“I thought you weren’t going to say that anymore,” Bree told him. “I hate that word.”
“I calls ’em like I sees ’em,” he told her.
“You like to piss me off, don’t you?”
“Favorite thing in the word, next to kissing you,” he said truthfully. “So you ready for the mission?”
“I can handle it.”
“No shooting down Chinese planes.”
“I will if I have to,” she said.
Zen laughed, but he believed her. “You going to be okay without me riding shotgun for you?” he said as they continued toward the planes.
“I don’t need you to watch my back,” she said.
“Hey,” Zen grabbed at her hand, but missed. “You mad?”
“No.”
“Bree? I was just kidding about the gimp thing.”
“I’m fine,” she said, still walking.
“Hey, what are you mad at?”
She turned toward the mess tent.
Zen began to follow. Ordinarily, she simply teased back. But this wasn’t teasing.
“Hey,” he said, rolling to the door.
“Just feeding my face before the flight,” she said, letting the screen door on the tent slam closed behind her.
Stoner let his breath flow from his chest softly, each cell in his lungs reluctantly surrendering its molecule of oxygen. A yellow light filed the center of his head. His body melted. Stoner’s consciousness became a long note vibrating in the empty tent. He slipped into a deep, meditative trance.
It was then he realized what had happened.
Deliberately, he unfolded his legs, then rose. He stooped down for a sip of water from the bottle near his bed mat and roll—he didn’t use a cot—then went to find Colonel Bastian.
“The lookout post belonged to the Taiwanese,” Stoner told the colonel when he found him. “All of them. the Chinese don’t need them. they must be helping the Indians.”
Bastian nodded. “Have you spoken to Langley?”
“Not yet. But it makes sense. I’ll talk to Jed Barclay too.”
“Why would they fire on us?” asked Bastian.
Us, not you. Stoner like that. He knew Bastian had, without complaint, taken the hit for what went down on the island. Protecting his people, even though they could have plausibly been blamed for messing up. He had grown to admire Bastian; he was a man he could work with.
“Because they fear discovery. Possibly they expected the Chinese, but more likely they knew it would be us. Taiwan can’t appear to be taking sides or provoking a confrontation. They want to hurt Mainland China, but if they do something that looks to us like it’s belligerent, like it’s against our interests, we might crush them. simply moving our fleet away would hurt them.”
Bastian nodded.
“I’d like to join the next patrol flight,” added Stoner.
“The Taiwanese spy ships that have been tracking the submarine, I want to find out about them. I think there’s some operation under way.”
“They’re not part of our mission.”
“Their goal isn’t peace, or coexistence with the Mainland. They want the same thing the Communists want—one China. They just want it on their terms.”
“That may be,” said the colonel. “But at the moment, that’s not our concern.”
“I won’t be just a passenger. There’s no one here who knows more about Chinese and Indian capabilities than I do. I’m the one who found Kali. I’d be very useful tracking the Chinese submarines.”
“Okay,” said Bastian finally. “Work it out with Captain Stockard. Stoner—” Bastian pointed a finger at him. “This operation ultimately answers to Admiral Woods, not me.”
“Took him longer to kick you out than I expected,” said the CIA officer. “He must like you.”
Aboard the Dragon Ship in the South China Sea
1326
Chen Lo Fann walked the deck of the former tanker, his mind heavy with though. Professor AI Hira Bai, the scientist who led the team that developed the Dragons, percolated next to him, bouncing with every step. The launch procedure was not particularly difficult. The small robot was lowered from the side of the ship onto the surface of the water, where it rested on a pair of skis. A solid propellant rocket propelled it into the sky; once it was safely above the spray, its jet engine was activated. The place looked somewhat like a miniaturized Su-33UB, except its engine inlets—two on top, two on the bottom—rather than the more traditional double tailplane of the experimental Sukhoi.
And, of course, there was no place for a pilot.
Chen turned and looked at the horizon while Professor Ai conferred with some of his technicians. The water had a dark green tint to it today; he felt a fresh storm approaching.
In a hundred years, no one would remember the weather or the color of the sea. They would think only of the destruction wrought as the two Navies met.