“Sir, PLA space command has begun their mass satellite launch this morning. They have just begun providing us with updated satellite imagery.”
“Show it to me now.”
The intelligence officer brought up a series of images of the large American naval base. The damage on display was tremendous. Even on infrared, he could see a sunken ship in the harbor. That couldn’t be faked. Holes in the flight decks of two carriers still in port. The Russians had really outdone themselves.
“Their military airfields?”
“No change, sir. Our pre-attack intelligence was correct. We caught them at their most vulnerable. The majority of their advanced fighters and bomber aircraft were located together to onload their anti-ship missiles.”
The intelligence officer brought up a series of satellite images showing damaged aircraft in rows. Some of the damage seemed to have been cleaned up. But in other areas, wings and engine parts were strewn about like trash in an alleyway.
He nodded. “This is good.” He turned to his staff. “I believe the reports of ships leaving their harbors must be an American deception campaign. We start our journey north tomorrow.”
Susan was on the phone when David entered her office. Her second-in-command was sitting on her couch. She motioned for David to shut the door.
Susan spoke into the phone. “Yes, sir. We just received the information. I understand.” She hung up the phone without saying goodbye.
David said, “That was General Schwartz?”
Susan nodded. “You saw the flash intel report from our friend in Beijing?”
“I did. The balloon is going up.”
“Yes. Admiral Song’s amphibious fleet is now sailing out of Venezuela. Medium-range conventional ballistic missiles and hypersonic cruise missiles will be launched on US targets within the next few days.”
David said, “That part about the bioweapon scares the shit out of me.”
Susan said, “Me too. We need to be sure everything is ready.”
David said, “The NSA team is finished writing the code. They’re doing QA now and will transmit when we give the order.”
The phone rang. Susan flung it to her ear. “Yes, sir. Understood. ARCHANGEL is a go.”
David ran down the linoleum hallway, swinging into one of the rooms where his team worked.
“Is it ready? Tell me it’s ready.”
Henry and two NSA programmers blinked at him.
“We’d like to test it once more, but…”
“No time. Send it.”
One of the programmers fixed his glasses and began typing. “Okay. It’s ready for transfer.”
Henry walked over to David. “Did we get the okay?”
David nodded. “ARCHANGEL is a go.”
Within minutes, a team of NSA technical experts took the ten-pound black box into the Blue Angel hangar, which was adjacent to the squadron spaces where David’s team now resided. The hangar was under heavy guard, not just because the Silversmith team was nearby.
Inside the hangar was a drone capable of hypersonic flight. An unmanned version of the SR-72. The NSA experts physically uploaded the program Henry and his team had designed into the drone’s on-board computer. Twenty minutes later, the drone took off in broad daylight, going supersonic over Mobile, Alabama, shattering windows with its sonic boom. Within six hours, it had reached the East China Sea, where it transmitted fourteen gigabytes of code to the waiting antenna of the USS Jimmy Carter before self-destructing and crashing into the Pacific.
38
The Chinese military space launch facility was located on a small island base just northeast of Hainan. The Chinese had transformed a few square kilometers of rock jutting out of the South China Sea into a substantial island military facility. The island now contained multiple large runways for landing military transport aircraft, as well as dozens of man-made peninsulars used as rocket launching sites. Each peninsular was capped with a launch pad. The entire island base was surrounded by a man-made sandbar, turning it into an atoll. The outer sandbar ring protected the inner islands from weather and waves.
The SEALs were in their scuba gear when the drone transmission came with their execute order.
The captain of the USS Jimmy Carter told Chase and the SEAL team commander, “Our UAV picked up surveillance footage of their crews making preparations for the next mass launch. Swim fast.”
The special operations team headed into the airlock chamber, and the hatch was closed behind them. Shortly after, the compartment began filling with water. Once filled, the team opened the outer compartment and swam into the cold, dark ocean.
The SEALs used handheld propulsion devices to cut their journey down to ten minutes. Reaching the island’s outer sandbar, they staged and anchored their equipment close enough that it wouldn’t be pulled away by the current, but far enough from shore that it wouldn’t be uncovered by a receding tide.
It was dusk when the seven-man team emerged from the water and quietly stepped onto the atoll’s outer beach carrying silenced MP submachine guns and wearing black wetsuits. Their footsteps in the sand were washed away by the lapping waves.
Fifty yards to the team’s east, a security vehicle was parked on the same sandbar.
Two passengers sat in the security vehicle. One was a CIA asset — one of the deep cover operatives Susan had been running for nearly a decade. The other passenger was a Chinese military guard who was now convulsing in the passenger seat, a syringe in his neck, its plunger depressed.
The Chinese agent stepped out of the vehicle and motioned to the SEALs. “We must hurry. The launch is in minutes.”
The SOF team climbed into the back of the security vehicle, which sped along the sandy beach and onto a paved road. Through the rear cutout in the drab green truck bed cover, Chase and the SEALs could see other Chinese military personnel, along with missile transport trucks, helicopters parked on the flight line, and technicians working on satellite antennas.
The security vehicle stopped outside an unmarked rectangular building and the guard led them around the back. “This way.”
The Chinese agent swiped a keycard in a digital lock and typed in a code. After a beep, the metal door opened, and the American special forces team followed the Chinese agent into the building.
They hurried down an empty hallway until the agent stopped at a door marked with large red Chinese characters. He signaled for them to wait in the hallway, then typed on the keypad next to the door and entered. Chase heard a thud, and then the agent reappeared, motioning for them to follow. Inside was a dark room filled with security monitors. A Chinese woman lay on the floor, a syringe sticking out of her neck, convulsing just like the other man.
“Close and lock the door,” the agent whispered, and the men complied. Chase looked at the monitors. Dozens of launching pads were arranged on the center of the island, steam rising from most.
The team’s NSA man said, “Is this the computer I should use?”
The Chinese agent shook his head. “No.”
“Which one, then?”
“We will need to get in there.” The agent pointed at one of the screens.
“You’re shitting me,” said Chase. The agent was indicating a screen that showed at least a dozen Chinese men and women sitting in what looked like a NASA operations floor. Multiple armed guards were clearly visible throughout the space.
The DEVGRU team leader said, “Lead the way.”
“First I need to disable security communications.” The agent began typing on a computer. Several screens on the wall went black. He then walked over to a radio control box and began changing frequencies.