“You come highly recommended,” he said.
“I guessed that. Otherwise you would have asked to see my I.D. But you had already seen my face in a briefing at the embassy.”
Anderson seemed to blush. “Your record with the Agency is impressive, along with your work in Air Force Intelligence before that. I was particularly inspired by your work in Kurdistan.”
Work that had nearly gotten Jake killed, and had almost allowed a large group of terrorists to produce the most deadly biological weapon ever conceived. Not to mention the loss of two Agency officers in Odessa, including Armstrong’s brother.
“You have something like that in mind for me?” Jake asked. “Before you answer, remember I was almost killed, and that we lost some good officers on that mission.”
“I know. And you also caught a rogue officer.”
Jake shook his head. “I’m not about to stick my nose in Agency business. If they’ve got a problem, which I won’t doubt for a minute, they can handle it themselves.”
“Would you let me explain?” he said. “I’m part of the Jake Adams fan club. The Institute is well aware of your work. But China is different. When your old comrade Yuri Pushkina asked you to observe the missile launch, that got us thinking.”
“Great. Glad someone’s thinking.” Something switched in Jake’s mind, and he shook his head ever so slightly as he said, “You bastards knew we’d shoot down that missile.”
“That had to happen. The fact that you were there was irrelevant.”
Jake leaned across the table. “What about the fact that I almost got my ass killed?”
Anderson hesitated. “I’m sorry about that, but that’s why we needed you in China.”
Jake was about to dress him down with regard to his ancestry, when the waitress brought them their soup.
Once the woman left, Jake said, “So I’m here in China. What made you think I’d pop to attention like a good little soldier?”
“Toni is here and she needs your help.”
Jake had been sipping his soup and nearly choked.
“What? She’s supposed to be in the Middle East.”
“She was…but now she’s needed here.”
“You’re fulla shit.”
Anderson took a large spoonful of soup and then wiped his lip with his napkin. “Maybe. But in this case, I’m telling you the truth.”
“Why would she need my help?”
“I’ve been trying to tell you, China is different. The visa requirements are so restrictive, they can control who comes and goes much more thoroughly than the European countries. Here they know everyone. They don’t know you. We got you here on a legitimate tourist visa. You entered from Russia after leaving Austria; not the U.S. You can travel on that visa. You should have enough time.”
“Time for what?”
Anderson hesitated, glancing about the room. “We need you in Manchuria.”
“Would you cut with the cryptic shit and tell me what you need.”
He leaned across the table toward Jake. “The Chinese have built a facility in Manchuria to test lasers. Technology we believe they stole under the last administration’s watch.”
“And I take it this isn’t for surgery. You’re talking about laser weapons. Just like the one we used to shoot down the Russian missile.”
“Right.” He hesitated only long enough to scoop a spoonful of cooling soup down his throat. “We just need you to go up and take a look at their facility.”
“I’m sure you have all the satellite photos you need.” Jake thought about it for a second. Nothing made sense. This guy wasn’t telling him everything. “Look. This sounds like a fool’s errand.”
“The photos you talk about…that’s how we initially found out about this. We caught them transporting an item that looked too familiar. But everything is covered now. They’ve built a helluva facility there.”
“You’re trying to get my ass killed,” Jake said. “I get within twenty miles of that joint and they’ll string me up by my nuts.”
The red-haired consultant laughed and pointed his spoon at Jake. “You’re funny.” He shifted his eyes at the front door and then back toward Jake. “Under the table there’s a briefcase with all the info you’ll need. There’s also a digital camera with a cell phone attachment. You shoot the photos and transmit them immediately to the first number programmed on the phone.”
“I don’t like this.”
“You’ll be doing a great service for your country.”
“I’ve done enough for my country.”
Anderson glared at Jake. “You can never do too much.”
“Then why don’t you go?”
“Because, although I’m not known in China, one look and they track me to the Washington think tank. It wouldn’t take much of a leap for them to assume I’m working for the government.”
“Are you?”
He shot his eyes through Jake. “About as much as you are, but…also like you, I spent a good deal of my adult life in the military and other agencies. You gonna help us or not?”
“I’m not going to find Toni Contardo in Manchuria.”
He shrugged. “They told me she was there. You don’t guess they’d lie about something like that?” He smiled broadly.
Bastards. “How important is this technology?”
His expression turned grave as he leaned toward Jake. “If the Chinese have a laser missile defense, it will be a quantum leap in technology for them. They’d have no fear of missile attack from Taiwan, Russia, India or the U.S. Not to mention the North Koreans.”
“And that’s bad because….”
“Because it throws everything out of balance.”
“You mean it puts them on par with the U.S.”
“It makes them a second superpower with close to a billion and a half folks.”
Jake had to admit that sounded somewhat scary, but the technology was defensive. And, if they had stolen that technology from America, that wasn’t nice.
Anderson continued, “You haven’t asked about the money.”
Jake’s eyes glanced down under the table.
“It’ll be sent to your private account in Liechtenstein.”
“You bastards.” Only Toni was supposed to know about that account.
He smiled. “Have a nice trip.”
Jake pulled the leather briefcase from under the table. Steve Anderson hadn’t come in with it, so it must have been there all along waiting for their meeting.
Walking down the sidewalk toward his hotel, Jake wondered again what in the hell he was doing. Did he have a death wish? The first thing he would have to do was extract the programmed numbers from the cell phone and memorize them before deleting them from the internal memory. These guys had a lot to learn about undercover work.
9
The large dinner gathering included members of the senate, the house, white house staff, and business people from mostly high tech industries. It was the kind of function that would have been illegal if either side of the aisle didn’t need the money and had actually taken a real vote on campaign finance reform. But this was business as usual in Washington.
Picking up a glass of Champagne from a waiter’s tray, General Wayne Boles, U.S. Air Force retired, nodded and smiled at his target as he approached the White House Chief of Staff, Karl Oestreich. General Boles and Oestreich had worked together for two years under the secretary of defense during the former president’s term. Oestreich had moved up nicely in the past few years, while Boles had bolted for the private sector and was now the director of The Western Institute, the conservative think tank.
“Wayne,” the Chief of Staff said, “glad you could make it.” He put his arm around the general and pulled him aside to one wall. “How are things?”