Dancing with the Dragon (2002) (31 page)

"Roger that," Scott said, slipping into a colorful Hawaiian shirt that matched his swimming trunks. "Besides, we need to walk this meal off so we'll be ready for the luau."

"Hey, speak for yourself." She laughed. "I didn't eat like some crazed glutton at breakfast."

He smiled as he buttoned his shirt. "Floating around at night in a sea full of sharks, and then getting lifted out of the water by a submarine--well, it tends to increase my appetite for a few days."

Chapter
21.

Oval Office

Pete Adair and Gen. Les Chalmers sat quietly while the president responded to an aide's attempt to contact the Chinese president. From the deep color of Macklin's complexion, Adair and Chalmers knew things were not proceeding well.

Hartwell Prost was ushered into the office at the same time the president placed the phone receiver down. Cord Macklin was not a happy man. The president turned to stare morosely out the window for a moment before swiveling to face his closest and most trusted advisers.

"According to some third-tier spokesperson," the president said, brimming with anger, "Liu Fan-ding says he has nothing to discuss with me until we meet at the summit in Bangkok. He has also shunned our State Department emissaries, including Secretary Shannon."

Prost caught Macklin's attention. "Mr. President, we can't wait for his temper tantrums to subside, or for more political and military skirmishes to occur. We must take action in the Taiwan Strait and the Panama Canal or face the deadly consequences of vacillation."

Macklin looked at his secretary of defense. "Pete, give me the bottom line and don't sugarcoat it."

"Sir, the price of poker just went up. We have to call Beijing's bluff and send a very strong message. I recommend sinking the ship that shot down the Hawkeye--for starters."

"Les?"

"Mr. President, we don't have any other choice. The despots, tyrants, dictators, oligarchs, whatever you want to call them, they're still bullies. Bullies never respond to passiveness, only to brute force. If we do anything less, we'll be backpedaling all over the globe and everyone will start taking potshots at us."

Macklin remained quiet for a few moments. "Les, I want you and the joint chiefs to start drawing up plans for possible military action against China in the Taiwan Strait."

Chalmers showed no emotion. "Mr. President, our plans for China are up to date, along with our plans for North Korea. We also have a contingency plan for the Panama Canal."

"Excellent." Macklin turned to his SecDef. "Pete, in your scenario, do we have all of our military assets in place?"

"We're ninety-five percent ready."

Chalmers quickly spoke up. "Mr. President, we'll be ready in the next few hours--six at most."

The president cast his gaze at the briefing folder on his desk. "Gentlemen, let's go with the concept Pete presented this afternoon. I'll deal with Congress later."

USS Seawolf

The most advanced and lethal submarine ever created, Seawolfis a 353-foot mechanical marvel designed to be exceptionally quiet, extremely fast, and well armed. An advanced multimission attack submarine, Seawolf is capable of rapidly deploying to forward areas of the oceans to destroy enemy submarines and ships, and fire Tomahawk cruise missiles in support of other forces.

Operating as an adjunct to the Kitty Hawk battle group, Seawolf was quietly waiting in the deeper water of the East China Sea as the Chinese ship Deng Ju-shan cleared the Taiwan Strait and set course for the U. S. carrier battle group.

The sun had been up for two hours when the Seawolf's skipper, Capt. Rick Canardi, raised the periscope and scanned the horizon in all directions. The only vessel he saw was a container ship that his sonar specialist had pointed out to him.

"Down scope."

Canardi had just received the latest position report on the Deng Ju-shan, his assigned target. The ship would be visible on the horizon in seven to eight minutes. The message from the Pentagon had been short and unambiguous: Identify and sink the Chinese ship Deng Ju-shan.

"Up scope."

Two minutes passed.

"Down scope," Captain Canardi ordered when he recognized the freighter. "Man battle stations."

All hands quietly rushed to their assigned positions. There was excitement and a twinge of fear in the air. They knew this was the real thing, no drill.

"Officer of the Deck," Canardi said. "Steady on course two-threezero."

The lieutenant read back the instructions while the skipper checked the time. The minutes passed slowly while the crew waited in anticipation. Even the salty veterans seemed tense. This was the first time any Seawolf crew member had ever been on board a submarine about to fire a torpedo with the intention of sinking an enemy ship.

Finally, the captain raised the scope and studied the approaching vessel, and then lowered the periscope. He patiently waited for the ship to pass the submarine so he could positively identify the freighter by the name on the stern. The control room/attack center was quiet while the seconds ticked away.

"Up scope," Canardi said, and then snapped pictures of the Deng Ju-shan. He and the XO confirmed the name and description of the target vessel. There was no question in their minds--they had the enemy positively identified.

"My intentions are to engage this contact," the skipper said out loud, and maneuvered the Seawolf into a position he knew would ensure a kill.

"Shoot on generated bearing."

Canardi watched the ship as two Mark-48 torpedoes raced toward the Deng Ju-shan. The first explosion nearly lifted the seventeen-thousand-ton freighter out of the water. The second torpedo blew the ship in half, leaving the forward third of the vessel pointing up at a thirty-degree angle.

"Down scope," Canardi ordered. He managed to show little emotion, but his adrenaline was pumping.

"Steady course three-three-zero," the skipper ordered. "Chief of Watch, let's stand down from battle stations."

The crew, some with grins plastered on their faces, looked relieved. Others reflected the gravity of the action they had just taken.

"Officer of the Deck, make your depth two hundred fifty feet," Canardi said.

The Panama Canal

The U. S. navy frigate Samuel B. Roberts remained stranded in the canal after twenty-two hours. The 3,585-ton man-of-war's skipper, Comdr. LeRoy Gartly, had been awake all night. He and his crew were trying to get what little rest they could while remaining at their battle stations.

Via secure communications, Commander Gartly had learned from signals-intelligence intercepts that Chinese troops were massing in the vicinity of his beleaguered ship. He had also received a message that help was on the way.

The Marines, with the assistance of the air force and navy, were preparing to take command of the canal in a matter of minutes. Gartly passed the word to wake everyone when the first hint of daylight appeared on the eastern horizon.

Whether at sea, or trapped in a narrow canal, a warship flying an American flag is U. S. territory. The skipper had the responsibility to defend his ship and his crew. In this case, Gartly had to rely on a limited number of small-caliber weapons. The single 76mm/.62-caliber gun would be difficult to use in such close quarters.

The Colombian Basin

Cloaked in semidarkness, the amphibious assault carriers USS Kearsarge and USS Nassau were standing off the coast of Panama near the Caribbean entrance to the Panama Canal. The two ships were in the process of launching air-cushion landing craft and conventional landing craft filled with Marines.

The ships' crowded flight decks were a study in orchestrated chaos as more Marines boarded CH-53 Sea Stallions and CH-46 Sea Knights, the Marine Corps's principal assault helicopters.

Once the flotilla was headed for shore, the assault helicopters took off for their destinations near the entrance to the canal. Overhead, eight Marine AH-1W Super Cobra helicopter gunships, along with seven AV-8B Harrier attack aircraft, were standing by to provide down-in-the-weeds close air support for their grunts.

Backing the Marine expeditionary units and their own mini air wing were two air force AC-130U Spectre gunships, six air force A-10 Warthog tank killers, and the combined firepower of a large group of air force F-15s, F-16s, and the F-14s and F/A-18s from the USS George Washington battle group.

After the Marines established a beachhead, they would advance on the lock that was purported to be inoperative. As soon as the lock was under the control of the Marines, two former lock operators would be flown in by helicopter to identify and correct the problem, and then open the lock to free the U. S. warship.

At the same time the Marines were landing on the eastern shore of Panama, an air force E-3 AWACS was vectoring four F-15s and four F-16s toward two separate flights of Soviet-made Sukhoi Su-27 fighter-interceptors. The encounters, twenty-two miles northeast and thirty-seven miles east of the former Howard Air Force Base, were short and devastating.

Three of the seven front-line Chinese fighters had been initially shot down and a fourth had been damaged. The other Sukhoi pilots had disengaged before the merge and raced southeast toward Colombia.

Hugging the deck in afterburner, one of the Su-27s had plunged into the trees when the quadruplex fly-by-wire flight-control system failed. Seconds later, an F-15 pilot picked off one of the other fighters.

The remaining Sukhoi pilot, flying at Mach 1.3, got away without a scratch--at least for the moment. The AWACS tracked the fighter to an airfield near Chiman, Panama. Shortly after the aircraft landed, two F-15s strafed the fighter before the pilot could get out. He managed to escape with minor injuries, but the aircraft caught fire and exploded.

Unfortunately, one of the air force F-16 Vipers was shot down by a surface-to-air missile. Incapacitated by the blast, the pilot was unable to eject. In retaliation an F-15E dropped an AGM-130 bomb on the SAM site near the canal and blew it off the map.

Minutes after the encounter with the Su-27s a flight of seven Chinese air force Shenyang J-6s (Chinese-made copies of the MiG-19) engaged four U. S. Navy F/A-18 Hornets near the Atlantic entrance to the canal. Three of the outdated MiGs were shot down in a matter of seconds, while two other MiGs had a midair collision and crashed near the north side of the canal. The remaining MiGs separated and streaked toward the former Howard Air Force Base.

After the sky was clear over the Chinese air base southwest of Balboa, one of the two Spectre gunships, Terminator II, and two A-10 Warthogs thundered over the base near the western shore of Panama. Overhead, four F-16s were flying cover for the Hercules gunship and the pair of A-10 close-support aircraft.

With an emphasis not on speed but on survivability and lethality against surface targets, the twin-engine Warthog is fitted with one of the most powerful guns ever mounted on an airplane. The beefy 30mm seven-barrel weapon fires milk-bottle-size rounds at a blistering pace of up to 4,200 rounds per minute.

The two attack aircraft also carried almost sixteen thousand pounds of external ordnance, including missiles and bombs spread over eleven hard-points under the wings and the fuselage.

While the Spectre gunship circled the air base, four Chinese antiaircraft artillery sites opened up with a barrage of fire that only slightly damaged the tough Hercules.

Not intimidated by the firepower, Terminator II pulverized the gun emplacements with cannon fire while the A-1 0s strafed two of the four Sukhoi Su-27 fighter-interceptors scrambling toward the runway. The damaged jets slowed and stopped on the side of the taxiway while the other pair of Chinese fighter planes entered the runway and began accelerating down the airstrip.

The Spectre gunship commenced firing with everything it had, cutting a deep furrow across the runway in front of the speeding jets. The flight leader and his wingman never had a chance as the landing gear was ripped from beneath both fighters. One Sukhoi caught fire and exploded while the other fighter slid off the side of the runway and overturned.

Terminator II also hammered a flight of two Shenyang J-7s (MiG 21s) as they scrambled for takeoff. Both aircraft exploded and set fire to another MiG21 parked near the flight line.

While the Chinese MiGs burned, the air force A-10s moved in, strafing and bombing the rest of the newly delivered fighter planes. The Warthogs then headed east with the F-16s to rendezvous with an air force KG-10 tanker. After they topped their fuel tanks, the A-10 pilots would join their colleagues to fly cover for the Marines while the F-16s went after SAM sites and triple-A emplacements.

Separated at five-minute intervals, Thrminator II and Hell Raiser would patrol the length of the canal. Their mission was to eliminate any missile sites or antiaircraft artillery emplacements that opened fire on anyone. If the Marines got pinned down, the big gunships would be called on to demonstrate their cannons and howitzers to the Chinese forces.

Covered by Super Cobras and AV-8B Harriers, the Marines encountered stiff resistance when they stormed the Panamanian shore on both sides of the canal. The Harriers and Super Cobras poured a tremendous stream of fire into the ranks of the 6,400 Chinese soldiers on the front line. Antiaircraft artillery fire soon downed two Super Cobras and a Harrier.