Larry Bond, Chris Carlson
Chain Reaction
This book is dedicated to the people of the Koreas and their long struggle for a free and united homeland.
Acknowledgments
Our deepest thanks go to Dr. Andrew Erickson and Ms. Jean Hyun for taking the time out of their busy schedules to review the manuscript. We greatly appreciated Dr. Erickson sharing his Chinese political-military expertise, and Ms. Hyun for helping us get the cultural aspects correct. This novel is better because of your efforts.
Authors’ Note
This book is a sequel to the novel Red Phoenix, written by Larry Bond and Patrick Larkin, and published by Warner books in 1989. It described a hypothetical invasion of South Korea by the North, an oft-discussed scenario on that troubled peninsula.
The world has changed in many ways since Red Phoenix was published, but the two Koreas remain, a fossilized relic of the Cold War and the East-West polarization that touched many parts of our lives before the fall of the Soviet Union.
At the end of Red Phoenix, the invaders were defeated by UN forces and retreated back across the 38th parallel, with the cooperation of the Chinese, who supervised a caretaker government. Kim Jong-il, the “Dear Leader” who had ordered the invasion was assassinated, and his young son Kim Jong-un was installed by the Chinese as the new leader of the country under the tutelage of his aunt and uncle who acted as regents.
Thus, the North Korea described in the world of Red Phoenix does not differ too much from our real world, except that there was no invasion of South Korea in late 1989.
With this bit of fictional background, you can read this story without having to have read Red Phoenix first. If you have read it, you will find familiar names, both of original characters and the next generation.
We hope you will enjoy their story.
This time, I worked with my long-time partner, Chris Carlson, to describe a different but equally dangerous scenario. Chris’ knowledge and storytelling ability were vital in making this the best story we could, and the only reason my name comes first is that “B” precedes “C” in the alphabet. I will refuse to claim any passage as mine, or point to one and say Chris wrote it. We could have each written a story based on the same scenario, but together, we’ve created one much better than either of us could have done alone.
Dramatis Personae
Carter, Randall — Lieutenant General, commanding officer, US Seventh Air Force
Christopher, Tony — Brigadier General, vice commander, US Seventh Air Force
Dougherty, Jeff — Team leader, North Korea section, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Fascione, Thomas — General, commanding officer, Combined Forces Command and US Forces Korea
Fowler, Kary — Aid worker, Christian Friends of Korea
Graves, Andrew — Colonel, commanding officer, Eighth Fighter Wing, US Seventh Air Force
Jenkins, Rick — Commanding officer, USS Hawaii (SSN 776)
Yeom, George — CIA-NIS liaison, CIA
Little, Kevin — Colonel, commanding officer, Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, US Eighth Army
Miller, Mike — Lieutenant Colonel, commanding officer, Joint Security Area battalion
Mitchell, Ralph — Commanding officer, USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10)
O’Rourke, Dan — Major General, chief of staff, US Forces Korea
Olsen, George — Brigadier General, intelligence officer, US Forces Korea
Sawyer, Chris — North Korea senior analyst, CIA
Tracy, Robert — Lieutenant General, commanding officer, US Eighth Army
Waleski, Gabriel — Rear Admiral, commanding officer, US Navy in South Korea
Wallace, Joshua — Lieutenant Commander, executive officer, USS Hawaii (SSN 776)
Wyman, James — President, United States of America
An Kye-nam — President, Republic of Korea (ROK)
Guk Yong-soo — Lieutenant, Ninth Special Forces “Ghost” Brigade, ROK
Gung Ji-han — Lieutenant, Ninth Special Forces “Ghost” Brigade, ROK
Ji Sang-hoon — General, commanding officer, ROK Air Force
Kwon — Major General, commanding officer, Special Warfare Command, ROK
Lee Joon-ho — Major, operations officer, UN Command Security Battalion
Ma — Corporal, Ninth Special Forces “Ghost” Brigade, ROK
Moon Su-bin — Volunteer nurse, Christian Friends of Korea
Oh — Master Sergeant, Ninth Special Forces “Ghost” Brigade, ROK
Park Joon-ho — General, deputy commander, ROK-US Combined Forces Command
Rhee Han-gil — Colonel, commanding officer, Ninth Special Forces “Ghost” Brigade, ROK
Sobong — Lieutenant Colonel, Mike Miller’s second-in-command
Sohn — General, commanding officer, Third Army, ROK
Yeon Min-soo — General, chief of staff, ROK Army
Cheon Ji-hyo — North Korean refugee, mother of two children
Cho Ho-jin North Korean citizen, Russian intelligence asset
Choi Sung-min Sergeant, neighborhood supervisor, Ministry of Public Security
Gong Kyeong-pyo Vice Admiral, KPA Navy
Kim Jong-un Supreme Leader, DPRK
Koh Chong-su Vice Marshal, Chief of the General Staff, Korean People’s Army (KPA)
Lee Ji-young North Korean defector, daughter of Lee Ye-jun
Lee Ye-jun Senior Politburo member, DPRK
Maeng Sergeant, special forces, KPA
Ri Il-chun Deputy Chairman, Second Economic Committee
Ro Ji-hun Captain, special forces, KPA
Ryeon Jae-gon Captain, aide to General Tae, KPA
Sik Chol-jun Colonel, bodyguard to Kim Jong-un
Tae Seok-won General, Sixth Bureau, General Staff Department; then commanding officer, Thirty-Third Infantry Division, KPA
Yang Major General, deputy commander, Thirty-Third Infantry Division, KPA
Long — General, deputy commander, Southeast Security Force
Shu — General, chief of staff, People’s Liberation Army
Wen Kun — President, People’s Republic of China
Yu — General, defense minister, People’s Republic of China
Malikov, Alexei Fedorovich — Deputy Director, Directorate S, Russian Foreign Intelligence Service
Telitsyn, Pavel Ramonovich — Asian Department chief, Directorate S, Russian Foreign Intelligence Service
Map
Prologue
A gust of wet wind blowing off the Sea of Japan sent acrid vapors from the plant’s tall stacks swirling through the maze of rusting sheds, massive steel piping, and storage tanks. For a brief moment, the scarred, treeless slopes rising beyond the tangle of industrial buildings were visible. But then the wind shifted back, and the desolate hills were blotted out again.
General Tae Seok-won coughed, hacked, and then spat to his right, narrowly missing the highly polished shoes of the dapper, middle-aged man at his side. Even a brief exposure to the Heungnam plant’s caustic fumes made his eyes water. Some of the substances manufactured here — precursors and stabilizers for Sarin nerve gas — were used for the chemical weapons he controlled as chief of the Sixth Bureau of the General Staff Department.