Flash Point by Kenneth Andrus

Author:Kenneth Andrus
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: military, thriller, political, South China Sea, China, Russia, Cold War, espionage, Spratly Islands, WWIII, nuclear war, doomsday, argmgeddon
Publisher: Babylon Books
Published: 2020-09-28T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 25

COMCPACFLT HEADQUARTERS

PEARL HARBOR, HAWAII

07:00 MONDAY 24 MARCH

“Commander, you’re gonna want to see this.”

“Damn, Senior, I just walked into the room. How about, ‘Good morning Commander, how was your weekend?’”

Mackenzie handed over the message folder. “Aye, aye, Commander. Good morning, sir. I hope you had a great weekend. You’re gonna want to see this.”

“I don’t suppose it can wait until I pour my coffee?”

“Afraid not, sir.”

“What do you have that’s so all-fired important?”

“Things are heating up in the Spratlys.”

Rohrbaugh took the folder and dropped into his desk chair. It contained the contact report from the AFP’s Western Military District Commander and the intelligence department’s analysis.

“Appears the Chinese can’t leave well enough alone,” Rohrbaugh commented after reading several paragraphs.

“Makes you wonder what’s wrong with those guys. They’re sure pretty slow on the uptake. You’d have thought they’d gotten the message.”

“You’d think.”

“What bothers me, Skipper, is they keep misjudging. One of these days they’re gonna start something we won’t be able to contain.”

“Taking a pot shot at an OV-10 isn’t such a big deal. Happens all the time—keeps the AFP from snooping around. What doesn’t square up is the Chinese are raising hell. I would’ve thought they’d simply ignore Manila’s protests or have some low-level functionary issue a denial.”

“I’m impressed, Skipper. I didn’t know you were becoming a beltway guy.”

“Hardly, but I am learning to read between the lines.”

“I’ll bite. What’re they saying?”

Rohrbaugh laid the report on his desk. “They didn’t do it.”

“Alright. Then, who did? It’s tough to ignore the photograph of that corvette.”

“The PLAN denies having a patrol boat in the area.”

“Easy enough to say, sir, but we know the Chinese track record. They’ll look you right in the face and lie if it suits them. Sounds to me as if they got caught with their hand in the cookie jar.”

“Mac, let’s think out of the box for a minute. Ever get detention for a fight the other guy started?”

“Yeah, really pissed me off. Especially when my dad found out and gave me a whipping when I got home.”

“See where I’m going with this?”

“You’ve lost me, Skipper.”

“What would the PLAN have to gain by pulling off another dumb stunt like they did with that other fishing boat?”

“Not much. If the Chinese didn’t do it, who did?”

“The Vietnamese.”

“That’s just plain nuts.”

“I’m not so sure. The Vietnamese can’t be pleased that Beijing and Manila have begun exploratory talks on joint seismic surveys. If you were in their seat, what would you do?”

“I’d be looking for a way to stir up trouble.”

“Exactly. And remember, the Vietnamese and PLA navies both have patrol boats based on the design of the Russian Tarantul class corvette.”

“I hadn’t thought about disguising their ship, Skipper. They just might be able to pull that off. Want me to work this with intel? Run a sanity check on your theory?”

“Yeah, that’d be good start.”

“As long as we’re on the subject of stirring the pot, aren’t we looking at basing agreements for Cam Ranh Bay and Da Nang?”

“Yup, Admiral Cortez is scheduled to make a visit to Hanoi in the next week or two to lay the groundwork.

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