Andrew Watts
The Elephant Game
China is a sleeping giant. Let her sleep, for when she wakes she will move the world.
1
“They’re coming for you,” the base commander told her as he returned the phone to its cradle.
Natesh watched Lena for a reaction. Nothing. Stoic. But he knew that there was more behind the emotionless eyes. Lena was trusting everyone around her even less than usual after the recent failures.
It was probably over, Natesh knew. His life’s defining moment — and his biggest mistake — was coming to an end. Cheng Jinshan had been taken into custody. And now a plane full of Chinese military police was secretly flying to Manta, Ecuador, with orders to apprehend the criminal Lena Chou.
Criminal.
It was amazing how quickly things could change. Lena was the best covert operative China possessed. Natesh had seen the results firsthand. And they were sometimes hard to watch.
Lena stood next to him now. Her long black hair ran down her tall, muscular frame. She had been wearing her hair down more lately. Natesh suspected that she wanted it to hide the recently acquired burn scars that ran from her right ear down to her leg. He had seen her looking in the mirror at the scars, when she thought no one was watching. That was a remarkable sight in itself. It proved that even the robotic killer queen wasn’t immune to human emotion.
What was going on behind those eyes? Was she contemplating the recent turn of events, and how it would affect her? Would she become a survivalist, turning on Jinshan as others in China must have?
“When was Jinshan taken?” Lena asked the base commander.
“Several hours ago.”
She turned to Natesh. “What have we heard from the island?”
“Nothing since the Americans attacked our ships. Admiral Song’s operation has gone dark.”
Their failure was still raw. One Chinese ship had been sunk in the Eastern Pacific, as well as one Chinese submarine. Three Chinese navy ships were limping into a port in Panama.
The American Navy had responded swiftly when one of their destroyers, the USS Farragut, had been attacked by a Chinese submarine. Three US-allied ships were sunk, but the Farragut had survived. The Farragut had then gone on to recover a team of US special operations commandos who had raided the Chinese base in Ecuador and gotten a vital piece of Chinese cryptologic equipment into the hands of the NSA.
That was what had gotten Cheng Jinshan arrested, Natesh knew. The crypto key had uncovered Jinshan and Admiral Song’s secret military movements. With that evidence, the Americans had shown the Chinese president and a few politicians that Jinshan was plotting a war. While the Chinese leadership had likely been horrified to learn that one of their most powerful citizens had been able to orchestrate a Chinese military operation without their knowledge, that wasn’t what scared them the most. The Chinese politicians were most terrified of what their exclusion from Jinshan’s inner circle meant for them. He must have been planning a coup. And there is nothing like the fear of losing one’s throne to motivate action. Cheng Jinshan and Admiral Song had been arrested within hours.
Lena let out a breath of frustration through her nostrils, looking at the floor. Slowly turning her head. Thinking. “Colonel, do you know when the aircraft filled with military police will arrive?”
“My source tells me to expect it sometime today. This information didn’t come from normal channels. It is likely a matter of hours.”
She nodded, her eyes racing from side to side as she thought. “Very well. Thank you for the notice. We bid you farewell for now. When they do arrive, this conversation never happened.”
“Of course.”
Natesh followed Lena out of the office. He knew enough not to ask her any questions right now. Natesh had seen her eyes like this before. She was on the warpath.
Their first stop was at one of the barracks buildings. They were nothing more than a series of trailers, recently set up to house the influx of Chinese military personnel that had been flown over from Guangzhou.
This trailer held a single resident. From his uniform, Natesh saw that he was an officer. When he saw Lena and Natesh enter, he sat up in his bunk, a surprised and frightened look on his face. Lena and the officer began speaking in rapid Mandarin. Natesh couldn’t understand them, but the Chinese officer rose to his feet and began to protest whatever Lena was saying. Her eyes were narrowed, and the tiniest of smiles crept over her face. Natesh took a few steps back.
The fight didn’t last long. As soon as the Chinese officer realized what she was here for, he tried to move past her. But she blocked his path down the narrow corridor of the trailer, sliding gracefully in front of him and cocking her head.
He would have to go through her.
The officer’s face grew red. He glared at her, then struck. A right hook that would have connected with her head, had she not ducked. The miss angered him, and he yelled and walked forward, on the offensive.
Lena’s movements were fast and controlled. Her fists shot out in a series of rapid strikes to his torso and neck area. The captain doubled over and fell to his knees, writhing in pain. He made a choking sound, one hand covering his throat and the other his stomach.
Lena removed a knife from her belt.
“Lena,” Natesh said, “what are you—”
She jabbed the knife up into the officer’s chest. The man’s eyes widened as the gleaming blade penetrated his heart. He collapsed onto the floor, a steady flow of blood pouring out of the wound. Lena grabbed him by the shirt and pants, her muscles rippling as she dragged him back over to his bed and heaved him up onto the mattress. She walked over to a sink, cleaning the blood off her hands. The knife remained in the man’s chest.
Natesh stared in silence, his eyes wide. For a moment, the only sound was that of the running sink.
She scrubbed off the blood with soap and water, not looking up as she spoke. “You are wondering why I have done this? Well, here is your answer. I knew this man. I had a debt to settle with him. And I suspect that he may have been the one who notified the authorities that I am here. If he is watching us, I don’t want him to see us exit the camp.”
Natesh didn’t reply immediately. He just looked at her and the dead body behind her, the knife protruding from the man’s chest cavity.
A wave of questions filled Natesh’s mind. Was this something he wanted to be a part of? What had he fallen into? These methods weren’t what Natesh had agreed to with Jinshan. Modern war was to be quick and decisive. Jinshan had lured Natesh with the opportunity to design a new and better society. But first, he had to help orchestrate a war. The allure of power and the challenge of writing history — even if that history began with a war — was what had drawn him to this path. But seeing the violence up close… this wasn’t at all how he’d thought it would be.
She glanced at him. “Are you alright? I’m sorry that you had to see this, Natesh.”
He nodded. “I’ll be okay.”
She dried her hands and arms with a towel. “Come. This way.”
As they walked out of the dead officer’s trailer, Lena could see that Natesh was upset. He had every right to be. A few weeks ago, he had been a promising Silicon Valley entrepreneur. CEO of his own boutique consulting company, working with some of the world’s largest firms to solve problems and create new products.
Now, he was a witness to murder, each one bloodier than the last. He was likely questioning himself. Natesh Chaudry was one of the chief architects of the Chinese invasion of the United States. A brilliant mind, and a valuable asset. One that Jinshan thought highly of. She couldn’t have him getting cold feet.