He looked at her wide-eyed. “On top of everything else, you will berate me?”
“Yes,” she heard herself say.
His mouth opened, and he blinked at her with astonishment.
“Act now,” she said. “Take a risk with us and we will rejoice together in another year or two.”
“In another two years, there will be no more Canada nor will there be a United States. We will all be thralls of the Germans and the Chinese.”
“Then take a risk,” she said.
Prime Minister Roland bit his lower lip. “We’re not able to stop the Germans, not if you don’t help. I will have to mass the Canadian Army on the Ontario-Quebec border. Then I will have to travel to Beijing and see if the Chinese will still accept our neutrality.”
“I wish you would have faith in us, Prime Minister. As long as you’re giving the Germans Quebec—”
“I will have to ask you to leave,” the Prime Minister said. “This…capitulation to blackmail, it makes me sick. Tell the President we will stand with America if you stand with us. But if you agree to the Germans taking Quebec, we will realize that you have abandoned us. In that case, Canada will have to seek out its own future.”
Anna blinked back tears. Was this it? Had Chancellor Kleist shattered America’s last alliance through diabolical trickery? No, she couldn’t leave it like this.
She stood, and she came around the Prime Minister’s desk. She wore a black dress. It showed her legs to good effect. She reached out, and she could see his surprise.
“This is highly unusual,” Roland said. “I will summon my security officers.”
“Prime Minster,” Anna said, taking one of his long-fingered hands in hers. She clutched his fingers, and she knelt on her stocking knees. She noticed his gaze flicker to her cleavage.
“This is the moment of gravity for each of our nations,” she said. “Canada and the United States have long been the firmest friends. We have the longest demilitarized border in the world. We are each other’s best trading partner. Many of our best scientists are Canadians. We defeated the Chinese together in Alaska. We can do the same here. What I’m asking you, sir, is to trust us. The President’s back is against the wall. We are on the verge of defeat. But I want to assure you, Prime Minster, that we mean to defeat the Chinese utterly. We will hand them such a staggering loss that it will restore the US power in North America. We need Canada. We need those hard-fighting troops of yours to stand with ours. Only then can we hope to achieve a reversal that gives us both our precious freedom. I beg you, Prime Minister, stand with us. If ever there was a moment in American history where we needed Canada’s help, this is it.”
Prime Minister Roland swallowed audibly. He stared into Anna’s eyes. “You…you are very compelling, my dear.”
“I believe in my President, sir, and I love my country.”
“Please,” he said. “Sit down. This is—this is unbecoming for the two of us.”
Anna climbed to her feet, looking down at him. She squeezed his hand before letting go. Then she returned to her chair, demurely sitting.
The Prime Minister took out the white handkerchief in his breast pocket and mopped his shiny forehead. “I-I don’t know how to respond to such a…” He waved his hand.
“Sir, trust us. Trust David Sims. He knows how to defeat the Chinese. He did it in Alaska and he did it again in California. This is a bigger war, so he needs more time. But he will do it in the end.”
“I have witnessed his successes. But can your President also defeat the Germans in Quebec?”
That was a good question. But instead of telling the Prime Minister that, Anna said with a demure smile, “Let us deal with one enemy at a time, sir, one enemy at a time.”
“Hmm, maybe you—or your President—has the right idea in that.”
“I know he does.”
“Hmm,” Roland said, knotting his handkerchief with his spidery fingers.
“You know, sir. I just thought of something.”
“Yes?” Roland asked.
“Perhaps you should go to Beijing. I don’t know if you realize it, but I happen to be an authority on the ruling Chinese party.”
“Oh.”
“If the Chinese thought Canada was negotiating for neutrality, that might give our two countries a chance to surprise them.”
“You are suggesting I lie?”
“No sir, not lie, but you might go and ask the Chinese about neutrality. That in itself might send them the signal, and they will believe what they wish to.”
“What are you thinking, Ms. Chen?”
Anna was still flushed from her experience of begging on her knees and possibly having persuaded the Prime Minister. This new idea…it was worth exploring. Still, maybe she needed to hammer down the Prime Minister’s stand with the United States first.
“I would need to speak to the President about this,” Anna said. “I am his personal envoy, not one of his strategists.”
The Prime Minister allowed himself a wry smile. “The President knows how to pick his envoys.” Then Roland glanced away as if self-conscious. Two red spots appeared on his cheeks.
He’s embarrassed. How did a man like him ever get to be Prime Minster? Anna didn’t know, but she wondered if that should be the theme of her next research paper.
-6-
I-70 Colorado
Marshal Liang of the Pan-Asian Alliance Third Front sipped tea in his quarters. It was an American farmhouse bedroom outside of Pueblo, Colorado.
Liang was a sparse man in his late fifties. He seemed unassuming and quiet, and he left nothing to chance. He had never cared for Jian Hong, and he found the Chairman increasingly unappealing since the murder of Foreign Minister Deng. Still, Hong ruled with the backing of East Lightning and the man lavishly supplied the military with the materiel needed for this incredible undertaking of conquering the United States of America.
First blowing across his cup of tea, Liang sipped the hot liquid. It was good tea, and it helped settle his stomach.
Even after several days of receiving the orders, he still seethed about them. He had been given two objectives now: storm a great American city to capture the Behemoth Tank Manufacturing Plant and drive north to the Canadian border during the dead of winter. That meant pushing up through three states: Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota, and possibly passing through parts of Wyoming and Montana. That would be a harder task now with the diversion of some of his best assault divisions.
Before the new orders, he’d wished to mask Greater Denver instead of entangling part of his army in street-to-street battles. In modern terms, Denver was a fortress city. He’d wanted to cordon off the urban environment with a ring of second-rate garrison troops. If the Americans wanted a fight, let them come out of the cities onto the plains where his greater numbers and superior quality would annihilate them.
He knew the army would take brutal and, in his opinion, unnecessary casualties to capture the tank plant. El Paso, Albuquerque and Santa Fe had taught him how hard the Americans defended their cities. Worse, urban entrenchments turned second and third rate soldiers into stiff defenders. No, he wanted no more city fights. The latest estimates from his staff showed that this battle could prove even bloodier than the earlier ones of the past summer.
Outside the upstairs window, snow fell instead of the unseasonable rain. For too long the gods of war had frustrated Chinese arms with the warm rains. Here at the Front Range of the Southern Rockies, it should have been sunny this time of year.