Chapter Thirty-Seven: Desperate Flight

  Independence Day has just passed for two days, and Jaber's mood has returned from the tropics to Antarctica.

  In a public opinion poll released yesterday, Jia Pei's support rate dropped to 27%, and the Democratic Party's support rate dropped to 32%. The hawkish faction of the Democratic Party led by Miles publicly demanded that Jia Pei quickly pass the Economic Assistance Act passed in Congress last week to boost the Democratic Party's support rate, improve its image, and win more votes for the midterm elections.

  Miles leads the rebellion, indicating that the Democratic Party is abandoning Japel.

  Facing a "credibility crisis" from both within and outside the party, even if Gepel doesn't care about his future career, he should at least care about his reputation. With two years left in his term, he doesn't want to become the first president after Nixon to be impeached.

  The "trust crisis" from abroad made Jia Pei feel even more uneasy.

  Indian aircraft carrier was sunk, and it turned out to be related to the United States!

  Before receiving Santos' phone call, Jaber only knew that the Indian aircraft carrier had been attacked by an unidentified submarine, but did not know that there was a US submarine operating near the Indian aircraft carrier battle group and was also attacked by Indian anti-submarine warfare ships.

  It wasn't until 3am Eastern Time on the sixth, about twelve hours after the Indian aircraft carrier was attacked, that Jaipal received word from National Security Adviser Erik. The "New Hampshire" left the Bay of Bengal and followed the trail of the mysterious submarine to the Strait of Malacca.

  Of course, things aren't that simple.

  Before being attacked by Indian anti-submarine warfare ships, the "New Hampshire" discovered an unidentified submarine, heard the sound of opening torpedo tubes and launching torpedoes, and fired a non-disarmed warhead torpedo at it, forcing it to surface or speed up and make more noise. Unfortunately, when the mysterious submarine accelerated to avoid the torpedo, the "New Hampshire" was subjected to a dense attack by depth charges, failed to record the characteristic noise of the mysterious submarine, and was almost sunk by the Indian Navy after its photonic periscope was blown off.

  "Is there any evidence to prove that it was not 'New Hampshire' which attacked Indian aircraft carrier?"

  "'New Hampshire' has recorded the sound of that submarine launching a torpedo, and that's the most conclusive evidence." Eric replied with certainty.

  "Get in touch with Diego Garcia base immediately and get the first-hand information." Jabbar rubbed his forehead, "I will contact Santos directly, we must let India know that we have nothing to do with the sinking of Indian aircraft carrier."

  Erik nodded and came to report this matter, hoping to resolve the conflict with India as soon as possible.

  "Also, who gave the order to attack a foreign submarine with torpedoes?"

  "Ah..." Eric hesitated for a moment before saying, "It's Secretary of Defense Gates."

  "Gaetz?" Jabel's face changed immediately, "Doesn't he know this is an act of war?"

  "Gates just wanted to figure out who had sunk the "Killer". At that time, it was only possible to force the submarine to accelerate and make a noise that could be recorded by firing torpedoes."

  "Preposterous, absolutely preposterous!" Jabel was furious. Any act of war required the President's authorization; the Secretary of Defense had no authority to order a submarine to open fire.

  "In any case, our goal has been achieved."

  "What does it mean?" Jaber controlled his emotions, now needing to solve problems, not create them.

  Erik hesitated for a moment before saying, "Wesley knows more about this than I do."

  "Deputy Director of CIA Intelligence?"

  Erik nodded. "I also learned about it from him."

  Jaber didn't hesitate and immediately picked up the phone, instructing his secretary: "Get in touch with the Marines right away and have them send a helicopter to pick up Wesley."

  Half an hour later, Wesley arrived at the White House aboard Marine One.

  Facing the president, this intelligence officer who had "served" several presidents did not show any signs of nervousness.

  "We analyzed the events before and after the sinking of the 'Killer'." Wesley was very professional, introducing the situation as objectively as possible. "At that time, it is highly likely that the submarine attacking the 'Killer' launched a torpedo from 20 kilometers or even farther away using an extremely quiet electric torpedo. After succeeding, the submarine sped south at full speed and left the anti-submarine patrol aircraft's key search area. According to the arrival time of the anti-submarine patrol aircraft and analysis of its search path, the submarine's withdrawal speed was close to thirty knots, at least not less than twenty-four knots. From this, it can be concluded that the submarine was not a conventional submarine, nor was it a submarine from the Pakistani Navy."

  "Why?" Jaber wanted to know more clearly.

  "Because all conventional submarines in the world have an underwater maximum speed of around twenty knots, and can travel at maximum speed for only two to four hours."

  Jabari nodded slightly, indicating for Wesley to continue.

  "Starting from the motive, China is the most suspicious. However, at the time of the incident, all of China's attack nuclear submarines were in the western Pacific and could not have attacked the 'Nimitz'."

  "Wesley, what exactly do you want to say?"

  "Combining these two situations, we can draw a conclusion." Wesley still had an unhurried expression. "It's not a conventional submarine, nor is it China's attack nuclear submarine, with a maximum underwater speed of nearly thirty knots, from which it can be determined that this is an all-electric submarine."

  "An all-electric submarine?" Jaber furrowed his brow.

  "A submarine powered by batteries and propelled by an electric motor."

  "I understand this, but what's the point?" Jaber didn't want to get tangled up in technical issues.

  Pausing for a moment, Wesley said, "There is only one country in the world that has the capability to build an all-electric submarine that doesn't use nuclear reactors or diesel engines and performs as well as, if not better than, a nuclear-powered submarine."

  "Are you talking about China?" Eric asked immediately.

  Jia Pei'er was suddenly startled and immediately understood. China is the only country in the world that can produce composite batteries and superconducting motors. "In other words, China's suspicion is the greatest?"

  Wesley nodded again. "Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth."

  "How formidable is China's all-electric submarine?" Eric asked a question that interested him most.

  "This...," Wesley hesitated for a moment, "let's put it this way: if China has fourteen submarines like this, all of our strategic nuclear-powered submarines will become ornaments. If China has twenty-five submarines like this, not only will our strategic nuclear-powered submarines become ornaments, but also the eleven aircraft carrier battle groups will be under mortal threat. Currently, we don't have a single submarine that can surpass its performance."

  Not only was Eric shocked, but Jaber was also shocked.

  "We should have anticipated all of this five years ago," he said, glancing at the National Security Adviser.

  Jabari immediately understood. "Erik, can I have a word with Director Wesley in private?"

  Erik was very tactful and immediately stood up to bid farewell.

  After closing the door, Jia Pei turned off the listening device inside the room but did not turn off the surveillance device.

  "Mr. President, you haven't forgotten what happened five years ago, have you?"

  "Wesley, just say it." Jaber didn't want to beat around the bush with the deputy director of intelligence.

  "We have sufficient reason to believe that China's breakthroughs in high-temperature superconducting materials and composite battery technology are directly related to the mysterious object that went missing five years ago."

  "Are you saying that the mysterious object has fallen into Chinese hands?"

  Wesley nodded, this was as obvious as it gets.

  "Is there evidence? Is there direct evidence?" Jaber dared not jump to conclusions.

  "We've had scientists at Area 51, or Groom Lake, whichever you prefer, studying high-temperature superconductors for decades and getting nowhere fast. We still haven't gotten anything practical out of it. China can't have been working on this longer than we have, or started with more knowledge than we did. And yet they suddenly announce a breakthrough three years ago? It's suspicious, to say the least. The scientists at Area 51 are convinced that the Chinese technology is directly related to the mysterious object that went missing five years ago." Wesley spoke quickly, barely giving Japer time to think. "The composite battery used in electric cars has an energy density of two kilowatt-hours per kilogram, which is sixteen percent of the heat value of gasoline. The military version must have at least twice the energy density of the civilian version, enough to build a fully electric submarine."

  Jabari stopped arguing and asked instead: "How much longer until we make a breakthrough?"

  "If funds are sufficient, it will take at least three years."

  "Three years?" Jia Pei'er's head suddenly became big, three years later, he would no longer be the president.

  "The civilian version can be put on the market within two years, but the price will definitely be much more expensive than Chinese goods. The military version with performance twice that of the civilian version can only be successfully developed in three years at the earliest, and if unexpected technical bottlenecks are encountered, it may take even longer."

  "Please submit a detailed report as soon as possible, and I will try to resolve the funding issue."

  "Besides funding, we also lack the most crucial condition."

  "What?" Jaber felt annoyed, was it a habit of intelligence personnel to only say half of what they meant?

  "Hardware." Wesley knew the President wasn't technical, so he tried to keep it simple. "The composite battery and superconducting motor China has released on the civilian market uses nano-packaging technology that we can't reverse-engineer or even disassemble for analysis. Maybe the military version won't use this hard-to-maintain packaging technology but will use an open architecture instead. If we could get our hands on actual hardware, our R&D work would make a breakthrough in no time."

  "I think China won't sell military-grade composite batteries and superconducting motors, right?"

  "That's a given." Wesley shrugged. "We didn't expect to get it through regular channels either."

  "You're saying..."

  "The Indo-Pakistani War created an opportunity for us. With just one special forces unit, we have the chance to obtain military-grade hardware."

  Jabari's eyebrows jumped up and down quickly. Wesley's proposal is feasible, but also has a huge risk.