Fatal Terrain

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Fatal Terrain Page 42

by Dale Brown


  to the crews."

  "I was hoping to do it sooner rather than later, Mr. Presi-

  dent," Finegold said. "My staff tells me the bombers are

  based out of Guam-if that's correct, perhaps we could see

  them on our way out to talk with representatives of the Japa-

  nese, Taiwanese, and Chinese governments."

  The President subdued an exasperated sigh. Finegold knew

  too much detailed information, details she could only get

  through direct communication with very high-ranking sources.

  He had hoped that Hale would be wrong about George Balboa

  squawking to Finegold, but it seemed more and more likely

  now.

  "Very well, Senator. I'll see to it they're made available to

  you or your staffers," the President said. "But I caution you

  that the President is still the nation's diplomat. Although I

  certainly grant that members of Congress can visit and meet

  with any foreign leaders they choose, it is the-President who

  makes foreign policy, negotiates treaties, and deals with mat-

  ters of state. You carry much influence around the world, Sen-

  ator Finegold, and your visit might be confused by foreign

  leaders as an official government communication."

  "We will make our intentions and the purpose of our visit

  crystal clear, Mr. President," Finegold said testily, adding,

  I ,but I thank you for the civics lesson." The temperature of

  the Oval Office turned decidedly cooler just then. "May I ask

  what response you intend to initiate in the wake of these so-

  called Chinese attacks, made to look like Taiwanese attacks?

  Will you retaliate against China?"

  "I intend to rescue as many survivors as I can from the

  disaster in the Formosa Strait," the President said, "and then

  I intend to bring our ships and soldiers safely home. After that,

  I haven't decided. But I do not intend to break diplomatic

  FATAL TER RAI N 279

  relations with China or mount any sort of retaliation."

  "That's good to hear, Mr. President," Finegold said. "And

  I hope you'd be so kind as to consult with Congress before

  initiating any economic or military sanctions against China."

  "Of course, if the opportunity presents itself," the President

  replied. "Thank you for calling, Senator. Good night." He

  hung up the phone before she could ask another question.

  "The nerve of that witch!" he said half aloud. "Instructing

  me on my duties and responsibilities to Congress!"

  "You've got to be careful, Kevin," Jerrod Hale said.

  "Don't go to the mat with her over the phone-you don't

  know who's listening. If you want to chew her out or tell her

  where to stuff her suggestions, get her out here to the White

  House and then let her have it. Make her get dressed and haul

  her tight narrow Nob Hill butt outside. You can then bring

  several members of the House leadership over so you have a

  nice big audience to watch her squirm."

  "Thanks, Jer. I know all this-I just need reminding, when

  the pressure's on," the President said. "All right. I want a

  shot-up, stripped-down Megafortress on Guam to show the

  senator-and I want all the rest of them off the island and into

  hiding or chopped up into confetti as soon as possible. Get on

  it."

  OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, BEIJING,

  PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

  FRIDAY, 20 JUNE 1997, 0917 HOURS LOCAL

  (THURSDAY, 19 JUNE 1997, 1817 HOURS ET)

  "Under ordinary circumstances, Admiral Sun Ji Guoming, I

  would be most inclined to offer you congratulations for a job

  well done," Chinese president Jiang Zemin said coldly. Stand-

  ing beside him was chief of staff of the People's Liberation

  Army, General Chin Po Zihong. "But I cannot do so. Admiral,

  you told me that you could bring down the entire pro-Western

  alliance, enabling us to merely walk onto the Nationalist-held

  islands without resistance. I have not seen this happen yet.

  What I have seen is dozens of deaths of our comrades near

  Hong Kong and our new carrier severely damaged by our own

  280 DALE BROWN

  hands, nearly a hundred deaths from the ferry attack near Que-

  moy, nearly a dozen of our fighters shot down by the Nation-

  alists without one loss of their own-and, worst of all, our

  ambassador in Washington apologizing to the President of the

  United States and to the world on the floor of the United

  Nations for our actions!"

  "You must have patience, Comrade President," Admiral

  Sun replied. "Allow me to summarize our recent achieve-

  ments." Jiang nodded, and Sun went on: "The United States

  has removed two of its four warships from the Formosa Strait,

  and its submarines have been pulled back even farther from

  our ships and bases. The stealth bombers that the Americans

  sent to spy on us and assist the rebels to attack us have been

  discredited, exposed as aggressors, and soon will be com-

  pletely removed from the region. The President of the United

  States has been exposed and labeled an aggressor, almost on

  a par with Saddarn Hussein or Moharnmar Quaddafi. He is

  being investigated for ordering the stealth bombers to attack

  Iran, and now he will be investigated for his secret undeclared

  warlike actions against us in the Formosa Strait, using the for-

  merly secret modified B-52 bombers. His own people fear and

  distrust him-soon, his allies all over the world will fear and

  distrust him as well.

  "More importantly, now the United States and the Nation-

  alists have been isolated by the world community-the world

  sees them both as warmongers, willing to do anything to fur-

  ther their own aims," Sun went on. "President Martindale will

  find considerable difficulty in getting support from his con-

  gress for his plans to support the Nationalists' drive for inde-

  pendence. If we maintain the pressure and continue to open

  up in front of the world media, the momentum will swing to

  our side. Then Martindale may be forced to support our idea

  for reunification with Taiwan by 2005. With Taiwan once

  again isolated, even from the United States, it will be ready

  for annexation at any time."

  "That all sounds fine, Admiral," General Chin said. "But

  we must still deal with the military realities here. The United

  States is withdrawing two frigates, but with two frigates and

  four submarines still in the area, they are still a very strong

  military force in the Strait-and we lost a good percentage of

  our fighters and bombers in that engagement."

  It is as I have said, General," Admiral Sun said. "Our

  FATAL TER RAI N 281

  J-series fighters must not engage Nationalist F-16 fighters un-

  less they have full radar coverage and enjoy at least a six-to-

  one numerical advantage. In that fight, we had a three-to-one

  advantage and fared poorly. We also did not count on the

  American stealth bombers launching air-to-air missiles. The

  H-6 bombers would have had better success if they had only

  flown against the frigates' surface-to-air missiles or if th
e Na-

  tionalists had been forced to divide their fighters to chase after

  our bombers."

  "Nonetheless, our losses were severe and swift," General

  Chin said. "I find it impossible to imagine that this plan of

  yours can still be accomplished when we lose forces to the

  Americans like this."

  "In fact, this proves the truth of my plan, General," Sun

  argued. "Again we have shown that the Americans are diffi-

  cult to defeat in a direct naval engagement, whether by air or

  sea. But the unorthodox attack on the Americans proved suc-

  cessful-we claimed two American Navy frigates, and we

  leave the Nationalists and the Americans confused and reluc-

  tant fighters in the Strait. The tide is beginning to turn for us,

  Comrade General."

  -Yo@ claimed that you could draw the American carriers

  into the Strait, where they would be vulnerable-yet the clos-

  est American carrier, the Independence, is apparently ready to

  depart Japan, possibly to rendezvous with two other carriers

  somewhere near Formosa, possibly in the Strait itself," Chin

  observed. "They can still strike our coastal bases from their

  carriers, and still enjoy air protection from the rebel air forces

  on Taiwan."

  "The Independence will never depart Japan, comrade," Ad-

  miral Sun said grimly. "Its death is already being planned-

  and with it, the death of the pro-Western Asian alliance as

  well."

  "I think it is about time you informed us of what you intend

  to do, Admiral Sun," Chin said angrily. "It is obvious that

  the level of aggression has greatly escalated. If you.intend on

  throwing China into general war with the West, be so kind as

  to let me know @o I can alert our regular military forces and

  defend the motherland."

  "It will not be necessary to mobilize the army, Comrade

  General," Sun said with a smile. "The biggest naval disaster

  since the Great War will occur, by our hands-and the world

  282 DALE BROWN

  will be rushing to China's aid, to protect us against the great

  satan, the United States of America."

  ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, GUAM

  THURSDAY, 19 JUNE 1997, 1444 HOURS LOCAL

  (WEDNESDAY, 18 JUNE, 2344 HOURS ET)

  "Do you realize what's happening?" Admiral George Balboa

  exploded. "Do you have any idea what you've done?" The

  chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was seated at the con-

  ference table in the Joint Chiefs Conference Center at the Pen-

  tagon, but his voice was as sharp and as clear as if he were

  right there in the base command post's battle staff room on

  Guam. "Have you seen the news? That plane of yours is being

  shown on TV all over the damned world, along with pictures

  of your attack on that passenger ferry."

  "We've seen it, Admiral," Patrick McLanahan said. He,

  Brad Elliott, and the rest of the crew of the EB-52 Megafor-

  tress involved in the recent skirmish in the Fon-nosa Strait near

  Quemoy Island were participating in the secure videoconfer-

  ence between the Pentagon and Andersen Air Force Base on

  Guam. The base command post's battle staff room had been

  sealed and curtained off, with guards posted outside. To Pat-

  rick McLanahan, it was a little like closing the barn door after

  all the horses had run away. The world now knew of the EB-52

  Megafortress-why all the security now? "The pictures of us

  were obviously taken by the MiG-25 Foxbats that intercepted

  us. , ,

  "What possible explanation can you offer the President for

  what you've done?" Balboa asked.

  "The Chinese set us up," McLanahan said confidently.

  "We've compared notes with the crew aboard the James Dan-

  iel, and we agree-that ferry was altered to make it look like

  a warship."

  "How in hell could they do that?"

  "By towing that barge behind them," McLanahan replied,

  "they made themselves look another one hundred and fifty

  feet longer. "

  "They were towing a garbage barge, for Christ's sake!"

  FATAL T E R RAI N 283

  Balboa retorted. "Thousands of those barges are being towed

  around the Strait every week, and no.one's mistaken them for

  warships before!"

  "A garbage barge with steel radar-reflective walls, being

  towed on a short rope very close to the ferry-and the barge

  was fitted with an IFF interrogator," McLanahan reminded

  him. "It was sending out identification interrogation signals

  just like a warship. Why would a civilian vessel have. a Square

  Head IFF on board?"

  "That's such a lame excuse, McLanahan, that I'm embar-

  rassed for you for making it," Balboa said. "An aviator with

  your reputation making wild accusations like that to cover up

  your own mistakes-it's pretty sad. You obviously picked up

  a signal from someone else, or you mistook a standard marine

  nav radar for an IFF.

  "But even if it was an IFF, as you claim, why in hell did

  you attack that ferry?" Balboa asked. "Even if that ferry really

  was a Chinese cruiser-and you geniuses should know China

  doesn't own any cruisers-you didn't have permission for any

  weapon releases, let alone those Striker rocket bombs. Why

  did you open fire?"

  "As we explained in our report, Admiral, the Navy frigates

  were under attack by rocket-powered torpedoes," McLanahan

  said. "We have no defenses against torpedoes-our decoys or

  jammers wouldn't have done any good. All our sensors indi-

  cated that a Chinese warship had launched numerous Stallion

  torpedoes at the frigates. The Duncan was a sitting duck for

  another salvo. We had no choice but to return fire."

  "Even though you didn't have permission, even though you

  were not given a command."

  "I had permission to launch," Jeff Denton interjected.

  "What was that?" Balboa asked. McLanahan turned away

  gorn the videoconference camera and glared at Denton to re-

  main quiet. -%at did you say, Captain Denton?"

  "Nothing."

  "Repeat what you said, Captain, or I'll have you arrested

  and thrown in the brig right now."

  Denton looked at Elliott, then at McLanahan, who wore ex-

  pressionless faces now-the bell could not be unrung. "Sir,

  the frigates were under attack. "

  "Who ordered you to launch, Captain?"

  284 DALE BROWN

  Denton paused, then lowered his eyes. "General Elliott,"

  he said in a low voice.

  "Repeat that last?"

  "General Elliott," Denton blurted out. "Sir, we were under

  attack by what we thought was a Chinese cruiser, by four

  formations of Chinese fighters, and then by Foxbat fighters. I

  was in the OSO's seat-1 controlled the Strikers."

  "But it was Elliott who ordered you to launch, correct?"

  "The Duncan was dead in the water, and the other frigate

  was coming about to help it," Denton said excitedly. "Our

  guys were going to get plastered. I knew we had to do some

  thing. So when General Elliott ordered me to attack the cruiser,

  I did. The computer
said it was a cruiser, Admiral. The com-

  puter was running good."

  "That's enough, Captain," Balboa said. "That's enough-

  to file charges in federal court against General Elliott for crim-

  inal misconduct. Maybe even murder in the second degree."

  "What?" McLanahan shouted. "You've got to be joking,

  Admiral! "

  "You think that's funny, Mr. McLanahan? This is even bet-

  ter-I'm going to file charges against you for the same thing.

  You were the mission commander, and even though you had

  Denton in the seat, you were responsible for his actions. And

  because Cheshire, Atkins, Bruno, and Denton are all active-

  dtity officers, I'm preferring charges against them under the

  Uniform Code of Military Justice for disobeying a direct order,

  for conduct unbecoming an officer, and for dereliction of

  duty."

  "George, I was expecting you'd try to get me thrown into

  jail," Brad Elliott said with amazing calm, "but to threaten

  any of these other outstanding individuals with a crime is be-

  yond ridiculous-it's psychotic. If you carry through with this

  stupid idea, you're the worst example of a leader that has ever

  worn a uniform."

  "I believe that honor has already fallen to you, Elliott,"

  Balboa said. "And I'm not through yet. Because of your il-

  legal, criminal actions, the entire Sky Masters, Inc.'s, Mega-

  fortress project has been compromised, and it now falls upon

  the government to clean up the mess. As employees, officers,

  directors, and shareholders of the company, yours and Mr.

  McLanahan's actions have implicated Sky Masters, Inc., in

  your criminal activities as well. You can kiss any idea of a

  FATAL TERRAIN 285

  military service contract good-bye, I'll see to that. How would

  it look to reward a company that started a nuclear exchange

  and killed hundreds of 'civilians with a multimillion-dollar de-

  fense contract?"

  "George, the only persons you're going to harm are those

  who believe in things like performance, value, integrity, and

  honesty," Elliott said. "Obviously, you don't believe in any-

  thing like that. Our hardware and our people did a good job.

  You shouldn't punish a good company because you want to

 

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