The Elephant Game Read online

  “Yeah. I’m with you. We’ve had discussions about that. But so far, the information he’s given us has checked out. So he appears to be a reliable source. And those are getting hard to come by.”

  Chase said, “Anywhere I can shower around here while we’re waiting?”

  “Yeah, actually. There are locker rooms in the back of the hangar. We threw your stuff in one of them. It’s unlocked, but it has your name on it.”

  “Awesome. Thanks, man. I’ll be right back.”

  Chase hit the showers and was back in ten minutes. He was still exhausted but felt a million times better after getting two weeks’ worth of dirt and grime off him. He went back through security and reentered the secure CIA trailer.

  “They just sent me an email,” Tetsuo said. “They’re calling us back now.”

  The light on the phone flickered and the words “call connecting” appeared on the digital readout. Then Susan’s voice. “Chase, Tetsuo, it was an audio recording. GIANT recorded himself speaking for the first five minutes, and then he recorded a conversation between him and what we assume were some of the officers at the camp. We just had it translated, and our analysts are all in agreement. They were training special operations teams to come to America. Some type of strategic attack with mortars. We aren’t sure what the target was.”

  Chase said, “We saw those teams training. But they left the base just before GIANT arrived.”

  Susan said, “That was two days ago, correct?”

  “Correct. That’s when they started leaving. They all left over the past forty-eight hours.”

  “Then we should assume that they are all about to enter the United States, if they aren’t here already. We’ve alerted the FBI and Homeland Security to be on the lookout for groups of people entering the country that match their description.”

  General Schwartz spoke up. “Gentlemen, regarding GIANT’s warning that the attacks are imminent, and the idea that the Chinese would attack Guam and Hawaii in a first strike—we were discussing that here, and we just don’t see it. There aren’t any obvious PLA Navy movements towards Hawaii or Guam. The only thing we have is a group of missing merchant ships, but we expect them to be located shortly.”

  “Don’t forget the carrier group…”

  “True, but the carrier group is still near the Philippines.”

  “That’s correct.”

  Chase felt like they were thinking out loud as they spoke. He also got the distinct feeling that they were panicked. That they felt like they were behind the eight ball. Which they very well might be.

  General Schwartz continued, “That being said, if one or both of those locations—Guam and Hawaii—were to fall to the Chinese, that could be devastating to America’s long-term success in a Pacific war. Both of those islands are of tremendous strategic importance. If they fell, it would be extremely difficult to support Western Pacific operations with air assets, given Korea and Japan’s close proximity to China.”

  Susan said, “Tetsuo, you’ve been asking Natesh to get an update on the position of the special Chinese merchant ships. Any progress there?”

  “I was due to meet with him tomorrow night.”

  “We need that information now. Our thinking here is that whatever is on those merchants must be related to an initial attack. Office of Naval Intelligence has told us that Chinese submarine activity has picked up in a big way. But it’s those merchants that we’re concerned about. Without satellite tracking, we need a way to locate them. Please get back to Japan. Contact Natesh, find out if he—”

  The call went dead, and the lights in the trailer went out.

  “What the hell?”

  “Who turned the lights out?”

  Chase heard a series of dull rumbles in the distance. Explosions.

  The Chinese military has many islands in the Pacific—most notably the Spratley Islands, which have been developed from mere sandbars into static ocean-based military bases, complete with radars, air defense missiles, and surface-to-surface missile batteries. They also contain runways and fuel that can extend the range of land-based fighters and other military aircraft.

  Several Chinese military bases, such as the submarine base at Yulin, and the Red Cell Island, had giant reinforced caverns that would shield ships and submarines from attack. The Yongning Air Base contained dozens of man-made caves that were used to shield fighters and bombers. These caves weren’t just meant to protect against enemy bombs. They were designed to shield the PLA military assets from electromagnetic pulse weapons. Chinese-launched electromagnetic pulse weapons.

  Those EMPs had just been launched.

  Bursts of bright amber-white light were visible, even in daylight. But the EMP detonations went unseen by PLA eyes. Chinese soldiers, sailors, and airmen were underground and indoors, as ordered. They were making ready their weapons of war.

  Soon after the great pulses of energy dispersed, disabling and disarming millions of electronic devices over the Western Pacific theater, the Chinese protective bunker doors opened, and their warriors began marching into battle.

  Chinese unit commanders had been given clear instructions that morning. Prepare all units for EMP attack at exactly noon local time. Then, thirty minutes after the EMP detonation hundreds of miles above the earth, they were to begin deploying forces and attack all units not designated friendly.

  Preplanned attacks were put into motion. Missiles began streaking towards military targets and utility nodes in Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan. Diplomats shot preapproved messages to nations around the world, which were designed to influence the political chess match in China’s favor. Cyberattacks took down electrical grids and communications networks.

  On the Red Cell Island, the giant coastal cave door opened. Within the hour, several warships emerged, switching on their radar and searching for prey.

  On the Spratley Island military bases, which were unable to shelter underground, various preparations for the EMP attack had been made. Extra protection and coverings for their electronics. Quick checks that all systems were still operational. Then the radars were switched back on. Soon after, their missiles began firing off the rails at all unknown surface and air contacts. Aircraft were being shot out of the sky. Some were commercial jetliners, others were American fighters. But in war, expediency and effectiveness couldn’t be sacrificed in the name of morality.

  Dozens of Taiwanese, American, Korean, and Japanese ships were within range of PLA missiles. Central planning and coordination had taken months, with most of it conducted on the island. The Red Cell’s input had been taken and used to improve the Chinese attack plans. But in truth, this was the masterpiece of only one man: Cheng Jinshan.

  His goal for the opening round was to make thick the fog of war and use it as cover to take control of the Pacific.

  28

  Lena stood next to Admiral Song in the island’s control center. The admiral sat in what would best be described as a captain’s chair, elevated and in the rear of the dark command and control room. The duty officer didn’t need the chair. He was too busy.

  The interior of the island’s mountain base was aflutter with Chinese soldiers and intelligence officers scurrying about. There was a buzz in the air like Lena had never felt before. The electric feeling of an epic conquest beginning.

  “Ten minutes to the North American EMP detonation,” said one of the men monitoring his computer screen. The man spoke calmly into his thin headset, blue light reflecting on his face. His voice was broadcast throughout the room for all to hear.

  Another person said, “Sir, the Americans have activated their emergency warning alert notification—a national broadcast.”

  Lena knew that this description wasn’t accurate. The Americans hadn’t activated their emergency alert system. They couldn’t. Not right now. Chinese cyberwarriors from the elite Third Department had seized control of it an hour before the attacks had begun.

  A stroke of brilliant espionage and years of careful planning went into
that operation. It required penetration of the Federal Communications Commission, FEMA, and many of the contractors whom they hired. But now, China would reap the rewards, as they controlled the Americans’ own emergency alert system—at least for the time being. This gave them a window of opportunity to control the message.

  The duty officer nodded. He looked behind at Lena and the admiral. “Our overlay to the emergency warning alert has been activated. The US national news stations have just received notification that the president of the United States will be addressing them shortly.”

  Lena knew that the real POTUS had done no such thing. With any luck, he was asleep in his bed. Or perhaps he had just been alerted to the beginnings of the attack.

  Admiral Song said, “Understood. When will our video clip air?”

  A woman looked up from her computer station. “Immediately, sir.”

  This was the most delicate part. Would the faux video footage of the American president be believable? Or would people suspect that it was doctored? It was a point of contention among the planners. Lena doubted that, in the madness that must be unfolding across the United States, many people would be able to tell that the man they were seeing on screen was only an actor.

  The CGI alone had been incredibly expensive and complicated. Operatives had acted out the scene several months earlier in a specially made room. Then two trusted agents from one of Jinshan’s media companies had edited the footage and changed the words.

  Jinshan’s inner circle of planners had argued back and forth in their strategy sessions about whether the Americans actually would respond with a nuclear weapon launch on North Korea. Perhaps the Chinese didn’t need to rig it, so to speak.

  Jinshan had disagreed.

  This part of the plans couldn’t be left to chance. Ever the master of political calculus and human psychology, Jinshan needed the American response to be disproportionate and inflammatory. The balance of power must be in his favor. And for that to be achieved, the United States must be portrayed as belligerent militaristic killers. Chinese-launched EMPs were now in flight. Soon, the real blackout began, and no one would get any other information to the contrary…until it was too late.

  “The American presidential address video is running live on all major American TV networks.”

  Lena said, “All of them?” This was an indicator of whether the cyberwarriors had fully achieved their objective.

  “Yes, they all took the bait.”

  “Excellent.” Everything was going according to script.

  Chinese cyberoperations teams and intelligence agents had spent months studying the exact method of communication between US federal agencies and the TV networks. The FCC and Department of Homeland Security had secure procedures and verification steps for this kind of thing. Encryption. Passwords. But the encryption had been easily broken by members of China’s Third Department of the People’s Liberation Army’s General Staff Department—otherwise known as 3PLA. The Chinese equivalent of the NSA. Other intelligence operatives had uncovered a process to get the video signal uplinked to the news networks in a way that made it look like it was being live-streamed from the White House.

  It was a complex deception, but it had worked. Now three hundred million Americans watched as their president told them on live TV that their nation was under nuclear attack from North Korea—and that the United States had responded in kind. That was the key. Once the world believed that the US had launched nuclear weapons on North Korea, the American political leverage would plunge. The tectonic plates of world diplomacy would shift, and the US would lose out in the realignment.

  “Five minutes until the EMP device detonation.”

  People in the room looked up nervously at the ceiling. Some of the EMP detonations would be overhead, hundreds of miles up. They weren’t in danger—that was what the nuclear scientists and weapons experts had said—but it was still a frightening thought. Nuclear detonations. Hundreds of miles overhead. They were shielded from the EMP effects in here, in the bunker built in to the island’s mountain. In the cavernous underground shipyard, several destroyers waited. The submarines were already underway, protected by a thousand feet of blue ocean.

  Admiral Song got up and hobbled over to the corner of the room. He would need to leave soon after this. “Play the audio please,” he said.

  On the monitors, the masquerade began.

  “My fellow Americans, our nation has come under attack. At one o’clock a.m. Eastern time, NORAD detected signs consistent with multiple ballistic missile launches originating from North Korea. While North Korea has conducted previous tests, these missiles continue to head east. As we realized that these missiles were headed towards the United States, we responded. Our ballistic missile defense was able to destroy many, but not all of these North Korean missiles.

  “Moments ago, after conferring with the National Security Advisor, the Director of National Intelligence, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, I have ordered a swift and proportionate response. The United States of America will not stand idly by while madmen plot treachery against our free and peace-loving nation.

  “Due to the serious nature of the exchange between the United States and North Korea, the Department of Homeland Security has put out an alert urging all citizens to remain in their homes for the next twenty-four hours in order to decrease the potential impact of a retaliatory strike. We will put out more information over the next twenty-four hours.

  “I urge all Americans to remain calm but alert. I assure you that we are taking every possible step to ensure the safety and security of the American people. We…”

  Then Secret Service agents rushed into view of the camera, stealing the president away. The president yelled in confusion, and then the monitor switched to show the presidential seal, with a dark blue background. The show was over.

  Lena knew that the part with the protective detail had been difficult to get right. Jinshan’s producers had had to shoot that footage five times before they could be sure that the faces of the men in suits weren’t in the frame. It made the editing process easier. It would have been suspicious if both Secret Service agents were seen to be of Asian descent.

  The Americans would be thrown into chaos.

  The last thing they viewed before the lights went out in their homes would be a disinformation campaign, designed to look like their own president had just launched a nuclear attack.

  Then their world would go dark.

  Several EMP weapons were now being deployed over major US cities. Most of them were being launched from submarines off the American coastline. Some of the EMP weapons were space-based, sitting dormant in satellites until the Chinese execute order was sent. Both methods gave the Americans almost no time to react.

  A dozen nuclear detonations would soon be going off in outer space, at locations spread out over the United States.

  Lena turned to the PLAN officer who was the liaison for Naval Operations. “What is the status of the submarine missile launches?”

  The PLAN officer responded, “They are underway now, Ms. Chou.”

  “All of your vessels are away from the EMP impact zone?”

  “Except for the ones identified to be in the zone, yes.”

  Admiral Song said, “What is the status of the American submarine cable operation?”

  The PLAN officer turned to his computer screen and typed. “Getting an update now.”

  Lena thought of Cheng Jinshan and how he must be feeling right now. His decades of work were finally being realized. She knew that he was not well. How tired he had looked during their last meeting. Everyone could see that his health was failing him now, but no one dared to ask him specifics.

  Still, there was another nagging feeling about Jinshan that Lena was holding inside. That girl. President Wu’s daughter. She had seen herself in that poor child’s eyes. Jinshan had ordered her execution. Had that really been necessary? It was one of the first times that she could remember that her penchant for
violence hadn’t flared. She had wanted to protect the girl, but had instead followed orders.

  She didn’t feel guilty. Just…what was it? Anger? Anger at Jinshan and the other men who commanded her. Anger at her father for letting her go, all those years ago. She still hadn’t seen or spoken to him. She knew what had motivated her father. She’d seen it when she was a girl but hadn’t understood it then. General Chen was a narcissist. Jinshan wasn’t like him. But both of them were more than willing to sacrifice innocents in the name of progress.

  Lena had thought she was the same. But killing the girl had planted a seed of doubt in her mind. In that flash of gunfire and blood, she had snapped out of her spell. She hadn’t felt her needs since that day, although it had only been a short time. But still…the thirst for killing came in frequent waves of intensity. She had always satisfied it through her work, when she could, and used her skills of deception to hide her violent output when she couldn’t.

  Now she was being told to finish off Natesh. How would she feel when that moment came? Standing in front of him with a cold blade or a silenced pistol? Would she finish him off, as Jinshan commanded? Would she feel the bloodlust well up in her bosom, as it always had? Or was her curse finally broken?

  She wouldn’t know until the time came.

  Lena looked up at the tactical display showing the Western Pacific theater. The naval battles had begun. Getting to Japan would be near suicidal during this missile storm. But she felt no instinct of fear. If her personal jet was shot down, so be it. Let fate decide.

  Admiral Song got up from his chair next to her. “I must go. Good luck, Miss Chou.”

  She nodded to him. “Thank you, Admiral. Good hunting.”

  He left through the door. She thought about how much respect these senior admirals and generals now showed her. It was all because of Jinshan, she knew.

  Jinshan and Lena had grown close over the past decade, since he had recruited her. He was her handler and mentor, although one she had rarely seen in person. Sometimes it would be a year or more between their conversations. Cheng Jinshan was a billionaire business owner and a major player in the Chinese intelligence community. His success in each of those worlds only increased his success in the other. Jinshan’s business influence and financial backing allowed him to influence Chinese politicians. Initially his business career had begun as a cover for his actual role in the Chinese intelligence apparatus. Then it had become too big for anyone to stop.