by Stephen Makk
MAY LET THE WOMAN FALL to the floor. She leaned down and rummaged through her pockets, she found a designer canvas wallet. She opened it, taking out and credit cards or photographs, all forms of ID. Finally, she took out the MSS photo ID card and slipped it in her wallet.
Gao reappeared, “Get showered, get those blooded clothes into this bag.”
May ran the shower, stepped in and took off the clothes watching the blood-stained water run down the drain. She dried herself and walked back into the main room.
“Here put those on. Just get dressed and wait, the others will be along to dispose of her. If anybody tries to call, tell them to piss off and play the part you were doing.” Gao fed the boy then walked backwards down the steps with the stroller. May sat on the couch, all was as it was when she’d first arrived. Dingy, squalid a little food in the fridge. Now of course there was a dead woman on the floor. May looked at the MSS card and then to the woman.
“Tang, we don’t have much to do, I guess you don’t play Go. Pity, I’ll just have to lie down.” She lay on the couch and waited.
HOURS LATER MAY AWOKE at footsteps on the stair. The door opened, it was the one who called himself Hue, the one with the eye patch looked into the other rooms.
“Has anyone been here? Tried to get in?”
“No, it’s been quiet, no one called.”
Hue nodded. Had her stand against a wall where he took a photograph of her head and shoulders. They carried the woman into a bedroom her head and long black hair dangling down. Shortly they emerged with a rolled-up mattress, no doubt with Tang Li inside. All three left and the mattress was thrown into the back of a truck. Darkness had fallen now and the three of them drove to a closed and empty industrial wharf. Tang was transferred into a weighted body bag and dumped into the river off a pier’s end.
They dropped May off at the hotel she stayed at.
“Give me the pass that she carried,” asked Hue.
“Good. Be at The Golden Garden café tomorrow at noon.” The two men drove off and May went inside the hotel. She went to her room and got an early night.
LATE THE NEXT MORNING May walked into the café and ordered Chicken, rice and a tea. She was hungry having skipped breakfast and the chicken smelled good. A little while later Gao walked out from the back.
“Hi, can you come into the back, get yourself another tea.” Gao told the server to pour one. She followed Gao into the back room and sat. They were all there, the old man with a long drooping moustache, a middle-aged woman and three men in their thirties, one with a black eye patch.
Hue handed her the MSS pass, it now sported her picture. Not perfect, it didn’t have the hologram, but it was good.
“This will be you now, Tang Li. Even close colleagues don’t know that you’re a member of the elite counter espionage group known as Gothic Panda or APT3, you can call on nation state capabilities. Your task is to hunt down and eliminate the enemies of the PRC.
In the west, the film character James Bond has a licence to kill.” Hue snorted, “You Tang, actually do.
If you kill someone in the course of your investigations, you will be arrested and interrogated, that can’t be helped. But you have a Y3 notice on you and when your case gets the right level, you will be released immediately, all records relating to your “crime” eliminated. We recommend you don’t do this, but if you have to...” Hue shrugged and left his words in pregnant suspension. He slipped over a Huawei cell phone.
“On there is a contact entitled Xu, this will call Gao. She’ll use several disposable cell phones. Remember the number, you should also use disposable cell phones, in there is an email address: [email protected]. It goes through a proxy server in Canada, very difficult to trace, you can put more detail in there, we’ll check it every day.”
“Where will I be going?” Hue and the others smiled and laughed.
“Within the leadership there is an enclave that wants to retake Taiwan by force. Not all agree, but many high up in the PLAN agree, it’s difficult they admit, but possible.
Some in the MSS have been working on members of the US government and military, using cash, seduction and veiled threats to family members. It’s all to reduce the possibility of a fully armed response to any PRC invasion. Hue briefly looked down at the carpet. He hadn’t told her the full story at all, he might at some point, but for now she had enough.
You’ll join DDG-120 Chengdu, it’s a type 052D Destroyer, you’ll be an acting Lieutenant Commander, from there you’ll get a first hand look at her activities.” Hue passed over her PLAN Officers ID card, complete with her photograph. “Her Captain’s Executive Officer is very well connected with the leadership, his Father is on the Politburo. It would be good for you to get friendly with him.” Hue raised an eyebrow.
“You do look like Tang superficially, but anyone who knows you won’t be fooled, kill them.”
Hue laughed. “May,” he fixed her gaze, “Chengdu is allocated to operation Dragon’s breath, the liberation of Taiwan. So, you may be going home sooner than you thought.”
Chapter 6
May had been given a crash course in PLAN customs, etiquette and facilities. She travelled to Ningbo, the coastal city was a principal naval base. May went to the quartermaster’s department. She passed her PLAN card over. “Yes Sir.”
She looked beyond the junior rank and maintained an arrogant swagger. “I need a full replacement uniform, one dress uniform and three casual wear.”
“Yes Sir, come with me.” She was measured up and the items were selected from the vast range on offer.
She looked at herself in the mirror, she had to admit the dress uniform looked good.
“It needs a little work on the lower back, upper leg area.”
A man appeared and pinned up the upper rear legs, she knew it was a bit baggy around the ass. The work was soon done, she kept on the dress uniform and left to search out the Chengdu.
MAY OR NOW SHE SUPPOSED Tang, spotted it from a way off on the quayside. She stopped to give it a once over, aware of its capabilities. The 052D Destroyer (NATO; Luyang III class) was seven and a half thousand tons and over 500 feet long, its most powerful sensor was the H/LJG-346A (Dragon eye) multifunctional active phased array radar. Looking like flat panels on the sloping sides of the forward superstructure. Equivalent to the US AEGIS system. Two sonar including the H/SJG-206 towed array. Forward was a 130mm turreted gun, CJ-10 cruise missiles, YJ-18 anti-ship missiles and HHQ-9 long range SAM missiles. A CIWS last ditch anti-missile defence, 6 torpedo tubes and a helicopter hanger at her stern. Chengdu was a pretty big stick. Soon May was aboard and in her cabin, she changed into a more casual blue camouflaged coverall and a baseball type blue hat. It was time to report in to a senior Officer. She didn’t go to the bridge, she went to the heart of the ship, its control room.
She walked down a companionway deep amidships, the guard let her in through the closed bulkhead. There was a drill on, the room was darkened, rows of sailors looking into screens their faces lit up. They all wore headsets and white anti flash hoods. At the left-hand end of the room on a raised platform sat the Commander with an assistant. There was chatter among the screen operators. “Copy Blue light, we have you at 3km. Make your heading vector two four....”
“Bogie inbound. 20km, 280kt...”
“Go on my word tree rat two.” A cheer went up from the far side.
“Yes! Splash two birds inbound. Threat is green, threat is green.”
“Ok, Chengdu,” the Commander stood, “the drill is over, well done. Safe your systems, report any problems to sparky Chi’s team. Off you go.” The lights flickered on, the operators removed their hoods and left the room. The Commander and his assistant remained.
May walked across to him, she saluted.
“Sir, Lieutenant Commander Tang Li reporting for duty.” He saluted her. “Welcome aboard Lt Commander Li, what’s your speciality?”
“Communication Sir, I have my papers here.” She handed them over, the
Commander looked through them.
“Very good Lt Commander Li. I’m Commander Long, Executive Officer. You’ve got your bunk allocated?”
“Yes Sir, I saw the Chief of the decks.” He stepped off the raised platform to take a closer look. She saw he was quite a handsome looking man with a burning glint in his eye and an easy smile. He shook her hand.
“Lt Commander Li. A few Officers and I will be gathering in the Wardroom at 20.00 hours, you’re welcome too, you can meet your new colleagues.”
“Thank you Sir, I’ll be there.” He nodded and smiled. May left the room.
He turned back to the monitor he was sat at. “And you can put that smile away.” He pointed to his assistant.
“I didn’t say anything Sir.”
“You didn’t need to, I know you.” He sat at the monitor, they started to go through the anti-Air drill analysis. HQ is sending us some fine looking Officers he smiled, about damn time. Tang Li wouldn’t look out of place at a party with some of Beijing’s fashion elite. Or as the face of Hermès’ perfumes. The Officers dined in the Wardroom that evening. After the meal Captain Chao pulled his chair out and stood.
“I must leave you, I’ve an appointment in the city. An industrial combine is trying to sell the fleet new radar equipment. I’m to attend. Goodnight Lt Commander Li, I’m sure you’ll find Chengdu a good ship,” he leaned down and whispered to her, “don’t put up with any rubbish from these scoundrels.”
“Yes Sir,” she smiled.
“So, Tang where are you from then?” asked an Engineer.
“From near Guangzhou.”
“Hot down there, I hated it.”
“Yeah but Wu, you’re a damn Manchurian, part Eskimo. Sleeps with his Huskeys.”
The evening passed quickly, they were a good bunch thought May, for enemies. She spoke with Commander Long too, she liked him, and she could tell he liked her more than a bit. That was good she knew, it was a Pity he was her target. A few days and exercises punctuated the day and nights. More than one she’d had to get out of her bunk to man her communications station. Her battle stations were as a member of the aft damage control, not her field, but she learned her duties. Dressed in the cover suit and full-face mask with breathing apparatus, May was hot as hell. One morning she awoke, and the ship was casting off, tugs helped her get into the main channel where she set sail. The Destroyer was soon several miles off the coast, ships were gathering from all sides. She took her breakfast in the Galley. As she was just finished with the last egg fried rice and fish now gone she took a drink of her tea. The loudspeakers sounded with the national anthem. The crew stood. The anthem ended, and Captain Chao spoke.
“Men and women of the People’s Republic Army Navy ship Chengdu. We are here on this historic day, you are honoured to be a part of Operation Dragon’s breath.” May felt sick to her guts, a chilling adrenalin rush ran over her stomach and back. “Today we begin the liberation of Taiwan, our mission is to unify the country. We will take back what is ours, a part of the motherland stolen by the running dogs. Many in the Island will fight us, they have been misguided for years, but they are our brothers and sisters. Remember that. The party expects your victory. Good luck Chengdu.” A cheer arose throughout the ship, May joined in but felt an emptiness and as the minutes went by a terrible rage. May made her way back to her cabin, opened an air duct and took something out. She ascended the decks and walked out of the ship onto the open-air deck. The grey sea streamed by, she looked to the rear and there the city was still visible in the distance. May climbed the superstructure ladders, pulled her way on to an access way be holding on to the handles. She passed a radome and continued aft, there was a recess that offered some concealment, several yards forward of the H70C CWIS, a last ditch Gatling gun missile defence. She faced the city and took out the cell phone she’d concealed in her room. They should still be in signal range. She called Xu, after several rings Gao answered it.
“Yes, Xu’s phone.”
“Hi, it’s just me, I hope you are on form. I’m near Ningbo, the horses are all running and I’m with them. My money is on The water purse. The horses are all running and I’m with them. My money is on The water purse.”
“Thank you Xu. I’ll pass it on to Auntie.” May switched off the phone, now it was back down below decks.
“Hello Lt Commander Li. Getting some air? Watching the city recede in the distance?” She turned, shocked, it was Commander Long. She tried desperately to remain composed.
“Hello Sir.” He must have seen her on the cell phone, heard her. So soon, shit, what was she going to say now?
THE STRAIT
THE LIGHT HAD FADED from just under the surface, she looked up. A single bright light played on the dancing waves above, it wasn’t always there, but often was. It was the sign of food. Great Sholes of it, all circling weaving around and back. Her sisters were hungry, she saw them all around her, big eyes, tentacles with suckers. The great pod of squid she was part of was hungry and the food was down there. It would shoal together, they were all small poor eyes and horrible scaly bodies. They were good swimmers but stupid, you could mass part of the pod to one side and they’d shoal together and away into the path of her other sisters. They’d eat their fill and charge at the shoal of prey driving them into the first section of the pod who take they’re fill. It was all done down there in the dark. The pod dove into the depths, down and down. She brushed her tentacles over her sister’s mantle, she shimmered. There it was, they could hear a shoal, down there. They split the pod in two, her half to the right. Down and down. Then there they were, you could see them, see them swimming with their small near sightless eyes. This was the time. Charge, sisters charge. The shoal fled away towards the trap. Now it was wait until the other sister’s charged them and they’d be back.
What? What was that? She heard a noise that just didn’t belong here. It was alien, cold and unseen. The sea moved and heaved up. What, what could do this? They were all pushed aside, her sisters and her by an impossibly large black bulk with ugly skin. As it passed by it thrashed the waters with a churning tube of fast moving water. It was like a giant Octopus ink spray jet, but it wasn’t defensive, it pushed the black thing forward. She knew it was impossible, she’d never seen anything like it, black, cold, fast and totally uninterested in them. Her sisters and her had to get away, the pod fled.
USS Stonewall Jackson pushed her way north through the Strait of Taiwan. Uncaring of the pod and shoal in her way.
“SIR, CREW LUBRICANT here.”
“Very good, pass it around. Let me have one too.”
The galley man passed around the coffees to the control room crew.
“Thanks Grice. We appreciate it. Report Benson, anything out there?” Nathan leaned over his monitor looking at his sonar man.
“Nothing Sir, nothing unusual anyway, several civvy cargo ships and the usual port noise but that’s it. The towed array should be ready soon, the back aft spark monkeys said it was nearly ready.”
“Right when you get it ready then stream it. Where are we Kaminski?” She turned with her blond ponytail swinging and bobbing the cute way it did.
“Twenty-eight miles north west of Hsinchu City, bearing 005 degrees.” He nodded and looked at the depth indicator, 330 feet. Nathan chewed it over in his mind. Do we maintain a northeast, southwest picket track off the northwest of Taiwan, say thirty miles offshore? The towed array would give a good warning of approaching boats.
As far as the surface fleet the ROC air assets could cover that.
“Weaps, what do the ROC air force have for reconnaissance?”
The Weapons Officer opened a file on his monitor. “Sir, 8 P-3C Orion ASW, 11 Grumman S-2 maritime patrol, a Lockheed C130 ELINT and 6 E-2 Hawkeye early warning and control aircraft. That’s 24 in total. Plus, two hundred and eighty-six F16’s, F-CK-1, F5 and Mirage 2000 fighters. All but the F5’s are radar equipped. Not bad at all in such a fairly confined area.”
Nathan nodded.
“That’s true, plus our satellite cover will be keeping an eye out for them.”
The other option he knew was to get out forward and do some active reconnaissance to the north. The consensus was that the main PLAN fleet would approach from the north. ROC air would give good information on surface vessels, as for ASW they’d be using the Orion’s plus their own two Dutch built Hai Lung class attack submarines.
He’d never been a just sit back sort of guy and he had to admit that going up there looking, stalking then out was tempting.
But if the PLAN were coming then they had some choices but not too many. He walked over to the XO’s station. “Nikki,” he gestured her to approach. Nathan whispered.
“Do we wait around here or get up north?”
Larry sighed, “Tough one, but what’s missing?” Nathan shrugged.
“Let’s say we go up there and we find the Mothers heading this way? What’s our ROE? Can we sink them or just follow them? Nathan, you know how the puzzle palace works. They’ll work out a compromise, that’s worth fuck all to anyone. And then argue about whether to knock it into the long grass or kick it down the road.” Nathan smiled to Nikki.
“Do you think he’s got cynical?”
“I think,” she stroked her chin, “the Chinese play the long game. Let’s play it too, we wait for them, but lean on the REMF’s for a ROE change.” The XO smiled at her, “Yeah you got that one right.”
Nikki had used it before, REMF was a disparaging name for higher command or back office types. Rear Echelon Mother Fuckers.
“OK, we’ll run a picket line here. I’ll get onto the Puzzle Palace for a ROE change and I’ll get Lt CMD Lemineux to keep at them for updates of PLAN movements.”
As well as the ROE request he knew there was something else he needed to add, something from their last war committee meeting.