“Maybe he’ll keep on going,” Scott muttered, “if he doesn’t find anything.”
Scott saw movement in the doorway out to the control room. The communications officer said, “Captain, we’re getting an incoming RDT. Eyes Only.”
“Ignore it. I don’t have time now.”
“Sir, pardon me, it’s a Must Read Priority.”
Scott felt like a pricked balloon. “All right. Patch it into my stateroom.”
Scott looked into Fumiko’s dark, expressive eyes. He wanted to touch her but had to settle for viewing her image, crisply clear and vital, delivered by satellite to the submerged Reno.
“Jake, are you all right?”
“We’re alive. Trying to stay that way.”
After a pause, she said, “I didn’t thank you for what you did in Noda. You saved my life, and I don’t know how to express what I feel.”
“We all got out; that’s what matters.”
She hesitated, then said, “Colonel Jefferson said that your wife played a major role in my rescue.”
“My ex, you mean. She doesn’t know anything about the operation, if that’s got you worried.”
“I’m not worried, it’s just that I didn’t know she was in Tokyo, that you had seen her.”
“Fumiko, we’re on the government’s nickel. I know you didn’t ring me up to discuss my former domestic arrangements. Where’s Radford? I don’t see his happy face.”
“He’s briefing the president and asked me to brief you. There have been some important developments. Within the last hour the Chinese lodged a protest at the UN, charging that we’ve sent a submarine to spy on their naval facilities at Dingdao. They claim the spying is tied to our dispute with the North Koreans, that we’re accusing the Chinese of supporting the Jin regime and are trying to provoke their navy.”
“We’re provoking them? Did they tell you that we’ve tracked the Red Shark into Chinese territorial waters, and that one of their subs fired on us twice?”
That gave her a genuine start. “Oh, my God, Jake. No, we didn’t know any of that.”
“What did the Chinese say about the underwater explosions around Haizhou Wan? That they’re caused by Chinese oil exploration teams running seismic profiles? Or Chinese torpedoes? Check your sat infrared imagery and you’ll see them.”
“They haven’t said anything about that, not yet anyway.”
“Thanks to the Kilo’s attack on us, we lost the Red Shark. We’re trying to shake the Kilo, but I’m not sure we can. Anyway, we’re running out of time to find the Red Shark before she can break out into the East China Sea. No one asked my advice, but Radford can tell our UN ambassador that he should remind the Chinese that the Yellow Sea is international waters, not their private lake, and that when one of their subs fires on us, we’ll fire back.”
Fumiko put a hand to her mouth. “Jake, if you do, you’ll start a war with the Chinese.”
“Just tell them.”
“Jake—”
“Tell them!”
“All right,” Fumiko agreed. “I’ll tell General Radford what you said.”
“What’s he done about setting up the SSN blockade?”
“ComSubPac has ordered a surge of SSNs into the area, but they won’t all be on station for at least another thirty-six hours. JCS has ordered Seventh Fleet to deploy whatever ASW units it has, to back up the SSN blockade. In the meantime General Radford’s authorized a Global Hawk surveillance mission of the region, to help you locate the Red Shark. If we can get her image on a round-the-clock basis, SRO can vector you in for an attack.”
“The Chinese will protest that it’s an overflight of their territory, and it’ll only make matters worse.”
“I agree, but the general, like you, is concerned that she may give you the slip.”
“We’re trying not to let that happen, which is why we’ve got to deal with that Kilo. Look, I’ve got to go.”
“Jake, wait. There’s something else. Washington received another signal from their contact in Pyongyang. He gave them the names of the cities that are targeted for destruction — New York, Washington, and Chicago.”
“So we were right all along, weren’t we?” Scott collected himself and said, “What does Jefferson have to say? Has he helped that spec-ops unit find the base in Davao?”
“Actually, he’s with them. He sent his regards and said he’d catch up with you in Pearl.”
“What the hell’s he doing? I thought he was coordinating their ops, not wrangling to be another gun in the fight.”
“He got General Radford’s okay, said he didn’t want to sit at a desk in front of a computer and push buttons. If they take out the base at Santa Cruz, the terrorists’ plan will implode because there’ll be no one there waiting for the Red Shark to deliver her cargo.”
Scott wanted to say he’d put an end to it by killing the Red Shark, but he knew that was a promise he might not be able to keep, not even to himself. If he failed and the warheads slipped through, and even if Jefferson and the spec-ops team destroyed the terrorist base, where would those weapons end up? And in whose hands? The plan would implode, but the weapons would still exist — somewhere.
Scott held Fumiko’s gaze on the monitor. She seemed to sense his need to say something else, something personal. But he was interrupted by the chirping phone, a summons to the control room. A moment later he was gone, and the screen went blank.
47
Streets in the capital were deserted. Marshal Jin looked down on central Pyongyang from his office in the People’s Grand Hall, pleased to see that the planted rumors of an imminent nuclear attack by the United States had had the desired effect: People were frightened. Those who had started hoarding supplies had been shot, but already heating and cooking oil were in short supply. Protests against the United States had been scheduled to take place in Kim il Sung Square, where tomorrow over a million people would march in support of Jin’s threat to attack South Korea and, if necessary, the U.S.
He turned away from the tall, curtained windows and returned to his desk. He had finished reading General Yi’s report on Kim Jong-il’s efforts to identify the spy embedded in the Second Directorate. All that was required to initiate the interrogation of almost 3,000 individuals was his signature on a document entitled “The People’s Case Against Internal Subversion and Treachery Calculated to Overthrow the Elected Leadership of the State.”
Jin lit a Players and picked up the report. He regarded General Yi and said, “Where in this report is the spy identified by name? I don’t see it.”
Yi, seated, hands folded neatly on his lap, said, “He is not named, Dear Leader, and with good reason. He is among the two thousand nine hundred and five individuals we have in custody. As the report states, all of these individuals have connections to the scientists we rounded up earlier who, as you know, have had contact with the Danes. We intend to interrogate each of them and work our way to the hard kernel of truth at the center of this ring of subversion. I suspect that none of these individuals is innocent of crimes against the State, and that in the course of our interrogation we will make new discoveries. The point is, however, we have the main body of traitors. There, I suspect, we will find the person who has been serving the imperialists.”
Impressed, Jin said, “Kim proved as good as his word.”
“Prison life hasn’t diminished his arrogant manner, but he is a changed man and eager to assist in the interrogations.”
“Where is he now?”
“I had him moved to the lower detention center at the People’s Ministry of Internal Security. The food there is better than at Chungwa.”