Red Phoenix Burning

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Authors: Larry Bond

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Red Phoenix Burning
Number II of
Red Phoenix
Larry Bond
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (2016)
Rating:
***

North Korea has one of the world's largest standing armies, capable of unleashing a massive arsenal of chemical and nuclear weapons. With an unstable government, under absolute dictator Kim Jong-un, North Korea more closely resembles an organized crime ring than a real nation-state. Millions live on the edge of starvation while Pyongyang's ruthless generals, crooked bureaucrats, and vicious secret police wage a covert war against each other to expand their rival fiefdoms. RED PHOENIX BURNING explores the implosion of this corrupt regime - a coup that triggers a bloody civil war among the North's brutal factions. The world is dragged into a violent and rapidly widening confrontation amid North Korea's shattered ruins, bringing it to the edge of an all-out war that could engulf the entire civilized world.

Fans of the original RED PHOENIX will be delighted to see favorite characters like Colonel Kevin Little, Brigadier General Tony Christopher, and Colonel Rhee Han-Gil returning to battle, older and wiser, alongside a new cast of heroes and villains. RED PHOENIX BURNING will also offer readers a deeper look behind today's headlines of turmoil and uncertainty - a look made all the more profound by the in-depth knowledge of war, military technology, and geopolitics brought to bear by Larry Bond and his co-author Chris Carlson.

WARNER BOOKS BY LARRY BOND AND PAT LARKIN

Red Phoenix

Vortex

Cauldron

Enemy Within

Day of Wrath

FORGE BOOKS BY LARRY BOND AND CHRIS CARLSON

Dangerous Ground

Cold Choices

Exit Plan

Shattered Trident

Lash-Up

Fatal Thunder

FORGE BOOKS BY LARRY BOND AND JIM DEFELICE

Larry Bond’s First Team

Larry Bond’s First Team: Angels of Wrath

Larry Bond’s First Team: Fires of War

Larry Bond’s First Team: Soul of the Assassin

Larry Bond’s Red Dragon Rising: Shadows of War

Larry Bond’s Red Dragon Rising: Edge of War

Larry Bond’s Red Dragon Rising: Shock of War

Larry Bond’s Red Dragon Rising: Blood of War

Red Phoenix Burning

By

Larry Bond & Chris Carlson

R
ED
P
HOENIX
B
URNING

All Rights Reserved © 2016 by Larry Bond and Chris Carlson, and Patrick Larkin

eBooks are not transferable. They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this work. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher.

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Published by Larry Bond and Chris Carlson

Map by Erik Carlson

Dedication

 

This book is dedicated to the people of the Koreas and their long struggle for a free and united homeland.

Acknowledgments

 

Our deepest thanks go to Dr. Andrew Erickson and Ms. Jean Hyun for taking the time out of their busy schedules to review the manuscript. We greatly appreciated Dr. Erickson sharing his Chinese political-military expertise, and Ms. Hyun for helping us get the cultural aspects correct. This novel is better because of your efforts.

Authors’ Note

 

This book is a sequel to the novel
Red Phoenix
, written by Larry Bond and Patrick Larkin, and published by Warner books in 1989. It described a hypothetical invasion of South Korea by the North, an oft-discussed scenario on that troubled peninsula.

The world has changed in many ways since
Red Phoenix
was published, but the two Koreas remain, a fossilized relic of the Cold War and the East-West polarization that touched many parts of our lives before the fall of the Soviet Union.

At the end of
Red Phoenix
, the invaders were defeated by UN forces and retreated back across the 38th parallel, with the cooperation of the Chinese, who supervised a caretaker government. Kim Jong-il, the “Dear Leader” who had ordered the invasion was assassinated, and his young son Kim Jong-un was installed by the Chinese as the new leader of the country under the tutelage of his aunt and uncle who acted as regents.

Thus, the North Korea described in the world of
Red Phoenix
does not differ too much from our real world, except that there was no invasion of South Korea in late 1989.

With this bit of fictional background, you can read this story without having to have read
Red Phoenix
first. If you have read it, you will find familiar names, both of original characters and the next generation.

We hope you will enjoy their story.

This time, I worked with my long-time partner, Chris Carlson, to describe a different but equally dangerous scenario. Chris’ knowledge and storytelling ability were vital in making this the best story we could, and the only reason my name comes first is that “B” precedes “C” in the alphabet. I will refuse to claim any passage as mine, or point to one and say Chris wrote it. We could have each written a story based on the same scenario, but together, we’ve created one much better than either of us could have done alone.

Dramatis Personae

American Characters

 
Carter, Randall
  
Lieutenant General, commanding officer, US Seventh Air Force
Christopher, Tony
  
Brigadier General, vice commander, US Seventh Air Force
Dougherty, Jeff
  
Team leader, North Korea section, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Fascione, Thomas
  
General, commanding officer, Combined Forces Command and US Forces Korea
Fowler, Kary
  
Aid worker, Christian Friends of Korea
Graves, Andrew
  
Colonel, commanding officer, Eighth Fighter Wing, US Seventh Air Force
Jenkins, Rick
  
Commanding officer, USS
Hawaii
(SSN 776)
Yeom, George
  
CIA-NIS liaison, CIA
Little, Kevin
  
Colonel, commanding officer, Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, US Eighth Army
Miller, Mike
  
Lieutenant Colonel, commanding officer, Joint Security Area battalion
Mitchell, Ralph
  
Commanding officer, USS
Gabrielle Giffords
(LCS 10)
O’Rourke, Dan
  
Major General, chief of staff, US Forces Korea
Olsen, George
  
Brigadier General, intelligence officer, US Forces Korea
Sawyer, Chris
  
North Korea senior analyst, CIA
Tracy, Robert
  
Lieutenant General, commanding officer, US Eighth Army
Waleski, Gabriel
  
Rear Admiral, commanding officer, US Navy in South Korea
Wallace, Joshua
  
Lieutenant Commander, executive officer, USS
Hawaii
(SSN 776)
Wyman, James
  
President, United States of America

South Korean Characters

 

An Kye-nam

  

President, Republic of Korea (ROK)

Guk Yong-soo
  
Lieutenant, Ninth Special Forces “Ghost” Brigade, ROK
Gung Ji-han
  
Lieutenant, Ninth Special Forces “Ghost” Brigade, ROK
Ji Sang-hoon
  
General, commanding officer, ROK Air Force
Kwon
  
Major General, commanding officer, Special Warfare Command, ROK
Lee Joon-ho
  
Major, operations officer, UN Command Security Battalion
Ma
  
Corporal, Ninth Special Forces “Ghost” Brigade, ROK
Moon Su-bin
  
Volunteer nurse, Christian Friends of Korea
Oh
  
Master Sergeant, Ninth Special Forces “Ghost” Brigade, ROK
Park Joon-ho
  
General, deputy commander, ROK-US Combined Forces Command
Rhee Han-gil
  
Colonel, commanding officer, Ninth Special Forces “Ghost” Brigade, ROK
Sobong
  
Lieutenant Colonel, Mike Miller’s second-in-command
Sohn
  
General, commanding officer, Third Army, ROK
Yeon Min-soo
  
General, chief of staff, ROK Army

North Korean Characters

 

Cheon Ji-hyo

  

North Korean refugee, mother of two children

Cho Ho-jin
  
North Korean citizen, Russian intelligence asset
Choi Sung-min
  
Sergeant, neighborhood supervisor, Ministry of Public Security
Gong Kyeong-pyo
  
Vice Admiral, KPA Navy
Kim Jong-un
  
Supreme Leader, DPRK
Koh Chong-su
  
Vice Marshal, Chief of the General Staff, Korean People’s Army (KPA)
Lee Ji-young
  
North Korean defector, daughter of Lee Ye-jun
Lee Ye-jun
  
Senior Politburo member, DPRK
Maeng
  
Sergeant, special forces, KPA
Ri Il-chun
  
Deputy Chairman, Second Economic Committee
Ro Ji-hun
  
Captain, special forces, KPA
Ryeon Jae-gon
  
Captain, aide to General Tae, KPA
Sik Chol-jun
  
Colonel, bodyguard to Kim Jong-un
Tae Seok-won
  
General, Sixth Bureau, General Staff Department; then commanding officer, Thirty-Third Infantry Division, KPA
Yang
  
Major General, deputy commander, Thirty-Third Infantry Division, KPA

People’s Republic of China Characters

 

Long

  

General, deputy commander, Southeast Security Force

Shu
  
General, chief of staff, People’s Liberation Army
Wen Kun
  
President, People’s Republic of China
Yu
  
General, defense minister, People’s Republic of China

Russian Characters

 

Malikov, Alexei Fedorovich

  

Deputy Director, Directorate S, Russian Foreign Intelligence Service

Telitsyn, Pavel Ramonovich
  
Asian Department chief, Directorate S, Russian Foreign Intelligence Service

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