The briefing seemed to drag on. “What about Scenario Orange?” Pacino asked. “Part of the problem is Greater Manchuria,” Donchez said, not directly answering, “but I’ll get to that in a minute.” Greater Manchuria, Pacino knew, was a republic recently formed out of a chunk of land from Russia and another from China. Its ultranationalistic dictator was a problem for continental Asia, but a problem, so far as Pacino knew, with no connection with Japan. Donchez went on. “If we look at today’s global situation, it is very tense, Mikey. Scenario Orange is, I think, just over the horizon. We’re going to have to fight them, and sooner than later. Here’s why. Start with the lousy relations between us. Japan made the first mistake— their move for world economic conquest led them to try and buy too damn much. The final straw was their play to take over AT&T, IBM, Intel, Microsoft and General Motors.
Jesus. And people once complained about hotels and movie studios and Rockefeller Center.” Pacino nodded. The news had broken one Wednesday morning just two years before, when overnight the Japanese government, through MITI, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, had engineered a whirlwind takeover of the five most strategic corporations in America—and how they did it was a stunning lesson in secrecy and deception, the Japanese buying stock through third and fourth parties over months until the day they announced that their interest in the big five was controlling. “The Fair Trade Bill that shut that takeover down cold was a slap in the face to Japan. You know how big they are on face.
They apparently thought things would be business as usual. Suddenly anything with more than 10 percent Japanese content was illegal to import into the United States. Japanese goods might as well have been illegal drugs. We thought we were sending Japan a strong signal. They misinterpreted it, or at least they took strong exception to it.”
“They landed on their feet, they went deeper into Asian and African markets and Russia is a prime market for them. The Russians would do anything to trade with Japan,” Pacino said. “They did not land on their feet, Mikey.
They were hurt bad. They are mad as hell, and their anger is directed at the US. Even though what they did with the covert takeover attempts of our industries was unethical—not to mention damned hostile—the Japanese didn’t and don’t want to see it that way. To them our response was the economic equivalent of a nuclear bomb dropped by America—a total trade ban on Japanese goods in the US. It was a big hit in the pocket too. The US was a sort of cash cow for them. It went away overnight and no other markets can replace that, including Russia, which is still too poor to do important business with Japan.”
“So far you’re talking economics, Dick.”
“All that historic national aggression we’ve seen before from Japan has been channeled once again into a military buildup. The manufacturing capability that once built cars for sale to America has been converted to defense. The so-called Self Defense Force—they don’t call it an army, since an army is outlawed by their constitution—has increased in manpower by a factor of a dozen. The force’s air wing has ten squadrons of the most advanced fighter in the air, the Firestar. And you know about their navy, the Maritime Self Defense Force. They were building a nuclear submarine for export sale five years ago, the Destiny class. Then they began building an improved version for themselves, the Destiny II class. They’ve built over a dozen of them. They’re the most capable supersub since our Seawolf class. But from the little I hear from Leach at CIA, the Destiny II boats are head and shoulders better than Seawolf. And your aging Los Angeles-class subs are no match for it.”
“I know. Admiral. But we could only get funding for two more Seawolfclass ships, the Barracuda and the Piranha. Until the new class comes off the drawing boards that’s all we’ll get.”
“You’d better listen up, then, Mikey. There’s worse news.
Apparently there is now a Destiny I’ll-class submarine. The Destiny III is unmanned, run by a computer.”
“I had a quick briefing on that. From what I understand, it’ll never work. The problems are endless. My people tell me it’ll never go to sea.”
“I hope you’re right, but if anyone can make a robotic submarine work, it’s the Japanese.” Pacino was restless.
The briefing, troubling as it was, didn’t seem to justify Scenario Orange. “So, Dick, we had a trade war. The Japanese lost and have turned to other markets, including Russia. They’ve built up their military while ours has dwindled. That’s not enough—”
“Listen to me and listen good.” Donchez clicked his remote angrily, and the map returned to an overhead view of the Far East. The new nation of Greater Manchuria, shown in blue, faced Japan across the Sea of Japan, the blue giant extending from North Korea north to the Sea of Okhotsk far north of Japan’s Hokkaido Island. The northern island in Japan’s chain, the disputed island of Sakhalin that had been Russian territory, was now part of Greater Manchuria. Greater Manchuria also included what had once been called Manchuria, a part of northeast China and far east Russia, but was now known as Greater Manchuria since it also comprised the Russian territory fronting the Sea of Japan, the slice of land once called Sikhote Alin, as far south as Vladivostok, now renamed Artom.
Greater Manchuria was a state the size of Mexico hovering off Japan’s west coast. Immediately south of Greater Manchuria the state of East China, color-coded white, extended from North Korea south along the coastline to Vietnam, the strip of land 1000 miles wide, the larger country of West China in red still three-quarters the size of the former communist China had been before East China and Greater Manchuria had split off. The screen zoomed in on Greater Manchuria, to the capital city of Changashan, then came down in satellite’s-eye-view of the city center to the Presidential Palace. The image froze and bled into the face of President Len Pei Poom, who looked startlingly young to be the dictator of the new nation. He wore an officer’s cap and a dark military uniform, but otherwise looked ordinary, someone who wouldn’t be looked at twice on the street “Len Pei Poom, Greater Manchuria’s president, and his new republic are getting on a lot of nerves lately. I don’t know if you knew this,” Donchez said, reaching into his humidor and offering Pacino a Havana cigar, “since somehow we’ve been able to keep it from the press, but we’ve been bankrolling Greater Manchuria through Israel for the last five months.” “Why?” Pacino asked, taking the flame from Donchez’s lighter. “I thought we were tight with East China since they broke off from the reds, and the East Chinese aren’t too friendly with Len now.” Donchez lit his own cigar. “We want to maintain ties to East China, and Russia, and the Greater Manchurians. The balance of power is crucial to our interests in Asia. We don’t want one big power there bullying everyone else and turning eastward toward us. Japan was weakened by the trade war, but now we see them building up their military, and now that Greater Manchuria is established, the Japanese see Greater Manchuria as a threat. Let me put it to you like this—Japan’s aggressiveness and military hardware are the gasoline.
Greater Manchuria, as a perceived threat to Japan, is the firewood. If we get a spark, we are in trouble.”
“Wait a minute, why would Japan see Greater Manchuria as a threat?”
“Same reason they hated Korea. It’s based on geography, politics, national psychology. Japan is highly xenophobic—they’ve always been distrustful of outsiders. And now this Len character surfaces, unites this nation right across the pond from Japan, and the Japanese are worried.”
“That he’ll invade Japan? Greater Manchuria’s a land power, not a sea power. Len doesn’t even own a canoe, that I know about. And he has his hands full with East and West China and Russia. What would he care about Japan?”
“The question is, what does Tokyo think of his intentions toward Japan? And it’s more concrete than that. Did you know about the possibility of Len having nuclear weapons?”
“I read some of the speculation in the papers, but nukes have been illegal for years in Asia. I don’t believe in ghosts or nuclear weapons in Asia.”
“I hope you have an answer to that question, Dick.”
“Mikey, I think I made a mistake. I think Len does have nukes.
And I think Japan, already threatened by the very idea of Greater Manchuria, knows about it. That’s the match that’s going to set Asia on fire. And it could involve us. Scenario Orange.”
“Back up, Dick. Why do you think Len has nukes?”
“Yesterday, just as I was telling Warner’s cabinet that Len didn’t have nukes, we picked up a flurry of transmissions. We broke them all.” The screen moved closer to Greater Manchuria, descending toward the terrain like a spacecraft returning to earth, the view closing in on Lake Ozero Chanka, a sixty-mile-wide lake set inland by a hundred miles. “This is the railhead town of Tamga. This place has mostly been abandoned. Or so it would seem. This looks like a perimeter fence and it surrounds some kind of armed camp, one we previously cataloged as closed, so we didn’t pay any attention to it until all the transmissions came in.” Satellite photos flashed by as Donchez spoke, one of them an overhead view of a compound with a perimeter fence and a large mound of earth, a sort of humped plateau.
“The interception was lengthy. It boiled down to the Greater Manchurians going berserk that this place, this compound, was broken into. There were two repeated messages from the capital in Changashan asking if the ‘stored units’ were tampered with, and two replies that the units were fine. As to who broke in, the messages said it was a human agent who committed suicide.”
“Possibly one of Leach’s people?”
“No. I would have been in on a HUMINT penetration inside Greater Manchuria, especially a suicide mission, which we’re not exactly big on commissioning.”
“So who?”
“One of Kurita’s men. The suicide at the end puts his marker on jt. I’m old enough to remember when the Japanese invented the suicide assault.”
“Did you check this place? Tamga?”
“Nothing we have can tell if there are nukes stored there. Short’ of going in like Kurita did, we won’t be able to tell. And Kurita won’t say.”
“So what now?”
“First we make sure we’re right. You ever watch Conspiracy: Exposed on UPX?”
“Sure. That nutcase Zap Zaprinski. I’ve never seen a journalist quite like him, if journalist is the word. What’s that got to do with nuclear weapons in Greater Manchuria?”
“We’re getting Conspiracy: Exposed to go into Changashan and try to get Len Pei Poom to admit to having nukes.”
“How the hell are you going to do that? I mean, you are the director of the god damned NSA but Hollywood doesn’t care that you need intelligence.
What’s going on here. Uncle Dick?”
“Len will see Zaprinski.”
“But Zap Zaprinski is a clown. He’s shock journalism.”
“Exactly. But Len doesn’t spend much time watching American TV. Chances are neither do his advisors. And he’s got bigger problems than who interviews him. Another thing—we don’t want to send a serious journalist in, some Mike Wallace go-for-the-jugular reporter who’ll antagonize Len and miss getting the scoop on the missiles.”
“So you send in Zap. Will the UPX network let him go?”
“It’s arranged. So, now, will Len talk?”
“The way I see it, the reason to reveal nuclear weapons would be to deter Russia and East China from attacking Greater Manchuria. But the reason to keep it quiet is more compelling,” Pacino said. “If Len reveals nukes, Russia or East China might try to take them out.
My guess is Len mugs in front of the camera to get sympathy from the West and holds his cards close to his chest on the alleged nukes. And at the end of the day we’ll know nothing.”
“But he may suspect that someone hostile to him knows already, based on the breakin. If so, we think he’ll talk.”
“So he talks. What does that do for us?”
“It should keep Japan from attacking the missiles, from attacking Greater Manchuria. If Len opens up to the world that he has nukes, the Japanese may pull back and we prevent a war.”
“What if Len keeps his mouth shut? Or if we’re too late?”
Donchez nodded. “Worst-case scenario, Mikey. Japan attacks Greater Manchuria. The world is sympathetic to Greater Manchuria and afraid of Japan. The West is called on to stop Japan. And next thing we know, we’re up against a shooting war.” “Wait a minute,” Pacino said. “Let’s look at this another way. Nuclear missiles in Asia are bad news. Why would Japan attacking them be such a bad idea? Maybe we should just let them do that.”
“Mikey… a little history. If Japan attacks Greater Manchuria, and they succeed, what next? Remember the 1930s? Japan needed resources and oil, so they took over almost all of Asia. If the world sits by and watches them attack Len, who’s next? Korea? East China? They have the best military in Asia. Once they have momentum… the dumbest, most suicidal thing in the world would be to let them get away with this.”
Donchez stood. “Mikey, you’d better stand by. Get your submarine force ready. You may be in a fight with the Destiny subs sometime in the next year, or sooner.
There’s no telling.”
Pacino stood and Donchez started to walk with him to the door. “Where are you going? Back to Norfolk?”
“First I’m going to Groton. I’ve got something going on with the new Piranha, the Seawolfclass boat coming out of new construction.”
Pacino knew Donchez would be interested, since he had commanded the first Piranha, hull number SSN-637, back in the late sixties.
“Piranha. I guess it’s okay they reuse the good names.
Still, it isn’t the same. What’s going on with her, anyway?” ,
“I’m outfitting her with Vortex missiles.”
The Vortex had been Donchez’s brainchild when he had been Chief of Naval Operations. The program had been cancelled after billions had been spent, the missile considered too lethal to its own firing platform. The test sub that had fired the missile had been Donchez’s old decommissioned Piranha, now in pieces at the bottom of the Bahamas test range, the Vortex test-launch having blown the old sub apart. The missile worked, but a way to launch it from a submarine had never been found.
“Dumb move,” Donchez said, shaking his head. “The firing ship always blows up. You should know that—”
“I do. But there’s nothing wrong with the Vortex missile.
It needs an outside launcher tube. I’m going to mount ten of them on the outside of Piranha’s hull.”
“It may still blow a hole in the ship’s hull.”
“We’ll test it when her new skipper shows up. I’ve scouted out a terrific captain to run the Piranha. You’d love this guy. Blood and guts. Smokes Havanas. Drinks Jack Daniel’s. And he can drive a submarine like no one since”—Pacino paused, realizing he was about to say! “my father.”
“Since you, Mikey, is what you’re saying.”
“Dick, this guy could kick my rear end.”
“No way. What’s his name?”
“Phillips, Bruce Phillips.”
“I know him. Or at least his family. He could buy and sell us. Guy’s got tons of money, old family money. And he gives it up to drive a sewer pipe.”
“I’m about to put him under a couple tons per square inch in my attack trainer. And I’m going to simulate that he’s up against a Japanese Destiny II class sub. I’m taking wagers that he’ll come out on top.”
“Well, I hope he’s as good as you say he is. I wouldn’t want my sub’s namesake going to a paper-pushing type.
So many of Wells’
s skippers couldn’t shoot the broadside of a barn. You’d better clean up that force.”
They were at the ornate entrance to the building. The black Lincoln waited, tailpipe vapors wafting over the car in the light winter wind.
The two men began the checkout process at the security desk. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Michael.” Pacino stared. Donchez had never called him that. “That Vortex missile’s bad news.”
“You know, Uncle Dick, I really miss going to sea,” Pacino said, changing the subject.
“Fleet command is nothing compared to conning a sub in combat.”
“With all the tension in Japan, Scenario Orange may not be so far off.”
“I have to doubt it, sir. But if the balloon went up and we got into a hot war at sea, I’d still be cooling my heels at USUBCOM headquarters.”
“Not necessarily. Get your deputy to run the show landside and then go to sea with one of the boats. If you’re going to command in a war, Mikey, you can’t do it from the rear.”
“I’m tempted to do as you say, but it wouldn’t work, not with Wadsworth in charge.”
“Watch out for Tony Wadsworth. He doesn’t like you. Just another reason to take your show to sea. Sometimes submarines don’t have time to come to periscope depth to communicate. It could give you the independence you’d need.”
“I’ll consider it, sir.”
“Admiral Donchez, sir,” one of the security guards called. “Urgent call coming in from the White House switchboard.”
“Looks like you’ll have to find your own way out, Mikey. Good luck.” Pacino shook the admiral’s hand and forced a smile, ducking quickly into the staff car. The older Donchez got the harder it became to say goodbye to him, Pacino thought. He never knew if it was to be the last time he’d see the old man. The new headquarters building faded behind in darkness and the trees. Pacino was so lost in thought about commanding a fleet from a submarine that he barely noticed when the helicopter took off and Fort Meade shrank below him.
Barracuda- Final Bearing Page 4