Stephen Coonts - Combat

“Now, that’s where you folks come in. A Malaysian-registered freighter is headed this way with a Chinese crew. Its manifest lists petroleum products. It does not list five backpack nukes.”

Ostrewski merely emitted a low whistle.

“No kidding holy shit,” Wilger said in a hushed voice.

“We’re tracking this ship, the Penang Princess , and we expect it to arrive off Long Beach day after tomorrow. The plan calls for her to transfer the nukes to several smaller vessels that will bring them ashore in different places. But one of them will be delivered, minus detonator, to the Chinese consulate in San Francisco. There, the president and secretary of state will be invited to see it, with a promise that four more have been distributed around the country. At that point, China wins. No American politician is going to defend an Asian island at the expense of thousands of American lives — maybe tens of thousands. It’s in his interest, and Congress’s, to keep the lid on. No overt acts, no hysterical commentary, and damn sure no scandal about giving in to blackmail.” Ottmann shook his head admiringly. “You got to admire the plan — it’s a beaut. Right out of Sun-Tzu.”

“Sun who?” asked Wilger.

“Sun-Tzu, an ancient Chinese military philosopher. He said the truest test of a general is to win without fighting.”

“Okay,” Robbins interjected. “So what do we do?”

Ottmann looked directly at the LSO. “You sink that ship.”

The responses came with machine-gun rapidity.

“We don’t have ordnance!”

“How do we know the nukes are aboard?”

“What about the Navy or Coast Guard?”

And, on everyone’s mind, “How do we stay out of prison?”

Ottmann raised his hands, asking for silence. “I’ll answer as many of your questions as possible, folks. First, we know the backpacks are aboard because one of our sources helped load them. Most of our intel has been back-channel between unofficial contacts on both sides. I can’t tell you more for obvious reasons — you were all military professionals. But I’m convinced the intel is real.

“Second, we’re not involving the Navy because the people in DC who know about this plan need ‘plausible deniability.’ That’s a buzzword that means you’re lying and everybody knows you’re lying but nobody will prove it because everybody else lies, too. The Santa Cruz is perfect: officially it’s not a U.S. or a Chinese ship. It’s not yet commissioned in either navy, it has a mixed crew, including civilians, and there’s been no transfer ceremony.”

Zack Delight spoke up. “Tim knows I’m an all-up round for this plan. But how about explaining the legality?”

“Right. The plan is to launch you during your first qualification period with thousand-pounders that’ll be loaded aboard right before the ship leaves the dock. You’ll have the location of the Penang Princess inside our twelve-mile limit, and a full briefing on her. You’ll land back aboard before the Santa Cruz returns to U.S. waters, which is a legal technicality, but it preserves the appearance of American neutrality.”

“But, Congressman,” Vespa interjected, “we’ll still have sunk a neutral ship. People will probably be killed. Aren’t we — pirates or something?”

Ottmann smiled as he reached inside his sport coat. From the pocket he produced several folded sheets. “These are full pardons, exonerating you for everything since Adam. They’re signed by the president but undated. You’ll have your copies, notarized by the attorney general, before you take off from here to land aboard the ship. If everything goes well, you won’t need them. If things go wrong, you’re covered.”

Vespa locked eyes with the New Yorker. “So the president …”

“ … still denies involvement.” Ottmann smiled again.

“Excuse me, sir,” Robbins said, “but how do we know these papers are valid? We might be set up, and you wouldn’t know it.”

“Well, Rob, I could just say, ‘Trust me.’ But if one of you goes to prison, I’ll be there waving bye-bye when you finally walk out the front gate. As deep as I am in this, I’d never see daylight again.”

Robbins’s blue eyes had a little-boy gleam. “You just told me that you’ve got the president by the …”

“By the plausible deniability.” Ottmann grinned.

“A couple of other things,” Robbins continued. “If I was smuggling nukes into this country, I wouldn’t put ‘em all in one basket, and I wouldn’t wait until a few days before I might need ’em. Doesn’t that seem kind of suspicious?”

“Geez, Robo. You ever consider a career in politics?” Ottmann chuckled at the sentiment. “Your instincts are good, but we know that the Chinese decided not to risk discovery of the backpacks until almost the last minute. And actually they’re not putting them all in one basket. As I said, some or all of them will be put in other boats before unloading. That’s why we need to sink the ship at a specific time and place.”

“We’re going to recover them?”

“We’re sure not going to leave them on the bottom of the ocean. Tactically, it’d make more sense to sink the ship in deep water beyond our limits. But this way, the U.S. government has full authority over recovery and salvage operations. I believe that a Coast Guard cutter will accidentally be nearby to pick up all survivors — and whatever they get off the ship.”

Ozzie gave an appreciative whistle. “Sounds like you have it all doped out, sir.”

“Well, it’s been a long time planning. But in any operation like this, there’s always the Oscar Sierra factor. Just remember that if things do turn to shit, you’re covered legally.

“Anything else?” Ottmann asked. Liz Vespa’s frown caught Ottmann’s attention. “Miss Vespa?”

“Liz,” Scooter corrected. “You know, all this seems really well planned, but I don’t understand something. Why are the Chinese blackmailing us with ICBMs or backpacks? They must know we can’t stop them from taking Taiwan — we don’t have the people, the airlift, or the sealift anymore. So if they’re willing to accept the political fallout, why not just go?”

“Good strategic question. I wish I could tell you what I know, but I can’t right now.” He looked around. “Yes, Ozzie.”

“With everything involved in a big operation like occupying Taiwan, the folks on that island must know what’s coming. I mean, PRC bases for shipping, airfields, and several infantry and armored divisions — all of that’s got to draw attention. Why haven’t we heard anything from them or the UN?”

“Hell, the UN doesn’t matter since China has a veto. As for Taiwan, they’ve lived in the shadow of the PRC for about fifty years — their military is on constant alert. Also, the Chinese have American politicians in their hip pocket. There hasn’t even been any contingency planning for operations involving the PRC for several years now.” He snorted his contempt. “Hell, dozens of White House staffers don’t even submit to presumably mandatory security checks, so don’t expect the military to buck policy. Maybe it would help if some senior uniformed people would stand up and risk their careers, but there aren’t any left.” He looked around the room full of former military professionals. “There just aren’t any left.”

Hijacking a moored aircraft carrier is no small task. It requires planning, cunning, and most of all, nerve.

It also helps to have well-placed contacts.

Representative Tim Ottmann announced a later meeting after the first one broke up. He impressed upon Terry Peters the importance of having everyone involved in the program present to take a tour of the Chinese and Russian facilities at El Toro.