Captain Winthrop’s father had died in the terrorist attack of 2037 on Silicon Valley in California. Ever since that day, Winthrop had burned for revenge against the Chinese. He wanted them to taste their own medicine. If he had to die to do his part, to stand on the ramparts as the Chinese tried to take down America—
“Three minutes and counting, Captain.”
“Two minutes and counting, Captain.”
“Do you have to do that?” Warrant Officer Stevens asked.
Captain Winthrop stood up and took a step to Stevens, putting a hand on the man’s shoulder and patting it several times.
Stevens looked up at him. The warrant officer was nervous, with a sheen of perspiration on his face. “I’m okay, sir.”
“America rose up to greatness because enough people loved their country to die for her,” Winthrop said. “I love America and I’m going to fight to keep her ours.”
“Aye, aye, Captain,” Stevens whispered. If anything, he looked more scared, not less.
“We’re doing it, mister. We’re doing our duty.”
“Thirty seconds and counting, Captain.”
For a moment, Captain Winthrop’s eyes blurred. They cleared almost right away. He moved back to his chair and sat down.
“Ten seconds and counting, Captain.”
“You’re good sailors, gentlemen. It has been a thorough pleasure serving with you.”
“Three…two…one…”
“Bring us topside, Ensign,” Captain Winthrop said.
The USS
It was dark, although lights shined in Santa Cruz. Big Chinese troopships unloaded day and night. Some naval infantry rested in vacated homes, others already marched for the front. A mountain of supplies had gathered on the port’s quays and docks. Trucks ground their gears as they started the journey for hungry soldiers at the front.
Many of the troopships still brimmed with personnel, awaiting their opportunity to dock.
In the midst of this activity, an alert finally reached the port commander. The Americans were attacking with missiles, long-range artillery, everything they could use.
Three minutes later, the lights began to go out in Santa Cruz. Even before that, counter-missiles sought out the American launch sites. Missiles also lofted from Chinese cruisers, while farther out at sea, the carriers’ UCAVs catapulted into the air.
Meanwhile, two Tomahawk cruise missiles closed in on Santa Cruz and the Chinese ships offshore.
The Tomahawk was an old-style cruise missile, first introduced in 1970. Since then it had undergone many modifications. It was a medium-to-long-range, low-altitude missile, subsonic and jet powered. With a booster, it weighed 3500 pounds and was twenty feet, six inches long. Instead of the conventional 1000-pound munitions, each of these carried a W80 nuclear device.
Only two Tomahawks roared over the water. The third cruise missile had gone off course and plunged into the water. So far, the third, off-course missile had not exploded.
The two Tomahawks automatically provided the Chinese IFF signals. The other American missiles had NOT used the code. The thought was it would make the nuclear weapons a greater surprise and possibility they could do this without the Chinese ever knowing they had used the IFF code. In that way, they might be able to do it again. This time, the encryption key worked. The Tomahawks roared over the water, using data from multiple sensors.
Ten seconds left, and the Tomahawks bored in toward the city. At five seconds, the cruise missiles changed the direction of their flight and began to gain altitude. For the full impact of their nuclear cargo, the missiles needed height. As the troopships waited, as the last city light winked out, the Tomahawks reached target destination for a perfect airburst.
The first one ignited its W80 warhead over the port. An immense flash occurred and blast winds. Intense thermal radiation followed. The other W80 warhead created a sun-like flare of brilliance farther back and at precisely the same instant.
The twin attacks vaporized the nearest troopships and killed the naval infantry in them. They were the lucky ones who died right away instead of lingering for days with radiation poisoning. Other troopships farther away began to sink from blast and atmospheric shock damage.
Closer to Santa Cruz, a nuclear warhead tore apart docks and created an instant firestorm, devouring mountains of supplies. Next, buildings were flattened as if a mountain-sized giant had stepped on them, and greater fires started.
Most of the Chinese naval infantry resting in the city died immediately. The few who survived would wish they hadn’t in the next few hours and days.
The attack reaped a dreadful harvest of Pan Asian Alliance soldiers and it changed the course of the Battle for California.
Martha woke up as her son Saul screamed in horror. “Mama, mama, I can’t see! I can’t see! I’m blind!”
He had been awake because he had been too hungry to sleep. He’d looked at the nuclear explosion that lit the night from Santa Cruz. The intense light had been too much for his young orbs and he was blinded for life.
Among the refugees, many screamed similar words. Others saw the fireball rising into the night sky. It created a stampede of refugees, bringing even more horror.
For the next several hours after the annihilation of Santa Cruz, Chinese helicopters from the supercarrier
Captain John Winthrop used the bottom of the sea to crawl away. The
-10-
Breakout
Stan sat at a flimsy card table with his crew, beside their Behemoth tank. A huge anti-radar camouflage net flapped gently overhead to hide it from Chinese surveillance. Several sparrows rode out the motion as if they were swimmers at sea.
Stan drank a Budweiser with Jose. Nearby, a small dog barked at them from behind a white-picket fence. An old lady stood on the porch of the house, staring at the three-hundred ton monster. MPs had vetted her earlier. Her husband had fought in Iraq decades ago. She was a loyal American and had brought the tankers milk, cookies and Budweisers.
Jose was thinner now, with hollow-looking eyes. He guzzled his Budweiser with a loud sigh before wiping his lips with the back of his hand.
Before this, the Behemoth Regiment had guarded Palm Springs for almost a week. When Jose wasn’t in the tank on patrol, he was working in it, helping to keep the Behemoth running. Then movement orders had come day
