Brad Thor - Full Black

Nicholas smiled. “Only what the U.S. discovered and cleaned out was exactly what the Chinese wanted them to discover and clean out. The United States pats itself on the back, stopping its search right there.”

“You think there are more?”

“Deeper Trojans in the U.S. electrical network? I think it’s a virtual guarantee,” said the little man. “In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Chinese had actually written programs intended to piggyback off American efforts to rid their power networks of the surface Trojans. The U.S. may very well have unwittingly helped the Chinese burrow deeper, providing China greater access than they could have ever achieved on their own.

“That’s the driving philosophy behind unrestricted warfare. It is all about positioning yourself for victory. Why meet your enemy sword to sword, where he is strongest, when you can force him to expose his side, where he is weakest, and strike at him there?”

“Besides weaponizing civilian technologies, what else does the plan call for?” asked Harvath.

Nicholas ran his hand through his short, dark hair. “Slowly influencing the culture with their values via cultural warfare. Influencing American media. Cornering and rigging the markets for things America needs, such as oil and rare earth minerals, through resource warfare. Joining international bodies like the U.N. Security Council and voting against American resolutions and interests as part of international law warfare. Manipulating the value of the dollar and subverting the banking and stock markets via financial warfare. The list is multifaceted and it goes on and on.”

“And it includes terrorism.”

“Most definitely. You see, while they watched America’s mighty military deal with Saddam in the first Gulf War, they also noted the severe difficulties that the same mighty military had in dealing with a low-intensity conflict like Somalia. They noted how effective the U.S. embassy bombings were in Beirut, Kenya, and Tanzania. They noted as well the havoc caused by terrorists in the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993. They noted how Chechen terrorists were able to plague the Russians as Northern Ireland guerillas had done to the British.

“For the Chinese, terrorism became seen as an exceptional weapon to wield against the United States. It can not only cause great physical and economic damage, but it delivers a severe psychological shock to the citizens of the country it is visited upon. If you could somehow harness and focus Islamic terrorism, it would give you a great battlefield advantage. It would also provide camouflage, as you would be using foreign nationals to do your bidding.

“There’s an interesting tidbit many people aren’t aware of. When the 9/11 attacks happened, we all saw dancing in the streets of the Muslim world. What we didn’t see, though, was the sheer exuberance displayed by state-controlled Chinese media. They produced video games, books, and documentaries glorifying the violence and calling it a ‘humbling’ blow against an arrogant nation.

“Many people also don’t know that the Chinese predicted that bin Laden would hit the World Trade Center and that they predicted it three years before it happened. U.S. intelligence also learned that before 9/11, the Chinese military had been providing training to the Afghan Taliban and al Qaeda. The American intelligence apparatus was stunned by this revelation and couldn’t figure out why the Chinese were mixing with Islamic terrorists. It all had to do with unrestricted warfare.

“The Chinese wanted to build their own worldwide Islamic terror network that they could unleash against their enemies, particularly the United States, at will. They developed deep ties with the Taliban in order to develop even deeper ties with al Qaeda. Much as they had mapped U.S. electrical networks, they wanted to map existing Islamic terror networks, particularly AQ.

“The Chinese are brilliant students. They have an almost superhuman ability to sublimate their arrogance and approach subjects with a completely open mind. They assume nothing and feel no embarrassment at their lack of knowledge. Not that it would make too much difference if they did. It wouldn’t last long. The Chinese are incredibly fast learners.

“Taking their new knowledge, they compare it against what they know of the world and what they have learned from thousands of years of history. Then they slowly begin to put it into play. This is how the Chinese were able to build a terrorism network rivaling al Qaeda.”

“Which was headed by Aazim Aleem,” said Harvath. “Correct?”

“Exactly. Aazim headed the entire network, but he had no idea that he was working for the Chinese. He believed he was running a branch of al Qaeda, with al Qaeda’s full knowledge and support. He had no idea that he was a tool in the unrestricted warfare toolbox.”

“But the Chinese lost control of the network.”

Nicholas held up his tiny index finger to make a point. “Technically, they didn’t lose it. It was stolen from them. This is the big mystery we’ve been dealing with. Who stole the network, and why?”

Harvath was about to pose a new question, when a chime rang and the green light at the SCIF door illuminated. A fraction of a second later there was the hiss of air as the locks released, the door was opened, and in stepped the Old Man.

Reed Carlton walked into the SCIF. He was a tall, fit man in his midsixties with a prominent chin and silver hair.

Harvath stood up and greeted him.

“We got our asses handed to us in Sweden,” the Old Man said as he grabbed a chair and wheeled it over. It was late, and he was tired and not in a good mood. “I don’t care what it takes. We’re going to nuke these bastards. That’s the word from on high at DoD as well.”

Harvath knew the Old Man was speaking figuratively about nuking the terrorists. It was his term for complete and total victory. Nuke ’em, he would often say before Harvath left on assignment.

There were times, though, in anger over the loss of lives, he would suggest nuking the entire Middle East region. The Arabs, he’d rant, were ungovernable and immune to civilization. As international terrorism sprang almost exclusively from the Middle East, and the Middle East refused to curtail it, why not put an end to it once and for all? Why allow a single additional American to be killed by the fanatics? “The last time I checked,” he would say, as people who didn’t know he was exaggerating listened aghast, “we can still drill through glass.”

He didn’t mince words, and Harvath admired that about him. He had the type of take-no-prisoners, get-the-job-done, and to-hell-with-political-correctness attitude that the United States needed a lot more of.

Nicholas had a mug in front of him. Picking it up, he looked at Carlton and offered, “Coffee?”

“It’s a little late for coffee,” the Old Man replied. “Why don’t you pour me a glass of wine?”

“Wine?”

“Son, I know every single thing that goes on here,” Carlton said.

Nicholas liked being called “son.” He turned his eyes to Harvath, who was the closest to the fridge.

Harvath rolled over to it in his chair and withdrew the bottle. Grabbing three cups, he rolled back.

“I thought you didn’t want any,” said Nicholas, as Harvath poured what was left in the bottle into the three cups.

“Changed my mind,” he replied, as he passed out the cups. “It wouldn’t be right to let you two drink alone.”

Carlton accepted his cup and held it up. “To those who have fallen.”

Harvath and Nicholas repeated the toast together and drank from their cups. They then waited for the Old Man to take charge.

“This isn’t a book club,” he finally said. “You don’t need me to kick things off. Just pick up from wherever you were when I walked in.”