Invasion: Colorado (34 page)

“What’s happening?” asked Jake.

The Lieutenant stared at him in incomprehension.

The hot wavering beam in the building began sliding leftward. As it did, an invisible knife appeared to cut out the front wall and then the back wall at exactly the same position.

“Enemy laser!” the Lieutenant roared. “Everyone into the sewer system!”

The blockhouse shook and trembled, and dust rose and concrete rained.

Jake didn’t know what was going on, but he’d heard enough. This was freaking crazy. He grabbed the lip of his helmet—he wore it on his head—and he raced for the stairs. As he ran, more of the blockhouse trembled and shook, and now the strange phenomenon started to climb, cutting out wall as it did.

The world became a giant earthquake for Jake. Concrete rained and walls collapsed. Everything rumbled. He sprinted, dodged, caromed off something and made it into the basement. He moved to the opening to the sewer system. Like rats running for their lives, Militiamen disappeared into the opening.

Jake looked back.

The Lieutenant turned ghost white. “Go, go, go!” he seemed to say. Jake couldn’t hear a thing. The earth was too busy rocking and roaring. It was surreal. It was a nightmare. Jake made it down the hole. He didn’t bother with the steel ladder. He just dropped and landed heavily. It hurt his feet and he collapsed. Survival instinct kept him going. He crawled on his hands and knees. Something smashed behind him, a body perhaps. Heavy thuds hammered above him. Was the blockhouse coming down on their heads? This was madness. The damned Chinese had everything.

With his mouth opening as he panted heavily, Jake crawled and crawled. Maybe a hundred yards later a shouting voice brought a modicum of sanity to him. He looked back. In the gloom and drifting dust, the Lieutenant stared at him with nearly blank eyes.

“What?” Jake managed to ask.

“Heavy laser,” the Lieutenant said. His voice was without emotion.

“What do you mean?” Jake said.

The Lieutenant shook his head. Then he said, “Is there an open area near here?”

Jake tried to think. More rumbles sounded, crashes and roars. The blockhouse came down and a billowing dust cloud rolled at them, choking him and turning everything dark.

An hour later, the Lieutenant took roll call in the sewer. Nineteen effectives were left, among them Goose.

“Do you know which way to our lines?” the Lieutenant asked.

“Yeah,” Jake muttered.

“Then let’s go,” the Lieutenant.

“Why?” asked Jake.

The Lieutenant took his time answering. Finally, he asked, “Did you enjoy that?”

Jake managed a dull laugh.

“Neither did I,” the Lieutenant said.

“So?”

“We’re going to report this. Then I’m going to pay back the Chinese. I remember every hurt, then double it and look for a way to do it back to them.”

Jake shook his head. “We can’t do anything like they just did.”

“We’ll see,” the Lieutenant said. “Until then, are you still with me?”

Jake knew the Lieutenant was nuts: not just a little battle crazy, but truly over the deep end. What did it matter, though?

“Yeah, sure, I’m with you,” Jake said.

“Good,” the Lieutenant said. “Lead the way. We need to report to somebody what just happened to our blockhouse.”

BEIJING, PRC

Two East Lightning operatives flanked Shun Li as she strode down a large corridor leading to Police Minister Xiao’s chamber. Each had an open holster, with his gun-hand drifting near the weapon. The leftward operative had a jet-black ring on his middle finger.

The two operatives had picked her up at her apartment after Tang—one of Hong’s Lion Guardsman—had dropped her off.

They had said nothing driving her to the Police Ministry. Now the three of them hurried. The truth of the matter was that Shun Li had been expecting something like this for several days.

She visited Chairman Hong’s country estate every day. She often played with the polar bear cub. Each time was a frightening experience. She played with the cub as the mother bear paced behind iron bars, watching. Often, the mother roared at Shun Li, furious that a human should touch her precious cub. Shun Li had begun to wonder if this was a game with Hong. Would he let the iron bars rise one of these days and laugh as the mother bear destroyed her?

I am a barracuda
, Shun Li told herself.
I swim among larger, more dangerous predators, but I, too, am dangerous and capable of battle
.

She knew it was a vain thought.  What could a barracuda do to a killer whale? The answer was: absolutely nothing.

No. A barracuda could gnaw the killer whale’s flukes. But what good would that do the barracuda?

The trick, she supposed, was swimming away fast enough if a killer whale chased her. She could swim toward a monstrous great white shark and dart aside as the two creatures fought for supremacy.

She had come to this conclusion yesterday for a specific reason. Chairman Hong continued to question her about Police Minister Xiao. Hong wanted to know all kinds of things: the Police Minister’s habits, his various visits, his comments, his work orders, the way Xiao treated her. Hong had listened with avid interest as she’d told him how Xiao had once slapped her across the face. The Chairman seemed to have forgotten that he’d witnessed the incident himself.

“Indeed,” the Chairman had said. “How very interesting. I wonder if Xiao would like it if I slapped
him
across the face.”

Shun Li didn’t think so. What troubled her with all these questions was Hong’s motive. The Chairman relied upon East Lightning as part of his power base. He needed the secret police in order to corral the generals, the Army. Had Hong come to fear Xiao? She could understand that. The Police Minister was a crocodile, an emotionless beast with hidden thoughts and likely a hidden agenda.

“Stop,” the operative on her left said.

Shun Li stopped before the Police Minister’s ornate entrance.

The East Lightning operative knocked. Twenty second later, a small red light winked above the door.

“You may enter,” the operative told Shun Li.

They had of course divested her of her gun. She touched the cold bronze latch and twisted. Nothing squeaked. Everything was well oiled. As she walked through, the door shut behind her. One of the operatives must have closed it.

Across the spacious room, Police Minister Xiao stared out of a wall of windows. He had his hands clasped behind his back.

Should I approach? Should I announce myself? What am I supposed to do?

Shun Li did none of those things. She waited nervously, disliking this game playing. What was the purpose of it? He’d pressed a switch to cause the red light to shine. He knew she was here.

Finally, he turned. It was impossible to tell where he stared due to the ceiling lights shining off his thick lenses. Xiao seemed like a robot then. He seemed inhuman. At that moment, Shun Li believed she knew whom to trust, and it wasn’t the Police Minister.

No, no, don’t make up your mind so quickly. You must survive, not attempt to fight these stronger creatures
.

“Guardian Inspector,” he said in his emotionless voice. “This is a surprise. Usually, you are too busy to report to me: your superior. You are too busy hobnobbing with the Chairman to see the lowly likes of me.”

Shun Li had no idea what to say concerning that. So she continued to wait while standing at attention.

“Please, come, sit down so we may chat,” Xiao said.

Shun Li strode across the chamber and sat in the nearest chair, sitting upright.

“Are you comfortable?” Xiao asked.

“Yes, Police Minister.”

“No,” he said. “I do not want you to be so formal. You must relax. You are worthy of the Chairman’s time and I must now take that into consideration.”

Xiao moved to his desk, sitting, folding his hands on the top. He attempted a smile. It appeared false.

“Can you elaborate on your visits?” he asked.

“Certainly, sir,” she said. “The Chairman gave me a polar bear cub.”

“How fortunate for you,” Xiao said.

She dipped her head to acknowledge the statement.

“I imagine the Chairman was delighted with your work discovering the Behemoth Manufacturing Plant,” he said.

She nodded.

“You house your cub at his mansion?” Xiao asked.

“Yes sir.”

“And do you visit with the Chairman sometimes?”

“For short periods, sir. Have I done wrong doing this?”

“Guardian Inspector, you surprise me. How can you do wrong visiting with the Great Leader? That is preposterous. Tell me, what do the two of you talk about.”

“Polar bears.”

“And?”

Fear squeezed Shun Li’s chest. She didn’t know the right answer. Did Hong and Xiao speak together about her? Was this a test? She decided the Police Minister was acting much too formally for this to be a test.

“Sir,” she said, “at times the Chairman asks about you.”

“Does he indeed? How flattering,” Xiao said. The man attempted another of his false smiles. “What does the Chairman wish to know about me?”

Shun Li told him because she feared he already knew the answer. Xiao was too much like a robot, a crocodile with a nasty appetite and secretive ways not to know.

As she spoke, Xiao watched her carefully. There was no expression on his wooden features to give a hint to his feelings.

“I will ask you one question, Guardian Inspector. I expect nothing but the truth. Do you understand me?”

“I do, sir.”

“Yes,” he said, staring through his thick lenses at her. “I believe you do, which is good for you. Does the Chairman ask these things because he fears me or because he wishes to dispose of me in some nefarious way?”

Shun Li’s heart began to thud. This was a terrible question. It would make her choose sides. She didn’t want to choose, she wanted to be able to skip whichever way would let her survive.

“Police Minister, I believe the Chairman fears you.”

Xiao smiled. It was a cruel thing.

Shun Li waited to hear him tell her she was lying. He didn’t. Instead, he surprised her by saying:

“The Chairman plays a dangerous game, Guardian Inspector. He needs me, but that is because he makes serious blunders. I have built a careful web around him. It protects his Lion Guards from harm. It is good that I have security operatives in the Chairman’s home. You will now add to their security work as you begin to study the exact layout of the estate and the strength of his personal security. Am I making myself clear?”

Yes. That you’re lying to me. Why would you need to know these things if you already had people there? I am your first and only operative in the Chairman’s country estate
.

Shun said aloud. “You wish to provide the ultimate security for the Chairman’s safety and ask that I aid East Lightning in that.”

“Precisely,” Xiao said. “You have divined my thoughts perfectly.”

Shun Li’s eyes felt hot, as if smoke would drift out of her pupils. What intrigue did Xiao play at? Could he believe he would keep his seat of power if Hong died? Or was Xiao thinking the unthinkable: of reaching for supreme power himself?

If she could have, Shun Li would have gladly gone back to North America. These stakes were too high for her. But she was here now and would have to swim with these deadly creatures as best as she could.

-9-

Phase II

From
Military History: Past to Present
, by Vance Holbrook:

Invasion of Midwestern America, Phase II, 2039-2040

BACKGROUND

By late October 2039, the Pan-Asian Alliance and the South American Federation troops had become mired down due to the uncommonly warm rainy season. (They were
warm
rains in a relative sense, as it was still cold weather to the troops on the ground.) The torrential showers turned the landscape into mud and added vast, shallow lakes throughout much of the Central Midwest.

During this time, Chairman Hong received several pieces of intelligence that caused him to alter the plans for Marshal Liang’s Third Front. The Chairman was only now becoming aware of the full extent of Chancellor Kleist’s offer to the Americans: the Canadian province of Quebec, in exchange for German Dominion neutrality.

Due to their battlefield supremacy during the Californian invasion, the Chairman loathed the Behemoth tanks. To that end, he demanded the capture of the Denver manufacturing plant. This would entail the subjection of the greater Denver metropolitan area. At the Chairman’s orders, Marshal Liang allocated the Tenth and Fifteenth Armies to the task. Because of the difficult terrain and circumstances, Liang removed their tank corps and added assault and Special Infantry divisions.

The PAA and SAF formations had taken substantial losses throughout the summer and autumn battles. Even after adding replacements, they were at seventy-five percent of the start-date strengths.

The Third Front’s objectives were now twofold: Denver with the accompanying capture of the Front Range Urban Corridor and a continuation of the northern assault. The Rocky Mountains would continue to be their western wall as they surged north. The SAF First Front would drive north in tandem with the two Chinese forces on either side of them. The PAA Fourth Front would mask St. Louis as it continued for the distant Canadian border, with the Mississippi River on its eastern side. The offense’s directives would take it through Iowa and Minnesota.

The Chinese and Brazilian strategists believed the drive, together with well-placed garrison troops, would divide the continental United States into two distinct halves. From such a position, they believed two more campaigns would complete the conquest of the United States.

Despite their victorious armies and the success of the earlier drives, the Aggressor powers had several critical problems. The first was the incredible wear on their vehicles. Too many had broken down and keeping the rest in operational condition took millions of precious man-hours.