Occupied Seattle (Occupied Seattle Book 2) Read online

  “Still,” replied Calvin with a touch of exasperation, “he’s the president! You can’t just hang up on him!”

  Ryan looked back at Sara. “I’m sorry, Sara, but the bottom line is that we are on an important mission at the moment. I’d be happy to do what I can for you afterwards, but we’ve got some other things to do first.”

  While Sara could understand the need to do what the president had asked him to do, she was saddened by the news, as she had pinned all of her hopes on securing Ryan’s help in getting her friend back. She had no other options. “Can I ask how long you think it’ll take to get done what you need to?”

  Calvin chimed in, “Yeah, can I ask what you’re intending for us to do, too, since you haven’t told me yet?

  “It’s classified,” Ryan told Sara, “and trust me, you really don’t want to know.” He looked at Calvin and said obscurely, “He needs us to find what was lost in Bangor; we’ll start looking in that area.”

  Sara thought back to the day before, when she had seen the Chinese bringing in a group of big, heavy boxes onto the campus of the University of Washington. “Some thing?” she asked. “Or some things?”

  “It probably is some things,” admitted Ryan, using the plural, “although we really don’t know for sure. They would be very important to our ability to take back Seattle.”

  “They wouldn’t happen to be in boxes that were about six or seven feet long, would they?” inquired Sara.

  Ryan thought for a few seconds. “Yes, that would probably be about right, I think.”

  “And how many would you be looking for?” asked Sara.

  “Well, I don’t know, actually,” answered Ryan, looking frustrated. “Nobody is really sure, and the information that we have was intentionally incomplete.”

  Calvin could see that there must be a reason for her questions. “Why are you asking? Did you see something?”

  Sara nodded, starting to smile. “After the Chinese captured Erika, I followed them to the gym where they were herding all of the students they captured. While I was watching, a group of helicopters flew in. While four smaller helicopters circled overhead, two big helicopters came in and landed on one of the intramural fields. A large group of men came out of the building with flatbed carts, and they unloaded six large boxes with the help of the men in the helicopters. The boxes each appeared to be about six feet long and must have weighed several hundred pounds, judging by how many men it took to move each of them. The Chinese took the boxes into the building, and then the helicopters flew off.” She hoped that these were the ‘missing things,’ as the men might be able to rescue Erika while doing whatever it was that they needed to do with the boxes.

  Ryan looked at Calvin. “You know what? She might very well have just made our jobs a whole lot easier.”

  “I can do even more to help,” Sara added. “I’ve got a car not too far down the road and can give you a ride wherever you need to go.” She paused. “As long as we make it back past the Chinese, anyway.”

  Ryan looked thoughtful. “Did the Chinese put a checkpoint up on the road?” Sara nodded. “Let me guess. It’s at the turnoff for Granite Creek Road, right?”

  “Yes, and it looks like they’ve already caught and destroyed a jeep and a black van. How did you know?” Sara asked.

  “I knew because that was my jeep, damn it,” replied Ryan, annoyed. “They were following me and probably set up the checkpoint there because they didn’t know which way I went. Obviously, they didn’t want me to come back.”

  “He blew up an anti-aircraft gun,” interjected Calvin helpfully, happy to be part of the conversation again.

  “The one at the Travel Centers of America?” asked Sara. “You did that? It burned for a long time. They seemed pretty mad when I went by there last night. They sent me back home because of the curfew they imposed from midnight to 6:00 a.m.”

  “Did they let you through the checkpoint this morning?” Ryan asked, trying to formulate his plan for getting into Seattle.

  “No, they didn’t,” replied Sara. “No one gets into or out of occupied Seattle. However, they don’t seem to know about the back way up over the mountains, so I came up via NF-9010, across Bessemer Rd. and then down NF-5600 to get here. All very Chinese-free. I can take you back that way in my car if you would like.”

  “I would like that a lot,” said the former SEAL, who had been dreading the time they were going to lose walking all the way to town.

  “Me, too!” said Calvin.

  White House Situation Room, Washington, D.C., 0945 EDT (0645 PDT)

  “So, this is your good idea?” asked the President of the United States, Bill Jacobs. “This SEAL is going to find our missing nukes for us? He seems pretty much like an asshole to me.”

  “Well, sir,” explained the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral James Wright, “you have to understand that Senior Chief O’Leary is a little bitter about how he was dismissed from the navy. He doesn’t have a lot of positive feelings for politicians in general, and your party in particular. Add in the fact that he’s always been a little twitchy about authority, and that’s what you get. Still…he’s never once failed to accomplish a mission, so if there is someone you’d want to get this done, it’s him. He may be a bit abrasive, but he is the best operator that we have…uh…well, that we had, when he was forced out.”

  “Abrasive! He hung up on me for God’s sake! Three times! Hanging up on the president is more than just ‘abrasive!’” said the president, his voice rising. The president was a big man, who had learned to project his voice when he needed…or when he wanted to make a point.

  “That’s certainly true,” acknowledged Admiral Wright; “however, you can count on him to find those nukes, if there’s any way at all for him to do so.”

  The president growled, “I hope so, for your sake. This house of cards you’re building rests on him!”

  I hope so, too, thought the admiral, who had suggested using Ryan in the first place, based on the recommendation of his Command Master Chief, who had served with Ryan ‘back in the day.’ An aviator by trade, the admiral was an excellent planner, and his staff had spent most of the night putting together options for what they would do once the weapons were found, assembling and disassembling various strike packages to try to form some contingency plans. They had put together a variety of recovery options; unfortunately, there was no way to know where the nuclear warheads were, or how well they were guarded. For all the effort that had been put into it, they were mostly just pissing in the wind until they had some better intelligence.

  That went for Carrier Air Wing Two, which was training at the air base in Fallon, Nevada. Admiral Wright had told them to be “ready at a moment’s notice” to carry out missions against the Chinese in the Seattle area, but without any sort of intelligence, there was no way for them to adequately prepare. Even worse, the aviators hadn’t flown much in the preceding two years and had flunked their first air wing practice strike on the test range the day before. While being held to the ‘moment’s notice’ time frame, it was impossible for them to gain any further practice or better prepare their jets. This whole thing could well and truly suck, he thought.

  Changing the subject, the president looked at his Secretary of State, Isabel Maggiano. “Where do we stand with NATO?”

  The evening before, the president had invoked Article 5 of the North Atlantic Charter, the pledge of mutual defense. In Article 5, the parties agreed that, ‘an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack on them all.’ Originally instituted to prevent war with the Soviet Union in Europe, the signatory nations at the time would never have guessed that the treaty would be invoked by the United States of America, much less that the U.S. would do it twice (the first time was after the attacks on September 11, 2001). While the NATO nations did not all agree Article 5 applied in 2001, the president thought that it should be apparent that, in this case, an armed attack had occurred against a signatory
nation. He didn’t see how any of the nations could disagree; a representative of China had made an announcement of their invasion on TV earlier that morning. The only question was how each country would honor its pledge to take ‘such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.’

  “The ambassador to NATO has invoked Article 5 with the North Atlantic Council, NATO’s principal decision-making body,” Isabel replied, “and it seems that nearly all of the nations are in favor of a unified response. I have also held offline discussions with the Prime Minister of Canada, and he assured me that we have their complete military support. They have already begun moving some of their forces to the Vancouver area to support us in whatever we decide to do. I also spoke with the Prime Minister of Estonia. As you may recall, NATO’s Cooperative Cyber Defense Center is in Tallinn, Estonia. The Center has already begun work on defensive and preventative measures against any further cyber attacks.

  “Who can we count on for military support?” asked the president.

  “In general, most of the nations are supportive, but there are a few that have already pledged their military support, as well as political,” replied the Secretary of State. “Britain, Canada and Germany have been the most supportive in NATO and are working on military options. Outside of NATO, Japan, South Korea and Chile have all pledged their support and their forces. Just like they did after the September 11th attacks, Nigeria also has pledged its support, although they may not have any forces that can help us. I also just got off the phone with the president of India. They will back us in whatever we decide and have started moving some of their troops to their borders with China. Hopefully, this will draw off a little of the pressure on us.

  “Outstanding,” said the president. “It’s good to have friends that you can count on. Please make sure that they know I will remember who stood with us in our hour of need.”

  The Secretary of State nodded. “I will, sir.”

  Mentally changing topics, the president next looked to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “What are we doing to increase our intelligence on the Seattle area without risking a nuclear incident?”

  Dozer 37, Overhead Fairchild Air Force Base, Spokane, WA, 0645 PDT

  “So, what exactly are we supposed to be doing here?” asked Lieutenant Colonel Steve ‘Taco’ Byers, the pilot of Dozer 37. Based on the venerable C-135 Stratolifter airframe, the 45th Reconnaissance Squadron ‘Rivet Joint’ aircraft was a large reconnaissance aircraft used by the U.S. Air Force to collect theater and national-level intelligence.

  “We’re supposed to be trying to figure out what the Chinese are doing in Seattle. Where they are, what equipment they brought, and so forth,” said the evaluator, Major Jim ‘Pokey’ Bryant from the back of the aircraft. “Honestly, I think it is a matter of the senior leadership in D.C. feeling that they need to do something, even if there isn’t anything that can really be done.”

  “Yeah,” agreed Taco, “I heard there were nukes in play in Seattle, and we aren’t allowed to do anything until they get secured.”

  “Well,” said Pokey, “we’re not doing very much worthwhile out here.” He looked out the window and could see Fairchild AFB in Spokane, Washington, below them. “We’re 217 miles away from Seattle. We’re not going to be able to pick up a lot of signals this far out, and trying to accurately geo-locate the ones we can pick up this far away is next to impossible.”

  “I saw the head Chinese guy in Seattle on the news,” the copilot, Captain George ‘Pasta’ Macari added. “He said that there was a 200 mile exclusion zone, and that they would shoot down any aircraft that comes within that area. Personally, I’d rather not start the day by getting shot down.”

  “Roger, that,” concurred Taco. “I’m making sure that we stay at least 200 miles from Seattle, plus a couple of extra miles for my wife and the kids.”

  Sommers’ House, North Bend, WA, 0730 PDT

  “That’s a ‘Growler’ missile truck,” said Calvin, using the NATO name for the HQ-19 missile system he could see through a crack in the drapes covering the back window of the Sommers’ house. “We’ve got to do something about it!” His distress was obvious, causing Sara to put a hand on his shoulder in sympathy.

  Calvin couldn’t be blamed for his dislike of the HQ-19 system in general, and this one in particular, as it had been responsible for shooting down two of the aircraft in his air wing the night before. Not believing Calvin’s situation report when he called back to Fallon after getting shot down, his carrier air wing commander had sent a second flight of aircraft into the Seattle area to look for the other pilots that had been shot down with Calvin. Although the Growler had not been ready for Calvin’s flight, it was very ready for the second flight and had destroyed two of the three aircraft. Located on 6th Street, the Sommers’ three-bedroom ranch backed up against E.J. Roberts Park, where the system was located. He could see three of the missile launchers from the window. He was careful not to move the drapes; he could also see several Chinese soldiers walking around, providing security for the big missiles.

  “What’s so bad about it?” asked Sara, who didn’t know anything about the military.

  “It’s just a da…darn good missile system,” replied Calvin. “If it’s not the best one in the world, it’s in the top two or three. The system was a joint venture between Russia and China, and it brought together the best scientists from both of those countries. The engagement radar is truly cutting edge and is better than anything we have. It can track 100 airborne targets and engage up to a dozen of them at a time, out to a range of 250 miles.”

  He pointed to the missile transporter out the window. “That transporter can hold three different types of missiles, which can be used to shoot down anything from low-level aircraft to low-orbit satellites, depending on which missiles are in its tubes. All three types of missiles fit into the canisters on that truck, so it’s impossible to tell which missiles are loaded. The missile is about the size of a telephone pole and travels at 12 times the speed of sound, which just boggles my mind.” He shook his head. “Even worse, it has a high-explosive warhead weighing 53 pounds, which is about double the weight of our Patriot missile.”

  “You can’t see them all from here,” he continued, still looking out the window, “but a normal battalion consists of eight launchers, an acquisition radar, an engagement radar and a mobile command post. The system has a better radar than ours, a missile that has twice the range of our best missile and is an all-around better system than anything that we currently field.” He let the drapes fall and looked back at Sara. “I even read somewhere that one of the radars they use with this system can probably even see our stealth aircraft. It’s darn good,” he summarized, “and it needs to be destroyed!”

  Sara’s father called her, and she left the room as Calvin turned to Ryan. “I don’t care what else we do,” Calvin stated, “we’ve got to do something about that missile system or more aviators are going to die.”

  “I agree,” said Ryan, closing his phone after sending the text he had been working on. “In fact, I’m trying to set up a little party for the Chinese out there. If they’re going to hang out in our park, we ought to have a little fun with them, eh?” He smiled at Calvin, then sobered. “Before we do anything, though, we have to find the nukes. I just got a text from the CNO, and those have to be taken out of play prior to anything else happening. That’s straight from the president, who has threatened to reinstate me to active duty if I ‘give him any more lip.’”

  “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” asked Calvin, who knew that Ryan hadn’t wanted to leave the navy, but had been forcibly retired.

  “I’m not sure,” said Ryan. “I’m still trying to make up my mind.” Both men turned as Sara and her father walked into the room carrying a bundle of clothes.

  “My dad’s the right height for you, Calvin, but I think he’s going to be a little bigger in the waist.”

>   Calvin looked at her dad and thought, ‘No kidding, he’s at least 30 pounds heavier than I am.’ Looking at himself in the mirror, he had to revise his estimate down to 25 pounds or maybe even 20 (but no less than that!) Too much time at the bars and not enough exercise, he thought. He mentally shrugged and said, “Well, he’s pretty close, and if you have a belt, I’ll make it work. Especially if you have something dark so that I’m harder to see at night.”

  “These should work,” replied Mr. Sommers, handing him a pair of dark jeans, “my wife shrank them in the washer, so they’re too small for me.”

  “Unlikely,” laughed Sara. “What’s more likely is too many desserts and not enough hiking.”

  Mr. Sommers shrugged, smiling. “That’s possible, too, I guess.”

  As Calvin went to change, the doorbell rang. Sara and her father jumped, worried that the Chinese had come to their door. “Don’t worry,” said Ryan, “I was just about to tell you that I had invited some of my friends to come by.” He looked at Mr. Sommers and continued, “We’ll be leaving soon; I don’t want to bring any more attention to your house than I have to.”

  Mr. Sommers answered the door, with Ryan staying out of sight, just in case. There were five men and a woman at the door. Although two of the men were Asian, the other three were definitely not, nor was the woman. He let them in. “Thanks for coming,” welcomed Ryan, coming around the corner. “I’m glad you were able to make it. Did you have any trouble getting here?”

  “No,” said the first man through the door, who identified himself as First Sergeant Aaron Smith, the senior non-commissioned officer (or ‘Top’) of the Alpha Rifle Company, 2nd Battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment. “Everything is pretty calm at the moment. The Chinese apparently meant it when they said that everyone should go about their normal business. We saw one checkpoint, but that was on the other side of the road. No one can get onto any of the bases, though.” Ryan and Aaron were friends who had known each other for almost 20 years, since collaborating on a mission in Kosovo to capture a Serbian war criminal from behind enemy lines.