she shook her head. "You can never be sure with Americans, everything seems to offend them. Tiger One, this is Command."

"I copy."

"I’m coming over. Make room for one more."

"Yes Madam."

The operators all turned and looked at her.

"Are you not waiting for the Southwest Falcons?" asked one.

She slammed a clip into her pistol. "I
am
a Southwest Falcon."

Hua Tse, aerospace engineer, taikonaut, and National Games fencing medalist, had pissed himself. He sat bound to a chair, blindfolded. The morning before, the Laughing Man with the bamboo had come to beat them. Hua’s ribs spiked with pain, every time he breathed.  It was good that they were being beaten, said Xi Sheng. It meant they were going to keep them alive.

Then they came back for Xi Sheng. They removed his bonds and even his blindfold. "We are releasing you today," they told him. "See, I told you," the senior engineer told Hua. "We are too valuable. The government will negotiate for us. It’s going to be alright. I will call your mother and let her know you are alright."

Minutes later, he heard Xi Sheng screaming. It stopped suddenly and loud cheering followed.

Hours passed. No one brought food or water. The tropical morning heat made the room an oven.

He heard the key turning and the heavy door opening.

"We are releasing you now," said a voice. It was the Laughing Man’s. 

They dragged him out into the courtyard. The high sun beat down like Judgment. Blindfold off, he could finally look about his prison. The walls were mud and plaster with flaking white paint.  Solar panels lined the coconut leaf, thatched roofing. A small satellite dish was mounted on a teak pillar. Wires ran from it to the twin-lens camera set up before him.  Behind him was a black flag stretched out on a plywood frame. Masked men with assault rifles stood before it.

In front of him was a sawn-off log with a machete beside it.

"No!" he tried to back away, two guards seized him by his arms. "Don’t do this, you’re making a mistake!"

The man at the camera looked up and nodded to the guards. They dragged him to the log and forced him to his knees. Another person walked up, and picked up the machete.

A pulse of white light flooded the courtyard. There was a bang like a point blank gun shot. Scalding liquid sprayed him. Hua cried out, his eyes shut tightly. They felt like hot knives had lanced through them, into his brain. The guards let go of him, people were yelling. The air was suddenly hot, dry, and smelling of burned meat.

He opened his stinging eyes. On the ground before him was a burning body, machete fused into one hand. The head was gone – shredded meat clung to the walls. The camera and its gaping user were red with spatter.

"Emergency action protocol, target eliminated," Yaogan 211 was tinny in her helmet comms. "Capacitors recharging."

"Go!"

The charges blew, and the front door vaporized.

Seven body armors rose and stormed through the doorway. Red lasers cut through the smoke, QCW assault guns
[xix]
appeared at their ends. Instrument-crammed helmets looked about, like the giant heads of black insects.

Two men were on the floor, their assault rifles still slung. One wheezed blood, and looked up.

Suyin Lee shot him through the face.

"Clear!" she waved the rest of them forward.

They kicked down the door and entered the second room. It was a kitchen. Women in headscarves had been washing plates and stirring curries, now they were screaming.

"Hands on your head! Hands on your head!" one of the soldiers waved his gun. "Get on the ground, now!"

A younger woman grabbed a knife and rushed at him.