Johnson led her past other cubicles to his office door. He opened it and said, “Go.”
“Sir?” she asked.
“Go inside.”
“After you, sir,” she said.
He scowled and pointed within.
Confused, Anna stepped into his office without him. A man sat in her boss’s chair. It took a second before Anna realized the Director of the CIA sat there.
Dr. Samuel Levin was a wizened figure of legend, with uncombed, thick white hair jutting in disorder. The hair with its many points was like an anarchist’s crown or some strange wizard’s hat. It made Levin seem as if he was an ancient in his second childhood, peering at people with quizzical eyes. His neck looked too skinny to hold up his large head and crown.
“Director?” Anna asked.
“Shut the door and sit down,” Levin said.
“Should I call in Mr. Johnson?”
“You’re a smart woman, Anna.”
She hesitated and finally nodded, shutting the door with Johnson still outside and sitting down in a chair before the desk.
Levin scratched an ear as he peered at her. The quizzical eyes seemed to ask a hundred questions. He seemed like one of those youths with an insatiable number of queries, wanting to know everything. He didn’t disappoint, either.
“Anna, how do you know the Chinese are going to attack in Southern California?”
His lack of small talk startled her. If that’s how he wanted to proceed…it was fine with her. “I don’t know,” she said. “But it is my strong assessment.”
He smiled like a fox from Aesop’s Fables, one of those sly creatures able to talk crows into dropping their grapes.
“Your reports are like a blizzard of warnings,” he said. “You’re a veritable prophetess of doom concerning California when everyone else knows it’s one of the few quiet fronts we have. The situation grows increasingly worse in Texas and drone reports show a massing of GD hovers off the Florida Keys. When he should be concentrating on Texas and possibly Florida, the President keeps asking about California.”
“Because of my reports?” asked Anna.
“I believe that’s what I just implied.”
“Why hasn’t anyone told me?”
Director Levin used his pinky finger to scratch the inside of his ear. “You’re on a short list of undesirables. It isn’t my list, but your ethnicity has more than a few people worried. Fortunately for you, the President recalls that you were on Clark’s staff during the war.”
“The Alaskan War?” Anna asked.
“It’s the only war that counts with the President.”
“Yes, sir, I think I understand.”
“I believe you do. Not that it matters. The point of our little meeting tonight is for you to tell me why you think the Chinese are about to invade California. Why not invade Texas—where the sheer volume of shells used has shattered large sections of the Laredo Fortifications? The Pan Asian Alliance and the South American Federation have openly moved large forces into position to exploit any breakthroughs there.”
“I realize that, sir. Still, it’s unlike Chinese generals to advertise their moves so openly. They like to use surprises, to use decoys.”
Levin shrugged. “Perhaps they know we know that. Therefore, acting like a decoy, pretending to be a decoy, these troops in Texas are actually the real thing: an invasion force meant to drive a wedge into our underbelly.”
“I suppose it’s possible,” Anna said.
“But you deem it unlikely?”
“Yes, sir,” she said.
“And this is because…?”
“Marshal Kao helps formulate much of China’s strategy.”
“Tell me about him,” Levin said.
“He’s the Minister of Defense on the Ruling Committee,” Anna said. “He works closely with Chairman Hong. Frankly, what you’re seeing in Texas, it isn’t like Marshal Kao.”
“Maybe it’s someone else’s plan.”
“Maybe,” she said.
Levin pursed his lips. “Give me another reason.”
“I’m troubled by the amount of dedicated road usage in the Baja-California region of Mexico. The usage implies massive shipments of troops, supplies, or most likely both. I’m not talking about corps-level movements as appears to be happening in Texas, but something much larger.”
“You’ve been following the situation in Texas?” Levin asked.
“A little,” Anna said.
“You like to keep your finger on the pulse?”
“If you want to put it like that,” she said.
“Hmm,” he said, scratching his ear again. “If this is all so simple to see, why doesn’t anyone else see it?”
“The data is always there, sir.”
“Meaning what?” Levin asked.
Anna took a deep breath. “That most intelligence agencies have the facts of this or that on the enemy but simply don’t trust the data. It’s only clear to everyone once a thing happens. They say hindsight is twenty-twenty. Then people say, ‘Look. The evidence was right there in front of them all along. It must have been a conspiracy that kept it hidden.’ But there usually isn’t a conspiracy. It’s just that no one believed the reports or the obvious was so obvious that it had everyone’s attention. In this instance I mean Texas.”
“I believe I’d already figured out what you meant,” Levin said.
Anna nodded. “In this instance, I happen to trust our spy in Mexico City, the one in traffic control. He has shown a continuous and massive shutdown of northern roads in the Baja-California area. That implies a mass—”
“I know what it implies,” Levin said. “The trouble is that no one else agrees with him.”
“Exactly,” Anna said. “The massing GD hovers, the artillery attacks near Laredo and the movement toward the Texas Front of SAF armor—some of the same units that so brilliantly conquered Argentina—have diverted everyone’s attention on everywhere but California. And that is why I think an attack is imminent against the SoCal Fortifications.”
“You’re not telling me everything,” Levin said.
Anna looked away. “No, sir, I’m not.”
“Well… tell me the rest.”
Licking her lips, Anna said, “I’m not a military historian, sir.”
“No?”
“But the Battle of the Bulge is a good example of my final reason. There, the Germans practiced strict communication discipline. The critical factor was the movement of troops and supplies into attack positions. The Germans did that secretly, too, usually only moving at night.”
“I’m with you so far.”
“The Chinese are practicing strict communication control. I also believe they’re aware of every satellite shot into space and drone flight sent into their territory. That means to me they’re trying to be very secret about what they’re doing near the SoCal border. The artillery in Texas and the GD hovers, that’s to throw us off.”
“I see. And you’re the only one in America smart enough to see through these Chinese and German deceptions?”
“No, sir,” Anna said. “You see it and I expect that so does the President. That’s why he’s sent you to talk to me.”
“Ah. You’re a smart girl, Anna.”
“And you’re a smart man, sir.”
Levin grinned. “You’re coming with me.”
“Okay. Can I ask where I’m going?”
“To every meeting I have with the War Council. You’re going to be my aide. You’re also going to help me understand what the Chinese are thinking, just like you helped President Clark seven years ago.”