by John Lumpkin
“Something funny, Castillo?” Cruz said in a harsh voice.
“Sorry, Major, no,” Rand said. “Look, you’re right, and DiMarco’s wrong. I was wondering if you had any ideas about how to preserve the force.”
Cruz and Gant shared a look.
“You trying to entice me to disobey orders, Castillo?” Cruz said.
“No, ma’am!”
“That’s too bad. Your report convinced me. It’s a stupid risk to stay here. Even if you’re wrong, we’ll just delay DiMarco’s plans, and everybody gets to go camping for a few days.”
“Ma’am?”
“Understand if DiMarco sent you to test my loyalty, I’ll twist your balls off and roast them in the power plant.”
“Right, ma’am,” Rand said. So paranoid. All these people do is fight each other. What will get through to her? “One soldier to another, all right? I don’t want the squid ruining everything we’ve worked for. We could quietly ramp up patrols to get people out of the cave. DiMarco wouldn’t have to know the real purpose. ”
Gant said, “If we do that, there’s a greater risk of losing people running into Han patrols, and if they capture someone, they could give up our location.”
“They already have it, Captain,” Rand said.
“We’ll do it, Castillo,” Cruz said. “The extra patrols, I mean. We can also add runs to the other caches. Instead of sending out fireteams, we’ll send squads. Instead of squads, platoons.”
“Thank you, Major,” Rand said.
“But you’ll need to stay here, Castillo. If DiMarco sees you daily, he’ll have less reason to suspect anything’s going on. Just go back to watching orbit, and be ready to run for it when the attack comes.”
San José, Republic of Tecolote, Entente
Neil had set up his handheld so Kitsune, in Harkins’ room elsewhere in the hotel, could secretly listen to the conversation. Gomez sat in the room’s single comfortable chair, her eyes darting toward the door. Neil sat in a desk chair, facing her. Harkins stood behind Neil with her M6 pointed at the ceiling. Neil’s chief worry had been Gomez’s gun, but she had surrendered it without a fight. But her defiant expression told Neil she might still try something.
“You have screwed up so very badly, Mercer,” the NSS officer said. “The only way you can hope to avoid prison is if you kill me.”
Harkins snorted. Neil stared at Gomez for a long moment. He hadn’t received any formal training in interrogation techniques, so he had decided on the direct route, once Gomez’s rage had run its course.
Finally, Gomez said, “What could have possibly made you two kidnap a fellow American officer?”
“I brought you here, and I’m going to hold you here, because it’s going to take a while to bring any counterintelligence people to the island. You’re working for the Hans, Irene.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Gomez sneered. “I’ve been working against them for longer than you’ve been alive.”
“You told them where to find Kitsune, and he’s dead now. You told them where Kao Xun was being held. You had a clear shot and could have killed the Chinese agent who rescued him, but you and she recognized each other and held fire. I bet she’s your contact. You’ve betrayed your country during a war, Irene. What else have you told them? Have you gotten any other Americans killed, or were Harkins and I your first try?”
Her eyes focused on him, and her face cracked. In an eyeblink, she was no longer an inscrutable, angry NSS officer, but a tired, aging woman who had nothing left to fight with. Her body shook violently, and she sobbed once, and choked back a second.
Neil felt an involuntary burst of sympathy for her, which he suppressed. She must have been under far more strain than I thought. Or she’s trying to manipulate me …
“What do you know about death, child?” she said, in a voice stabbed with agony. “I’ve lost more than you can imagine.”
“What did you lose, Irene?” Neil said quietly.
“My son. My son. He died! And you bastards won’t tell me where, or how, or why. I even tried asking you, you worthless shit, but you won’t tell me. No one will tell me. The Chinese know where he died, too.”
“And that’s why you turned to them?”
“They want payment,” she said, choking on the words. “I gave them information about the government here in Tecolote, some of it true, some of it false. And they were starting to answer my questions.”
“What did they tell you?”
“He died on Commonwealth, just before the war started.”
“I flew with him, didn’t I? Harkins did, too. My boss said you requested me here. Not for this mission, but to pump me for information about that one,” Neil said. “They’ve classified so much about the San Jacinto’s mission before the war.”
“His name was Rafael Sato,” Gomez whispered.
Pointless, reflexive secrecy. Give her what she wants. “I worked with him pretty closely for a short time. He probably saved my life in Graypen. He was killed by a Chinese sharpshooter while we were trying to get off the planet. One of their Second Bureau guys, who went by the name Li Xiao, claimed to have pulled the trigger. After our battle with the Chinese destroyer, we gave Rafe a military funeral and buried him in space alongside the other members of the crew who died on the planet and above it.”
“That’s … all I wanted to know,” Gomez said, her voice shaking. Long-restrained tears trickled down her cheeks. “I thought he might have been killed on Entente, so I requested an assignment on this planet. Isaac left me because I came here. Is his killer dead?”
“I … I don’t know,” Neil said. “I shot him, later, on Kuan Yin, but he probably lived. I don’t know where he is now.” He felt Harkins’ gaze on the back of his neck. She had been on that mission and, like everyone else save Donovan, believed Neil had executed the Second Bureau operative, something he couldn’t bring himself to do.
Gomez looked out the hotel room window. “So he’s out there, somewhere.”
“You can go, now, Irene. Call a cab, go back to the consulate, and debrief Layton. And I’ll know if you talk to the Chinese again,” he lied. “So don’t, unless I give you some disinformation to feed them. And understand I will provide a recording of this conversation to NSS counterintelligence.”
After Gomez left, Harkins turned to face him. You’ve got some explaining to do, sir, about why you didn’t pop that Han, her eyes told him, but she said nothing.
I’m not sure I can make any of that stick, Neil thought. She could defend herself by framing it as information trading with a potential source. I don’t have the resources to confine her, and I don’t know what Naima would do if I took this to her. Better to get her out of here, quietly, and soon.
Sycamore, Sequoia continent, Kuan Yin
General Xie’s office was downright frigid this morning; that meant the general was distressed. Lieutenant Colonel Shen Liang sat and steeled himself for an unpleasant conversation. Perhaps I am being fired and can return home to Shanghai and my wife.
Major Wong, the chief of the internment camp’s security forces, entered the office and sat beside him.
“Good morning, both of you,” Xie said. “I am having difficulty synchronizing the reports you both are giving me about the camp and the American forces still in the field, so I thought I would begin a discussion, so we can work out what is happening.”
Shen briefly bowed his head; Wong, as the junior officer present, bowed her head more deeply.
“Now, Zhong Xiao Shen, what are our satellites observing at the enemy bases?” Xie said.
“Sir, I must caution that we do not believe we have located all of the enemy caches, but we do believe we have found their primary base and several supporting ones,” Shen said. “To answer your question, since the civilian leadership in the camp told us that the Americans were planning to surrender, we have seen significant activity at their primary base, with small groups of personnel departing.”
“Armed?”
�
�We have evidence they are, yes. In general, they are heavily laden. Some have been using their small transport vehicles, the ones built to carry materiel, not personnel.”
“When did the first group depart?”
“Activity picked up immediately after the offer should have reached the base.”
“It has been five days since then,” Xie said. “Have you tagged any of them?”
“Sir, they are moving in squad-size or smaller formations, in all directions, making it difficult to maintain continuous surveillance on them beneath the forest canopy,” Shen said. “Our satellite network is not robust enough to stay with more than two or three groups and still provide constant coverage of all the bases. My standing orders to the detection section were to follow any formation larger than a platoon, but we haven’t seen any so far.”
“Very well,” Xie said, rubbing his chin. “Have the detection people select a squad and follow it, regardless of anything else. Wong, have you detected anyone arriving in the camp in the last two days?”
“No, sir. No one since the messenger, who immediately departed.”
“What about activity among the prisoners?”
“A few of my troops have mentioned that some of them are acting a little bolder. The youths are throwing rocks and behaving obscenely in the direction of our sentries more often than in the past, but that is anecdotal. No increase in violent incidents.”
“Behaving obscenely?”
“Hand gestures meant to represent the phallus, displays of buttocks, and the like, sir.”
“Really?” Xie said. “Do you not punish such disrespectful behavior?”
“Sir, we certainly can, if that is your preference,” Wong said.
“At the moment, I am simply curious why it is ignored.”
“Certainly,” Wong said. “Captain Li, our psychological officer, manages an index that gauges the level of unhappiness in the camp. If the bulk of the camp residents are passive, as the index currently indicates, punishing juvenile displays like this actually increases resentment and anger in the population. We grab a couple of those youths, beat them or throw them in solitary confinement, and suddenly everyone is angrier.”
“But you’ve cracked down in the past!”
“Indeed. We do extract particular troublemakers for punishment when necessary, but we have found general crackdowns are useful when the overall unhappiness is higher, as it was not long after our initial invasion. In such cases, we instill fear and hopelessness among the population, trying to drive them down to the levels of passivity we currently are enjoying.”
Shen said, “Then what do you make of the spike in behavior you are describing?”
“It is a concern, but it has so far been largely confined to two groups: postadolescents and heavy consumers of alcoholic beverages.”
“But some change in circumstance must have preceded this,” Shen insisted.
“These things fluctuate with hours of daylight, the weather, even the rate in which we detect alcohol being distilled.”
“And it may fluctuate with new beliefs about the guerrillas and their capabilities,” Shen said.
“True,” Wong allowed.
Xie pressed a button on his handheld, and the whine from the air conditioner grew louder.
“It was a genuine offer, more or less,” the general said, more to himself than his officers. “We would have interred the soldiers, of course, but we would have let the civilians return to American space. No need for them to suffer any more.”
“Sir?” Wong and Shen said together.
“Shen, prepare briefings for our combat officers about what they may expect at the primary and secondary bases. The Americans aren’t surrendering; they are dispersing. We need to hit them before too many of them melt back into the countryside.”
Combat Supply Cache Falcon, Sequoia Continent, Kuan Yin
Luhai-class destroyer 0402 was almost an old friend, now, its orbit so well-known to Rand, Aguirre and Lopez that they could pick it out of the sky without the assistance of the telescope. Indeed, they had a running joke in which it showed up and contributed to their conversation.
And there it was. “Geeeentlemen, gooood to see you dis evening,” Rand said in a silly voice one might use when filling in dialogue for his dog. “Do you perhaps happen to have any … mayonnaise?”
Lopez and Aguirre chuckled. It was Aguirre’s regular nighttime watch at the mouth of the cave, and Lopez and Rand had come out to shoot the breeze. Aguirre squinted into the scope’s eyepiece.
“Shit! Captain, her nose is pointed right at us! Her forward shutters are open!”
Here it comes. Two days early, the distrustful bastards. At least we got some of the guys out. “How long do we have?”
“They could fire now, but we’ve got probably ten minutes until they’ll be at an optimum angle to hit us in the green.”
“Look at that!” Lopez pointed at the sky. Several points of light had brightened: more orbiting warships, lighting their candles to move into a better firing position.
“They’ll have launched missiles from the other side of the planet,” Aguirre said. “Sir, we really don’t have much time.”
Rand called DiMarco and got no response, so he tried Major Cruz, who answered after several seconds.
“Ma’am, we’re about to be bombarded from space. We need to evacuate everyone.”
“Are you sure?” She sounded groggy.
“Yes, dammit! In ten minutes, this place will be a smoking hole! You’ve got to run, now!” He cut the connection, ran to the edge of the cave entrance, and shouted for the sentries down below to climb out.
“Get under the trees! As far from here as you can! Run, you motherfuckers! Run!” His voice was primal and raw.
Ants, General Xie thought, watching the video feed from one of the orbiting warships. They look like ants. Somehow the Americans had deduced an attack was imminent and were boiling up from the cave mouth to flee their primary base. Damn the Navy! They promised me surprise.
The ships saw the activity as well; Admiral Kong abandoned his plan to wait for the missiles to land, and he ordered the ships to employ laser strikes on the soldiers appearing at the mouth of the cave.
Fire from the sky. Where the beams touched, vegetation combusted and soldiers died. Xie heard laser officers on the communication net laughing as they selected individual soldiers to hit.
After a few minutes, the missile warheads arrived, and the entire site was obscured by a cloud of dust and debris.
Shiva Orbital Platform, Geosynchronous Earth Orbit
The Indians, congenial as they were, couldn’t quite hide that the interview was in fact an interrogation. They asked Donovan to tell the story of the Chinese anti-laser rocket again, this time, no doubt, with lie detector software monitoring him.
Donovan endured the polite questioning and Ramesh’s apologies with nods, smiles and sips of tea. It was easier to agree to the fiction that this was a simple talk among friendly people, and he didn’t blame the Indians for wanting to be certain.
When he was finally led in to meet with Tyag Bahadar Singh, the general said, “Thank you for coming on such short notice, Mister Donovan. We would have invited Senator Gregory, but his movements are too public, and we don’t want to tip off the opposition to what is going to happen.”
“What is going to happen, General?”
“Many things are in motion, but I suspect you’ll have your alliance in the near future,” he said. “It is a funny thing. We have found other weapons in the Punjab that also appear to have been supplied by the Chinese, although yours was the first. However, our spies in Beijing are giving us every indication the Chinese wish to avoid a conflict with us, and it is very, very foolish of them to risk antagonizing us for such a limited gain, while they pressed in so many other places. The Chinese are not led by foolish people.”
“Perhaps they expect you would attack them anyway, and they seek to tie up your forces fighting the insurgency,” Donova
n said.
“Perhaps,” Singh said. “In any event, we are antagonized, Mister Donovan. Within the hour, Prime Minister Varalakshmi will be going to the public and claiming she has evidence of Chinese intervention in the Punjab. It will inflame the people.”
“And guarantee her re-election later this year,” Ramesh said.
“Indeed. Her opponents would like to see me replaced, so I cannot see her continuing in power as a bad thing,” Singh said. “In any event, Mister Donovan, I am forced to respond. A short time ago, I gave orders for our forces in Arundal Pradesh and Aksai Chin to begin occupying our fortifications in the Himalayas. Very likely, we will have our little war with the Hans, and soon.”
“My government will be very happy to hear that, General,” Donovan said. “We should arrange lines of communication, so we can coordinate our activities. Intelligence-sharing, orbital bombardment, space facilities – ”
“Yes, yes, I’m aware of your fleet’s desperate need for maintenance and repair assistance. Those are certainly matters we can work out in the near future. For now, we will focus on our vulnerable borders with China. Good day, Mister Donovan.”
The news broke while Donovan was on the jumper to the LEO transfer station.
RUSSIA DECLARES WAR ON CHINA, KOREA, MYANMAR AND SUMATRA; MASLOV PROPOSES FORMAL ALLIANCE WITH JAPAN AND USA
The Indians and the Russians. We didn’t get the Europeans, but maybe it will be enough to persuade China to seek a peace.
He messaged carefully worded congratulations to Gardiner Fairchild. Fairchild’s response indicated he apparently trusted the NSS’ encryption a good deal more than Donovan did:
JD – PRESIDENT MASLOV CALLED DELGADO AND KATSURA THIS MORNING TO OFFER AN ALLIANCE, EVEN ASKED IF 82ND WOULD BE AVAILABLE TO DEPLOY IN SIBERIA IN TWO MONTHS. RUSSIAN FLEET IS LIGHTING UP. WILL JOIN YOU AT SPACE COMMAND IN 24 HOURS. I SUSPECT WE’LL BE HEADING OUT WITH A TASK FORCE. GF
More time out here, Donovan thought. I guess I won’t make it to Jacob’s birthday after all.
Chapter 14
WASHINGTON – A bitterly divided House of Representatives narrowly passed a measure that would relax restrictions on certain genetic improvements, notably ones that would enable increased physical strength and endurance and would overwrite a gene complex associated with more than half of diagnosed cases of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Critics, including several religious groups, decried what they saw as a break with longstanding law and practice that genetic modifications should only correct clear deficiencies rather than offer enhancements, with one opponent describing the measure as “the militarization of America’s genetic legacy.” Supporters of the bill defended it as “a purely optional way for parents to ensure their children are physically and mentally healthy throughout their lives,” and noted that China, Japan and Korea all have had looser restrictions on such modifications for generations.
