Hail nodded his head and then leaned forward to stretch his back.
“Sure. China is one of our best customers. They have all the coal in the world but won’t be able to breathe their own air in another ten years unless they find another form of power. And we are it.”
Kara watched the last dot on the screen fly over Wonsan and then blink off the screen. She assumed it had landed somewhere near the city.
“You know that was pretty amazing,” she said.
Hail made a painful face as he arched his back the other direction.
“Which part,” he asked.
“All of it,” Kara said.
Hail stood up and continued to work out his back muscles.
“So what are you going to do now?” he asked Kara.
“I’m not sure,” Kara said truthfully. “Are you hungry?”
“I’m always hungry,” Hail smiled. He grabbed some belly fat through his shirt and said, “Can’t you tell?”
Kara laughed and said, “Let’s get something to eat and we can discuss the future.”
“I think we need to also discuss the past,” Hail said.
“Na, the past is the past.”
But to Marshall Hail, the past was more important than the present or the future. All of his best memories and life experiences were in his past. Kara’s deceit had been in the recent past. They would discuss that matter in the present, but the future would still be an unknown, because there were still so many factors out of their control.
Washington, D.C. ― The White House Situation Room
“Please explain to me what is happening,” the President asked her experts.
Everyone in the Situation Room was staring at a large screen that at one time had three dots on it. Superimposed under the dots was the east coastline of North Korea. In a matter of seconds, two of the dots had disappeared and General Ford looked very concerned.
The General looked away from the screen and toward the President, trying not to look her square the eyes.
“What you are watching is… well was the location of our F-35. Closely behind it were two North Korean J-20 jets that were apparently in pursuit. The radar we are watching is being sent by our Sea-Base X-Band radar station that is sitting on a semi-submersible oil platform ten miles off the coast of South Korean in the Sea of Japan.”
“And?” the President prompted, her patience running thin.
“And my best guess is that our F-35 was shot down and our pilot was able to take out at least one of the enemy jets.”
“I didn’t know that the F-35 could shoot a jet that was behind it?” The President said, daring the General to lie to her.
“Sure it can. The F-35 Gen III Helmet Mounted Display System provides the pilot the ability to…”
“Enough,” the President yelled.
Everyone one in the room stopped talking and turned to look at the pair.
A red light on a phone sitting on the big conference table started blinking and the General excused himself and picked up the receiver.
He listened for a moment and then announced to the group, “We have a saltwater emergency beacon that was just activated.”
The General listened for more information and then turned to the President and asked her, “What would you like us to do?”
“What are you talking about?” President Weston replied.
“Looks like our pilot may have ejected and is floating around in the Sea of Japan. Would you like us to rescue him?”
The President stood up from the table, flipped her bangs out of her eyes, walked over to the door and said, “I don’t know who you’re talking about.”
A minute later, she was gone and the situation taking place in the Situation Room had concluded.
Sea of Japan ― on the cargo ship Hail Nucleus
Instead of food, Hail escorted Kara to the Officer’s Club. Since there were no officers on the ship, the bar was occupied by the exact number of people that Hail wanted. Zero. He needed to clear the air with Ms. Ramey and he didn’t need anyone gawking at them, especially if things got ugly.
Kara looked around. She had never seen the bar or for that matter even knew it existed.
“I thought you were hungry?” she asked.
“I’m a little too wound up to eat right now.”
Kara sat at the bar on a stool that had a thick red cushion and a tall wooden back.
Hail went around to the other side of the bar and began mixing up a concoction of some type.
“What are you making?” she asked.
Without looking up, Hail said, “Something strong. Hopefully strong enough so that you and I will catch a buzz and be able to level with one another.”
“That sounds dangerous,” Kara said.
“If you haven’t noticed, living is dangerous.”
Hail squeezed a lemon into two glasses.
“Why didn’t you tell me about the backup plan?” he asked.
“Why are you secretly monitoring and recording all my phone calls?” Kara responded.
Hail looked up at her and still holding a lemon, he shook his fist at her in frustration.
“See, that’s what I mean. I try to have an honest talk and we can’t get past the first two sentences.”
Lemon juice leaked from his grip on to the bar.
“Wow, did we somehow get married when I wasn’t looking?” Kara laughed.
Hail made an exasperated face, dropped the lemon in the sink, and went back to pouring different colors of liquor into the two martini glasses.
Kara said, “Marshall, you know I work for the CIA. You also know that much of what we do is done on the down low. It’s not like I’m trying to be secretive. I simply can’t talk to you about work stuff.”
“Well, what about non-work stuff?”
“Why do you want to hear about my poor ol’ childhood and my family and all that mess?”
Hail handed her a blue drink.
She took it.
Hail clinked his drink up against hers and said, “Because it’s a start.”
Kara smiled, but she didn’t start the conversation. Hail did.
By the second drink, Hail had begun to tell her about his family and the pain he had felt when they had all died in The Five. But he found it too difficult to linger on that subject. Hail shed some tears and Kara had been ready with the bar napkins. She listened and understood and felt his pain.
And then it was Kara’s turn. She talked about her parents, about their deaths, about how she had been left alone and how lonely she felt. She explained that her job was really all she had and how sad was that. It was a solemn and awkward talk, but the more they drank, the easier the words came out.
The third drink was green and a little stronger. Hail asked Kara if she wanted to take it up to the top deck and watch the sun come up.
She said yes.
They stood at the railing on the port side of the ship. The sun sneaked up over the edge of Japan. It was bright and the day was clear and the wind was fresh, yet the conversation was sullen and made the sea appear old and insensitive.
Hail talked about the early days, when he was in high school and his Dad was moving up the military ladder. He told her how difficult it had always been to please him. He told her that when his Dad had died, his father had gone to his grave disappointed in him and his accomplishments.
They sipped strong green liquid and at some point they realized they were much more similar than they had been are few hours ago.
Kara told Hail about being an only child; an only child that was pampered and then left in this world with no practical living skills. She explained that she felt guilty complaining about being too rich and being given everything, knowing how much poverty there was in the world. And as a CIA agent, she had been on assignments in small countries and had seen firsthand how poor some people really were. It could have been the booze, but for some reason she thought it was important that Marshall understood that rich girls could be sad too.