“During his four years of training at the Citadel, he attended Army basic combat training and advanced infantry training at Fort Benning. The following summer, he attended jump school, and his final summer at the Citadel, he went through the US Army Ranger School. He was offered a commission in the Army following his graduation; however, he declined and instead returned to China with his family. His father arranged for him to join the People’s Liberation Army Ground Forces, and when he arrived home, he was taken under the wing of several benefactors his father had within the PLA. With his American military training and extensive time in the US, he quickly rose through the ranks. As one of the youngest division commanders in the PLA, he was instrumental in changing a number of their tactics and offensive plans prior to the war. Several months before the war started, he was promoted again and made the youngest corps commander in the PLA.
“It was his corps that led the invasion of Southeast Asia and the quick capture of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand and Singapore. He was also the military commander who oversaw the invasion and occupation of Taiwan and the Philippines. He’s a more-than-capable military commander, and frankly, a dangerous one. He’s probably the only reason our forces haven’t captured Beijing yet, or completely overrun the country.”
General Lattrell didn’t pause to take any questions. “While General Yang is China’s most capable military commander, he is also a realist and knows the war is lost. Right now, he’s trying to manage the loss as best he can, but lately, President Xi has become more despondent and desperate to stay in power. It’s that desperation that has Yang most concerned, and it has presented us with a very unique opportunity.
Nodding to Major General Breedlove, he added, “Major General Breedlove here was actually Yang’s roommate at the Citadel. During our peace talks last week, he was able to rekindle that friendship enough to offer Yang an opportunity to bring an end to the war in a way that would not see China destroyed or humiliated on the world stage. Approximately eighteen hours ago, Yang reached out to Breedlove via a secretive method we’d put in place and presented us with an opportunity to end the war.”
Pappi and everyone else in the room sat up a little straighter and leaned forward, waiting to hear the plan.
“General Yang has asked if Xi would arrange a special meeting with the senior civilian leadership to discuss with him and the rest of the CMC generals a long-shot plan to defeat us. Xi agreed, and they’ve arranged for this discussion to take place in forty-two hours at a government command bunker just outside of Beijing.”
At this point, General Latrell signaled for one of the officers to turn off the light switch in the front of the room and start the PowerPoint presentation. As the screen came into focus, they could all see an aerial image of Xiang Shan Park highlighted with a circle on it. The next image showed a small, unimportant-looking building, denoted as the entrance to the underground command center. This command bunker was cleverly hidden at the base of a low-lying mountain range, roughly ten kilometers from the old Qing Dynasty Summer Palace at the western edge of the Beijing city limits.
“We know very little about this command bunker, other than General Yang said it is connected deep inside the mountain. He said the tunnel entrance travels roughly fifty meters to an elevator that takes you another one hundred meters deeper underground. Inside the bunker is a large enough command center for 500 personnel to effectively run the war without going topside for close to a year. Judging by the specifications he’s provided, we suspect this is their equivalent to our Cheyenne Mountain facility.”
Pappi looked at his copilot, and she gave him a look that said she had the same question he did. He didn’t wait to be called upon. “You want us to hit this thing with a nuclear bunker-buster bomb, correct?” he asked.
The room had been quiet before, but when Pappi said the word nuclear, you could have heard a pin drop. Everyone’s eyes went back and forth between him and General Latrell for confirmation.
Latrell nodded. “That’s correct. It’s the only way to ensure we collapse the bunker. You’ll be armed with our newest nuclear weapon, the B61-Mod 12 earth-penetrating bomb. Because of the depth of the bunker, it’s been determined by the bomb experts that we’ll need to hit it with a 50-kiloton yield. Fortunately, because this’ll be a deep underground burst, it’ll have the same effectiveness of us hitting them with a 1.25 megaton ground burst, with the exception that this bomb will leave little in the way of fallout — the explosion will largely stay contained, deep under the mountain.”
A few people whistled at the information. This would be the first time the US, or anyone for that matter, had used a nuclear-tipped bunker-buster bomb.
“I have to ask the question,” Colonel Fortney interjected. “What happens if this doesn’t work? We’ll have just tried to take the President of China and his entire administration out with a nuclear bomb. If we miss…they could launch their own nuclear missiles in retaliation.” Concern was written on his face.
The others looked around nervously as well. No one wanted to see the war go nuclear, not when they were so close to achieving victory through conventional means.
NSA Tom McMillan jumped in. “Colonel, the President has thought about that as well and has determined this is the best course of action. This meeting that we’re going to bomb is a meeting of the Chinese leadership to discuss their use of nuclear weapons against our military forces in China. They’re planning on using nuclear weapons on their own cities and territory to destroy our military. If we don’t decapitate the government now, not only do we risk losing millions of our soldiers, but tens of millions of Chinese civilians will be killed. It’s imperative that this strike succeed. That’s why both of your bombers will be going on this mission.”
Stepping forward now, McMillan added, “Colonel Fortney, your bomber will drop the first bomb. It will be followed by a second bomb less than sixty seconds after the first detonation. If, for whatever reason, your bomber is shot down or you’re unable to release your second bomb, then your partner here will finish the mission.
“This has to succeed, ladies and gentlemen. There’s no room for error. Tens of millions of lives are relying on the success of this plan. If our mission goes according to plan, General Yang will assume control of China within hours of the attack and he’ll move to end the war. This is it, everyone — the mission that will end World War III.”
Pappi nodded. He suddenly felt very much like Atlas, with the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Over the next hour, the mission planners went over the specifics of the flight path, the support aircraft that would be involved, and the backup plans in case the primary bomber got shot down or had an equipment failure.
“Now it’s only a matter of time,” Colonel Fortney thought as they all left the room. All they could do now was wait for the launch order — one that would make history.
The armored Mercedes vehicle made the final turn in the road as it sped toward the nondescript entrance to the command center. This was the location where the end of World War III would be decided. President Xi still couldn’t believe the war had turned so decisively against them. It had started out so strong; their armies had rolled across Mongolia, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Taiwan and the Philippines. They had even sunk several American supercarriers.
“Where did I go wrong…what could I have done differently?” Xi wondered.