o’clock position. “Left turn to one-six-zero, Rebecca, let’s get away from that SA-6 that just popped up! Use afterburners if you need to.”
“C’mon, Long Dong, fire up one of those things and let ’em have it!” Rinc shouted. John Long activated the laser radar, and the positions of the mobile 27-millimeter and 57-millimeter guns around Fortress One appeared. Rinc turned toward the nest of antiaircraft artillery while John selected three of the road-mobile artillery units, with the mobile SA-6 launcher as the final impact target, and launched one Wolverine missile. Less than a minute later two antiaircraft artillery units were destroyed, pierced through and through with deadly molten copper, and a mobile SA-6 surface-to-air missile launcher was burning fiercely.
“You’re out of there, Rebecca,” Patrick ordered. “Fly heading zero-eight-five, climb to one-niner thousand, vectors to the
“I’m rejoining on her,” Rinc said.
“Negative. We need you back on patrol, Rinc…”
“I said,
A few minutes later Rinc eased his Megafortress bomber in tight to Rebecca’s left wing. “How does it look?” she radioed. “I still feel a vibration. Feels like it’s coming from that side. Roll control is sluggish too.”
“It looks like shit, Go-Fast,” John Long said, studying the bomber through a set of night-vision goggles. “A spoiler looks like it’s partially up or bent up, and you have a section of flap sticking through the wing gap seal. You might want to consider landing at a longer runway than Adak — you’ll be doing a thirty-four-degree wing sweep no- flap no-slat approach with three engines.”
“We’re already getting Kadena cleared for recovery,” Patrick radioed. “Twelve thousand feet usable. It’s supposed to be closed to attack aircraft, but I don’t give a shit — we’re landing there anyway. If we have to, we’ll —”
“Hey — do you guys see what I see?” Nancy Cheshire radioed. “What are those tanks doing down there?”
“Holy shit — it looks like they’re turning around!” Dave Luger aboard Fortress Two said gleefully. “Those Chinese tanks are heading north again! Genesis, you see this? Are you seeing this?”
“That’s a big roger, Fortress Two,” Terrill Samson said happily. “I’m on the phone to Washington right now. I see them pulling back all across northern Korea.”
“The mobile search radars are down too,” John Long verified. “Looks like they pulled in their claws. Man, this is incredible. They… wait. I’ve got a fighter radar up… India-band ‘Flash Dance’ radar… Shit! They’re MiG-31 Foxhounds! Two of ’em!” The Russian-designed MiG-31 Foxhound was one of the fastest and most deadly interceptors in the world, designed from the outset to destroy low-flying supersonic bombers and cruise missiles. “The war seems to be over — but it looks like someone forgot to tell the fighters!”
Sir, what do you mean, no one can get hold of the Korean leadership?” Lieutenant General Terrill Samson thundered. “You mean we can’t talk to anyone in the Korean military chain of command?”
“Terrill, we can’t talk to anyone in a leadership position in Korea at all,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Balboa said. “All communications have been cut off to their command center — they sealed it up tight, full EMP, nuclear and bio-chem protection. And when we contact the Blue House or someone in the capital, everyone’s mum. No one will talk to us.”
“Sir, it’s confirmed — the Chinese are pulling out of Korea,” Samson said. “We need confirmation from President Kwon that he has his finger off the red button and that he’s not going to try any more retaliatory strikes against Chinese forces as they’re retreating.”
“We’re trying our best, General,” Balboa said. “I suggest you get your people out of there fast. If the Chinese see you up there, they’re likely to think you’re part of a Korean counterstrike. You’d better… Stand by one.” The line went quiet for several long moments; then: “More shit hitting the fan, General. President Kwon and Vice President Pak were found dead in the president’s office.”
“What?”
“Looks like some kind of murder-suicide thing,” Balboa said. “And it looks like the execution codes for Korea’s nuclear missiles may have been compromised. Aides found the code briefcase open, the president’s decoding card filled out, and the right execution card retrieved from the briefcase. They checked the phone log and found that Pak called the Osan command center shortly before the MCRC went off the air.”
“That means that whoever’s in charge at the Osan command center has one-half of the execution codes,” Samson said. “If the minister of defense is at Osan too, then he has the other half — and they can launch fully prearmed nuclear weapons anytime they want.”
“Looks like the balloon’s going up any minute, General,” Balboa said grimly. “Are your people in place over the peninsula?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Well, let’s hope to God your plan works and they can stop any missiles Kim wants to cook off,” Balboa said. “I better notify the President. Balboa out.”
Terrill Samson hung up the phone, deep in thought. What in hell was going on out there? Would Minister of National Defense Kim actually launch a nuclear attack against China?
Well, Samson thought, I wonder if anyone tried the direct approach. If only hard-wired communications were going through, why not try a simple phone call? The Osan Master Control and Reporting Center used to be a joint American and Korean facility, so I must have the phone number for it somewhere. He started a computer phone directory search, and sure enough found the number. The Defense Satellite Network number did not work — that was pure digital, vulnerable to EMP, or electromagnetic pulse, the damaging surge of energy during a nuclear blast — but when he tried the commercial number, a man answered in Korean.
“I want to speak with the senior controller,” Samson said.
The same man switched from Korean to English without hesitation: “Who is this? How did you get this number?”
“This is Lieutenant General Terrill Samson, United States Air Force, calling from Elliott Air Force Base in Nevada. I want to talk with the senior controller on duty right away.”
“Communications are restricted. The facility is under full combat conditions.”
“I know. I have spoken with Washington and with Seoul. You have sealed off the Master Control and Reporting Center even though the Chinese forces are pulling back. I want to know why.”
“Pulling back?” the man said with obvious surprise. “The Chinese are pulling back?”
“All of them, as we speak. You didn’t know?” There was no response. “Who is the senior controller?” Samson racked his brain for a name. “Colonel Sung Hye-gu was on duty just after reunification — I would like to talk with him. Or General An, or General Kim, if they’re on duty. It’s urgent.”
“This is Colonel Sung,” the man said. “I remember you now, sir. You are the black general they call Earthmover. I did not recognize the name of your base.”
“Colonel, what is going on out there?”
“General Kim cannot speak,” the man said. A few moments later he added, “The Chinese are withdrawing? Full withdrawal?”
“As far as my reconnaissance assets tell me, yes — full withdrawal,” Samson said. “Do you require authentication? Do you need me to send you proof? Tell me what I need to do to convince you, Colonel.”
“Sir… General, Minister of National Defense Kim has ordered a full missile attack on China,” Colonel Sung said.
“A
“A full nuclear and chemical attack,” Sung repeated. “Targets in China — including Beijing. He received full authorization from President Kwon — rather, from Vice President Pak…”
“President Kwon and Vice President Pak are
