“Of course, General. Our attack.” A respectful bow of her head. “With the current state of play, I am confident we can achieve victory without the deployment of unconventional weapons.”
General Chen contorted his face into an ugly expression. “You have a woman’s gentle disposition, Lena. But an ultimate victory demands supreme fortitude. We will use our chemical weapons to break through tactical barriers in the Pacific theater. And we will use the biological weapon as a deterrent. I plan to inform the Americans of our new capability as soon as possible.”
The meeting broke up and Lena went back to her apartment. She looked out over the Beijing skyscrapers as the sun set, thinking of her son.
She thought about Jinshan and his motivation for conquering the world. He had believed it stupid for democracies to give decision-making power to the masses. Democracy allowed for ignorance to rule, he argued. Jinshan had envisioned an enlightened leader.
Instead, her father had taken the throne. Lena thought about what her father said of the chemical and biological weapons. General Chen wanted total victory, whatever the cost. He would destroy everything in his path, if victory required it.
Lena had seen the bloodlust in his eyes when he ordered the execution of his political rivals. She now suspected that her own penchant for violence might have been inherited from her father. Some sort of sick genetic curse. While her own desire to kill had subsided since giving birth, she still felt it there, beneath the surface.
As Jinshan’s assassin, Lena had an outlet for these dark desires. But she was also a scholar and an intellectual. Her father had none of these redeeming qualities.
And he had none of the qualities that made her admire Jinshan.
At least Jinshan had been motivated by utopian goals. He had made decisions with careful thought and strategy. Her father believed in using brute force and scorched earth. She thought of what might happen to her child under such a ruler.
And she thought about her own role in her father’s success. Was she not responsible for putting him in power? Had her murder of Jinshan not made this possible? She was the one to suggest that the Russians attack the American anti-ship missile hubs near Norfolk. Without her advice, China might not be in such an advantageous position.
Duty and loyalty tore her in opposite directions.
She placed her drink on the table and rose to her feet, then walked out her door and headed onto the streets of Beijing.
Tetsuo fought to keep his composure as he watched her enter the restaurant, a small place owned by Japanese immigrants. He ate in the restaurant every few days, but never held meetings with an asset here. It was a place he went to think. To decompress from the intensely stressful life as a non-official cover spy living in enemy territory.
So when Lena, a woman who had killed for that enemy country, took a seat across from him, he was understandably concerned.
Lena said, “We need to talk.”
Tetsuo attempted to keep some semblance of professionalism. She was unlikely to have started off with that if he was about to get rolled up by the MSS. But even if she was here on good faith, that didn’t mean they weren’t being watched.
“Sure.” He placed his chopsticks down and took a sip of water. “I have a place we can…”
She shook her head. “We are black. I wouldn’t have come here if they were following me. And they don’t know about you.” She whispered, “I’m the only one who does. And I destroyed the only evidence.”
Tetsuo felt the color drain from his face. Whatever she said, he was burned. He would need to start making arrangements to get out of the country. He would…
“Stop thinking about yourself and listen. I want to speak with someone. I think you worked with him once before. Chase Manning.”
Tetsuo could feel his body temperature rising. He needed to make a decision. His training told him to slow things down, make sure both of them were safe, and then start extracting information. But his instincts — hell, her clenched fist on the table — told him that he needed to throw the training out the window. Start talking to her here, in an almost-empty Japanese restaurant that may or may not be free of listening devices. Shit.
“You can talk to him in a week, after we come up with a plan to do so, or you can give me a message to pass on now. You can’t talk to him quickly, and you know that.”
“I know who your highly-placed agent was. I saw you two meet. I went to him and confronted him about it, which was why he broke off contact with you. Not just because my father has him under surveillance.”
Tetsuo blinked. He hadn’t heard anything from Dong since Jinshan’s death. Just like Lena said, he had assumed it was because the situation had become too risky. “Then why hasn’t anyone approached me?” he said. He could have easily replaced the word “approached” with arrested. Or shot.
“Because I haven’t told anyone what I know.” She didn’t need to mention the cyber operations specialist who helped her with the facial recognition ID. He wouldn’t talk. And she had destroyed the evidence anyway.
“Tell Susan that I know the recent attacks on American Atlantic military bases didn’t come from the Chinese. And tell her that I am the single point of contact between Russian and Chinese leadership.”
Tetsuo’s face remained impassive, but Lena could see his pupils dilate.
She took out a pen and wrote down a username and the name of an encrypted social media service on a napkin. From her insider knowledge of MSS cyber operations, she knew that it was one of the few encrypted messenger services that, with some software help, could get around most of the Chinese cyber surveillance nets.
“Use this to contact me. You are familiar?”
He nodded.
“You have this username memorized?”
He nodded again. She touched the napkin to the candle flame and tucked it in the candle glass to burn.
“Just tell me the day minus three and the hour plus four. I’ll meet you here. Bring CovCom. Soon.”
Tetsuo nodded. He had covert communications equipment in a safehouse near the Japanese embassy. Meeting her there would be risky, and riskier still bringing CovCom. But if she was really going to start working for them, and she had the access she claimed, it would be well worth it.
The paper finished burning in the candle. Lena rose from her seat and left the restaurant without looking back.
35
The three siblings grabbed food from an on-base burger joint and took it to the beach. David laid out a white sheet and they sat. It was warm. Turquoise waves washed ashore. A light summer breeze almost counterbalanced the oppressive humidity.
“No air conditioning around here?” Victoria said.
David said, “It is a little warm, isn’t it?”
She placed her hand over her heart in a momentary gesture of compassion. “I’m fine. This is nice. Thanks for putting this together.”
Victoria was about to ship off to her next assignment, and Chase was only in for a few hours. They might not see each other for quite a while.
Chase said, “I thought you’d be used to the heat now.” An easy smile. Victoria could tell they were treating her with kid gloves, the normal banter softened due to her months-long stay in a Chinese prison camp.