“Moved, not massed,” Air Force General O’Connor said.
General Alan slapped a hand on the table.
“Gentlemen,” the President said. “I would like to point out that Ms. Chen was correct about Chinese actions seven years ago. Back then, she tried to warn Clark or one of his top people about the impending attack. None of them listened to her. I don’t plan making the same mistake. She is an expert on Chinese behavior. It is, I believe, her report that allowed us to find out about Blue Swan.”
“That is correct,” Director Levin said.
“Blue Swan,” Sims said. “I haven’t heard anything about evidence of Blue Swan missiles in Texas. Yet we know some are near the SoCal border. The EMP missiles seem to me like a potentially war-winning weapon. It would be logical to believe that wherever the Chinese put the Blue Swan missiles, that is where they plan to break through our defenses.”
No one said a word for a time after the President’s statement.
Finally, General Alan glanced at his aide—the major—before addressing the President. “Sir, suppose this is the truth. Suppose the growing Texas firestorm is a Chinese ploy to divert our attention. Suppose the German Dominion is helping them trick us by sending their hovers out to sea. What does that mean for Southern California?”
O’Connor spoke up. “It means the Chinese have improved EMP devices to throw against us.”
“Highly improved,” Levin added.
General Alan glanced from the Air Force General to the CIA Director. “Suppose Blue Swan knocks out much of our electronics on the SoCal front. What does that mean to us?”
“You’re supposed to tell us what it means,” Sims said.
General Alan glanced at the major.
“With your permission, sir,” she said.
The President nodded.
“Sir,” the major said, “We’re laying old-fashioned fiber optic lines between various headquarters and their artillery parks in the SoCal Fortifications.”
“That isn’t exactly correct,” Director Levin said.
The major blushed and she glanced at General Alan. Alan glanced at her with raised eyebrows. She leaned toward him, whispering in his ear so her red lips almost touched his skin. She did it as if she was his lover imparting precious secrets.
“Let me correct the statement,” General Alan said a moment later. “We’ve begun placing fiber optics. It is unfortunately taking us longer than we thought it would. We’ve also scoured warehouses for old land mines, simple pressure mines. Our stockpiles are low, I’m afraid. Usually, we send factory-made mines straight to the front, where the troops emplace them. My point, sir, is that up until now little has changed in the Southern California Fortifications. Because of the sheer size of the fortifications and the hundreds of thousands of troops there, these things take time.”
“We don’t have time,” Sims said. “Texas shows us that.”
“That’s the real problem, sir. We’re not ready to face the Blue Swan missiles—if the missiles do what our scientists believe they might. But what if this is all an elaborate bluff by Chinese Intelligence.”
“Speak plainly, General.”
General Alan glanced at Anna. “No offense intended, sir, but can we trust everyone in the chamber?”
Sims’s pale blue eyes focused sharply on the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Do you believe Ms. Chen is a traitor? Is that what you’re saying?”
“I have no way of knowing that, sir,” General Alan said. “She has not gone through the military’s vetting program as most of us here have.”
“Other than her Chinese heritage,” Sims said, “what suggests to you that Ms. Chen might be a traitor?”
General Alan frowned and he drummed his fingers on the table. The frown vanished and his features tightened. He leaned his head forward in an aggressive manner.
“Blue Swan suggests it, sir. This entire scenario is too incredible to believe. It would seem, given this technological marvel, that we should pull back our troops from our carefully built defenses. That would be better than exposing an Army Group worth of soldiers to heightened EMP missiles. Yet if that’s true, then we know why Ms. Chen found out about the convoy when no one else could. The Chinese want us to leave our defenses without their having to fire a shot.”
“No,” Sims said. “I don’t see it that way.”
“If we stay,” Alan said, “and Blue Swan does indeed melt our electronics, it could be a military disaster.”
“Sir,” Director Levin asked, “If I may?”
Sims nodded to the wizened CIA Director.
Levin directed his words to General Alan, “Trying to withdraw our troops from the fortifications as the missiles hit would be an even greater disaster.”
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs pursed his thin lips, nodding a moment later. “I grant you that.”
“Therefore,” Levin said, “no matter what, we must hold the line.”
“Hold without communications?” General Alan asked. “Hold with many critical components burned out? Oh, I grant you we may be able to harden with field-expedients some electronics if they give us enough time. Depending on the strength of the EMP, many weapons systems would simply shut down. You don’t hold under those conditions. You die. But as I said, it strikes me as too incredible that China has such missiles. I think we are being bluffed by Chinese Intelligence.”
“What you’re suggesting is ridiculous,” Levin said. “Ms. Chen has often been proven right in her assessments. The Chinese have advanced technology. We know that. The Blue Swan missile exists. Your recon man Kavanagh discovered the one as the Chinese quietly brought it to the SoCal Front. These are all facts.”
Anna watched the debate, appalled at the exchange concerning her reliability. It was hard to accept that anyone could think of her as a traitor.
“I believe Blue Swan exists,” the President said. “I do not accept that it is a bluff. Therefore, what are your suggestions for defeating it?”
General Alan blinked at the President. Finally, he said, “If these missiles truly exist, sir, if the Chinese possess them in number, our entire front could melt away in a matter of days. We could lose California before the war is even a week old.”
“If we attempted to pull back to redeploy farther from the border and the Chinese attacked, the front would be just as damaged,” Sims said.
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs grew still. He showed surprise, shock and then wonderment. “Sir, you believe the missiles are real. Yet you seem to be suggesting we let our troops absorb the electronic attack. Are you saying then we let our troops die where they stand, given this thing works? That’s an entire Army Group you’re talking about. We can’t spare that many soldiers and hope to hold everywhere else.”
Anna watched in fascination. President Sims’s eyes hardened with determination. The splotchy features began to transform into an approximation of what she’d seen on TV before. With a little makeup, yes, he would look like the war-hero President the country had learned to trust.
“We don’t have any good choices,” the President said. “I didn’t have good choices in Alaska, either, but we beat the Chinese before Anchorage. We can beat them again if we all pull together. Yes, the world has gathered into growing packs of jackals and those packs are sniffing at our door.”
He’s making a speech. We need strategy now, not speeches, Anna thought.
“George Washington beat the British,” Sims declared. “Lincoln defeated the South. Wilson brought down the Kaiser’s Germany and Roosevelt defeated the Third Reich and the Japanese. Well, I didn’t become President to let the world dismember my country. I’m here to tell you that we’re going to outthink and outfight the Chinese. They have a jump on us. A possible jump,” he said, glancing first at the major, Anna and then the rest of the people in the chamber. “This jump is a technological missile of unusual proportions. We can’t afford to leave our border fortifications in SoCal and we can’t afford to let the enemy saturate us and roll over hundreds of thousands of our best soldiers. Therefore, this is what we’re going to do. As quietly and quickly as possible, we’re going to withdraw our mobile forces out of the missile’s radius of damage.”