Two Peasants and a President (35 page)

The machine gunner paused while a loud speaker announced som
e
thing in Chinese that did not require translation.  Then Captain Davis did something that amazed Zhou.  He pulled out the 9mm pistol that had b
e
longed to the hospital guard, got to his feet and, using a shot out window frame as a rest, carefully aimed it at the machine gunner.

Fifty yards is a long shot for a pistol with a five inch barrel but, using a rest
,
it is well within the capability of a skilled shooter.  More importantly, as far as the captain was concerned, it would send a message to the Chinese navy that the United States Navy would not
ever
surrender without a fight
–
Ever!
!
 

The absurd sight of the tall, grey-haired American aiming a pistol at him startled the machine gunner just long enough for the captain to get off three quick shots.  The first was low and right and ricocheted off the open door of the helicopter, the second startled the gunner as it flew past the his head, buying the captain another second to compensate.  The third tore into the right shoulder of the gunner.  Enraged, he ignored the searing pain and aimed his sight squarely at the chest of American, who would continue to fire until he was cut down.

The captain could see a smile on the face of the machine-gunner as he prepared to end the life of the impudent American, but the second of the next two rounds from the Chinese pistol found the center of his chest just above his body armor.  The machine gunner looked down in disbelief at the hot blood now flowing out of the wound.  In his final act, he pressed the trigger of his
machine gun, but the last thing he heard was not the sound of bullets, but the scream of South Korean jets. 

The two American-made F-16’s were doing more than five hundred knots when they passed in full-afterburner on either side of the helicopter.  The 32,000 pounds of back blast from the big General Electric engines picked up the helicopter like a child’s toy, cart-wheeling into the sea.  Captain Davis ran out on the deck, waving as the jets made another pass, this time to make it clear to the Chinese frigate that it would be well-advised to withdraw.  The frigate’s captain concurred, knowing that his frigate’s armament was no match the F-16’s missiles and cannon.  He radioed his situation and came about. 

Seeing Zhou picking himself up off the deck, apparently unhurt, the captain raced downed the steps to check on the others.  He found them hu
d
dled in the machinery spaces below decks, desperately frightened but unhurt.  When she heard the superstructure disintegrating under the hail of machine gun bullets, Holly had been certain that her grandfather was dead.  Now he was standing before her with an indescribable look on his face, like he’d just sunk the whole damn Chinese navy.  She threw her arms around him and squeezed as hard as she could. 

Suddenly they heard Zhou screaming in the wheelhouse.  The captain told them to get their heads down as he raced back up the
steps
, his exhilar
a
tion melting into fear as he prepared for what he might find there.  Once again, Zhou stood with arm extended, pointing to something off the bow.  But when the captain’s eyes followed Zhou’s arm, what he saw was the most beautiful sight in the world: the USS Hawaii, on the surface not more than fifty yards away.  Captain Sidney Ralston was on its sail holding a meg
a
phone. 

“Captain Davis,” his amplified voice boomed, “I’m sending an infla
t
able to pick up you and Mr. and Mrs. Walker.  We have very little time; there’s a destroyer ten
klicks
from here moving at high speed.  I don’t have to tell you what my sub looks like on its radar right about now.”

The captain rushed into the wheel house and yelled down into the e
n
gine room for everyone to get topside as quickly as possible.  By the time everyone was on the deck, two US sailors holding life jackets were waiting on the deck, nervously glancing over their shoulder in the direction of the a
p
proaching destroyer. 

There were only three life jackets.  When Holly realized what was happening, her expression changed from elation to grim determination.  She stood squarely in front of her grandfather.

“I’m not leaving without Ping!”

Her grandfather looked her squarely in the eye: “If we don’t leave right
now, young lady, we won’t ever leave.  We‘ll send someone back for our friends.”

“I don’t care.  I’m not leaving without Ping.  If it weren’t for her, I’d be in pieces now.”

The Chinese standing on the deck saw the American sailors with only three life jackets.  The fishing boat had its own life preservers, but the me
s
sage was nevertheless clear: the Americans intended to abandon them.  Disappointment etched their faces as they grimly awaited their fate. Without saying another word, the captain grabbed one of the life jackets and started to help Ping into it. 

“You two get those life jackets on,” he said to Holly and Ray, “and help me get Ping into the inflatable.  We don’t have time to argue.” 

The megaphone barked an urgent warning that they were out of time.  With the help of the two sailors, Ping, Holly and Ray were lowered into the inflatable and its small outboard quickly propelled them to the side of the sub.   Before she disappeared through the hatch on its sail, Holly looked
back
at her grandfather.  It had all happened so fast; she’d thought they’d all been saved but suddenly she was saying good bye.  Two minutes later, the sub had slipped beneath the waves. 

There hadn’t been enough time for the sub’s crew to stow the inflatable and knowing it might well end up saving their lives, the captain dove over the side and swam toward it.   It was soon tethered to the stern.  Zhou was checking the controls in the wheelhouse.  The throttle and radio had been shot away, but the steering gear was still intact.  He ordered one crewman below to manually control the engine speed and two more to pass orders down from the bridge.  Captain Davis held the binoculars to his eyes. 

“We’ve got company.” 

54

A ship more
heavily armed as
the one captain Davis had once co
m
manded was now closing at over 30 knots.  Over five hundred feet in length,
the size of a World War I battleship,
the Type 052C destroyer was not unf
a
miliar to the captain, its 48 long-range surface-to-air missiles, 8 anti-ship / land attack cruise missiles, 2 -
30mm close-in weapons systems,
6
torpedo
tubes and 100mm main deck gun made it the pride of the Chinese navy and a dangerous foe of the United States. 

The destroyer was clearly not looking for a fishing boat; that could be dealt with later.  There was no doubt that it had seen the submarine surface and was now tracking it.   By revealing himself, Captain Ralston had placed the USS Hawaii in jeopardy.  The captain knew Sidney Ralston to be a careful man; they had spent considerable time together.  Why had he risked his submarine to rescue three of his countrymen? 

The greater question: is China looking for a war?  The
Dawn Flower
and the USS Hawaii were now, beyond any doubt, in South Korean waters.  Could China possibly be so arrogant that they would sink a United States warship to cover up what had been going o
n in Tianjin Central Hospital #77
.  Or had they moved beyond that?  Was this to be the ultimate demonst
r
ation of their power and the United States’ weakness?  If they did sink the su
b
marine, what would the American president do?  What could he do?

The limits of American power and that of the president would be on display for all the world to see if the destroyer, now clearly visible, fired its weapons.  The United States had reached a point where it needed China more than China needed it.  China’s mighty economy would be hurt but not cri
p
p
led by American tariffs and sanctions.  The American economy, at its weakest point in more than eighty years, had neither the industrial might nor the natural resources at its disposal to survive a long war with China. 

This is not 1941.  The United States is not a relatively cohesive society that could be counted on to pull together to face
a common threat.  The ‘
Melting Pot’ had fractured into competing interests, religions and values  It was now questionable how many Americans actually consi
der themselves Americans first –
or something else.  Would the smart phone generation sacrifice their tablets, video games and flat screen televisions in a national emergency?  Or would the enormous stress of open military conflict with
China propel the United States into chaos rather than victory? 

As Captain Davis watched five hundred feet of enemy destroyer clo
s
ing on the spot where the USS Hawaii had submerged, he realized that what would happen in the next few moments could become one of the most i
m
portant inflection points in modern history. 

Then he noticed something that, at least for the
Dawn Flower,
was a far more immediate threat.  The frigate that had fled when the South Korean F- 16’s appeared was now trailing the destroyer, obviously seeking the prote
c
tion of its formidable anti-aircraft defenses.  No longer fearing air attack, it was free to take care of unfinished business, namely the fishing boat that had made the breakout possible. 

With the radio shot out, there would be no more mayday calls, and the South Korean coast was still little more than a smudge on the horizon.  At less than one third the speed of the frigate, the fugitives’ elderly fishing boat would be overtaken in a matter of minutes. 

The air-slapping sound once again drew the captain’s attention to the Helix antisubmarine helicopter lifting off the stern of the destroyer.  Armed with torpedoes and a modern version of depth charges, it is a formidable sub killer.  But the Hawaii was also a highly capable submarine and if either the Helix or the destroyer loosed weapons at her, the rules of engagement sp
e
cifically authorized her to return fire.  Captain Davis, the only living captain on the planet to have survived such an engagement, felt the same cold chill he experienced that day in the Gulf of Mexico.  Unless there was a stand down, today a ship would die.  He prayed it would not be the USS Hawaii. 

The frigate veered off, the sharp silhouette of its bow clearly showing it was now headed for the
Dawn Flower
.  Zhou’s father spoke to his son in words that by their dark tone needed no translation.  The grandmother began to weep.  The captain put his only fresh m
agazine into the pistol.  H
e told Dr. Min to ask the police officer, who had the only other gun on board, if he was prepared to kill anyone who attempted to board the
Dawn Flower
.  The police officer looked at the captain and nodded, but it was obvious that though he carried a gun, he had never faced one.

The captain then asked Dr. Min to tell everyone other than Zhou and the police officer to go down to the engine room.  The frigate was launching an inflatable.  In it were three sailors and an officer, all carrying Kalashnikovs.   The three men remaining on the bridge concealed themselves as the captain peered though a ragged opening created by the helicopter’s bullets.  Zhou waited until the boarding party was almost alongside the
Dawn Flower
and then spun the wheel, turning the boat’s stern toward the inflatable.  Boarding the stern over the spinning propeller would be both difficult and dangerous, so
the inflatable turned and attempted to come alongside again.

This time, Zhou spun the wheel in the opposite direction, striking the inflatable and nearly spilling the men inside.  Making another attempt, the inflatable held a position parallel to the fishing boat’s rail as a sailor prepared to leap over to the rail and haul himself aboard.
Inside the wheelhouse, the captain prepared to shoot him. 

Suddenly a loud speaker on the frigate broadcast a message that the captain could not understand, but whose urgency was clear.  The sailors in the inflatable looked up in surprise and then, without hesitation, swung the bow of their tiny craft back toward their ship.  Zhou was smiling broadly and pointing his finger at the roof of the wheelhouse.  The captain didn’t unde
r
stand until he heard a distant roar.  He rose and carefully moved out onto the side deck opposite the frigate and looked up just as three flights of FA-18’s roared overhead.  FA-18’s could mean only one thing: a carrier was near
by
.  He wondered briefly if the destroyer would be so arrogant as to attempt to shoot down the American planes; it clearly had the means to do so.  But where there is a carrier, there is a carrier battle group.  It would be an e
n
counter that even this powerful destroyer would not survive.