Invasion: China (Invasion America) (Volume 5) (41 page)

The overload proved too much for the Chinese tanker
defenses. Hellfire IIs began to reach the enemy tanks, exploding, but often failing to penetrate the heavy armor. However, the shock had its own effect on the 175mm cannons, and sometimes the enemy crews died from spalling as interior fittings broke off and ricocheted within the compartment, acting like shrapnel.

After the third pass of the wicked little V-10s, the last T-66 tank exploded, and an entire turret and cannon spun off like a Frisbee
, leaving a trail of smoke. One drone waggled its wings before it left.

Stan waved back
at it. Then he assessed the damage to his command. It turned out that the enemy had destroyed seventeen Lees, killing most of the crews inside. Maybe as bad, the rest were almost out of missiles.

Stan
forced back any tears of regret or self-recrimination. This was war, and they had gambled. By sending those heavy tanks, the Chinese showed they were worried. How worried, though, was the question.

“When is the cavalry showing up, sir?” Stan’s driver asked.

“Soon,” Stan said, hoping he was right.

G1
EXPRESSWAY, HEILONGJIANG PROVINCE

Shun Li had never heard of Shakespeare’s play
Macbeth.
Yet she unconsciously rubbed her hands as Lady Macbeth had done. If Shun Li did it to wipe away the innocent blood there, she didn’t recognize the gesture as such.

Even so, as she sat in the back of a Chinese Xiang
SUV, with Fu Tao beside her, she pondered what she considered as an unsolvable problem.

Several days ago, she’d spared a Militia major in charge of tank-trap diggers. Shun Li had known in her heart that if she murdered the major, karma would insure her own bloody death, and that in the near future.

Yet she led a caravan of three East Lightning cargo haulers. Twenty-five enforcers rode behind and before the vehicles. They had orders to kill anyone attempting to halt them.

The complex set of reasons why the six nuclear bombs had failed to show up in Harbin were bewildering in their stupidity. A blown tire in one spot, an empty tank in another, a wrong turn in Bin—
Tong and an Army detour at Son combined with a driver falling asleep at the wheel and crashing into a tree… Shun Li had no doubt many of those responsible for the various mishaps would soon find themselves before a firing squad. Hong would demand justice, but only if the warheads didn’t reach Harbin in time and failed to ignite at the proper moment.

Both sides had
hordes of tac-lasers and particle beam platforms. China also had the strategic ABM sites and their own version of Reflex interceptors. Americans, and Russians by example, had learned the correct lesson from the Red Dragon attack in Oklahoma: have masses of antimissile systems. That made it very difficult for jets, bombers, drones and helicopters to move about the battlefields. It’s why Hong did it this way, with buried nuclear devices.

Shun Li sucked in her breath as he
r Xiang’s tires thumped over the boards of the latest shelled bridge. They were close to Harbin. On the horizon, she could see the tallest skyscrapers.

Her dilemma
concerned the Militia major. Shun Li had loved to read fantasy novels as a teenager. Of particular delight had been the dark stories of Nee Lang. The tale of the emotionless swordsman had been her favorite. A wizard had deposited the soul of the swordsman in a cat. If someone destroyed the little feline, the swordsman would die. Once the swordsman realized this, he hunted the Earth for the cat and then he guarded it with his life until he found a White Wizard to transfer the soul back into his own body.

To Shun Li, the Militia major carried her tainted soul. That made it very simple. If the major died, Shun Li would die hideously. She had saved her life once already by sparing the major. Yet what would happen to her soul if the major perished in a nuclear
holocaust in Harbin caused by Shun Li’s actions here today?

I am doomed
, Shun Li thought wearily.
If I bury the warheads in Harbin as ordered, I die. If I fail to bury them, Chairman Hong will murder me
.

She’d heard no word from her scouts sent up
G1011. Did that mean the Americans had killed them? It was possible. That might meant the Americans were near Harbin, possibly ready to overrun the city.

In the back seat of the Xiang,
Shun Li made a fist, pressing it against her heart. The Chairman had given her direct orders. How could she possibly disobey them?

If I do obey
him, I am dead
.

Deciding then,
Shun Li leaned toward the driver, “Stop the car,” she said.

The East Lighting operative put
his foot on the brakes and began to pull over to the side. They were already off the bridge.

“No!” Shun Li said. “Stop in the middle of the road.”

Someone else might have asked why, but not her East Lightning driver. He knew how to obey.

They stopped.
Soon, from outside, Shun Li heard air brakes hiss as the haulers came to a fast halt behind her.

Her heart hammered in her chest as she stepped outside. The spires of Harbin glistened in the distance. She could not return there with these. She must defy Hong and survive.

What can I possibly say to him?

Her enforcers hurried to her. “Listen to me,” Shun Li
told them. “I have reason to believe the Americans know about our convoy. We must turn around and head to the Lao military base. From there, I will request further instructions from Chairman Hong.”

She waited for one of them to question her orders. None of them did. She marched toward the big haulers. At each one, the driver opened
his or her door. She gave each one the same orders.

Soon, the
convoy had turned around, the nuclear warheads headed away from Harbin and toward the military base.

I am dead
, Shun Li told herself.
It is over for me. Should I kill myself? No. I will wait to see what karma has in store
.

Failing to put the barrel of her gun to her head and pulling the trigger was, perhaps, the most courageous decision she had ever made. She dearly hoped she didn’t have painful reasons to regret it.

Stan rode in his observation helo as the 10th Armored Division headed almost due west along the G1011 Expressway. They had passed Xiangyangxiang and thundered toward Harbin several miles distant. The 10th and V Corps with it were south of the Songhua River, which divided Harbin in two.

Because he was high enough, Stan could see the entire 10th AD, and it was a sight. Three large wedges of massed vehicles moved east to west, throwing up great clouds of dust. The top wedge was 1st Brigade, with three armored and one infantry battalions. 3rd Brigade held the center, with one armored, one armored cavalry and two infantry battalions. At the bottom roared 2nd Brigade, with two armored and one infantry battalions. Divisional artillery followed.

A screen of Chinese infantry attempted to halt them with desultory mortar fire and a thin line of dug-in soldiers. The 10th annihilated them in a classic overrun. None of the brigades deployed, but roared through the shocked Chinese, leaving smoking corpses and crushed mortar tubes behind.

The rest of First Army followed V Corps. At the same time, US Ninth Army came at Harbin from the west while Eighteenth Army stuck from the north.

Stan had his orders from General Taylor. He executed them to perfection. The G1011 circled Harbin in a giant expressway. As his lead elements reached the great loop, they turned sharp south, following the highway. The expressway loop was the marker, the limit First Army would go and no farther, which included 10th Armored Division.

No doubt, confused Chinese observers watched from within Harbin, wondering why the Americans didn’t begin entering the city.

In an hour, 3rd Brigade reached Chengggaozizhen, and stopped. The Chinese tank traps lay west of the G1011 Expressway Loop. Maybe the Chinese would think the traps had foiled the Americans. As Stan took up position, other divisions of V Corps deployed north of his location behind the highway.

We’re showing the Chinese they’re surrounded. Now, will they take the bait?

It would depend on several imponderables. Stan imagined that US High Command was counting on the Chinese desire to save an entire army from annihilation.

A half hour passed. Stan landed, walked around, took a piss and saw one of his aides sprinting to him.

“General, General Higgins!”

Stan already knew what the boy was going to say. In a way, it surprised him. The Chinese knew Mongol history, or they should. Maybe this generation of Chinese was too proud to study barbarian tactics.

Old Genghis Khan had a famous trick. That was to surround an enemy and attack hard from all sides. Then, almost as if in oversight, a lane magically opened in the rear. A chance at life beckoned the defenders. And in more than one battle, Genghis Khan’s foes took the bait, trying to race through the opening and escaping to live another day.

It was easier to kill a fleeing enemy than to fight him face to face. That had been as true with swords and arrows as with machine guns and tanks.

“General Taylor is calling, sir,” the aide said.

Stan ran to the observation helicopter. He put on headphones and grabbed a microphone.

“Higgins?” Taylor asked.

“Yes sir,” Stan said.

“III Corps of Eighteenth Army has entered Harbin,” Taylor said. “They’re meeting almost no resistance.”

“We used a massed frontal attack?”

“I just told you that, General. Yes.”

“I see, sir,” Stan said.

“Do you remember watching videos of the 2001 Desert Storm “Highway of Death” between Kuwait and Iraq?”

“I believe I do,” Stan said.

“Well, major Chinese elements are already fleeing Harbin, heading due south on the G1 Expressway. It looks like the big plan is going to work. I still think your trick on the Songhua River has them freaked out.”

“I’m glad to hear it, sir.”

“Don’t be modest, Higgins. It was a great plan and you pulled it off. Now we’re seeing yet another dividend from it. I want your Cherokees in on the kill.”

“Immediately sir?” Stan asked.

“No. Let’s wait another half hour. We want them all on the road. High Command has decided to let the first enemy elements to break through unscathed.”

“That’s playing dirty, sir.”

“It sure is,” Taylor said. “And you know what?”

“What’s that, sir?”

“It feels great!”

Stan grinned. It did at that. The US 3rd Army Group just might pull a Genghis Khan trick on the Chinese. These were secondary troops in Harbin and panic seemed to have set in. Now, it was time to kill the enemy.

Jake, Chet and Grant walked on the side of the expressway with the rest of the platoon, two days after the massacre.

Harbin rose to the north, a US-captured city, the first provincial capital to fall to the Allies.

Thousands of twisted, wrecked tanks, BMPs, BTRs, trucks, jeeps and SUVs lay where they died, together with tens of thousands of rotting corpses. The stink was unbelievable.

“Somebody ought to clean up the mess,” Chet said.

“Didn’t you hear?” Jake said. “The Eighteenth is gathering Chinese prisoners for the duty.”

“How long until they bury the bodies?” asked Chet.

Jake shrugged. He had no idea. This section of the expressway was the worst. He’d never seen anything like it. In places, trucks, tanks and BMPs had gone off-road. It hadn’t helped them escape from the vengeful Cherokees and the V-10 drones that couldn’t comprehend mercy.

It was simple really. The more Chinese soldiers and vehicles the US and Russians butchered, the less there was to kill the good guys.

US missiles, rockets and chain guns had reaped a harvest by division, by brigade, by battalion and platoon. Miles of this littered the route. It had to be over forty thousand corpses, maybe more.

“The Chinese should have held their ground,” Chet said.

“We would have still beaten them,” Jake said.

“I know, but they would have done better against us that way than dying like fools.”

“Thank God they didn’t stand.”

“For sure,” Chet said. “I’m just saying.”

Grant swore, and head swiveled fast. “What was
that
?”

Jake had heard it too. In the heat of the sun, many of the bodies had already decomposed a lot. Interior gas had ballooned stomachs until they distended. Now, some of them made horrid gurgling sounds.

“That’s worse than your farts, Grant,” Chet said.

Grant gave Chet the finger.

After that, the three of them hurried. So did everyone else who came to this heap of dead.

Two hours later, they left the road. Battalion headed toward the Xinglong Reservoir.

They bedded down in the open under the stars that night. It was a quiet and peaceful. Suddenly, from the direction of the reservoir, a titanic explosion lit the darkness. Soon, a hot blast-furnace wind blew over them.

“Bet we don’t find any generators working there,” Chet said.

The next day proved him right. East Lighting had breached the dam for a distance of one hundred yards.

Jake learned that eight turbo-generators here had a total output of half a million kilowatts. The Chinese secret police had burned them out yesterday by deliberately letting them run at full throttle for too long.

Jake stared at the one hundred yard gap in the dam.

“What are you thinking?” Chet asked.

“Would you blow up a dam and wreck the generators like that if you thought you were going to beat back the invaders any time soon?”

“No,” Chet said.

“This tells us something.”

“What?”

Jake grinned. “The Chinese must not be feeling real confident right now.”

“They shouldn’t. Not after what I saw on the expressway.”

Jake nodded, and he turned away. “Come on, we’re heading out. The lieutenant says we’re getting a ride again. The Army is going to need us soon in Jilin Province.”

“Tally-ho,” Chet said, in a mock British accent he’d been practicing.

The two young soldiers shouldered their packs and headed for the assembly area.