David and the American members of the Red Cell had unwittingly been planning a Chinese invasion of America. If the Red Cell plans were being implemented, then the Iranian attack on the US a few weeks ago was just a diversion, created by Jinshan. And Chase had seen with his own eyes that Lena Chou had been a part of that operation near Bandar Abbas.
After the Beltway attack, nearly eighty percent of Americans, according to the latest polls, supported a war with Iran. But they were being misled. And if Jinshan succeeded, it would be one of the greatest head fakes the world had ever seen.
The CIA briefer tapped his keyboard and brought up a grainy image of what looked like a trailer with a bunch of antennae.
“This is a PLA mobile communications unit. We took this picture last week.”
Chase said, “Where?”
“At the base in Manta.”
Chase said, “I thought the satellites were down.”
“This picture was taken from an Air Force drone. But once we saw the SAM sites get erected, we stopped sending aircraft overhead. That’s when we placed the MARSOC team nearby.”
Chase looked at the two Marine Raiders. “Have you got eyes on them now?”
Captain Calhoun said, “We’ve got a recon team positioned north of the base near Manta.”
“What have they seen?”
“A total of twelve aircraft drop-offs that we’ve witnessed so far.”
“What airframe?”
“Chinese Xian Y-20 military transports. Long-range, big suckers. They look just like Air Force C-17s.”
Chase said, “Twelve aircraft. That’s a lot of supplies. If they were selling arms to Ecuador, it would be a lot more economical to transport by ship.”
“That’s what your CIA guys told us in Colombia.”
“So what did they take off those planes?”
Gunnery Sergeant Darby said, “Not just what. Who.”
“Excuse me?”
“They took a lot of pallets of stuff off those planes, that’s for sure. But that wasn’t what the big stink has been about. It’s who they’ve been unloading off those planes.”
The captain reached down into his backpack and produced a small tablet device. He held it for all to see and scrolled through the pictures.
Chase said, “That’s a lot of Chinese soldiers. How many?”
“Almost fifteen hundred by our last count.”
Chase whistled. “Do we know what unit they came from? Specialty?”
“The CIA guys we’ve been working with in Colombia think some of them might be Leishen Commandos. PLA airborne special forces.”
“That’s a lot of special forces.”
“Yup. They’ve also started sending planeloads of very green-looking troops. New recruits, it looks like.”
Chase said, “Really? That’s odd. Why would they do that?”
The CIA briefer said, “We still don’t know.”
“There were also a few other interesting faces in the mix,” the captain said, showing another image.
Chase’s world stopped. He tried not to show any outward change in expression, but he felt his face getting hot. He saw the CIA briefer watching him and wondered how much backstory he had gotten.
It was Lena Chou.
The photo showed her walking down the ramp of one of the aircraft, her dark, flowing hair draped over one side of her face. Covering the burns that Chase had left.
“When did she arrive?”
“Two days ago.”
“Has this been sent to Langley?”
“No clue. That’s you guys’ job, remember? As far as I know, you spooks are having just as many problems with comms as we are.”
The CIA briefer said, “I’ll make sure to take these latest images back. Thank you, Captain.”
Calhoun handed over the tablet.
The CIA briefer said, “Gentlemen, there is a piece of hardware that we will refer to as the crypto key located inside that mobile comms unit. This crypto key could help us unlock a lot of mysteries. Right now there are competing theories on China’s level of aggression towards the United States. We believe that the Chinese president and highest-level leadership are unaware of what some of their military assets have been doing to cause harm to the United States. By taking this crypto key, our team of experts here in Panama will be able to provide the Chinese president with infallible proof that there is a contingent of rogue operators in the Chinese military and intelligence community. This could help prevent war between the US and China, and possibly stop war between the US and Iran.”
Gunny Darby said, “So if we steal this piece of equipment… that’s going to tell you what the Chicoms are up to? That what you’re telling me?”
Chase nodded. “That’s about it, in a nutshell.”
“And what are we stealing?”
The CIA briefer said, “A piece of crypto. A big black box. Their key that lets us cut through all their encryption on the Chinese military datalink network. It’s a new system, but we’ve got an NSA team that can hack into it, if we get that crypto key.”
Darby said, “Alright, so we go in, kill all fifteen hundred of them Chinese Special Forces, plus a few Ecuadorians for good measure, and steal that trailer. Maybe I could drive my Ford F-150 down there and hook her up? Then you send down a C-130 and pick us up, and we’ll be out of there lickety split. That it? Damn, I’m good at this shit.”
Captain Calhoun smiled at his gunnery sergeant. “Please excuse this old man. He’s growing senile in his old age.”
The CIA briefer said, “ROE — no use of force with deadly weapons, unless in self-defense.”
The Marines went silent for a moment.
Captain Calhoun said, “Sorry, maybe I’m missing something, but why is that?”
Chase frowned. “Because they aren’t sure if the Chinese are really bad guys yet. Sorry. I know this won’t be easy. I’ll be coming with you. We’ll have nonlethal weapons to take out the men manning the comms unit. The point of this mission is to prevent World War Three. If we go in there with weapons blazing… well, that kind of defeats the purpose.”
Calhoun said, “Seems to me like this mission isn’t to prevent World War Three, it’s to confirm whether it’s already started or not.”
“Probably an accurate statement,” Chase conceded.
The Marines looked at each other. “Alright, how are we stealing it, then?”
Chase said, “I’ve been trained on how to remove the crypto key box. I just need your help getting in to the trailer.”
“Sir, I’m from the Deep South,” Gunny Darby said. “I got lots of experience sneaking up on trailers to get to my girlfriends without their dads knowing. You don’t have to worry about a thing.”
Chase smiled. “Glad to hear it, Gunny.”
He winked back. “What’s the plan for extraction?”
The CIA briefer said, “It will be a delayed extraction after the mission is accomplished. We recommend a small team of about four of you to go in. You’ll steal the device without being noticed. We’ll have a way for you to incapacitate the men manning the comms trailer. Their shifts are for four to six hours each, so if you go in during a shift change, you should have about that long before they’re discovered.”
Captain Calhoun said, “That sounds like wishful thinking.”
“It may be. But we’ll have a local asset on the base with a small supply truck going by the comms trailer when we’re ready to get out of there. Once you get the crypto key, you’ll ride in the back of a supply truck for about a mile. That will get you far enough away from the scene that you won’t risk capture. The truck will stop somewhere along the road that no one will be able to see — and drop you off back into the jungle. That team will then hike it back to your larger team’s recon position on the mountain, north of the base. It will then be another few miles to the extraction LZ. We will have a pair of army helicopters waiting in Colombia, assigned to pick you up.”