She typed in the code and waited. Her screen flashed, and she was afraid the entire system had crashed. Then she was in the Shop file. Soon she was studying top-secret satellite info on Ambarchik Base, East Siberia. What she found frightened her.
She made a call ninety minutes later. “Dr. Blanco, please.”
“Can I ask who is calling?” asked the woman on the other end.
“Tell him it’s Anna. Tell him the time has come.”
“Excuse me?”
“Several years ago he promised I could ask his counsel when I found something….”
Anna hesitated to say more. She’d followed Dr. Blanco to D.C. and onto the National Security Advisor’s staff. After Dr. Blanco’s forced retirement—and on his recommendation—his post had been offered to her. She’d been reluctant at first. That’s when Dr. Blanco had told her she could come to him for advice—but only if it was something too hard for her to cope with alone.
“Could you please tell him what I just said?” Anna asked.
“He’s taking his nap,” the nurse said.
“Please?”
“It sounds important.”
Anna wanted to say, “Does war with China sound important?” Instead, she said, “I really need his advice.”
“Just a minute,” the nurse said.
Anna stared at her computer screen, at the satellite image of Ambarchik Base. This was more than she’d bargained for. She needed to talk to someone. Dr. Blanco was in his eighties now, going blind and in an old folk’s home, one of the best in the country.
“Yes,” the nurse said, coming back on line. “Dr. Blanco would be delighted to speak with you. When can you make it?”
“Give me two hours.”
“He looks forward to it,” the nurse said.
Two hours later, Anna sat across from Dr. Blanco. Long ago, his parents had emigrated from Mexico, working in agriculture their entire lives, pushing him to study hard. He had. Old Dr. Blanco now sat forward on a creaking straw chair, with a cane between his knees. He wore a white hat and tie. They were in a side room, with a huge-screen TV showing angelfish swimming in clear water. On a nearby table were two glasses of iced tea.
They spoke pleasantries for a time. Finally, Dr. Blanco tightened his veined hands on the knob of his cane.
“You look worried, my dear,” Dr. Blanco said. “Please, what is it you would like to tell me?”
“Have you seen the news on the destroyed oil rig?”
“A terrible tragedy,” he said.
Anna nodded, having already decided to edit her story in the interests of protecting her sources, primarily Alfredo Diaz.
“You know I have access to highly confidential information?” she asked.
“My dear, I’m old, not senile. I remember the job.”
Anna nodded. “I happened to run the radio signals from the oil rig on the evening of its destruction.”
Dr. Blanco raised his eyebrows, but made no comment on how she’d gotten something like that.
“Patrol Boat One radioed that they’d picked up a swimmer. An Asian swimmer.”
“I don’t recall seeing that in the news,” Dr. Blanco said.
“It wasn’t. What’s interesting is that the swimmer must have been part of the team that attached the CHKR-57 to the platform. It would be good to know what sort of Asian, but I’m sure the Blacksand men in the patrol boat at night couldn’t tell. CHKR-57 is a Chinese explosive.”
“Does that mean the Asian swimmer was Chinese?” Dr. Blanco asked.
“The search and rescue team found a Chinese body with a TOZ-2 underwater pistol. Those pistols are issued to White Tiger Commandos.”
“None of that was in the news, either.”
Anna told Dr. Blanco about the Presidential order to intern the S&R Team in Nevada.
The old professor frowned. He finally asked, “Does it make sense for the Chinese to blow up the oil platform?”
“The destruction occurred just before the Secretary of State was getting set to meet with Deng Fong,” Anna said. “It is highly unlikely that Deng would have allowed himself to be used in such a manner. We believe that Deng is being groomed by the Chairman to take his place. It seems even more unlikely that the Chairman would do such a thing to his man, as it would entail a massive loss of face.”
“So it makes no sense for the Chinese to destroy the oil platform,” Dr. Blanco said.
“Yet the search and rescue team found a Chinese swimmer carrying a White Tiger Commando weapon.”
“When did they find the body?”
“The day before yesterday, I believe,” Anna said.
“Do you think our military is trying to hide the information?”
“Sir, I don’t think they would have the authority to hide it. Do you?”
“Do you truly suspect the President or has one of his people ordered the information suppressed?”
“…I suspect both possibilities,” Anna said.
Dr. Blanco made a depreciative sound. “Do you hear yourself? A White Tiger Commando is supposedly found in the water. That would mean the Chinese blew up the oil rig. If the President is hiding the information…. Hmmm. It would seem he believes the Chinese did it, but doesn’t want the public to know.”
“The scenario has occurred to me.”
“Why would the Chinese do such a thing? And why would President Clark hide the information?”
“That’s what I keep asking myself,” Anna said. “Every indicator shows that Deng Fong definitely wished for a trade agreement. He wouldn’t have come in secret to Sydney unless he was serious. I glimpsed the brief that included his offer. They were willing to send large oil shipments for our grain at well below market prices.”
“Hmmm, the Chinese offered to trade at below market prices? They’re among the sharpest traders in the world and have a huge percentage of the oil market. Would they have destroyed the well to make us more desperate and to force us to trade with them at better terms?”
“That very reasoning—that America desperately needed the oil—blocked the Secretary of State from going forward with the deal,” Anna said. “It would show everyone that blowing up our oil wells could change American policy. Terrorists would target them even more often then. You should know, too, that the President can’t look like an appeaser this election year. He’s toughening his international image.”
“Could elements in the Chinese military have taken it upon themselves to independently sponsor the attack?” Dr. Blanco asked.
“You and I both know that’s highly unlikely in most governments and even less so in the Chinese. The Chairman may be ailing, but he still runs the country as his personal fiefdom.”
Dr. Blanco appeared perplexed. “Why are you telling me all this? What makes you so suspicious?”
“The Presidential election is near.”
Dr. Blanco began shaking his head. “No, no, you can’t keep these sorts of thing secret, certainly not for very long. Already, the truth is leaking out because of what you’ve learned—if this is the truth. No, this makes no sense. Why would the Chinese secretly destroy an American offshore well? Would they be that confident the United States would cave into threats? Now I’ve read your book and I know the Chairman has practiced expansionist military moves before, but only in areas formerly under Chinese control. You went to great lengths to point that out in your book.”
“There’s more,” Anna said. “I… ah… became curious this morning and searched for information concerning China. Do you know they’ve moved ice-mobile formations to the edge of northern Siberia?”
“Excuse me?”
“The Chinese have formed certain of their military units into ice-mobile—”
“Oh, yes, I know about those,” Dr. Blanco said.