CHAPTER 37
Senator Bechtel was guided through the halls of the Pentagon to Admiral Billingsly’s office.
“Senator,” Billingsly said as she entered. “What brings you to my little corner of the world?”
She chuckled at his reference to what he does as a little corner of the world. She closed the door and turned to face him. “I know you’re busy — so am I, so can we drop the pleasantries and get right down to business?” She noticed a mischievous grin on his face as he extended his arm toward a chair. She sat. “I trust you know who I am.”
“I do,” he replied.
“I know about the A4 facility in Alaska.” She watched his expression closely. His grin slowly faded. “I also know it’s in violation of the U.N. Weather Weapons Treaty. What I don’t know is why you used that weapon against China.” She didn’t have any hard evidence that he had, but a strong suspicion always made for a good bluff. She stared straight into his eyes to gauge his response. Since he’s not denying the accusation I might as well push the point further and see what he does.
He glanced away and leaned back in his padded chair. “As you are well aware, I can’t comment on speculation. If, as you suggest, an illegal weapon was used, the country affected would have the right to go to the U.N. Security Council and lodge a formal complaint, which would be investigated. I am unaware of any such complaint.”
“And if there were a complaint, the United States, as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, would simply veto any action proposed by China, just as they would do to us.” She paused to see if he would respond. He didn’t. China, like the U.S., is one of six members of the U.N. Security Council with the power to veto anything the U.N. proposed. “You don’t consider what China is doing as a form of complaint?”
“I wouldn’t presume to know why the Chinese do anything, Senator. Why would you?”
“Well, I think it’s obvious. China believes it has been attacked. By us. More specifically, by you.” She sat in silence, maintaining eye contact. It was one of those challenges where the first one to speak loses. He broke eye contact, but didn’t say anything. He did attack China. She thought. The question is: did he have official authorization, or is he doing this on his own? And if it was authorized, who gave the order? She continued to stare at him for two long, agonizing minutes.
“Frankly, Senator,” he finally said, “you’re wandering where you don’t belong.”
A threat, she thought. No. Not a threat; a warning. What is he doing? I came in here and challenged him; accused him. He didn’t counterattack, he didn’t throw me out of his office, he’s strictly playing defense. Why? Is he afraid of me? If he had authorization to attack China he would have the support and protection of the people above him. He could afford to be confrontational with me, but he isn’t doing that. He must have acted alone. He doesn’t want to be exposed. He doesn’t need the conflict; he needs an ally. But, why should I be that ally?
“I didn’t come here looking for blood, Admiral. I came for understanding. You’re in a position to help me understand what is happening, and why.” If he wants me to be his ally, he has to give me something in return. Quid pro quo. She watched as he fidgeted and glanced around.
“Everything I’m involved in is highly classified and extremely sensitive,” he said finally.
“As you are aware, I’m on the Intelligence Committee. I know about the A4 and what it can do. I’m just trying to figure out how far China is willing to push the situation and what kind of damage we’re looking at.”
He scoffed. “It’s already too late for that.”
“What do you mean?” she asked. Her heart began to race as the fear rose within her chest. Something’s already happening? It has to be a recent event I haven’t recognized, it has to be different from what has already happened. Her mind raced through every potential threat that had been recently mentioned. Was everything China was doing just a cover for something more devastating? The look on Billingsly’s face told her he wanted her to figure out what it was. “Hurricane Loretta,” she said as calmly as she could. She watched as his expression shifted from expectation to relief. “Why are we…”
“Don’t be naive, Senator. We’re not the only ones with this technology.”
“China? China’s creating and directing Loretta? Can’t we use the facility to stop it?”
“It doesn’t work that way. You add energy to create the storm. We currently don’t have the means of taking energy out of a weather system.”
“Okay,” she replied, “but if China had this facility, why did we risk causing the earthquake?” She saw the dejected look on his face. “They didn’t, did they?”
“It’s new. It’s a major shift in the world power structure,” Billingsly said.
She sat back in her chair and breathed out heavily. Thoughts raced through her mind. “How bad do you think it would be?”
“Loretta is already a Category two hurricane and building rapidly. Think Katrina, on steroids.”
“Primary target?”
“Seattle, Washington. Your state of Oregon won’t fare very well either. With Portland sitting in a river valley like it is, you can expect heavy damages there, as well.”
She considered everything she had learned. He didn’t seem willing to add anything more. “Thank you, Admiral,” she said as she stood and turned toward the door. She stopped and turned back toward him. “We’re on the same team, Admiral. Please let me know if anything changes.” He didn’t respond. He just sat there and watched her leave.
CHAPTER 38
Willa visited Gladys at the Chamber of Commerce office.
“So how bad is the news?” Willa asked.
“With the heavy rain and storm coming in, many of the tourists are leaving and the cancellations have started. This is going to hurt Dolphin Beach, a lot. With hurricane Loretta at a category three and 120 MPH sustained winds, it’s not only going to ruin the rest of the season, the damage to our buildings from the storm surge and waves is going to be horrendous. I’ve seen this before when I lived on the North Shore of Hawaii. Right now the winds are out of the south. We have rain but no storm surge. Once the hurricane passes to the north and swings inland, the wind will be out of the west, coming straight off the water. Then you can expect the sea level to raise ten to fifteen feet with 30 foot waves on top of that.”
Willa sighed and looked down at the counter. “People are going to lose their homes.”
“Yeah,” Gladys replied, “and their businesses.”
Willa drummed her fingers on the counter. “What I don’t understand is what is a storm of this size doing this far north. I mean, aren’t these storms a tropical thing?”
“Not necessarily,” Gladys replied. “The Northeast gets storms like this every few years.”
“But I’ve lived here all of my life, and I don’t remember a storm like this. Was there one?”
“Hang on,” Gladys said as she accessed her computer. “Let me see… Huh.”
“What? What is it?”
“Nineteen thirty nine, a hurricane hit Southern California. Forty-five people died.”
“Okay,” Willa replied, “that’s Southern California. What about here?”
Gladys tapped away on her keyboard. “We’ve got records from 1900 until now. Pacific hurricanes… Mexico, Hawaii, there’s the one in Southern California.”
“What about here?”
Gladys looked at her. “There weren’t any.”