Overlord (38 page)

Xiang Lei, a newspaper reporter for the Xinhua News Agency, the equivalent of the Associated Press, watched the soldiers dispersing into the crowded streets with trepidation. He took out his cell phone to call his editor about the developing deployment of troops inside the capital. As he connected with his office he heard a click and then nothing. He looked at the phone and tried several buttons again. The battery was fully charged but the face of the instrument had gone dark.

“Damn, now’s not the time for this,” he mumbled. He looked around for a phone kiosk. As he did he saw several other men and women trying their phones and he could tell from their reactions and cursing that they were also having trouble. Suddenly the street lights went out and as he looked up he saw that dark clouds had rolled in. There had been rain earlier in the day, but the skies had cleared just before the sun started to set. Now it looked as if the storm was returning. He cursed his luck again and began to walk.

“Look at that,” he heard several people say as he crossed the wide avenue in front of the National Ballet of China. He saw that the many citizens who had been watching the evening performance, along with some of the dance company, had moved out of the large theater and were pointing to the sky. He again looked up and saw that the clouds had doubled in size and were now moving in a slow, counterclockwise pattern against the increasing winds. His hair was tousled by static electricity, and then he felt the first raindrops.

The crash of thunder sounded and he heard the nervous laughter of the few dance troupe members still braving the rain. The clouds increased in size and speed of motion and then the first lightning strikes burst from the formation. Soon a blaring warning sounded that momentarily drowned out the blast and crash of lightning and thunder from above. The air raid sirens that stood dormant since the Vietnam War began to sound. Lightning again flashed as the newspaper man ran for cover.

He turned as the first frightened screams joined with the cacophony of noise as fist-sized hailstones struck men and women as they also started to run for cover. Two million people had been caught in the open and even the soldiers broke and tried desperately to find shelter.

Blue, yellow, and white lightning lit the early evening as if a million large artillery pieces had gone off at one time. Buildings were struck and several hundred mourners died in an instant as the tentacles of electricity reached for the ground. Like fingers of a terrible octopus they reached out and fried anyone near the strikes.

Xiang Lei had to brave the danger to be an eyewitness to the event happening in the capital. As the air raid sirens sounded he stepped out of the protection of a store awning and looked skyward. His eyes widened when he saw the impossible pattern in the sky. The clouds were moving at an incredible rate of speed in that horrifying circular path. Tendrils of dark cumulus broke free of the high winds, dissipated, and then more, darker and thicker clouds formed to take their place. The center was directly overhead and he accidentally let out a moan of despair when he saw stars inside the clear center of swirling moisture.

The deep sound of bass drums and horns seemed to come from everywhere, enough so that he had to cover his ears at the assault. It reverberated through the capital, drowning out the frightened screams of the populace. Windows shattered and dead streetlights burst and fell into the throng of people. Xiang Lei watched in awe at the amazing spectacle. He was bumped and pushed aside as soldiers broke in earnest from their posts. Missile batteries and gun emplacement crews, along with the crews of armored personnel carriers, ran in abject terror.

With a loud explosion of a million bass drums and a vibration the likes of which the newspaper man had never felt, the first saucer broke into the skies over Beijing. It was soon followed by five more. Then the world was turned upside down as the saucers started firing infused-light weapons at specific targets throughout the city. People panicked as they fled into any building they could. Soldiers tried to fight the rising tide of humanity and return to their batteries after being harangued by their officers, but it was too late.

The skies erupted and the swirling clouds burst apart as the largest object Xiang Lei had ever seen fell from the sky. It looked like it wasn’t under any form of power. It fell like a rock. The giant saucer hit the speed of sound just as it struck the China Central Television building and the International Finance Center. The bulk of the massive ship slammed into and crushed the Natural History museum in the center of the city, pounding it to dust along with the accumulated knowledge of five thousand years of Chinese history. The middle and southern seas, lakes that had stood the turbulent test of time at the heart of the city, burst into mist as the saucer came to rest. Steam exploded from the moisture of the large lakes and the waters evaporated in an instant. Fifty square blocks were crushed. A million and half Chinese citizens were crushed or burned to death in the resulting fires.

Xiang Lei never saw the impact of the saucer as the pressure wave preceding the strike had crushed anyone exposed to the sudden downrush of air. His body had turned into a fine mist, blown away on the winds.

Three of the hundred-foot-diameter saucers broke from the city and made for the deep-water port of Tianjin. The three vehicles were fired upon by coastal batteries, twenty-millimeter rounds bursting against the hulls of the speeding ships. The rounds glanced off the smooth surfaces of the metallic saucers. One by one they smashed into the sea. As ships were capsized and dock workers were swept away and killed by the small tsunami created by the impact of the three invaders, the UFOs sank deep into Bohai Bay.

The three remaining saucers came low to the ground, hovering just above the larger object as it continued to settle into the crushed city center beneath.

A loud crack was felt and heard as the top of the giant saucer exploded outward. Cables the thickness of telephone poles burst from the vehicle. On the tip of each was a pointed arrowhead of an anchor as they pierced the evening with a scream. They rose to an altitude of seven thousand feet. The apparatus resembled a basket as it covered the skies. After reaching their highest arc, and then starting down into the outskirts of Beijing, they slammed into the ground, buildings, and homes, and then buried themselves deeply with an explosion of earth, concrete, steel, and humanity.

A half hour after the fall of the giant saucer into the center of Beijing, twenty of China’s latest generation of fighter jets, the Chengdu J-20, overflew the strike area. What the pilots saw was a glowing mass of lines that covered the entire city. The bluish glow emanated from the tendrils of cable that had been launched from the saucer. The entire city looked as if it had been covered in a large woven basket that glowed blue in the darkening skies of China.

The second assault on the planet had taken place. The nations of the world trembled as the true power of the enemy was demonstrated with extreme violence.

SCHOFIELD BARRACKS

HONOLULU, HAWAII

Jack Collins, Will Mendenhall, and Henri Farbeaux had been met at Hickam Air Force Base and escorted by Humvee to Schofield Barracks. As they passed through the main gate they saw elements of the 25th Infantry Division loading gear onto two-and-a-half-ton trucks. It was Farbeaux who noticed that the busiest area they had seen on their drive through the post was the activity at the main armory. Jack also saw but didn’t comment on the fact that the division was loading up live ordance. He also noticed that they were being escorted by four Humvees with the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team designation on the bumpers of the vehicles. He exchanged looks with Will, who just raised his brows from the front seat.

Before they had offloaded from the C-130 Hercules they had been briefed on the events in India and China. Since they had left the west coast of the United States the world had become a battleground.

The five Humvees drove to the oldest section of Schofield and pulled onto a gravel drive that had seen better days. Jack recognized the area as the oldest barracks still standing in the state of Hawaii. The last men to occupy this area left their souls and their lives in the most horrible places on Earth: Bataan; Corregidor; Luzon. The area had not seen live activity since the end of World War II.

Jack stepped out of the back space of the Humvee and started to reach for his bag and briefcase, but was halted by the staff sergeant who had accompanied them from Hickam.

“Sir, we’ll take responsibility for your gear. You’re needed inside ASAP.”

Jack took his briefcase with a nod of his head and without comment as the occupants of the other four Humvees exited with M-4 automatic weapons. They took up station at the front door of the old wooden structure.

“I think the last time I saw one of these old barracks was at a museum at the site of old Fort Ord in Monterey, California,” Will said as he saw the peeling light green and brown paint that once covered the building.

“Hey, my father graduated basic training from there, Captain, watch it,” Jack chided as they were escorted up the old wooden stairs.

“I think you people love old things so much they obviously felt at home bringing you here.” Henri touched the old wooden railing of the stairs and snatched his hand away when he picked up a splinter. “But then again, rank has its privileges,” he grumbled as he followed the two Americans inside the dimly lit and dusty barracks.

Jack stood for a moment and then removed his sunglasses against the dimness of the old building. His sense of history was alive and well as he saw a worn picture of the World War II pinup girl, Betty Grable, back to the camera, looking over her shoulder, in her famous pose that had excited men since 1944. Her legs—the bottom half of the print—were missing.

The sergeant gestured to three chairs in the center of the once green linoleum. As the three men looked around, the sergeant from the 2nd Stryker Combat Team went from window to window and pulled down the hastily installed blinds. He nodded his head and then left the barracks through the back door. The lighting was yellowish and reminded Will of an old classroom, one that he was not particularly comfortable in. A man in a black suit entered and placed a tray of coffee on a small table. Jack quickly noticed he had the credentials of the FBI hanging from his neck. Without a word the man left and the three were left alone.

Henri walked over and poured himself a cup of black coffee, and then returned to his seat. Will also sat but Jack remained standing. Soon two more FBI agents entered, wheeling in a large stand, and set up a fifty-two-inch monitor they plugged into a long extension cord.

As they left they saw a figure enter the main barracks from the old room in the back that used to be the quarters of the platoon drill instructor. The gentleman was short and stocky with a head of distinguished gray hair. He was wearing a brown suit of good style and an old-fashioned bow tie. His glasses were thick and his beard as gray as his hair.

He walked up and studied Jack for a moment, then nodded his head at Mendenhall and Farbeaux.

“As imposing as I was led to believe,” he said in a thick British accent, placing his hands behind his back and rocking on his heels. He smiled and turned his attention to Jack. “I once knew a man, a rather big gentleman, he had the kind of stature that you have. Oh, he was a bear of a man, blind in one eye and mean as a snake. You remind me of him.”

Jack looked down on the man and didn’t say a word, not knowing if he were friend or foe.

“He had the odd name of Garrison, and the poor sot chose a life of military adventure over the thrills of politics many years ago. I believe he ended up running some sort of boring think tank underneath some desert or other in the States. Does this sound familiar to you, General Collins?”

Jack saw the stern look that replaced the smile for the briefest of moments before the friendly grin returned.

“Sir, I have never heard of such a man, and am not aware of any think tank under any desert, in America or any other country.” Jack remained still, watching the man who had just tested him, for what reason he didn’t know. He chanced a glance back at Will and Henri and saw that they were both stone faced.

“Yes, I believe you are just like this man, this Garrison Lee, General Collins.”

“I’m afraid you have me at a disadvantage, sir.”

“Yes, that’s a position I prefer, but alas I don’t have the luxury of time to play my little games.” He held out a soft hand for Jack to shake. “In my country I am known as Lord Harrison Durnsford, of Her Majesty’s MI6.”

Jack shook his hand and then released the manicured fingers. He gestured to the two men seated behind him as Mendenhall and Farbeaux stood. Henri continued to sip his coffee with his cold blue eyes on the English lord, one of the queen’s spies.

“May I introduce Captain—”

“Newly promoted Captain William Mendenhall.” He shook Will’s hand. “A soldier who has risen through the regular army ranks, which I admire very much.” Lord Durnsford slowly turned to face the Frenchman. “And this is Colonel Henri Farbeaux, a man I am most familiar with, as he has recently been absolved of many, many crimes inside the borders of the Empire. I learned to become a grand admirer of your exploits, Colonel, even though my organization once had a kill order out on you.”

Henri sat his coffee on the vacated chair and stepped forward and to shake the Englishman’s hand. Jack noticed he remained quiet, as a man under scrutiny should.

Lord Durnsford turned his attention back to Jack. “General, we have little time before your rather dangerous flight to the south. I pulled my strings and then even stamped my feet to get this meeting with you before your departure.”

“Well, then, I guess you won out,” Jack said as he sat down in his chair.

The man from MI6 again rocked on his heels and waited for Jack to get comfortable.

“Gentlemen, it is most fitting that our first meeting takes place here. After all, it was at this very post and at the naval base in the harbor that World War II started for the American race, and most fitting that your war begins here also.”