Brown, Dale - Patrick McLanahan 03 (32 page)

           
Just then Stone’s headset clicked to
life. “Rat—Tyler here,” the Commander in Chief of SAC said. “Sergeant Rowe says
you seemed to recognize that harbor and that ship. What is it?”

           
The technician pointed to a button
near the base of the microphone on the desk in front of him, and Stone
depressed the button and replied, “Yes, sir, Ulugan Bay on Palawan in the
Philippines. Palawan is a large island about two hundred miles southwest of
Manila. That ship looks like the Chinese destroyer
Hong Lung.
It’s one of the two EF5-class destroyers in China’s
fleet. It’s the flagship of the Spratly Island flotilla.”

           
There was a long pause; then: “Well,
you’re right about the Philippines,” Tyler said. “But what’s the Spratly
Islands? I never heard of them.”

           
“It’s a small island chain between
Vietnam and Palawan in the South China Sea,” Stone replied. “China claims them
but legally occupies the lower one-third; the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia,
and Malaysia occupy the northern third, with the middle third a neutral zone.
Those five countries have been fighting over the islands for decades.”

           
“Well, the fighting has just reached
a new level, Rat,” Tyler said dryly, “because someone set off a nuke right near
the Philippines just a few minutes ago.”

           
Richard Stone was so surprised that
he forgot to press the mike button. “A
nuke?”
He paused, then managed to find the button. “Someone set off a nuke... ?
General Tyler, that destroyer, the
Hong
Lung
—it carries nuclear-tipped missiles.”

           
Tyler and half-a-dozen other staff
members in the Battle Staff area looked up in the Support Staff area. The
nearreal-time satellite photo of the Chinese ship had changed several times by
the time a shocked Tyler asked, “That Chinese warship carries nuclear missiles?
I never heard that before, Rat.” He shook his head, stared hard at the charts
of the South China Sea region, then rubbed dried sweat from his eyes in
exasperation. “Jesus Christ, what’s a Chinese ship doing cruising around the
Philippines with nukes aboard?” He turned to Stone again and asked, “Can you
verify that, Rat? What kind of nuclear missiles? How many . . . ?”

           
“It’s never been verified as far as
I know, sir,” Stone replied, “just like we never verify that American warships
carry nukes. But it’s a well-known fact that EF5-class destroyers carry at
least two Fei Lung-9 antiship cruise missiles with RK-55
warheads—twenty-kiloton yield. I can’t believe the Chinese would actually cook
one off, though.”

           
“Do the Filipinos have nuclear
weapons?” Stanczek asked.

           
“Not to my knowledge, sir,” Stone
replied. “We had some nuclear weapons stockpiled at Clark for a few years, but
they were removed years ago.”

           
“Could they have built a weapon of
their own? Are they advanced enough to do that?”

           
“I’m surprised there was a
Philippine Navy out there for a nuke to destroy,” Stone said. “Everything they
have is at least twenty to fifty years old, and most of it is World War Two
vintage. As far as weaponry, they have Sea Lance and Harpoon missiles, but
nothing more potent than that. No, they couldn’t have built a nuclear device.”

           
Stone could see Tyler shaking his
head in amazement at the news, and it was then that he began to get a real
feeling for the pressure that was on Tyler and his staff right now. In a few
minutes the President of the United States was going to get on the line with
Tyler and ask him how he should respond to the incident.

           
That call came a few moments later,
but not from the President.

           
After a ten-second warning tone on
the microwave telephone hookup, a voice began, “All stations, all stations,
this is RENEGADE on Zero-Tango action teleconference network. Security
classification is Top Secret. All stations stand by. Network poll in progress.
National Command Authority, White House ...” .

           
While the lengthy teleconference
poll continued, Tyler got on the intercom to Stone. “Rat, tell me more about
the Chinese and the Philippines. Are the Chinese a threat to the Philippines or
is their involvement limited only to the Spratly Islands? I mean, could they
have been victims here, caught in the explosion?”

           
“Hard to say, sir,” Stone replied.
“The Communist movement in the Philippines has very close ties to the mainland
Chinese, but as far as I know, the link is only ideological. Until the current
regime got into power, there wasn’t any direct contact between the Philippine
Communists and the Chinese. But I’ve never heard of the Chinese ships operating
so close to Palawan before, especially not a destroyer—and especially not the
EF5 class. It’s their newest, most modem and well-equipped model, and they’re
risking a lot driving that big boy around in those shallow waters around
Palawan.”

           
“What do you mean, the current
regime?”

           
“Teguina, the First Vice President,”
Stone replied. “He’s the leader of the pro-Communist National Democratic Front.
Some say he’s the leader of the main Communist armed opposition, called the New
People’s Army, that’s been operating in the outlying provinces for the past
several years. Teguina has been active in strengthening economic and cultural
ties with China over the past few years; China has become a big trading partner
with the Philippines and the United States. But it has been suggested that
Teguina is working not only to strengthen economic ties to China, but military
and political ties as well.”

           
“China and the Philippines?” Tyler
remarked. “Is that really possible?”

           
“Very possible, sir,” Stone
confirmed. “The Philippines have a large population of ethnic Chinese, and
mainland Chinese own several large businesses and banks there. But more
importantly, China sees itself as the protector of world Communism these days.
With the Soviet Union becoming more democratic and capitalist every year, China
is the last and perhaps the greatest exporter of Communism in the world. I’d
say the Philippines are very fertile ground for them.”

           
He went on. “I doubt Teguina’s had
anything to do with this Chinese fleet off Palawan or the nuclear explosion,
but because of his presence in the Philippine government and his relations with
the PRC, this could turn out to be a lot more complex than it is right now.”

           
“What do you mean?”

           
“My guess is we probably won’t see a
total condemnation of the Chinese from the Philippine government,” Stone said.
“I don’t know any details, of course, but when it comes time to point the
finger, you won’t see all the fingers pointing at China—you’ll see a few
pointed at President Mikaso.”

           
“Mikaso? Why?”

           
“Mikaso is popular, but perceived as
weak,” Stone said. “Teguina is considered a strong leader. Mikaso was also too
friendly with the United States. Although Mikaso is much more of a nationalist
than Teguina, Teguina’s call for eliminating all U.S. presence in the
Philippines was a strong stand that most Filipinos liked to hear.” Stone
decided against injecting his own reservations about Teguina into the
discussion, but remembered all too well the look in Teguina’s eye that last day
at Clark.

           
“I still don’t get it,” Tyler said
with rising exasperation. “Why would Mikaso suffer by having the Chinese
explode a nuke near Palawan?”

           
Just as Stone was about to answer,
the poll was completed and the situation briefing began. Five minutes later,
the briefing concluded with no mention of the Chinese destroyer or its
weaponry. Space Command or the Defense Intelligence Agency refused to comment
on the origin of the explosion.

           
Fine—Tyler would tell them himself.
“General—Tyler at SAC,” Tyler said, interrupting the Space Command briefer. “My
staff expert here has possibly determined the origin of that nuclear
detonation.”

           
There was a bit of a pause, then:
“Go ahead, SAC.”

           
“China. Satellite imagery confirmed
their presence in the area, and my expert reports that the Chinese ships seen
in the satellite imagery carry nuclear weapons—”

           
“Defense Intelligence here,” a voice
chimed in. “We have no information of any Chinese vessels carrying nuclear
weapons in the South China Sea. In fact the idea is ludicrous.”

           
Tyler clicked on the intercom to
Stone. “You sure of your data, Rat Killer?”

           
“Positive, General/’ Stone said. “My
intelligence may be a few weeks old, but it’s reliable.”

           
The intercom clicked off, then on,
and this time Stone could hear the entire conversation on the network. “My
expert maintains that the Chinese vessel in the satellite imagery we’ve just
received carries nuclear-tipped antiship missiles. The vessel is a Chinese
destroyer, the
Hong Lung,
which is
the flagship of a large patrol fleet that operates in the Spratly Islands.”

           
“JCS copies, SAC,” came the reply
after a few moments: the reply came from the chairman himself, General Curtis,
and he seemed curiously unsurprised at the revelation. “What is the current
status of your units at this time, General Tyler?”

           
“Sir, I’m showing one hundred
percent of the force fully mission ready,” Tyler said, checking the
connectivity readout of all his SAC units on the big board. The force is
currently under posture four, under my authority. However, please be aware that
the current SIOP OPLAN has no contingencies for operations against China or in
the east Asian region. We hold no Chinese targets at risk.”

           
“Understood,” Curtis replied. “It
may be premature to declare an A-hour, however. We will defer that decision for
the NCA when we call the Charlie conference.”

           
“Discharge of nuclear weapons
automatically invokes at least a DEFCON Three level,” Tyler said. “I recommend
we proceed with that. Undoubtedly the Russians and the Chinese will respond by
increasing their readiness levels as well; we should take the first step and
then re-evaluate the situation.”

           
“We’d have time for a discussion
about contingency planning at a later time,” General Curtis said. “Right now I
want recommendations for the NCA as to the status of our deterrent forces.”

           
“SAC recommends DEFCON Three,
posture four,” Tyler said.

           
“Forces concurs,” General Jackson,
commander of the Army Forces Command, said. As the largest single military
command, the Army needed the most time to generate its units to go on a wartime
footing and therefore had an equal say in whether a higher readiness state
should be declared.

           
“COMSIJBFLT concurs,” Admiral
Towland, commander of strategic nuclear submarines, added.

           
There was a slight pause, followed
by a cryptic “Stand by” from General Curtis. Tyler found his palms moist and
clammy. He rubbed them on his warmup-suit pants to dry them.

           
The Chairman of the JCS came back
on: “All units, this is RENEGADE. Implement DEFCON Three. Posture will be no
higher than that implemented by DEFCON Three. Stand by.”

           
A few moments later, a warbling tone
was heard over Tyler’s headset and through the interphone system. The DEFCON
lights above the big board changed from “4” to “3” and all of the Command
Center status lights changed to red Top Secret indications. The Joint Chiefs of
Staff communications center had assembled a coded message and broadcast it to
all of the major commands. When received in the Essential Elements section, the
message was decoded, checked, and the checklist for that order run immediately.
“What do we got, Audrey?” Tyler asked.

           
“DEFCON Three, posture three,” the
SAC senior controller replied. “No A-hour specified. Time-control clock start
in five ... four ... three ... two ... one ... now.” Just then, the second
event-timer above the big board started counting. “Message acknowledged to JCS,
checked and verified, standing by for retransmit.”

           
“Retransmit,” Tyler ordered. The
message ordering an increased state of readiness would now be sent to all SAC
alert units in the United States. The DEFCON change would also affect
nuclear-capable Tactical Air Command units in Europe and Asia, all of the
Navy’s ballistic missile submarines, and the Sixth and Eighth Armies in Europe
and Korea, which were some of the few Army units with deployed nuclear weapons.