The lockout drills were performed quickly, with each group standing inside the trunk in rising water, exiting the submarine, and reentering. There was some concern over Thomas’s ability to remain calm, but the Splinter Cell went through the motions quite admirably. Afterward, Brent congratulated the man and said his brother would have been proud. Thomas agreed.
Lakota brushed past Brent in the confined passageway outside his stateroom and asked if he’d ever had sex onboard a submarine.
He stood there, dumbfounded, speechless, shocked even…
And then just as quickly, she sang, “Kidding…” and started away.
“That’s sexual harassment,” he said.
She glanced back salaciously. “So?”
“I could write you up for that.”
“Before or after?”
She rounded the corner, gone.
“Damn,” he muttered. If insubordination didn’t get him busted out of the Army, temptation like that would.
“Captain?” called the ship’s XO. “We have Major Dennison for you. She’s got updated intelligence on your target. If you’ll follow me…”
“Does it sound good?” Brent asked.
“There’s a lot of activity at your infiltration point. And there’s been some Russian sub movement. We might even have a shadow. You boys come with a lot of baggage.”
“Yeah. It is what it is.”
The meeting with Patti was canceled, and that same morning a private jet belonging to the Ganjin flew the Snow Maiden, Hussein, and Chopra from Geneva to Fujairah, one of the seven oil-rich emirates that made up the old United Arab Emirates. Fujairah was located on the Gulf of Oman, about an hour’s car ride directly east of Dubai. They were put up in the Hilton Fujairah Resort, where they were to remain until Patti called and was ready with the trucks and team that would head west.
Without notice, a knock came at the door. The Snow Maiden drew her weapon, asked who it was. Room service. She checked the peephole.
Two men stood there: one wearing a hotel uniform and pushing a cart that carried food and bags of clothing. The other guy wore a long overcoat and had the dark but graying hair and pale skin of an Eastern European. She guessed he was about fifty.
She opened the door, keeping her weapon hidden behind her back, and allowed the cart pusher to enter.
The other man immediately said, “Viktoria, come with me.”
“Oh, yeah?” she asked, raising her pistol to his forehead. “Maybe you should come with me.”
“I’m in the room next door. He’ll keep an eye on Chopra and the boy.”
“Who the hell are you?”
“A colleague of Patti’s. Lower that weapon. Right now.”
The Snow Maiden thought a second — he knew who she was, knew about Chopra, and knew Patti. She lowered the gun but remained tense and ready. “Answer my question.”
“I will. Come on,” he said.
She followed him to the next room, where inside, seated at the desk near the window, Patti smoked a cigarette and sipped a cup of tea. “Sit down, Viktoria. And please keep your mouth closed and listen.”
“That would be wise,” added the other man.
“This is Igany Fedorovich,” Patti began. “He’s director of SinoRus Group oil exploration. They have headquarters on Sakhalin Island. That’s just north of Japan.”
“And he’s a member of the Ganjin,” added the Snow Maiden.
“Of course.”
Fedorovich looked at the Snow Maiden and put a finger across his lips.
Patti continued, “What I’m about to tell you, very few people in this world have heard. And if they learn that you know who they are, you will be a target.”
The Snow Maiden smirked; tell her something she didn’t know. Everyone already wanted her dead. Take a number.
“Ganjin as a concept was born many years ago, back in the 1970s, during the fall of the Communist regime. The movement was the precursor in China toward capitalistic individualism and enabled the beehive mentality of Chinese society to restructure into many hives. The concept also prompted Xu Liangyu and Isaac Eisenstein, two classmates at Harvard, to consider how the concept could be used to gain control of the world’s natural and socioeconomic resources.”
The Snow Maiden yawned. “Kill me now before this history lesson continues.”
“Quiet,” snapped Patti. “You need to understand this.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re part of it.”
“I quit. You’re here. You got the old man and the kid, who by the way is a spoiled punk who would sell his own mother to the devil. I’m done. You do the rest. I want to be paid right now.”
“You’ll do as we say — otherwise, you’ll receive nothing.”
The Snow Maiden raised her pistol at Patti’s head. “Payment now. Electronically as usual.”
Ignoring the pistol, Patti forged on: “Liangyu and Eisenstein were joined by myself, Igany here, and Dominico DiNezzo, who’s president of the Vatican Bank and the man who discovered the existence of Mr. Manoj Chopra. We called ourselves the Committee of Five, members of the Ganjin, a network that extends over the entire globe. We’ve influenced this war in ways you can’t imagine, and all for the benefit of the People’s Republic of China, a nation we once believed would win this war and become the world’s only remaining superpower.”
“So I’ve been working for China.”
“Indirectly, yes.”
“What’s wrong, then? I can hear it in your voice.”
Fedorovich moved in beside Patti. “The committee has split. Patti and I do not agree with the Ganjin’s new direction.”
“They no longer support China?” asked the Snow Maiden.
“They’ve linked with the Green Brigade Transnational. They’ve extended their network into South America. They’re being heavily influenced by those factions, and many of our resources within China have turned their backs on us because they will not endorse those relationships. The Chinese have very careful and thoughtful plans to seize control of the Russian Federation, but these South American factions can undermine those plans.”
“So that’s how Nestes knew who you were,” said the Snow Maiden.
Patti nodded. “I gave him orders to protect you against attack, but he double-crossed me, then tried to play a different card with you. I’m glad you saw through him.”
“He just knew too much. So I killed him.”
“Exactly.”
“So what now?”
“We’re breaking off from the Ganjin. We plan to form a new international health organization. We’re getting out of the business of war and into the business of peace. And Dubai’s gold and oil reserves will help fund our efforts.”
“You already work for the World Health Organization.”
She closed her eyes. “We are as corrupt and unmanageable as the Ganjin itself.”
The Snow Maiden shrugged. “Look, this is all very admirable, but I still haven’t been paid.”
“We’ll offer an additional advance on services rendered,” said Fedorovich. “But what we’re really offering, Viktoria, is something more — a seat as director of intelligence.”
“You’re going to screw over the Ganjin, and you’re going to use me to do it. And you don’t think they’ll be mad about that?”
“No, I don’t,” said Patti. “They won’t live long enough to get upset.”