He smiled back and said, “It’s a date. I’ll see you sometime later in the week. For right now, count on me picking you up around eighteen hundred. We’ll have an early supper before the concert.”
James Carter discussed his growing emotional attachment with his supervisor. The first question Supervisory Special Agent Congdon asked, “How is this threatening your guarding of Dr. Foster? Do you not detail your men to follow you on your dates at a distance that is both discreet but sufficient to offer one hundred percent protection?”
“I have never, and never will, jeopardize a witness regardless of the circumstances.”
“Well, James, I suspect then that you better continue in your duties. Right now, it is an open-ended assignment, and you were instructed to court her. We don’t know how long it will be necessary to maintain security for Dr. Foster, but make it unrequited love until the detail is over. Then you can have all the intimacy you two might desire, and it won’t interfere with your duties. Just don’t let me see or hear of any lapses in judgment. Now get out of here, Romeo.”
Nine ocean freighters left the harbor of Darien, now called Dalian by the Chinese. They sailed through the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, and the South China Sea and into Haiphong harbor. There, three of them offloaded people and construction supplies, such as cement, wire, reinforcing steel bar, lumber, concrete block and construction equipment such as bulldozers, road graders, ditching machines, pumps, backhoes, and trucks. General Lui’s inventory of construction materials and equipment in-country revealed a dismal shortage of everything. The second group of three unloaded food, ammunition and fuel for the Chinese occupiers of what was Vietnam. The people were engineers and construction workers. One of the last three took on roughly eight hundred of General Liu’s troops. The other two were filled with fresh troops from China. The three which unloaded cargo began retracing their route. Satellites monitored every mile as the three troopships steamed in a line. They sailed through the Straits of Malacca under the increasingly intense concerns of the rest of the world. As they emerged from the Straits of Malacca and entered the Indian Ocean, two U.S. Los Angeles class submarines, the USS Buffalo and the USS Louisville, were waiting and began to follow them at a distance of twenty miles.
Suspected but undetected by the two U.S. submarines and the rest of the world, a picket line of air independent propulsion system Chinese submarines were submerged into the depths in the Indian Ocean the previous week to guard their developing sea lines of communication.
Jason Thornton called his National Security Council together. “Opinions, people, as to their destination. I recognize that they could be heading for any port on the Indian peninsula or Karachi, Pakistan, or the Gulf of Kutch, or any other place in a gigantic pincer movement. The questions are just where are they headed, and why? These few ships don’t even hold a division-sized force, so is this just a local maneuver or a harbinger of greater things to come?
“Admiral Stark, given the size of these ships, their capacities, the fact that they are each carrying from 500 to 1500 people, how far can they go before requiring re-supply and refueling?”
“Mr. President, they are of sufficient size and capability to land those forces anywhere on the Arabian Sea littoral if they make straight for their objective. They are moving at about twelve to fifteen knots, which is not all that fast. These ships are those which were confiscated during the fighting in Southeast Asia. I might add that, as of this morning, we have observed the departure of another small convoy of twelve Chinese merchant ships from Darien. We are not aware of their cargos. It would appear that this is a harbinger of things to come. A curious thing about this is that there are no accompanying warships to protect the convoy of which we are aware.”
“General Leonard, as the ultimate amphibious warrior here, what’s your opinion?”
“With a force that small, it is obvious that unless they rendezvous with a much larger force somewhere, they must anticipate unopposed landings. They can’t steam around with 800 men, more or less, aboard ships forever. There are no other fleets in the area of which I am aware. They will have to make landfall, their objective, before too long, as Admiral Stark indicates, or be re-supplied at sea. That seems to be unlikely, as it would be a waste of time, energy and loss of surprise. There are still some ships of the Indian Navy in the Indian Ocean that, if they are aware of them, will undoubtedly attack them.”
“That’s an idea, General. Suppose we contact those Indian ships and inform them of the direction, speed, and possible destinations of this three-ship convoy and let the Indian Navy have at them. We should also inform the Iranians that the Chinese have begun moving troops by sea in their general direction. Maybe the Iranian gunboats and mines can become a modest factor. What do you think, Admiral Stark?”
“I think it would be a good idea to inform both the Indian Navy, or what’s left of it, and the Iranians as well. If their objective is the Middle East, the sooner those characters in that region are aware of it, the better.”
“Ed, what do you think?”
“Mr. President, I think we are witnessing the opening of another chapter in the saga of Chinese conquest. Now, just where that conquest is headed, I don’t know. My best guess is still the Persian Gulf. They could put those troops ashore on the southwest coast of Pakistan without taking any fire or having to make an amphibious assault and march overland into Iran. I’ll have our people check on possible routes of advance from southern Pakistan into Iran. Obviously, they are simply troop carriers and appear to require piers and a harbor since they are without amphibious assault vehicles.”
“Jim, see to it that the word is passed to the Iranians and any Indian Naval vessels you can contact. Marge, what’s your two cents?”
“I don’t think they are stupid enough to invade the Middle East with just three ships. Now, maybe if they build a force, or develop a base nearby from which to launch an attack, that is something else. Spring (2023) is already here, Mr. President. The cherry trees are blossoming along the Mall, and the heat in that region builds very quickly. So, they will have to do something quickly, or the hot season will be upon them.”
“Ralph, what do you say?”
“I say I don’t like it, Mr. President. If we had some idea of the cargoes these ships are carrying, it might be an indicator. We know these troops that they picked up in Haiphong Harbor are exhausted. They are the remnants of forces that fought their way down the Malayan Peninsula. This shipboard excursion will give them some rest and the opportunity to establish a logistical trail. They might be the advance guard to establish a base somewhere along the shore of the Arabian Sea, as Secretary Talbott suggests, or they might be decoys of some nature, although I am not sure over what. They might be floating them out there to see who will attack them and how. I have never trusted the Chinese to keep their word on anything. Their guarantee not to invade the Middle East is worthless so far as I am concerned. I think they intend to establish hegemony not only over East Asia, but the Middle East as well. If they control the classical land bridge that locks three continents together, with all its mineral wealth, they rule the world.”
“Admiral Stark, how much time do we have before those ships commit to a course that reveals their objective?”
“We have about five days, Mr. President, before they will leave the Indian Ocean and enter the Arabian Sea, where we will have to either commit or passively accept their presence or wait until they are in littoral waters to make our move. I strongly recommend that we not wait until they are in littoral waters. That plays to our disadvantage.”
“Alright, let’s keep everybody here informed as to last minute developments around the clock. We will meet again on Wednesday, 07:30, for breakfast and briefing. Marge, brief Ms. Stearns on the situation and bring her next time.”
The Chinese submarines strung out in a line across the Indian Ocean held their positions and did not reveal their presence as the USS Buffalo and Louisville cruised by at fifteen knots underwater, trailing the Chinese merchant ships. Their electronic officers and technicians recorded every noise each American submarine made. Even flushing the head resulted in digital analysis of the sound. They were under orders not to fire upon the Americans unless the Americans fired at any Chinese vessel, so they waited and listened.
Chapter 36
07:00 Wednesday, 14 April 2023
The staff came filing in, somewhat subdued, but everybody had now acquired the habit of a good breakfast at each of these meetings. Jason Thornton rather enjoyed the breakfast part of the meetings and hoped everyone else did as well. He did believe that they functioned better and thought better with an adequate level of blood glucose. They helped themselves to everything on the buffet table. The stewards had learned by now which beverage each of them preferred, coffee, tea, milk, orange juice, apple juice, grapefruit sections, or fresh fruit and yogurt. After fifteen minutes of eating, the President started the meeting.
“OK, Jim, what do we have for overnight developments?”
“Well, Mr. President, for starters, a convoy of twelve of those ocean-going catamarans they have been building left the East China Sea, accompanied by four of their new destroyers. From our satellite photos, their cargoes appeared mixed. It is believed that they were loading fifty kilo bags of food grains, such as rice and wheat, other food stuffs, crates of ammunition, vehicles, medical supplies, and fifty-five gallon drums of fuel. It appears a modest amount of each type of cargo was loaded on each ship. They have been moving at about twenty-five knots, as a convoy.”
“What do you make of that, General Craig?”
“It suggests that each ship has a basic load for a specific function. That specific function appears to be re-supply and re-equip a light infantry battalion. The cargo suggests that each ship will take on more Chinese soldiers at Haiphong, Da Nang, or wherever. If so, that means that they are planning another military push somewhere.”
“Admiral Stark?”
“At that speed, they could overtake the earlier convoy, or be just a day or two behind it, weather permitting smooth sailing. If they pick up more of their forces from Malaya, it looks like it might be a by-the-numbers drop off of the troops for an unopposed landing force. If they put a battalion on each ship, they have better than a division-sized force.”
“General Anderson?” Thornton asked between mouthfuls of biscuit and sausage gravy.
“The lack of heavy weapons, tanks, armored personnel carriers, artillery, helicopters, and so on, strongly suggests that it is strictly a light infantry affair that will be without any support other than organic crew served weapons, such as mortars and machine guns. That means they aren’t going up against anybody with any kind of modern weaponry. Given their tactics of slaughtering all the indigenous people, now known throughout the world, they really aren’t expecting much resistance. That means somebody other than the Iranians or Iraqis or the Gulf States. The Middle Eastern states all have at least some modern aircraft that would blow them out of the water and heavy forces sufficient to repel an invasion force. So, where are they headed? My best guess, based on the information at hand, is the Pakistani coast, the western coast of India, or as an outside chance, Africa.”
“What does Central Intelligence make of their radio traffic, Ed?”
“We aren’t really getting any clues from that, Mr. President. They are practicing pretty good radio discipline in that regard. It seems that the Army Front Commander for the Malayan Peninsula, General Lui, is remaining there. He has established his headquarters in what was the Vietnamese Capitol of Hanoi. It seems that he is passing his troops off to a different commander, one General Fong, Cu-chen. There has been some chatter between their Chief of Staff Chang and General Fong. We don’t know a lot about Fong. He was educated mostly in China, visited France, England, and Germany. He’s more of a technocrat, less of a liberal arts type. He studied mining, engineering, geology, earth sciences type of curriculum. He visited mines in Germany and England while he toured there. General Fong has been quiet since Monday; he hasn’t sent any messages since then, at least not any that we have intercepted. He might be aboard one of those ships.
“Several clues here, Mr. President, if we think about them. Why would General Lui surrender elements of his Army? They do not need such a large number of troops for the occupation force. There is very little resistance, if any, left on the peninsula. Those that are shipping out are in need of rest and recuperation and re-supply. So why aren’t they headed home instead of west? Next, the commander that General Lui is passing his troops off to is a mining engineer type. Is there some significance there, or is he just an engineer cum soldier? It seems that the people who disembarked on the first three ships are actually a bunch of grave diggers. They have started digging massive graves and collecting the dead to fill them. Then why all the construction materials? That suggests they are going to do some building as well. What, where, and why?”
“Has there been any change in the course they are steaming?”
“No, Mr. President, they are headed due west. Haven’t changed a degree since they came out of the Straits and struck the equator. If they maintain that course, they will run into Africa.”
“Let’s do some critical thinking here, people. First, what is in Africa that would entice the Chinese? Second, where would they land, with how many troops? Third, who would resist them? Fourth, what would be the long-term consequences, especially for the United States and western Europe?”
No one spoke. Then Ms. Stearns calmly said, “Everything the Chinese want and need is in Africa south of the equator. Southern Africa is one of the world’s last treasure houses of minerals. It is rich in tungsten, uranium, vanadium, platinum, nickel, gold, diamonds, cobalt, chromium, and a few other lesser known and underappreciated minerals. Additionally, if they go far enough west, they can tap into Angolan oil, a variety of timber, some fantastic grazing land. If they go far enough south, a mild climate and an agriculturally rich region. If they go all the way south to the Cape of Good Hope, they control another choke point. The Chinese have had more than a hundred thousand entrepreneurs, agents really, in a dozen African countries for over a dozen years. They know where everything they want is, how much is known in quantity, and what it takes to get it. There is no military opposition to speak of, they have bought off whole tribes with food and goods, supported both sides with small arms but no heavy weapons in civil strife and tribal wars, bribed officials, and came in through the back door all over the southern half of the continent. It makes very good sense to consider Africa as their objective.”
“Ms. Stearns, I knew there was a reason I had you here today. Let’s get a team effort here. I want a meeting this afternoon, at 16:00, all the people in this room to be briefed by your people Ed, and yours, Marge, and yours, Jim, to put together an overall picture on southern Africa. The thrust is what is in it for the Chinese, how easily can they militarily acquire it, and the long-term consequences of their seizing it. Let’s take a fifteen minute break so you can make your phone calls to your appropriate personnel.”
After twenty-five minutes, everyone had returned to their seats. “Alright, somebody fill me in on a few other details. Where do we stand on the possibility of invading the Canal Zone? Jim, how ready are your people?”
The flag officers all smiled at each other. Jointness among the services was at its best. Jim Neville looked at his people and smiled at the President. “We’re ready, Mr. President. You just say the word. No one knows, or at least no one has been told, what the target is, although some might have guessed, particularly the SEAL teams involved, but everybody is keyed and chomping at the bit.”
“Depending on the Chinese, I might say the word at any time, Mr. Secretary. If the Chinese steam a straight course into Africa, I’m much less likely to say the word. Marge, have you prepared statements and whatever you need to do on the diplomatic front when we, or if we, go into the Canal Zone?”
“I’m ready, Mr. President. About half a dozen of my people know the target and are people I trust. They have been ready for a month. I’m sure the useless UN will howl, especially the Panamanians who have become millionaires selling their country, and ours, to the Chinese. On that note, who cares? The fraudulence of the UN has tremendously disappointed our own left wing idealists so much that they don’t say so much these days.”
“Fred, what’s the update on Robert Wha Lee? I can’t believe my own bodyguard was a spy for the Chinese.”
“We have him under intense surveillance, Mr. President. We are waiting for him to make a mistake so we can have hard evidence at his trial. We don’t think he has spotted us, but he is very well trained, and that is always a possibility. We just hope he doesn’t slip away on us. That leads me to the question of whether or not you want an open, public trial or a secret trial. We can do it either way, but we will have to work with the Justice Department very closely on it. If it is an open trial, there will be, obviously, a lot of bad publicity for your administration. On the other hand, there are no appeals on a secret trial, records are sealed for fifty years, and the penalty is usually death or life in solitary confinement. We anticipate he fed the Chinese everything that transpired in your office, everything you said, did, thought you did, ever since you became a Presidential candidate. Thank God the Canadians went along with our little investment in security.
