It only concerned Shibab — and now Suprapto himself — because the crate which had been delivered to Jemaah Islamiyah had been the one from North Korea which had been loaded onto the Fu Yu Shan at the port of Dalian.
Was it merely a coincidence? Or had North Korea found out about the link between Liang Kebangkitan and Wong Xiang, and sent men to question him? And if they had, what would they have learnt from the man before his fall from the tower?
And why had the Koreans been killed? And who had killed them?
Whatever the answers, Suprapto knew one thing — he would have to increase security measures on his island.
Pulling on his clothes, he raced from his cabin to find Reza Panggabean and get things organized.
5
Jeb Richards stifled a yawn. He and the rest of the National Security Council members had been in the Situation Room for hours now, and it was beginning to grate.
Sure, they’d had breaks to grab a coffee and use the restroom; and the group had broken up into smaller units on occasion to discuss things independently, to try and win people over to a particular way of thinking in a vain attempt to build some sort of consensus.
But the bottom line was that they had been at this damned table for most of the day, and a decision still hadn’t been reached about what was going to happen.
Essentially, the room was divided into those who favored direct and immediate military action, and those who wanted to approach things more diplomatically.
Richards and Mason belonged firmly in the second camp; Mason because he was a born diplomat, and ordering military action wasn’t really in his nature; Richards because he didn’t want a raid to reveal things he wanted to keep a secret, for now at least.
And his secretary still hadn’t got back in touch with him with any information about the Asset.
And so on and on the hours dragged, as Mason and the Attorney General discussed the legalities of operating in a foreign nation, and Olsen and his followers argued back about the primacy of US interests and how they had to strike while they had usable intelligence.
‘Look,’ Mason said reasonably, starting another round of negotiations, ‘the fact is that now we know where the ship is, where the crew are. We’ve got the upper hand now. I’ll go back to Jeb’s proposal’ — Richards nodded his head as Mason gestured towards him — ‘to block the channel and surround the island, in order to enter negotiations with this Arief Suprapto and his group. Furthermore, I —’
‘We don’t negotiate with terrorists!’ Olsen shot back quickly, cutting Mason off. ‘We never have, and we never will! What are we going to say? Please can we have our citizens back? Pretty please? With sugar on the top?’ Olsen shook his head. ‘You must be out of your mind.’
‘We don’t negotiate with terrorists?’ Mason asked gently in response. ‘That’s a naïve attitude, and you know it. We’ve negotiated with every terrorist group in the world at one time or another, when we thought it would serve our interests. Hell, we created the Taliban when we sponsored the mujahedin against the Russians, if you can remember that far back.’
‘If I can remember that far back? How dare you, sir! I was fighting Soviet proxies in Granada and Panama back when you were jerking off to the Sear’s catalogue in your mommy and daddy’s bathroom! I —‘
‘Gentlemen, please!’ President Abrams interjected quickly. ‘This is not the time or the place for behavior like this, do both of you understand?’
Olsen nodded his head, his military training instantly making him obey his commander-in-chief. ‘Yes ma’am,’ he said. ‘Please forgive my outburst.’
Mason nodded also, though he was slower and more reluctant to respond than Olsen. ‘Sorry Ellen,’ he said. ‘I guess it’s just the pressure getting to us.’
Abrams looked around the table. ‘We’re all under pressure,’ she said. ‘I understand that. But unfortunately, that’s the job, and we’ve brought it on ourselves. The American people expect a decision, they expect us to act, and we will sit here and work things out until a decision is reached. Do I make myself clear?’
There was a murmuring of acceptance around the huge conference table, and Abrams nodded. ‘Good. Now, my own gut instinct is to move in immediately, as soon as all our pieces are in position — which won’t be until tomorrow morning. So you’ve got until then to convince me,’ she said, eyeing Mason and Richards. ‘If you think diplomacy and negotiation is the answer, fine. But you need to lay out exactly what you propose, and how you intend to achieve it.’
Mason nodded his head and smiled. ‘No problem. We can do that.’
‘I have a question,’ Richards asked. ‘Given that the Fu Yu Shan is a Chinese ship, and that most of the crew are Chinese, when are we thinking of telling President Tsang Feng about all this?’
Richards didn’t know what the answer would be, but he did know that the mere thought of the Chinese would muddy the waters yet further. They couldn’t take the risk of upsetting their partner, and yet if a combined rescue operation was to be launched, it would take weeks, if not months, to set up and organize.
By which time, it wouldn’t matter what was discovered there.
‘The situation is delicate,’ Abrams responded, ‘but I have already spoken to President Tsang, and he is happy to allow our forces to take the lead on this, given our proven track record in direct action raids. He is asking to send personnel from the PLA Special Operations Command to liaise with DEVGRU in Singapore, and JSOC is currently working out the details.’
Pete Olsen nodded his head, glad to be able to stop Richards’ troublemaking in its tracks. ‘DEVGRU’s squadron commander actually thinks it might be a good idea to have liaison officers there, as the PLA spec ops people have had some recent experience on anti-piracy missions and know that area better than we do.’
Ah well, Richards thought, shrugging his shoulders at Mason, it was worth a shot.
Still, there were still plenty of other things they could use to delay and obfuscate the –
Just then the secure telephone rang on the table in front of the president.
She picked it up immediately and kept her composure as she listened to the person at the other end of the line, all eyes on her.
‘Thank you,’ she said after a time. ‘I will be in touch shortly.’
She replaced the receiver and looked down the table at the members of her security council.
‘Looks like the timetable’s been moved up,’ she said. ‘The Asset has just reported activity at the pirate base. It looks like they’re getting ready to move the hostages.’
Oh shit, Richards thought helplessly as he looked across the table at Mason.
‘General,’ Abrams said, turning to Olsen, ‘I authorize the rescue mission to go ahead, effective immediately.’
Olsen grinned. ‘Yes ma’am,’ he said as he picked up his own phone. ‘Get me General Cooper at JSOC,’ he barked down the line. He waited impatiently for several moments as he waited for the JSOC commander to be located. ‘Miley,’ he said eventually, ‘it’s General Olsen. We have the green light for the hostage rescue operation. Mission is a go. I repeat — mission is a go.’
Richards slumped back into his chair and sighed. It was possible that all was not lost; perhaps enough time had already passed for it not to matter anyway?