On the screen was General Joshua Keating calling from USSOCOM. The general's conservative haircut and tinted glasses belied his history as a Special Forces operator back in Vietnam and during the first Gulf War, where he'd earned drawers full of medals. He had degrees in history and business and had already penned a successful book about the history of Special Forces operations. He was even a graduate of the Harvard Executive Education Program's National and International Security Managers Course, and for the past decade had served in more command positions than even he could probably remember. Earlier in the year he had finally taken over as commander of USSOCOM, his dream post, Mitchell knew.

While some loathed and feared Keating, Mitchell got along with him just fine, in part because the general was a hands-on officer who understood the unique nature of Special Forces operations and considered it his duty to keep in close contact with his men on the ground. Sure, he was an impatient taskmaster, but he was also a straight shooter who never held back a punch. Mitchell found that refreshing.

Keating leaned forward, his breast full of ribbons standing in sharp relief against his starched and pressed class As, the new blue army class uniform having replaced the old green in 2011. "Mitchell, you look like crap."

He pawed self-consciously at the mud on his face. "Thank you, sir. I had another word in mind."

To Keating's right hung dozens of screens displaying maps, intelligence reports, satellite imagery, and live video streams from operators in the field, all of it coming together in a pixilated mosaic fluctuating with a life of its own. Over the general's left shoulder loomed a four-meter-tall, three-dimensional map of the Chinese coast and Taiwan, with green overlays and flashing grid coordinates drawing Mitchell's attention to several locations.

"Don't be a wise guy, Mitchell. I dragged you back from Robin Sage because we got a situation."

"Sir, I've been out in the woods for a couple of weeks. Haven't been online or seen a newspaper . . . but my fortune cookie tells me it's got something to do with that submarine sale to Taiwan."

"You bet it does."

"I see you got China on the big map."

Keating glanced over his shoulder. "Damned right I do, because our little standoff in the Pacific is about to go south real fast."

The general shifted his position to allow a smartly dressed woman in dark blue to appear on the screen. She was in her late forties, with brown hair streaked with gray and a pair of green-framed glasses slipped down to the tip of her nose.

Keating went on: "Mitchell, this is Dr. Gail Gorbatova of the DIA."

"Hello, Captain."

"Ma'am."

"The general wanted me to brief you on an intelligence report we recently received from one of our operatives inside the Chinese government. It concerns an operation called Pouncing Dragon."

"I haven't heard that name in a long time."

"Not since Waziristan, I presume?"

"Yeah."