The master chief stuck a thick hand out. “Glad to have you with us, Mr. Manning. I served under your father once at the Pentagon. Shit job. But your dad made it bearable.”
“Thank you, Master Chief.”
Chase shook hands with the CO and XO.
“Thanks, Pat. We got it from here,” said the CO.
“Yes, sir.” The chief left the room, closing the door behind him.
“Have a seat, Chase.”
Chase sat on the couch next to the master chief.
“I understand you’ve been doing some work with the Agency. That correct?”
“Yes, sir.”
“General Schwartz has assigned you to our unit for the foreseeable future.”
Chase was pleased. “Sounds good, sir.”
The SEAL team commanding officer said, “Less than a week ago, as the Chinese were detonating EMPs over the continental US and attacking our bases in the Pacific. They were also using cyber and electronic attack weapons to bring down many of NORAD’s radars along the Canadian and Alaskan coastline. We estimate that as many as four dozen large commercial aircraft, each filled with specially trained Chinese infantry, flew into the area just after these attacks took place. We recognized what was going on eventually. Our fighters shot many of the aircraft down. Some turned around and we think probably ran out of fuel over the Pacific. But some got through.”
Chase couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “How many?”
“We don’t know. Maybe one or two? Maybe a few dozen. The radar data is gone now, and the intel reports are going on interviews with radar controllers who were basically having the worst night of their lives. The high-end estimate is four thousand Chinese soldiers, now operating INCONUS. The low end is a few hundred Chinese troops. These soldiers will be joining what we believe are at least six remaining PLA special operations teams that had inserted themselves into the US prior to the attack. You may be aware that several US Air Force bases were hit on the day the war began. Those raids were conducted by these SOF teams, using mortars and other weapons.”
Chase suspected that he had seen these exact Chinese SOF teams training in China.
The commander said, “Chase, SEAL Team Five will join a JSOC unit that is being tasked for an INCONUS assignment. We were about to rotate back to Korea when the balloon went up. Given the current status of the Korean Peninsula, this was deemed a better allocation of resources.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You have been detailed to us by General Schwartz. According to him, you’re familiar with the teams we’re to be hunting down. I’m told you saw them training. In China. Is that correct?”
“I have. Yes, sir.”
“Well, that makes sense, then. You’ll be a good asset to have in the hunt.”
The next day, Chase sat in a high school classroom somewhere in Nebraska. The rest of the seats in the classroom were all occupied by a SEAL Team Five platoon. Other platoons were getting separate briefs in some of the other classrooms. Down the hall, similar briefs were being held for Green Beret teams and Ranger units. The school had been converted into a makeshift base of operations for the hunters. Sandbag bunkers and ID checks. Guard dogs, security towers with snipers, communications antennae and radar. Each of those had become part of the high school’s transformation.
Chase heard the thumping of rotorcraft landing and taking off outside. The sports fields had become the LZs for Blackhawks, Chinooks, and the Little Birds of the 160th SOAR.
A man dressed in jeans and a pullover sweater walked into the front of the class. He had two-day-old stubble, and the rings around his eyes made it look like he had been without sleep for the past week. Chase was sure he was a spook.
The INCONUS intelligence streams were still coming online. Drones were being flown over the US. The datalink networks had to have new encryption software installed. In some cases, even the hardware was corrupted. Chinese cyber operators had infiltrated so many US systems that many US drones were labeled as hard down while they underwent audits. With all but a few satellites out of commission and the global demand for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaisance (ISR) through the roof, manned aircraft were supplementing the shortage inside the continental US.
The targeting brief lasted thirty minutes. The helicopter crews and SOF teams had gone over plans extensively earlier that morning. There were minimal questions now. Just final updates on the situation and objectives.
When the brief ended, Chase’s platoon headed to the football field, where spinning helicopters awaited them. They split into two Blackhawks and two MH-6 Little Birds. Two SEALs sat on the outboard platforms of the MH-6s, one SEAL per side. The tiny helicopters were designed for quick precision assaults. An additional pair of AH-6 Little Birds provided extra fire support. These carried no SEAL passengers. Instead, the extra weight was used to carry miniguns and rocket pods.
The Little Birds took off first, their rotors sounding like an angry hornet compared to the heavier, full-throated thumping of the Blackhawks. The Little Birds used the length of the football field to take off, keeping their skids low until they picked up speed, then nosing upward near the end zone. The Blackhawks took off from their spots in unison. A tight formation, noses pointed towards the ground as they built up speed. The six aircraft sped northwest, dark green wraiths traveling into battle, skimming treetops and suburban roofs alike.
Chase sat in the cabin of the rear Blackhawk. Each door had three SEALs sitting shoulder to shoulder, feet dangling out. They wore green utilities and various styles of tactical boots. Wraparound sunglasses and green protective headgear. Dark gloves would help protect their hands if and when they fast-roped. Forward of the Blackhawk’s cabin door on each side, a 160th SOAR aircrewman manned an M134 Minigun.
From his seat, Chase could see a neighborhood zooming by below them. He had flown low over the US a few times when he was with the Teams. Normally people waved and smiled. Chase caught a glimpse of a few civilians down there, looking up at them. He could tell from their expressions that things were different now. Scared wasn’t the right word for the looks on their faces. They were serious. Determined. It was like a switch had flipped in the American psyche. We were once again a nation at war, the warrior tribe mentality in our DNA seeping to the surface. These civilians looking up at the formation of Army helicopters racing through the sky weren’t observers in this war. They were participants.
Chase held his seat as the aircraft banked sharply and dove over a ridgeline.
“Two mikes out. Contact. Strength fifty. Ten vehicles in convoy. Little Birds inbound first.”
Chase saw nods and thumbs-ups from the other SEALs in the aircraft. Game faces on. The men sitting at the doors had the fast ropes ready to go. Those sitting on the inside cabin seats had their knees bouncing. Most looked at the deck, waiting for it to begin. Some were reinspecting their gear. One was chewing gum, singing to himself. Everyone had their own style of pregame.
The two H-60s and two MH-6s peeled off to the right and began holding in a racetrack pattern as the tiny AH-6 attack helicopters made their assault run.
Chase could just make out the convoy of ten pickup trucks and sedans on the horizon, traveling along a narrow single-lane highway. The highway was a narrow cutout in a sea of pine trees.
The targets had been spotted by specially modified King Air surveillance aircraft. A DIA fusion team had evaluated the imagery with the help of an NSA-owned facial recognition program. They’d only gotten one hit, but it was confirmed with over ninety-eight percent confidence to be a company officer in a PLA infantry unit.