The Vigilant Spy

by Jeffrey Layton

  Chen took out a pack of Marlboros from his coat pocket. He pushed his chair away from the table and lit up. Facing the sea, he said, “Well, what have you got for me today?”

  As the vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, Admiral Soo served as President Chen’s senior military advisor. He reached into the open attaché case beside the table for a notepad. Soo scanned the outline with the ten bullet points that he needed to discuss with the president.

  “Sir, I’m pleased to report that the North Sea Fleet conducted another successful test of the Dong Feng anti-ship ballistic missile system. The target was a container ship to be scrapped. Roughly the same length of an American Nimitz class aircraft carrier, the test missile was fired from . . .”

  Admiral Soo’s rundown on national military matters lasted almost thirty minutes. His current topic grabbed Chen’s genuine interest. Soo said, “Full deployment of Serpent is underway in the South Sea. Two of the stations have been installed.”

  “I thought you’d be further along by now.”

  “They’re a bit behind…some hardware issues but I still expect that the system will be operational within a month.”

  “So, how do you turn it on when I’m ready to do that?”

  “A sonar code will be transmitted to each seafloor hub, activating the individual Viper units.”

  “How long will that take?” Chen asked as he lit up a fresh Marlboro—his sixth for the day.

  “If ships are used, probably several days because of the distances involved. However, with a couple of patrol aircraft, all could be activated in one day by dropping buoys with sonar transmitters.”

  “Plan on using aircraft.”

  “Yes sir.” The president’s order triggered a question. “Will you be issuing a warning to the Americans before activating Serpent?”

  “I have not decided yet. I’d like your thoughts.”

  Admiral Soo rubbed his temple. The stink from the cigarette smoke invaded his airspace but he ignored it. “My recommendation is to issue a warning. It does not have to be detailed, just a notice that any unauthorized submerged vessels operating in the South China Sea will be targeted. We’d have to make it very clear that surface traffic would not be impacted, just submarines.”

  “If I choose not to issue the warning?”

  “Very risky, sir. The Americans will likely react with aggression. Remember, during the testing phase of Serpent, a Viper damaged one of their submarines. A second attack without any warning could lead to direct confrontation.”

  “Even if I issue a warning, Washington’s going to attack us—both in the South Sea and at the UN.”

  “I know. But by issuing the warning, they will have at least been forewarned.”

  “I’ll consider it and let you know my decision.”

  “Very good, sir.” Soo glanced down at his agenda. “Mr. President, the last item I need to discuss is the contingency plan regarding the Qingdao event.”

  Chen nodded as he sucked in another lungful.

  “The planning is complete. We’re currently in the pre-operation phase. A submarine has been selected for the mission and the crew is preparing. Should you decide to proceed with the operation, the sub can . . .”

  * * * *

  President Chen strolled along the beach fronting his estate. His golden retriever, Blossom—Hua, frolicked at the water’s edge. Knee-high waves washed onto the sandy beach. The meeting with Soo concluded forty minutes earlier. The admiral was currently on a military jet heading back to Beijing.

  Blossom rushed to Chen’s side, a hunk of driftwood clamped between her jaws and her swampy tail wagging. Blossom dropped the stick and issued a sharp bark, digging her forepaws into the sand.

  “Okay Blossom, okay.”

  President Chen reached down and picked up the stick. Blossom woofed again. He heaved the two-foot elm tree branch waterward. Blossom charged into the surf.

  Beach walking with his beloved Blossom was a cherished interlude for Chen Shen. No phones to answer, no pesky aides hovering around him, no guests to entertain, no meetings to attend. It was just him and Blossom—plus the squad of bodyguards who discreetly provided security.

  The public was prohibited from accessing the beach for over two miles on either side of Chen’s estate. Legions of nearby seaside residents were evicted and their homes bulldozed to enforce the security zone.

  The armed sentries ensured Chen’s privacy—and safety. A dozen elite special operators from the PLAN’s zhongdui naval commando unit shadowed the president. An overwatch team occupying the top level of a six-story decorative tower near the main residence also scanned the shoreline, adjacent uplands and offshore waters for threats. A concealed radar antenna atop the tower probed the heavens for aircraft, cruise missiles and drones. If needed, a dozen man portable antiaircraft missiles were available to the overwatch unit.

  Although an aerial sneak attack was possible, the principal worry for President Chen’s watchers was a single individual with a high-powered rifle. Homebrewed dissidents, imported terrorists, foreign assassins, and run of the mill nutcases represented the primary sniper threats. Chen’s rise to the presidency also generated legions of political enemies. Most had been dealt with, stripped of power and wealth, and in some cases imprisoned. However, outliers persisted, their hatred for Chen never abating.

  Chen suspected that his greatest peril resided with the other eight members of the Standing Committee of the Central Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China, aka the Politburo Standing Committee. All had been thoroughly vetted and each had personally sworn their loyalty to Chen. Still, his gut instinct told him there was a traitor in his inner circle.

  Who could it be? Chen wondered.

  Blossom charged out of the surf with the reclaimed stick. Waterlogged, she ran to Chen’s side and ritually shook off the wetness in a tail to nose full body convulsion. “Whoa, girl, you’re getting me wet.”

  Blossom deposited the stick at Chen’s feet, ready for another swim. Chen relaunched the branch. “Go get it,” he shouted.

  As Chen watched Blossom dogpaddle seaward, he sensed that it might be weeks before he could return to the beach house. China was about to go to war.

  I have no choice but to proceed—the Americans have to be stopped.

  China’s economy had faltered. Rising interest rates, tariffs, Washington’s unrelenting demands for fair trade, and the PSC’s shortsighted mandate to generate jobs no matter the cost had all taken their toll. China’s experimental marriage of Communism and Capitalism was in decline.

  Thousands of state run enterprises had failed during the past year and the bloodbath endured. Operated inefficiently for decades and rife with corruption, the government owned companies could not compete on a global level without continual renourishment from Beijing. But with growth slashed, China’s cashflow also tanked. Severe pushback from the United States on China’s predatory trade practices and currency manipulation tactics further aggravated the state of affairs. The once endless gusher of renminbi was drying up.

  No longer able to prop up the SREs that could not compete, Beijing had no choice but to allow the slaughter. Economic models predicted stability if half of the SREs were shut down. But the price was astronomical—tens of millions would lose their jobs.

  The middle class would take the brunt of retooling China’s economy. With looming massive unemployment, the Communist Party’s days might be numbered. China’s next revolution was already in the making, and that realization struck terror in every member of the Politburo Standing Committee.

  Sea Dragon would have worked but it’s too late now.

  Chen and the PSC needed a diversion to gain time so China’s economy could transform. Operation Sea Dragon was the designated diversion. The invasion of renegade Taiwan and its return to the homeland would galvanize the populace. Confiscating the island’s
assets would bolster China’s wealth. Multitudes of unemployed mainlanders would take the jobs of the hapless Taiwanese. But that grand rescue plan was in shambles.

  The core of the invasion fleet assembled at the Yulin Naval Base on Hainan Island was rendered impotent by an electromagnetic pulse weapon, gutting Operation Sea Dragon.

  The damn Americans did it. I cannot let that stand.

  Convinced that the United States was behind the e-bomb assault at Yulin, the Politburo Standing Committee would cite that event as the deciding factor for China’s retaliatory actions. President Chen, of course, was on board with the PSC mandate. Yet, lingering doubts endured.

  What is Russia really up to?

  The MSS and the People’s Armed Police Force’s joint investigation of the Qingdao terror attack proceeded full throttle. Uyghur dissidents remained the prime culprits but qualms persisted. The suspected ringleader, Talgat Ramazan, had vanished. The MSS speculated that he could have been a Russian operative but had no conclusive proof.

  Moscow could be screwing us right now and we don’t even know it.

  Fearing the experts might be wrong regarding Russia’s intensions, President Chen planned accordingly. The submarine was on standby. Chen could dispatch the warship with a single phone call.

  Blossom returned to Chen Shen. Spent from swimming, she dropped the stick and rested on her haunches. Her long pink tongue dangled from her mouth as she panted. Chen stooped down to massage her soft furry ears. She pushed her head back, encouraging the attention. “You getting tired, girl?”

  After a two minute respite, Chen with Blossom at his side rambled southward along the shoreline.

  Serpent will change everything for us!

  The breakthrough technology in antisubmarine warfare couldn’t have come at a better time for Chen and the PSC. Unleashing the Vipers in combination with the Carrier Killer missiles would send shockwaves through the Pentagon.

  Finally, we’ll get rid of the meddlers.

  Denying the U.S. Navy unrestricted access to the South China Sea, followed by the same for the East and Yellow seas, would commence final atonement for China’s shame.

  In 1839, Great Britain’s first opium war with China sparked the Century of Humiliation. London, with the world’s most powerful Navy at that time, compelled China’s emperor to surrender Hong Kong and Kowloon to the British Empire, as well as relinquish control of China’s other key ports. Later, Russia’s Czar confiscated huge segments of China’s northeast territories through treaties by threatening war with China while France’s navy blockaded Taiwan as a ploy to force China out of Vietnam. Imperial Japan in the First Sino-Japanese War followed up by ejecting China from the Korean Peninsula and claiming Taiwan as a trophy. Further disgrace occurred when Great Britain grabbed Nepal and Burma, replacing historic Chinese sway. And during China’s Boxer Rebellion at the turn of the twentieth century, an alliance of Western powers, including the United States, invaded Beijing. Military forces from the eight nation coalition squashed the rebellion, pillaged the Forbidden City, and heartlessly ended the protests of ordinary citizens over the occupation of their country by foreigners.

  The shameful century climaxed with the Second Sino-Japanese War when Japan seized the eastern half of China and ruled with brutal efficiency. The Japanese military killed, maimed and raped untold legions of innocent Chinese civilians. Only after the Allies conquered Japan in 1945 did China’s Century of Humiliation end.

  We will return the Cow’s Tongue to the motherland!

  Shortly after the end of World War II, China laid claim to nearly 90 percent of the South China Sea, citing historic use of the reefs, subtidal rocks and intertidal islets that made up the Spratly Island Group, the Parcel Islands and other quasi outcrops that barely projected above the sea surface at low tide. The claim followed China’s dubious Nine-Dash line that extended southward from Taiwan following the coastlines of the Philippines and Brunei to Malaysia and looping northward along Vietnam’s coast to Hainan Island. When viewed from above, the enormous swath of water took on the shape of a giant cow’s tongue.

  The Cow’s Tongue claim ignored international agreements that recognized offshore interests of the other nations that bordered the South China Sea. Vast natural resources―subsea oil and gas fields, mineral deposits and immense diverse fisheries―were located offshore of the coasts of Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia-Brunei. The Cow’s Tongue swallowed up the majority of those riches.

  And with one third of the world’s cargo, container and tank ships transiting the South China Sea every year, freedom of navigation of the sea lanes was vital to maintaining worldwide commerce. If controlled by China as proposed by the Nine-Dash line, Beijing would decide who could transit the Cow’s Tongue waters and fly in the airspace above.

  China disregarded the protests of its neighbors and when its Nine-Dash line claim was officially invalidated by the International Court in The Hague, Beijing ignored the ruling.

  With Serpent in place, we will solidify our claim and the West can go to hell. They looted China for a hundred years. At the very least, they owe us the treasures of the Cow’s Tongue.

  Once the USA and its Western allies were evicted from China’s home waters, Beijing would deal with its SCS neighbors. Either they would accept what pittances China offered or they would get nothing. And without the United States’ naval ‘Big Stick’, the bordering states would be powerless to stop the bullying by China.

  Besides atoning for the West’s past sins, rolling the Cow’s Tongue into China’s official territorial borders would rocket the nation’s sagging economy. Recovering the billions of barrels of crude oil and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas that underlay the seabed would greatly reduce China’s dependence on imported hydrocarbons. New modern fleets of fishing vessels would now be free to harvest the fisheries within the Cow’s Tongue on an industrial scale. And the taxes and fees levied on commercial vessels transiting the South China Sea would provide a new revenue stream.

  Yes, this will work. China will be great again!

  * * * *

  President Chen was on his way back to his residence with Blossom at his side. He puffed on a fresh Marlboro. About fifty yards from the residence he spotted his wife. Chen Wu Mei stood at the seaward end of the stone pathway that connected the beach to their residence. Blossom also saw Mei and blasted ahead full speed. Chen dropped the three-quarter spent cigarette onto the saturated sand, hoping Mei did not notice. He popped a breath mint into his mouth.

  Chen joined his wife.

  “Did you enjoy your outing?” Wu Mei asked, now standing near the water with Blossom sitting at her side. Five-foot two with above the shoulder length jet-black hair sheared China doll style, Mei wore a flowing turquoise neck to ankle silk gown that flattered her delicate curves. Her angelic face, restored with a surgeon’s skill, continued to please her husband.

  “We did. It’s very nice out here today.” Noticing that she had traded her sandals for a pair of sneakers, Chen asked, “Would you like to walk with us for a little while?”

  “I would.”

  “Wonderful.”

  Mei slipped an arm around Chen’s offered forearm and they ambled northward along the shore. Blossom charged ahead, splashing through the water.

  They had been a couple for thirty-four years. It was an arranged marriage but one that pleased both participants. After several minutes, they stopped and looked seaward. Chen had just tossed another piece of driftwood into the water. Blossom was in pursuit.

  Mei’s beauty was the natural attraction that hooked Chen but over the years, he found her counsel to be invaluable. Exceedingly bright, she functioned as Chen’s sounding board. She knew everything.

  “Have you decided?” Mei asked.

  “Yes, I will issue a warning.” Both Admiral Soo and Mei had recommended that Chen warn the Americans before formally activating Serpent.<
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  “That is a wise decision, my darling. The Americans are weak; they will kowtow to us.”

  “But if they choose to ignore the warning?” Chen asked.

  “Then the blood will be on their hands.”

  Chapter 35

  Day 26—Sunday

  It was midmorning at Camp David. The two men in their late fifties strolled along the forest pathway deep in the Catoctin Mountain Park. Secret Service agents roamed ahead and trailed the pair. Located in northern Maryland about sixty miles north of the District of Columbia, the military compound served as a country retreat for the President of the United States.

  The sky was cloudless and the air crisp. It was early fall; the deciduous trees lining the trail had already started to turn. President Tyler Magnuson and National Security Advisor Peter Brindle chatted as they hiked.

  “Just how worried is the Navy?” asked POTUS.

  “Very. We’ve never encountered a threat like it before.”

  “Are all of our submarines vulnerable?”

  “We don’t know. The sub that was attacked is one of our remaining LA class boats.” Brindle swiped a bead of perspiration from his forehead. “The Tucson’s old but she’s still stealthy… compared to most other foreign nukes. The device that attacked it obviously detected it some distance away, which is highly alarming for the Navy.”

  “So how do we stop this thing?”

  “Until we know more about how it works and just where it’s been deployed, we can’t do much to counter the threat.”

  “How many of our submarines are operating in the area now?”

  “None. The Pacific Fleet commander judged the threat as serious and ordered all of our subs out of the South China Sea. He restricted naval ops in the sea to just freedom of navigation patrols by surface combatants.”

  “Do the Chinese know our subs have bugged out?”

  “We don’t think they do, which is good for us. We want them to think we’re still operating in their backyard.”

  “When will the team be ready to go?”