“She wasn’t sleeping with the guy voluntarily, though,” Chase interrupted. “This was… this was fucked up is what it was…”
David made a sympathetic face. “It didn’t matter what actually happened. Only what it appeared to be. Lena’s father was a colonel. To the upper-crust society that her parents lived in, Li, as she was then known, would have been a disgrace to her family. Jinshan would then swoop in and offer her a way out.”
“Joining the MSS.”
“Exactly. She would disappear and become one of his spies. A sleeper agent, to be inserted into the US under a new identity.”
Chase held up the document. “It says she practically killed the guy who came into her room.”
David said, “Yeah. I don’t think they knew who they were messing with. Apparently, she waited until after he was done having his way with her. Then she went into his room and cut out his tongue.”
“Holy shit…” Chase shook his head, looking away.
Susan said, “This is why I am curious about her current psychological state. You see, Chase, Lena Chou doesn’t know that Jinshan orchestrated her assault. She thinks he just came in afterwards and helped her out of the kindness of his heart. He offered her an honorable way out of trouble, after she so violently took matters into her own hands.”
Chase said, “This is crazy.”
“What you’ll also read in that document is that Jinshan consulted with Lena’s father, General Chen, prior to her recruitment. It doesn’t say whether Chen knew how Jinshan would orchestrate the event. And surely no one foresaw Lena’s violent reaction. But it certainly appears as if General Chen sold his daughter to Jinshan in exchange for career enhancement. Jinshan began string-pulling on the good general’s behalf shortly after. Lena doesn’t know any of this.”
Chase shook his head in amazement, then turned to Susan. “So, you’re going to… what? Release this? Let Lena see it? To what end?”
“I want to diminish her loyalty to China. I want her further motivated to spy for us. Internally motivated.”
Chase said, “How long have you had this information?”
“You’re wondering why I didn’t use it before?”
“Yes.”
Susan said, “Because I didn’t want to play my full hand if I didn’t need to. I had you. And the child.”
After their meeting with Susan, David drove Chase to the NAS Pensacola Bachelor Officer Quarters. He checked into his room, and then the brothers went to grab a few subs for lunch. Thanks to the war rations, the shop was out of most ingredients, but they managed to put together a halfway decent turkey sandwich.
Chase and David ate at a waterfront picnic table overlooking the sound. A weeping willow tree provided shade overhead.
“Anything on Victoria?” Chase asked. Both brothers knew what Chase was asking for — David’s inside knowledge of US intelligence reporting.
David’s face grew somber. “Nothing good.”
“Anything bad?”
“She’s on the manifest at a Chinese POW camp near Manta. About twenty miles from where you were that time.”
Chase said, “Any plans to…”
“I can’t say.”
Chase stared at his brother, trying to decide if he should be pissed off. A lot had changed for David in the past couple of years. He’d gone from being a technology expert to an intelligence analyst, and now he was working on higher-level operations. A real spook and acting the part, keeping his cards close to the vest just like all of the others Chase had worked with.
It was annoying as hell. But he understood.
Chase changed the subject. “How’s my… how’s the boy?”
“Lindsay says he’s doing well.” After Eglin had been attacked, the families of Silversmith employees living on base were moved away. There was too much risk, and too much distraction. Lindsay, David’s wife, had volunteered to take temporary custody of Lena’s child. With Susan’s approval, she had relocated to a remote site in Colorado. They were under military guard and being assisted by one of the military nurses who had been looking after the child.
“Please tell her I said thank you.”
David nodded. “Of course.” He put down his sandwich and looked out over the sound’s white beach and calm water. “Susan is going to use the information in the document.”
Chase said, “I am not sure how that’s gonna go. Lena won’t respond well to coercion. I know her. This could backfire.”
“We’re willing to accept that risk.”
“We?”
“I had a hand in the decision analysis.”
Chase said, “I read that Chinese forces are moving north through Colombia now. That a land battle is imminent.”
David didn’t say anything.
Chase said, “I also heard that most of my San Diego buddies are going to be busy real soon. Sounds to me like things are about to get real?”
David said, “I’m not supposed to discuss it.”
Chase snorted. “I get it. I’m a mushroom now.”
David looked around, and then headed toward the sandy beach. “Come on over here.”
Chase followed. David knelt down, picking up a twig and drawing an outline of North, South, and Central America.
“Dude. You suck at art.”
David smirked. “You get it, right?”
“Yeah.”
David said, “So here’s me saying a few things without saying anything. I’ve been asked to work on a few projects, one of which is contributing to Pentagon war planning. I’m intimately familiar with a lot of these rumors you are speaking of.”
David used the twig to begin tracing a few arrows within his outline. The drawing was very crude, but Chase understood. The Chinese were advancing north through Colombia, into Central America. David pointed at that part of the map and said, “Big numbers. Really big numbers.”
“Shit.”
He then began tracing arrows in the eastern Pacific Ocean, pointing north along the western edge of South America. “Support elements.” He drew arrows from the coast of California and marked a big X to the west of Panama. Chase understood. The US military was about to have a big land battle in Colombia or Central America, and another naval battle in the Pacific. David looked up at his brother to make sure he understood before wiping the drawing from the sand.
Chase said, “You don't look happy about it.”
David shook his head. “I’m not. We have a few new tactics that should work. But the numbers don't add up. Sooner or later…”
“The lines are going to break.”
David nodded.
Chase said, “So have you said anything?”
“To the Pentagon planners? Brother, I’m a nobody there.”
“Didn’t you come up with the plans for…”
“Yeah, they don’t care anymore. That was last year. And besides, to them, it was mostly General Schwartz. You can’t throw a stone around the Pentagon without hitting three flag officers. And whether we’re at war or peace, some things never change. Everyone wants to make their own mark. Everyone wants their idea pushed to the top. I can’t get heard. And frankly, I am not sure it matters. I don’t have a solution right now. I thought I did, but…”
“Hypersonic weapons. That’s what you kept telling me.”
David nodded. “Yeah, well. There’s a missing link there. If we could make the Rojas tech work, that could potentially give us a huge tactical advantage. But without it, we’re left fighting a modern war without GPS or reliable ISR.”
“Is it really that bad?”
“Hell yes it’s that bad. We shoot down their satellites and drones, and they shoot down ours. Both sides are lucky to get a sneak peek for a few hours before their multi-million-dollar birds get shot out of the sky.”
“Even the little drones? Stealth drones? Micro-satellites?”
“A lot of that stuff is just a bunch of buzzwords. Yes, we have a few reliable tricks. But nothing for this.” He pointed at the dirt. “In a large-scale attack, or battle, you need reliable datalink for targeting, navigation, and communications. Without it, we’re back to Vietnam-era tactics with more expensive weapons.”
Chase put his hand on his brother’s shoulder and squeezed gently. “Relax. It’ll come. You’re the idea guy. The ideas always come.”
David gave a weak grin. “Maybe. Look, I should probably get back.”
Chase gathered his trash and began walking with his brother. “David, one thing I don’t get… what’s the big push to get Lena to work for us? I mean, we’ve got other ways of gathering intel, right?”
David stopped and looked around before answering. “It’s not just about gathering intel.”
“What is it, then?”
David said, “Let me ask you something. Do you think we would have risked Lena escaping if we didn’t have a lot to gain?”
Chase went silent.
David said, “We expected Lena could very well end up back in China. Before you got on that plane, what did I tell you?”
“To make sure she lived, whether I was able to bring her back or not.”
“And you did that.”
Chase said, “Yeah, but I was still supposed to bring her back.”
“If you could, yes. But these operations are a game of chance. We need to plan for multiple outcomes, and a big one is this: Jinshan is sick. One day soon, he’s going to die. And when that occurs, we want his successor to be our ally.”
“And Lena?”
David arched one eyebrow. “We think Lena can help make that happen.”