Tiger's Claw: A Novel

THE WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM, WASHINGTON, D.C.

THAT SAME TIME

“What the hell happened?” President Ken Phoenix asked as he strode into the Situation Room. “What do you have, Bill?”

“Two formations of twelve Chinese H-6 bombers, consisting of four aerial refueling tankers and eight cruise- missile-carrying bombers, attacked Andesen Air Force Base on the island of Guam,” National Security Adviser William Glenbrook said. He motioned to the large wall-sized electronic chart. “The bombers were accompanied by eight J-20 advanced fifth-generation fighters that shot down two F-22 Raptors and an E-3 Sentry radar plane.”

“What?” the president exclaimed. “My God . . . !”

“The bombers then launched supersonic cruise missiles believed to be AS-17s from a range of about five hundred miles,” Glenbrook went on. He looked directly at the president, reading the unspoken question in his face. “The cruise missiles were not nuclear tipped, Mr. President, but they destroyed the air base’s command center, fuel storage, electrical grid, put one runway out of commission, and destroyed or damaged a half-dozen aircraft on the ground. The air-to-air missile-armed bombers, fighters, and the Patriot missile batteries installed on Guam probably kept the losses down significantly, but the air base is definitely crippled. We are investigating to see if there’s been any damage to other airfields in the vicinity.”

“Jesus,” Phoenix breathed. Then he said decisively, “Go to DEFCON Two.” DEFCON Two was just two steps away from going to all-out nuclear war: it instructed units to load all nuclear-capable aircraft and ships with nuclear weapons, deploy and disperse assets to alternate operating bases, man command centers and emergency reconstitution sites, increase security at all bases to a wartime posture, and move key military and government personnel and equipment to remote locations to be able to operate in case of attack.

“Secretary Hayes has authenticated the order, and we are at DEFCON Two,” Glenbrook reported a few minutes later. “He is en route to Andrews right now to board the E-4.” The E-4B was the National Airborne Operations Center, or NAOC, a modified Boeing 747–200 loaded with extensive communications and control equipment to be able to direct U.S. forces worldwide in case ground-based command centers were destroyed or rendered ineffective. Formerly based at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska before the base was destroyed by a Russian cruise missile, the four E-4B aircraft were dispersed and moved to other bases around the United States following the American Holocaust; one was always based in the Washington, D.C., area for use by the president, vice president, or secretary of defense. “The vice president is en route to Site-R.” Site-R was the Raven Rock Military Complex, an underground communications and alternate command center in Pennsylvania just a few miles north of Camp David, Maryland.

“How in the hell did those bombers get within range of Guam?” the president asked. “Didn’t we have air patrols up?”

“The Chinese bombers were intercepted by two F-22 Raptor fighters when they were six hundred miles away from Guam,” Glenbrook went on. “While they were making visual identification, they were jumped by the J-20 fighters. Several Chinese fighters were shot down, but our guys were simply outnumbered. They blew past the Raptors and took down the AWACS radar plane, and at that point the Chinese fighters had the advantage. The J-20 is probably equal to the Raptor in every way.”

“Did any of our planes survive?”

“Yes, sir,” Glenbrook replied. “Initial reports say we still have one B-2A Spirit stealth bomber, one B-52H Stratofortress bomber, one B-1B Lancer bomber, five XB-1 Excalibur bombers, two F-22A Raptors, two F-15 Eagles, and four tankers,” Glenbrook said.

The president’s mouth dropped open in complete shock. “You . . . you mean . . . that’s it?” he asked.

“Those are all the long-range strike and air defense aircraft we have in the entire western Pacific theater, sir,” Glenbrook said. “We have a handful of F-22s and F-15s still in Hawaii, another handful in Alaska, and the six XB-1 bombers are preparing for deployment in Nevada. Sir, under DEFCON Two, I suggest moving the Nimitz carrier strike group west of Hawaii. The Chinese crippled Guam—Honolulu could be next.”

“Honolulu!” the president exclaimed. “No way in hell I’m allowing any planes to get within cruise missile range of Honolulu!”

“What do you want to do, sir?” Glenbrook asked.

“What are our options?” the president asked. “Where are the carriers?”

“The closest one available is the Ford, currently in the Java Sea,” Glenbrook said, referring to information on his tablet computer. “The Nimitz is in the western Pacific, but you ordered it back to assist in the defense of the Hawaiian islands. Two Ohio-class ballistic missile subs are also in the western Pacific.”

Glenbrook stopped, and the president’s eyes widened in shock. “That’s it?”

“With the threat from China after they released that nuclear depth charge, we didn’t dare send any carriers or subs into the South China Sea,” Glenbrook said. “The bombers on Guam were the only other force we put together other than the few fighters we have deployed in Japan and Korea, and even they were there just as a show of force.”

“Now we don’t even have that,” the president said. He looked at Glenbrook in astonishment. “Are you saying that the only option we have right now is . . . an attack with sea-launched ballistic nuclear missiles?”

“Unless we send in the Pacific carriers, sir,” Glenbrook said. “But we’d have to send them in within a few hundred miles of shore, well within the range of their antiship ballistic missiles and supersonic cruise missiles. They could get overwhelmed. And if we lost even one carrier, the loss of life would be tremendous—almost double that of 9/11.”

“My God,” Phoenix said. “I’m actually going to have to consider a nuclear attack on China.” He thought for a moment. “How about limited attacks on targets far from population centers?”

“We have contingency plans available for small-yield nuclear missile attacks on isolated targets in China— long-range radar installations, mobile ballistic missile launch pads, nuclear weapon storage facilities, coal mines, oil fields, that sort of thing,” Glenbrook said. “General Conaway can brief you on those. But I think the better option would be to attack their ballistic missile submarine bases and land-based ICBM silos to minimize the threat to the United States, and then deal with the mobile nuclear missiles as best we can. We would have to coordinate those plans with our Pacific allies—they’re more vulnerable to mobile missiles than we are.” He paused, then added, “There are two more options.”

“What are they?”

“The first: threaten to attack and destroy their cities,” Glenbrook said.

“That’s insane—they know I would never do that unless the United States was attacked with nuclear weapons,” the president said. “What’s the other option?”

“Agree to terms,” Glenbrook said. “No military forces in the South China Sea. China has complete and unfettered control. We don’t interfere with their domination and control of the islands or resources in the South China Sea, what they call the first island chain.”

“What the hell does that give us, Bill?”

“Time,” Glenbrook said. “Time to rebuild our naval, long-range air, and space forces.”

“It sounds like surrender to me, Bill.”

“We have few options, sir,” Glenbrook said. “Either we use our strategic nuclear forces to destroy China’s ability to attack us and our allies with nuclear weapons . . . or we bargain for terms.”

“And hope they don’t attack us anyway,” the president said. “Schedule a meeting with the national security staff right away. I need everyone’s input on this.”

EASTERN CHINA, NEAR MACAU

ALMOST TWO HOURS LATER