“See, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Roen grinned.
“I’ll shoot you myself if you disobey.”
Roen sighed. “And I thought we were about to share a beautiful moment. Why did you have to ruin it?” A few seconds passed. “So do we have the details of what happened prior to the Atlantis’ capture?”
Without opening his eyes, Wuehler bent down and picked up the notebook that Roen had laid aside. He flipped to the next page and placed it in front of Roen. Then he turned his back to him.
“I didn’t realize there was a page two.”
Your physical competency seems to directly correlate with idiocy.
Roen skimmed through the rest of the mission summary. The Atlantis had picked Dylan and his team up in Shanghai just after he rendezvoused with one of their double agents. He had received intel that led him to Taiwan. The Atlantis tried to sneak through the Strait of Taiwan when the South Sea Fleet boxed them in. During the ensuing battle, the Atlantis was crippled, but only after she took out two Chinese subs, a destroyer, and six ASW combat choppers.
“Old girl didn’t do too badly for herself,” Roen murmured, not without a bit of pride.
Wuehler opened one eye and nodded. “Damn straight. Abrams is pretty ace. I hope to see that old dog still alive.”
Before she lost propulsion, Admiral Abrams had pushed Dylan and his small team into individual escape pods. The last communication from the Atlantis was the pods’ trajectory toward the northwestern coast of Taiwan. All five of the ejected pods were confirmed destroyed shortly after launch. Taiwanese authorities had recovered the wreckage of all the pods and four bodies. Dylan’s was the only one missing. The Atlantis now was in Genjix hands and the status of her crew was unknown.
“That tough bastard. I won’t believe he’s dead unless I see a body. Not even a torpedo and the ocean could kill him.”
Yen likes his hosts like that.
Roen looked at his watch. They were landing in Los Angeles in six hours and then it was off to Taiwan. His mind raced back to Jill and the past twenty-four hours of his life. He hadn’t realized how much he missed her until they were huddling together looking at pictures of their son. Tao had him so focused on this Quasiform discovery that it had completely overshadowed the pain of missing his wife and child. Now it was rushing back like water through a broken dam.
As far as Jill was concerned, he’d been holed up in that missile silo for the past year. If she only knew the truth – he had actually spent barely any time there. The two main reasons he had chosen the silo were the munitions stash and its proximity to her base of operations. One thing Roen was adamant about, much to Tao’s irritation, was to always be there for Jill when she was on assignment. That he never wavered on. She was the last thing on his mind when he finally dozed off.
When they reached LAX, the team walked to their layover together. The rest of the guys gave Roen the same cold shoulder that Wuehler did. All except for Faust. Faust had always treated him fairly, and Roen was grateful for that. The others only knew him by reputation, which, while not entirely unjustified, gave them the impression that he was as dangerous as the Genjix. They walked by a corridor full of windows, and Roen stopped to admire the sun-soaked landscape. After living in a cave and operating only at night, like a vampire, seeing the sun felt like a surprise visit from an old friend.
“Always seventy plus or minus two in Los Angeles,” he murmured, admiring the cloudless sky.
We should build our headquarters here.
“Nah, traffic’s a killer on the 405. Besides, too many paparazzi.”
Who would want to take a picture of your ugly mug?
“Hear, hear,” Roen chuckled. “I wonder what Jill and Cameron are doing right now.”
The thought of Cameron brought another stab of pain to his chest. He hadn’t seen his boy in so long, and now with him staying with his grandparents in… His thoughts trailed off. Roen stood there in the middle of the pedway, completely blocking traffic. His eyes wandered outside again, and then back at the signs floating above his head. Restroom to the right. Ticketing upstairs. Luggage Claim down the stairs. No entrance after this point. Car Rental to the left. Roen made up his mind and took off running after Wuehler. He grabbed the man by the shoulder and spun him around.
“I need to take a later flight,” he said urgently. “I have the safe house coordinates in Taipei. I’ll only be a day behind.” He turned to leave and stopped. “Sorry,” he said finally, really meaning it.
Wuehler seemed stunned and looked like he was about to blow a gasket, but then he noticed the desperate look in Roen’s eyes. “One day I can give. Two and I’ll shoot you when you walk through the door.”
Roen nodded. He appreciated this gesture and reminded himself that whatever happened, he owed Wuehler one. Then he took off sprinting down the left corridor as fast as he could.
NINE
PLANS AND PIZZA
That was my first encounter with Tao. It was not unusual for Quasing not to have crossed paths, but I had heard of him. He had a distinguished history among us, and was reputed to be a firebrand. His work as an empire builder could not be overlooked.
And though the Genjix had captured and imprisoned my host, I was not ready to join the newly founded Prophus faction. It was one thing to passively object to the old order, it was another to outright rebel. Tao made sure I had little choice in the matter.
Baji
Jill rubbed her eyes and looked at the time: 7.15pm. For the past two days, she had pored over all the documentation Tammy had pulled for the South Seas Sanction. It was a behemoth seven-hundred-page stack of trade papers that was as interesting to read as a Latin dictionary.
She looked at the lopsided battle on the white board of her office walclass="underline" sixteen Genjix senators against just three Prophus senators for its passage. Its success would come down to a list in the middle column of four senators who were sitting on the fence.
“Tammy,” she called as her assistant was sneaking home for the night. “Schedule a meeting with Gastigone, Garritano, Young, and Karn before you go. Make it before next Thursday. Then I need you to pull every initiative these senators are backing. I need it tonight.”
The look of disappointment on Tammy’s face could kill. Jill wouldn’t have ordered this if the fate of the world wasn’t on the line. She made a mental note to buy Tammy lunch tomorrow. She watched as her assistant huffed back to her desk and then focused again on the forty-page list of imports/exports in the sanction.
The Genjix were trying to slip something past the Prophus, something that they wanted badly enough to offer significant political capital for it. She notated several possibilities, from military grade electronics to rare minerals to energy sources. Then she compiled a list of elements from heavy water to experimental metals to biological specimens. By 9pm, she had gotten through less than ten percent of the banned list. She was about to order delivery for dinner when a reminder popped up on her computer. Jill grimaced.
“You think Paula would mind if we skip it? I’m not in the right mind for cocktails right now. All I want to do is finish this and get home.”
Have her meet you at your place. It is more secure anyhow.
That was a great idea. Jill might get some actual sleep for once. That and she could use a nice hot bath. She called Paula on her way home and changed their plans to 11pm. The first thing she did when she walked inside was kick off her heels and run the water in the tub. Ten minutes later, she was drinking a glass of pinot and soaking her exhausted body in a steamy bath.