34
TWELVE TIME ZONES BEHIND WELLS, Exley pulled on sweatpants and a mostly clean blouse and walked downstairs to Thirteenth Street, where her security guards waited in their black Lincolns under the dark predawn sky. The doors of the front Lincoln opened as she approached, and the guards stepped out.
“Ms. Exley.”
“I need a ride.”
The Lincolns screamed off, a two-car convoy with sirens and flashing lights. Fifteen minutes later she was knocking on Shafer’s door. She hoped he had some ideas. On the ride over, the reality of the odds that they faced had hit her. Wells had no transponder, no way to reach them. He hadn’t even told her what kind of ship he’d be on, much less its name. The Yellow Sea was practically Chinese territory, especially under these circumstances. How would they possibly find him and get him out?
SHAFER OPENED THE DOOR, BLEARY-EYED. He motioned her inside, down to his basement, into the laundry room. “Ellis—”
“Wait. I get the house swept every other month but just in case.” He flicked on the washer and dryer.
“Now,” Shafer said.
“John called.”
“Where from?”
“Beijing.” She explained what Wells had told her.
When she was done, Shafer shook his head. “No hint of what he’s got?”
“No. Just that he could stop it. We have to talk to Duto.”
“And tell him we need to pull out the stops to save John Wells. This’ll be fun.” He motioned her upstairs. “Go home, get dressed. I’ll see you in two hours at Langley.”
“Two hours.”
“Nothing we can do before then. He won’t get off the coast for several hours. Besides, no one’s going to take us seriously dressed like this.” He was wearing Redskins pajamas, a fact she’d chosen to ignore until now.
“Point taken.”
EXLEY AND SHAFER SAT in a windowless, soundproofed conference room at Langley, across from Tyson and Vinny Duto. The stress of being director seemed to be getting to Duto. He was fatter than she remembered, and his hair — always his pride — had receded, offering hints of scalp. But his eyes were as hard as ever.
He listened silently as Exley told him and Tyson what Wells had said. No one spoke when she finished, and for a few seconds the only sound in the room was the drumming of Duto’s fingers against the wooden table.
“So you understand: In the last hour, our satellites have picked up a major mobilization of Chinese forces. Regular army and paramilitary. Increasing by the minute. The White House knows.” Duto opened a black-bordered folder. “They’re putting roadblocks on the highways and main secondary roads in and out of Beijing. Military units at the entrances to every civilian airport. The Friendship Bridge, between China and North Korea, has been shut.”
“Sounds like they haven’t found him yet.”
“Unfortunately, we haven’t found him either,” Tyson said. “And unless you and he are connected telepathically, I’m not sure how we’re going to. Since he has no transponder and didn’t see fit to give us coordinates. Perhaps he should have asked for an airlift out of Tiananmen. It might have been easier.”
Exley’s ears burned. Wells might be dead and Tyson was cracking jokes! Her face must have shown her anger, because Tyson quickly backed off. “I am only saying that the attack on the Decatur proves the Chinese are acting recklessly, Ms. Exley. If we move our ships deep into the Yellow Sea, they may think that we’re intentionally provoking them.”
“They’ve got ten thousand miles of coast. They can’t watch it all,” Shafer said. “He gets twelve miles offshore, he’s not in territorial waters anymore. And there’s still heavy traffic in the Yellow Sea. I checked.” He held up a two-page printout filled with ship names and registry numbers. “All due at Incheon today.”
“Let me point out something you may not wish to hear,” Tyson said. “Mr. Wells told you we should wait, not do anything stupid.”
“Right, he said he had something—”
Tyson knocked her down. “But he didn’t say what.”
“It was an unsecured line.”
“At the same time, he wants us to take an incredibly aggressive action. Bit of a contradiction there, wouldn’t you say?”
“He wants us to save his life,” Exley said.
“Or perhaps the call was a setup arranged by the Chinese.”
“It was him. I know his voice.”
“What if he’s been turned and they’re using him to get at us? To move our ships into a vulnerable position.”
“He wouldn’t. He’d die first.”
“People do strange things when they’re in pain.”
This couldn’t be happening, Exley thought. They weren’t seriously arguing about whether to let Wells die out there. “Then why are they mobilizing their army and all the rest?”
“Part of the setup.”
“You don’t really think that,” she said. “Save me the mirrors within mirrors nonsense.” Her voice rose, and she reminded herself to stay in control, not to give them any excuse to marginalize her. “This was your idea, George. If not for you he wouldn’t be in this mess.”
“Jennifer,” Duto said. “I don’t think we can risk putting our assets that far forward. Let Wells get to Incheon. At least into Korean territorial waters.”
Shafer laughed, a thin angry laugh.
“Something to say, Ellis?”
Shafer waited until they were all looking at him. Normally, he was a jumble of tics and wasted motion. Not now. Exley had never seen him so still.
“Never thought I’d have to play this card, Vinny. I underestimated you. You sent him there and you’d rather let him die than lift a finger. The craziest part is, he might actually get us out of this mess.”
“We don’t know what he has, Ellis, that’s the point. I’m not going to recommend that we put thousands of sailors in harm’s way. Maybe push the Chinese over the edge. To save one man.”
“To stop a war.”
“What if he’s been turned?”
“Where have I heard this song before? It’s not his fault he saved New York while you tried to arrest him. Get over it.” Shafer stood. “Jenny, come on. Over the river and through the woods. To the president’s house we go.”
“Ellis—” Duto said.
“Herr Director. This is so simple, even you can understand it. You tell the president we have a chance to stop this war. You tell him we’re going to go get Wells. Or I will.”
“And what do we tell the Chinese when they ask why half our fleet is twenty miles off their coast?”
“We’ll burn that bridge when we come to it.”
“You’ve forgotten the biggest problem, Ellis,” Tyson said. “We have no idea how to find Mr. Wells. Are you suggesting we sail in circles and hope he paddles up on his wooden raft or whatever he’ll be on? I assure you the Navy will dislike that plan, especially with that Chinese supersub still on the loose.”
“I have an idea,” Exley said.
“Do share,” Tyson said.
“You’re right. We can’t find him. So we’re going to have to make it easy for him to find us.”
Exley outlined her plan. Duto was shaking his head before she was half done. “No way,” he said. “The Air Force will never—
“They will if the big man tells them to,” Shafer said.
“How do you know Wells is even going to understand what we’re doing?”
“He’ll understand,” Exley said.
And suddenly Duto smiled at her, the easy smile of a poker player watching his opponent make a bluff that was doomed to fail. “You, me, Ellis. We’ll ride over there together. You and Ellis can tell the big man whatever you like. I don’t mind. As long as he knows it’s from you.”