Imagine (Fuzed Trilogy Book 2) Page 23
IV
INCEPTION
Commander Mammen reached forward and flipped on the Master Arm switch. The fighter’s missile-launch button was now live, and with it, the ability to start World War III with his thumb.
35
WWIII
The INS Vishal’s electromagnetic catapult launched Commander Mammen’s Rafale into the air. He was the lead aircraft of the first strike group. In less than an hour, the Chinese and coalition navies would be within weapons range of each other. When that happened, conflict was inevitable.
As his fighter climbed, he looked back at the Exocet anti-ship missiles hanging from his wings. About 500 nautical miles ahead, he suspected a Chinese pilot had a similar mission. Almost all major strike plans started the same way — eliminate the enemy’s offensive capability. With the stakes this high, they weren’t limited to conventional weapons. Behind him, flew six jets armed with megaton-class nukes. For the first time in his career, he was certain the aircraft carrier was a more dangerous place to be than in the air.
Commander Mammen reached forward and flipped on the Master Arm switch. The fighter’s missile-launch button was now live, and with it, the ability to start World War III with his thumb.
Josh woke up lying on a hard pad. He was hurting. In addition to the sprained ankle and bruises, he had pulled muscles from being hyper-tased. The real pain, however, came from the knowledge that he had totally misjudged Jessica, and because of that, he sat in a prison cell, powerless to prevent a war.
He closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind. Shutting out the pain, he used his photographic memory to replay the events leading up to this point, including every conversation he’d had over the past few weeks.
At first, there was nothing, but then, as he relaxed, he saw a pattern begin to form in his mind. He felt the same detached feeling from his body that he did the night they chased him to Antarctica. Instead of just looking forward, however, he also looked backward, backward to the path that had resulted in his present. It appeared like three-dimensional spider webs; each one connected to another. Events or people sat at the center of each web. As the picture grew, the filaments between the webs increased and became more complex. It was overwhelming, but he began to perceive one web had more connections than any other. At the center of that web, was the answer.
Lieutenant Colonel Dowling and Major Jasmine Conley finished their last air-to-air refueling. Along with another 18 B-2 bombers scattered across the Pacific, they were minutes from their strike go-no-go point, the last opportunity for the President to recall them before entering enemy airspace. On board each jet, were enough warheads to destroy a small country. Although she couldn’t see them, she knew their bombers were flanked by dozens of Mini-Me’s — the B-2 crew’s derogatory nickname for the small but deadly stealth bomber drones.
The combination of darkness and radar stealth made the big bombers and drones almost invisible, but “almost” wasn’t enough anymore. The new bistatic radars deployed along the Chinese coast could see a hummingbird at 150 nautical miles. Backing up those radars, were advanced surface-to-air missiles and a fleet of third-generation fighters.
Giving voice to her thoughts, a high-pitched warbling tone informed her that a missile targeting radar was now locked onto her bomber. The largest stealth air battle in history was about to begin.
In his dream state, Josh faintly heard the sound of a key turning in a lock. He thought it was symbolic of his discovery ... until he felt something push against his leg. Pulling out of his internal world, he opened his eyes and saw a Chinese guard looking down at him and telling him to stand up.
Blinking, he slowly stood. There were two guards in the cell with him. They wore People’s Liberation Army uniforms and were non-commissioned officers.
They stood on both sides of him, and told him to hold his hands out in front of him. Each guard handcuffed one of Josh’s hands to theirs, resulting in him being handcuffed between them.
As they took him out of the cell, Josh found three armed men waiting outside. They clearly weren’t taking any chances. He noticed that one of the men carried a briefcase and had the rank of colonel. The colonel led the way and the other two fell in behind Josh and his handcuffed guards.
Josh politely asked in Chinese, “May I ask where I’m going?”
Silence.
As they walked, Josh automatically evaluated his probability of escape. He had martial arts talent with exceptional speed and strength, and he’d learned several devastating tricks from Tim. On the other hand, his guards looked fit, and he was in China ... where they invented martial arts. Not to mention, there were five of them and two of them were attached. Even if he could take out all five and get the keys to the handcuffs, he was inside what looked like a military prison with cameras every dozen paces.
They walked briskly through several locked doors until they reached a large parking garage. A black Audi SUV was waiting for them with the doors open. Two identical vehicles sat in front and behind with a half dozen armed soldiers standing by them.
Josh and his two attached guards slid awkwardly into the backseat. The other three got in the front. As they pulled out of the garage, a police escort flanked them. Complete with lights and sirens, their caravan moved quickly through the city. Looking around, Josh realized he wasn’t in Shanghai.
His guards were probably mid-thirties. Josh looked at the man attached to him on his left, and in Chinese, said, “My parents probably wished they could have handcuffed us kids together in the backseat.” The man ignored him and continued to look straight ahead, but he caught a muffled laugh from the man on his right. Josh turned toward him and, nodding toward the stone-faced guard on his left, said, “Doesn’t have kids, does he?” The colonel in the passenger seat turned around and gave Josh’s guards a stern look.
Within a few minutes, they arrived at a large government building. It looked familiar. He’d seen it on TV, but didn’t know its name or purpose. However, he was certain that the building was in Beijing, not Shanghai.
Their SUV caravan pulled into a garage entrance and through several security gates, finally stopping by a large set of doors. They slid out of the SUV and went inside to a security checkpoint where they took him through a full body scanner like those at airports. He noticed that even his guards got this treatment.
One of the guards brought out what looked like a black ski cap. He pulled it down over Josh’s head. An effective blindfold, it prevented him from seeing anything.
Josh thought there were two likely reasons for this. Either they were taking him into a sensitive area, and for security reasons didn’t want him to see anything, or they were going to execute him. The second option was bad for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which was that he thought he had a pretty good idea who was behind the cyber-attacks.
Blindfolded and handcuffed, escape opportunities were nil. They guided him along hallways for several minutes and then stopped. He clearly heard the ding of an elevator followed by the mechanical sound of the doors opening. Once inside, they turned him around, and in his stomach, he felt it descend. Judging by the acceleration and time, he estimated he was about four or five stories underground when it stopped.
From the elevator, they walked down another hall and through a doorway. They sat him down in an upholstered chair. He was no longer concerned about execution ... at least for now. Since they left the elevator, he had been walking on carpet, and he doubted an execution area would have upholstered chairs.
They disconnected his handcuffs and removed his blindfold. He found himself in a small, dimly lit but classically decorated room with dark wood trim and traditional Chinese tapestries. In front of him was a small, polished wooden desk, and directly in front of the desk, only a meter away, were heavy drapes. Since he knew they were several levels below ground, he was curious what was on the other side of the drapes. The desk also had two speakers sitting on each side and a small microphone in the center pointed at him.
Three of his captors were in the room. The colonel sat in a chair at the corner of the room facing him, and two armed guards stood on each side of the curtain. He guessed that he was about to go on trial.
They drew the drapes back. Through a thick glass window, no doubt bulletproof, he was surprised to see a very large, opulent, high-tech conference room. The room had large tables with chairs on one side, facing a wall with giant monitors on the other side. Josh’s window was on the “fifty-yard line,” so he saw the attendees from the side as they were looking at the giant wall displays. Even in profile, it was easy to identify the man at the head table. It was the Chinese President, Jiang Yao. Jiang Yao was also the General Secretary of the Communist Party and Chairman of the Central Military Commission. The unquestioned leader of China, Jiang looked like a trim businessman in his late sixties. He wore a conservative black suit, red tie and ... a scowl. He also looked tired.
Flanking him were six of the highest-ranking members of the Communist Party and the top military leaders. Josh realized that on the other side of this window, just a few meters away, sat all the key leaders of the most populous superpower in the world.
On the multitude of screens, he quickly identified the faces of the rest of the world’s leaders. On the center monitor was the Secretary-General of the United Nations. On the next display was the President of the United States; then the European Union President; NATO Commander; the Russian President; the Prime Ministers of India, the UK, France, Japan and Korea; the King of Saudi Arabia; and dozens of other world leaders from every continent. Although he couldn’t hear anything, it was obvious no one was happy. He realized he had a ringside seat to the beginning of World War III.
One of the guards flipped a switch on the wall so Josh could listen in to the end of the world. He also noticed that under his window, pointing at him was a small camera with a prominent, but currently unlit, red light on top.
The European Union President was saying, “How can you explain the release of classified material in every country but yours, and the wholesale translation of every document into Chinese. This must stop immediately!”
President Jiang, responded, “You’re accusing us of orchestrating a digital attack on the world based on circumstantial evidence. This is insanity!”
The Russian President replied loudly, “And you, sir, have in turn accused us of attacking ourselves to give us justification for a first strike!”
The U.S. President, Jeff Yager, said coldly, “Those circumstances also show that your offensive and nuclear forces have grown faster in the past five years than any other country in the world.”
The Chinese President retorted, “Apparently not fast enough!” Then, taking a deep breath, he said, “Your forces are poised for a full-scale attack of our mainland. Our policy has always been that we will never initiate a first strike.” He paused for emphasis his right hand closed into a fist. “But the second any weapon enters our literal boundaries, we will respond with a full-scale counter attack including all of our nuclear weapons.”
Yager shook his head. “All we’re asking is that you stop the cyber-attacks on our countries, and we will immediately withdraw our forces.”
The Chinese Premier hit the table with his fist as several leaders tried to speak at the same time.
The U.N. Secretary-General, Doyle Leonard from Australia, said, “Gentlemen, gentlemen! Can we please step back from the brink? On our current path, we will achieve nothing but global nuclear war and the death of billions.”
The U.N.’s Director of Global Security, Doruk Turan, said, “Can we examine the possibility that neither the West nor China are behind the attacks?”
The Russian President said, “I would like to believe that, but no one could possibly wield this type of power and control.”
The Prime Minster of India, said, “The attacks were carried out through the BOTIC chip, manufactured in China and installed in most phones—”
“Except for the Chinese phones,” the Russian President interrupted.
The Chinese President in a tightly controlled voice, said, “Yes, that’s been well established, and yet every major law enforcement agency and intelligence service has been actively investigating the attacks and have found no direct link back to China!”
Yager said, “As I said, a promising line of investigation was stopped by the arrest of one of our people by your Ministry of State Security.”
Josh saw the Chinese leader lean back and whisper something into one of his General’s ears.
Jiang said, “In the interest of averting a global disaster and to prove we have nothing to hide, we have arranged for your agent to join our discussion.”
Josh was impressed. If the Chinese President actually let him talk, he’d be taking a huge risk that Josh would say something to confirm Western suspicions. His respect for the Chinese leader went up significantly.
The lights in Josh’s room brightened. The Chinese President said, “But, before he makes his report, it’s important to note something unusual about this agent.” They brought a woman into the conference room. It was Jessica’s mother!
The Chinese President said, “This is Dr. Li Sun, one of China’s leading scientists in the field of genetics.”
Dr. Li, clearly nervous and reluctant, said, “We took a tissue sample from the agent, Commander Josh Fuze, and ran a full genome test.” She paused. “Based on that, we believe Commander Fuze may be a ... genetic construct,” she glanced nervously at the Chinese President, “possibly, an advanced soldier created in a laboratory.”
Captain Ivan Markov read the classified message one more time.
His Deputy said, “We’re in position.”
Markov shook his head and mechanically said, “Take us up to firing depth.” Staring unseeing at the orders in his hands, he was haunted by his hubris. Many times, he had mused with pride that he commanded one of the world’s most powerful vessels, theoretically capable of nuking 150 targets, but these ... these weren’t theoretical targets.
Torn from his thoughts, he heard something no submariner ever wanted to hear — a simple ping reverberated through the hull.
His Deputy, unnecessarily, said, “Active sonar, closing fast.”
Markov said, “Open the torpedo doors and give me a firing solution!” He turned to his Missile Officer and said, “As soon as the torpedoes are away, we launch!”
36
REVEAL
Josh saw Davidson appear on the display as he leaned in to speak into the President’s ear.
Yager, clearly irritated, asked, “President Jiang, why would you even think about running a genetic test on our agent?” He shook his head. “What few people know is that Commander Fuze was one of the original architects of the Blaster program that saved the world from the comet. A couple months ago, hackers broke into classified CIA files and stole only one set of records. They were the files of Commander Josh Fuze. This is what started our initial investigation into the hacking in the first place.”
Several delegates tried to talk at once.
Josh knew the Chinese leader brought up Josh’s genetics in case he had to refute something Josh said. Unfortunately, it backfired, making them look guiltier.
Josh saw the red light illuminate on top of the camera and saw himself appear on one of the displays in the room. He needed a shave.
The U.N. Secretary-General, seeing his image, almost pleaded, “Commander Fuze, do you have any pertinent information?”
Josh heard a beep, indicating his microphone was live. He took a deep breath and said, “Yes sir, I have an idea who is behind all this, but I need my cell phone to confirm it.”
The Chinese President looked a little surprised, but nodded.
The Army Colonel opened his briefcase, pulled out Josh’s phone and handed it to him. His two guards remained on either side of the window facing him. They were invisible to the conference members, but watched him with their hands resting on their holstered pistols.
Josh turned t
he phone on as the U.N. Secretary-General, looked at his watch. “Commander Fuze, in a matter of minutes, the naval forces of the West and China will be within weapons range.”
Josh said, “Yes sir. I understand, but with little trust on either side, a confirmation is critical.” He spoke quickly. “Shortly after the comet passed, I received a text from an extremely intelligent seven-year-old girl named Jen. Not knowing her situation and fearing for her safety, I befriended her. Unknown to me, so did Dr. Jessica Lee, the creator of the BOTIC chip. It quickly became clear that Jen had a genius-level intellect and was a computer wizard. Yesterday, I discovered that she was behind the hacking of my CIA files. She freely admitted it, being unaware that it’s illegal. That’s when I realized that the hackers might be using this very young genius.”
The Secretary-General said, “Yes, yes, we accept this little girl is a victim, but who is using her?”
Josh said, “That’s what we’re about to find out.” Looking down at his phone and confirming it had a signal, he said, “Hal. Give me voice-text to Jen and put it on speaker phone.”
“Ready.”
Josh said, “Jen, are you there?”
They all heard, “Yes, Josh. Where have you been? Your phone was off and I was worried.”
“I’m OK, Jen. I need to ask you an important question.”
“OK.”
“Who taught you how to access encrypted files?”
“Nobody. I taught myself. It’s really easy. Is there anything I can help you with?”
“No thanks. Do you help others find things?”
“All the time.”
“Do you help the people who take care of you?”
“Yes.”
“What type of work do they do?”