The voice of the Rivet Joint controller burst through the earphones in his helmet. “Runner One-one, answer up. This is Deep Throat. We just lost the squawk on Dynasty One, and he’s not talking to us. Have you got a visual on him?”
Maxwell’s eyes were still fixed on the jetliner. It was breaking up, shedding large pieces as it tumbled toward the ocean. He shook his head, still unable to believe what he was seeing.
“Runner One-one, do you copy Deep Throat? What’s going on out there?”
Maxwell keyed the mike button on the throttle. “Dynasty One just blew up. He’s going into the water.”
Several seconds passed. The controller’s voice was strained. “Maybe we didn’t copy right, Runner. Sounded like you said—”
“Something happened. His number two engine blew up and took the wing off.”
“Are you engaged?” The controller was asking the obvious. Are hostile aircraft involved?
Maxwell had already swung the nose of his Hornet toward the empty sky where the Airbus had been. He glanced at the MFD, then waited for several sweeps of the radar. Still nothing. “Negative. Runner One-one, clean. Runner One-three, do you have a picture?”
“One-three’s clean,” answered Pearly Gates.
“One-two’s clean,” called B.J. Johnson.
“One-four’s clean,” dittoed Flash Gordon.
All clean. No one painting a bogey in their midst.
“Anyone got a visual?”
Nothing. No bogeys. The sky was empty.“Shit,” said the controller, her voice cracking. “What happened?”
Maxwell’s eyes were still sweeping the sky. Four miles below, he could see Dynasty One plunging toward the South China Sea.
He told the truth. “I don’t know.”
CHAPTER 2 — OPENING SHOTS
“Thank you, Mr. President. Yes, we will take your suggestion under advisement.”
Charlotte Soong hung up the phone and turned to the assembled members of her cabinet. Her cabinet. The immensity of the new role still caused her to have palpitations. Until an hour-and-a-half ago, she had been Vice President of the Republic of China, which, in the politics of Taiwan, meant almost nothing. Now she was the head of state. As never before in her life, she needed to display strength.
“The President of the United States sends his condolences,” she said to the group, which included the three senior officers of Taiwan’s military forces. “He joins us in mourning the death of President Li and his party.”
“Never mind his condolences,” said Franklin Huang, the Premier and head of the legislative Yuan. “What does he counsel you to do?”
Charlotte Soong tilted her chin and gazed at Huang. In the weeks since the election of Li and his running mate, Charlotte Soong, Franklin Huang had made no secret of his contempt for her. He was vocal in his opinion that a woman should have no role in Taiwan’s affairs of state.
“He urges restraint,” she said. “He says there is no credible evidence that the People’s Republic had any involvement in President Li’s death.”
“Does he offer an explanation of why one of our newest airliners should suddenly blow up while it was flying near the Chinese coast? Beneath the eyes of the American fighter pilots who were supposed to protect it? Does he think it was an act of God?”
At this, several ministers, including Leung Tsi-chien, Minister of Defense, gave a derisive chuckle. Leung was another who had criticized Charlotte Soong’s nomination as Vice President.
An uneasy silence fell over the ministers. She could feel the tension in the room. Huang was busy scribbling on his notepad. Next to him, Leung was whispering something in the ear of Ma Wang, the crotchety old Foreign Minister. Ma was one of the few remaining officials in Taiwan who had been born in mainland China.
They’re up to something, she told herself. Leung and Huang were schemers with a history of plotting coups in the government. What are they up to?
In the next minute she knew. Huang lowered his notepad and stepped forward. He glanced at Leung, who nodded.
Huang cleared his throat. “Mrs. Soong, we have—”
“Mind your manners, Premier Huang. You will address me as ‘Madame President.’”
Huang blinked as if he’d been slapped. “Um, yes, if you insist. In fact, that is the subject we wish to discuss.”
“You are taking much too long to do it. Please get to the point.”
Huang blinked again, then glanced over to Leung.
Leung took over. “Madame President, in this moment of crisis, it is the consensus of the cabinet that you should give consideration to… ah, yielding the authority of your office.”
Charlotte Soong kept her face expressionless. She was right. They were up to no good. “Make yourself clear, Minister Leung. What are you suggesting? That I resign from the office of President?”
“It is well known that you were chosen by Li Hou-sheng to be his Vice President because you are a woman, and the widow of a popular statesman.”
She nodded. That much was true. Her popularity had soared in the two years since Kenneth Soong, her husband and the minority party leader, was assassinated. That Beijing ordered the murder she had no doubt, but the killers were never apprehended. She had continued her husband’s cause, writing articles, making public appearances on behalf of the party he founded, and eventually running for office.
She focused on Leung. “Li Hou-sheng chose me as his successor knowing that I was qualified to be the head of state.”
“You were chosen in order to insure his election. There was never any thought that you would succeed him.”
“Never any thought by you, you mean.” She peered around the room, pausing to look each of the ministers in the eye. “Let me remind you, I am the only constitutionally elected official in this room. Each of you is an appointee who serves at my pleasure.” She fixed her eyes again on Leung. “Leung Tsi-chien, your post as Minister of Defense is the most critical position in my cabinet. If I do not have your full loyalty, I must insist on your immediate resignation.”
Leung’s eyes flashed, and he stepped forward. “Resignation? This is preposterous. You have no right to—”
“Your opportunity to resign has passed. You may consider yourself dismissed. You will leave the cabinet room immediately.”
Leung’s chest puffed out, but before he could protest he saw Colonel Tsu, the President’s chief of security, moving toward him from across the room. The unsmiling colonel wore an automatic pistol at his hip.
Leung knew he was defeated. He turned to fire a final menacing scowl at Charlotte Soong. “You have made a severe mistake. I promise you, you will regret this action.” As Tsu seized his elbow, he wheeled and stormed out of the cabinet room.
She waited until he was gone. She turned her gaze on Franklin Huang. “And you, Premier Huang? Must I ask for a resignation from you?”
Huang was a famous bully in Taiwan politics. He had been a formidable adversary of her husband. Appointing him as Taiwan’s Premier had been Li’s idea. It was supposed to be a gesture of reconciliation with the opposing political faction. It had been a serious mistake.
Now she would have to deal with him.
Huang met her gaze. She could see that he was weighing his options. After a moment, he shook his head. “No, Madame President. You have made your position clear.”
She looked around the table. “Any others? Speak now, or your opportunity will have passed.”
The cabinet members exchanged uncertain glances. Finally, old Ma Wang, senior of the ministers, spoke up. “Madame President, you must understand our concerns. Most of us believe that an act of war has been perpetrated on us.”