Han Xin sat on the ground nursing his wound as Qi Jiguang walked up to him. The bleeding from his ankle had mostly stopped, but Qi Jiguang was bringing a bandage to avoid any infection. Han Xin looked surveyed the scene. It was quite clear from his demeanor that he was angry.

"What do you mean they got away?" Han Xin asked.

"Well sir they drove off in an SUV as you saw. In the excitement of the situation no one was able to get the plate number." Qi Jiguang answered.

"The old woman told us there was no way to drive in here. Are you telling me she was lying?"

"That appears to be the case sir. It appears there was a second entrance to the property that heads out to a paved road. Also Qi Lian managed to destroy our vehicles. We lost some of our supplies in the wreckage." Qi Jiguang replied.

Han began rubbing his temples trying to calm his rage back down to a dull roar.

"I need some good news Qi Jiguang. Tell me of the Russian assault." Han demanded.

"Um, well, um sir."

"Spit it out will you!"

"The mission was.... unsuccessful." Qi Jiguang said, shrinking away from Han Xin.

"Unsuccessful, what do you mean unsuccessful? Are you telling me they were unable to beat down a few Russian soldiers? IMPOSSIBLE!" Han exclaimed, clearly displeased.

"Sir, it appears that there were not just regular military soldiers there. There was a second force that uh... um.... well was able to fight on the same level as us." Jiguang explained.

"Are you trying to tell me there is another Red Tide force that we did not know of. Is China fighting back?" Han asked.

"No sir. These soldiers did not appear to be Chinese, in fact many of our men believed them to be American."

"American? How is this possible? Wasn't it determined that there had been zero leaks?" Han wondered aloud.

"We have no idea sir. But they were clear, these soldiers appeared to be American and they fought on the same level as us. A huge wave of them came in, forcing our soldiers to retreat. It appears that our men and women were able to lose them, but were unsuccessful in obtaining the Russian codes." Jiguang told Han.

"How many men and women did we lose, both there and here?" Han asked of his lieutenant.

"We lost 12 men here and 452 there." Qi Jiguang answered.

"This has been a really crappy day hasn't it Jiguang. We lost all those men and women. We lost Qi Lee... At least I know that I managed to slash Qi Lian, she is injured pretty badly and now they don't have Qi Wei." Han said looking at the dead body of Qi Wei.

"How do you want to proceed sir?" Jiguang asked, searching for orders.

"First things first Qi Jiguang, we need to get transportation since Qi Lian so graciously destroyed ours. And then we need to go to the nearest hospital. Qi Lian needs to pay for this. I have to reset my mind for the other situation." Han explained.

"Where would you like the other soldiers to go to now?"

"They will come to the U.S. as originally planned. However instead of the originally planned rendezvous site, we will be heading for the bomb shelter in Plattsburgh. They must ensure that they are not followed by these American soldiers on the way up. I think now we will have to hope we destroy them with the rest of the humans." Han answered.

"OK sir I will give the orders." Qi Jiguang said walking away.

Han went back to his sulking. Why did it have to be Qi Lee? I would rather be dead than her. The pain from this incident cut Han to his core. Not only had he lost nearly 500 of his men, but now he had lost the woman he cared about most in this world.

Now Han's attention turned to burning questions he had. Was this even worth it? Had his whole campaign become quixotic now that there was apparently another group of beings that matched the abilities of the Red Tide soldiers? How had this situation even arisen? How was it possible there was an American version of Red Tide?

Of course the most pertinent question of all arose. What are we going to do now?

Vengeance was certainly the first thing on Han's mind. What he was certain of was that Clayton and Qi Lian were vulnerable now. There was no way they would be able to stand up against a force of 16 Red Tide soldiers even if some of them were injured. Qi Lian was injured too and she represented their only hope, however slim. Han needed to end this now before she could escape, before she could get healthy enough to fight back. Han knew that about a day from now her wound would be nearly fully healed, it was the advantage of being a Red Tide soldier.

"Sir I have passed your orders on." Qi Jiguang said, breaking the silence that Han had immersed himself in.

"OK Qi Jiguang, now we need to make our plans. How long do you think before they find vehicles?" Han asked.

"I am not sure sir, but I doubt they will be back in less than half an hour." Jiguang answered truthfully.

"This is not acceptable. Qi Lian needs to pay... Clayton Johnson needs to pay... they both need to pay for their actions! I will not rest until this is done!"

"Sir what about the rest of the plan though. Have you thought about what you want to do? Are we just going to use the nukes we already have access to?"

"Jiguang, we can use these weapons to sow confusion. If the countries of the world realize they are under attack from the U.S. and China they will respond in kind. The plan will still work, though it will be less effective than before. How are we doing on cracking the codes?" Han asked.

"Well sir we have cracked the Chinese codes completely. We have made it through 6 of the 7 layers of security on the American football, but that should be finished by the time they arrive." Qi Jiguang answered.

"Fine Jiguang. Make sure that they use different methods of public transport to get here, we do not want to make the Americans suspicious. Once they arrive to Plattsburgh we can start the destruction, if any of these superior Americans survives we will just have to deal with them afterward. Our priority in the meantime will be to destroy Qi Lian."

"With all due respect sir, shouldn't we save our energy and heal up.? They pose no threat now to us." Qi Jiguang pressed.

"No Jiguang, after all the damage she has done Qi Lian must die and so must this Clayton Johnson. It is a matter of hon... what is that?"

Qi Jiguang and Han Xin listened as the sound of vehicles approached.

"We must get out of sight. I am do not have the energy, nor am I in good enough shape, to fight at the moment." Han stated.

Qi Jiguang aided Han in getting up and together they ran as fast as Han could down the path toward where the others had gone to track down transportation.

As they left they heard multiple car doors opening and closing.

"Now who could this be?" Han Xin wondered to himself.