Fierce elation filled him. A crazy laugh bubbled out of his throat. He shot the corpses and stabbed them. He was like a blood-maddened weasel killing chickens and couldn’t stop.
“Kavanagh!”
Paul snarled, twirling around, emptying another magazine in the close confines.
“Sergeant Kavanagh, are you in an IFV? Is it still operational?” the colonel asked through the battle-net.
That brought Paul back to sanity. Gore plugged the rifle’s orifice and Chinese blood dripped from the bayonet. He’d done this before, used enemy weaponry against them. Now he was going to do it again.
In seconds, he realigned the IFV’s heavy machine gun and the autocannons. He poured ordnance against Chinese targets, concentrating on vehicles.
“Use Kavanagh’s IFV as the rally point,” the colonel said over the radio. “Now move. This is our chance.”
The commandos out on the prairie did one of the hardest things in combat. They got up and moved under enemy fire. Because they were the best and knew the odds, they attacked.
The others were only a little less lethal than Kavanagh was, and the commandos used every advantage he gave them. Another ten minutes of combat ended the fight, with every Chinese soldier dead, dying or running away onto the prairie. At great cost to the SOCOM commando team, the enemy HQ had been neutralized and the rest of the Chinese 34th Mechanized Division thrown into confusion. There was no more brain to tell them what to do and when to do it.
It didn’t look as if the last Chinese reserves were going to hit the lead Americans with any kind of coordination.
-4-
The Event
Shun Li watched on the wall as a giant-imaged Marshal Meng informed the Ruling Committee of the failure of Eighth Corps. Meng used to stare boldly at them as if to challenge the entire body. Now, as he reported, the marshal gazed down.
“Someone in my command must have betrayed their formation,” Meng said in a low voice, his lips barely moving. “Helicopter-borne commando teams and surprise missile assaults struck Eighth Corps’ various headquarter battalions. After their destruction, it became impossible to coordinate our assaults. Piecemeal, the formations…” Meng straightened his shoulders, and for a moment, his gaze darted upward, showing bloodshot eyes.
This is a defeated soldier, Shun Li realized.
Meng looked down again, and his voice continued to drone. “I feel I must inform you that the three divisions attacked valiantly, at times charging headlong against Behemoth regiments. It…” His voice cracked and he breathed deeply like a bull about to face the butcher. “The Americans have finally mastered the art of combined arms. It has long been one of our secret weapons—”
“Stick to the issue,” Chairman Hong snapped. The medium-sized man in the black suit no longer tapped his stomach with his thumbs. He sat up, acting the part of the Leader as he used to do.
As if slapped, Meng stopped speaking. Lines appeared in his forehead.
He wonders if he can be angry at the interruption. Shun Li realized. The Chairman would never have interjected like this even four days ago.
“None of the three divisions respond to my calls,” Meng whispered. “As a fighting formation, Eighth Corps is gone, although I would hasten to add that no doubt many of their soldiers remain.”
“Yet you have just told us that only coordinated formations count, and disorganized corps, divisions and brigades are useless,” Hong said.
Meng didn’t answer.
“Hmm…” Hong said. “Marshal Meng, you will await the Ruling Committee’s orders.”
Meng glanced at Marshal Chao Pin. The tall old man said nothing.
“Not for your benefit,” Hong said, “but for China’s brave soldiers, I will add that the battle is not yet over. It is, however, unfortunate that you have allowed the army entrusted to you to die so miserably.”
Meng looked on with astonishment. Shun Li could see now that he had golden flecks in his eyes. Clearly, Chinese marshals were no longer used to this sort of talk.
Marshal Chao Pin stirred and raised his white-haired head. “I must protest your last comment,” he said.
Hong ignored the old man as he stared at Meng’s image on the wall. “I will speak to you again soon. What I say then will give your shattered army renewed life.” The Chairman made a dismissive gesture.
The major in charge of communications hesitated. A second later, Meng’s image disappeared.
That’s interesting, Shun Li thought. The major didn’t even glance at Chao Pin for confirmation.
“What hope can you possibly give them?” Chao Pin asked.
As he stood, Chairman Hong ignored the Army Minister. Instead, he gazed as the other assembled members. There was something different in Hong’s eyes. They were dark indeed and glittered with authority.
“Police Minister,” Hong said.
Shun Li’s head snapped up. She couldn’t believe this was actually happening. Those murder squads…
“Yes, Chairman,” she answered.
“Come stand by me,” Hong ordered.
Shun Li slid back her chair, stood and stepped to him. She noted how the two military ministers eyed her. They were wary and— They’re afraid, she realized. They should be.
“Stand here,” Hong said, pointing at the floor beside him.
Shun Li obeyed, standing on the spot like a young police cadet at attention.
“Draw your sidearm,” the Chairman told her.
“This is unseemly conduct,” Chao Pin said. “Yet if you insist on a demonstration, I also have a gun.” The old man unlatched a holster flap at his side and drew a heavy revolver. With a clunk, he set it on the conference table.
Hong ignored Chao Pin as he stared at Shun Li. “I have given you an order,” he told her.
She had to decide now, this second, where her final loyalty lay. If she drew her pistol, she must act decisively and go all the way for the madman who had implicated her with treasonous conduct. Hong was cunning, and he could strike fast and ruthlessly. The others were overmatched.
Shun Li drew her nine millimeter pistol, letting her arm hang down so the weapon rested against her leg. She knew that if Chao Pin touched his revolver, she would empty her magazine into him. She’d have no other choice.
“Excellent,” Hong told her.
“We have important matters to discuss,” Chao Pin said in an angry voice. “The Americans—”
“Have smashed our armies in Oklahoma,” Hong said. “We have no one to blame for this but ourselves. We waited behind our defensive lines last year. The Germans fought savagely in the Great Lakes region. If we would have attacked then—”
Chao Pin snapped his fingers. “The Germans deserted us in our hour of need the year before that in 2039. We lost face then and lost the battle because of their treachery.”
“Perhaps you’re right,” Hong said. “But they certainly fought in 2040. If we would have taken advantage of that and attacked in coordination with them—”
“No,” Chao Pin said. “Last year we lacked supplies to make meaningful assaults. We also lacked tanks, hovercraft, MC ABMs: all devoured in your ill-considered offensives into Colorado and Nebraska.”
Hong’s lips stretched into a devious smile. “And by waiting, as you have done, we have enough today?” he asked.
Chao Pin bristled. “I am not a schoolboy. I am the leader of the Army. I took our military that you had squandered—”
“Shun Li!” Hong said.
She could feel everyone staring at her. Warm and cold sensations surged through her body.