Authors: Larry Bond
Red Phoenix
RED
PHOENIX
-------
LARRY
BOND
All Rights Reserved © 1989 by Larry Bond and Patrick Larkin
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher.
Published by Larry Bond and Patrick Larkin
Originally published by Warner Books
Maps designed by Giorgetta Bell McRee
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.
AUTHOR’S 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 computer—all 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. Navy’s 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 Tongduch’on, 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 Christopher’s 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. Army’s Yongsan Base in Seoul, South Korea.
Captain Richard Levi, USN—
Commander of the Spruance-class destroyer USS
O’Brien.
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 president’s 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
—Cho’s 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 People’s 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.
Prologue
Chapter 1 Ignition
Chapter 2 Opening Round
Chapter 3 The Washington Waltz
Chapter 4 In the Shadows
Chapter 5 Night Flyers
Chapter 6 Uncertain Welcome
Chapter 7 Reports
Chapter 8 Intentions
Chapter 9 The Dead Zone
Chapter 10 Revelations
Chapter 11 Signals
Chapter 12 Low Profiles
Chapter 13 Double Cross
Chapter 14 Riposte
Chapter 15 If at First…
Chapter 16 Tremors
Chapter 17 Operation Purify
Chapter 18 Reactions
Chapter 19 The Dragon Stirs
Chapter 20 Decapitation
Chapter 21 Wave One
Chapter 22 Red Phoenix
Chapter 23 First Kill
Chapter 24 Activation
Chapter 25 The Big Picture
Chapter 26 Evasion
Chapter 27 Hard Target
Chapter 28 Evacuation
Chapter 29 Juggernaut
Chapter 30 The Bridge
Chapter 31 Task Force
Chapter 32 Roads South
Chapter 33 Search
Chapter 34 Crossings
Chapter 35 Boiling Point
Chapter 36 Rear Guard
Chapter 37 Technical Difficulties
Chapter 38 Dire Straits
Chapter 39 High Tide
Chapter 40 The Tango Incident
Chapter 41 Thunderbolt
Chapter 42 Decision
Chapter 43 End Game
Glossary