“We think so. The secret’s out — the Israelis know about Alex Hunter now, so do the Russians. They captured one of our people, interrogated him. Probably learned everything there was to know about him, and the people around him,” he said. “More worrying is the Chinese joining the party. We know they have their own Advanced Soldier Program. Getting a little crowded now.” He sighed. “A lot of choppy water, Aimee.”
She shut her eyes. “Is anywhere safe?”
“Nowhere is ever really safe. But there are places that are safer than others.” Again he waited.
“What about Joshua? I know, you know, he’s… different,” she said.
“He might be. But my only interest in him is that he stays happy and healthy. Aimee, we can protect you.”
“If… there’s always an if.” She waited.
“No Aimee, no if, no catch… a request maybe, but no catch. My priority is protecting my country, and its people. That includes you and Joshua. You both can live a happy and safe life under our care and protection. No one will ever touch you or him again. No one will ever even get close to either of you again. A normal life; I promise you that.”
“Normal?” She leaned back, knowing that the devil always wanted its pound of flesh. “And the request?”
“Come in and we can talk about it. There’s a lot to catch up on.” Hammerson ended the call.
Captain Wu Yang lowered the night-vision glasses, revealing eyes that were coal dark in a face that looked like it was carved from solid stone. The Chinese captain was tall, even by Western standards. He and his team had benefited from early detection and then cultivation of the XYY chromosome phenotype breeding programs — the extra Y chromosome in males delivering height, strength, and aggression well above average, and ideal for roles in the Special Forces arm of the People’s Liberation Army, or PLA.
Breath hissed from between Yang’s clenched teeth, as he turned away from the breached house in Boston, heading for his car. There was no need to wait for any result — his men were already dead, and if not, and they were captured, they were ordered to take their own lives.
Inside the dark car, he sat for a moment, feeling the throb of pain in his head. He gripped the steering wheel, the hard polymer beginning to bend in his hands as his rage built. This was supposed to be a simple mission, to enter the country, take the child, and be gone, all in twenty-four hours. He had erred by not expecting there might be surveillance. But why would there be? he wondered.
The wheel began to crack as it bent towards him. Who was this Joshua Weir that he had some sort of Special Forces operatives as his personal protection? Why wasn’t he told, so he could successfully execute his plan?
The top of the steering wheel snapped off in his hands, and he exhaled, releasing the building pressure. It was over, and he had failed. All that remained was to leave the country and report the result to his Controller, Chung Wanlin — and this was not going to be well received.
Yang sped away from the sidewalk, his large calloused knuckles beginning to bend the remaining portion of the steering wheel once again.
CHAPTER 6
General Banguuo Tian read the report on the Xuě Lóng Base in Antarctica for the second time, this time slowly and with growing interest.
The secret Chinese project, one of hundreds being undertaken globally, had been an REE mining program undertaken by the Ministry of Land, Resources, and Mineral Exploration. The military’s limited involvement had been the supply of a few basic support personnel.
Now, all communication had ceased; it seemed they had all vanished. Banguuo knew they had satellite links, radio, and in emergencies could tap into Australia’s phone system to reach one of the dozens of safe houses situated down there. It was simply not feasible for all of those contact pathways to go dark all at once.
He placed the report carefully on his desk and steepled his blunt fingers. The report suggested possible causes, such as cave-in, gas leak, or electro-magnetic disturbance, and he could guess at a hundred other benign reasons for their non-communication. But, his own parallel intelligence report mentioned intercepted chatter from Australia — the Australians were radar-scanning the base. They had also performed a high level fly-over, and if the Australians had ground penetrating radar, they might have picked up the below-ground activities. This ally of the United States would not hesitate to pass on the information, and it would then find its way to the American Antarctic base at McMurdo.
The tunneling work beneath the Xuě Lóng Base was close to a pocket of the frozen continent designated as restricted by the Americans. Military map code Area 24. It was termed a forbidden zone by his US military counterparts. He snorted his derision — the American designation was worthless — China’s rising power meant nothing was restricted or forbidden to them anymore.
Normally, this eventuality would only have mildly interested him, and he would have left it to the mining ministry to sort out. But there was something in the report that grabbed his attention. Banguuo’s jaw worked, as his eyes traveled over the paragraph again. There was an unknown signal emanating from this Area 24. The code ciphers had already identified it as being a unique automated distress signal from an American naval vessel, registration unknown.
Area 24 was over two miles below the rock and ice. The signal was no communication aberration, but instead was coming in over the secret frequency used by American submarines when they were in distress.
There was no formal naval notification of a missing vessel — ship or submersible. But not everything that occurred was broadcast. Banguuo knew of America’s secret Sea Shadow project that was shut down after the experimental craft had vanished. He remembered at the time having one of China’s submarines search for it.
“Nothing ever stays hidden forever,” he said quietly, as his blunt fingers now drummed on the desk.
Maybe we now know where it was really lost, he thought. The signal was so deep beneath rock and ice it was only through chance that they had picked it up when the mining team had broken through a rock wall into a subterranean void.
What if somehow the submarine got trapped under a shelf or in some sort of cave? The signal was so deep that it could not be detected above the ground. Perhaps we are the only ones to have received it. What if the Americans don’t even know it’s there? Maybe we have the only tunnel down to their experimental submarine. Banguuo sat back, his mind working. An opportunity to leap decades in submarine research and development, offered to him on a plate. Who could refuse? His grin widened.
He needed speed, and he needed a crack team. He had just the thing in mind.
CHAPTER 7
“This can’t be possible.” Five-star General Marcus “Chilli” Chilton’s eyes moved over the information brief. “The Sea Shadow? Our missing Sea Shadow?”
Jim Harker, his staff sergeant, nodded. “We believe so. It’s the correct frequency and automated coded message. And it gets weirder — it’s coming from designated Area 24.”
“Area 24?” Chilton groaned. “And it just started up all by itself?”