She said, “Negative SAM threat, I’d say.”
“Negative any threat,” Suggs replied.
The merchants that hadn’t already sunk were burning and listing badly. Only three were visible above the water. The ship-launched missiles had finished the job. There was no way any of the missiles could be launched now.
39
Chase looked at Natesh, who was on his laptop computer. “Tetsuo wants me downstairs.”
Natesh looked up, concern in his eyes. He was right to be afraid. The Chinese were attacking the city. So far, the civilian segments of the city didn’t seem to be targeted on purpose. But errant missiles and wreckage from shot-down aircraft had turned Tokyo into a field of scattered fires. And that wasn’t what he was afraid of…
“Is he really going to make me go back to them?”
“Tetsuo?” Chase asked.
“Yes. Is he going to send me back to Jinshan, after what I’ve told you?”
Chase didn’t know what to say. Talking to assets wasn’t his strength. He had no experience quelling the misgivings of double agents. He wanted to scream at Natesh, to tell him that he would do whatever they asked, that he deserved it for what he had done. He wanted to tell the Indian-American piece of shit that people were dying around the world right now because of his complicity in Jinshan’s plans.
“I’m not sure what he’ll say. I’m just here to make sure you stay put, and that you’re safe.”
Natesh pointed to his laptop. “But I hacked in to their network. Not just the logistics network, but the 3PLA system. Do you know who they are? That’s China’s version of the NSA. If you get the files on this computer to your people, they’ll have a huge advantage. But they’ll know that I took it. I can’t go back. They’ll know that I betrayed them.”
“You weren’t supposed to do that. We didn’t tell you to do that.”
“I thought that if the attacks had begun, this was over. Tetsuo gave me…”
Chase’s phone buzzed in his hand. He looked down and frowned.
“Tetsuo’s here. He’s having trouble in the lobby. He needs a room key to use the elevator, and they won’t give him one. Where’s yours?”
Natesh held up his room key. Chase snatched it and said, “I’ll be right back.”
Natesh nodded.
Chase walked out the door and took the elevator down. The elevator was one of those glass numbers that let you see everything while it traveled. It moved fast, and Chase could feel it in his stomach. His ears popped, and he forced himself to yawn to clear them.
The elevator finally reached the ground floor and opened with a ring. He walked along the marble floor and down to the lobby of the hotel. Tetsuo was walking through the revolving door, a frown on his face.
Tetsuo said, “What the hell are you doing down here? I told you to watch him.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Why’d you…”
Chase shook his head and took out his phone, holding it up for Tetsuo to see. “You just sent me this text. You told me to come down.”
Then his expression changed as he realized what had happened. Tetsuo and he both sprinted towards the elevator area.
Lena Chou hadn’t been back to Japan in years.
She had been raised to hate the Japanese people. The atrocities that Japan had committed against the Chinese during World War II still served to fuel anti-Japanese sentiment in China even to this day. Especially in Chinese government-sponsored propaganda. The Chinese government loved to remind its citizens that Japan had helped kill fifteen to twenty million people — their grandparents and great-grandparents — during the war. Japan was a nation of villains.
If there was one thing Lena had learned from her youth in China, and from her understudies with Jinshan, it was that propaganda worked.
When she had arrived in Tokyo for the first time, as part of her espionage training before she was implanted in to the United States, she’d half-expected to be spat on by angry Japanese citizens. But nothing could have been further from the truth. She walked the clean streets and met many friendly people. They complimented her on her Japanese, and she fell in love with the land. The cooking was excellent, and the countryside was beautiful.
Things were very different now.
Lena had walked the streets of Tokyo, sirens blaring all around her. Fires were scattered around the city, towers of smoke billowing up hundreds of feet into the air. Bloodstains and rubble on the sidewalk.
A part of her was sad at what war had brought to one of her favorite countries. But she shook off the feeling. She pulled her coat tight around her, a gray hood covering her hair and keeping most of her face hidden.
Lena had performed a mental exercise while on her walk. She had locked up all of her emotions, all of her questions and worry, deep inside her mind. There was no room for doubt or hesitation now. She had to be on now. She had to function at the highest level. Her American competitors would show her no mercy if they found her here.
Once again, Lena had transformed herself into a machine. An instrument of death, if need be.
She walked into the Hilton hotel, her eyes darting over the expansive lobby area, taking in every detail. Dozens of empty seats and coffee tables filled the atrium. Shattered glass lay unmoved in some places. A single hotel attendant stood behind one of the desks. He looked like he had been crying.
Lena asked him, “Are the elevators still working?”
He nodded. “Yes, but we recommend you take the stairs.”
She ignored him, walking to the elevator area. She took out her mobile phone. The special one that the Ministry of State Security had provided. She sent a text. Civilian phone networks were down, but she had been assured that this message would go through. She didn’t even know who would receive it. Some local CIA case officer. The Japanese section of the MSS had handled the technical details. Lena was just the operator. If the message went through and they left as instructed, they would live. If not, Lena would soon pay them a visit. Sure enough, the response came.
COMING DOWN NOW.
She watched the elevator floor buttons until the circle with “50” lit up. Then 49… 48…
She quickly pressed the up button, and the second elevator door opened. A few seconds later, she was being lifted up in the glass-walled elevator, the coffee tables sinking beneath her view, replaced by an exterior panorama of the city of Tokyo. From this vantage point, the wreckage looked even worse. Although the smoky reddish haze looked beautiful backed by the setting sun.
Chinese missiles had done a number on this city. But the attack was over for now. Jinshan was claiming that only American and military assets were being targeted. But due to the volume of missiles needed, older ones were required, and their targeting systems were not so accurate. Civilian casualties were unavoidable. Still, the PLA had been ordered to cease fire on all Japanese ground targets for twenty-four hours. A special mission was being conducted, they were told.
She turned away just as the other glass-encased elevator zoomed down next to her. Lena doubted that anyone would see her since the elevators were moving so fast, but she didn’t want to leave it to chance. A tug in her soul urged her to get a glimpse. To see if it was him…
The hallway on the fiftieth floor stood empty. Lena arrived outside the hotel door and removed her silenced pistol from her pack. She fired three times into the lock of the door and then opened it.
Natesh stood wide-eyed inside.
“Lena.” His concentration pivoted from her face to her gun.