Battlefield China

Chapter 28 Operation Valkyrie

Barely two days had gone by since Yang had returned to Beijing, and the Americans had already resumed hostilities. Even now, the Allies were launching a massive offensive aimed at the Beijing capital region. Thus far, the Allies had been held at the outer perimeter, but that wouldn’t last for long. They were less than eighty kilometers from the August First Building — a sobering thought.

The sense among the people at large was one of anger at their government for having gotten them into this position and despair that there was nothing they could do about it. Three years ago, the average Chinese citizen had had money in their pocket, food in their belly and a roof over their head. Now, the Chinese economy was in freefall, inflation was starting to run rampant, fuel and other supplies were in great shortage, and many people, if not everyone, either had a member of their family serving in the military or had a family member killed while serving in the military.

The previous night’s Allied bombing raid on the industrial centers in the city of Tianjin had resulted in the death of nearly five thousand civilians. It had also killed more than three thousand soldiers and destroyed yet one more of Yang’s desperately needed armor brigades. He had been moving some of their strategic-level units such as heavy armor and mechanized units into heavily populated areas and industrial centers, in hopes that the Allies would not risk killing civilians in an effort to destroy his most prized units. That clearly had not worked.

A few minutes went by as the other generals and staff officers waited for President Xi to arrive. One of the colonels stuck his head in the doorway, signaling that the President had arrived before he went back to his duties. The others in the room squirmed a bit in their chairs as they waited for Xi. The last forty-eight hours had been a disaster, and they knew the President would not be pleased.

Without any preamble, Foreign Minister Wang walked into the room, quickly followed by several other ministers and then the President. Yang had to admit he didn’t know who half of the other ministers were at this point. Xi had been purging anyone he felt had failed him or the State these past few months. Between his purges and the Allies’ assassination bombings, there had been a lot of turnover in senior-level positions.

Taking his seat at the center of the table, President Xi surveyed the faces of the men before him. After a moment, he settled his gaze on the two men sitting opposite him, General Yang Yin and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

“Gentlemen, you’ve been back from your peace talks with the Americans and their Allies for less than forty-eight hours, and in that timeframe, the Allies have launched a series of new offensives and even now threaten the outskirts of this very city. Account for yourselves!” he demanded. He fixed each of them with a death stare.

Minister Wang fumbled for a few words as he sought to make sure Xi knew he had done everything in his power to convince the Allies that they had to agree to the terms he’d presented. The others at the table remained silent, almost stoic, as they listened to Wang describe how he had presented the facts to the Allies — that if they didn’t agree to Xi’s generous terms to end the war, China would pursue a hundred-year insurgency strategy, ensuring there would never be peace in China.

For his part, Xi seemed utterly unconvinced by Wang’s assurances. Once the foreign minister had run out of steam, Xi nodded and then turned to General Yang.

“What’s your assessment, General? Are future peace talks with the Allies worth it? Will the Allies accept the terms Minister Wang presented?”

Yang thought about his response for a moment. He knew what Xi wanted to hear, but he also knew the truth. He sighed. “Sir, I believe it would be best if I spoke with you in private about my assessment of the meeting.”

This response caught the others in the room by surprise. They were probably aware that General Yang’s assessment of the meeting would be the more realistic one, given his history of candor. After sitting through Minister Wang’s blundering recap, they had expected him to say something.

President Xi smiled. “Clear the room,” he ordered. “Everyone out but General Yang.”

Though no one’s comments were loud enough to trace back to any individual, there was a general murmur that swept over the room. All the ministers gathered their papers and got up as directed, though several of them had very sour expressions. They were obviously unhappy with being excluded.

“The general doesn’t want to deliver the bad news in front of the others. Good, at least he has the sense to keep the truth to himself and those who actually need it.”

Once the room had been cleared, Xi returned his gaze to General Yang. “I’ve always appreciated your forthrightness, General, but in this instance, I find myself grateful for your discretion. If the rest of those fools knew what bad shape we were in, they’d probably be plotting my demise.”

Yang bowed slightly.

“Well, it’s just the two of us left,” said Xi. “I take it the meeting did not go well?”

Yang tried to appear composed, but he knew the end for the PLA was near. He wondered if this was what the German generals had felt like during the last days of World War II, when the Russians were closing in on Berlin.

“No, Mr. President,” he responded. “The Americans would not budge. From their perspective, they are winning. They see no reason to agree to the terms you told Wang to present.”

Xi swore a few times as his temper got the better of him. Once he’d managed to calm himself a bit, he asked, “What parts of the proposal would they agree to?”

“In principle, they agreed to our Greater China territorial claims, with a couple of exceptions. They insisted that Singapore and Thailand be returned to their people and that Formosa be allowed to officially declare its independence. They also insist on us denuclearizing,” he said, adding that last part almost as an afterthought.

“They want us to yield our nuclear weapons? Why would they think we’d ever give them up?” Xi shot back.

“Because we’ll never use them, and because we provided the North Koreans with the missiles that hit them,” Yang countered. Had there been anyone else in the room with them, he never would have said that to Xi.

President Xi snorted. “I don’t know about never using them,” he retorted. “We just haven’t thought up a good enough plan for how to make them count.”

Smiling at the comment, General Yang knew he had gotten Xi to walk into the trap he’d baited. “Sir, I believe I have an idea about how we can use them to our advantage, and perhaps end the war, once and for all.”

Lifting an eyebrow, Xi asked, “How would we do that? And I thought you were dead set against using nuclear weapons.”

“Let’s just say I’ve had a change of heart after my meeting with the Americans,” Yang replied.

Over the following twenty minutes, General Yang walked President Xi through a scenario of how they could use their nuclear weapons on the Allied forces and end the war.

“I must say, General, I’m impressed,” President Xi finally said. “You’re more cunning than I’d given you credit for. How soon do you believe you could put this plan together?”

“I need a couple of days, Mr. President. If I may, I’d like to suggest that we hold a final planning meeting to go over the details of the plan prior to execution. Would you be available to meet again, in, say, three days, with the rest of the CMC?” Yang asked.

Before Xi could respond, Yang added, “I’d like for us to meet at the Summer Palace bunker. We’ve never met there during the war, and it’s a bunker facility I’m confident the Allies are unaware of. I get nervous each time we all gather in this building,” he said, looking up at the ceiling dramatically. “The Allies have already bombed this building a few times. I fear if we hold more CMC meetings in the same place, they will get wise to it and try to bomb this building a little harder.”

Xi also looked up. The building had indeed been bombed its fair share of times. Fortunately, the command bunker and operations center was burrowed deep under the building and had survived a few attempts at its destruction.

He nodded, seeming to accept the suggestion that they’d been tempting fate. “Very well,” Xi responded. “We’ll reconvene the meeting in three days at the Summer Palace facility.” Xi paused for a second, apparently sizing Yang up. “I’m glad you’ve given some more thought to using our nuclear assets. We all know they’re a weapon of last resort, but I fear we are quickly approaching that point.”

With nothing further to say, Xi got up to head back to his own building.

As President Xi and the rest of his entourage left, Yang began to compose a message in his head. He’d need to find a way to draft a message, and soon. His opportunity had just arrived.

“Mr. President, we’ve received the message you’ve been waiting for,” JP announced.

“We’re sure this is for real and not some trap?” asked the President nervously. He still wasn’t completely confident they could trust this Chinese general.

“I have my concerns, Mr. President, but this is the best option we’ve got,” said Secretary Castle. “I’ve met General Yang, and I do get a sense that he knows there are no good options left. Either he helps us end the war in a fashion that still saves some of his country, or he oversees the destruction of his nation.”

The President sat back in his chair for a moment thinking about the plan. If things went according to plan, then General Yang would assume control of the country and move to end the war. “But what if this doesn’t go according to plan?” he wondered. Yang could just as easily use Xi’s assassination to mobilize the country around himself and continue the war.

Looking back at his advisors, the President asked, “If this plan goes south, what’s the alternative? How will we still bring about the end of the war?”

Admiral Meyers leaned forward. “We continue with the current plan, Mr. President. Right now, we have nearly two million US and Allied forces less than 100 kilometers from Beijing, we’ve got another one and a half million Allied forces in the Shanghai region, and nearly that same number in Guangdong Province in the south. By this time next year, we’ll occupy more than fifty percent of the country, and seventy percent of the Chinese population will be under Allied control.”

The admiral paused for a second, letting that sink in. “We have another thing going for us as well, Mr. President. General Yang lived in America for ten years — he studied at one of our most prestigious military academies. He knows our capabilities inside and out, and more importantly, he knows we won’t stop until we win. He’s been given an out, an opportunity to save his country, and I believe he’ll take it.”

Nodding at the logic, the President finally consented. “Order the strike, but make sure you kill Xi. If he or anyone else from that meeting escapes, it could prolong the war.”

With the final order given, the staff went to work on executing what everyone hoped would be the final operation to end the war.

The past few months had been horrendously busy for Colonel Fortney and his partner, Major Daniels. They had been putting the B-21 Raider through its paces over the battlefield. Despite the bomber still being “experimental,” it had been successfully carrying out bombing missions over mainland China for nearly two months. They had tested the bomber’s radar-absorbent material by flying over some of the most heavily contested airspace over China, ensuring their antiradar skin was as good as the manufacturers had advertised.

Other missions had tested the bomber’s ability to carry out precision strikes by guiding ten JDAMs to a target, then increasing that number up to the full capacity of one hundred smaller 500-pound JDAM bombs. In each test, the software, flight instruments, and targeting computers performed as good as or better than the manufacturers had said they would.

The B-21 Raider was proving to be the dream stealth bomber the Air Force had hoped it would become and a solid replacement for the B-1 and B-2 airframes. With the essential tests having been completed, the entire B-21 line of bombers started full production. The second test bomber was immediately flown to Yokota, giving Colonel Fortney command of the only two bombers in the service.

Two days earlier, the first day after the temporary ceasefire had ended, both bombers had flown to the city of Tianjin, 115 kilometers southeast of Beijing, and paid the city a visit. In a single bombing run, they’d released one hundred 2,000-pound laser-guided bombs, smashing the city’s manufacturing plants, port facilities, and two enemy divisions who’d hunkered down in a heavily populated neighborhood. It was a devastating attack by any standard, and it had been carried out by a mere two bombers.

Walking into the briefing room, Pappi could tell this wasn’t going to be an ordinary bombing mission they were sending him on. There were several armed guards at the exits to the room, a handful of folks in black suits, and a few uniforms with stars on their collars. Whatever was up, it was big.

Turning to look at the pilot chairs, Pappi spotted his partner in crime and made his way over to her. Plopping down next to her, he leaned in. “What have you heard?” he whispered.

Double D shook her head. “Nothing yet. I got here ten minutes ago to go over some notes when all of these new faces started arriving and the security forces guys locked the room down.”

Nodding, Pappi opted to just sit back and relax. Whatever was going on involved them and their bomber, and when the powers that be decided to bring them in on it, they’d be there, ready and waiting.

Ten minutes went by as a handful of additional people filtered into the briefing room, way more than what was required or normal for any of their previous raids. They were, after all, a secretive bomber program that no one was fully aware was operational yet.

One of the men who had filtered into the room was a two-star general. As soon as he walked in, he immediately approached the lectern and silenced the room.

“Everyone, take your seats,” he announced. “It’s time to get this meeting going.” All the attendees quickly followed his instructions.

“There are a lot of people in this room, so I’m going to go over some introductions for our two bomber crews,” the general said. “I’m Major General Erik Latrell, from Joint Special Operations Commands. To my right are National Security Advisor Tom McMillan and Ambassador Max Bryant. To my left are Major General Tom Breedlove and Katelyn Mackie from the NSA.” He paused for a moment as the two aircrews nodded. A captain handed everyone a small dossier of the mission along with a nondisclosure agreement and a signature form for the Special Access Program this operation was being classified under.

“What I’m about to brief you on is a highly classified SAP program by the name of Operation Valkyrie. Once you all have signed the NDA and the SAP signature page, there will still be less than fifty people in our entire country who will know about this mission and what it entails. Needless to say, if any of the mission details leak, there are only fifty of you who know about it, so we will find out who you are, and I guarantee you’ll be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Do I make myself clear?” he asked, voice close to a drill instructor’s in intensity.

Once everyone had agreed, and the signatures had been collected, General Lattrell continued. “Roughly ten weeks ago, President Xi carried out a purge of his senior military generals and political advisors. This placed a series of much younger, more innovative and aggressive generals in charge of the country. The new head of the PLA is a general by the name of Yang Yin. What’s unique about Mr. Yang is his family background. His father is the head of a major Chinese electronics manufacturer, and his family lived in America for ten years while he oversaw the American side of their business. During that ten-year period, Yang’s father had his son enrolled in a military preparatory school in America, and upon graduation, his son was accepted into the Citadel as a foreign student.

“During his four years of training at the Citadel, he attended Army basic combat training and advanced infantry training at Fort Benning. The following summer, he attended jump school, and his final summer at the Citadel, he went through the US Army Ranger School. He was offered a commission in the Army following his graduation; however, he declined and instead returned to China with his family. His father arranged for him to join the People’s Liberation Army Ground Forces, and when he arrived home, he was taken under the wing of several benefactors his father had within the PLA. With his American military training and extensive time in the US, he quickly rose through the ranks. As one of the youngest division commanders in the PLA, he was instrumental in changing a number of their tactics and offensive plans prior to the war. Several months before the war started, he was promoted again and made the youngest corps commander in the PLA.

“It was his corps that led the invasion of Southeast Asia and the quick capture of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand and Singapore. He was also the military commander who oversaw the invasion and occupation of Taiwan and the Philippines. He’s a more-than-capable military commander, and frankly, a dangerous one. He’s probably the only reason our forces haven’t captured Beijing yet, or completely overrun the country.”

General Lattrell didn’t pause to take any questions. “While General Yang is China’s most capable military commander, he is also a realist and knows the war is lost. Right now, he’s trying to manage the loss as best he can, but lately, President Xi has become more despondent and desperate to stay in power. It’s that desperation that has Yang most concerned, and it has presented us with a very unique opportunity.

Nodding to Major General Breedlove, he added, “Major General Breedlove here was actually Yang’s roommate at the Citadel. During our peace talks last week, he was able to rekindle that friendship enough to offer Yang an opportunity to bring an end to the war in a way that would not see China destroyed or humiliated on the world stage. Approximately eighteen hours ago, Yang reached out to Breedlove via a secretive method we’d put in place and presented us with an opportunity to end the war.”

Pappi and everyone else in the room sat up a little straighter and leaned forward, waiting to hear the plan.

“General Yang has asked if Xi would arrange a special meeting with the senior civilian leadership to discuss with him and the rest of the CMC generals a long-shot plan to defeat us. Xi agreed, and they’ve arranged for this discussion to take place in forty-two hours at a government command bunker just outside of Beijing.”

At this point, General Latrell signaled for one of the officers to turn off the light switch in the front of the room and start the PowerPoint presentation. As the screen came into focus, they could all see an aerial image of Xiang Shan Park highlighted with a circle on it. The next image showed a small, unimportant-looking building, denoted as the entrance to the underground command center. This command bunker was cleverly hidden at the base of a low-lying mountain range, roughly ten kilometers from the old Qing Dynasty Summer Palace at the western edge of the Beijing city limits.

“We know very little about this command bunker, other than General Yang said it is connected deep inside the mountain. He said the tunnel entrance travels roughly fifty meters to an elevator that takes you another one hundred meters deeper underground. Inside the bunker is a large enough command center for 500 personnel to effectively run the war without going topside for close to a year. Judging by the specifications he’s provided, we suspect this is their equivalent to our Cheyenne Mountain facility.”

Pappi looked at his copilot, and she gave him a look that said she had the same question he did. He didn’t wait to be called upon. “You want us to hit this thing with a nuclear bunker-buster bomb, correct?” he asked.

The room had been quiet before, but when Pappi said the word nuclear, you could have heard a pin drop. Everyone’s eyes went back and forth between him and General Latrell for confirmation.

Latrell nodded. “That’s correct. It’s the only way to ensure we collapse the bunker. You’ll be armed with our newest nuclear weapon, the B61-Mod 12 earth-penetrating bomb. Because of the depth of the bunker, it’s been determined by the bomb experts that we’ll need to hit it with a 50-kiloton yield. Fortunately, because this’ll be a deep underground burst, it’ll have the same effectiveness of us hitting them with a 1.25 megaton ground burst, with the exception that this bomb will leave little in the way of fallout — the explosion will largely stay contained, deep under the mountain.”

A few people whistled at the information. This would be the first time the US, or anyone for that matter, had used a nuclear-tipped bunker-buster bomb.

“I have to ask the question,” Colonel Fortney interjected. “What happens if this doesn’t work? We’ll have just tried to take the President of China and his entire administration out with a nuclear bomb. If we miss…they could launch their own nuclear missiles in retaliation.” Concern was written on his face.

The others looked around nervously as well. No one wanted to see the war go nuclear, not when they were so close to achieving victory through conventional means.

NSA Tom McMillan jumped in. “Colonel, the President has thought about that as well and has determined this is the best course of action. This meeting that we’re going to bomb is a meeting of the Chinese leadership to discuss their use of nuclear weapons against our military forces in China. They’re planning on using nuclear weapons on their own cities and territory to destroy our military. If we don’t decapitate the government now, not only do we risk losing millions of our soldiers, but tens of millions of Chinese civilians will be killed. It’s imperative that this strike succeed. That’s why both of your bombers will be going on this mission.”

Stepping forward now, McMillan added, “Colonel Fortney, your bomber will drop the first bomb. It will be followed by a second bomb less than sixty seconds after the first detonation. If, for whatever reason, your bomber is shot down or you’re unable to release your second bomb, then your partner here will finish the mission.

“This has to succeed, ladies and gentlemen. There’s no room for error. Tens of millions of lives are relying on the success of this plan. If our mission goes according to plan, General Yang will assume control of China within hours of the attack and he’ll move to end the war. This is it, everyone — the mission that will end World War III.”

Pappi nodded. He suddenly felt very much like Atlas, with the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Over the next hour, the mission planners went over the specifics of the flight path, the support aircraft that would be involved, and the backup plans in case the primary bomber got shot down or had an equipment failure.

“Now it’s only a matter of time,” Colonel Fortney thought as they all left the room. All they could do now was wait for the launch order — one that would make history.

The armored Mercedes vehicle made the final turn in the road as it sped toward the nondescript entrance to the command center. This was the location where the end of World War III would be decided. President Xi still couldn’t believe the war had turned so decisively against them. It had started out so strong; their armies had rolled across Mongolia, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Taiwan and the Philippines. They had even sunk several American supercarriers.

“Where did I go wrong…what could I have done differently?” Xi wondered.

Suddenly, the vehicle jerked to a stop. His security detail quickly fanned out, ensuring there were no potential threats before they opened the door to his armored vehicle and ushered him toward the entrance of the underground complex. The cool November air greeted him, along with the smells of fall. As he surveyed the base of the mountain he was about to enter, President Xi observed that the leaves had fully changed colors, and many of them had started to carpet the ground in a beautiful collage. Standing erect, Xi took in a deep breath, wanting to enjoy the air outside before he went underground.

“They’re waiting for us,” one of his guards prompted him. They didn’t like him appearing in public or standing out in the open for very long. They were paranoid that the Allies would somehow spot him and attempt to kill him.

Nodding slightly, Xi followed his security detail. They led him to a small gift shop and café that sat nestled up against the bottom of the mountain. The busy park nearby was frequented by the residents of Beijing, so this café acted as the perfect cover for the intricate command center that lay beneath the natural earthen fortress.

Xi walked in the entrance followed by his detail, and they escorted him down the hallway toward the kitchen in the back. Once there, they moved to a storage room in the back, where a secret entrance was located. There were two other entrances to the facility, but they were both located at other, more prominent and well-known military facilities used for radar and communications. The Chinese had done their best to make sure that the Americans had only known about those official entrances. That way, if a bomb actually did attack them there, it would have little chance of actually penetrating to the depth needed to get at the complex itself.

Once inside the tunnel, the entourage headed down the corridor until they reached a large service elevator. One of the guards entered a randomized code, then placed his hand on a biometric scanner before placing his eye against another biometric device that scanned and compared his iris image with the image on file. Once all of these checks had been completed and verified, the elevator activated and began its journey from the bunker below up to meet them.

A few minutes went by as they waited, then a soft ding sounded, and the door opened. A handful of additional heavily armed soldiers greeted them at the door, startling Xi’s security detail, who pointed their guns at the men.

“We’re just here to verify who you are and that you have authorization to be here,” the soldiers explained. When President Xi’s guards lowered their weapons, the soldiers saw the president. They quickly waved off the standard secondary biometric verifications they normally would have performed on each person entering the elevator.

Xi calmly walked to the center of the spacious elevator, and his security detail and the soldiers filled in the space around him. Xi felt that this was a rather cavernous elevator considering the secretive nature of its location. It wasn’t like this was a major supply elevator — but then again, with few entrances and exits in and out of the facility, he suspected they made heavy use of each to ferry in the massive amount of supplies needed to sustain such an operation.

When the door opened, Xi’s security detail led the way to the central operations room while the soldiers resumed their guard positions at the elevator entrance. Upon entering the operations room, Xi saw a flurry of activity. Soldiers and civilian contractors scurried around the facility, getting it ready to take over operations of the war from the central command center in the bowels of the Ministry of National Defense HQ in the August First Building.

“General Yang isn’t messing around,” thought Xi. He realized the general was planning on the Americans going after China in retaliation for their use of nuclear weapons.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi walked up to him with a broad smile on his face. “Mr. President, it’s good to see you. Come this way.” He gestured for Xi to follow him past the operations center to a large meeting room where many of the CMC generals and other senior cabinet officials were milling about, talking amongst themselves and fixing their tea and food that one of the chefs from the kitchen had just brought in.

Turning to look at Xi, Wang commented, “I’m so glad General Yang has come around to your initial proposal about using our nuclear weapons. I truly believe this is going to turn the war around for us and finally bring the Allies to the negotiating table.”

Laughing before he replied, Xi said, “You mean your proposal to use nuclear weapons, don’t you?”

Wang raised an eyebrow at the reference but smiled as he replied, “I think we all know there isn’t really an alternative if we want to end this war without a complete surrender.”

“Have the Americans broken through our defenses in the Jinzhou District yet? The last report I received before I went to sleep last night was that they were making another large push.”

Wang shook his head. “No, not yet. Believe it or not, they still haven’t made it past the Great Wall. They’ve been somewhat reluctant in blowing new holes through it, so they’ve been largely focused on trying to air-assault forces across it and behind our lines, in hopes of getting us to give up the defensive line.”

Since Xi had liquidated many of his senior staff a few months ago, along with most of the senior generals who had previously been running the Central Military Committee, Minister Wang had taken it upon himself to be as up-to-date as possible on what was happening with the war.

“I wonder if he’s positioning himself to take over if I die,” mused President Xi. China didn’t have a formal line of ascension, and Xi knew that Wang was not particularly fond of General Yang.

As the two of them entered the briefing room, Xi surveyed everyone present. The conversations quickly ended in deference to his presence. Right away, he noticed the absence of one key figure, his Sun Zu — General Yang was not present. Turning to one of Yang’s deputies, he inquired, “Where is General Yang?”

The colonel looked a bit nervous. He had obviously been asked the question a few times by the other men in the room. “I just spoke with General Yang about ten minutes ago. He said he was delayed in leaving the August First Building.”

Xi crinkled his brow at the news; he had hoped to get this briefing going so they could get the ball rolling. It sickened him to think about using nuclear weapons on their home soil, but he couldn’t think of any other way to destroy the Allied armies steamrolling their way across the country.

“Did he say what the delay was or when he’ll be here?”

The deputy nodded. “Yes, Mr. President,” he answered. “There was an Allied bombing raid hitting the capital just prior to your arrival. He wanted to wait until the enemy bombers had left before he ventured out of the bunker to head here. He told me to let you know that he’d be approximately ninety minutes late, but that General Liang could proceed with the brief in his absence. General Yang said it was more important that everyone get secured here in the mountain before we released the weapons.”

“Well I’m glad someone is making sure the military and government are safe before this attack happens,” Xi thought. The Americans would surely come after them.

“OK, then tell General Liang to proceed. We have a lot of information to go over,” Xi said. Then he moved to take his seat and indicated that the others should as well.

“Sorry about the traffic, General. Perhaps we should have taken one of the helicopters,” said Captain Cho, his head of security. Then he chided the driver for letting them get boxed into the traffic gridlock.

“It’s OK, Captain. I called ahead to General Liang, letting him know we’ve been delayed. I would much rather be late to a meeting and stuck in traffic then risk being shot down by an Allied fighter,” he asserted. Everyone instinctively looked up at the ceiling of the armored Mercedes-Benz vehicle.

They had two other vehicles in their little convoy, one in front of them and one behind. Despite having their flashing lights and the occasional siren on, they still found themselves stuck in the tail end of the Beijing morning rush hour.

Of course, the air raid on several military buildings across the city had caused another wave of panic in the metropolis. This was the third such raid on the downtown part of the capital in the last two months. The Allies were clearly tightening the noose on the communist government as the remnants of the Chinese Air Force continued to be hunted down and destroyed.

Sitting in the backseat of the armored luxury sedan, Yang felt nauseous. “What have I done?” he thought.

The urge to vomit became uncontrollable, and Yang lurched forward, grabbing at the door handle. Despite the protests of his security detail, he pushed the door open. He only made it one step out of the vehicle before doubling over and puking all over the pavement. His body retched uncontrollably several times until he had fully emptied his stomach of what little contents it had had.

Captain Cho handed him a handkerchief, which he took. He wiped at the spittle and vomit on his chin. He blew his nose, and then he suddenly felt a tremor. The ground shook like a mini-earthquake. A sudden BOOM broke through the noise of honking horns and angry shouts of commuters stuck on the road. The sharp crack through the air was then replaced with a low, deep rumbling sound before the noise quickly faded.

Before anyone could react to what they had just heard and felt, a second, louder BOOM ripped through the city, nearly knocking them to the ground as the earth beneath them shook violently. As they attempted to steady themselves, a loud rumbling noise grew. A large ominous-looking plume from a blast several kilometers away began to rise into the morning sky.

Yang suddenly felt a pull on his shoulder and a voice shouting at him. He couldn’t quite make out what was being shouted or who was shouting it because everywhere he looked, he saw people pointing and screaming, then running. A fraction of a second later, he was pulled into the back of the sedan.

Captain Cho started yelling at the driver. “I don’t care if you have to ram the cars in front of you — find a way out of this traffic jam! Head back to the August First Building immediately!”

Colonel Rob “Pappi” Fortney slowly began to go through the arming procedure to release their B61 Mod-12 earth-penetrating nuclear bomb. Twenty-seven years in the Air Force had prepared him for the technical aspect of this task. After all, the B-2 stealth bomber was originally designed to penetrate Soviet airspace to deliver a nuclear first strike or counterstrike against the Russians. What all his military training had not prepared him for was the moral argument raging in his mind over what his superiors had ordered him to do.

Having completed the arming process for the first nuclear bomb, Pappi moved to preparing the second bomb. Technically, he could have prepared both bombs at the same time — the targeting computer and onboard weapons system did allow it — but he felt he had a duty to ensure that each bomb was made individually ready. As the flight leader for his two bomber raids, he didn’t want the other crew to be burdened with the responsibility of using a nuclear weapon. No, he and Double D would do their best to bear that burden for them.

Breaking the silence, Double D turned to look at Pappi. “Are we really doing this?” she asked. “Dropping not one but two nuclear bombs on Beijing?”

A brief moment of silence ensued as Pappi thought about his response. It should have been automatic, but he hesitated, which caused him to feel both anger for allowing his emotions and thoughts to override his trained response, and shame that he felt anger for not responding right away. It was a valid question, a moral question. But he also knew the answer, and he accepted and understood the justification for why they were doing what they were doing.

“Yeah, Daniels, we are. We’re going to do our jobs to end this damn war once and for all,” he said.

In that instant, he suddenly felt a surge of adrenaline, of strength, resolve, duty and honor he hadn’t felt a few minutes earlier. “Maybe I just needed to utter the words aloud,” he thought.

For her part, Daniels just nodded in acceptance. “You really think this will end the war?”

“If we’re successful, I think it will. If we fail, well, then I guess we’ll probably be dropping a few more of these bad boys before the war is over.”

“How do you stay so calm on a mission like this?” asked Daniels. “I feel sick to my stomach. I mean, I know we train for these types of missions, but really — when’s the last time a bomber crew dropped a nuclear bomb?”

Pappi chuckled at the question, eliciting a dirty look from his copilot. “I’m sorry. I forgot this is your first airframe you’ve flown in combat. The last time we dropped a nuke was the first day of the Second Korean War, remember?”

“Oh man, I completely forgot about that. Now I feel like an idiot,” she exclaimed. Her cheeks flushed red, and it was obvious she was grateful that only the two of them had heard her question.

“It’s OK, Daniels,” Pappi assured. “I was still recovering at Walter Reed when it happened, but I knew the crews. That was a tough day, but they got through it, just like we will. As to how I stay calm…who says I’m calm? I’m still nervous, Daniels, I’ve just been doing this longer than you.”

The two of them rode a little while longer in silence, the soft hum of the engines and the electronic sounds of the aircraft the only noise present.

“Why did you name our bomber Black Death?” asked Daniels. It seemed like she’d been saving that question up for some time.

“It’s actually pretty simple when you think about it. I named it after the color of our bomber and the fact that wherever we travel, death follows. From the day this bomber was ready to fly, we’ve been test-flying it over enemy skies, dropping bombs. Unlike my previous bomber, this airframe has never known peace. It’s been an instrument of destruction from its very first mission,” he replied.

Before either of them could say anything further, several warning systems began to blare a danger signal.

“I’m showing dozens of enemy radars lighting up across the city,” Daniels said nervously.

“It’s OK. They’re going after the Viper pilots. Let them do their job; they’ll suppress the radars before they become a possible problem for us,” he gently reassured her.

Leading the charge ahead of them were three dozen F-16Vs or Vipers, specially equipped to go after the enemy’s air defense systems. Attacking Beijing was always a risky venture, since it boasted the most layered and integrated air defense system in the world. Following the Vipers were fifty F-35s, which were slated to target dozens of government and defense buildings throughout the city. The large raid prior to their nuclear attack was part of the elaborate ruse that would ensure General Yang would be late in arriving at the Xiang Shan Command Center. It was imperative for him to have a valid reason in being delayed so his cover would hold, and so he wouldn’t be exposed to this elaborate and desperate gamble to end the war.

“Crap, that’s a lot of enemy SAMs,” Daniels commented. They watched their radar screen light up with enemy missiles being firing at the raiding party.

“Yeah, they’re really throwing the kitchen sink at them, aren’t they?” asked Pappi.

They watched as dozens of missiles sped quickly toward the Vipers. It looked like even a few of the F-35s were taking evasive maneuvers. Steadily, they watched as many of the missiles missed their marks. Unfortunately, they also saw more than a handful of the Vipers disappear from the radar screens. Even three of the F-35s went offline, indicating they’d been shot down as well.

“This is turning into a costly raid,” Pappi thought. Nine Allied fighters had been downed so far, and they were only halfway into the raid.

“Five minutes until we’re over the target,” Daniels said, doing her best to stay focused on the mission and not the inordinate number of enemy missiles being fired at the raiding party flying ahead of them.

Pappi started getting the bomber ready to release their deadly cargo. He pressed a few buttons on the weapons system, completing the arming sequence on the nukes as Daniels descended to their optimal drop altitude and speed.

Seeing that they were now ready for weapons release, Pappi said a quick prayer for luck as he depressed the bomb release button on the first bomb. Instantly, the aircraft lifted; dropping 800 pounds of ordnance certainly made a difference. With their first 50-kiloton nuke away, they continued their cruising speed and altitude for another thirty seconds before Pappi released the second bomb.

He quickly closed the outer bomb doors, and once the lights showed green, he gave a quick thumbs-up to Daniels, letting her know to increase their speed and get them out of the area.

“Raider One to Henhouse. Bombs away. Both bombs successfully released. Stand by for detonation,” he radioed in to their headquarters.

This was the first time they had ever broken radio silence during a bombing mission. Normally, they’d carry out their bombing mission and not let anyone know their status until they were out of enemy airspace. In this case, however, their superiors needed to know if they’d made it to the target and released their bombs.

Anxiously they waited, hoping their targets had hit home and were successful. Then again, when dropping a 50-kiloton bomb on a target, they didn’t necessarily need to hit it spot-on like a precision-guided strike. Still, they needed to get the bomb in close enough proximity to the hidden entrance so it would have the best chance of punching through the hundreds of feet of rock before detonating its warhead. Once the first warhead went off, the second would sail right in through the newly created hole before it had a chance to collapse in and would make it further into the core of the mountain before detonating. This would ensure that no matter how deep or reinforced this bunker system was, it would be destroyed, and with it, the leaders of the People’s Republic of China.

Having already turned the bomber back toward home, Pappi and Double D made sure the window curtains were fully closed to block out the blast light. Given this nuclear strike was happening during the day, even though it was underground, there would still be some light leakage, especially from the second detonation.

Suddenly their radar screen went fuzzy for a second and their radio communications cut out before returning, letting them know the first bomb had successfully gone off. Seconds later, their instruments let them know a nuclear flash had just occurred, as once again, their radar and comms blacked out for a second before returning to normal.

Pulling the curtains back, Pappi demanded, “We need to turn the bomber, so we can look back at the city.” He needed to see what had happened with his own eyes. Looking out to the west, he saw a rising plume from the side of a mountain — the kind of plume that only a nuclear bomb could create.

“Man, would you look at that,” he said. “I’ve seen videos of what a nuclear bomb looks like after it’s gone off, but I never thought I’d see one in real life and know that I was responsible for it.”

Daniels fought back her emotions, wiping her face to hide her crying.

Looking at his partner, Pappi replied, “It’s OK to shed a tear, Daniels. I never thought I’d drop a nuclear bomb either. Let’s just hope this was successful and the war will now come to an end.”