Threat Vector

“Mr. President, there is a secret operation of which you are not aware.”

Wei raised a narrow eyebrow behind his teacup. “I should hope there are many secret operations of which I am not aware.”

Su smiled. “Indeed. But this one, in particular, will be crucial to the realization of your goals. I only need to give one order and we will begin, slowly at first, and with great care that no positive attribution will be made to China, to damage the United States’ ability to defeat us. We will send them off against other enemies, have them concentrate on issues at home that will require their focus and resources, and we can push our endeavors here in our region to the back of their consciousness.”

Wei said, “That is a remarkable boast, Chairman Su.”

Su considered Wei’s comment before saying, “I don’t make it lightly. We will strike many small cuts against the body, barely scratches to a giant like America. But the scratches will bleed, I promise you that. And the giant will weaken.”

“And they will not know it is we who are weakening them?”

“We will be an invisible army. America will not know they have been taken out at the knees by the PLA.”

“It sounds too good to be true.”

Su nodded slowly. “There will be setbacks, failures of a tactical nature. No battle plan goes off without problems. But strategically we will succeed. I stake my reputation on this.”

Wei straightened in his chair. “As the leader of our military forces, comrade, you will have to.”

Su smiled. “I understand. But the infrastructure is in place, and we should exploit our advantage while we have it. The need is great. Our capability is great.”

Wei was taken aback that Su was, clearly, asking for the authority to implement the opening moves of the conflict at this moment. He wavered momentarily. “The same thing was said by our predecessors. Shortly before the war with Russia.”

The chairman nodded gravely. “I know. And I cannot counter your comment in any way, except to remind you that there is one great difference between then and now.”

“And what is that?”

“Seven years ago our predecessors underestimated Jack Ryan.”

Wei leaned back in the chair now, gazing at the ceiling for several seconds before chuckling without real mirth. “We certainly will not make that mistake.”

“No. We will not. And if you agree to sanction me to initiate our opening moves, there is one more thing I would like you to consider. I have been speaking about the need to act in the South China Sea to protect our core interests for years. I am known, above everything else I have ever said or done, as the man who wants to take back the territory for China. If we begin our movements without your speaking out, I fear some in the West will feel these actions have been set in motion by me without your consent.”

Su leaned forward, and in a friendly, imploring tone he said, “I do not want you to be marginalized. I think you should speak out strongly. Show the world you are in command.”

Wei said, “I agree. I will speak out about our core interests in the South China Sea.”

Su was pleased by this. He smiled. “So, let’s be clear. You are authorizing my initial military actions?”

“Very well. You do what you think is best. You have my blessing to initiate initial preparations. But I warn you now, Chairman, that if this plot of yours is uncovered, and this threatens our enterprise, then I will ask you to cease your operation immediately.”

Su fully expected such a lukewarm sanction. “Thank you. The actions we begin now will soften the enemy’s blows if hostilities ensue later. You can rest easy knowing that your decision tonight has helped our endeavor greatly.”

Wei Zhen Lin just nodded.

Su left the meeting knowing good and well that Wei Zhen Lin had no idea what he had just authorized.

* * *

Chairman Su was back in his office twenty minutes later. He’d asked Xia, his two-star adjutant, to personally put a call through for him, and when Xia leaned in through the doorway and said, “He’s on the phone,” the big chairman nodded curtly and waved his adjutant back out the door with his fingertips.

When the door shut, Su lifted the phone to his ear. “Good evening, Doctor.”

“Good evening, Comrade Chairman.”

“I have important news. This call serves to initiate your sanction authorizing Operation Earth Shadow.”

“Very well.”

“When will you begin?”

“Physical assets are in place, as you requested, so action will begin immediately. Once these are completed, in a week, two weeks at most, we will begin cyberkinetic operations. Things will proceed very quickly after that.”

“I understand. And how are the preparations for Operation Sun Fire?”

There was no pause. “Preparations will be complete as soon as we receive a shipment of hardware on the way from Shenzhen, and bring it online. In ten days we will be ready. I await your orders.”

“And I await mine.”

“Comrade Chairman?”

“Yes, Doctor?”

“I feel it my duty to remind you, once again, that key aspects of Earth Shadow, once initialized, are beyond my capability to rescind.”

Chairman Su Ke Qiang smiled into the phone. “Doctor… I am relying on our inability to reverse course once Earth Shadow begins. Civilian leadership has sanctioned us to tip the first domino in the row as if we can simply stop the momentum before the second and third dominoes fall. The will of our president is strong at the moment, here before the onset of adversity. If he wavers under pressure, I will stress to him that the only way is forward.”

“Yes, Comrade Chairman.”

“You have your orders, Doctor. Do not expect to hear from me again until I contact you with sanction to initiate Sun Fire.”

“I will continue to report through channels.”

“I wish you fortune,” Su said.

“Shi-shi.” Thank you.

The phone went dead in Chairman Su’s hand, and he looked at it with a chuckle before placing it back in its cradle.

Center was not one for small talk.

FIFTEEN

Silicon Valley is home to Intel and Apple and Google and Oracle and dozens of other major technology companies. In support of these firms, hundreds if not thousands of smaller businesses have sprung up in the area in the past twenty years.

Menlo Park, California, is in the Valley, just north of Palo Alto, and its office buildings and business parks house hundreds of high-tech start-ups.

In a midsized complex on Ravenswood Drive, just up the road from mega-tech research firm SRI, a sign on a glass door reads Adaptive Data Security Consultants. Below this, the sign claimed the company shared the same daytime hours of operation as all the other small tech start-ups that shared the business park. But the night security officer who drove by the business in his golf cart at four a.m. was not surprised to find several cars in the lot that had been there since his shift started six hours earlier.

The principals of ADSC, Lance Boulder and Ken Farmer, were well accustomed to working long hours. It came with the territory.

Lance and Ken had grown up next door to each other in San Francisco, and they all but lived on their computers in the early days of the Internet. By the time they were twelve the boys were building machines and