General Hui frowned. “You are aware that we have stockpiled huge amounts of food, equipment, ammunition, and other ordinance within a few miles of our border at both the first two objectives. Once we are victorious, we begin drawing support and food from the captured enemy.”
General Hui stared hard at his one-time colleague in the military. “General, let me assure you once again, we have the resources and the placement of those items to do the job.”
“What about our ally in this operation?” President Chen asked.
“They are fully ready and well equipped. We have furnished them with some of their military needs over the past year, paving the way for this operation. They will be ready to attack the same time we do; and together we will turn this into a three-day war.”
The president smiled. “Three days now, but what about the second phase, the vital one.”
The general frowned. “Yes, the vital one. True, the crux of our whole operation. By the time we are ready to light that fire, we will have almost two hundred thousand Chinese military in the guest country in a supposed buildup for a strike at a third nation. We will have specific targets and objectives, and we expect no more than a three-day engagement before we have won that phase of our operation.”
President Chen had another question. “General, I’ve been talking with some of my experts on world opinion. Right now China is in a rather neutral position. That’s better than the negative ten percent we were last year. However, this major war, particularly the opening shot, is going to have a dramatic negative effect on world opinion. My experts say that fully fifty percent of the nation’s governments will condemn us for that act alone.”
General Hui turned and walked to the living room end of the area, paused a moment and then walked back. By that time, the rage that had struck him had melted away and he controlled it. There was no sign of anger or displeasure when he turned to his only superior.
“Mr. President, world opinion means nothing to me compared to the tremendous benefit this operation will bring to us. It is ludicrous to even try to compare world opinion with our own self-sufficiency for the next two hundred years. Opinions come and go. For example we have strong commercial and business ties with the United States. Do you think they will break those contracts, deliveries, and imports because of our first strike or the resulting bad world opinion? Of course not. Our thrust will be quick and sure. World opinion will work back in our favor in only a few years.”
General Hui looked around the table. The other two nodded. At last the president gave a little sigh and bobbed his head.
“Good. Saturday is the day, dawn is the time. General, communicate with our friends about their movements and have everything primed at dawn. That will be about five fifteen A.M.” General Hui smiled at them. “Gentlemen, it will be a good war, a fast one, and we will be set for the next two hundred years.”
5
Nancy Dobler sat in her Coronado apartment in the robe she had pulled on quickly that morning. She had overslept, and fourteen-year-old Helen had to wake her. Helen was ready for school, but eleven-year old Charles wasn’t. She hustled him and got them both off to school on time with lunches.
“Mom, do I have to carry a brown paper sack lunch? All the kids I know buy their lunch at the cafeteria. It’s just not cool to take a sack to school.”
“Cool or not, you do it. We aren’t made of money, child. Your dad is Navy, right, and we scrimp and save where we can.”
“Yeah, like that model power boat Dad bought. Wasn’t that something like a hundred and fifty dollars?”
“Hush up, young lady. Your father gets little time enough for his own enjoyment.”
They were gone then, and Nancy had regretted some of the things she said. But if the money just wasn’t there…
She ran to the bathroom and lifted a full bottle of whisky from inside the toilet tank where she had hidden it. Just a short one. Just one to get through the day. Hell, it was going to be another long one, and then Will wouldn’t be there at night. She missed him.
The one drink turned into four; and when Nancy checked the clock through fuzzy eyes, she figured it was somewhere around eleven o’clock. She knew she should get dressed.
“Dressed for fucking who?” she asked out loud. It seemed funny coming that way and she said it again. This time she shrilled with laughter. She turned on the TV in the living room and had another half a glass of the straight stuff and sipped at it. Before she knew it the glass was empty.
“Hell, must have spilled it,” she said and giggled. For a minute she felt like she was going to throw up, but she didn’t and lay on the sofa. The whisky bottle tipped and half of it ran out onto the fabric and soaked in. When she saw it she whooped.
“Oh, damn and God damn, I done it this time.” She stared at the stain, stood the bottle on the floor and whooped in delight ending in a raucous laugh. “Fuck, I’ll just send the thing out to get cleaned.” It seemed uproariously funny and she said it again. Then she bent over and vomited on the living room carpet.
“Shit.”
The doorbell rang. Nancy squinted dark eyes and tried to focus on the front door. She couldn’t. When she tried to stand up, she fell down. “Oh damn.”
She heard the door open.
“No, no, don’t come in.” she shouted, but the words were slurred and she wasn’t sure that she heard what she thought she said.
“Oh, fuck, company.”
Maria Fernandez had found the door unlocked and pushed it open just a little. She looked in and called.
“Hey, Nancy, anybody home? You missed our lunch. Thought you might be gone or something.”
Maria headed into the living room with Milly right behind her.
Nancy tried to sit up where she had fallen on the floor, but after getting halfway up, she fell again, this time with her face in the pool of vomit soaking into the floor.
“Oh, shit,” Nancy said. “Don’t come in. I ain’t dressed for polite company.”
That’s what Nancy thought she said. It came out a series of sounds and half words and other words slurred together.
“Work time,” Maria said, peeling out of the light blazer she had worn. She put it on the back of the couch and lifted Nancy up so she could lean against the couch. “Washcloth and towel and some clothes,” Maria said.
Milly hurried to the bathroom and brought back a warm, wet washcloth and a towel. She vanished into the bedroom and came back with a blouse and a pair of matching pants.
It took them twenty minutes to get Nancy on the couch, washed up, and into her clothes. Milly cleaned the rug, dumped the rest of the whisky out in the sink, and trashed the bottle. She put on some strong coffee and let it perk.
As they watched, Nancy slumped over and either passed out or fell asleep on the couch. Maria covered her with a light blanket and put a pillow under her head.
“We’re a day too late,” Maria said. “The men have been gone only a week. It may be a long trip for them. I had an e-mail from Miguel last night. He said they were on a carrier in the East China Sea below Japan waiting to see what happens. Evidently, they are worried about China.”
“I’ll take the kids to my place,” Milly said. “I live closer to the school than you do. That way I can still get to work. You get Nancy at your place. Do you have room?”