China Falls: MEGALOMANIA, #4

By hugh macnab

Two and a half million troops mass on the Eastern borders of former Societ Nations. NATO beleives they are impregnable. But are they, and how far will Russian President go?

 

Terrorist attacks come fast and furios across Europe and the combined International Security Agencies seem to be unable to prevent them, until one man unlocks the key.

 

Chines agent Yazhu Xiang fails to convince his masters of the threat posed by Zublet. A failure from which the Nation may never recover.

 

Sergeant Dan Weissman and Sammy Greyfox team up to bring down a Chines Gang in San Fransisco. A gang who profit from pimping under age girld, but also from a merciless end-of-life use which is beyond inhumane.

• Language: English
• Publisher: hugh macnab
• Release date: Dec 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9798622683008

hugh macnab

If you need an underground cable pulled in, a cocktail mixed, a Global technology plan developed, or maybe you suffer from one of many Mental Health concerns - I'm your man. Within my career, I have worked with and helped so many people with such varied and interesting backgrounds that this more than compensates for the lack of specific crime, police procedure and political experience when writing my books. Of course I should also mention that I have read thousands of books since the age of four - and am now ancient - so that's a lot of books. Along with my long-term suffering parter, we have five middle-aged children and ten grandchildren between us. For those who have not yet experienced the joy of grandchildren - yes, it is true - you can give them back after their stay! If I am not writing, you may find me on the tennis court when the aches and pains allow, or walking the golf course pretending I know what I'm doing, or putting my partner in trouble with my erratic bidding while playing Bridge. As for my guitars - they look good, although the dust is gathering.

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Copyright

COPYRIGHT © 2020 Hugh Macnab

All rights reserved. This work is entirely fictional and any

similarity to people or places is purely coincidental.

No part of this publication should be reproduced in any form,

or by any means, without explicit permission from the author.

Other titles

Megalomania Series

The Phantom

End of the World

China Falls

Eli Ross Series

Dark Matter

Final Act

Tears of Joy

Sammy Greyfox Series

Russian Brides

Crossing the line

No way back

Head of the Snake

Lost Souls

China Falls

By Hugh Macnab

Copyright © 2020 Hugh Macnab

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 9798622683008

Story so far

President Catherine de Vaux has just been told of the safe recovery of her daughter. Still, her relief is short-lived as not only has Russia occupied three NATO countries, but the New York and NASDAQ Stock Exchanges have just become the latest victims of the deadly fentanyl agent.

How much more trouble can Russian President Zublet cause with two and a half million troops and a supply of weapons, including a multi-headed ballistic missile armed with the deadly fentanyl agent? Will NATO wake up before it is too late?

The Phantom has helped eliminate the Daesh cells responsible for delivering Russian false propaganda from countries throughout the Middle East. He has also alerted the CIA to a pending attack in Manchester, England. Can he do more? Will he do more?

Sean Caffrey has shared the successful capture of Jihadi Ono with the Jordanian Intelligence Agency and provided evidence that Russian President Zublet is behind the Daesh terrorist attacks. Now, at the request of the Secretary of Defense, he is in Moscow attempting to trace and destroy the source of the fentanyl agent. It’s just as well he doesn’t know how many lives depend on his success.

Having solved the Game-of-Thrones case, which led to the deaths of the Kazakova family, Dan Weissman could not track the fentanyl capsules coming into Canada any further than Amsterdam, where the trail ended. Instead, he has turned his attention to tracking down the remaining eight under-aged girls trafficked into the country by the Kazakovas - but can he find them in time?

Day Twenty Two

As Sean Caffrey and his mysterious companion - Mister No-name - watched Marachenko and Lviv Yakovich drive away, Sean said he would like to look around inside the massive warehouse they had been observing. But Mister No-name put a hand on his arm and stopped him.

Sitting back, Sean was about to ask why not when the building across the way exploded in a massive ball of flame. The noise was deafening, and the shock wave hit the car like a sledgehammer, knocking them sideways.

Afterward, with ringing still in his ears, Sean looked towards the building they’d been observing, but it was more or less gone. As the dust settled, Sean could see that two vertical walls remained, but the force of the blast had reduced the rest to twisted steel and rubble.

Turning to Mister No-name, Sean realized immediately that he had known that this explosion would take place - but he didn’t know how.

Instead of explaining, Mister No-name pressed the ignition and pulled out of the car park, saying. ‘I have something you need to see.’

‘But you knew the explosion would happen, didn’t you?’

‘They do this every time they move location. We’ve seen this before. But you have more important things to see.’

Thirty minutes later, Mister No-name pulled up at a double-height Iron gate and showed an identity card to an electronic reader. As the gates swung open, he replaced the identity card in his pocket and drove around the building in front of them to the rear entrance.

Switching off the ignition, he pulled out his cell, called a number, and briefly spoke Russian. When he finished, he climbed out of the car and told Sean to follow.

After showing his identity card one more time, the rear door opened, and the first thing Sean noted was the austerity of the building’s interior. The walls were gray; the floor was gray; the doors were - gray. There were no windows to let in natural sunlight, so the only light came from the sickly pale overhead neons, making the atmosphere cold and unwelcoming.

As Mister No-name led the way, their footsteps echoed as shouts may do under a stone bridge.

At the end of the corridor, Sean was shown into a room that, at first glance, seemed like any other office. There were desks, chairs, computers, whiteboards, filing cabinets - but, as he was to find out, this was no ordinary office. A medium-height and over-weight man strode towards them and grabbed Mister No-name in a bear hug, kissing him on both cheeks, before reaching one massive paw out to Sean and offering a greeting which Sean didn’t understand but from the look on the Russian’s face - it was friendly.

After Sean had shaken his hand, the man pointed the two of them toward a small conference room and moved off in the opposite direction.

With little choice, Sean followed Mister No-name into the conference room and immediately realized the significance of what he saw on charts around the room’s walls.

‘Where the hell have you brought me? And who are you anyway? You’re not from the American Embassy, that’s for sure.’

‘No, Mister Caffrey. You’re quite right. I am not from your Embassy, although if you noticed, I never said I was.’

‘But you knew I had assumed it?’

‘Perhaps. Besides, you have seen the warehouse you came to see, and now you are seeing something much more important. By the way, Colonel Ilvich sends his regards. He would have been here to show you around personally, but unfortunately, he has a few NATO countries to occupy.

‘Ilvich. It would be,’ muttered Sean. ‘So, where are we?’

‘This, Mister Caffrey, is a highly secret organization known to very few people in President Zublet’s administration. We only refer to it as section 9.’

‘And you want me to see what is happening here so I can relate that to our President?’

‘Excellent, Mister Caffrey. If we were to tell her ourselves, apart from the enormous personal risk we would be taking, she would have no reason to believe us.’

‘Okay, I get that. So, what is it you want me to see?’

‘Look around, Mister Caffrey. You tell me?’

As he began to look around, Mister Massive-paw entered the room, carrying a flask of steaming hot coffee, a bottle of Irish whisky, and three mugs.

Sean wandered around the room, studying all the wall charts carefully, astonished at the implications of what he saw. Then, he sat opposite his two hosts.

‘You can’t be serious? Or at least, your President can’t be serious?’ he said.

The look on the faces opposite told him all he needed to know.

‘But this is Genocide!’

‘And you think we do not know this, Mister Caffrey. Do you not think this may be why we risk showing this to you?’

‘We must stop this from happening!’

‘Perhaps working together, we can do that, Mister Caffrey. But perhaps we are already too late.’

‘How do you mean?’

‘They have already weaponized the fentanyl agent in several ways, and they will rebuild the building you have just seen destroyed in other locations. The President’s explicit order was that weapon manufacturing locations should be top secret and never in place for more than a few months before being moved to new locations.’

‘You say the fentanyl agent is being weaponized? Can you tell me more about that? Other than a short brief from our Secretary of Defense, I know very little about this fentanyl agent.’

‘Fair enough, Mister Caffrey. Let me keep it simple for now. The basic agent is a gas derived from fentanyl, which is one hundred percent lethal if inhaled - even if just for a couple of breaths. The weaponizing program has been focussing on four areas. First, small-scale packages which are suitable for attachment to drones. When flown into specific targets and detonated, they can have devastating results.’

‘Second, a range of projectiles for both mortar and artillery used to further push the Russian army to the West into Europe and South-West into Georgia and Azerbaijan.’

‘Third, fentanyl-armed warheads on air-to-land missiles for use further in the South, towards the Middle East.’

‘Finally, you have seen the RS-24 intercontinental missile traveling East. You asked if there was any significance of the red nose cone. Well, I can’t be sure, but I think instead of having twenty independently targetable nuclear warheads, it will have fentanyl warheads. Which, when activated, will cause massive destruction to life, with virtually zero damage to property.’

‘And these weapons are already on their way to their respective destinations?’

‘Yes, Mister Caffrey. You saw them leave.’

‘But this is surely against the International agreements in the Geneva Conventions?’

‘Yes, but these conventions are only relevant if, after a conflict, the winner applies them. Only victors ever pursue war crimes; in this case, President Zublet intends to be the victor.

‘So as long as he wins, it doesn’t matter how?’

‘Exactly.’

‘So the convoy we saw heading West?’

‘Are for further conflicts in Ukraine, Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Georgia and Azerbaijan.’

‘My God. He’s intent on starting World War Three?’

‘Yes, Mister Caffrey. But his worst act will not be in Europe. It will be to the East.’

‘The East?’

‘President Zublet will throw his full force against the European countries but is unwilling to leave the rear door open.’

‘So?’

‘He’s sending the RS-24 to China, Mister Caffrey. He intends to take out China as a potential enemy before they even choose which side to support.’

‘One rocket?’

‘Twenty independent heads, Mister Caffrey. These can do a lot of damage.’

‘Do you know the end destinations for the trucks and the missile?’

‘For the trucks, yes. But not for the missile.’

‘Show me what you know on the map.’

Mister No-name showed two locations on a large map pinned to the wall, both of which were military air bases. The first was in the Belgorod area to the southwest of Moscow and close to the Ukrainian border. The other was outside Novorossiysk on the Black Sea.

‘They already dispatched the weaponized drones to Kaliningrad several days ago, and we believe they’ve already been used to cause significant damage to your Fifth Fleet.’

‘What? But the Fifth Fleet is one of the largest military forces in the World!’

‘Not now, Mister Caffrey. But there’s nothing we can do about that. We need to focus on the trucks we saw moving today. Those heading to Belgorod contain mainly BM-30 mobile-launch rockets altered to distribute the fentanyl agent over wide areas from as far away as ninety kilometers. One salvo of six of these would annihilate vast numbers of hostiles.’

‘Christ, this is insane. He’ll be responsible for thousands of deaths using this.’

‘Yes, Mister Caffrey. But the other trucks are carrying a supply of Fentanyl-tipped Kh-55 cruise missiles to the airbase at Novorossiysk, where six enhanced Tupolev 95MS aircraft are waiting for them. From this base, these aircraft can deliver their payloads as far away as Baghdad or Tel Aviv.’

‘Do we know their targets?’

‘Not yet. But we should soon. But even if we find out, it may be too late to stop using them.’

‘So, we need to destroy them?’

‘Excellent, Mister Caffrey. Yes, we need to destroy them. But first, you need to update your President. She needs to know what you know.’

‘Do you have a secure line?’

‘Strangely enough, Mister Caffrey. Our top secret section 9 do have such a thing,’ replied Mister No-name, sarcastically, before handing him a radio-cell phone.

***

President Catherine de Vaux, Secretary of Defense - Denise Harding, and the acting CIA Director Andy Morrison were in the Oval Office listening on the speaker-phone to Lead Agent Cataldo, who was at the scene of the most recent terrorist attack at the New York Stock Exchange.

‘Madam President, this looks awful down here. Whoever delivered the fentanyl agent this time got right into the building before releasing it. I’m still waiting on the Hazmat team report, but it’s unlikely anyone will have survived. We’re talking of well over a thousand deaths, perhaps quite a few more.’

‘What about the other attack, Agent Cataldo?’ asked the Secretary.

‘We were lucky there, Madam Secretary. One of the Security Guards thought someone was acting suspiciously and challenged him before he could even get into the NASDAQ building. The man ran, but the Security guard caught him and found the red fentanyl capsule when he searched him. We have that on the way to the forensic lab, but there’s every reason to assume it’s the same as we have seen previously.’

‘That’s good news, Agent Cataldo. Please keep us up to date as the Hazmat teams report to you?’

‘Of course, Madam Secretary.’

‘Damn, Denise. I thought by tracking down this Tsvetkov character, we had stopped these attacks. It looks like the information my daughter’s captor gave her was correct. We should plan for more of these attacks across the country.’

‘Yes, Madam President. The problem we have with that is the same one we have with the Fifth Fleet or our military - we still don’t know how to defend ourselves against this fentanyl agent.’

‘I need to speak to the Nato Secretary General, convince him that the Russians are behind all of this, and get him to issue a warning to the new Russian President that if he is responsible for these attacks, they will prosecute him for War crimes.’

‘If I may, Madam President,’ interrupted Andy Morrison. ‘If we have conclusive evidence that President Zublet is responsible, and we have no defense against these attacks, then we have no alternative other than to attack him in whatever way we can.’

‘You mean to issue a strike against Russia, Andy?’

‘Yes, Madam President. And sooner rather than later.’

‘What do you think, Denise?’

‘I think Andy makes a good point, Madam President. We have no effective defense, so it only leaves us with one viable plan. Attack.’

‘Nuclear?’

‘That’s the thing, Madam President. Zublet is being clever and keeping his nuclear options out of the game,’ said Denise.

‘So for us to go nuclear, the World would see us as the worse aggressor?’

‘Yes, they would. And remember that even if we convince the Europeans or NATO, ninety percent of the World’s population would not understand - or even believe us.’

The President nodded her agreement with that. ‘Have you heard from Sean Caffrey yet, Denise?’

‘No, Madam President, and I’m a little worried. I received a call from the US Embassy in Moscow - Caffrey didn’t show after he flew in from Jordan, and I haven’t heard from him.’

‘He seems like a very resourceful man to me, Denise. I would suggest you have other better things to worry about than Sean Caffrey. He’ll be fine.’

After a moment's silence, Andy Morrison took them back to another alternative to the nuclear option. ‘We could fight fire with fire?’

‘What do you mean, Andy?’ asked the President.

‘I mean, we synthesize the fentanyl product and attack selectively with that.’

‘And have ourselves put on trial for War crimes?’ asked the Secretary.

‘Only if we’re caught?’

‘A covert op?’ suggested the President.

‘We’ve done things like this before. Perhaps we could destroy Russia’s fentanyl manufacturing capability while making it seem like an accident?’

‘I understand why you suggest that, Andy. I do. But I cannot support using a chemical agent in violation not only of the International Geneva Conventions but also of our values of Human decency. The possible results of your suggestion would be worse than the atrocities committed in Guantanamo Bay, which I never condoned.’

‘I’m glad you feel so passionately about such things, Madam President. But how much damage will you let Russia do without a response?’

‘I didn’t say I wouldn’t respond, Andy. But I don’t think we should respond with a chemical weapon. We need another solution, and we need it fast.’

‘Perhaps we need a full JCS meeting, Madam President?’

‘Yes, we do, Denise. But Andy, I want you to follow up on how we may eliminate this threat at source - but not with a chemical attack. Find some other way?’

‘Madam President. I’ll make it my number one task.’

With nothing else to discuss, the Secretary and the CIA Director took leave while the President called her daughter in Los Angeles.

‘Elizabeth?’

‘Hi, Mum. Good to hear your voice.’

‘Are you okay? Are you unharmed?’

‘Yes, Mum. I’m fine. I’ve even talked with Chloe and Dad today. They’re all fine, too.’

‘So, do you have time to explain to me how you gave your Secret Service detail the slip in the first place?’ the President asked sternly.

‘It all happened so quickly, Mum. I didn’t have time to think.’

‘So you just rushed off into the arms of a kidnapper?’

‘That’s about right, Mum. Although I have to say, he’s turned out to be a decent guy in a tough situation.’

‘So I hear tell,’ replied the President. ‘Listen, you can tell me all about it later tonight; I have some things I need to take care of here.’

‘Okay, love you, Mum.’

‘Love you too, Sweetheart.’

Hanging up, Catherine allowed herself a few moments to savor talking with her daughter and to reassure herself that all was well again before turning her attention to making another likely ineffective call to the NATO Secretary General.

Not that he wouldn’t listen, nor was it he wouldn’t understand or disagree with anything she said. It was the infuriatingly slow pace at which thirty countries moved that frustrated her. First, he had to inform everyone and convince and encourage them to act. And even then, co-ordinating a concerted effort would be difficult, and as usual, they would expect America to lead. Given President Zublet’s move into three NATO countries, there would at least be fewer countries with which to negotiate.

In normal circumstances, Catherine would have no trouble with America providing the leadership. Still, in this case, with no defensive strategy available, she was not keen to risk American lives in a battle she was as yet unconvinced she could win. If she was unwilling to do so, why would any other countries? Indeed, everyone had the same problem - what to do against a chemical attack of this nature?

***

Yazhu Xiang had watched the building explode from a further distance than Sean Caffrey, yet still felt the effects of the after-shock. He had been observing the building for several days now and seeing trucks arriving; he had also seen two men park in an old gas station yard and start doing the same as himself. Watching and waiting.

He had also seen the two senior Russian Military personnel meet and talk just before the doors had opened on the massive building, and the trucks began pulling out one after another.

He recognized the head of the GRU - Victor Marachenko but did not know the person he was talking with.

After the explosion, he was unsure where to go. The obvious route was East, as that was the direction the mobile launcher had headed, but he was curious about who these two other watchers were opposite him, so he followed them to see what he could find out about them. The mobile launcher was slow; he could easily catch it up later.

Only fifteen minutes later, he watched as the two men parked their car and entered a run-down building less than ten miles away. Realizing he could do nothing for the moment other than wait, he pulled his car over into a concealed area, left the engine running to stave off the cold, and sat back patiently.

Two hours later, the same two men came back out, got into their car, drove out of the building, and turned for the main highway back toward Moscow. Keeping a discrete distance, Xiang sat behind them for an uneventful four-hour journey, which took him to the Ramada Domodedovo Hotel near the airport. One man got out of the car and entered the hotel, while the other drove off. Presumably, the first would fly out of the country the next day, making Xiang wonder about where he might be going and his nationality - something he needed to find out.

So,