Sam said, “Jiè dāo shā rén.”
The president looked confused. “What?”
“It’s an old Chinese military strategy,” Sam said. “It means, to kill with a borrowed knife. The concept was to trick a third party to attack, using the strength of an ally, instead of one’s own army to win a battle.”
A series of worrying lines loomed on the president’s forehead as his frowned. “So far, we have a crashed British aircraft, a German cargo ship aground, and now a Chinese aircraft carrier torpedoed. The question is, risk of war threatens our nation, who is most positioned to gain from such a war?”
Sam said, “I’m sorry, Mr. President, my expertise is more in the area of ocean salvage and archeology. My guess is you have plenty of military advisers who might offer better opinions…”
“I’m asking your opinion, Mr. Reilly,” the president said, tersely.
“When Tom and I dived the internal hull of the Buckholtz, we were attacked by another scuba diver. In the struggle, he was killed instead. The diver was wearing a dry suit known to be manufactured for the Russian elite Foreign Intelligence. German Federal Intelligence Service investigators retrieved the body. Unfortunately, the Eurocopter used in the transfer crashed en route and incinerated on impact, destroying the remains.”
The secretary asked, “What are you suggesting?”
Sam expelled a deep breath. “I believe the Russians are behind this attack.”
The president said, “That’s impossible.”
“Why?”
The president frowned. “Because the Russians were the ones who gave us the technology.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Sam felt his world shatter.
He closed his eyes, trying to concentrate and put things into logical order. The greatest superpowers in the world had all been thrown into direct conflict. It was impossible to believe that the world was going to race toward WWIII and even more unlikely that the Russians were now helping them by providing advanced stealth technology.
Sam opened his eyes and met the president’s eye. “I don’t understand, sir.”
The president grinned. “China wasn’t trying to force their opponents to fight one another. You were on the right track, though. In this case, nothing makes enemies work together like the sudden appearance of a greater foe.”
Sam listened, but unable to get where the president was leading, remained silent.
The president continued. “Did you know that during the Cold War, at the Geneva Summit in 1985, President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev agreed to pause the Cold War and come to each other’s aid in the event of an alien attack?”
Sam laughed. “You’re kidding, sir?”
“No. It’s the truth. Gorbachev confirmed it in an interview in 2009.”
Sam cocked an incredulous eyebrow. “Are you telling me we’re under attack from an alien race?’
“No, no. Of course not. But all the same, the Russians, along with anyone else, would come to us to help defeat a mutual enemy.”
“So, who’s the enemy?” Sam asked.
“They don’t know.”
The slightest of smiles formed on Sam’s lips as he waited for the president to explain.
The president met his eye. Conflict twisted his face into a grimace of indecision, as though deciding how much to tell. In the end, it appeared, he opted for the truth. “There’s an insurrection.”
“And the Russians came to us for help?” Sam remained skeptical. “There’s been rebellions before.”
“This is different.”
“How?”
“Military secrets and technology are being stolen from the Russian government. Advanced submarine technology is being sold to a third party. A growing league who have infiltrated governments throughout the world and are slowly building a secret society — hiding in the oceans.”
Sam thought that sounded a little far-fetched. “What makes you so confident the Russians are telling the truth?”
The president set his jaw. “Because we have the same problem, and so does Britain, Germany, and France.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
After following the coast south, the Sikorsky VH-3D Sea King, banked to the left, suddenly deviating inland.
Sam thought about the implications of the news. “The Russians sent you the spheres to try and find the mole?”
The president nodded. “After the loss of the Boeing 747 Dreamlifter, they had Germany send the second sphere by cargo ship. When the Buckholtz ran aground, we knew we were in real trouble. Two days later, when we heard the Feng Jian was sunk, by what appeared to be an American nuclear attack submarine but gave off a radar image of a sphere, we knew our time was running short.”
“Elise said that DARPA was working on the spheres nearly a decade ago, back when she was still working for the CIA. How did we let the Russians beat us to it?”
The president smiled. “Who said they beat us?”
“So, the sphere that attacked the Chinese aircraft carrier…”
“Was most likely one of ours,” the president finished the statement.
Sam glanced at the secretary of defense. “What does your intelligence team think this league’s reasons are?”
She spoke without hesitation. “It appears they want to encourage WWIII.”
“Why? Won’t that just destroy them in the process?”
“We believe they have an underwater habitat. Somewhere large, where they believe they might survive the fallout of such a war.”
Sam said, “How long have we known?”
The president answered. “Nearly five years.”
“Five years!” Sam just about swore. “Why haven’t we done anything about it?”
“We did.” The president turned to his secretary of defense. “Perhaps Painter had better explain to you what we’ve been trying to do.”
Sam glanced at General Painter, the highest-ranking officer in the U.S. military, and direct military advisor to the president and the secretary of defense. “Sir?”
“More than a decade ago we commenced research and development into a perfect submarine. Something entirely undetectable.”
“Go on,” Sam said, knowing that stealth was the golden aim of all submarines.
“Recently, the project reached its successful fruition with the discovery of the material known as blackbody, found on a 13,000-year-old meteorite, we were given the medium needed to make a truly undetectable submarine.”
Sam knew plenty about the strange element, known as blackbody. Microscopically, it was similar to an atomic sponge, capable of soaking up all surrounding sub-atomic particles. The ancient Master Builders knew about the material and had devised a method of controlling the stones, to protect the earth from extinction, after the magnetic poles rapidly switched positions, causing catastrophic changes to the weather.
The material was highly unstable and capable of destroying the world if mishandled. It horrified him that his government would try to use such a material to advance its military. Even so, it also amazed him. As far as he was aware, the last of the unearthly element had been destroyed. “Where did you obtain it? I thought the entire meteorite had been thoroughly mined?”
Painter nodded. “We discovered the meteorite, found near Göbekli Tepe in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey, broke in two upon entry into our atmosphere. Originally, it was assumed the second piece broke up in the atmosphere, but after a long search, it was discovered in a field near Portland Oregon.”
“And you took it to produce the ultimate submarine?”
“Exactly. It was called the USS Omega Deep, and to date, it was the most advanced submarine on Earth. The submarine was launched nearly three months ago now and was on a mission to find this secret league’s underwater habitat.”