“Hello, Calvin, nice to see you,” said Deputy Secretary of Defense Manny Lorning.
“Hi, Manny, good to see you as well,” replied Calvin Burns.
Calvin and Jason continued down the E Ring, past the large hallway of oil paintings of past Secretaries of Defense. “Lorning. What a jerk,” then in a hushed tone, “keep that quiet, Jason.”
“Hi, Sergeant Brewer. Deputy Calvin Burns, DIA, for the Secretary,” Jason said, announcing their arrival. “He’s expecting us.”
“Of course, sir. Please go in. The General is expecting you first, before the Secretary,” said Sergeant Brewer.
Jason led the way to Lieutenant General Gil Hastings’ office, just next to the Secretary’s office. Jason stepped to the side to the Deputy could greet the General. “Hi Gil, thanks for fitting me in.”
“Hello, sir. You’re welcome. Ah… sir, listen, the Secretary is already overloaded today. He has the Chairman’s upcoming retirement, issues with the SASC, and a new Policy issue with the Administration on number of Navy ships. Plus, he’s got next fiscal year’s budget dispute bursting at the seams. Whatever you got, hope its low key.”
“That’s all? Regular day around here, Gil,” the Deputy said, making them all laugh. “Well, no, it’s not low key. We have something developing right now in the Pacific. As we speak. He needs to know.”
“Okay, sir. PACOM handling it?”
“No, not exactly. Our mission, with PACOM support.”
“What are the details?”
“We acquired… co-stole… a new, previously unknown and undisclosed, Chinese Stealth Bomber. An H-18. The Chinese pilot who was test flying her is best friends with one of our U.S. Air Force Reserve pilots. Together, they just stole it from the east coast of China, and they are currently inbound to the carrier Lincoln, a few hundred miles off Okinawa. Depending on what happens in the coming hours, the Secretary may or may not want to know. Perhaps even higher to the NSC and POTUS.”
“No kidding? That’s pretty heavy,” Gil said as he stood up. “He’ll want to know that. All right, sir, let’s go see the Boss.” Lieutenant General Gil Hastings led them out of the room and into the small carpeted hallway, only making a quick right turn to walk the five steps required to hit the SecDef’s doorway.
“Hey, sir! Sir…” Sergeant Brewer said, jogging slowly with a folder in his hand, and attempting to get a hold of them before entering the Secretary’s office. “Sir, excuse me, I have an ‘Eyes Only’ report from the National Military Command Center for Deputy Burns.”
“Thank you, Sergeant Brewer,” the General replied, as he took the folder from him, and handed it directly to the Deputy.
Deputy Burns nodded in agreement as he read it silently. "Well, things are coming along nicely in the Pacific. Turns out that USS Gettysburg had a Marine Corps AH-1W Cobra flight crew attached to them. During the flight, the Cobra pilots had an eyes-on, and relayed it back to the ship. Pilots described it as an F-117 looking U.S. Air Force stealth fighter. Next paragraph is from DIA. Their reporting detecting two cell phones at altitude passing over Okinawa, Japan, and were triangulated to be the same location as our jet. DIA analysis determined the two phones are registered to our guys working the mission, as I can see their names here on the report.”
Lt Gen Gil Hastings, U.S. Army, had close to 30-years of service, and was still amazed at the technology and speed that the U.S. Defense Department could relay info. Here, something was happening half-way around the world, live, and we were tracking it. He was impressed.
“Thank you, sir. That’s a hell of a mission… let's go in and talk with him,” General Hastings said quietly, then turned to knock on the Secretary’s door. “Excuse me, Mr. Secretary?”
The office had windows that lined the left wall, waist height to the ceiling, and had a stunning view of the Potomac River to the right, Washington Monument straight ahead, and to the far right, the top of the Capital dome. If you looked out the window to the left, you could see the White House, and further back, the gray steeples of Georgetown University. Inside his office sat two love seat couches that faced each other, with a coffee table in between them, staged so well that it looked like they were placed by an interior decorator.
“Yes, Gil. Please come in,” said Secretary of Defense Daniel B. Kisendahle. The Secretary was seated at his desk, which faced the windows, reading a folder full of papers on military personnel policy. His desk, large, brown from the handcrafted mahogany wood, was surrounded by metal challenge coins from the troops. Books were stacked on his desk, at least eight or ten hard covered ones, ranging from economics, biographies, and foreign policy, along with already read copies of the Japan Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times.
“Pardon, me, sir, but as I mentioned a few minutes ago, the Deputy Director of DIA is here, Mr. Calvin Burns. He is here to…”
“I know Calvin. You out there, Cal? Come on in here. Let's sit down at the couch.” The Secretary came out from behind his desk and walked over to the couches. “Coffee?”
“Hello, sir. Great to see you again. Yes, coffee, thank you.” Calvin Burns said as he walked over to shake hands with the Secretary. “Thank you for fitting me in.”
“Cal, I’ll always make time. I know if you’re coming and bypassing folks, it must be hot.” The Deputy thought that was a strange comment. Oh, crap. Did he mean bypass, like he thinks the Director and USD (I) don’t know this plan? Either way, the Deputy didn’t have to time to worry about things like that.
“Yes, sir. It is hot, and time sensitive. So, the premise of my visit is to let you know DIA has been involved with an operational mission related to China.
“Oh, really? What do you have?”
“Well, sir, a Chinese stealth aircraft. We’ve acquired, essentially co-stole, a previously unknown and undisclosed, Chinese Stealth Bomber. It has both conventional and nuclear capability, in addition to a robust intelligence collection package.”
“I don’t recall being briefed on this technology previously,” said the Secretary, taking his glasses off.
“We were only made aware of the existence and capabilities when a Chinese pilot did a walk-in at a Consulate in China. The Chinese pilot, as it turns out, is best friends with one of our U.S. Air Force Reserve pilots, and recruited him to co-steal the H-18 jet, called Devil Dragon. It can fly completely invisible to our systems. Undetected.”
“Did you say Devil Dragon?” asked the Secretary.
“Yes, sir. Complete stealth capability. Zero radar signature. Also has unbelievable speed, upwards of Mach 5, using specially designed engines we don’t have. Yet.”
“We don’t? The boys out at the Areas and Groom Lake don’t?”
Oh, boy. An Area 51 Groom Lake referral… this is Air Force’s lane, not mine, Burns thought.
“No, sir, and certainly, that’s historically CIA’s lane, and Air Force’s lane, based upon history with the A-12 Oxcart and all. To add some drama to the situation, the Chinese pilot only did this walk-in because of his love of America, growing up with the U.S. Air Force pilot’s family, but the fact… that he has… terminal pancreatic cancer.”