Fire of the Raging Dragon (Pacific Rim Series, Band 2) - Softcover

Brown, Don

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0310330157 ISBN 13: 9780310330158

Verlag: Zondervan, 2012

Inhaltsangabe

In the very near future, China, now the world’s largest industrial producer and consumer of Mideast Oil, passes a law that all new cars manufactured in that nation will be operated on natural gas. Beneath the floor of the South China Sea, around the contested Spratly Islands, billions of gallons of natural gas wait to be mined. But at the center of the Spratlys, the remote but strategic island of Itu Aba is occupied by China’s historic enemy, Taiwan.

When the new, power-hungry Chinese President, Tang Qhichen, orders Chinese Naval forces to attack Taiwanese forces on Itu Aba, U.S. President Douglas Surber responds, ordering the U.S. Seventh Fleet to try and quell a burgeoning naval showdown between the two Chinas.

Aboard the submarine tender U.S.S. Emory S. Land, one of the first ships in the naval war zone, is Ensign Stephanie Surber, a recent Naval Academy graduate who is also the First Daughter of the United States. As the Emory S. Land steams into harm’s way, Ensign Surber’s life is gravely threatened. The President must make a decision. Will he take a stand against evil? Or will he save the life of his daughter?

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Don Brown is the author of Thunder in the Morning Calm, The Malacca Conspiracy, The Navy Justice Series, and The Black Sea Affair, a submarine thriller that predicted the 2008 shooting war between Russia and Georgia. Don served five years in the U.S. Navy as an officer in the Judge Advocate General's (JAG) Corps, which gave him an exceptional vantage point into both the Navy and the inner workings "inside-the-beltway" as an action officer assigned to the Pentagon. He left active duty in 1992 to pursue private practice, but remained on inactive status through 1999, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Commander. He and his family live in North Carolina, where he pursues his passion for penning novels about the Navy. www.donbrownbooks.com Facebook: Don-Brown

 

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Fire of the Raging Dragon

Pacific Rim SeriesBy Don Brown

ZONDERVAN

Copyright © 2012 Don Brown
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-310-33015-8

Chapter One

Near the island of Itu Aba, Spratly Islands South China Sea

five minutes after sunrise twenty-first century

Three porpoises break the surface of the sea in perfect formation, peacefully oblivious to the thundering rotor blades slicing through the morning air just seventy-five feet above.

From the cockpit of the lead chopper, Lieutenant Wang Ju, squadron commander, looked out to his left at the black attack helicopter beside him, its nose dipped down. Hanging from the chopper's underbelly is a fistful of anti-armor rockets, each one powerful enough to take out any target they might find below. Painted on the tail section of its fuselage is a single orange star.

Wang Ju gave his wingman a thumbs-up, then looked to his right, where an identical black chopper, also armed with rockets and displaying a single orange star, flew in a flanking pattern.

There were ten helicopters. They were Z-10 attack helicopters of the PLA Navy, the People's Liberation Army-Navy.

Thundering through clear skies against a five-knot headwind, they flew so close to the surface of the water that their downdraft cut a wide band of ripples across the sea.

Wang Ju glanced down. The porpoises had vanished.

He checked his instrument panel.

Twelve miles to target. Visible contact expected within seconds. He ran through his combat checklist.

Thirty-millimeter cannon. Armed. Check.

HJ-9 anti-tank guided missiles. Armed. Check.

HJ-10 anti-tank missiles. Armed. Check.

TY-90 air-to-air missiles. Armed. Check.

A burnt orange glow lit the cockpit. The edge of the rising sun draped an orange carpet across the rippling wavelets below.

There! Dead ahead! Twelve o'clock!

Itu Aba Island.

The choppers whacked through a wisp of clouds that swept from left to right, blinding their view. Seconds later, they burst through into the sunlit sky on the other side.

The island looked larger now, and the outlines of two buildings came into view. In the distance, at the end of the airstrip in the middle of the island, a green C-130 cargo plane sat on the tarmac.

As the sun climbed higher, its rays illuminated the red flag flapping in the breeze. But the flag was not all red. A dark blue rectangle dominated the upper-left corner, and in the middle of the rectangle was a twelve-point white sun.

The Flag of Rebellion! Anger flushed his body.

"All units. Tiger Leader. On my lead, break left. Assume attack formation."

They had drilled for this maneuver dozens of times over the mainland and dozens more times in flight simulators with footage of the island.

Wang Ju flicked the yoke to his left. Like a flock of geese banking in a perfect "V" formation, the choppers broke out to the east of the island, where they would regroup and launch their attack from the blinding glare of the rising sun, making them harder targets for any sentries posted on the beach with machine guns or handheld missiles.

"Tiger Leader to all units. Arm missiles and report."

"Tiger Two. Missiles armed."

"Tiger Three. Missiles armed."

"Tiger Four ..."

Three miles to the east of Itu Aba, at one thousand feet over the water, they resumed attack formation.

"All units. Follow me." Wang Ju pushed down on his yoke. The lead chopper started back toward the island. "Lock on targets. Report."

"Tiger Two ... target locked ... Tiger Three ... target locked ..."

"Stand by to fire. On my mark."

Ju checked his airspeed indicator.

Speed, 125 knots. Target ... 3 miles downrange ... 2.75 miles ... 2.5 miles.

He gripped the missile-release button. "Stand by. On my mark ..."

Target ... 2.25 miles ... 2.0 miles.

"Fire missiles!"

The Z-10 jumped, then settled onto an air cushion. Below the chopper, a single rocket dropped through the air, ignited, and streaked away, trailing a white stream of smoke. Nine other choppers released weapons. Ten white streaks, like streamers dropping from a Shanghai convention hall at New Year's, raced through the sky in a deadly convergence on Itu Aba.

Wang Ju increased airspeed to 130 knots and watched the missiles close on their targets. A fiery explosion in the middle of the island sent angry flames spiraling a hundred feet skyward. A second explosion sent more flames skyward, although not quite as high as the first. When the third explosion erupted, thick black smoke billowed up, rising from bright-hot flames leaping into the morning sky.

"Reduce airspeed to twenty knots," Wang Ju ordered. "Arm machine guns. Descend to 500 feet. Proceed with caution."

He yanked back on the yoke, slowing the helicopter a half mile from the beach. "Go to hover position."

Like gigantic buzzing dragonflies, the ten choppers hovered five hundred feet above the island, viewing the product of their destructive handiwork. Four separate infernos spewing thick black smoke raged below — one from each building at the airstrip, the third from the flaming mass that a moment ago had been a C-130 transport plane, and the fourth from the fuel depot.

Wang Ju flipped on the helicopter's external video cameras to record the event for posterity. As he watched the video monitor's display of the island ablaze in a fiery display of flame and smoke, it hit him. He was witnessing one of the greatest historical moments in the history of the People's Republic of China!

Historians would hail this moment as the dawn of the full and final reunification of the two Chinas under Communist rule! And at center stage of the story would be the squadron leader! Lieutenant Wang Ju! Billions of children in Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, and, yes, even Taipei, would forever remember his name! Many would worship him as a hero!

The Hero's Medal would soon dangle from his neck. And if not the Hero's Medal, then the Meritorious Ser vice Medal! Perhaps the medal would be awarded by President Tang himself! Ju had always wanted to meet the charismatic and bold new president of the People's Republic. Perhaps this would be his chance!

"Proceed cautiously. Move in for closer observation," Wang Ju said as he forced his mind back to the mission. "Watch for small arms on the ground. Eliminate all potential threats."

He tapped the yoke. The air armada inched forward, hovering over the breaking waves as they headed toward the airspace over the beach.

A figure ran from a burning building.

Suddenly, several figures popped up from behind the sand dunes just beyond the beach. They were carrying rifles and ran away from the approaching choppers toward the burning C-130.

Fools! he thought. What did they hope to accomplish by running? Even if they reached the other side of the island, they would have to swim two hundred miles to the Vietnamese coastline.

As Wang Ju watched the men scamper away from the beach, the one on the far left stopped running and turned around.

Wang Ju squinted his eyes. What was the man doing? He looked down through binoculars and saw the man aim his rifle at the choppers! Wang Ju pulled the trigger on the 30-millimeter cannon. Machine-gun fire cracked the air as a string of flashing tracer bullets shot to the ground. A sand cloud rose around the running men, blocking visibility. When the sand cloud cleared, six bodies were strewn in a zigzag pattern, their rifles scattered around them like harmless toothpicks.

Nothing moved. He waited. Finally, moving slowly, other figures began heading for the beach, their arms up, palms...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Zondervan
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2012
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0310330157
• ISBN 13: 9780310330158
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 384
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: WordUnited GmbH; distribution@wordunited.com; ; Theodorstrasse 105; DUSSELDORF; 40472; Deutschland