Overwhelming Force

by Andrew Watts

  “Lena, please remain,” Jinshan said quietly.

  He waited until the others left and then said, “I commend you on your accomplishments. You have succeeded beyond my highest expectations.”

  She smiled. “You honor me with your praise, Chairman Jinshan.” She meant it.

  Lena understood that logically, she should harbor ill will toward Jinshan. The man who had stolen her life away when he had recruited her into the MSS’s program for illegal operatives. This world of black operations and espionage had transformed her into a vicious and violent woman. She knew that he was at least partly responsible for the mental and emotional damage she had suffered over the years. The occasional nightmares. Her inexplicable secret desire to commit violent acts, even when they were unrelated to her work. She had researched both of these symptoms. They were both indicative of a larger psychotic issue—one that was likely the result of her violent and sometimes traumatic work.

  But that same world of espionage was also filled with excitement, fulfillment, and passion. A life of highs unlike anything else. She had been taken as a know-nothing teenage girl and forged into one of China’s greatest weapons. Jinshan was responsible for this growth. In that way, he was more of a father to her than General Chen had ever been. He had molded her into the woman she was today. He was proud of her achievements. The teenager he had recruited was gone. Li Chen had been a scared little girl. But Lena Chou, despite her scars, internal and external, was invincible.

  It was Jinshan who showed signs of mortality.

  “How is your health, Chairman?”

  Jinshan shrugged. “All of us have limited time. I am confident I will remain able-bodied until we achieve our goal.”

  Lena wasn’t so sure, but she let it be. “How may I serve you, then?”

  Jinshan pointed to a digital map on his wall. It showed the Pacific Theater. “I wish you to join us here for the time being, as counselor to the chairman. You shall sit in on our leadership team conferences. Your insight will be a welcome addition.”

  “As you wish.”

  “You have unique insight into the hearts and minds of American intelligence. I wish you to work with the minister of state security. Already we have apprehended many of the American intelligence operatives within China. Soon we will be doing the same in Korea, Japan and any other territories as we expand. Some of the information that comes in will need…” He searched for the right word. “Vetting. I cannot be there to oversee these projects. We will need to evaluate the accuracy of the information we receive from our American agents. The Americans will attempt to deceive us. Your understanding of American intelligence, military, and politicians goes beyond many of our best analysts. Insert yourself into the program. Understand our top-level strategy, and whether the intelligence we receive supports our decisions.”

  Lena nodded. “I am at your service, Chairman.”

  14

  Wisconsin, United States

  Day 5

  “You there! What are you doing?”

  Lin Yu looked wide-eyed at his company sergeant. The chief sergeant second class was as new to combat as Lin Yu, but he was older and had been in the PLA much longer.

  “Sergeant, I was just—”

  “Never mind. Get in the vehicle.”

  The airfield where the Chinese had landed was a flurry of activity. The soldiers were packing up gear, taking down tents, and moving into the tree line, out of sight of any drones or aircraft that might be looking for them. Vans arrived every few minutes, and squads of men would scurry from the trees to get into them. The vans then ferried the Chinese troops away from the airfield. Lin Yu didn’t know where they were going.

  Two months ago, Lin Yu had worked in a small electronics shop in Guangzhou, the third-largest city in China. His job had been to sell bulk orders of secondhand cell phone parts to international manufacturers.

  Then the Chinese president had been assassinated in a treacherous American plot. Lin Yu had read all about it on his social media feed. The Americans were religious zealots. They hated the Chinese because they didn’t believe in their Christian God. Just like the Muslims and other religions. China was a peace-loving country, but it had to protect itself.

  At least, that was what all of the Chinese media news articles said. These ideas were reinforced by the political awareness classes they all took during their two-week military basic training.

  Lin Yu wasn’t sure what to believe.

  His presence here was an abnormality. He was by far the most junior of the group. But he had been selected for a special assignment due to his aptitude and English language skills. Someone in one of the more advanced PLA units had been injured at the last minute, just before the war had begun. Lin Yu had been chosen to replace him.

  The flight across the Pacific had been strange at first, and then frightening. It was the first flight Lin Yu had ever taken. A commercial aircraft had picked them up from a military base. They had sweated while wearing their winter utility uniforms throughout the long flight. Two meals and eight hours of broken sleep later, things took a turn for the worse. The airplane’s lights were purposely shut off. Their windows were shut. Lin Yu and his fellow passengers screamed when the plane began turning and diving wildly. The company sergeant said that someone had fired at them, and that they were over Canada.

  They had landed on a darkened airfield in the middle of the night. Lin Yu and the troops had been offloaded and had begun setting up camp. A few gunshots in the distance had alarmed the men, but the company sergeant had told them that it was nothing to worry about. The company had scored their first kills, you see. Later, Lin Yu had learned that they were American policemen, come to see what was going on at an airfield that was supposed to be abandoned. Lin Yu had seen many American movies. The policemen never seemed like they were bad.

  Lin Yu worked as an administrative assistant for the company operations officer, a young college graduate not much older than Lin Yu himself. The boy put on a brave face, but Lin Yu could tell that he was just as afraid of where they were. Behind enemy lines. In the Operations tent, Lin Yu learned that they were in North Dakota, one of the northernmost territories within the United States. Chinese attacks had successfully knocked out most of the American electrical grid and radars. The operation Lin Yu was a part of had landed almost two thousand PLA troops at the airfield.

  They were met by a team of PLA commandos who had been waiting for them. The troops were sent out in companies and platoons, each unit given a different objective. Lin Yu’s company was moved one hundred kilometers to the south. The men had to sit in the back of a large commercial truck. When they reached their destination, which wasn’t much more than a farm and some trees, they set up their tents and camouflaged them with natural elements. Leaves, branches, pine needles. Lin Yu wasn’t sure if this would matter, but the company sergeant kept barking orders, and the men obeyed.

  They had been in America for five days now. Their company had been hiding here for the last four, waiting for orders. They were supposed to have moved on day one, but there had been a communications problem. Their rations were running low, and it was cold. Lin Yu hadn’t done much other than stand guard duty up near the farmhouse and monitor the periodic radio reports from other PLA units.

  But today was going to be different.

  The company sergeant was smiling when the PLA commando team arrived. Two pickup trucks of Chinese men, each wearing American-made clothing for hunters or hikers. Black semiautomatic rifles slung over their shoulders. Experience and pride in their eyes.

  “These men are the best of the best,” the sergeant had whispered to his platoon. Someone asked him what made them so good. The sergeant replied, “They are the elite. South Sword naval commandos. All of the top missions go to these men. They were here weeks ago. They are killers.” He said it with envy.

  Lin Yu saw the company commander and operations officer greet the elite Chinese special forces team. They led them into the farmhouse and gave them f
ood and a place to sleep.

  After an hour, the company commander called over Lin Yu’s sergeant. Two of the special forces team members were going to be sent out on an assignment with some of Lin Yu’s company. They were to acquire transportation for the company at the nearest town.

  “Lin Yu, you speak good English. You will come with us. We will take the second platoon and go into town.”

  Lin Yu’s sergeant was again smiling. He wanted to kill Americans, Lin Yu knew. He wanted to taste war. Lin Yu wasn’t so sure about how he felt. But he went along, because that was his duty and he was afraid.

  “Yes, Sergeant.”

  They drove in a two-vehicle convoy. A pickup truck with four PLA special forces men, and the trailing sedan, which held Lin Yu, his sergeant, and two other company-mates. Their vehicles bounced along the gravel road that wound through rolling grass hills. A wide-open, clear sky. It was very cold here in America, but the natural beauty was striking compared to the swampy city Lin Yu had grown up in.

  The vehicles left the dirt road and began traveling on a highway. They saw a pickup truck heading the opposite direction, and the passengers in Lin Yu’s car grew tense at the mere sight of it. When they arrived on the outskirts of the small American town, Lin Yu heard the clicks and slaps of his comrades checking their weapons.

  Lin Yu looked around at the faces of the others in the vehicle. He realized that he was the only one who hadn’t been informed of the plan. Seeing his face, Lin Yu’s sergeant said, “You stay in the car. We may need you as an interpreter. We will call for you if that is the case.” Lin Yu nodded nervously, looking at the homes and storefronts as the two-vehicle caravan passed through town. Two old white men, bundled up in winter jackets, sat on the front walkway in front of one of the shops. Lin Yu read the name of the store. Barber Shop.

  They pulled into a large parking lot filled with cars. A car dealership. The Chinese vehicles skidded to a halt and their doors opened. Lin Yu could see an American man looking through one of the glass panels that made up the walls of the central building.

  His eyes went wide as he saw submachine guns being trained on him and realized what was happening. One of the PLA special forces soldiers was signaling him to come outside, but the American was frozen with fear. Two other soldiers ran into the building and dragged him outside. They began yelling and pointing. The man had his elbows bent, hands half-raised. He was shaking his head vigorously, saying something that Lin Yu couldn’t make out.

  A plump black woman was dragged outside next. She just kept her head down, looking at the ground.

  Lin Yu turned his head to the street, looking for any sign of trouble. The town had seemed deserted on their way in. He wondered if there were any military or policemen nearby. But there were only eight of them. They wouldn’t last very long if…

  “Lin Yu! Get out here!”

  “Yes, Sergeant.” He flung open his door and jogged over.

  Another white man was being walked out of the building at gunpoint. Two PLA soldiers behind him. “The rest of the building is clear,” one of the soldiers said in Mandarin.

  The sergeant said, “Lin Yu, tell them we need them to begin unlocking twenty-two of their vehicles, and providing us with the keys. We want four-wheel-drive vehicles and will need them to be fueled up.”

  Lin Yu nodded and translated into English.

  The first man who had been taken outside listened and looked like he understood. He seemed to be the one in charge. He pointed towards the building. “I’ll need to get my codes. They all have locks on the cars. I’ll need to get the codes…”

  Lin Yu explained this to his sergeant, who nodded. Two minutes later, the portly American was fumbling with the lock pad combination on the first vehicle. When the code didn’t work, it made a beeping noise. He looked up. “I think the codes may have changed.”

  Lin Yu said, “What does this mean?”

  “Headquarters might have changed them. They can do that. They must have changed the codes. So I can’t unlock them anymore. The keys are in these little lockboxes. But if my codes don’t work, we can’t get them.”

  Lin Yu translated this to his sergeant, who frowned. “Tell him to try again.”

  Lin Yu relayed the order in English, and they got the same result. The American man was shivering in his button-down shirt, rubbing his hands together to keep warm. He said, “It’s still not working. There’s nothing I can do.” Lin Yu translated this to his sergeant.

  In the distance, a police siren began to wail.

  One of the special forces soldiers came over. “What’s the problem?” The sergeant explained. The special forces soldier called over the other two Americans. He raised his rifle and shot the black woman in the chest. The man next to her howled and began to rush them. The soldier fired two more shots into the approaching man and he went down. His head imploded.

  Lin Yu felt bile coming up and turned away, trying to catch his breath. When he looked up again, he saw that the American man who had been claiming the locks wouldn’t work had wet his pants. His fingers shaking, he typed in the code on the lock and it opened, revealing a key fob. The special forces soldier took it and unlocked the vehicle, checking that it would start without problem. He then checked the fuel and said, “This one is good. Twenty-one more.”

  Moments later, a single American police cruiser appeared on the lot. The Chinese special forces troops had been listening to the siren get closer, and they were ready. Two of the soldiers were positioned in an L-shape, ready to ambush the police. They fired into the police cruiser from less than ten meters away. As soon as the vehicle came onto the property, its windows were filled with bullet holes. Then they moved quickly through the wreckage, ensuring their targets were killed, and looking for any valuable communications equipment or weapons.

  Fifteen minutes later, the Chinese had twenty-five vehicles fueled up and ready to go. They sent three of the vehicles with one driver each back to the PLA company campsite. They returned with a total of twenty men. Enough to drive all of the cars.

  Lin Yu’s sergeant shot the American man in the back of the head before they departed. The sight haunted Lin Yu as he sat in his sergeant’s passenger seat on the way back to the company camp. The sergeant didn’t say a word.

  The company operations officer called Lin Yu into the farmhouse when they returned to help him mark up some of the paper charts before they left. As he worked, Lin Yu overheard the company commander, the operations officer, and the special forces team leader discussing what lay ahead.

  “…we will move out within the hour…”

  “…will the explosive ordnance experts be there when we arrive?”

  “Yes, sir. Those teams have been pre-positioned and told what to expect.”

  “And we won’t get any further aerial reinforcements? Is that what you are hearing?”

  “That is correct, sir. We were able to deploy a single regiment. The other planes were not able to make it.”

  “What happened to them? Never mind. It doesn’t matter. The Americans will be recovering from the EMP attacks. We must move quickly.”

  “Will the South Sword Team accompany us south?”

  “For now.”

  Lin Yu finished rolling up the charts as the PLA special forces men left the farmhouse. Twenty minutes later, his entire company had stowed their gear in their recently acquired American vehicles and were headed south on the highway.

  Lin Yu gazed out the window as they drove through the vast countryside. He tried to imagine a day where he could enjoy this beauty without seeing the faces of those he had just helped to kill.

  15

  San Diego, California

  Chase landed at Naval Air Station North Island at just after 1300 local time. They had a short layover in Honolulu, but Chase wasn’t allowed off the airport. He had gone into the FBO building and listened to people talk about the EMP attacks and the war. But accurate news and information were hard to come by. Everything was gossip. Now back
on mainland USA, Chase wondered what he would find.

  The government jet taxied up to base ops, where it came to a stop and shut down. The ladder was lowered, and two escorts awaited. One for the diplomats, the other for him.

  “Chase Manning?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Name’s Pat. Hop in.” Pat wore a desert nylon shirt with no name tags or patches, save an American flag on his shoulder.

  Chase threw his bag in the back and sat in the passenger seat of a blue government sedan. Pat drove them off the flight line at base ops towards the buildings where the SEAL teams were located.

  Chase said, “You know where they’re putting me?”

  “You’ll be with SEAL Team Five. We leave tonight.”

  “For where?”

  Pat looked over at him. “The Midwest. That’s all we know so far.”

  “For what?”

  “Hunting.”

  Chase was puzzled but figured that when he needed to know more, they’d tell him. Pat turned out to be a chief. He’d been with the Teams for nearly fifteen years. Deployed to both Afghanistan and Iraq more times than Chase. He seemed like a decent guy.

  They entered the building Chase recognized from the early days of his training. He’d been stationed mostly on the East Coast, so he hadn’t seen Coronado much after BUD/S. The culture was slightly different on each team. But they were all very tight crews. Hardened eyes studied him as he entered the unit’s spaces.

  “You can have this locker. Jake over there will get you geared up. The CO wants to see you now.”

  Chase dropped his bag in the locker room. He nodded politely to the other members of the team on his way out.

  “Guy smells like officer. You an officer, man?”

  Chase said, “Guilty.”

  “Great. Just what we need around here, another fucking officer.”