by James Rosone
“Let’s just say I’ve had a change of heart after my meeting with the Americans,” Yang replied.
Over the following twenty minutes, General Yang walked President Xi through a scenario of how they could use their nuclear weapons on the Allied forces and end the war.
*******
“I must say, General, I’m impressed,” President Xi finally said. “You’re more cunning than I’d given you credit for. How soon do you believe you could put this plan together?”
“I need a couple of days, Mr. President. If I may, I’d like to suggest that we hold a final planning meeting to go over the details of the plan prior to execution. Would you be available to meet again, in, say, three days, with the rest of the CMC?” Yang asked.
Before Xi could respond, Yang added, “I’d like for us to meet at the Summer Palace bunker. We’ve never met there during the war, and it’s a bunker facility I’m confident the Allies are unaware of. I get nervous each time we all gather in this building,” he said, looking up at the ceiling dramatically. “The Allies have already bombed this building a few times. I fear if we hold more CMC meetings in the same place, they will get wise to it and try to bomb this building a little harder.”
Xi also looked up. The building had indeed been bombed its fair share of times. Fortunately, the command bunker and operations center was burrowed deep under the building and had survived a few attempts at its destruction.
He nodded, seeming to accept the suggestion that they’d been tempting fate. “Very well,” Xi responded. “We’ll reconvene the meeting in three days at the Summer Palace facility.” Xi paused for a second, apparently sizing Yang up. “I’m glad you’ve given some more thought to using our nuclear assets. We all know they’re a weapon of last resort, but I fear we are quickly approaching that point.”
With nothing further to say, Xi got up to head back to his own building.
As President Xi and the rest of his entourage left, Yang began to compose a message in his head. He’d need to find a way to draft a message, and soon. His opportunity had just arrived.
*******
Twenty-Four Hours Later
Washington, D.C.
White House
“Mr. President, we’ve received the message you’ve been waiting for,” JP announced.
“We’re sure this is for real and not some trap?” asked the President nervously. He still wasn’t completely confident they could trust this Chinese general.
“I have my concerns, Mr. President, but this is the best option we’ve got,” said Secretary Castle. “I’ve met General Yang, and I do get a sense that he knows there are no good options left. Either he helps us end the war in a fashion that still saves some of his country, or he oversees the destruction of his nation.”
The President sat back in his chair for a moment thinking about the plan. If things went according to plan, then General Yang would assume control of the country and move to end the war. “But what if this doesn’t go according to plan?” he wondered. Yang could just as easily use Xi’s assassination to mobilize the country around himself and continue the war.
Looking back at his advisors, the President asked, “If this plan goes south, what’s the alternative? How will we still bring about the end of the war?”
Admiral Meyers leaned forward. “We continue with the current plan, Mr. President. Right now, we have nearly two million US and Allied forces less than 100 kilometers from Beijing, we’ve got another one and a half million Allied forces in the Shanghai region, and nearly that same number in Guangdong Province in the south. By this time next year, we’ll occupy more than fifty percent of the country, and seventy percent of the Chinese population will be under Allied control.”
The admiral paused for a second, letting that sink in. “We have another thing going for us as well, Mr. President. General Yang lived in America for ten years—he studied at one of our most prestigious military academies. He knows our capabilities inside and out, and more importantly, he knows we won’t stop until we win. He’s been given an out, an opportunity to save his country, and I believe he’ll take it.”
Nodding at the logic, the President finally consented. “Order the strike, but make sure you kill Xi. If he or anyone else from that meeting escapes, it could prolong the war.”
With the final order given, the staff went to work on executing what everyone hoped would be the final operation to end the war.
*******
Yokota Air Force Base, Japan
The past few months had been horrendously busy for Colonel Fortney and his partner, Major Daniels. They had been putting the B-21 Raider through its paces over the battlefield. Despite the bomber still being “experimental,” it had been successfully carrying out bombing missions over mainland China for nearly two months. They had tested the bomber’s radar-absorbent material by flying over some of the most heavily contested airspace over China, ensuring their antiradar skin was as good as the manufacturers had advertised.
Other missions had tested the bomber’s ability to carry out precision strikes by guiding ten JDAMs to a target, then increasing that number up to the full capacity of one hundred smaller 500-pound JDAM bombs. In each test, the software, flight instruments, and targeting computers performed as good as or better than the manufacturers had said they would.
The B-21 Raider was proving to be the dream stealth bomber the Air Force had hoped it would become and a solid replacement for the B-1 and B-2 airframes. With the essential tests having been completed, the entire B-21 line of bombers started full production. The second test bomber was immediately flown to Yokota, giving Colonel Fortney command of the only two bombers in the service.
Two days earlier, the first day after the temporary ceasefire had ended, both bombers had flown to the city of Tianjin, 115 kilometers southeast of Beijing, and paid the city a visit. In a single bombing run, they’d released one hundred 2,000-pound laser-guided bombs, smashing the city’s manufacturing plants, port facilities, and two enemy divisions who’d hunkered down in a heavily populated neighborhood. It was a devastating attack by any standard, and it had been carried out by a mere two bombers.
*******
Walking into the briefing room, Pappi could tell this wasn’t going to be an ordinary bombing mission they were sending him on. There were several armed guards at the exits to the room, a handful of folks in black suits, and a few uniforms with stars on their collars. Whatever was up, it was big.
Turning to look at the pilot chairs, Pappi spotted his partner in crime and made his way over to her. Plopping down next to her, he leaned in. “What have you heard?” he whispered.
Double D shook her head. “Nothing yet. I got here ten minutes ago to go over some notes when all of these new faces started arriving and the security forces guys locked the room down.”
Nodding, Pappi opted to just sit back and relax. Whatever was going on involved them and their bomber, and when the powers that be decided to bring them in on it, they’d be there, ready and waiting.
Ten minutes went by as a handful of additional people filtered into the briefing room, way more than what was required or normal for any of their previous raids. They were, after all, a secretive bomber program that no one was fully aware was operational yet.
One of the men who had filtered into the room was a two-star general. As soon as he walked in, he immediately approached the lectern and silenced the room.
“Everyone, take your seats,” he announced. “It’s time to get this meeting going.” All the attendees quickly followed his instructions.
“There are a lot of people in this room, so I’m going to go over some introductions for our two bomber crews,” the general said. “I’m Major General Erik Latrell, from Joint Special Operations Commands. To my right are National Security Advisor Tom McMillan and Ambassador Max Bryant. To my left are Major General Tom Breedlove and Katelyn Mackie from the NSA.” He paused for a moment as the two aircrews nodded. A captain handed everyone a small dossier of the miss
ion along with a nondisclosure agreement and a signature form for the Special Access Program this operation was being classified under.
“What I’m about to brief you on is a highly classified SAP program by the name of Operation Valkyrie. Once you all have signed the NDA and the SAP signature page, there will still be less than fifty people in our entire country who will know about this mission and what it entails. Needless to say, if any of the mission details leak, there are only fifty of you who know about it, so we will find out who you are, and I guarantee you’ll be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Do I make myself clear?” he asked, voice close to a drill instructor’s in intensity.
Once everyone had agreed, and the signatures had been collected, General Lattrell continued. “Roughly ten weeks ago, President Xi carried out a purge of his senior military generals and political advisors. This placed a series of much younger, more innovative and aggressive generals in charge of the country. The new head of the PLA is a general by the name of Yang Yin. What’s unique about Mr. Yang is his family background. His father is the head of a major Chinese electronics manufacturer, and his family lived in America for ten years while he oversaw the American side of their business. During that ten-year period, Yang’s father had his son enrolled in a military preparatory school in America, and upon graduation, his son was accepted into the Citadel as a foreign student.
“During his four years of training at the Citadel, he attended Army basic combat training and advanced infantry training at Fort Benning. The following summer, he attended jump school, and his final summer at the Citadel, he went through the US Army Ranger School. He was offered a commission in the Army following his graduation; however, he declined and instead returned to China with his family. His father arranged for him to join the People’s Liberation Army Ground Forces, and when he arrived home, he was taken under the wing of several benefactors his father had within the PLA. With his American military training and extensive time in the US, he quickly rose through the ranks. As one of the youngest division commanders in the PLA, he was instrumental in changing a number of their tactics and offensive plans prior to the war. Several months before the war started, he was promoted again and made the youngest corps commander in the PLA.
“It was his corps that led the invasion of Southeast Asia and the quick capture of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand and Singapore. He was also the military commander who oversaw the invasion and occupation of Taiwan and the Philippines. He’s a more-than-capable military commander, and frankly, a dangerous one. He’s probably the only reason our forces haven’t captured Beijing yet, or completely overrun the country.”
General Lattrell didn’t pause to take any questions. “While General Yang is China’s most capable military commander, he is also a realist and knows the war is lost. Right now, he’s trying to manage the loss as best he can, but lately, President Xi has become more despondent and desperate to stay in power. It’s that desperation that has Yang most concerned, and it has presented us with a very unique opportunity.
Nodding to Major General Breedlove, he added, “Major General Breedlove here was actually Yang’s roommate at the Citadel. During our peace talks last week, he was able to rekindle that friendship enough to offer Yang an opportunity to bring an end to the war in a way that would not see China destroyed or humiliated on the world stage. Approximately eighteen hours ago, Yang reached out to Breedlove via a secretive method we’d put in place and presented us with an opportunity to end the war.”
Pappi and everyone else in the room sat up a little straighter and leaned forward, waiting to hear the plan.
“General Yang has asked if Xi would arrange a special meeting with the senior civilian leadership to discuss with him and the rest of the CMC generals a long-shot plan to defeat us. Xi agreed, and they’ve arranged for this discussion to take place in forty-two hours at a government command bunker just outside of Beijing.”
At this point, General Latrell signaled for one of the officers to turn off the light switch in the front of the room and start the PowerPoint presentation. As the screen came into focus, they could all see an aerial image of Xiang Shan Park highlighted with a circle on it. The next image showed a small, unimportant-looking building, denoted as the entrance to the underground command center. This command bunker was cleverly hidden at the base of a low-lying mountain range, roughly ten kilometers from the old Qing Dynasty Summer Palace at the western edge of the Beijing city limits.
“We know very little about this command bunker, other than General Yang said it is connected deep inside the mountain. He said the tunnel entrance travels roughly fifty meters to an elevator that takes you another one hundred meters deeper underground. Inside the bunker is a large enough command center for 500 personnel to effectively run the war without going topside for close to a year. Judging by the specifications he’s provided, we suspect this is their equivalent to our Cheyenne Mountain facility.”
Pappi looked at his copilot, and she gave him a look that said she had the same question he did. He didn’t wait to be called upon. “You want us to hit this thing with a nuclear bunker-buster bomb, correct?” he asked.
The room had been quiet before, but when Pappi said the word nuclear, you could have heard a pin drop. Everyone’s eyes went back and forth between him and General Latrell for confirmation.
Latrell nodded. “That’s correct. It’s the only way to ensure we collapse the bunker. You’ll be armed with our newest nuclear weapon, the B61-Mod 12 earth-penetrating bomb. Because of the depth of the bunker, it’s been determined by the bomb experts that we’ll need to hit it with a 50-kiloton yield. Fortunately, because this’ll be a deep underground burst, it’ll have the same effectiveness of us hitting them with a 1.25 megaton ground burst, with the exception that this bomb will leave little in the way of fallout—the explosion will largely stay contained, deep under the mountain.”
A few people whistled at the information. This would be the first time the US, or anyone for that matter, had used a nuclear-tipped bunker-buster bomb.
“I have to ask the question,” Colonel Fortney interjected. “What happens if this doesn’t work? We’ll have just tried to take the President of China and his entire administration out with a nuclear bomb. If we miss…they could launch their own nuclear missiles in retaliation.” Concern was written on his face.
The others looked around nervously as well. No one wanted to see the war go nuclear, not when they were so close to achieving victory through conventional means.
NSA Tom McMillan jumped in. “Colonel, the President has thought about that as well and has determined this is the best course of action. This meeting that we’re going to bomb is a meeting of the Chinese leadership to discuss their use of nuclear weapons against our military forces in China. They’re planning on using nuclear weapons on their own cities and territory to destroy our military. If we don’t decapitate the government now, not only do we risk losing millions of our soldiers, but tens of millions of Chinese civilians will be killed. It’s imperative that this strike succeed. That’s why both of your bombers will be going on this mission.”
Stepping forward now, McMillan added, “Colonel Fortney, your bomber will drop the first bomb. It will be followed by a second bomb less than sixty seconds after the first detonation. If, for whatever reason, your bomber is shot down or you’re unable to release your second bomb, then your partner here will finish the mission.
“This has to succeed, ladies and gentlemen. There’s no room for error. Tens of millions of lives are relying on the success of this plan. If our mission goes according to plan, General Yang will assume control of China within hours of the attack and he’ll move to end the war. This is it, everyone—the mission that will end World War III.”
Pappi nodded. He suddenly felt very much like Atlas, with the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Over the next hour, the mission planners went over the specifics of the flight path, the support aircraft that would be in
volved, and the backup plans in case the primary bomber got shot down or had an equipment failure.
“Now it’s only a matter of time,” Colonel Fortney thought as they all left the room. All they could do now was wait for the launch order—one that would make history.
*******
Xiang Shan Command Center
The armored Mercedes vehicle made the final turn in the road as it sped toward the nondescript entrance to the command center. This was the location where the end of World War III would be decided. President Xi still couldn’t believe the war had turned so decisively against them. It had started out so strong; their armies had rolled across Mongolia, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Taiwan and the Philippines. They had even sunk several American supercarriers.
“Where did I go wrong…what could I have done differently?” Xi wondered.
Suddenly, the vehicle jerked to a stop. His security detail quickly fanned out, ensuring there were no potential threats before they opened the door to his armored vehicle and ushered him toward the entrance of the underground complex. The cool November air greeted him, along with the smells of fall. As he surveyed the base of the mountain he was about to enter, President Xi observed that the leaves had fully changed colors, and many of them had started to carpet the ground in a beautiful collage. Standing erect, Xi took in a deep breath, wanting to enjoy the air outside before he went underground.
“They’re waiting for us,” one of his guards prompted him. They didn’t like him appearing in public or standing out in the open for very long. They were paranoid that the Allies would somehow spot him and attempt to kill him.
Nodding slightly, Xi followed his security detail. They led him to a small gift shop and café that sat nestled up against the bottom of the mountain. The busy park nearby was frequented by the residents of Beijing, so this café acted as the perfect cover for the intricate command center that lay beneath the natural earthen fortress.