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Meanwhile, back in Zhanjiang, Admiral Zhang Yushu was almost beside himself. The first reports were coming in from Xiachuan Dao, and they were confirming every single one of his worst fears.

The jail had plainly come under heavy attack. Both helicopters had been destroyed. The patrol boat had been reduced to a hulk, and was sitting in shallow water on the jetty. The communications room had been obliterated. The guardroom had been leveled. The gates to the jail were blown off. The dormitory had been gutted, but with many civilian survivors, all of whom had been gassed. The entire Chinese guard force had been wiped out, at least six of them with their throats cut. And, needless to confirm, there was no sign of the American prisoners.

The team of Navy investigators who had now been on Xiachuan Dao for around an hour were quite shaken by the sheer brutality of the attack. And Admiral Zhang could hardly believe his ears as Admiral Zu Jicai read out the initial report from the island.

“But how many, Jicai?” the C-in-C kept repeating over and over. “How many were there? What kind of a force must it have taken to literally take out an entire armed garrison and free more than one hundred prisoners? How many were in that force? And where did they come from? How did they get there? How come we saw nothing?”

In his long career in the Navy of China, Zhang had never faced such a terrifying list of unanswered questions. He felt as though his Navy had been attacked by a phantom force, one that he could not see.

“There must have been two hundred of them, Jicai.”

“I don’t think so, sir. Because that would have meant more than three hundred of them escaping. And no one could have done that without a very sizeable boat. And that’s what they did not have, otherwise we would have seen it.”

“Well, how did they get away?”

“In the absence of a ship that could get into the jetty, and in the absence of American helicopters, I would have to say in small boats, landing craft they ran right into the shallows.”

“But why did we not see them? On radar, on the overheads?”

“Because they came a long way inshore in those submarines, Yushu. And then broke cover and ran fast for the island, just the last two or three miles, I’d say. We easily could have missed them.”

“But I ask again, Jicai. How many were they? And what kind of men were they? Devils?”

“No, sir. Not devils. They were American Special Forces, which is considerably worse.”

“How do you know this, Jicai?”

“Because even from this initial report, it bears all of their hallmarks. Total destruction of everything that posed a threat, in particular the helicopters, the patrol boat and the communications room, from where there could be signals sent back to HQ. And of course the guards, particularly those in the towers and those patrolling the inside and outside perimeters of the jail. Classic Special Forces.”

“Jicai, I do of course respect your views, and I believe you may be right. Indeed, it is hard to arrive at any other conclusion. But how did the Americans find out they were on the island?”

“That I cannot answer. Because in our vast land they could have been transported anywhere. But we know to our cost how clever the Americans are. They wear very wide smiles, but they have a tiger’s teeth. And they are completely ruthless if they are sufficiently riled.”

“You think the capture of that submarine crew was sufficient to rile them so badly that they would undertake an operation like this?”

“Yushu, I’m not at all sure they did not blow up Seawolf in Canton. So my answer is, yes. They plainly were sufficiently riled to go to extreme lengths to get that crew back. And perhaps to even more extreme lengths to make certain we did not spend much time on their precious submarine.”

“But, Jicai, the sequence of events of the last twelve hours means that I shall almost certainly be asked to resign and court-martialed for gross incompetence.”

“That, Yushu, is the downside of high command. And it may happen. However, you have many friends in very high places, and most of them would be unwilling to force you to fall on your sword, particularly since the events were entirely unpredictable. And everyone knows you have taken all reasonable care to ensure that the operation to copy the submarine was conducted in strictest secrecy. I do not think they will allow you to be disgraced.

“Because in the end it was the Americans who stepped beyond the bounds of reasonable behavior. No one could have predicted they would have reacted with measures as desperate as this. Bombing, mayhem, murder, destruction…it’s not in their character, and I will forever wonder what prompted them to such extremities.

“I do not think you will be blamed. But I am afraid we have to alert our government about the current events. And that, I’m afraid, is a task you will have to mastermind, sending the ill tidings up through the chain of command.”

“Who do you imagine knows already?”

“Sir, I am certain news of the two disasters, the submarine and the jail, is no longer strictly private. However, I do think we have to ensure that the Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Sang Ye in Beijing, is informed. And probably at the same time the Chief of the PLA, Qiao Jiyung.

“In both those instances I am happy to make the contacts, since both catastrophes occurred in areas of my command. However, I think it would be politically prudent for you to personally talk to the political commissar, and then for you to speak formally to the general secretary of the Communist Party.”

“Since he also chairs the Military Affairs Commission, perhaps I should speak to him first?”

“I think not. The political commissar will not thank you for keeping him out, and he would appreciate some well-thought political views from us. At this moment, Yushu, you need friends.”

“Perhaps my weakness is always that I lack your prudence, Jicai?”

“Yushu, you took a major step when you elected to pick a very serious fight with the USA. I know you did it for the very best of reasons. So does everyone else. We all understand the significance of a great submarine fleet. But adventures like stealing an American SSN and its crew must always be carried out at great risk.

“You embarked on the adventure driven purely by your concern for your country and your concern to arm it against its enemies in the best possible way. However, that is only one part of your task. The other is always to ensure that we do not take on an opponent when the odds are stacked against us. And in this case, every one of your advisers and your very few superiors would have agreed with your actions. Indeed, most of them did agree.

“I repeat, no one could have predicted an American reaction of this unusual severity. And I say again, I do not understand it.”

“Also, remember the diplomatic exchanges, Jicai. There was no suggestion that the United States was even concerned. And all the while they must have been planning this ruthless reprisal. I could not have known.”

“No, Yushu. You could not have known.”

“And now my only wish is to save my career. And I may not be very good at that, since I have never had to think such thoughts before…”

“Then I must ask you again: Do you really want Colonel Lee to pursue the American submarine to the ends of the earth and then sink it?”

“Jicai, I believe that changes the world for me. If at the end of it all we sink an American nuclear boat in revenge for what they have done, I can make out a good case for the courage and decisiveness of my Navy. I cannot end the mission with a whimper. We must save face and issue a warning, an international warning, that we will not be trifled with.”

“Ah, Yushu. ‘Real power comes from the barrel of a gun.’ The words of the great Mao, eh?”