China Erupts

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"Mr. President ... Mr. President!"

John Nakagawa awakened slowly, he was groggy and had been in the midst of a very unpleasant dream when he felt the hand shaking his shoulder. He opened his eyes to see his Chief of Staff Bill Aspinall hovering over him, a very concerned look on his face.

"What ..." the President sat up, wondering for a moment where he was, then he remembered.

"What's happening, Bill?"

"Please come with me, Mr. President, it's urgent, no time to explain."

Nakagawa got up and thought to change his clothes, he was still wearing what he'd put on the morning before. But Aspinall said urgent, and his long time aide, and friend, wasn't a man to use that word lightly.

The halls of the West Wing were quiet, nothing outwardly indicated that anything out of the ordinary was going on, then he saw the cluster of men at the end of the corridor which led to the Rose Garden. He saw Aspinall there, he had turned when one of the other men had nudged him and pointed towards Nakagawa. Aspinall hurried towards the President.

"Sir, we need to get you over to the NMCC¹, things are happening fast n China. We believe Premier Liu has been overthrown, or killed, honestly Sir, we don't really know. But satellite imagery shows that the Chinese army is in the streets of Beijing, in force."

"Damn it," was all the President could say as he was hustled out to Marine One.

Liu Jiang was bleeding, again. During the evacuation of the Great Hall of the People, one of her security people had accidentally turned abruptly in Liu's direction, hitting her squarely on the nose. It wasn't broken but now she had an intermittent nosebleed. She pulled out the blood-sodden towel she had been using and pressed it to her face once more.

"Madam Premier, are you alright?" Colonel Kang Yijun asked her.

"Yes, Colonel, if I die tonight, it won't be on account of a nosebleed," she answered with an ironic grin.

The council had been in session, discussing their next moves in the Indian affair, as some were calling it. Liu's opinion was to let India handle their own affairs, China had enough of its own problems at the moment to worry about India. She had just expressed that thought when Colonel Kang had barged into the room.

She had thought to rebuke him but then she heard something outside which chilled her to the bone. The unmistakable sound of a tank passing by, the squeal of the tracks and the rumble of the big engine, signified trouble.

"Quickly Colonel, what is it?"

"General Wong apparently disagrees with your policies, Madame Premier. Those are his tanks outside."

She wanted to spit in frustration, she threw a nasty look at one of the council members, the one who had convinced her to let Wong keep his position. But there was no time for that.

"The council is dismissed, we shall meet in three days at the emergency location. Now, all of you, must leave the city by whatever means you can."

That had been six hours ago, now she and her party were on the outskirts of Beijing, headed towards the city of Zhangjiakou, to the northwest. She saw an army column parked nearby, she looked at Kang.

"Yes, Premier, those are ours. I hope. Wait here."

Kang stepped into the street, signalling with a flashlight.

Liu held her breath.

Kang returned in a few minutes. "A problem has developed, Madam Premier."

Liu nodded, if only things could be simple. "What is it, Colonel?"

"Colonel Yan Min's scouts have reported a roadblock on the way to Zhangjiakou. He is waiting for his armor to report in, they are up the road, towards our destination. Colonel Yan intends to break this roadblock for us."

"Are they Wong's men?" Liu asked.

"Yes, but Yan has the strength to brush them aside."

Liu nodded, "Then let us be about it."

Upon arrival at the Pentagon, LCDR Higgins had spoken with a petty officer. When he saw the President's party land, he hastened to the entrance he knew they would be using. He didn't have a very long wait.

As he stood waiting, Bill Aspinall had come in first, he glanced at Higgins, "Not now, Josh."

Higgins took a step towards Aspinall, "Now Bill, right f**king now. The President needs to know this."

Aspinall looked frustrated, as if things were moving faster than he was prepared for.

"Look Bill, the CNO needs to see the President and he needs to see him now."

President Nakagawa came into the area, surrounded by bodyguards and staffers. Higgins couldn't help but notice that one of the staffers bore an uncanny resemblance to the President. "A body double?" Higgins wondered.

Aspinall stepped into the crowd, had a few words with the President, who nodded, and then they all continued down to the NMCC. Aspinall looked over at Higgins and nodded.

Higgins keyed his radio, "CNO is a go. Meet the President before he gets to the NMCC."

He listened for a moment, then spoke into the mic again, "I'll make sure it's just the President and the CNO."

The door closed behind the President, in the room was Admiral Jack Whalen, the Chief of Naval Operations. He had a file on the table in front of him.

"We've got trouble, Mr. President. The press is ablaze with stories of your 'murder' of twelve members of Congress."

Nakagawa sighed, "I guess our honeymoon with those bastards is over."

Whalen pushed the file towards the President.

"What's this, Jack?"

"It's an overview of Operation Red Sky."

"Which is?"

Whalen then realized that President Nakagawa, having assumed his office without the usual briefings and procedures, had never been briefed on Operation Red Sky.

"Well, Sir. It's our plan to shut down the media and all unnecessary communications for a period of two weeks."

"That's a direct violation of the First Amendment, Admiral."

"Yes Sir, but ..."

"Forget it, Admiral. And that's a direct order. We will find some other way. We must."

When the President left to go to the NMCC, Admiral Whalen sighed. He was rather relieved that the President had said no. He had sworn an oath to the Constitution, now he needed to remind the people who had come up with this scheme that they had sworn the same oath.

He keyed his personal radio, "Matt, I need a car and an escort. We're going to 8th and I."

"Aye, aye, Sir. Armed escort?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so."

Nothing like a platoon of Marines to remind people of their duties. But Whalen also realized that the country wasn't out of the woods yet. There were some who didn't want to play ball. Well, he'd sort them, if he could.

¹ National Military Command Center at the Pentagon.