General Sabaneyev and Colonel Borbikov are confident that the operation will succeed, but General Lazar is disturbed by Borbikov's contingency plan to destroy the rare-earth mine with nuclear-tipped artillery shells if they fail to capture it. Meanwhile, Colonel General Boris Lazar is tasked to lead an invasion force to seize Mrima Hill by travelling overland through Iran, also under the guise of military exercise, and covertly sail to Djibouti where they will be free to advance into Kenya before the US can mount a response. He assigns Colonel General Eduard Sabaneyev to lead a lightning raid via militarized trains into Europe to destroy the US African and European Commands in Stuttgart, Germany, under the guise of military exercises with Belarus. In Moscow, Russia, President Anatoly Rivkin authorizes Operation Red Metal without the approval of the Ministry of Defence in response to crippling economic sanctions.

The Joint Chiefs, however, are predisposed to a war in the Pacific and deploy Carrier Strike Group 5 to Taiwan. Connolly and Griggs consult NSA analyst Nik Melanopolis who deduces that the leak was engineered by Russian GRU hackers.

The two are tasked to investigate an intelligence leak of an extra-marital affair between two high-ranking officers of the Indo-Pacific Command that causes both of them to be relieved and disrupts the chain of command. In Arlington, Virginia, Marine Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Connolly, an Afghanistan infantry veteran, works in the Joint Staff office of the Pentagon with Army Major Bob Griggs. The Chinese Communist Party publicly frames the ruling Kuomintang party for the assassination and threatens military intervention over the elections. In the present day, Chinese Sea Dragon naval commandos infiltrate Taiwan and assassinate the presidential candidate of the pro-Beijing Taiwan Democratic Communist Party. Bitter about the retreat, Spetsnaz officer Yuri Borbikov formulates Operation Red Metal, an extensive military strike across Europe as a large diversion to retake the mine. Three years ago, the Russian Ground Forces are forced to relinquish control of a rare-earth mine in Mrima Hill near Mombasa, Kenya. ( July 2022) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. This section's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed.

Mark greaney red metal