Elliot nodded. “If they knew the numbers that you were going to call, they could have had trained operatives and a preplanned response. That’s what I would have done.”
Chase said, “It’s alright. You’re gonna be alright. Give us another day and we’ll get you back to the States. We need to figure some stuff out here.”
Elliot said, “Chase, I think I’m going to want you to personally escort them back home. We need to get a warning to the right people. And based on what I’m hearing, I don’t trust our normal method of communications. Shit, those methods might not be available anyway.”
“Understood.”
A buzz went off and Chase picked his phone up out of his jacket’s inner breast pocket. He looked at the phone and said, “Waleed says he’s a few minutes out. I’m going to need to head upstairs.”
Elliot looked over to the other room where the Asian man was typing. He wasn’t paying attention. Elliot then said in a quiet tone, “He doesn’t want to meet here?”
David shook his head slowly. “No. But he said to make sure that our friend stays here until we have our chat.”
Elliot nodded.
David looked worried. “What for? Why do you need to leave?”
“Nothing. It’s something else. Another issue. I’ll be back soon. Elliot will continue this.”
Elliot was looking at his phone.
He said, “Chase, before you go, you might want to see this. They sent me the video feed from the drone over Bandar Abbas. It’s two minutes long. They sent me the highlights.”
Elliot held up his phone. All four of them watched as a roadside bomb destroyed two trucks and three cars on a highway. Then a dirt bike drove down the adjacent mountainside and through the wreckage. The rider fired a small machine gun at another military truck that was heading towards it. Then the bike raced about a mile to the shore, the truck in pursuit. Just before reaching the water, the rider slammed to a halt. A large sack was thrown onto the beach and set on fire. Then the rider threw off what looked like a ghillie suit and walked into the beach. It was a woman. A long-haired Asian woman. She looked up at the sky and placed her hand to her face just before diving into the water.
“What was she just doing?”
“It looked like she blew us a kiss.”
Chase said, “Well, that’s definitely Lisa Parker.”
David said, “Mr. Jackson, would you mind pausing the video so I can see her face?”
He gave David a strange look, no doubt wondering whether someone that had unwittingly just provided the Chinese with classified secrets should be shown anything this sensitive. Still, he did as David asked.
Elliot changed the angle of his phone in his hand and David caught a glimpse of the screen. It held an image of a pretty Asian woman blowing them a kiss from several miles below the drone’s camera.
Henry said, “Hey, that’s her.”
David said, “Brother, I don’t know any Lisa Parker. But I one hundred percent know that face.”
Elliot and Chase looked at each other, confused, and then back at David.
“That’s the Chinese woman that was running the Red Cell. That’s Lena Chou.”
Chapter 16
Lena stared at the email on the computer screen in disbelief. The submarine had just gone up to periscope depth, downloaded a good deal of data from Chinese military satellites, and then plunged back to a depth of 250 feet.
The email was from Jinshan himself.
Hello, Lena,
I hope this finds you well. I am extremely impressed with your most recent accomplishments. My congratulations on a job well done.
Unfortunately, the Abu Musa operation was not successful. Not only has the physical link to the submarine cables proven faulty, but also our backup plan using our “faux” Satoshi plant seems to have been detected by the Americans. I received word from him recently that all of his uploads are complete, yet we still have no ability to artificially control the bitcoin valuation. I surmise that US intelligence is responsible for this. Alas, we knew that this operation was high-risk, and this outcome is not completely unexpected.
As I stated to you when we last spoke, the rapid execution of our plans is my primary concern. If one option fails, we shall move to the next. With the unfortunate failure of the Abu Musa operation, and the apparent success of your excursion to the north, I have decided that a change of direction is now prudent.
I have ordered an accelerated timeline for our Dubai operation. It has been brought to my attention, however, that there is a window of opportunity to recover certain assets prior to the commencement of the Dubai operation. Your mission is as follows. I leave it to your expert judgment to determine what, if anything on this list, can be accomplished. Your air transportation will be at rendezvous point #4 within one hour of your scheduled communications window.
She read the details of the mission outline, shaking her head. She looked at her watch. If she was to do this, she needed to move now.
She stormed out of the room, squeezing through the long, narrow corridor of the submarine until she reached the bridge. The Captain saw her and immediately rose from his seat. Normally the captain of a submarine was like a god on earth. But when the highest-ranking official in the Chinese Navy had spoken to him personally about this secret assignment, he’d had but one warning: do not anger Lena Chou.
“Miss Chou, how can I help you?” The sailors and officers in the bridge were all looking at her. There were no women on board Chinese submarines. One as attractive as Lena caused a lot of commotion. One enlisted man had made the mistake of groping her in a dark passageway. He’d made it seem like an accident. Perhaps it had been a dare from his friends. Lena had put him in the infirmary. Word had spread quickly after that. Everyone on board had now heard the same warning that the Captain had.
Lena addressed the Captain. “We need to surface immediately.”
He looked like someone had just struck him. “Excuse me?” Submarines were covert. Surfacing this close to Dubai was heresy.
“I’m sorry, but that’s not possible. We can’t surface. The American Navy has ships and aircraft throughout this region. If we surfaced, they might—”
“Captain, I understand the risk. But this is not a request. I am needed in Dubai. I expect that you will be getting your official orders any moment now. Also — I recommend that you make preparations for combat.”
A yellow light began blinking near one of the computers.
One of the young officers called out, “Sir, we’re receiving an urgent message from PLAN Submarine Force.”
The Captain looked at Lena with a mix of apprehension and frustration. He said, “With respect, you are untrained in the art of submarine warfare. You cannot expect me to surface my boat in broad daylight when we are barely outside of the territorial waters of the United Arab Emirates, and very close to one of the busiest ports in the world. An American aircraft carrier just pulled in to that port. It would be extremely unwise to surface here.”
Lena didn’t want to risk having this go awry. She decided to take a soft approach. “Captain, surely there is a reason that a man of your skill was assigned to this mission.” She looked at her watch. “In a few moments, there will be a helicopter not far from our current location. It will be sent to pick me up and take me back to Dubai. You only need surface for a brief moment. Leave me in a raft if you must. But I need to be on that aircraft. This must be accomplished or our nation’s security will suffer greatly.”
The young officer near the communications station ripped off a printout of the urgent message and brought it over to the Captain. The Captain read the message. His eyes grew wide, and then fearful. He turned to his first officer. “Please find us a good place to come up.” He then continued reading the message.