Occupied Seattle (Occupied Seattle Book 2)

by Christopher Kennedy

  The president looked at the Chief of Naval Operations. “Is it possible that your men missed any of the weapons on their missions?”

  The CNO considered a few seconds before replying. “No sir, I don’t think that’s possible. Of course, we don’t have anything but the most preliminary of reports, but I don’t see how it would have been possible to miss any of the warheads, had they been with the ones that were recovered.” He paused a second before continuing. “It is, however, possible that when the Chinese first acquired the weapons, they split them up prior to our recovery efforts. If so, they wouldn’t have been around for our guys to see. I can’t know whether they did this or not. It’s possible…I doubt that it happened, but it’s possible.”

  The CNO thought for a moment and then said, “It’s also possible that they brought some of their own nuclear weapons to the area onboard one of their ships. They have four military ships that came over, as well as another six or eight freighters. Any one of them could have been carrying a nuclear weapon or two. They’ve had plenty of time to transport it anywhere they would like.” He paused again. “There is no way to know whether there are any other nuclear weapons in the area or not.”

  “Do you want us to call off our attack?” asked the Army Chief of Staff. “We were having great success in the east after the 101st hit the lines from behind. The Chinese were broken and reeling.”

  “That is certainly what they want us to do,” replied the president. “It may be that this is made up, just to try to get us to call off our attack. It certainly is convenient that a nuke turns up in the place that they need it, right when they need it. It’s even more convenient that they can’t call the people that have it, either. It’s all very fishy.”

  “Still, Mr. President,” the Air Force Chief of Staff interjected, “we can’t risk it, can we? If we caused nuclear material to spill on our own soil, we’d never be able to live that down with the American people.”

  “I think he’s bluffing,” decided the president, “and I’m in favor of continuing the attack. We appear to have them on the run.”

  “Maybe not,” interjected the National Security Advisor who had just walked into the room. “I was just made aware of an intercept that we received a short while ago. We have been watching for any phone calls made from the Seattle area to mainland China, and we just picked up a conversation. If my folks have this correct, it was between Colonel Zhang and the Chinese president. During the conversation, the president told the Colonel that they sent one of their own bombs ashore. They may very well have a bomb after all.”

  “Did the president say where it was?” asked the CNO.

  “No, he did not,” said the NSA. “In fact, Colonel Zhang asked the same thing and was told that it was better if he didn’t know where it was being held, based on his previous track record of not being able to keep their nuclear weapons secure. Colonel Zhang also admitted to the president that he didn’t have any of our nukes left, so our team out there did get them all back.” He paused. “Of course, that doesn’t tell us where the Chinese nuke is, or what they might do with it if we continue to attack. The people that have this one are not the same as had the earlier ones. In fact, we have no idea who is holding this one, or where. It is a complete wild card.”

  “That changes things somewhat,” said the president. “In fact, based on that information, I think we will call a halt in place for the moment. I don’t want to do anything that is going to get our people irradiated. If we hold for the moment, they will probably keep the weapon wherever it is, giving our troops a chance to find it. We have them broken and can restart the attack whenever we want to. They can’t have that many extra men available to bring up and reinforce their lines.” He looked at the CNO. “Give your team a call and see if they have any ideas on where it might be. If so, let’s see if they can stage a third recovery operation and pick up the Chinese one, too. I’d like to have that one to show the international community.”

  “Yes, sir,” agreed the CNO. “I’ll contact them. I don’t know how much they have left to give; they’ve been pretty much at it non-stop for over 24 hours now. If they can do it, I’m sure they will.”

  “Until we have some word,” instructed the president, “let’s stop all of our attacks for the moment.”

  The color drained simultaneously from all of the service chiefs’ faces. “I’m sorry,” said the Army Chief of Staff. “It’s too late to stop the attack on Taiwan. It’s already underway.”

  Kaohsiung, Taiwan, 0100 China Standard Time (1000 PDT)

  Nicknamed Operation Titanite, the assault was named after Operation Chromite, the Korean War Battle of Inchon, on which it was loosely modeled. The Battle of Inchon was an amphibious invasion and battle that resulted in a decisive victory for the United Nations’ forces. During the attack, the United Nations staged an amphibious assault far from Pusan, the last enclave that the allied forces were desperately defending. The assault behind the enemy lines at Inchon opened up a new front from which to fight and cut into the enemy’s supply lines. It was a risky assault over extremely unfavorable terrain, but it was a gamble that paid off and reversed the fortunes of the United Nations’ forces, which were very much in danger of losing the war.

  Similar to the opening stages of the Korean War, the war in Taiwan had resulted in the defending forces withdrawing to a small enclave. In Korea it had been to the Pusan Perimeter at the end of the Korean Peninsula; in Taiwan it was to the Taipei Encirclement at the north end of the island. The Taiwanese had withdrawn from the southern part of the island and had been able to throw up a defensive perimeter that held the Chinese, just barely, outside the twin cities of Taipei and New Taipei.

  Throughout the day prior, the U.S. had done everything possible to make the Chinese think that they were going to reinforce the Taiwanese positions in Taipei. They had run airstrikes against the Chinese positions on the north of the island to try to beat them back. They had aggressively probed the seaborne defenses to the east and north of the area as if they intended to get seaborne reinforcements into the port facilities. Finally, and more importantly, they had even gone in front of the media saying they would do just that.

  On the 6:00 evening news the night before, the president had gone on camera to tell the American people that the United States had to come to its ally’s defense in Taiwan before it was too late. Just like Seattle had fallen to a ‘vicious sneak attack,’ so too had most of the island of Taiwan; it was up to the United States to reinforce the Taiwanese positions in Taipei because there was no one else that could ‘and that’s just what we’re going to do!’ All of the stations showed surveys which indicated overwhelming support for the reinforcement and defense of Taiwan. The Chinese saw this as an obvious indication that the Americans would try to reinforce the Taipei area, either by air or sea, or both.

  The Chinese, therefore, put all of their efforts into breaching the Taipei Encirclement and all of their forces into defending the northern end of the island from outside reinforcement. The Chinese pulled most of their forces on the island to the north to race against time and wipe the Republic of China’s forces off the map before reinforcements could get there. If they could just finish them off, it was thought, then the Americans would no longer have anyone left to help and would go away. They would leave angry, certainly, but they would depart and leave Taiwan to the People’s Republic of China. The PRC forces had to prevent the reinforcement of the Taipei Encirclement, so they flew combat air patrols to the north of the island and moved their ships to the north to try to prevent a seaborne reinforcement of Taipei.

  But that wasn’t where the Americans were headed. Instead of reinforcing Taipei, they swung around the southern part of the island and landed at Kaohsiung.

  Located in southwestern Taiwan, Kaohsiung is the largest municipality and the second most populous. The airport that serves the city is the second largest airport in Taiwan. The city’s port occupies the largest harbor in Taiwan, and the city is a major road and
railway hub for the island. Taking Kaohsiung would give the Americans a mobility advantage, open up a second front on the island, and would put tremendous pressure on the PRC’s supply lines. If they could capture the airfield and open it up for military operations, they would have a good start on beating back the Chinese assault.

  It would not be easy; in fact, it would take all of the United States’ military services working together in a joint attack, something that, traditionally, they did not always do well. Under the leadership of the president and a strong Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, however, the services had come together with a bold and daring plan.

  All of the ships forward deployed to Japan put to sea. The aircraft carrier USS George Washington, along with Carrier Air Wing Five embarked, left port and was joined by two cruisers and seven destroyers. It was the most powerful battle group that had been put together in many years. The mission of this group was to provide an impenetrable air shield, under which the United States’ forces could act. With nine AEGIS ships providing air cover, they were successful.

  The marines came ashore at the Port of Kaohsiung. Operating under the air cover provided by the USS George Washington’s battle group, two Marine Expeditionary Units conducted the largest amphibious operation since Korea, shrugging aside the light resistance offered by the few remaining Chinese soldiers, and captured the port complex.

  The Army/Air Force team captured the rest of the city. With eight battalions at the forefront of the assault on the island, the 82nd Airborne led the way into Taiwan. In order to get all of these troops to Taiwan, the U.S. Air Force had to use 80 of its C-17 Globemaster aircraft, over 1/3 of its entire fleet of 220. It was a logistical nightmare to get them where they needed to be from countries around the globe, but the Air Force pulled it off and had 74 of the aircraft delivering troops ‘on time, on target.’ Four more aircraft were there, but up to 20 minutes late due to last-minute mechanical issues, one aircraft had to abort its launch due to an engine malfunction, and one aircraft landed its soldiers 15 miles off target due to a man-made navigational error. For an operation this large, with this little notice to put it together, it was a tremendous feat.

  Two battalions of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment were responsible for seizing the airfield. Taking a page from the Chinese, the assault was conducted in a manner eerily similar to the one the Chinese used in taking Naval Air Station Whidbey Island at the start of the war. The transport aircraft came in pretending to be 747 passenger carriers, only to deviate at the last minute and start dropping out their paratroops. In addition to the assault and capture of the airfield, two battalions of the 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment secured the north side of Kaohsiung, two battalions of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment secured the east side of Kaohsiung, and two battalions of the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment secured the south side of Kaohsiung. The United States had entered the war in Taiwan in a big way.

  Boeing Airplane Programs Manufacturing Site, Renton, WA, 1005 PDT

  The platoon had brought the tank and the IFVs, as well as their precious cargo, back to the hangar. Two aircraft had to be moved outside in order to make enough room for the armored vehicles. Calvin had been so tired that he had immediately fallen asleep once they transferred yet another group of prisoners and nuclear weapons to the Ranger platoon’s XO. He was tired enough that he had slept through the ringing of his cell phone, the first time it rang. Top had heard it, even though he would swear later that he hadn’t, but had let him sleep. There was nothing more important to Top than letting the man that held his unit’s fate in his hands get a little sleep. The second time it rang, though, it woke Calvin up and he answered it. He spoke softly, so Top couldn’t hear what he said, but it appeared that there was an awful lot of swearing involved. Top went over to the cooler and got a soda for the officer. Judging by the look on the lieutenant’s face they would all need a caffeine infusion soon.

  Hanging up on whoever had called him, the lieutenant woke up the Master Chief and Deadeye, and then came over to the table where Top and Jet were sitting on watch. A large pile of empty soda cans already covered much of it.

  “OK,” asked Ryan, “what’s the brain trust in D.C. have for us now? The war in Taiwan going badly, and they need us to go capture the island for them?”

  “Nope, something much easier than that,” replied Calvin. “They just need us to find a needle in a haystack.”

  “How big is the needle, and how small the haystack?” inquired Ryan. “Let me guess. The needle is itty bitty, and the haystack is Alaska, right?”

  Calvin gave him a sad smile. “Unfortunately, you’re not too far off. The needle is a nuclear weapon, and the haystack is the Seattle area of operations.”

  Top looked up, “Don’t tell me we missed one. I know that we got all of the ones that were at the university’s gym, and I know none of the infantry fighting vehicles escaped. I counted all of them, back when I was still awake enough to count.”

  “No,” said Calvin, “it’s even worse. Or better, I’m not sure which. Apparently, the Chinese brought one of their own weapons here. The Beijing leadership didn’t trust their guy in charge here, so they sent another one that was off-loaded somewhere, sometime, and is in the area. The intel folks intercepted a phone call between the Chinese president and the head army guy here. The president gave him a hard time about us recovering all of the weapons he stole and then told him that they had a ‘Plan B’ that they had put into play. Unfortunately, the president wouldn’t tell him where they were holding it, because the president didn’t trust him to guard it.”

  “OK, let me see if I’ve got this right,” said Ryan. “We’ve done everything that has been asked of us, and have done it so well that the folks in D.C. now think that we’re miracle workers and can find something that no one even knew existed until just a few minutes ago? Is that about it? Let me guess. It also has to be done immediately because the attack on Taiwan is being held up until we find it, right?”

  “Well, that’s mostly right,” confirmed Calvin. “The only thing you missed was that the attack has already gone into Taiwan. They probably would have stopped it, but the troops were already jumping out of the airplanes when they found out. They did, however, stop the attacks here in Seattle until we could figure this out, so if you were looking forward to seeing more of the 101st coming to relieve us any time soon, you’re going to be sadly disappointed.”

  “I think I’m too tired to be disappointed anymore,” shrugged Ryan, shaking his head. He looked at Deadeye, “OK, former intel person, figure this out, would ya’?”

  “I’ve got nothing but a headache,” said Corporal Taylor.

  The men were all too tired to joke about women and headaches. Instead, Top wearily reached into one of the many pockets in his uniform and pulled out a little baggy. Reaching in, he pulled out an 800 milligram motrin. “Here you go,” he said. “You’re not a real Ranger until you get your first supply of Ranger Candy.”

  “Thanks,” she said. Realizing that this was a golden chance to make a name for herself in the unit, she decided to try a little harder. “Well, I don’t know where it is, but I can tell you how we would have gone about looking for it.”

  Calvin nodded to her to proceed, “If you’ve got anything that might help, go ahead. You may not have as much experience as a Ranger as some of these guys, but we could surely use your previous intel skills right now.”

  “OK,” Deadeye said, “most times, people and countries follow patterns. If you can figure out the pattern, you can make a guess at what they will do next time.” She looked at Calvin, “Aviators do the same thing, right, sir? You try to figure out how something is being defended and then use those tendencies against them, right?”

  “Yeah, that’s right,” agreed Calvin. “Unfortunately, we don’t have much of a pattern here.”

  “Well, I don’t know that I’d say that, sir,” Deadeye said. “We’ve got some other data points from when they started the attack. We just n
eed to look at those and see if they make any sense.”

  Top recapped the start of the war. “When they first attacked, they used our citizens as shields. They took big groups of them in three places, and they hid our nukes in the same place as one of the groups. They continued to hold the citizens in that group, but let the others go from the other two places that didn’t have nukes, right?”

  Deadeye nodded, “So far, so good. Keep going.”

  Top shrugged, frustrated. “That’s all I’ve got. Our people were used as hostages. People continued to be held where the nuclear weapons were, but were let go where they weren’t. What am I missing?”

  Deadeye smiled, “The key to this is that there were two people involved. The colonel that was in charge here captured the nuclear warheads from Bangor and took them to one of the places that hostages were being held. This had to have been a key part of their planning all along and something that their entire plan was based on. Right?”

  Everyone nodded. “Go on,” Top urged.

  Deadeye nodded, serious. She ticked off the points. “OK, so, one, the plan was to hold American citizens hostage and use nukes to scare us and keep us from doing anything. Two, everyone knew that was the plan. Three, the leadership in Beijing didn’t trust the ground commander here. Add it all up, and what have you got?”

  Calvin shook his head, “All I’ve got is a need for one of Top’s Ranger Candies. Lack of sleep and brain teasers do not go together well.” Top pulled the bag back out and handed Calvin a motrin.

  “OK, sir, I’ll spell it all out,” said Deadeye. “The plan was to hold us hostage by using the nuclear warheads on groups of civilians. Everyone involved in the planning knew that. But what if you didn’t trust the on-scene commander to get or keep the nukes, but believe in the original plan as it was written?”

  “You’d put a nuclear weapon of your own in with one of the other groups!” shouted Jet, making the leap of logic. “It must be at either the convention center or Safeco Field.”