The general sat forward in his chair, looking at David’s screen. “What am I looking at here?”
“Blood bags, sir.”
“Blood bags?”
“Yes, sir. Chinese orders of blood bags.” David moved his mouse and clicked on another file. “And this one is for a refrigeration unit. A specially made one that keeps blood and plasma at a specific temperature during storage. The NSA provided me with internal company documents that showed orders to the manufacturing plant. They don’t match the company’s sales numbers.”
“So that means they are trying to conceal something?”
“Possibly, sir. That is my hypothesis. It’s a Chinese medical device company that is making a huge quantity of blood bags and refrigeration units, and not reporting it. And what’s more, this specific style of blood bag is one that their civilian hospitals don’t use. It’s only used in military hospitals, and in the field.”
“Can you tell who made the orders?”
“No, sir. These orders are only found on the internal network at the manufacturing plant. No buyer is listed.”
“Sounds fishy.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Am I reading these numbers right? It looks like the orders have increased dramatically over the past week.”
“Yes, sir.” David eyed the general. “You are reading the numbers right.”
“How did you come up with this? What made you look at blood bags?”
“We — me and some of the people on my team — did a brainstorm session on what other items might need to be prepped if the Chinese were about to follow through on the Red Cell plans. When the US military began its surge in Iraq, and when we made several other large-scale troop increases over the past few decades — periods when this type of medical transportation technology was available — orders for blood bags went way up. We had a few mathematicians look at our data — American military data — and we came up with an equation. Now, there are several variables where we don’t know if we have the inputs right. But we can extrapolate a range…”
“A range of what, Manning?”
“How many troops they intend to move into a combat zone, sir.”
The general sat back in his chair, his face showing much more interest now. “And what number did you come up with?”
David lowered his voice, a bit embarrassed at the assessment and how crazy it might sound. “Sir, when we use the data from American military movements and input these recent Chinese medical device orders into the equation, we come up with ten, sir.”
“Ten?”
“Yes, sir.”
The general sounded confused. “Ten thousand troops doesn’t sound like—”
“Ten million, sir. These numbers correspond with preps to place ten million Chinese troops into a combat zone.”
The general frowned. He leaned back in his chair and didn’t respond for a moment.
“General, I’m not saying this means that China is about to send ten million troops overseas. I’m just saying that there are companies that are making military medical devices in quantities that are astronomically high. And it corresponds with these levels of troop movements.”
“Maybe it was part of previous plans, and the purchases just haven’t been canceled yet? They could still be catching up with the fact that Jinshan is behind bars. Or maybe they manufacture them in bulk? I’m just trying to play devil’s advocate, before we start spreading this around.”
“Sir, we’re with you. That’s possible. But the odd thing about this is that these purchases really ramped up in the past week. After Jinshan was taken into custody. So I would think that these manufacturing orders could be our first indication of current military intentions. Our first window into the PLA mindset after recent hostilities.”
The general nodded. “Okay. I’m done with devil’s advocate for the moment. Now I’ll play devil. Let’s say that this is real. What would have to be true?”
“You mean what else would we expect to see?”
“Yes.”
David didn’t hesitate. “Shipping containers.”
The general nodded. “Right. That’s what I keep hearing you guys talk about. Specifically, though, what about shipping containers would you want to know?”
“The Red Cell plans called for specially made shipping containers to outfit merchant ships to easily become troop transports. They would also allow for quick and easy troop movements by rail, once overseas.”
“So have you looked into the shipping containers angle?”
David nodded, a serious look on his face. He made a few more mouse clicks and another file came up. “Another leading indicator. We have human intelligence reports that several shipping container companies are now canceling orders.”
“Why are canceled orders bad?”
“We think that they need to add capacity to their manufacturing lines. Capacity for these specially made containers.”
“And how big are these shipping container orders?”
“We’re still working on this one, sir. Right now, we’re just hearing reports that some of these modifications might be being made.”
“Understood. What do you need to confirm?”
David made a face. “Sir, that’s not really my area of expertise.”
“Well, who’s the expert, then?” The general looked around the open office area. “Susan! Please join us for a moment.”
The CIA operations officer walked over, flashing a look at David as if to ask, Why are you speaking to my boss alone?
“Thanks, Susan. Quick question. I asked David to take me through some of the work you guys have been doing on…” He looked at David. “Leading indicators. What do you need to confirm whether or not the Chinese are actually outfitting shipping containers for mass troop transports?”
Her face relaxed as it became clear what the conversation was about. “Sir, we’re working on that. As you know, we’ve struggled with our human intelligence sources in China over the past seven years…”
Seeing the look of curiosity on David’s face, Susan said, “The Chinese government cracked several of our networks in 2010. It was a very dark time for the Chinese desks. They began losing agents left and right. Over a dozen CIA sources were killed. One of our assets was shot in a public square in front of the government building where he worked. They made his colleagues watch. It was a message for the others. That was in 2012. It made the New York Times. You might have read about it.”
“What happened? How—”
“There was a mole. At least one. That, coupled with some pretty sophisticated hacking into government databases, allowed them to piece together who our operatives over there were. From there, they did what any good intelligence agency does. They began surveilling all our operatives. Laying traps. Tracking who they spoke to and where they went. As some of our assets were taken prisoner, they began giving up information. Once enough of the puzzle is clear, it becomes easier for them. We still haven’t fully recovered, David.”
General Schwartz said, “Susan, I sympathize with the challenges you’ve faced. But we may not have a lot of time. So, what do we need to confirm some of these leading indicators that your team is starting to uncover? Particularly with respect to the shipping containers.”
Susan said, “We have sources that may be able to help us with this. But we still need to find a solution to our other problem.”
David frowned. “What other problem?”
The general and Susan glanced at each other. General Schwartz nodded, and Susan motioned them into one of the soundproof huddle rooms, closing the door behind them. She looked at David. “We have HUMINT that suggests Jinshan has a covert military training facility a few hundred miles north of Liaodong Bay.”