Rear Admiral Kaylo smiled, crumpled the paper, and tossed it to the wind. It danced there for a moment before tumbling to the sea’s foamy surface. Kaylo retreated to the warmth of the bridge.
◊◊◊◊
Major Han Ken walked up the dirt road toward the farm outside Hsinchu City. He passed the crop fields and spotted the old tree in which he had landed. He noticed a shred of his parachute still fluttering from the twisted branch that had torn it. Han turned a bend in the road. There, ahead, he saw the old farmhouse. One of the kids had waited at the entryway and now dashed inside.
The old farmer and his family emerged. The last to come outside was the niece, wearing a big smile and waving enthusiastically. Han greeted everyone. He shook the old man’s hand, kissed the farmer’s wife, ruffled the children’s hair, and then embraced his future bride.
◊◊◊◊
Chief Master Sergeant Li Rong Kai, his wife, daughter, and mother sat at the Italian eatery in Neihu. Even though his mother had offered to watch the little girl so Li could steal away with his wife, he wanted them to all be together. The restaurant sat in the shadow of Hill 112. Li watched a construction vehicle turn up the winding road toward the hilltop.
Around Taipei and the rest of the island nation, a monumental effort had begun to repair the ravages of war, although a semblance of normal life had already returned. Li’s wife showed their little girl how to twirl the spaghetti on a fork—the first time the little girl had used such a strange utensil—and then to suck the noodles into her mouth. Li smiled at his daughter’s sauce-covered grin, leaned over the table, and kissed her forehead.
◊◊◊◊
It was raining hard in DC, but Richard happily entered his townhouse on Olive Street. He flopped his soaked trench coat over a kitchen chair. Jade’s favorite perfume still wafted through the place and traces of her abounded everywhere: a textbook; a magazine; and a pile of clothes left behind during their hasty departure. Richard went to his desk.
Raindrops wiggled their way down the windowpane. The yellow streetlight decorated Richard’s face with their streams, as he thought of Jade. He hoped she was okay and happy. As much as he missed her, he missed most of all the idea that he thought he would be a father. He had forgiven Jade her deception, and was thankful he had come to realize a desire for family that now permeated his entire being.
“Goodbye, Jade,” Richard whispered. “Be well.” A tear rolled down his cheek, lost among the rainy rivulets that the streetlight painted on his face.
◊◊◊◊
Although the runway and pockmarked terminal at Taipei’s Songshan had already been opened to limited commercial and military traffic, and much of the litter of war was cleared, the airport remained under repair. A cluster of hangars at the far end of the field was particularly devastated and needed to be razed and rebuilt. A bulldozer began to clear one of the wrecked hangars.
The bright yellow machine’s blade pushed into the burnt piles of aluminum sheet, concrete, and fallen trusses and shoved the debris into piles. The bulldozer backed and rushed forward again. Something large and heavy, however, stopped its progress hard. Beneath a pile of wood planking and other flotsam, the operator saw a large, dented black cylinder. Upon it was a tangled cable that linked the cylinder to a small blood-caked and charred control box.
The bulldozer’s operator swore and backed off. The machine’s toothed blade caught and, as it retreated, the blade dislodged the control box, which tumbled down. Within it occurred a spark and a puff of smoke, and an electronic hum began to emanate from the black cylinder…
Table of Contents
CHARACTERS
NOTES
BRIEFING
1: MACHINATIONS
2: RED DRAGON
3: CENTERS OF GRAVITY
4: POUNCING TIGER
5: FOG OF WAR
6: TIAMAT
7: THE LAST DAY
8: AFTERMATH
Fourth Crisis: The Battle for Taiwan Page 26
