Dr. Payne got up and moved his chair to be next to her. He wrapped his arm around her. She buried her face into his shoulder, and he just let her release all the pent-up emotions she’d been burying.
After a moment, she seemed to be catching her breath, and Dr. Payne said, “It’ll be OK, Jillian. That’s why they have us. We’ll do the best we can to patch them up and let them know that while life may be more difficult for them, it can still be rewarding, and filled with love and appreciation.”
Through tear-filled eyes, she looked up at him. “I hope you’re right. I really do.”
The two of them sat there in the cafeteria for a little while longer before Jillian headed home to try and get some sleep before she would start it all over again the following day.
“Everyone, raise your glasses!” shouted Sheriff David Grant as he lifted his beer mug high. “It’s been almost a year since Deputy Eric Clark and Cindy Morrison were killed by those Russian bastards. Tomorrow, my own son ships out to Asia with the Army to go fight the Chinese.” He paused as he looked at his son, placing his hand on his shoulder. “Tomorrow, you leave to go get some payback for what all these people have done to our country, our state, and our community here in Ohio. I couldn’t be prouder of you than I am right now, Son.” He started to get a little emotional, and as he choked back tears, he pulled his son in tight and gave him a bear hug.
The rest of people in the restaurant erupted in cheers and applause. They all clinked their beer glasses together.
“Congratulations!” several of them shouted.
Several of them came by to give him a pat on the back and wish the young man well on his upcoming journey. Sheriff Grant’s son had the backing of the entire town, and he knew it.
The community of Lima, Ohio, had really come together after the vicious attack on the General Dynamics Land Factory the year before. The tragedy had struck a chord with everyone there, and no one had been left unaffected; over five hundred people had been killed, and it had taken more than two days to put out the fires from the refinery. Despite all that had happened, everyone had rallied together to support each other in their time of need. They’d even managed to get the plant operational again, and it was successfully churning out main battle tanks off the assembly line just three weeks after the fateful day.
Chapter 15
Deception
General John Bennet rubbed his temples; he felt another migraine coming on. A jackhammer seemed to be pounding away inside his skull, and each sound seemed amplified, bone-jarring, even. The light overhead burned its way into his head and his vision blurred. He knew he had been pushing his body too much, that he needed to take a break, but men were dying every second of the war.
“If they have to push through their infirmities, then, by God, so will I,” he thought. “They’re counting on me.”
Major General Tony Hyrczyk walked into the general’s office, a Rip It energy drink in one hand, and a couple of pills for the general in the other. Placing the medication and energy drink on the desk next to Bennet, he whispered, “I could tell you’re having another one of those migraines, so I brought you the usual cocktail.”
Bennet looked up at his friend, smiled weakly and nodded. Without hesitation, he grabbed the pills, tossing them down his throat as he popped the top of the energy drink and proceeded to wash them down. Within moments of the sudden rush of caffeine and sugar to his system, his headache had already subsided enough for him to continue on.
“So, what’s the word? Has the PLA taken the bait yet?” Bennet inquired.
“Hook, line, and sinker. It’s working just as you predicted it would,” Hyrczyk replied with a broad smile on his face.
Bennet stood. “I knew this plan would work,” he said, almost managing a smile of his own. “OK, let’s go tell the others of the change in plans. It’s time we got the rest of the team up to speed on our little ruse.”
The two of them left his office and headed down the hall to the operations room, where he found the rest of the Allied generals and military commanders already waiting for him.
General Bennet saw the apprehensive looks on the faces of the military commanders who stood around the briefing table, and he knew exactly why they all looked as they did. Everyone had grown impatient with keeping all their forces in a holding pattern off the Korean coast. He’d already heard someone mutter something about the airborne divisions being held in Taiwan too long.
Lieutenant General Sir Simon Carter of the British contingent was the first to voice his opinion. “General Bennet, I have some serious concerns about launching this invasion. Our forces have been marshaled too close to Qingdao for too long. My own intelligence and reconnaissance groups believe the PLA is more than alert to our plans of invading and securing the ports there. Are we still going to go through with it?” he asked.
“If everyone will please take their seats, we’ll provide you all with an update on Operation Olympus,” Major General Hyrczyk announced.
The generals and admirals dutifully sat down. General Bennet looked at the men and women before him: generals and admirals from Germany, France, Japan, Australia, Poland and Israel. These military leaders represented more than three hundred and forty thousand Allied soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen that would embark upon the what everyone hoped would be the final major campaign to end the war.
“The invasion of Qingdao…has been an elaborate ruse,” Bennet explained. He waited calmly for the reactions before him. Some were clearly shocked; others appeared angry. A few shook their heads. A couple of them let out a soft snicker, seeming to understand that something else, something bigger, was about to happen.
General Bennet held up his hand. “Before any of you launch your complaints or hurl questions at me, let me explain to you what has taken place. Since the start of the year, we’ve been building a deception campaign to trick the PLA into believing we were going to launch a massive ground invasion at Qingdao. It’s the most logical location for us to invade from the sea as it has several deepwater port facilities and it would give our forces a straight shot at Beijing. Couple that with our offensive operations in northern China, and we’ve been able to make the PLA believe our entire offensive was going to focus on capturing their capital.
“When we invaded Guangdong Province, we kept the other Allies out of that invasion because we wanted to continue the deception that we were still planning on invading Qingdao. That invasion of Guangdong Province has also forced the PLA to send multiple divisions away from Shanghai to stop us from ripping the industrial heartland of southern China apart. Which is perfect, because our real objective is to capture Shanghai and the surrounding area.”
Someone let out a low whistle. General Hyrczyk brought up the real invasion plans on the computer monitors.
Lieutenant General Alfred Guderian, Commander of the German Expeditionary Forces, spoke up. “The Chinese Air Force recently deployed their new advanced unmanned fighter drone. Wasn’t the reason that you Americans attacked Guangdong Province so that you could go after the facilities producing these fighters?” he asked with a quizzical look on his face.