The colonel began speaking again. His voice shaky. He went over the cyber and EMP attacks on the United States. He touched on some of the special operations missions inside the US, and the failed mission to strike Hawaii.
Finally General Chen interrupted, “Chairman Jinshan,” he began, “I must urge you to respond to America’s aggression with our nuclear weapons. We cannot wait any longer. If their missiles are inbound as reported, we have only moments left to order the strike.”
Jinshan cocked his head. “Why, General?”
“Excuse me, sir?”
“Why would you have me do it?”
A bead of sweat had formed on the general’s forehead. He turned to the map. There was now a series of circles over the northern strategic missile locations, as well as the Beijing military region, which included the network of mountain bunkers they were in.
The general shook his head, speechless.
Jinshan said, “If this were a full-capability nuclear strike, there would have been many more missiles fired. Therefore, we may assume that only a limited strike was ordered. This was my expectation. No, General, this was my hope.”
“Hope? Sir?”
Jinshan forced himself to be patient. This was the penalty for installing a puppet. Jinshan didn’t want to worry about a second coup. While he could have picked a more capable man for General Chen’s billet, Jinshan valued the predictability of the ambitious dullard over any strategic thinking that alternate selections might have provided.
With the recent political upheaval and changing of the guard in military leadership, Jinshan worried about the loyalty of his leadership team. Every odd glance from a flag officer was suspect. Every time he turned his back, he worried about knives coming out. Already he had removed several high-ranking officers from their posts at the mere whisper of them questioning his legitimacy.
Jinshan’s expression remained impassive as he stared at his nervous general. Chen owed everything to Jinshan. The only reason he had made it past colonel was because he had agreed to Jinshan’s offer for his daughter decades earlier. That had been a wise investment for both of them. Jinshan had obtained his greatest operative, the ultra-talented sleeper agent, Lena Chou. In return, General Chen had been able to resurrect his lifeless career, even now reaping the rewards as he obtained the highest military post in all of China. The trade for his daughter had long since been repaid, of course. But Jinshan preferred to live with the devils he knew. It would not do to have a thoughtful military man in that position. Someone who might second-guess Jinshan’s decisions. Let the thinkers come later, when the war was won.
Jinshan didn’t have much longer anyway. He just needed to get through this year. Two at the most. He looked down at the liver spots on his hands. His skin was yellow from jaundice. The cancer treatment was slowing his inevitable end, but nothing could stop it.
He sighed. The others knew his health was failing. Jinshan needed to project enough strength to ward off ambitious would-be replacements. Or inspire enough fear that they wouldn’t dare whisper the thought that must be in their heads.
Even General Chen wasn’t really loyal to him. He was just a less-thoughtful attack dog. Chen recognized that his master held meat in one hand and a club in the other. The moment Jinshan was unable to provide either of those was the moment Chen would betray him too. General Chen served his purpose for now. But seeing his reaction to the pressure of war caused Jinshan to question whether his predictability was worth the complete lack of value added in moments like these.
“General, please take your seat.”
The general’s face was practically twitching with fear. The man’s eyes were on the electronic display that was updating missile trajectories. Now only minutes until the first of the missiles hit their Chinese targets along the Russian border. Jinshan’s prewar brief gave estimates that ninety-eight percent of China’s ICBM capability would be destroyed.
Chen looked to the colonel. “How long would it take us to launch—”
“Enough.” Jinshan cut him off with a slightly elevated tone that was rare for him.
All eyes were on Jinshan now.
“Gentlemen, the American response is a limited strike. Their doctrine prescribes that any nuclear response be proportional, and that the targets be of appropriate type. Therefore, we have assumed that they would strike at our ICBM assets in the north. After that limited strike is complete, we can continue to fight the war with conventional assets.”
General Chen leaned forward on his hands, his frame over the long conference table. “We can only respond if we survive their limited nuclear attack.”
Behind Chen’s eyes were waves of fear and uncertainty. Jinshan knew that until you saw someone perform under true pressure, you didn’t really know how they would react. He had now seen enough of Chen to second-guess his appointment. If General Chen was unable to control his emotions and operate under pressure, Jinshan couldn’t trust him in a position of this much power. Chen’s weakness and need for control would eventually become a problem. Jinshan stored the thought in him mind for later.
General Chen continued, “And the submarine-launched weapons may be headed here, towards the—”
The Ministry of State Security representative at the table said, “Our intelligence suggests the Americans do not have our exact whereabouts. We believe that the Americans know there are bunkers in these mountains, but they don’t know we have developed them as a wartime headquarters. And even if they do find out, our procedures have made it almost impossible for them to know which of the six bunkers we currently reside in.”
“But there is at least a chance that they could hit us—”
Jinshan raised his voice, his face flushing. “And if that happens, General, someone will take over for us. It is not worth wasting time discussing the possibility of our own demise.”
The table went quiet.
General Chen’s eyes fell to his lap. Jinshan swallowed his disgust and then said, “In all likelihood, we will survive the next few hours and come out political winners. The Russians will issue their condemnation on the world stage, along with an ultimatum. Our strategy dictates that America be made to look villainous. In order to do that, we must keep our war efforts conventional.”
One of the Central Committee members said, “But we have used EMP weapons. We have fired nuclear weapons into North Korea…”
Jinshan noticed a few of the other men around the table cast disapproving glances at the politician for his argument. Perhaps even their looks were for Jinshan’s benefit, to communicate to their leader that they remained unwavering. So many games.
Like General Chen, this politician had not been involved in many of the planning stages of the war. Many of the military movements were a surprise to them.
Jinshan would indulge them momentarily. “You are mistaken.” He gave a slight smile. “It was America who fired nuclear weapons at North Korea, not China. This is what is being put out on global media networks even as we speak. Our own military actions are in response to America encroaching on North Korea’s sovereign territory. Our actions take place in the context of their continued religiously motivated attacks inside of China. The People’s Republic of China is standing up for the freedom-loving people of the world. America shall be painted as a rogue state. One to be shunned.”
“But Western news sources will surely refute our—”
“Western media are under attack. American media will be in chaos in the aftermath of the EMPs. And we have armies of cyberwarriors and intelligence organizations that are working to shape global opinion. No one wants to go to war, or to see their economies ruined. Japan has already agreed to surrender. The Europeans will follow suit after the Russian ultimatum. We must isolate the American military from their allies. Without the cooperation of other nations, and without the fuel and resources of other nations, we will prevail. This limited nuclear strike by the Americans plays into our hands. America has crossed an unfathomable line, which will not be tolerated by other peace-loving nations of the world.”