by Andrew Watts
Curious eyes snuck quick glances among the hundreds who stood silently at attention, eager ears waiting to see how the normally restrained Lena would respond.
Lena said, “This is not an awards ceremony, General. Quite the opposite.”
He approached her, standing below the platform, suddenly aware that close to a thousand well-trained Chinese Special Forces troops stood very close to him. His voice grew much quieter. “Well, then, what is this?”
By sunrise, Chase’s team was joined up with the others under Captain Calhoun’s unit.
“We probably didn’t need the drone diversion.”
Calhoun cursed. “Sorry. I was worried about that. But I figured it was better to stick to the plan. We couldn’t see shit up here.”
“What’s been going on since we left?”
“The sky’s cleared up, as you can see. They had a repair crew working on the runway, patching it up. And they moved the drone wreckage over to one of those hangars. The Chinese have been inspecting it all morning. Your girl is with them. The one you said is important.”
Chase said, “When did she arrive?”
“Early this morning. Take a look. I have to admit, I was not expecting this…ceremony. I thought they would have a search party out for us by now.”
“Ceremony?” Chase looked through his scope. “Damn. They must have a thousand men there. What the hell are they doing formed up like that? Why aren’t they coming after us?”
Several companies stood at attention in front of a small stage. Lena and a Chinese officer stood on the stage, facing the men. Then a couple of jeeps rolled up and came to a halt right next to the stage.
“Who’s that guy?”
“It’s the Ecuadorian general,” one of the Marines on the recon team answered. “He’s been in and out of the base several times since the Chinese have been here.”
The Ecuadorian general stood very close to Lena. Neither looked happy. The general crossed his arms, a smug look on his face. Lena turned and began to address the men in formation.
Chase wished he could hear what she was saying.
Lena stood with her fingers touching while she spoke, as if she was in prayer. Her voice was strong and carried well over the windless morning.
“Last night, a military special operations team infiltrated our base. They stole something very important. They then set off an explosion on the runway and made their escape.”
Lena watched their faces as she spoke. The Chinese soldiers were stoic. The Ecuadorians and the young Chinese Junxun recruits were squinting and fidgeting in the morning sun.
The Ecuadorian general looked surprised at her words. Perhaps this was the first time he was hearing all the details. Well, it was too late for him now.
Lena continued, “If we are to accomplish our mission here, there can be no mistakes like this again. The time for training is nearing an end. As many of you Leishen must suspect, you would not all have been sent here if this were only a simple training exercise. So what is it, then? Why are we here? And who has infiltrated our base?”
She pointed at the drone wreckage, laid out on a sheet like a crime scene. “That is an American drone. They attacked your brothers in arms. Just as the Americans attack peaceful nations all over the world.”
She looked at their faces as they listened. The general was quiet now. Confused, but listening.
Lena said, “China has been oppressed by the West for too long. The Americans cripple us through unfair trade, leaving our families poor and helpless. They invade countries in the name of national security, all the while making their own nation rich by stealing natural resources. The Americans encroach on our territorial boundaries in the South China Sea and fail to recognize all of our territory. They promote religions of hatred. They worship violence and materialism. They demonize our Chinese society that only wishes to bring peace and equality to all of its citizens.
“But China will stand for this no more.
“You soldiers are here because China is seizing its destiny as a great global power. You men have become the instrument of this great evolution in our national expansion. You are our warriors. Our pride. You are the sword that will bring peace to the world, and make China the dominant global force.”
The Chinese commandos didn’t move. They just took it all in. Lena could see the pride in their eyes, though. Every soldier…every man… liked hearing that he was important. That he was special. Elite. Destined for greatness.
Napoleon was right. It was amazing how much one would go through to earn a little piece of ribbon on their chest. Pride was a powerful tool in the commander’s toolbox.
So too, however, was fear.
Lena looked at the Ecuadorian general. “Unfortunately, there is not yet the appropriate level of professional attention being paid to our daily duties. Let what happened last night serve as a reminder. Training is over. From now on, everyone here should consider us at war. Conduct yourselves appropriately.”
The Ecuadorian general stared at her, confused. She said, “General, I asked you a few days ago to show me your perimeter security posts. You declined. You said that you did not have time.”
He gulped. “I…” He kept shaking his head. Gone was the machismo.
Lena knew that a few thoughts were making their way through his inferior brain. He was wondering if he had misjudged what level of authority Lena held. He was asking himself to reevaluate why the Chinese needed so many troops here on this base. And he was beginning to feel afraid of what this tall, scarred Asian woman who stood before him might do.
“General, this morning your president—the president of Ecuador—pledged allegiance to our cause. In doing so, he promised that Ecuadorian armed forces would serve under the oversight of Chinese military. You should now consider yourself under my command. So I ask you, why were your base security measures so lax? Why did you fail us last night?”
The general’s face reddened. He didn’t speak.
“What’s the matter, General? I will give you all the time you want to answer.”
He cleared his throat, gathering his courage. Looking back and forth between Lena and the rows of Chinese commandos. Some of their eyes were no longer looking straight ahead, but at him.
The general said, “You are not in charge. I am the general. You are—”
She marched off the platform and slapped him, open-handed, across the face.
He brought his hand up to his cheek, staring back at her in disbelief. Then anger came. He raised his right hand and, in the slowest windup Lena could ever recall witnessing, attempted to strike her face.
It was child’s play for her. She stepped to her right and with both hands grabbed his right bicep and the upper left section of his uniform. She gripped, twisted, and turned forward, using his momentum against him. The overweight general was flipped over onto his back, landing faceup on the pavement.
He lay gasping for breath on the ground.
Lena looked up at the Chinese colonel. “Sidearm, please” was all she said.
The colonel’s eyes widened, but he complied. His fingers fumbled around at the holster, but then he handed her the weapon.
Lena said, loud enough for everyone to hear, “General, you have chosen to reject the authority of China, and of your own president. As the senior representative of the Chinese government on this base, I hereby find you guilty of treason.”
At the sight of Lena holding a handgun to the general’s forehead, the Ecuadorian staff began to object. But Lena was too quick.
A single gunshot rang out.
The Ecuadorians’ mouths opened. Blood drained from a single hole in the general’s forehead.
She then turned to the Ecuadorian staff. “Who’s the next in command?”
Two of them actually pointed at the other. She looked at one of them and smiled. “Excellent. Congratulations on your promotion. A warning. Don’t let this happen again. Now, your government has pledged that your men will report to us. We can confirm with th
em on the phone later today. But from now on, your men will report up through the Chinese base commander. Is that understood?”
The scared Ecuadorian officer nodded quickly.
“Good.”
She turned to the Chinese base commander. “Colonel, if you could please see to it that none of our new Ecuadorian conscripts have second thoughts.”
He nodded, still in shock that she had just executed the Ecuadorian general.
Lena turned to the lieutenant colonel in charge of the Leishen Commandos. “Give me two platoons of your men. We have some hunting to do.”
“Good God.”
Chase took his eye away from the spotter scope and looked down at the dirt. His breathing was heavy. Who was this woman? She was a monster. How could this be the same person he’d been with in Dubai?
As Chase watched her, she handed her sidearm back to the Chinese officer, turned from the group she was with and began walking with a thin, brown-skinned man.
Chase searched his memory for the name. Natesh Chaudry. That had to be the American consultant David had worked with on the Red Cell island. The one who was working with Lena and Jinshan.
The pair walked over to the adjacent hangar, where a different group of Chinese soldiers were rolling some type of covered platform out onto the flight line. They threw off the tarp cover, revealing several dozen machines spread out across a flat white surface.
“What are those?” asked Calhoun.
They looked like giant metal spiders. Or…
“They’re drones,” said Chase.
One of the soldiers next to Lena typed on a laptop computer. All twelve quadcopter drones rose in unison, hovering twenty feet above the pavement. Each of the quadcopters had several round protrusions underneath. Chase had received briefs on these things. They were the newest iteration of weaponized drones. Small quadcopters, controlled by ground troops. They could be used to hold a variety of items. Cameras. Sensors. Bombs.
The drones spread out and began heading toward their mountain.
“Oh shit.”
Chase said, “I don’t know what kind of sensors those things have, but if they start looking around over here, they could find us pretty quick.”
Captain Calhoun called out, “Alright, folks, let’s get a move on. We’re heading to the extraction LZ right now.” The Marines leapt up from their positions and began moving.
Chase kept watching through his scope. They were rolling out a second drone platform, lining it up next to the first.
The last thing Chase saw before he high-tailed it out of there was the second set of drones taking off.
Lena stood fifty meters behind the drones, but she paid them no attention. She was looking through a set of binoculars. They were pointed up into the jungle-covered hills, where Chase and his team were located.
16
The drone swarm buzzed overhead, sounding like giant wasps. Chase hoped that the canopy of rainforest might provide some cover. The noise made the group tense.
The Marines were spread out in a column about fifty yards long, half-walking, half-jogging. The men in the front cut through the vines and thick jungle brush with machetes every few feet.
They came upon a muddy road. The first few Marines hunched down on either side, only a few feet into the vegetation. They used hand signals to cross. Quick and quiet. The sun was still high overhead. The mist had cleared away.
But always, that buzzing noise. The drones were up there. Watching.
Captain Calhoun said, “Gunny, how we doing?”
Gunnery Sergeant Dalby tapped the Marine next to him and they both stopped. Darby spread out the map on the second Marine’s back.
“Sir, we have about another hour, and we should be at the LZ.”
“Alright, I’m gonna make the call.”
Darby nodded.
Chase was staying quiet, keeping up while carrying the heavy pack that contained the crypto key.
Calhoun took out his radio and extended the antennae. He typed in a preplanned code. The two US Army H-60s were spinning on a small grass landing strip just over the Colombian border. The Blackhawks were part of the Army’s First Battalion, 228th Aviation Regiment. They were part of Joint Task Force Bravo, out of Central America. General Schwartz had requested two of their aircraft to participate in this highly classified mission.
The crew chief in the lead H-60 had been waiting for the Marine Raider radio signal, notifying them to head to the extraction zone. Within one minute of receiving the notification, they were flying to the landing zone at one hundred and twenty knots. The crew chief also sent a signal back, indicating that they were on the way.
Calhoun heard the reply in his earpiece. He then removed the earpiece and tucked the radio back into his pack. “We’re good. The Blackhawks should be at the LZ in about nine zero mikes.”
They were all breathing heavy. Chase was covered in dirt and grime from crawling through the woods for the past few days. Sweat soaked through his camouflage utilities. He took a swig of water from his CamelBak as he walked.
Chase said, “These drones sound like they’re sticking over us, right?”
Darby said, “Sounds like it.”
“We just need to make it to the LZ,” Calhoun said.
They reached the grass cutout, and the Marines stayed hidden in the trees and brush. The landing zone was only about the size of a large backyard in the suburbs. Barely enough room for the Army helicopter to land, Chase thought.
“How much time?”
Calhoun looked at his watch. “About ten more minutes.”
Chase took out his own map. The LZ wasn’t marked, but he had memorized where it was. The nearest road was about one mile to the east. There was another road about five miles to the west, along the coastline.
Unless the Chinese had access to helicopters of their own, they would have to use the roads to get to them. And they hadn’t seen any helos on the Manta base.
The Marines simply had too great of a head start from their initial position on the hill outside Manta. He tried to reassure himself that they were going to get out of here unscathed.
Chase checked his watch again. The bird should be here any moment. Chase could still hear the damn buzzing overhead, but couldn’t see any sign of drones when he looked up.
Gunnery Sergeant Darby knelt down near Chase. “If the drone had eyes on us and you were the Chinese commander, what would you do?”
Chase thought about it. “I’d first want to make sure that we didn’t escape.”
“Right. Which means you’d want to deny air coverage and roads, right?”
“Yeah.”
The familiar whomp whomp whomp sound could be heard in the distance. It was the Army Blackhawks.
Chase said, “Sounds like our ride.”
“I don’t like it,” Darby said. “If they’ve had drones overhead this whole time, it means they know where we are.”
“If they know where we are, then why haven’t they come at us? Cuz we have a head start?”
Darby said, “I don’t think so. There are too many roads around here that they could have used to catch up.”
“So what, then?”
“Son, I like to hunt in my spare time. I’m a good ole southern boy at heart. You know, during hunting season, before I get my buck, there’s only one reason I won’t take a shot at a deer.”
“And what reason is that?”
“Because I plan to get a better shot by waiting.”
Chase didn’t like the sound of that.
The H-60 Blackhawks came into view. The first aircraft did a single pass, north to south, just above the trees, and then banked hard right, slowing itself down in the turn. The second aircraft followed. The Marines ducked down as the rotor wash blew through the field. The first Blackhawk hovered at about one hundred feet, its nose pitched up slightly. The second circled behind it.
And that’s when the hunters struck.
A lightning-fast trail of smoke shot out from the eas
t, and into the first helicopter. The army aircraft exploded in a yellow-and-orange fireball. Pieces of shrapnel and parts rained down on the forest. The Marines underneath hunkered down, trying to get out of the way. The centrifugal force of the spinning rotors, and the violent explosion, shot out a wave of hot shrapnel in every direction.
The second aircraft began to move forward, expending dozens of bright flares. Then two more missiles shot up towards it, and it too burst into flames, falling to the ground below.
Then there was only fire, scattered throughout the landing zone.
Gunnery Sergeant Darby and Chase were up on their feet as soon as it was over. While the shock of death and destruction incapacitated most people, members of the military’s special operations were trained to compartmentalize and react.
The Raider team, which had been hidden and prepping for an air transport, sprung to life. Their heads popped up, searching for enemy threats. They broke into separate teams, fanning out and forming a protective formation based on the most likely threat vector.
Finding no immediate enemy in sight, they turned to Captain Calhoun and Gunnery Sergeant Darby for direction. Calhoun had been struck in the arm by a piece of shrapnel, but he was still mobile. Miraculously, the rest of the Marines were uninjured.
Darby said, “Check for survivors.”
A few of the Marines ran over to the helicopter wreckage to see if they could rescue anyone or recover any remains. After a few moments of inspection, the Marine next to the flaming crash site looked at Darby and shook his head. The gunny frowned and waved them to follow him.
Darby said, “We need to go west, now. Those SAMs looked like they were launched from about a mile away to the East. If we go west, there’s a road in that direction, and a small village about a mile to the north once we get to the road. We might be able to get vehicles there.”
Chase said, “I agree. The Chinese must be on the road to our east. It’s going to take forever to hump through this jungle to the west, but it’s our only option.”
