Larry Bond - Red Phoenix

Dedicated to our parents,
Margaret and Harris Bond and Marilyn and Don Larkin, for their encouragement, patience, and most of all, for their love.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We would like to thank John Austin, Jim Baker, Sam Baker, Russ and Jano Blanchard, Jay Borland, Chris Carlson, Jackie Conlon, Dwinn Craig, Tom Fagedes, John Goetke, Jim De Goey, John Gresham, Jason Hunter, Louis Lambros, Daphne Marselas, Frances Mills, Gary Mo Morgan, Alan Morris, Bill Paley, Penny Peak, Tim Peckinpaugh, Jeff Pluhar, Pat Slocomb, Thomas T. Thomas, Chris Williams, Paula Bessex and Joy Schumack of the Solano County Bookmobile Service, the staff at Fighter Weapons Review, Digital Illusions and their game Falcon, and the 68th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Moody AFB.

All of them made the book better.

AUTHORS NOTE

They say collaboration is the hardest form of writing. Trying to get two people to agree on everything for the year it takes to produce a manuscript should be next to impossible. Happily, it is not only possible, but fun.

Patrick Larkin and I wrote this book together, working side by side over the phone and by computerall despite being physically separated by 2,500 miles. He not only produced his share of the story but offered counsel and advice in my portions as well.

Together, Pat and I pulled this book forward from the faint glimmerings of a rough idea and a possible plot, and I cannot conceive of tackling this work without him. It is his book as much as mine, and he deserves at least as much credit.

Korean cosmology assigns a separate season and divinity to each of the four cardinal points of the compass:

The East is associated with Spring and the Azure Dragon,

The North with Winter and the Divine Warriors,

The West with Autumn and the White Tiger,

And the South with Summer and the Red Phoenix.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

AMERICANS:

Paul Bannerman The U.S. secretary of state.

Congressman Ben Barnes Democrat of Michigan, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Trade.

Admiral Thomas Aldrige Brown Commander of Task Force 71, the U.S. Navys senior officer in the Korean theater.

Captain Marc Chadwick A U.S. Army intelligence officer stationed in South Korea.

Captain Tony Saint Christopher An Air Force F-16 pilot assigned to the 35th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 8th Tactical Fighter Wing, based at Kunsan, South Korea.

Major Colin Donaldson Executive officer, 1st Battalion of the 39th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. Stationed at Camp Howze, near Tongduchon, South Korea.

Dr. Blake Fowler A staffer on the National Security Council, Washington, D.C.

First Lieutenant John Hooter Gresham An Air Force pilot assigned to the 35th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 8th Tactical Fighter Wing, based at Kunsan, South Korea. He is Captain Tony Christophers wingman.

Captain Doug Hansen Military aide to General McLaren.

Captain J.F. Hutchins Administrative assistant to 2nd Division civil affairs officer, assigned to command of a provisional infantry company.

Anne Larson An Army civilian employee and computer expert working as supervisor of the logistics programming section at the U.S. Armys Yongsan Base in Seoul, South Korea.

Captain Richard Levi, USN Commander of the Spruance-class destroyer USS OBrien.

Second Lieutenant Kevin Little An ROTC graduate assigned to South Korea. Platoon leader of 2nd Platoon, A Company, 1st Infantry Battalion of the 39th Infantry Regiment.

General John Duncan McLaren Commander Combined Forces, Korea. Commands all U.S. and South Korean forces.

Captain Matuchek Commanding officer, A Company, 1st Battalion of the 39th Infantry Regiment.

Jeremy Mitchell Administrative assistant to Congressman Ben Barnes.

Corporal Jaime Montoya Radioman assigned to the provisional company commanded by Second Lieutenant Kevin Little.

Sergeant Harry Pierce Platoon sergeant, 2nd Platoon, A Company, 1st Battalion of the 39th Infantry Regiment.

George Putnam The presidents national security adviser.

Admiral Philip Simpson Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.

SOUTH KOREANS:

General Chang Jae-Kyu A South Korean Army officer commanding the 4th Infantry Division.

Major Chon Sang-Du An A-10 pilot in the South Korean Air Force.

Captain Lee A South Korean combat engineering officer.

General Park Chairman of the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Second Lieutenant Rhee Han-Gil A South Korean Army officer assigned as liaison officer to 2nd Platoon, A Company,1st Battalion of the 39th Infantry Regiment.

NORTH KOREANS:

Captain Chae Ku-Ho 1st Company, II Battalion, 91st Infantry Regiment.

Lieutenant General Cho Hyun-Jae Originally assigned as commander of the North Korean II Corps, later promoted to Colonel Generaland command of the First Shock Army.

Senior Captain Chun Chae-Yun The captain of DPRK Great Leader, a North Korean Kilo-class diesel submarine.

Major General Chyong Dal-Joong Chos deputy commander, later promoted to Lieutenant General and command of the II Corps.

Lieutenant Sohn Platoon Leader, Assault Group 2, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment.

Kim Il-Sung General Secretary of the Korean Workers Party, President of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, commander in chief of the armed forces. Called the Great Leader, Kim Il-Sung is the aging and infirm absolute ruler of North Korea.

Kim Jong-Il Called the Dear Leader, Kim Jong-Il is the son and heir apparent to Kim Il-Sung, the Great Leader.

RUSSIANS:

Colonel Sergei Ivanovitch Borodin A Soviet MiG-29 pilot heading up a training team in North Korea.

Captain Nikolai Mikhailovitch Markov Captain of the Soviet Tango-class submarine Konstantin Dribinov.

Andrei Ivanovich Rychagov Member of the Soviet Politburo and defense minister.

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PROLOGUE

AUGUST 19SOUTH OF THE DMZ NEAR HAKKOK, SOUTH KOREA

They found the North Korean tunnel shortly before dawn.

The two menone an American intelligence officer, the other a South Korean combat engineerstood regarding a three-inch-wide borehole as they might an ancient oracle, one that had given them good news.

Captain Marc Chadwick knelt and ran his fingertips around the edge of hole Five-A, feeling the damp, smooth rock. Look at that pattern. Almost circular. Were right over the bastards.

His Korean counterpart, Captain Lee, nodded. Almost certainly. Five-B and Five-D also indicate this location.

Both men smiled, feeling the excitement of a long hunt now nearing the kill.