by Andrew Watts
“So if China was to attack us, do you think that our military would be able to hold them off?”
The man shifted in his seat and said, “I mean…I would guess…yeah. I think so, probably.”
Lena said, “Okay. We as a group are going to get very smart very quickly on some of the data that might help us answer this question. Many of you are asking yourselves right now, can China beat us? But we don’t want you to think of it like that. We want you to think of it like this. How can China beat us? Assume that they can. Uncover the path they must take. Only then can we really prepare our defense. It is thinking like this that has kept us safe from another 9/11 for so many years. Now, you each will get familiar with China’s capabilities and use your collective expertise to identify America’s weaknesses. There will be a different set of experts that will create the defensive response plan based on our learnings. That will be weeks after we are finished, and most of you will not be involved. For us, these next few weeks are about figuring out the most effective strategies and tactics that China could use to make war on the US. Does that make sense?”
“Yes ma’am,” said the military officer.
Lena continued, “After September eleventh, we created a Red Cell designed to prevent another major terrorist attack. Typically, the opposing force in a military exercise is red and the allied force is blue. A cell, for those of you who are unfamiliar, is the unit where plans are made. Hence, the Red Cell is used to create the enemy’s plans. After September eleventh, we used this organization to help us think outside the box and hypothesize what our enemies might do. At that time, it was terrorist attacks that we were focused on. It helped us tremendously in identifying what defensive mechanisms needed to be strengthened, and what targets had no adequate defense in place.”
She stood looking at the group. The audience was captivated.
“Each of you was carefully selected for having a great combination of experience in fields that will likely be very important to these plans. But you have also been selected for another very important reason. You can be trusted. Or more accurately, most of you have bosses that can be trusted. Each of you was handpicked by the person who sent you here. This group has not been compromised. We put this operation together as a way to prepare now while another op is underway to root out Chinese spies that have infiltrated us. More on that momentarily. The consultants in this Red Cell need to figure out what we think we could be up against. What plans are already in motion? Some of you know bits and pieces that will inform this. What do we think the Chinese could do? The rest will be hypothesis. What should their targets be and how would they attack them? Each of us knows something that will likely prove crucial. It’s up to us to work efficiently so that we are well prepared for what’s to come. ”
David listened to Lena speak and his doubts began to recede. It was all starting to make sense. Didn’t In-Q-Tel constantly worry about the Chinese hacking their systems? There were cyberattacks going on back and forth between the East and West every day. It was a modern cold war. She was an excellent speaker. The more he listened to her, the more a war with China seemed realistic. Either that or Lena was a remarkable liar.
Lena said, “We’ll begin sharing out tonight after dinner. We want to know what you all think are the biggest weaknesses in our defense. When you look at 9/11 and at Pearl Harbor, our nation was not prepared. We did not see it coming because we had been conditioned not to look in the right places. Attacks like those are what we are here to prevent. We are here to think of all the different ways a foreign power might try to do serious harm to our nation. Some of you have extensive knowledge of things like nuclear power plants and the electrical grid. Some of you understand very different things like how the US populace might respond to propaganda or psychological operations.”
The classroom collectively raised their eyebrows at that one.
“Oh yes…that’s right. We won’t just be looking at a one-time kinetic attack. This isn’t a hit-and-run that we’re planning for. We’ll also be looking at ways that China might be able to invade us and successfully occupy our nation. That will be week three. What would they do? How would they go about it? Shock and awe? Win hearts and minds? We will conduct psychological operations planning. We don’t want the defense team that looks at our work to just build a big moat with nothing behind it. You must think of what China should do to control the castle once inside the walls. Only then will our defense planners be able to cover our castle grounds with spikes.”
There was commotion in the room.
“Many of you doubt our reasons for concern. You may believe that China could be planning an attack. But you are saying to yourself, everyone knows that the US is the mightiest country in the world, with the greatest military in the world. I ask you to please hold those assumptions in check while we’re here. We have a duty to our country to suspend disbelief and to think of new and different ways that China could overcome our advantages. We must identify all of our nation’s vulnerabilities and commit ourselves to this mindset of offensive planning against the United States. This is how we will truly help our defensive planners—by giving them an effective blueprint for a Chinese invasion.”
There were nods of understanding in the audience. In David’s office life, most meetings involved tables of people with laptops open and cell phones out. He was struck by the level of undivided attention that Lena commanded when she spoke. Granted, there were no computers or phones in anyone’s possession. But it was more than that. Between her charisma and confidence, she controlled the eyes of everyone in the room. Aside from her speech, the only sound was the thrum of the air conditioning coming through the floor vents.
She said, “This threat requires urgent action and new ideas. We can’t use the same lessons learned in the sessions that were held a decade ago when we were trying to protect against another September eleventh, because we are no longer trying to protect against terrorists, but against the country with the largest economy and military on the planet.”
The room became quiet. David could sense that reality was setting in for the others in the classroom.
“A few weeks ago we lost contact with one of our assets in Shanghai. Before that happened, he sent me a message that revealed two important things. The most important was what we have already discussed. China is planning to attack the United States. Very few in the Chinese leadership are aware of this plan. They are dedicated to keeping it secret. But rest assured, the decision makers that matter are very aware. The second big item that our Chinese asset revealed is the reason you all are here, instead of a team from the Pentagon doing this in the Pentagon. We as a country have been infiltrated by the Chinese intelligence community. Badly. And they have been actively deepening this penetration. The Chinese have spies feeding them information from inside just about every key government organization. Sleepers have been activated. New operatives have been inserted. They are making moves to get ready for a war.”
David heard rumbles from around the room.
“There is a bit of a cat-and-mouse game going on right now. There is just a small team assigned to this project. We are keeping this operation quiet, even from our own agencies, while we figure out whom we can trust. At the same time, we know that we have to plan our defense. While we know that the Chinese are planning the attack and we know some of their objectives, we don’t know exactly how they intend to do it. We know a little, but not nearly enough. That’s where you come in. This isn’t just a regular consulting project. We want you to be ruthless and calculating as you think of what they might do. We will provide you with what we have uncovered as their probable objectives. But before our man was killed…and yes, he was killed…”
A few people gasped. Most stared at Lena in shock. She spoke with an unemotional detachment. They were hanging on every word.
“…we were unable to get any of their detailed plans. We have begun a very thorough mole hunt in the government and military right now. We need to use the next few months
to root out every Chinese spy that has infiltrated us. Only then can we share this information with the people who will need to know. What we don’t want to do is tip our hand and bring on war without preparation. We are afraid that if we start disseminating this information and some of their spies find out, the Chinese might move up their timetable before we can prepare. Also, in that scenario, they would then be attacking with their spies in place. That can’t happen.”
She looked around the room.
“I know this is shocking. I know it may seem unbelievable if you are just now hearing it. But I assure you it is very real. Our world may soon change drastically. We may be in a war like our generation has never known. So I ask that you each do your part to the best of your ability. Work hard. Make the best decisions you can. Help to prepare our country for the worst. Good luck. Now, let’s get to work.”
The group sat stunned. Slowly, people started to stand up and move down the aisles and towards the back door of the room, where the administrative papers waited. The Air Force major was there, helping everyone get their paperwork done. The crowd resumed speculation on what the future had in store with a renewed fervor.
David found himself waiting in line to sign his nondisclosure agreement and collect a security badge. That struck him as a bit silly. If this island really was in the middle of nowhere, wouldn’t Lena and whoever else was running this show already know exactly who was here? The badges seemed more for show than anything. But show for whom?
“Thank you for participating today, Mr. Manning.”
David hadn’t seen Lena walk up behind him. Closer up, she was even more attractive. Her dark brown eyes stared intently into his.
“Of course. I’m glad to help.”
“I’m very interested to hear more about ARES. We’ll look forward to a full briefing from you later. I am fascinated to hear about its capabilities. And to know more about these men that have created the program.”
David was surprised she knew about it. But if that was why Tom had sent him, it made sense that she would.
He said, “ARES. Yeah. Well, I don’t know if you would even call them men. The three of them were in their early twenties. Boys, I’d say.”
She shook her head. “Remarkable. But I guess many of our strongest tech companies were started by exuberant youths. It takes a fiery intellect to really change the world. Like young Natesh there.”
She nodded toward Natesh, who was out of earshot across the room.
David said, “It sounds like we’ll need that brain power to help us, in light of the plot you’ve uncovered. Hopefully we can harness that power for the good guys.”
Lena said, “David, that’s why we brought you all here, to harness that intellectual power. And I promise you we’ll do exactly that.”
She nodded a farewell, turned, and walked out the door.
David watched her go and felt an uneasy voice in his head begin to whisper. It was the same voice that he’d felt when Tom was speaking to him on the plane. Lena and Tom had both said all of the right things.
But the whisper was still there. The whisper was what his father used to call it when David was a boy. His father’s sage advice never failed to keep David out of trouble: When the whisper tells you not to follow the pack, hear the whisper like a scream.
3
The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting. —Sun Tzu
Natesh sat on his bed, his moist palms pressed against white cotton bedsheets. He was always the most nervous on the first day. That was when all those intelligent and accomplished eyes began to judge him. In the first thirty minutes, Natesh found, the vast majority of his spectators made their decision as to the worth of his service. So like any good salesman, he had to nail it during that initial moment of truth. And he did it, time after time.
That was how he had made his millions. Not through his intellectual prowess. Smart people were a dime a dozen. Natesh made his millions by selling himself. He delivered both a high-quality exhibition and intellectual output for his clients. But he had to give them a convincing show for their money.
He always got nervous, and today’s nervousness went beyond anything he had felt before. He needed to keep calm. Just stick to the script. He must forget that the final product here wasn’t a product at all, but bloodshed. He tried to console himself with the fact that if he did his job well, there would be less of it.
Natesh had his routine. The stories changed depending on the exact project, but the basic formula stayed constant. Introductions came first. Then he would tell a story to both captivate and serve as inspiration for a strategy. For this project, Natesh decided that he would tell his story about a professional pickpocket from New York City. That one usually went over well. Natesh would follow that up with comparisons between the competitors. Normally his competitors were two major conglomerates. Today, they were two superpowers. From there, Natesh would get to the meat of the conversation. He would go over project objectives and begin brainstorming about ways to create competitive advantage. MBAs usually ate it up. He wasn’t so sure about this audience.
It was highly likely that the activities they created in this particular project would involve killing on a mass scale. It would be unlike anything Natesh had worked on before. He hoped that his gift for analysis and strategic thinking would transcend the line between corporate battle and actual battle. Certainly the man who had picked him for this assignment thought so.
But oftentimes, with the gift of genius comes the curse of thinking deeply. Life’s harsh realities were magnified by this lens. Natesh thought about how people on the Manhattan Project had felt, knowing that they were designing death. There was the utilitarian justification that was used by so many after the bombs were dropped on Japan. A far larger number would supposedly have been lost in a hostile invasion of the Japanese mainland. Was this war planning analogous to that? They were designing a most efficient plan for war. Natesh hoped that the greatest good would rise from the smoke.
Three sharp knocks sounded on his door.
He opened it to find Lena staring at him.
Natesh’s parents were both Indian. While he would never admit as much in an American society dominated by political correctness, he preferred women that were from a similar ethnic background to his own. Lena, however, was captivatingly beautiful. Her looks seriously called into question any previous preference Natesh had. Her dark brown eyes had a fire that showed intelligence, confidence, and—what was it? There was some other quality there. Passion? No. Ruthless commitment. She looked like she had never failed at anything in her life, and that she had expected as much. With full lips and a well-proportioned, athletic body, she looked like she could have been a model for one of those women’s fitness magazines. Natesh wondered if it was her looks that made his blood pressure rise when she was around. No, it was her ruthlessness.
“Good morning, Lena. We have another twenty minutes before—”
“Let’s talk in my office. Please follow me.”
She turned and walked down the barracks hallway. Natesh grabbed his key and presentation notes off his nightstand and hustled to catch up. He was glad that he had gotten ready early. They walked out of the barracks and down a hundred-foot stretch of gravel that brought them to the smallest building on the island base. Everyone assumed that this was a base, although Lena was likely the only one who knew for sure. An arc of tropical trees shaded the path.
Natesh’s feet crunched through the stones and seashells as he walked. The morning sun cast a beautiful light over the beaches beyond the runway. He wanted to stop and admire the monstrous green mountain at the heart of the island, but Lena trudged onward at a quick pace. A trickle of sweat slid down his forehead as he hobbled after her.
They reached the concrete structure with satellite dishes and a group of antennae on top. Razor wire lined the roof. Metal bars caged in each of the narrow windows, making it look like a small-town jail. Lena’s fingers danced over the digital keypad as she ty
ped in the code to the single steel door. Natesh heard a faint beep and then a click as the door unlatched.
As they entered, Lena said, “This is the Communications building. You’ll be spending some time in here over the next few weeks.” She sealed the door behind them.
Inside was a small room with two computer monitors and two swivel chairs. Rays of bright yellowish morning light came in from the high-up rectangular windows, illuminating one wall. She motioned for him to sit, and he took a seat in one of the chairs. She remained standing.
Lena stared at him, her eyes filled with that ever-present intensity. He had seen that look from many a successful entrepreneur in Silicon Valley. Athletes called it the eye of the tiger. Natesh thought this metaphor fit. Lena was every bit the predator.
Her voice was flat. “So…are you all set?”
Natesh could feel the sweat between the tips of his fingers and his palms. “Yes. All set.” He tried to sound calm.
She saw through the lie. “You’re worried?”
Natesh said, “It’s just a lot to process, that’s all.”
“Yes.” She nodded.
“I’m fine. I’ve done this sort of thing many times. I’ll be fine.”
Disapproval flickered in her eyes, then calm. Her voice was soft as she said, “Natesh. We have watched you for some time now. You are quite capable. I know that you’ve never done anything like this before. But to be frank, no one has. Stick to your routine. Get in a rhythm, and be the conduit for others to provide the information.”
He nodded. “Sure. Sure. As you say. I will be good. Thanks.”
“I’m here to help.”
She motioned around toward the computer monitors. “Major Combs and you will be the only ones with access to this room, besides me, of course. Take this paper. On it is your code that will open the outer door to this building. Memorize it. You won’t be able to take it with you. You’ll be able to go on these computers and get information from the outside world. These computers are on a censored and monitored network. You won’t be able to access the whole Internet. If there are any sites that you need or information that you aren’t able to get, the email system only goes to one person. He is my colleague who will be able to do external research for you. In order to make things simple and secure, we’re going to have you and the Major serve as the information-gathering middlemen. If there is external data that the consultants need to access as you are making your plans, you two will come here to get it. Understood?”