Chapter 175: Power Is Off...

Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Holland instantly saw through Cha Jiham's plan.

Jiham clearly intended to launch the torpedoes and reduce the Chinese naval base to ruins.

If they did that, every Chinese force stationed around Dalian would immediately converge on the area.

However, carrying out such a plan would require overcoming far too many obstacles.

Deciding to discuss that issue later, he raised another question.

“Director Cha, I'm curious. Why do you want to attack the naval base using Chinese torpedoes?”

“Simply to cover our tracks and prevent anyone from immediately identifying the culprit.”

“There is only one country in the world capable of attacking the Chinese military—the United States.”

“Of course. But without direct evidence, China won't be able to recklessly accuse the United States. And even if they do, we'll answer from a position of strength. The Chinese are already notorious for staging incidents themselves and trying to shift the blame onto others.”

“Let's assume that's true. But a stealth submarine physically cannot launch four torpedoes simultaneously.”

The design of submarines simply did not allow a four-torpedo salvo to be fired at once.

That was exactly why Lieutenant Colonel Holland had brought it up.

Agreeing with him would mean abandoning the idea of reducing the Chinese naval base to ashes.

“I understand that perfectly. But I have complete faith in the professionalism of Delta Force.”

In other words:

Enough talking. Carry out the order.

Lieutenant Colonel Holland could not refuse Cha Jiham's command.

Jiham possessed absolute authority, including the power to execute anyone on the spot for disobedience.

“I'll do everything within my power.”

Lieutenant Colonel Holland answered in a noticeably dejected voice.

Seeing that his spirits had fallen, I decided to restore his confidence.

“We're carrying out a total of six operations in China.”

“That many?”

“First, we eliminate the hacker organization operating here. Second, we destroy the warehouse storing transporter-launcher components. Third, we capture Lee Hyeoksan, the president of Choson Trading. Fourth, we destroy the kamikaze drone factory in Fengcheng.”

I paused for a moment to catch my breath before continuing.

“The fifth and sixth operations will be carried out personally by you, Lieutenant Colonel Holland, so I won't discuss them in front of everyone. The success of the sixth operation will determine the success of everything that follows.”

“I understand. I guarantee there won't be anything left of the Chinese naval base.”

At that moment, Vice Chairman Wei Chen indicated that he wanted to say something.

“Lieutenant Colonel Holland, if possible, sink all four submarines.”

“Is there a particular reason?”

“I heard somewhere that the greatest enemy of a submarine is another submarine.”

Lieutenant Colonel Holland shook his head and continued speaking to Vice Chairman Wei Chen.

“Submarines have one major weakness. They can only search for enemies using sonar. Finding and attacking another submarine in the open ocean is more difficult than finding a single coin on an endless beach.”

“I didn't know that.”

“As a matter of fact, the greatest enemy of a submarine is anti-submarine aircraft. Those aircraft are fast enough to patrol enormous areas of ocean, and submarines have almost no effective way to fight back against them.”

“I see.”

Vice Chairman Wei Chen nodded in understanding.

Then Vice President Neil Cayman spoke up with a worried expression.

“Director Cha, if our stealth submarine turns the Chinese base into rubble, won't the Chinese military launch anti-submarine aircraft to hunt down whoever did it?”

“Of course they will.”

Neil Cayman immediately realized there was something behind that answer.

Cha Jiham replied as though he had been waiting for the question.

“Director Cha, it sounds like you already have a way to evade anti-submarine aircraft. Am I right?”

“Naturally.”

“And how?”

Lieutenant Colonel Holland spoke before Cayman could.

But before answering, I needed to clarify one thing.

“Lieutenant Colonel Holland, what is the maximum submerged endurance of the stealth submarine, and how long would it take to reach our naval base in Pyeongtaek?”

“The maximum submerged endurance is ninety-six hours. Traveling from Dalian to the naval base in Pyeongtaek takes ten hours.”

“Understood. Now I'll explain the submarine's withdrawal route.”

“Please do.”

Unable to hide his impatience, Lieutenant Colonel Holland stared at me, urging me to continue.

“After completing the mission and destroying the Chinese base, head east.”

“East? You mean toward North Korea?”

“Exactly. Sail south while staying alongside North Korea's territorial waters.”

Only then did Lieutenant Colonel Holland fully understand Cha Jiham's plan.

If the Chinese anti-submarine aircraft wanted to continue the pursuit, they would have to violate North Korean territorial waters.

And Pyongyang would almost certainly prevent Chinese aircraft from entering its airspace.

Relations between North Korea and China had deteriorated to their lowest point in recent times.

That would give the submarine enough time to shake off the Chinese aircraft and safely return to the naval base in Pyeongtaek.

“I understand.”

“The stealth submarine carrying Delta Force's Alpha Team and the captured hackers will return to our country along the same route.”

“We'll do exactly that.”

Ignoring Lieutenant Colonel John Thomas's response, I turned to Vice Chairman Wei Chen.

“Leave for Dalian immediately with Delta Force's Bravo Team.”

“Isn't it too dangerous to travel in broad daylight?”

“Once it gets dark, this place will be crawling with police and military personnel.”

“Ah! I completely forgot that Commander Kwak Taesu defected from North Korea.”

“We'll remain in contact twenty-four hours a day. If anything unexpected happens, contact us immediately.”

“Understood. Lieutenant Colonel Holland, shall we depart?”

Rising from his seat, Lieutenant Colonel Holland gave me a crisp military salute.

Naturally, I stood and returned the salute.

After Vice Chairman Wei Chen, Director Pan Kai, and Lieutenant Colonel Holland left the meeting, Chief Secretary Kang Inhan made a flat joke.

“They say the people who've left are more noticeable than the ones who arrived.”

“Haha. Is that so?”

Chuckling lightly, I turned to Lieutenant Colonel Thomas.

“You know what your mission is?”

“I'll work with the National Intelligence Service operatives to destroy the kamikaze drone factory in Fengcheng.”

“Excellent. You're well informed.”

“I'm just curious about one thing. How exactly do you plan to destroy the factory?”

“The NIS operatives will seize two dozen completed kamikaze drones directly from the finished goods warehouse, and then...”

I explained the plan for destroying the factory.

Naturally, Director Lee Menghong supplemented my explanation with the necessary details.

“...Director Lee, show the Delta Force operators how to use those drones.”

“Yes, sir. I'll take care of it.”

“Our reconnaissance satellite will record the destruction of the factory. Vice President Cayman, I need you to make sure that footage spreads across the entire world.”

“I'll handle it.”

“If anyone has questions about the plan, ask them now.”

As if he had been waiting for exactly that moment, Lieutenant Colonel Thomas immediately spoke.

“Director Cha, what if we're detected while learning how to operate the drones?”

Instead of answering, I turned toward Director Lee Menghong.

Immediately understanding what I meant, he answered without hesitation.

“Lieutenant Colonel Thomas, our safe house is deep in the mountains on the outskirts of Fengcheng. Hardly anyone ever goes there.”

“But Fengcheng is deep inland. Won't evacuation become a problem?”

“Our operatives have already prepared escape routes.”

“In that case, I don't see any problems.”

Lieutenant Colonel Thomas asked several more detailed questions.

Together, we used every bit of knowledge we had to eliminate his concerns.

When the questions finally stopped, I gave Director Lee Menghong his orders.

“Director Lee, depart for Fengcheng immediately with Delta Force's Alpha Team.”

Like Holland before him, Lieutenant Colonel Thomas gave me a sharp military salute.

I returned it.

After Director Lee Menghong and Lieutenant Colonel Thomas left, only half the people remained in the conference room.

Since time was running short, I continued the meeting without delay.

“Vice President George Fries, where is Lee Hyeoksan, the president of Choson Trading, at the moment?”

“We've confirmed he's in Frankfurt, Germany.”

“When is he returning to China?”

“He'll arrive in Beijing tomorrow morning and reach Dandong by evening.”

“Can you quietly snatch him?”

“You don't need to worry about that.”

Vice President Fries sounded completely confident, so there was no reason to worry further.

“Haha, excellent. Vice President Cayman, I want two stealth submarines stationed near Politburo member Liu Peiqi's villa.”

“I was just about to arrange that.”

Bzzz—

At that moment, the phone lying on the table vibrated.

I glanced at the screen.

It was CIA Director Eddie Griffin.

After apologizing to everyone present, I answered the call.

“Director Griffin, I'm listening.”

[I heard you ordered Lieutenant Colonel Holland to leave nothing standing at the Chinese naval base.]

“Yes, that's correct.”

[And what are the chances the operation succeeds?]

It was best to leave myself some room.

“I'd estimate the chances at about seventy percent.”

[Thirty percent risk... I'd like to hear exactly what concerns you.]

Director Griffin desperately wanted to see the Chinese naval base wiped off the map.

Naturally, he was most interested in the potential problems.

“Vice Chairman Wei Chen swore he'd obtain Chinese torpedoes, but that won't be easy.”

[Are you saying that if we get Chinese torpedoes, the operation is guaranteed to succeed?]

“Not entirely. There's also the issue of the stealth submarine's torpedo tubes. We plan to modify them here so they can fire a simultaneous salvo before sending the submarine to Dalian.”

[A sensible approach. But what about the withdrawal? Once the torpedoes are launched, the submarine has to get out of there immediately. Is that realistic?]

“The torpedoes have a range of about fifty kilometers. If they're launched from maximum range and the submarine immediately turns around, there shouldn't be any problems.”

In other words, if they could modify the torpedo tubes and obtain Chinese torpedoes, success would be almost guaranteed.

[Strongly urge Vice Chairman Wei to obtain those torpedoes at any cost.]

“I will. Oh, and one more thing. The destruction of the kamikaze drone factory needs to be blamed on the Ukrainian special forces.”

[Don't worry about that. We're already laying the groundwork.]

“Understood. I'll leave it in your hands, Director Griffin.”

[Now let's change the subject. Where the hell is Commander Kwak Taesu hiding?]

I knew he'd ask that.

To maintain the cover story, I had no choice but to lie again.

“I've been asking myself the same question.”

[Director Cha, why don't you call Commander Kwak yourself?]

“I don't have his number.”

[I'll send it to you.]

By now, Commander Kwak Taesu had almost certainly turned off his phone.

If it remained powered on, its location could easily be tracked.

Refusing Griffin's offer now would only arouse unnecessary suspicion, even if making the call was pointless.

The smartest choice was to accept.

“You can send it?”

[Of course. I'll text it to you as soon as we hang up.]

“I'll be waiting.”

[Still, where do you think Commander Kwak wants to flee?]

Although the game had already been decided, it didn't hurt to stroke Director Griffin's ego.

“If I were in Commander Kwak's position, I'd try to obtain political asylum in the United States.”

[And I assume you have reasons for thinking that?]

“There are simply too many North Korean spies in our country.”

[That sounds quite convincing.]

“If I manage to reach him, I'll give him your direct number.”

[I'd be very grateful. I'm sending you his number right now.]

Bzzz—

The moment the call ended, the phone in my hand vibrated briefly.

Director Griffin had sent Commander Kwak Taesu's number.

With Vice Presidents Cayman and Fries watching me closely, I had no choice but to dial it.

["The phone you are calling is powered off..."]