As the light tanks kept spreading out along the top of the ridge, firing their heavy machine guns and 178mm missiles, two Chinese IFVs rushed them. A Hellfire II hissed out of a Lee. With unerring accuracy, the missile struck the front of the enemy IFV. Its machine gun quit as the entire front lifted, and the enemy IFV toppled sideways.
Now American IFVs got into the action, blasting with their 25mm cannons.
That was too much for the enemy. Those that could ran away, some north up the road toward the front. Others ran east and west.
“Kill the troops,” Stan said. “We can’t leave anyone alive to fight later.” It was a bloodthirsty command, and yet, he didn’t see it that way now. Stan Higgins was in the midst of combat when a different part of his brain took over. Blood, guts, mayhem, the reptile in him delighted in butchering the enemy. Later, the better half of him might loathe what he did. Taking human life, even in battle, had a spiritual or psychological cost for most people. Now wasn’t the moment a man felt any of that, though. Now, the last drop of fear drained out of Stan because he killed those who might have killed him. It was one of the greatest feelings in the world to destroy the ones threatening you with death.
As fires raged down there, and Chinese trunks and jeeps burned, Stan finally gave the command. The East Lighting officers were dead, with jin-jin soaked in their tunics. One after another, the Lees clanked down the road, with American IFVs following.
We’re doing it. We’re surprising them and hopefully, creating havoc and panic to the Chinese soldiers and commanders ahead of us.
HARBIN, HEILONGJIANG PROVINCE
Shun Li ran down a corridor in the main Police Ministry Building of the city, following an adjutant. The woman ahead of Shun Li turned into a chamber. Out of breath, Shun Li followed, coming to a halt before a wall screen. It showed an angry Chairman Hong staring at her from his secure headquarters in Beijing.
Shun Li checked an impulse to throw herself cringing on the tiles. She had rarely seen him so visibly angry. His dark eyes shined wetly, and his lips pressed firmly against each other.
As her bosom heaved, she bowed before his image on the wall. She tried to inject serenity into her motion. It was impossible.
“The Americans have brushed aside the Taken Defenses,” Hong said in a dangerous voice. “This morning, I awoke to grim news. The enemy has flown like a bald eagle, going wherever they desire. I imagine they’re less than a half hour from Harbin.”
“Leader?” Shun Li asked, amazed at this news.
“Do you mean to tell me that you have wallowed in luxurious sleep while the Americans battle around the clock?”
“No, Leader. I mean, yes, I was asleep, but only after a night of hard work, preparing the city defenses.”
“And who mans those defenses?” Hong asked. “Dirty peasants?”
Shun Li stared at him in shock. She didn’t know what he wanted to hear.
“Blow up the city,” Hong said. “Do so immediately. The Americans must not be allowed to take Harbin intact.”
Shun Li began to tremble. How could she say this without losing her life?
The Chairman glanced down at something out of sight in his headquarters. “What is this?” he asked. “You are highly agitated.”
“Leader?” she whispered.
“You would be surprised at my instrumentation here. It monitors your heart rate, among other things.”
Shun Li moistened her lips. He realized she feared. Did he already know? It was more than possible. She must project utter honesty.
“Leader,” she said, “I have not yet installed the nuclear devices.”
On the wall-screen, Hong froze, and she could see her death in his eyes. “Tell me truthfully. Why have you failed to implement China’s will?”
“Leader, I have not yet received the nuclear devices.”
“You lie!” he shouted.
“No, dear Leader, I speak the unvarnished truth. There has been a delay in the delivery of the devices.”
Hong breathed heavily. He no longer stared at her. He didn’t seem to look at anything, but had glazed eyes.
“You are now given a holy task,” he finally said. “You must race south and find the devices. They must have stopped somewhere along the route. Then you must rush back with them to Harbin and plant the bombs. I demand that you mine the city. We will bury the Americans under tons of irradiated brick. We will destroy their invasion army.”
“Yes, Leader,” she said. “Ah…”
“What now?” he snapped.
“I have noticed a phenomenon lately.”
“What could you perceive that I have not?”
“May I speak truthfully?” she asked. The giant image made Hong seem like a god.
“I demand you tell me the truth,” he said.
“Leader…people fear your displeasure.”
“That is absurd. I am a reasonable man.”
“The most reasonable on Earth,” she said. “Yet they fear to displease you. I suspect because of that they hide truths from you.”
“Do you think anyone is capable of hiding anything from me?”
“Not in the long run,” Shun Li said. “But in the short run, yes.”
He studied her, until finally he barked harsh laughter. “You have rare courage, Shun Li. I appreciate that. Yes, in the short run, liars can succeed. Tell me this truth you’ve discovered?”
“Sometimes, the first reports are exaggerated. Maybe the Americans aren’t as close to Harbin as we believe.”
“No,” Hong said. “I cannot accept that. An hour ago, two hundred American Jeffersons demolished a supply depot at Fun-Won Junction. That is forty-five kilometers from Harbin. Nothing stands between these Jeffersons and the city. I imagine the entire US army group pours after them.”
“Leader, while I search for the nuclear devices, I ask for permission to send a reconnaissance team to Fun-Won Junction.”
“The Americans will slaughter them. But yes, do it. Let us see if your truth holds. Now go. On no account can I allow Harbin to fall into American hands.”
BEHIND ENEMY LINES, HEILONGJIANG PROVINCE
Stan overran two more supply depots and annihilated three convoys, leaving burnt hulks and dead personnel everywhere. One corpse had lain there completely naked and in perfect condition, with the dead man’s hands peacefully folded on his hairless chest. The enemy jammed his communications now. All he heard was growling in the radio. By lofting a drone high enough, he finally talked with General Taylor for three minutes.
It made all the difference.
As they clanked for Taw-Do Junction, the Intelligence captain informed Stan that thirty-two Chinese Marauder light tanks headed fast for them.
At Lao Pin Central Farm, Stan set up an ambush. He positioned the Lees behind three hills overlooking G1011 and the farm. Below on the road, he inflated twelve dummy Lees. Three IFVs had carried the inflatables for just such an occasion.
Infantrymen attached heaters, which gave off infrared signatures on the dummy tanks. They barely sprinted into nearby milk sheds as the first Marauders appeared up the road.
Stan lay on the reverse slope of the middle hill. He’d taken a mobile laser rangefinder from the Lee. The tank was also behind the hill, with its Hellfire II launcher ready.
The Chinese light tanks slowed. They must have spotted the dummies on the road. The Chinese Marauders were small, turretless tanks, each with a big 153mm gun.
Loud booms and long tongues of flames from the barrels showed that the Marauders fired. What did the Chinese commander think? Several rounds passed right through the inflatable dummies, beginning to deflate them. Machine guns opened up from the Chinese, and they used their inner wheels, rushing the dummy Lees at speed. Now several inflatables exploded, simply disappearing like popped balloons. What would the Chinese make of that?
From his position on the slope, Stan aimed a laser, pinpointing one of the lead Marauders. From the other hills, more Lee commanders did likewise. With a who
osh, a Hellfire II roared to life behind Stan. It left the barrel, flew over the top of the hill and sped down toward the Marauders.
Chinese antimissile fire from the Marauders knocked it down so the missile plowed harmlessly in dirt, but not the Hellfire II following behind the first one. The second missile slammed against a Chinese light tank, and it exploded with a boom, injecting a thin jet stream of hot metal inside the tank, killing the crew.
Before any Marauders could stop or reverse gears, backing up, more Hellfire IIs slammed home. In the end, none of the Chinese light tanks managed to escape the trap. It was Stan’s perfect battle, leaving thirty wrecks on and near the road.
Now what? The light tanks showed that the Chinese knew someone roved in their rear area. Surely, the enemy would send more forces to try to reopen the way. Heck, what if the Chinese commander panicked and sent everyone back here? It was possible he might do that.
Stan stood up on the hill, and he nodded to himself. They needed to patch the dummies and inflate them again. This was an excellent kill zone. Yet if he stayed here, that might take the pressure off the Chinese. No. They had done plenty of damage. He would plug this route and wait for relief from Taylor.
It proved to be the correct decision. Almost an hour later, ten tri-turreted monster tanks showed up. That must have been the extent of the enemy’s big tanks at the front. The Lees couldn’t face 175mm cannons and survive. Hiding behind these dirt hills was their best bet.
Using the road, the ten T-66 tanks clanked toward the farm, approaching Marauder wrecks. Stan had towed those he could out of the way. None of the tri-turreted monsters bothered firing at the dummies.
Why not? Stan wondered. How did they figure that out? Did it matter how?
“We have to get out of here!” a Lee commander radioed.
“Keep cool,” Stan radioed back. “We have this.”
That’s when Chinese mortars from out of sight laid down smoke. The shells exploded on the dummy tanks, and hid them in a black oily cloud.
That’s what happens when you give the enemy time to think. They use combined arms against us.
With a roar of their engines, the T-66s began their attack, coming straight in. Stan had a glimpse of them before the dense smoke hid the Chinese tanks from view.
“What do we do, General?” a tank commander radioed.
“Listen to me,” Stan said. He realized what he needed to do, and knew what must have happened. Some of the Marauder crews must have been radioing back when the missiles destroyed them. The tri-turreted crews weren’t going to fall for the same dummy trick. He should have changed things up.
Stan gave fast orders, and he sprinted for his Lee. As he climbed up the side, the light tank began clanking off the slope.
“We have no more time,” Stan said into his throat-microphone. “I want the IFVs to get up here on the slopes and to start firing everything you have when I give the order. We have to make the enemy think we’re sticking to our original plan. You Lee commanders, you’re going to circle out behind your hill and flank the road, flank the T-66s. Once you see the big tanks, use every Hellfire you have left on them. Then use the Hammers. The T-66s are going to have plenty of antimissile fire. We’re going to have to hope some of our munitions get through.”
“Hope, General?” a tank commander asked.
Stan realized an utterly factual speech wasn’t going to motivate anyone in these circumstances. “We’re going to pound these bastards and blow them sky high!” Stan thundered. “The Chinese tankers think they’re clever. Well, damnit, we going to show them an old Comanche trick. This is going to work like you wouldn’t believe.”
According to a scout, the ten heavy tanks continued to rush for the smoke. Clearly, they were trying to make this a close combat thing, trusting to their thick armor and superior guns. Stan swallowed. He had light tanks. He had to be more nimble, think nimble, like a Comanche raider of the Old West.
As the T-66s continued to use the road, Stan’s Lees flanked cross-country, leaving the protection of the hills and swinging right and left of G1011. They attempted to swing around the billowing smoke and get a glimpse of the big tanks before the monsters disappeared into the oily substance and reached the Chinese farm.
Stan clung to the hatch, swaying, with his eyes peeled. His Lee sped through a small grove. Once out, he saw the big tanks in all their terrifying glory. The last time he’d seen T-66s had been in Texas from inside a Behemoth. He wished he were in one now. The Lee’s armor would be as paper compared to the Behemoth’s thick hide. Just as bad, the light tanks lacked antishell and antimissile fire. It might have been better to remain behind the hills or to flee somewhere else.
“Fire!” Stan shouted.
Two seconds later, the first Hellfire II popped out of a barrel and ignited. With a whoosh, it sped at the nearest tri-turreted tank.
Enemy radar must have spotted the missile. White puffs showed beehive flechette firing. A second later, they knocked down the missile.
“Keep firing!” Stan shouted.
More Lees appeared, and they launched too. Then huge tongues of flame belched from enemy 175mm cannons. Screaming shells struck with unerring accuracy. Explosions, shrieks of tortured metal and flipping, gyrating Lees resulted.
It was an unequal battle, and it might have been the end of Stan Higgins and his Lees. A strike force of American V-10s showed up then. Taylor had promised them during the three-minute talk, and Stan had counted on them to come in on time, hitting the enemy as the Lees engaged. The small V-10s pressed the attack, skimming the ground, launching tank-killers.
One drone blew up in a fireball. The Chinese commander must have been alert to air attack. Then a tank-killer reached a T-66, and the first tri-turreted monster crashed onto its side as smoke poured from it.
The overload proved too much for the Chinese tanker defenses. Hellfire IIs began to reach the enemy tanks, exploding, but often failing to penetrate the heavy armor. However, the shock had its own effect on the 175mm cannons, and sometimes the enemy crews died from spalling as interior fittings broke off and ricocheted within the compartment, acting like shrapnel.
After the third pass of the wicked little V-10s, the last T-66 tank exploded, and an entire turret and cannon spun off like a Frisbee, leaving a trail of smoke. One drone waggled its wings before it left.
Stan waved back at it. Then he assessed the damage to his command. It turned out that the enemy had destroyed seventeen Lees, killing most of the crews inside. Maybe as bad, the rest were almost out of missiles.
Stan forced back any tears of regret or self-recrimination. This was war, and they had gambled. By sending those heavy tanks, the Chinese showed they were worried. How worried, though, was the question.
“When is the cavalry showing up, sir?” Stan’s driver asked.
“Soon,” Stan said, hoping he was right.
G1 EXPRESSWAY, HEILONGJIANG PROVINCE
Shun Li had never heard of Shakespeare’s play Macbeth. Yet she unconsciously rubbed her hands as Lady Macbeth had done. If Shun Li did it to wipe away the innocent blood there, she didn’t recognize the gesture as such.
Even so, as she sat in the back of a Chinese Xiang SUV, with Fu Tao beside her, she pondered what she considered as an unsolvable problem.
Several days ago, she’d spared a Militia major in charge of tank-trap diggers. Shun Li had known in her heart that if she murdered the major, karma would insure her own bloody death, and that in the near future.
Yet she led a caravan of three East Lightning cargo haulers. Twenty-five enforcers rode behind and before the vehicles. They had orders to kill anyone attempting to halt them.
The complex set of reasons why the six nuclear bombs had failed to show up in Harbin were bewildering in their stupidity. A blown tire in one spot, an empty tank in another, a wrong turn in Bin—Tong and an Army detour at Son combined with a driver falling asleep at the wheel and crashing into a tree… Shun Li had no doubt many of those responsible for the v
arious mishaps would soon find themselves before a firing squad. Hong would demand justice, but only if the warheads didn’t reach Harbin in time and failed to ignite at the proper moment.
Both sides had hordes of tac-lasers and particle beam platforms. China also had the strategic ABM sites and their own version of Reflex interceptors. Americans, and Russians by example, had learned the correct lesson from the Red Dragon attack in Oklahoma: have masses of antimissile systems. That made it very difficult for jets, bombers, drones and helicopters to move about the battlefields. It’s why Hong did it this way, with buried nuclear devices.
Shun Li sucked in her breath as her Xiang’s tires thumped over the boards of the latest shelled bridge. They were close to Harbin. On the horizon, she could see the tallest skyscrapers.
Her dilemma concerned the Militia major. Shun Li had loved to read fantasy novels as a teenager. Of particular delight had been the dark stories of Nee Lang. The tale of the emotionless swordsman had been her favorite. A wizard had deposited the soul of the swordsman in a cat. If someone destroyed the little feline, the swordsman would die. Once the swordsman realized this, he hunted the Earth for the cat and then he guarded it with his life until he found a White Wizard to transfer the soul back into his own body.
To Shun Li, the Militia major carried her tainted soul. That made it very simple. If the major died, Shun Li would die hideously. She had saved her life once already by sparing the major. Yet what would happen to her soul if the major perished in a nuclear holocaust in Harbin caused by Shun Li’s actions here today?
I am doomed, Shun Li thought wearily. If I bury the warheads in Harbin as ordered, I die. If I fail to bury them, Chairman Hong will murder me.
She’d heard no word from her scouts sent up G1011. Did that mean the Americans had killed them? It was possible. That might meant the Americans were near Harbin, possibly ready to overrun the city.
In the back seat of the Xiang, Shun Li made a fist, pressing it against her heart. The Chairman had given her direct orders. How could she possibly disobey them?
Invasion: China (Invasion America) (Volume 5) Page 32