He wasn’t a destructive person by nature. In fact, everyone always told him that his biggest flaw was that he was ‘too nice.’ Whatever that meant.
But not today.
Today he was an only child. Yesterday, he had a younger sister, who was in the hospital in his home town of Algona, Iowa. She had been on life support, having survived a car crash two days before. The doctors had saved her life, but just barely, and she had been hanging on by only the slimmest of margins.
Then the Chinese cut the power throughout the United States.
Of course, the hospital had an emergency generator that should have come on to provide power to patients on life support. Unfortunately, the last time that it was tested, someone had failed to turn it back off, and it had continued to run until it exhausted its fuel supply. When the power failed the day before, there was a period of 30 minutes where the hospital was without power while the staff diagnosed the problem, and then someone went to get gas for the generator. During that time, his sister died.
They wanted to attack without warning? He would do the same.
He smiled at his handiwork. He had just taken control of the Xiaolangdi Dam, the biggest dam on the Yellow River, and had locked open all of its spillways. He had read somewhere that there were millions of people that lived along the banks of the Yellow River. He hoped they could swim. “No,” he thought with a scowl as he closed his laptop and went to pay his bill. “I hope they can’t swim.”
He was so distracted, he didn’t leave a tip.
PLAN LHD Long, Pier D, Naval Base Kitsap, WA, 1245 PDT
“WHERE ARE MY NUCLEAR WEAPONS?” roared Admiral Zhao Na, the Chinese fleet commander. “How did this happen?” He looked around the conference table of his briefing room onboard the PLAN Long.
“That is unknown at this time,” said Lieutenant Commander Lin Gang, the Air Operations Officer for the Long. “When our helicopters got to the university grounds, all that they could see was that the previous helicopters we sent were all on the ground burning. All of the army guards had either been killed or had disappeared, and the nuclear warheads were gone. The marines that were with them couldn’t find any indications of how they had been removed. All they could determine was that there had been a big battle, our side had lost, and some unknown group had taken the nuclear weapons.”
“Apparently, there is an armed group within our perimeter. Advise Colonel Zhang Wei of this fact and see what his plan is to hunt down this group and destroy them.” Colonel Zhang, the Special Forces Regimental Commander, was in charge of the land war and all of the ground forces. Admiral Zhao looked at Captain Chan Ming, the Commanding Officer of the Long. “Make sure we raise the alert level with the marines ashore. If there are enough armed Americans running around to destroy six helicopters and a platoon of soldiers, our marines need to be on guard.”
“Yes, sir,” Captain Chan said. “It will be done.”
Admiral Zhao looked back to Lieutenant Commander Lin. “Since the army has so carelessly lost our nuclear weapons, we will need more. Put together an assault package to go and retrieve another six from the storage facility.”
Lieutenant Commander Lin nodded. “Aye, aye, sir.”
Cyberspace, 1300 PDT
The cyber war waged on, unknown and unseen by most, except where it spilled into people’s everyday lives. The electricity went out, came back on, and then went out again. The internet and phone service were similarly up and down, as were many other commercial and governmental services. Most civilians never knew why these things happened; they just assumed that there was a downed line or some other reason for the outage, and that the systems would be operational again shortly, like they always had been.
Hackers as a group are generally proud and somewhat egotistical. The hackers in both the United States and its allies did not take well to Chinese hackers taking down their power grids and their internet sites. No one told them not to, so they fought back, and warfare was no longer just the province of uniformed soldiers.
Hackers both in and out of uniform fought across cyberspace. The allied hackers made inroads into Chinese society, turning off their power grids and opening up their dam spillways, flooding the Chinese countryside. Chinese civilian hackers also joined the fray. In a country with over a billion people, China had as many honor students as the U.S. had students. It also had many excellent hackers that had been operating under quasi-governmental approval for a long time, and it wasn’t long before systems were failing planet-wide. No society was safe from the battles in cyberspace. People living in the wilds of Alaska or the jungles of the Amazon might not have noticed the cyber war, but it touched everyone else’s lives.
Banks and stock markets world-wide took down their own sites, rather than lose them to hackers. Before they could do so, several servers were completely wiped and had to be rebuilt from back-ups.
No one will ever know how many people were killed in the man-made disasters of March 20, 2018; the intentional flooding of the Yellow River alone killed tens of thousands of indigent people living along its banks. When the devastation was made known, it was so horrific that the person or people responsible never took the credit (or blame, for they would likely have been tried for war crimes) for the attack. Never again would society be ‘safe’ from the perils of war.
Snoqualmie National Forest, WA, 1300 PDT
Calvin and Ryan had borrowed one of the Ranger’s cars to make the trip out to Ryan’s cabin to get more explosives. In addition to rifle ammunition, Ryan’s armory had been depleted of both hand grenades and grenades for the M203 grenade launchers, but there was still a large supply of C4 explosive and the equipment necessary to detonate it. Ryan thought they would need it to deal with the missile launchers, in order to give them a little more ‘permanent’ damage. As Ryan was the expert on ‘killing people and breaking things,’ Calvin chose to defer to his experience and went back with him to get the explosives.
The drive to the cabin was uneventful. They took the back roads that they had used earlier in the morning and made it back to where Ryan always left his jeep (before it was destroyed), and then walked into the woods to his cabin. Although it was only a mile and a half to the cabin, there was a lot of up and down, which made it take a little longer.
Ryan slowed as the cabin came into sight. The note that he’d left on the door was gone. The windows were open and he could hear the sounds of voices through them. Not only were the voices calm and relaxed, he realized they were speaking English. If this was a Chinese ambush, they had planned it well. As they approached the cabin, Calvin stopped. In a whisper, he said, “The note’s gone from the door.”
Ryan laughed. “Yeah, and if they wanted us dead, they’d have shot us when we cleared the tree line. They’re watching us through the windows right now.” He laughed again. “Nice situational awareness.”
“Sor-ry!” said Calvin, who had been lost in thought. “I was thinking big thoughts. I count on you for the tactical stuff.”
The door opened, and six men came out. “Hey, Senior Chief! What’s going on? Where the hell have you been? Bad guys have taken Seattle and Tacoma. Go do that SEAL thing and take it back for us, would ya?” Their camaraderie and esprit de corps were welcome after what had already been a long and eventful day.
Ryan introduced Calvin to his friends from the 160th SOAR, and then he filled them in on the platoon’s activities and what they had learned about the Chinese invasion. The aviators weren’t able to add much intel; they hadn’t been able to get onto the base or find out anything else that the navy men didn’t already know. They were, however, excited to hear about Ryan’s promotion and looked forward to the ceremony formalizing his new rank. They expected Ryan to throw a party and, with five years of back pay to support it, they expected it to be epic.
Although they were happy for Ryan, it was also evident that they were frustrated. To this point, the army aviators had only been watchers in the battles taking place in their country; they were anxious
to get into the fight. Unfortunately for them, just like Calvin, they were hampered by a distinct lack of aircraft.
That was about to change, though, and Calvin gave them the good news. “I spoke with the CNO on the way here, and he asked what help we could use. I told him that it would be really convenient to have about a squadron of helicopters and a couple of divisions of soldiers. He said he had talked with the Chiefs of Staff of the Army and Air Force. While it’s going to take a little longer to get all the men into place, the Chief of Staff of the Army said that he was hoping to have six Blackhawks and six Little Bird helicopters here by late this afternoon. He is going to have KC-130 tankers lead them here, so they don’t have to stop. They will stay low behind the mountains as they approach and will top off their fuel before they arrive. They’re going to land at Lower Garfield Mountain Lake, just down the mountain from here. The pilots are going to be spent by the time they get here and don’t know these mountains like you do. They are just ferrying the helos out here for your use. They’ll be fully loaded on arrival and ready to go. Think you can find another 18 pilots to man them?”
Calvin was unprepared for the overwhelmingly affirmative response. The aviators really wanted into the game. “Good. If things go the way I think they’re going to go, we’ll need them tonight or tomorrow at the latest.”
While the aviators tried to track down more assistance, Calvin and Ryan quickly picked up the supplies they needed. They said some quick good-byes and were on their way. The walk back to the car was also uneventful…until they reached the crest of the final hill. Looking down toward the road, they could see a squad of Chinese soldiers, three of which were looking at the car they had driven there.
“Well, this is going to complicate things,” Ryan said.
“Yeah,” Calvin agreed, “no shit.”
Ryan and Calvin moved back over the crest of the hill so that they could watch the Chinese soldiers without being seen. “Damn,” said Ryan, “it looks like they found our footprints.” The ones looking at the footprints signaled to the others, who came over to where they were.
“That’s going to complicate things, too, right?” asked Calvin.
“Yeah,” said Ryan. “I would have hidden it better if I’d have known they were going to come up this far. I didn’t think we were going to be here long and cut some corners so we could get back faster. Looks like we’re going to pay for it now.”
They looked back over the hill. The Chinese soldiers seemed to be massing as they looked up the hill toward where the men were hiding. Ryan unslung the rifle from his back and took the covers off his scope. “I’m going to see about evening up the odds,” he said. He slid forward on his stomach and pointed the rifle downhill. He paused, looking through the scope. Calvin watched as he stopped moving, and his breath slowed. Ryan’s finger began to move as he slowly pulled the trigger. Calvin held his breath, and then ‘BLAM,’ Ryan’s rifle fired. Ryan fired twice more in quick succession and then jumped backward with a curse as the sounds of return fire came from the other side of the hill. “Damn, that kid is good,” he said. Calvin could see blood starting to well up on Ryan’s cheek.
“You’re hit!” Calvin exclaimed.
“Yeah, I think a piece of rock or a fragment of the bullet hitting the rock in front of me got me,” said the SEAL. “If this had been the bullet, I’d be dead.” He wiped off the blood. “I think I got their lieutenant and their platoon sergeant, but then their sniper almost got me.”
“You shot their lieutenant?” Calvin asked.
“You bet,” said Ryan. “The way he was gesturing, they were organizing for a patrol, probably to come looking for us. All things considered, I’d rather not have them looking for my cabin. The odds of them actually finding it are pretty small, unless they have some world-class trackers, but I figured it was easier to distract them than to count on that.” He grinned. “Besides, I have a problem with officers and authority, remember?”
“I’m trying to keep that in mind,” Calvin returned.
Ryan moved a few feet over and then took a quick look over the hill. Rifle fire greeted him. “C’mon, we gotta go,” he said. “There’s what’s left of a squad of really angry soldiers coming this way, and I think it’s time we should be leaving.”
“OK,” said Calvin, bowing to Ryan’s experience, “what do you want me to do?”
Ryan pointed to the left. “You go that way. Go about 100 steps and then kick a branch and say “shit” or something. Then run like hell for five minutes. I’ll hunt them down from behind. Go!”
Calvin went down the back side of the hill to the left, counting as he went, while Ryan went around to the right. As Calvin got to “100,” he looked back, just in time to see the first Chinese soldier coming over the hill. Realizing nothing needed to be said as their eyes met, Calvin jumped like a surprised deer and took off running into the woods. The soldier fired once, missing him by inches. Calvin heard the bullet smack into a tree next to him and tried to run faster. Giving a cry, the soldier sprinted after him, with the other seven members of the squad in pursuit.
Ryan waited until they were all committed in the opposite direction and then fired, hitting the last man in the shoulder. He went down hard. Most of the others dove to one side or the other. One man continued straight after Calvin; the next bullet hit him in the spine, dropping him like a marionette with its strings cut. The squad was down to six. While two men pursued Calvin, the other four took cover and began returning fire at Ryan. In a couple of seconds, three round bursts were striking the trees near him, far too close for his liking. Using a large tree for cover, he ran straight away from the soldiers, reloading the rifle as he went. When he was out of sight, he crossed over the crest, circling around to the left, hoping to catch them in the flank.
Ryan slowed down so that he could move more stealthily. When he deemed that he had passed where the soldiers were, he slithered on his stomach up to the crest of the hill. He could see two of the soldiers walking away from him. The furthest of the two looked to his right and said something; there must be a third one over there, Ryan thought. Hopefully, the fourth one was even further over that way. Quietly, the SEAL took aim at the soldier on the left. The soldier stopped, scanning the woods for Ryan. Master Chief put the crosshairs on his heart and fired. He was close enough that there was no drop in the bullet’s flight; the Chinese soldier dropped, already dead. Ryan quickly adjusted his aim to the right.
The second soldier hadn’t heard where the shot came from. He tried using a tree for cover, but his silhouette was still visible. Ryan shot him in the head, and the Chinese soldier fell to the ground.
Switching his aim again, Ryan saw a flash of movement from the third soldier but couldn’t find him looking through the scope. Finally, the SEAL saw the soldier. Either that or a tree had grown something that looked very much like a leg. Through the scope, Ryan could see the Chinese soldier’s leg from the knee down. Aiming at the shin, Ryan fired, striking the bone and shattering it. The soldier fell to the ground, screaming. Ryan focused on the soldier, looking for a killing shot. Just as he was about to fire, he heard a small ‘snap’ behind him as a branch broke. Forgetting the shot instantly, he pushed himself off the ground and dove to the right.
The Chinese soldier sneaking up on him saw him move and fired, and Ryan’s side felt like it had been lit on fire as the bullet grazed his ribs. Ryan dove to the right a second time as the soldier fired again, this time missing him. Ryan turned the dive into a roll and came up into a crouch behind a large tree. He faked as if he were going to continue out from behind the tree to the right, and the Chinese soldier holding the rifle fired, emptying his clip into the air. Ryan popped back out to the left side of the tree with his knife held high in his right hand and threw it with all his might. The Chinese soldier watched as the knife spun toward him, and time slowed down for him. In horror, he watched as the knife completed its final spin and buried itself in his chest. He sank to the ground, his life draining quickly out
of him. Ryan saw it was the Chinese sniper. Fuck, that guy was good, he thought, looking down at his ribs. Ryan’s side burned. The sniper may not have been quite good enough, but he had been way too close for his comfort. Ryan wiped off his knife, picked up his gear, and went off in search of Calvin.
At that moment, Calvin was in trouble. Not in the best shape, he couldn’t run any further. He pumped his legs hard as he made it up a small hill. A bullet whined past his ear, and he threw himself down on the other side, his chest heaving. He hurriedly spun himself around and looked back over the hill, just in time to see the Chinese soldier coming after him start up it. Aiming hastily, he fired, and the Chinese soldier went down. Calvin reveled at his great shot until the soldier jumped back up and threw himself behind a large rock, apparently unharmed. Calvin watched through his scope, looking for a shot. He saw a flash here, then a flash there, but the soldier didn’t show himself enough for Calvin to get a shot at him. Sliding back until he was out of sight, Calvin rose in a crouch and ran about 100 feet along the crest, before sliding back up to the top of the hill. He had moved far enough, he saw, as he looked through the scope; he now had a view of the unsuspecting soldier behind the rock.
Calvin put the crosshairs on the soldier’s head. As he started to pull the trigger, he paused. He had never killed anyone before. Even earlier, when he had shot at the Chinese, they had been shooting back at him. That seemed like combat; this seemed like murder. He thought about his friends in the air wing being shot down by the Chinese without warning and realized that he needed to do this and do it quickly, so that he could go back and destroy the HQ-19 missile system. Sighing slightly, he fired. Not a combat soldier, he hadn’t allowed for the drop of the bullet. Instead of hitting the soldier in the head, it hit him in the chest. The round expanded when it hit him, ripping out half his lung as it exited his body. He fell to the ground, dying; Calvin had killed him. Calvin felt like he wanted to vomit and rolled onto his back. As he opened his eyes, he looked up to see a Chinese assault rifle pointing into his face from about six inches away. The barrel seemed larger than anything he had ever seen in his life.
Occupied Seattle (Occupied Seattle Book 2) Page 7
