Chinook

by M. L. Buchman

  Half his attention remained on the television, but half wandered to the two women. They’d gotten past the initial jitters since he brought the girl to the house.

  He’d considered fucking Daiyu to convince her that she still had a place here, and wasn’t being discarded. But the girl had proved to be most agile this morning at his city apartment, and, while not yet particularly skilled, had proved herself to be very open to suggestion. Yes, he would wait until their usual time to reassure Daiyu of her place.

  Sitting side-by-side, they did make an exceptionally attractive pair. The contrast of Daiyu’s athletic build and the girl’s slight one made them much more beautiful together than either was apart.

  How best to use them was the question.

  The other vice-chairman of the CMC who sat beside Li Zuocheng was completely the president’s man. Mei-Li’s research…

  Ah! That was it! How perfect everything was.

  Her research had uncovered that the vice-chairman had a single vice, but one that ran deeply—a fetish for mounting lesbian women. In couples. Very roughly. As if he could only be aroused while proving his male superiority over them. He kept it very well hidden, but Mei-Li had proven it with hospital records and pictures.

  By the latter, it was clear that the man had no taste at all. He wasn’t a connoisseur of women; he was a greedy pig.

  Perhaps, after Ru had replaced Li Zuocheng, he could invite the man to visit. Maybe for a quiet dinner—new vice-chairman seeking advice of the sitting vice-chairman.

  Then he would happen to be called away, and leave his wife and…her younger half-sister. Yes, that was a good explanation for the xiao riben guizi girl in his household.

  His wife and her half-sister would then “entertain” the commission member in his absence.

  Until Ru himself stormed in, too late to stop his dastardly deed. And before he damaged Ru’s women, of course.

  They would cry rape, and he would be justified in having the man executed and his family shamed, perhaps confiscate his fortunes as well. The bastard was even better off than Ru himself.

  Ru would make sure to have his phone out under some pretext to undeniably capture the evidence. Better yet, a hidden video camera. He could enjoy the seduction himself as often as he wished, and use the footage of the attack and rape to damn the bastard to hell.

  Yes, once Ru himself had replaced Li Zuocheng, that would be his next move. Then, as sole (surviving) vice-chairman, he would be able to influence exactly who would take the other vice-chairman’s seat. With his own man in place, he would control five of the seven who—

  The news flashed to an aerial view of the on-going cleanup at Fulong Beach. The jet was long gone, of course, taken to America. The Miranda mouse woman had been an awkward way to guarantee that the pilot’s recording fell into their hands, but the Americans wouldn’t be able to resist the bait once they’d heard it.

  A news anchor cut in with a “Breaking News” banner.

  “We have a new development in the matter of the Mainland Chinese J-20 Mighty Dragon—a fifth-generation stealth fighter jet—that crashed on The Republic of China’s eastern shore, destroying the site of the annual Hohaiyan Rock Festival. It seems that a recording the pilot made moments before his death has survived. We’ll play it for you now.”

  This is Captain Chen Bo of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force. I have been ordered by the President of my country to test Taiwan’s defenses with a solo intrusion of a Chengdu J-20. I am told that if they retaliate, the President says we are ready. I do this willingly to honor my country.

  The anchor returned, “It appears that the president of the People’s Republic of China is declaring to the world his personal intention to start a war. World leaders are already condemning this. An immediate and total trade embargo has been threatened by over seventy countries if there is not an immediate retraction. Many are offering to mobilize their forces if—”

  “No! No! No!” Ru shouted at the anchor. “That’s not what you were supposed to say, you dirty little bastard! Just because you’re dead, don’t think your wife and daughter are safe. I’ll—”

  His phone rang.

  His personal phone, from a blocked number. It could only be one person.

  He turned off the fucking television and answered it.

  “You goddamn bastard!” He screamed into the phone. “You changed it, didn’t you? It was supposed to be fucking Li Zuocheng, not the damned President who said that.”

  “Yes,” Drake’s voice was completely calm. “Now know this! If you threaten or so much as touch an American citizen ever again, our President has said to expect retribution to the fullest abilities of the American military. That includes any relatives of Staff Sergeant Bob Wang, whether they are in America or China. And if you personally ever set foot on US soil again, in any capacity, you will be arrested and incarcerated as an agent provocateur. In other words, I will own your ass.”

  “What’s to stop—”

  “Your President has just been shamed on the global stage. He will not dare to move against Taiwan now. And if you yourself attempt to push forward an attack, I will make sure that he learns precisely who shamed him. Do we understand one another?”

  Ru knew he was shaking, but that bastard and his little Jap bitch had twisted this. They had him by the balls and knew it.

  Unable to contain the fury…he heaved his phone at the television, hard enough to shatter the screen.

  It had all failed.

  Li Zuocheng was still in place as a vice-chairman of the CMC.

  Ru himself still controlled only three of the seven votes including his own. Far from a majority.

  Ah! His eyes alighted on the two women huddled together on the opposite couch.

  But!

  If he used them to eradicate the other vice-chairman as he’d just been considering, that would get him four votes. And Li Zuocheng would be thankful to have that thorn removed from his side; the two vice-chairmen did not get along.

  Oh, friend Zuocheng. I had tried to make peace with the bastard to help you, you know I am always your humble servant. Instead he rapes my wife and beats her half-sister. She’s just a poor mixed-blood Japanese, but I take a broader view and don’t hold her rapist Japanese ancestor against her.

  For that favor, Ru would be able to turn who had the controlling vote in naming the replacement of his vacated seventh seat when he became the second vice-chairman. He could get his man in place without having to kill his friend. That was four votes of seven. And he’d be in the perfect position to influence Li Zuocheng’s vote if it was a crucial decision. Excellent.

  “Mei-Li, you and your little lover are safe for now,” he told the room. He wouldn’t need them to aid in shifting the balance of power in the CMC. At least not until he reached for the presidency. For now they would be his secret weapons, his sleeper agents.

  Then he turned to Daiyu and the girl who still clung as close to Daiyu as if she was already protecting her, as a younger sister. That too was very good. They were as natural together as sisters should be.

  Now to make them appear as lovers; lovers able to entice the second vice-chairman to his doom.

  “You two. We are going to practice something until you both have it perfectly right.” And he was going to enjoy the practice almost as much as he would catching the vice-chairman with his dick buried in Daiyu’s ass.

  The girl’s ass, that was strictly his.

  75

  Mei-li and Mui sat together on the bed and held hands. They could manage no more than that.

  Classes started tomorrow, but neither of them had dared to leave the apartment, not even to purchase textbooks.

  They’d seen the news broadcast.

  Rather than Ru climbing onto the top of the CMC’s pile, his actions had caused the president of China to be shamed.

  Publicly shamed—about Taiwan!

  Ru would be beyond furious.

  Their visa would be revoked. They’d be returned t
o China, and Mei-Li couldn’t begin to imagine the horrors she’d suffer. Even worse, that Mui would suffer.

  Their attempts to make love a final time had offered little solace. Instead they were left with no satisfaction but tears.

  “I hate the danger I’ve put you in.” Mei-Li held Mui’s hand tighter.

  “It is not you who intends to kill my grandfather.”

  “I must expose Zhang Ru. If only I knew how to do it in time, and without getting you killed.”

  It was a conversation they’d had a hundred times since Jeremy and Taz had visited them in the middle of last night. And many more times since seeing the news.

  The Americans’ ploy had stopped a war, but for her and Mui?

  Nothing.

  Ru was still in power.

  The CMC was stronger than ever.

  And for them?

  No answer was satisfying.

  She would sacrifice herself in a heartbeat for Mui. That must be what love was. So little she understood, so late.

  This time at the knock on the door, they both cried out. If they were to die, clothes wouldn’t matter. They pulled on robes and Mei-Li answered the door without bothering to look first.

  “Sorry if I surprised you. Mei-Li Chen?” A man in a FedEx uniform held out an electronic device.

  She could only nod.

  “Sign here please,” he waggled the device at her again.

  Was it her own death warrant? A new way to deliver secret poisons?

  Not knowing, Mei-Li signed anyway.

  He handed her an envelope with a bright orange “Small Critical Pak” on the outside of the envelope. He tapped his hat brim and was gone.

  After carefully re-locking the door, she and Mui sat together once more on the edge of the bed.

  The return address was some building in downtown Seattle—meaningless. A time stamp said it had been sent less than an hour ago.

  “Is it a bomb?” Mui’s voice was barely a whisper.

  How big did a bomb need to be to kill two people? Not very was the only thing Mei-Li could think.

  She should send Mui away before she opened it, but she knew asking would be useless. Mui had long since taught her that they were in this together.

  Finally, they slid a hand around each other’s waists.

  Mei-Li held the envelope.

  Mui pulled the tab to open it.

  When nothing happened, they peered inside together.

  What she saw made no sense. Tipping the envelope, some paperwork and two blue passports landed in their laps.

  American passports.

  Hardly daring to look, Mei-Li eased one open to the picture. There was a decent picture of Mui, with an embossed stamp, and the incomprehensible words under Nationality: United States of America.

  Mui was looking at the photo of her that had the exact same words.

  They traded, but her own didn’t make any more sense than Mui’s had.

  She set it down carefully, just in case it did decide to explode, and unfolded the paperwork.

  “These are certificates of citizenship,” Mui breathed out as they studied them together.

  They were. Mei-Li peeked inside the FedEx envelope; there were two cards. She gingerly tipped them out.

  The first one simply said, “Thank you.” There were three names: Drake, Lizzy, and Roy.

  Mui traced them with a finger. “You told me about the first two…”

  “I think the third one just might be the American President.”

  “Wild!”

  The second card had a Mandarin ideogram for “Welcome to the USA.” It had been reasonably done with a ballpoint pen.

  “Who are all these people?” Mui pointed at the six signatures. Colonel Vicki Cortez’s was by far the most prominent.

  Mei-Li held the card to her chest for a moment, then set it carefully aside with the other papers and passports.

  “You met two of them last night. If we’re incredibly lucky, you’ll get to meet the others someday.”

  “It’s all real.” They opened their passports again to stare at the pictures together.

  “It is real,” Mei-Li confirmed. It was impossible, but it was real.

  Mui’s squeal this time wasn’t fear, it was purest delight. She threw her arms around Mei-Li’s neck and kissed her soundly.

  “And if you are very, very lucky,” Mui whispered against her lips as she slipped her hand inside Mei-Li’s robe, “you will survive what I’m about to do to you.”

  “I don’t know. I may be invincible. I’m a US citizen now.”

  “I’m one, too. Thanks to my perfect lover. Let’s find out if you are invincible.”

  And as Mui strove to prove them both right, Mei-Li really did feel it.

  Together they had shamed the Chinese president, causing him to lose massive respect. Forced to change his rhetoric and leave Taiwan alone.

  Zhang Ru had been caged, at least for now.

  And, against all odds, she had freed them both.

  Mui had told Jeremy, Until they learn to leave the anger aside, we must be their guides.

  Mei-Li had, as much by luck as skill, led them this far. They were free and protected as US citizens.

  Perhaps she would set anger aside and let Mui be her guide for whatever happened next.

  Mei-Li’s breath caught. She couldn’t suppress the groan and the deep shudder that followed.

  Indeed, Mui had found something new in her infinite supply of creative ideas.

  Maybe she wouldn’t survive. But if not, it would definitely be worth it.

  76

  “What are you thinking?”

  Taz had become accustomed to asking Jeremy that, not the other way around.

  The others had all finally gone to sleep in the big house just as dawn was shading the sky.

  Miranda, who’d been so carefully rigid when they’d arrived, had relaxed completely after Drake and Roy—Christ, now she was doing it—after General Nason and President Cole had agreed to Mui and Jeremy’s plan. She’d even been…cheerful.

  After everyone else had retired, Jeremy hadn’t taken her to a bedroom.

  Instead he led her outdoors. In some mix of peace and exhaustion, they followed the one dirt road that headed south. It eventually led to a tiny harbor.

  “Well, now we know how she gets her major supplies onto the island.” Jeremy pointed. In the softness of the predawn light, they could see two parallel piers that supported an unloading crane, big enough to pick up a container.

  “She’s a one-woman machine,” Taz was trying not to be impressed by the sheer scope of one woman living alone here.

  Never mind trivial things like her being a lead crash investigator and all the other details Taz had learned about her in the last three days.

  “Three days?” It couldn’t be so little.

  Jeremy offered one of his shrugs that didn’t argue the point.

  She went to follow the road toward the big boat house and the small floating dock.

  “We’ll check it out some other time.” With their interlaced fingers, Jeremy continued to lead her south, off the road.

  They disturbed a few grouse and a very sleepy looking deer as they climbed through the deep grass and up onto a rise.

  “It’s called Green Point.” Jeremy tossed down a blanket she hadn’t noticed he was carrying.

  But Taz stayed on her feet to admire the view. Their perch was perhaps a hundred feet in the air and offered a nearly three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of the San Juan Islands. Only to the northwest did the narrow spine of Spieden itself block the vista. Islands covered in soft grasses and towering pines dotted the water like gumdrops.

  “They say it’s a drowned mountain range from the ice ages. The water is actually incredibly deep around the perimeter of the island group.”

  “It’s gorgeous.” Even in their short walk, the soft pink had become rich golds reaching around the entire horizon.

  “Personally, I think the view just got a wh
ole lot better.”

  Taz turned to look at Jeremy, who was making a point, eyebrows raised, of ignoring the landscape in favor of her. When she laughed, his smile just grew.

  “So, what are you thinking?” Now he was asking her.

  “I’m thinking you have some kind of magical skills. Something way beyond what we mere mountain-fairy evaporating hotshots can begin to understand.” She pushed against his chest and he landed on his butt on the blanket.

  “Such as…”

  “You mean, other than averting a major war?” She straddled his legs to pin them as she undid his belt.

  “Other than that,” he agreed.

  “Other than the President granting me a full pardon as a courtesy for helping save the nation?”

  “Well, Drake did insist that you take an honorable discharge and leave the Air Force.”

  “He did.” She raised herself up enough to shuck off Jeremy’s pants. “But I think that may have been General Lizzy Gray’s doing. I think she was tired of dealing with me from the old days.”

  “Could be. Could be.” Jeremy made agreeable noises as he sat up just enough to drag off his shirt. “I wonder how she’ll feel about Miranda’s offer.”

  Taz stopped what she was doing and rubbed at her face, trying to make sense of it all. Fifteen years as a street kid. Nineteen more under the absolute control of General Martinez. Six months that had felt like freedom, and now?

  Miranda had offered her a place on the team.

  Taz had thought hotshotting had been the good bit. But just maybe this would the even better bit.

  It hadn’t even seemed like Mike’s idea.

  Andi says that I need to keep people around me who are good at the things I’m not.

  Taz had agreed that made sense. The others around the table had remained quiet.

  Mike is good at people, but he isn’t military. Holly and Andi are military, but not nearly so good at understanding people. You are exceptionally good with military people. You also were involved in the design of dozens of different aircraft, which proved particularly useful in advancing my understanding of the J-20. Since military investigations constitute most of what we do now as a team, I think you should join us as a military liaison.