10
A screen rose slowly from the middle of the table of the secure situation room. Over in the Pentagon, the Joint Chiefs turned their attention to a similar display at the front of the large secure room there.
A news clip began to play. China’s Premier Cho Lai was speaking to a crowd of over one hundred thousand packed into Tiananmen Square. His face was red, his hand motions emphatic.
His words were translated in English subtitles on the screen. Though literally correct, the translation did not quite catch the nuances of venom and racism.
Greene caught it all. His Chinese was fluent, and he needed no help in deciphering the full implication of Premier Cho Lai’s words. The message could be summed up in one word:
Though that was a word the premier never used.
“We must recover the dignity of the Chinese people, sullied too long by those inferior to us, those with despicable agendas, those with goals we cannot share,” declared Cho Lai. The premier paused to listen as the crowd erupted in applause.
Greene shook his head. Despite what his critics and late-night comics sometimes implied, the president wasn’t old enough to have heard Hider’s speeches firsthand, but he knew they sounded something like this.
“You can turn it off. Peter, review the intelligence, please,” Greene told CIA Director Peter Frost.
Frost began speaking, detailing the Chinese buildup as he had earlier for the president and national security adviser. Everyone sitting in on the briefing, both at the Pentagon and at the White House, had heard or seen at least some of the intelligence Frost reviewed. Nonetheless, the CIA director’s pithy summary placed the situation in stark relief, and to a person they seemed surprised, and deeply troubled.
“We’re looking at World War III here,” said the chief of staff, Army General Clayton Fisk. “First Vietnam, then the rest of Asia. India — they won’t stop.”
“Maybe they take the country in a few months,” said the Air Force chief, Tarn Washington. “Or maybe they get bogged down there like we did in the 1960s. Maybe they don’t even attack. The Chinese have a habit of moving troops to their borders. Look what they did at Myanmar a couple of years ago. They’re bullies, but they don’t actually want to stub their toes, let alone get bloodied.”
“The question is, how can we stop them?” said Admiral Nancy Gilead, the Navy head. “If that’s what we want to do.”
“We can’t,” said Fisk quickly. “We can’t get troops there. And frankly, the American people would never stand for it. Never.”
Secretary of State Theodore “Tad” Knox nodded his head vigorously.
“How long before they invade?” asked Fisk.
“The analysts’ best consensus is that they’re a week away, maybe two, from being in a position where they can attack,” said Frost. “It’s a guess though.”
“It could be sooner?” asked Fisk.
“Possibly.”
“With all due respect, I have to disagree,” said General Peter Shoemaker. Shoemaker headed the Army. “The Chinese are a notoriously slow-moving army. They could take months getting into position — and a half a year going over the border. Especially in western Vietnam. Their history is against them.”
“They’ve been studying Shock and Awe for years,” said Jackson.
“I’ve studied piano just as long, and I still can’t play ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb,’ “ replied Shoemaker.
No one laughed.
Frost continued his briefing. The Vietnamese seemed completely unprepared. Their defenses were situated in the northeastern portion of the country, where China had attacked in the 1970s.
The questions that followed made it clear that even if the U.S. was in a position to stop the invasion, the chiefs would be less than unanimous in support of it. They didn’t want to reward the Chinese, but Greene sensed that they would be only halfheartedly in favor of sanctions. There was more lingering resentment against the Vietnamese than he’d expected. And more admiration of the Chinese.
But he was the one making the decisions.
“I want a military plan to go with UN sanctions, if there’s an invasion,” he told them when the conversation died. “I want something with teeth. I want options.”
“They’re very limited, sir,” said Shoemaker.
“Let’s not decide that before we’ve examined it carefully.”
“Mr. President, stopping China — it’s just not possible,” said Fisk. “If they invade, we can’t stop them. And helping the Vietnamese will only make us look weaker in their eyes.”
“And why should we?” asked Washington. “We don’t owe the Vietnamese anything. Absolutely nothing.”
Washington had lost his father in the Vietnam War. But he spoke for most Americans.
“We don’t owe them anything, that’s true,” said Greene. “But this isn’t about them. We must be prepared for the worst, and we have to do what’s right.”
11
The cook had apologized that there was no rice. He had done the same the day before — and the day before that, and the week before that. The apology had become a pro forma ritual, repeated every morning. Rice was an incredibly expensive commodity, far too precious to be given to common soldiers in the field — let alone soldiers who’d been assigned to a dangerous mission outside the country and might never return.
Jing Yo couldn’t remember the last time he had had rice, except when visiting Beijing. China without rice — the very notion seemed impossible. And yet it was now a fact of life.
“Lieutenant, you are lingering when there is work to be done,” said Colonel Sun behind him.
Jing Yo rose silently, leaving his half-finished meal on his plate.
“The matter last night?” said the colonel.
“Completed.”
“Good. You believe there are others?”
“Certainly.”
A dozen different regular army companies, most without direct supervision, were operating in the area, securing it or preparing for the mission. The troops had been taught to hate all enemies, but especially the Vietnamese, considered a mongrel race.
Sun frowned. He did not harbor any particular compassion toward the Vietnamese; his concern was only for the operation.
“Further steps?” asked the colonel, in a tone that sounded like a warning.
Jing Yo considered how to answer. There really was no easy way to deal with the problem, short of recalling all of the troops, and that wasn’t going to happen.
“I believe the general’s order will be sufficient,” he said finally.
Sufficient to prevent further massacres? Or to cover up those that had already occurred but not been seen by
