B004V9FYIY EBOK Read online

  The North Korean Air Force was. It flew daily missions along the demarcation line bombing and strafing what it could see. Luckily, the North Korean Air Force didn’t have many operational aircraft, and the ones it had were not that sophisticated. They were stuck with dumb bombs and bullets.

  None of this had any effect on Hufham and Ricks. Both had been ordered to Pusan for the interrogation and a little rest. They drove in their little Jeep and reported to command headquarters. Lee and the young girl went along as well. Lee found out he had been called up and the girl had no where else to go. She latched herself onto Ricks and almost wouldn’t let go. After being checked into a hospital to be treated for the cuts and scratches she endured, she settled into a small center set up for refugees. She slept at the center and walked daily to the barracks where Ricks and Hufham stayed. The girl tried to prepare meals but had to be turned away. It was obvious she didn’t understand what she should do.

  That changed one afternoon as she made her way back to the refugee center. A young ROK soldier approached her as she started to go in the door. When he called out to her, she turned and her face broke out into a huge smile. She ran up to the young man and threw her arms around him. They embraced each other a long time before stepping apart and both going inside.

  Hufham and Ricks were sharing a beer at the NCO club in Pusan when the young girl and the soldier came up to their table. Ricks and Hufham immediately recognized the young girl, but didn’t know the soldier.

  “I am sorry to interrupt, but I wanted to meet you,” the young man said in a shaky voice. He held out his hand. “I am Kuan Jeu. I am Su Lynn’s brother.”

  Hufham’s eyes went wide and he broke out in a grin. “Well good to see you Kuan. We were afraid this young lady was all by herself. Please, have a seat,” he said warmly. Ricks introduced himself and everyone sat down.

  “My sister told me what you did to save her. I am very grateful,” Kuan said.

  “She told you? Ricks asked. “She hasn’t spoken a word since we brought her with us.”

  “My sister is very shy,” Kuan said quietly. “She doesn’t usually say much, but she was eager to tell me what happened and about our parents. I thank you for helping her.”

  “I couldn’t let them do that to her,” said Hufham. “I know we probably should have just walked away. If we had been caught, it wouldn’t have been pretty. But Ricks and I couldn’t let it go. I’m glad she’s okay. Sorry we couldn’t help your folks,” he said sadly.

  “We have been hearing about such things since this started. It does not surprise me. If I had not been in the Army, I might have been home to help them,” he said dejectedly.

  “Don’t think like that. If you had been there, you would be dead like the rest. At least now you two are together,” Hufham said.

  As they talked, Ricks listened and watched the girl. Occasionally, she looked up at him. When she saw him looking at her, she smiled and turned her head away. She is a pretty girl, Ricks thought. He kind of liked how her eyes seemed to dance when she smiled at him. He remembered how she had tried to comfort him in the Jeep. He began to smile.

  Ricks must have been staring because Kuan noticed him looking at her. He glanced at his sister and then at Ricks and smiled. He was about to say something when sirens began to wail across the city. Ricks and Hufham grabbed their guests and practically dragged them to a recently dug shelter next to one of the buildings. Everyone rushed inside and was roughly shoved tightly into the far end of the shelter. Most of the people were soldiers; however, other civilians were in the shelter from the offices nearby. The inside was unlit, except the light from the doorway. Everyone huddled on the ground, scared to death of what might happen.

  Within a minute they began to feel the distant explosions. It came through the ground up through their feet and transmitted to their heads. It was a strange thumping feeling like being on a kind of trampoline when someone else was tapping it with a ball bat. Then the big ones came. They shook everyone to their core, picking them up and bouncing them on the ground. In the middle of it, Ricks felt a set of arms surround him and hold him tight. He felt his own arms surround her trying to protect her from the dangerous world outside. He heard her let out a small whimper. In between the blasts he softly told her, “It’s okay. It will be okay. I’m here.” He kissed her on the cheek.

  He felt her relax a little although she was still clinging to him in fear. In the very dim light he looked at her face. All he could see was an outline, but somehow he could feel her eyes on him. Ricks never had anyone close to him before and never really had a girlfriend. He was just a good ol’ boy from Georgia who liked NASCAR and hunting. He had no idea what possessed him to pull her close. He found his face moving closer to hers. Suddenly the bombs didn’t seem important. Their lips met and they kissed each other as if there would be no tomorrow.

  When they finally parted, the last of the bombs were falling in the distance. He felt her back away, yet her hands felt around until they were in his. That was when Ricks realized how wonderful he felt. Whatever it was, he was happy. He could almost tell she was smiling at him.

  The all clear sounded and people began to leave the shelter. They left, hand-in-hand, to witness the destruction around them. The main administration building was burning and several other buildings were either on fire or piles of rubble. The barracks and NCO club were intact, though glass was broken. The place was a mess.

  “You better get your sister to safety,” Hufham said. “Looks like we’re going to be busy for awhile.”

  Kwan nodded. “I will take her to the refugee center. We have an uncle that lives just west of here. I may take her there,” he said.

  Ricks took his arm. “Let me know where she is. I would like to see her again, if it’s okay,” he said.

  Kwan nodded. His sister already told him she really liked the younger man called Ricks. Kuan spoke to his sister in Korean. Her eyes brightened as she nodded to him. Ricks leaned in and kissed her cheek. “I’ll see her as soon as I can,” he said with a smile.

  People started barking orders and Hufham grabbed Ricks to follow him. Ricks pulled away from Su Lynn and waved good bye.

  Kuan and Su Lynn watched them go and Kuan looked at his sister. “You were right. He is a good man,” he said looking back at the departing men. “And so much younger than the other one,” he grinned. He was rewarded by a smile and hit on his arm. They turned and made their way through the rubble to the Center.

  May 30, Over Kansas

  The flight is really smooth, thought the President as he gazed out the window of his small office. His desk had a telephone that supposedly could let him talk to people anywhere in normal times. Though the décor was a little dated, the functionality was not questioned. The small office served its purpose and would just have to do. Unfortunately the plane was not the Boeing 747 designated SAM 28000. Despite the precautions against EMP designed into the aircraft, several systems were inoperative and the Air Force was taking no chances. The computer-enhanced controls and systems were suspect and placed out of commission. Now the President and his staff were flying in SAM 26000, the venerable Boeing 707 that had served seven presidents. It had been serving as a museum exhibit at the US Air Force Museum in Ohio, but just three days after EMP Day the Air Force mechanics pulled the jet out of the museum and readied it for duty. Most of this entailed taking out the Plexiglas walls and preparing the engines. Most of the equipment was still in place. The radio equipment was lower tech and enough still worked for the aircraft to be serviceable. In two weeks it was flown to Andrews Air Force Base for Presidential use. This flight was the first with the President onboard.

  The President was heading to California to make some speeches and raise money for the war. O’Bannon decided that funds would be raised just like the old days, by selling bonds. A big gathering of celebrities and dignitaries would kick it off in San Francisco. While there, the President would make a few smaller stops in the area before heading to Los Angeles and
San Diego. The back of the airplane, as usual, held the media contingent. This was one event that would be publicized. It had actually been suggested by media executives to help with the drive and divert attention from other things. It amazed the President how much the executives had become a media team for the war effort. They set up their own guidelines and rules – all blessed by the President – and were taking an active part in information deception to keep some information going out while denying an enemy anything vital. So far it worked well.

  Jim Butler stuck his head through the curtain leading into his world. “You settled in, sir?”

  O’Bannon laughed. “As settled as I can get. I could barely get behind this thing,” he said. The friendship and respect between both men had grown immeasurably since EMP Day. It made the work much more bearable.

  “I have everyone settled down and fed. We should get there in about three hours,” he said. Then he handed over a piece of paper. “This just came in.”

  The President read the message:

  FLASH

  //TOP SECRET//

  FM: US EMBASSY, REPUBLIC OF PHILIPPINES

  TO: POTUS

  INFO: SECSTATE

  SECDEF

  CIA WASHINGTON DC

  DIA WASHINGTON DC

  SUBJ: SINKING

  1. AT APPROX 0700 EDT SS ROYAL TRADER SUNK BY SUBMARINE POSITION 35N 130E. 25 DEAD, FIVE SURVIVED. ALL CARGO LOST.

  2. ATTACK COINCIDES WITH BOMBING CAMPAIGN AGAINST PUSAN AND ATTACK ON TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT FROM JAPAN.

  3. INDICATES ALL OUT SEA/AIR CAMPAIGN TO TAKE SOUTH.

  4. ADDITIONAL SUPPLIES AND EQUIPMENT TO LEAVE SUBIC BAY BY 1200 EDT.

  5. REQ ESCORT IF FEASIBLE. WILL ADVISE UPON DEPARTURE.

  6. DUNCAN SENDS.

  BT

  The President threw the paper on the desk. “We knew this might happen,” he said to Butler.

  “Yes, sir, but we can’t say we aren’t prepared for this one. Shall I relay the order?”

  “Commence unrestricted submarine warfare against the North Koreans,” he said sadly. “If it floats, sink it. And tell them to make sure the submarine that sank that ship never gets home.”

  Butler left the space and went to the communications office, which had an encrypted link to the Pentagon. The equipment they were using was British in origin. No matter what, it was the message that was important. Once done, he walked to the forward cabin and picked up the CNO on the way back to the President’s office. After a quick knock he and the CNO entered. “Done,” he said.

  “Have a seat both of you,” the President said with a tired voice. Admiral Johnson had his coat off and took a seat along the outer wall. Butler took one of the benches on the opposite wall. “You got the word, I take it,” the President said.

  “Yes, sir,” Johnson replied. “The Chief of Staff told me. We both thought you might like to know what I planned.”

  The President grinned. “Yes, Admiral, Jim told me you had something up your sleeve, but he wouldn’t tell me what it was.”

  “He is getting pretty devious for a mere captain,” Johnson joked. The three men had been working together for a while and developed a rapport that was very invigorating to say the least. Butler chuckled and the President sat back and grinned. “Actually, Captain Butler and Captain Hammond and I talked about this at length about a week ago. I saw no use in waiting around, so I have forward deployed eight of our Los Angeles and Seawolf class submarines around the coasts of Korea. Four are off each coast with two covering the very bottom end. The last one arrived just this morning and took up station. They were ordered not to take any action unless attacked. Their orders are to gather information on North Korean shipping and naval operations and be ready to go to work on a moment’s notice,” he said. “With the alert code that is going out they will commence operations. Since you ordered unrestricted submarine warfare, those ships will begin aggressively sinking anything with a North Korean flag on it. Their first priority will be those submarines, sir. So I doubt that guy will ever see daylight again,” he said seriously.

  Unrestricted submarine warfare was something never done lightly. It was a cold and often cruel way to hurt an enemy – cutting off supplies and often starving and restricting the population as well. It was a very serious move. “I have also given strict orders that they must be certain of all surface targets. I don’t want some cruise ship blown up by mistake,” he said.

  President O’Bannon nodded. Mistakes had been made before and they just seemed to make things worse for the one who did it. He liked the fact that these men were careful enough to take that into consideration. “That’s a good call. Will eight subs be enough?”

  “More than enough Mister President,” Johnson said. “Today’s submarines with good crews can cover ten times the area of a World War II boat. I wouldn’t be surprised if these skippers don’t already have a track on three quarters of the ships between Guam and Hong Kong. But other nations need to know what we are about to do. That way they can steer clear.”

  “Done,” Butler said, joining the conversation. “Our envoy spoke to the Japanese Prime Minister last night our time. Things should already be rolling their end. Unfortunately with the communications problems, those men will have to figure a lot of this out on their own. We just have to trust them.”

  “Well, if they OK the use of the bases, we can at least put some more assets over there to protect incoming transports. I understand they shot up two air cargo planes bringing in supplies,” Johnson said.

  “Yes,” the President said. “Unfortunately we are not quite ready to move much equipment. Any word on the ships and planes?”

  “Those guys at Davis-Monthan are busting their bum to get aircraft spooled up. There are already two squadrons of F-4s and A-6s online. One of F-14s. I understand the B-52s are coming in pretty fast too. The head guy called up everyone up to the age of 70 to get these things online. The 4s and 14s are already in training. The 6s start day after tomorrow. As for ships, they are actually going faster than we expected. That guy Reardon is a slave driver, but he is sharing what’s going on and how to get things done quicker with every shipyard. I should have the first of the recommissionings sometime next week over in Pearl. They are getting all the old LSTs back online along with the Missouri. In all there will be 14 destroyers, four DDGs, six frigates, seven cruisers, and all the battleships. One good thing. We contracted with Germany to provide us with new comm gear for the ships. They are sending us what they use, including their encryption stuff. That way I can get comms on all our ships in short order. The Italians and Taiwanese are sending over chips and circuits so we can repair our computerized equipment in most of the ships. I cancelled the recommissioning of the Saratoga and Constellation. I will be able to get our mainline carriers back online using the older aircraft. I have also instituted some shipalts to make sure these ships will not go down on us if we are EMP’d again. They will all be able to keep running and make it back to port, even if it takes a lot more people to do it,” he said. The list he had was impressive.

  “You know, I never believed we could actually do things that fast. You and your people have done a great job,” the President said.

  “Just didn’t want to get the boot like the guy before me,” Johnson said. “But you got to give some credit to this guy,” he said pointing to Butler, “and Roger Hammond. Hammond has been working so close with my staff that we feel like we needed to give him a bed in my office.” The men chuckled.

  “He has one in the basement of the White House,” said Butler. “He didn’t have any place to go and didn’t want to be far away from work, so we let him have one of the small apartments down there. The Air Force liaison is down there too. It’s not so bad.”

  “Well, if he wants anything, I’d get it for him. The man is one smart officer. His ideas are right on target and his thinking outside the box is paying off big time,” said Johnson. “If you get tired of him, let me have him. And this one too,” Johnson said pointing to Butler
.

  “You Navy guys – always thinking about yourselves. I finally get a Chief of Staff that people aren’t afraid of and you want to drag him away,” the President said. They all laughed.

  “Actually, I’m really liking this job. How often does a captain get to push around admirals?” Butler smirked.

  “See if that gets you a command at sea,” the Admiral laughed.

  “Well, I tell you gentlemen, after a few changes, I am really happy with the way things are going. These guys started a war and they have no idea what is about to hit them. You guys are helping make that happen,” the President said.

  “That’s our job, sir. Sometimes a few of us need to get our butts kicked to remember it, but it really is our job. We’ll get it done,” Johnson said.

  The men talked a few minutes more before the President met with the Secretary of Commerce on some business issues they would discuss in California. The rest of the flight was enjoyable.

  San Pedro, California

  “Ladies and gentlemen I cannot express the admiration and deep respect you have from all of us in Washington. As you can imagine, we are working very hard to assemble the assets, people, and materials necessary to combat the nation responsible for this outrage. Yet your city took the bull by the horns and started even before we had made our plans. This is exactly the spirit of teamwork and patriotism we need to bring about victory. Your efforts, with your ship, will be a magnificent addition to our fighting forces. I thank each of you for the hard work, sacrifices, and dedication you have made to return this great ship to her nation,” said the President in his speech. “I look forward to seeing her in our Navy again. I know she will serve as she always has served, as a vision of the strength, purpose, and will of the people of the United States. Thank you all, very much,” the President said ending his third and final speech of the day. He waved to the crowd of at least 50,000 people who came to hear him. They looked very happy, and he was sorry he had to leave them, but duty called.