Battle Born

by Dale Brown

  "What is going on?"

  "Perhaps you do not know what this Hot Dog message means?" Kwon was surprised. "How little you know of the things you have put in place in our country that we rely on every day for our lives and our freedom. The Hot Dog warning is issued whenever an aircraft violates the Buffer Zone. It is supposed to warn our aircraft of unintentional overflight. 'Airedale' is the senior American battle director, whom you met down below in the command center.

  "The warning is actually issued quite frequently, usually due to radar anomalies, jamming or decoying by the Communists, or by accident-an overzealous pilot, a new pilot trying to find landmarks, or one who is distracted from his work. Many innocent causes. The North calls them all preludes to war and declarations of war and demands an apology and reparations. Such demands are ignored, of course."

  They heard the Hot Dog call repeated many times, with several more call signs. Then there was a commotion on the floor of the command center, and they saw South Korean soldiers enter and head for several of the American officers and technicians.

  "What's going on down there, President Kwon?" Ellen Whiting asked. "I demand to know."

  "The American officers in charge of protecting and directing air traffic in South Korea are obviously upset because they issued a command to the South Korean pilots heading toward North Korea, and our officers would do nothing to stop them," General Park answered for Kwon. "They are being restrained before they can call for any American aircraft to scramble to try to stop them."

  "They're hurting them, for God's sake!" Law protested. There were at least three South Korean soldiers around each of the Americans, who were struggling to free themselves.

  "Do not worry, Madam Vice President," President Kwon said, reading Whiting's thoughts. "As you can see, none of my soldiers down there are armed with anything more than batons. We have no intention of hurting any of your people. They are only trying to do their jobs." A few scuffles broke out, but the Americans were quickly hustled out and replaced by Korean technicians. In a matter of minutes, the only Americans left were in the observation area.

  A few moments later the Klaxon sounded again. This time they heard: "Jack Rabbit, Jack Rabbit, Jack Rabbit, this is Guardian on Guard. All aircraft evacuate P-518 immediately." The controller then read off a date-time group and a coded authenticator. " 'Jack Rabbit' is the warning that a border violation has just occurred," General Park explained. " 'Guardian' is the call sign of the American Airborne Warning and Control System radar plane that monitors all air activity across the Korean peninsula. P-518 is the Tactical Zone, the area south of the DMZ where unidentified aircraft will be shot down without warning. The general officer aboard that aircraft is the fourth in command, behind the joint forces commander, the Korean tactical control director, and the American battle director. Since no warning of a border penetration was ever sent from this headquarters, it became Guardian's responsibility to issue the warning. Obviously, we cannot do anything to stop those onboard your radar plane. The cat, as you Americans say, is out of the bag."

  Vice President Whiting watched in fascination. The computer screens now showed several tracks northbound across the DMZ, from the Yellow Sea all the way across the peninsula to the Sea of Japan. It was a coordinated launch of several dozen units, timed to perfection-they crossed either the DMZ or the coastline inbound to their targets at almost exactly the same instant. At the same time, several more trades began moving northward from other South Korean bases.

  "Mr. President, General Park, you must call a halt to this right away," Admiral Allen said. "Sir, you cannot hope to stage this attack without a forceful and possibly disastrous retaliation from North Korea, China, or both. You cannot hope to cripple North Korea's armed forces enough to prevent a counterattack. At last analysis, the North has stationed half a million troops within sixty miles of the DMZ. Your Air Force can't possibly hope to stop them all."

  "Admiral, it is not our intention to completely destroy the Communists' military forces," President Kwon said. "As you so correctly point out, that would be a costly and dangerous operation. General, please explain to the Vice President and the admiral."

  General Park bowed to President Kwon, then turned to Whiting and Allen. "President Kwon rightfully stated that our intention should not be to reunite the peninsula and the Korean people by force, but to create the proper atmosphere, the proper conditions, for a revolution to take place in the North. The reason there has not been a people's revolt against the oppressive, brutal Communist dictatorship is that members of the military who belong to the party are rewarded with the basics of life-food, clothing, shelter, and security-for brutalizing and repressing their own people.

  "The organizations responsible for this brutality and repression are the forty Spetznaz units, comprised of special operations battalions and Naval Infiltration Squadrons. These units were designed to operate inside South Korea, but the internal security and counterintelligence organs within the Korean Communist Party use them for internal security, counterespionage, and intelligence-gathering inside North Korea itself. They are brutal and bloodthirsty mongrels whose task it is to seek out and destroy the enemy using whatever means possible. They have created an atmosphere of fear inside North Korea that has stifled free thought and free expression for almost three generations."

  General Park motioned to the large computer screens in the observation room, which were repeaters of the much larger presentation screens on the command center stage. "The active, reserve, and paramilitary forces of the Korean People's Army total about seven million, or about one-third of the entire population," he went on. "The army pervades every aspect of life inside North Korea. But of that massive number, only about one hundred thousand are party members or members of one of these elite terrorist units. Through our intelligence and infiltration methods, we have identified the top ten units and their locations-two naval infiltration groups, two special forces paratroop air wings, four Spetznaz battalions, and one terrorist infiltration training and operations battalion.

  "In addition, we have targeted the headquarters and barracks of the Eighth and Ninth Special Corps. The Eighth Special Corps is President Kim Jong-il's personal protection unit, and the Ninth Special Corps is the unit designated to hold and defend the streets of Pyongyang against rioters, insurrection, and invasion. As I said, a total of one hundred thousand troops. They are in twelve general target areas-two naval bases, two air bases, five army bases, and within the capital of North Korea itself. We have no illusion that we can kill all of them, of course, but we think this will create the spark that can bring down one of the planet's last Communist dictatorships."

  "What about the other six million nine hundred thousand fighters?" Vice President Whiting asked incredulously. "You dismiss them because they're not Communist Party members, but they're still trained to fight and they're indoctrinated in Communist ideology almost from birth. Are you just going to ignore them? What about North Korea's weapons of mass destruction-their biological, chemical, and nuclear warheads? How can you plan such a limited attack as this and simply ignore the size and power of the forces that you haven't decided to attack?"

  "Because I trust my intelligence officers and the defectors who reported their findings and observations to me," President Kwon said. "These patriots all told me the same thing, and it has been checked and crosschecked and triple-checked over many months: the North is desperate and is willing to do anything, even trigger World War Three in a nuclear holocaust, to break the cycle of poverty, starvation, and despair.

  "From our sources, we estimated that ninety-five percent of the nation was suffering the effects of the corrupt, paranoid, power-mad regime. Ninety percent of the nation had not been paid in over three months, and seventy percent hadn't been paid in over a year. Sixty percent of the nation had no electricity, running water, fuel oil, or sanitary facilities for three or more days a week, every week of the year. Unemployment was at fifty percent. And forty percent of the population, forty
percent, ate less than one thousand calories of food a day. Infant mortality is twenty percent in the countryside, ten percent in the cities.

  "We knew war could not be far behind. War could do many things for the Communist government. It would give the people someone to hate other than their own government. It could give them a reason to fight, a reason to live, or at least a reason to leave the squalor. It could force the West to send aid, even if they were defeated. At the very least, it promised a quick end to their suffering. A bullet between the eyes, a bomb dropped from far above, a cruise missile launched from hundreds of miles away-even the millisecond flash of a nuclear explosion and the briefest sensation of the heat of the fireball. All would be preferable, less painful, than staying at home watching your children die of cold and starvation.

  "And if the North struck first, Madam Vice President, our findings told us that we would suffer the loss of Seoul and more than five million people. And there would still exist the possibility of a thermonuclear exchange that could end our nation and even our race. But if we struck first, and struck quickly, we might have a chance of cutting off the serpent's head before its coils could reach out to us. With the internal security and enforcement apparatus of the party destroyed, perhaps the people could rise up and throw off their Communist slave masters once and for all."

  Vice President Whiting shook her head. "You are living a pipe dream, Mr. President," she said, clearly upset. "You're risking your life, your people's lives and freedom, everything you've built and accomplished over the decades, for a fantasy, a fairy tale. The price of failure is almost too enormous to comprehend. You're also risking the lives of thousands of American servicemen stationed here who know nothing of this folly of yours. You're risking the peace and security of Asia, of the entire planet."

  "No one knows better than I what we risk, Madam Vice President!" Kwon retorted angrily. "But I and my government could not sit idly by and wait for the communists to send their chemical terror and armies and tanks across the frontier. China would certainly follow in support of her little puppet. I would rather fight on our terms than on the North's."

  "That sounds like something North Korea would say to justify an invasion of South Korea!" Admiral Allen said sardonically. ^

  "The difference, Admiral, is that we do not seek the death and destruction of the North-we only seek to trigger the inevitable revolution that we feel must occur in Communist Korea. We recognize the stakes are high, but such a task is so important to our future, our peace, our survival, that we dare even the safety and security of Asia to bring it about."

  Kwon paused, looking hard at Whiting and Allen. "Frankly, madam, I am not sure whether our American allies would risk their own peace and freedom to save us. I think in order to avoid another nuclear confrontation, President Martindale would watch and wait until the North Korean forces were stretched too thin and the bulk of the Red Chinese Army was committed, and then decide whether or not to intervene. By then, my country would be ravaged. The entire peninsula, the whole Korean race, would be enslaved. We would again become the eternal battleground, a bone fought over by the Americans and the Chinese dogs of war."

  General Park spoke in a low voice to the president in Korean, and Kwon turned to the monitors. Special Agent Law whispered to the Vice President, "Ma'am, I think we can get out of here if we want to, but with all that's going on . . ."

  "This may be the safest place for us, after all," Vice President Whiting said. "I agree."

  "But I wish we could contact Washington," said Admiral Allen.

  "We'll do it right now," Law said firmly. She went over to the director's console and picked up a telephone. Someone responded in Korean. Law held the receiver up to President Kwon. "Tell the operator I want to be connected to the White House Communications Center immediately."

  "Mian hamnida. I am sorry, Special Agent," Kwon said, "but I cannot allow any outside communications at this-"

  Corrie Law raised her mini-Uzi, pointed it directly at the President's face, and said, "Mr. President, you will never live to see whether or not your plan succeeds if you don't order this operator to put the Vice President of the United States through to the White House in Washington, D.C., right now. I will not allow the Vice President to be treated like an insignificant nobody."

  Kwon was startled. He had never experienced a subordinate taking the initiative like this, especially without a command from a superior. But he nodded politely. "Mullonijyo. Chamkanman kidaryo chuseyo. Of course. Please wait a moment."

  He took the receiver, gave a command in Korean, then handed the phone back to Vice President Whiting with a formal bow. "Please. But do not be long, madam. History will be made in the next few minutes."

  It took only moments and a few coded authentication phrases, and Whiting's call was routed directly to the phone on the Oval Office desk. Courteously, President Kwon and General Park went over to the observation windows to allow her a modicum of privacy.

  "Ellen, good to hear your voice," President Martindale said, his voice filled with relief. "I just got the call from Bob Plank about your coded message. Are you all right?"

  "I'm fine, Mr. President," Whiting said. "I'm still in the Master Control and Reporting Center at Osan Air Base. I'm with Admiral Allen, General Park of the Korean Air Force, and President Kwon." She took a deep breath, then said, "Mr. President, President Kwon has just informed me that he has initiated an invasion of North Korea."

  "What?"

  "It's under way right now," Whiting went on. "President Kwon and General Park briefed me in detail. They have apparently infiltrated many North Korean command, control, and communications facilities to the point where they were able to shut down most of that country's early-warning, air defense, and command networks. His planes are crossing the border as we speak. All of the planes he was going to use in the Team Spirit exercise are going to be used against the North." Whiting's voice broke for a moment. "Mr. President-Kevin-this is .., frightening. I'm afraid. The war is on and we don't know what's going to happen next."

  "Ellen . . . Ellen, don't worry," Martindale said as calmly as he could. She knew what the President was just realizing: if the Chinese or North Koreans retaliated, that command center at Osan would probably be their primary target-and, faced with a massive invasion, it was very possible that either side could use chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons. China had certainly showed its willingness to use nuclear weapons just two short years ago. "I'm calling in the entire staff right now," the President said quickly. "We'll all be right here with you from now on."

  "Do you want to talk with President Kwon or Admiral-"

  "I don't want to talk with anyone or do anything else but be with you on the phone, right here, right now," Martindale told her. "Try to relax. Talk to me. What's going on in there?"

  "Nothing ... I mean, Jesus, Kwon and Park are watching the computer screens and chatting like a couple of guys watching a baseball game on TV. I can see dozens of lines moving north across the border. Lots of them heading toward Pyongyang, but most going after a base just north of Seoul. I ... I can't believe how calm these little bastards are . . ." Ellen Whiting stopped, her eyes wide in surprise, then she bit down on her right index finger. "Oh God, Mr. President, did I just say what I thought I said?"

  "Ellen, stop calling me 'Mr. President' for once, okay?" Martindale said. "The name's Kevin, remember? And they sure as hell have given you a reason to call them some names, haven't they? I think you deserve to call them any name you goddamn feel like calling them right now."

  "I .., oh shit, oh shit . . ."

  "Ellen, what is it?"

  "I .., dammit, my knees are knocking!" Whiting cried. She broke into laughter. "I can't believe this! I'm so scared, I'm shivering so much, my knees are knocking! I always thought that was a figure of speech or a cartoon thing. I guess your knees really can knock if you're frightened enough." She paused for a moment, then asked, "Are you going to leave Washington, Kevin?"

  "I'll disc
uss that with Philip, Jerrod, and Admiral Balboa as soon as they get here."

  "It might be a good idea ..."

  "I told you, I'm staying right here," Martindale said. He raised his voice so everyone else in the Oval Office could hear. "I'm giving a direct fucking order-I'm staying right here! End of discussion! Oh, good, Jerrod's here already . . . Jerrod, the staff meets right here, in this office. I'm not putting this phone down until I know the Vice President is safe ... I don't care if we can transfer the call to Air Force One or the NAOC. I'm not putting it down." Whiting knew that NAOC, pronounced "kneock," was the National Airborne Operations Center, formerly known as the National Emergency Airborne Command Post, a heavily modified Boeing 747 that allowed the President to command and control American military forces all over the world-even launch ballistic missiles if necessary. In 1992 the NAOC had been placed on standby status at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska; but after the China nuclear conflict, another one was stationed on round- the-clock alert at Andrews Air Force Base, ready to evacuate the National Command Authority-the President, the secretary of defense, and other national defense officials-from Washington.

  "Admiral, I want a company of marines on their way from Seoul or Inchon to retrieve the Vice President and get her out of Osan, and I want it now" Whiting heard the President order. "Do it with the ROK's cooperation, but you are authorized to use whatever means necessary to secure her and her party's safety. Is that understood?" Whiting heard the most enthusiastic "Yes, s/r!" she had ever heard from Admiral George Balboa. "You still there, Ellen?"

  "You're sending the marines in after me, Kevin?" she asked, managing to smile through the fear.

  "Damn right I am."

  "I think that would be very dangerous, given all that's going on ..."