Gambit

by Karna Small Bodman

  She didn’t know what to say or do. She stood there with her head resting against his chin and tried to breathe normally. But she couldn’t. He kept holding her for a long moment, finally looked down at her and added. “Now I’d better let you go or else you’re never going to get out of here. Then what would the reporters say?”

  Cammy took a tentative step back and absently straightened her headband. “You’re right,” she muttered. “I’ve got to get home … I …”

  He reached over and put one of his fingers on her lips. “Don’t say anything else. Thanks for coming over. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

  “Okay … uh … thanks for the dinner … and…everything.”

  He opened the door for her, walked with her to her car, and helped her inside. “Just one last thought, my lady,” he said.

  Cammy fished in her purse for her car keys and then looked up. “Yes?”

  “Whatever you do, stay safe!”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  THE WHITE HOUSE

  “Talk to me about our network of satellites, Iggy,” the vice president commanded as he turned the key to encrypt and shifted the blue secure phone closer to his ear.

  “Sure thing, Jay. You know almost as much about ’em as I do. What do you need? Specifically?” the secretary of defense asked.

  “I know we’ve got about four hundred and eighty of them up there, doing all sorts of things. But they’re pretty well spaced out. So my question is, what have we got that’s looking at China?”

  “China? Why?”

  “Just tell me what we’ve got.”

  “We’ve got a lot of ’em. Now, if you could tell me what you need, I can tell our people to move them around, home in on whatever you want to check on.”

  “Okay. What are we using to detect missile launches?” Jayson asked.

  “Missile launches? Jesus! We’ve got a ton of equipment monitoring that sort of thing.”

  “I know, but I was thinking about special photography.”

  “Well, we’ve got SPIRS high and SPIRS low.”

  “You mean Space-based infra-red satellites?”

  “That’s them,” the crusty secretary replied. “SPIRS high is about a thousand miles up. Or higher. Then there’s SPIRS low which is only about a hundred, maybe a hundred twenty miles up there.”

  “Sounds like we want SPIRS low.”

  “For what? I’m not sure you need a SPIRS just for launch photos.”

  “No. Not just launches. Actually, I’m more interested in new factories. Facilities where a new type of missile might be produced and tested.”

  “What kind of missile?”

  “Not sure. I just want to know if we can spot new activity. I need your people to take pictures in strategic areas and compare them to what we had some time ago. Maybe a few months, maybe a year. I’m not sure. I just want an update on what the hell they’re doing.”

  “Wait a minute, Jay. Are you saying you think the Chicoms are building some new kind of missile that could be involved in our plane crashes?” he asked incredulously.

  “They just might be.”

  “You got evidence? I mean, where did this come from? How could they be involved? I don’t get it.”

  “You don’t have to get it. Just get me those photos, can you do that?”

  “Well, sure, but our people are going to wonder what the hell they’re analyzing.”

  “Tell them not to think so much, just follow orders. I thought that’s what they were good at.”

  “Well, yeah, most of them. But the analysts aren’t all in the military, you know. They’re a different breed of cat. But I’ll get on it right away. I have to say though that this is pretty far-out.”

  “Maybe so, but I really need your help on this. If we can pinpoint some new facilities over there that look like they’re building a new generation of missiles, especially in areas near ports, shipping or airport facilities, all hell is going to break loose around here.”

  “You mean more hell than is already breaking loose?”

  “That’s about it.”

  “Okay. I’m on it. By the way, what did you think about Winters’ hearings? Did you see how just about every cable station and network news show led with that pretty widow crying at the witness table? And then the way he lambasted Janis and the others, you’d think we were all sitting around on our asses doing nothing. And how’d you like his parting shot?”

  “You mean when he said that for this administration, the road to peace is always under construction?”

  “Yeah. Sounds like a campaign ad for God’s sake!”

  “Par for the course, I guess,” Jay said with a note of resignation in his voice. “Sounds like the guy is off and running for the primaries already.”

  “Yeah, and trying to leave you at the starting gate.”

  “Well, after that performance and all the lousy headlines this morning, we’ve decided we better get the committee heads up here for a special briefing on our whole program. We’ve got to tell them about the increased surveillance over at NSA and give them an update on the DHS contracts. I’m not going to talk about your satellites though. Not until we have something concrete to report.”

  “Are you gonna tell ’em about Dr. Talbot’s project?”

  “Sure. It’ll be the usual classified briefing. We want them to know that we’re on top of these issues and have something new in the hopper. But the last thing we need is for her name to be leaked. She’s been through enough already.”

  “You mean her last go-around with that Q-3 thing?”

  “Not just that. She almost got herself blown up in that explosion up at M.I.T.”

  “Oh yeah. Jesus! Well, good luck briefing the Hill boys. I assume Winters will be there.”

  “As chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, we can’t ignore him,” Jay said.

  “Actually, one-on-one, I suppose the guy isn’t a bad sort.”

  “I know. It’s just that when there are cameras around, the word preen takes on a new dimension.”

  The defense secretary laughed out loud. “You sure got him pegged. Well, there won’t be any cameras in the Roosevelt Room, so you just might be able to contain the egos this time. Your biggest problem is going to be briefing those guys and keeping it off the record.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  STERLING, VIRGINIA

  “What the hell is this all about?” Nettar Kooner railed at his team gathered at the conference table in his spacious office. “This message from the Taiwan defense minister says that our whole system of missile defense components is ineffective. Ineffective? How could it be ineffective when it worked perfectly against a whole battery of missiles here in the Atlantic as well as our Pacific testing facilities?”

  His chief of staff looked around the table at the young men Kooner had recruited and brought over from India, dubbed the I-Men, to head up his research and development, legal and communications operations. “I don’t know, boss. This doesn’t make any sense. We all worked on that system, it performed just fine before we shipped it over.”

  “Taipei is now saying that they’re not going to make their payments on the contract. And if this gets out, it means our stock price will go through the floor. Even lower than the market in general these days. Now I want to know what’s going wrong over there.

  “We all know that Taiwan is scared shitless over China’s increase in defense spending”, he continued. “Hell, it’s been going up in double digits for the last dozen years. Now the mainland is hiking their spending on everything from troops to anti-satellite weapons by over fifteen percent and everybody knows they’ve got close to a thousand missiles pointed at Taiwan right now.”

  He looked down at the report from the defense minister and added, “China’s got a whole host of new missiles like the DF-31, the DF-31A long range nuclear missile. They’ve also got that JL-2 submarine-launched nuclear missile that came on line. Of course, Taiwan is scared, and we were supposed to be the white knights
in this scenario. Instead, our reputation will be blackened, and Taiwan will be defenseless,” he bellowed.

  “I’ll get going on a complete re-evaluation of the system,” his chief replied. He went around the table, handing out new assignments and then pulled a clipping out of a folder. “You’re absolutely right about the tensions over there. Here’s a report from the New China News Agency about the exercises in the Taiwan Strait. The Chinese are evidently getting ready to practice a whole series of amphibious landings. And where would they land except on Taiwan?”

  Kooner grabbed the article and read the headline. “This makes it all the more important that we get our act together here. We’ve got to figure out what’s wrong with our system and give those people some help. How in the hell are 23 million people supposed to defend themselves against a billion Chinese bent on re-claiming their island?”

  “But we don’t know that China is going to invade,” one young man said. “After all, Taiwan has been investing in China for years. Look at Pudong Province. That was done with a ton of money from Taiwan. And besides, if China did try to make a move on the island, they know that the United States would race over there to protect them.”

  “Are you mad?” Kooner barked? “This government can’t even figure out who’s shooting down a couple of airplanes. Besides that, their military is still bogged in Syria, Iraq and South Korea, along with providing more troops to bolster NATO. Sure, they’ve got a couple of carriers in the Pacific, but they’d need more than that to help Taiwan, especially if it means going up against all of China.”

  The young man sat silently chastised as Kooner made some notes and issued more orders. They had to move fast to find out what was wrong with their system. If they didn’t, his profit margin, his potential deal with Bollinger, and the vibrant democracy on Taiwan could all be history.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  THE WHITE HOUSE

  Tensions were rising as members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees gathered in the Roosevelt Room for a top-level briefing.

  “The whole travel industry is being destroyed,” one congressman was saying to a colleague. “And with FedEx and UPS refusing to fly their planes, Amazon is on its ass.”

  “I know, my constituents are screaming that we’re all a bunch of incompetents in Washington. I got one letter saying that now that the story is getting worse every week, there’ll be nothing written that goes beyond a Chapter Eleven!”

  “And you know all the aircraft our big boys bought at the Paris Air Show?”

  “Yep. I’ll bet they try to renege on all those contracts and save their money for re-fitting their existing fleet with missile defense technology.”

  “What technology?” The door opened, and the vice president and one of his aides walked in. “That’s a question for Jay to answer.”

  “Yeah, fat chance he’s got any good news,” the other Member said.

  “Gentlemen. Thank you for coming here today,” Jayson Keller said, taking his place at the center of the large conference table. “We have a lot to talk about. The president wants you to know about the measures he is taking to find out who is attacking our airplanes and also where we are on the new technologies to protect our fleet.”

  Keller went on to outline the added surveillance being conducted by NSA involving wire taps, internet monitoring, currency movements and data mining. He explained a new system that was now able to analyze thousands of numbers and patterns a second. When he stopped to pour a glass of water from a silver pitcher in the center of the table, the senator from Vermont interrupted.

  “Wait a minute, Jay. Are you saying that NSA is spying on law-abiding Americans again? I thought we went through all of this. Have you got FISA Court okays for all this new snooping?”

  “The new laws are being followed, Derek. But let me remind you that we have lost four plane loads of innocent people and we must find out who’s attacking us before it happens again. I dare say that Americans are much more concerned with nailing the terrorists than they are worried about whether some NSA analyst happens to overhear a conversation with their broker. I’m sure you’ve seen the latest polls.”

  “I don’t give a rat’s ass about polls, I’m concerned about law suits and basic human rights here,” Derek Winters countered.

  “Take it easy, senator,” Jay replied. “I know we’re all taking the heat for these developments. But right now, our top priority is the protection of the American people, and we’re trying to do just that. In terms of our operations overseas, the president has signed a secret finding regarding a number of covert actions in a number of countries. As you all know, it is our duty to brief your committees whenever he signs them.”

  His aide handed him a memo, and he continued. “Now on the subject of new technology, you know we have programs underway with two of our top defense contractors.”

  “Yeah, and neither one is producing a damn thing,” the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said in a disgusted tone.”

  “That’s not entirely true,” Jay answered. “Sterling Dynamics is close to testing its airport protection system and DHS reports that the other contractor is on a fast-track to protect the planes.”

  “How fast?” another member asked.

  “You know Franklin Thorne has been trying to get an added appropriation from the Hill for quite some time now to speed things up.”

  “Even if we vote them new money, who’s going to pay to retro-fit the planes once their military technology is converted to commercial use? I hear it’s gonna cost tens of billions. The airlines can’t afford that, so it’ll probably be up to us to pop for the conversion.” There was a murmur of agreement around the table. “So the question is, what have they got that’s worth that kind of money, and how do we know it’ll work?”

  The vice president cleared his throat, looked around the table and answered. “Gentlemen, at this point we’re moving ahead on those contracts as best we can. But I wanted to announce today that we have another project coming on line that, hopefully, will not only work but be much more affordable.”

  Several voices erupted all at once. “What project?”

  “New technology?”

  “Who has it?”

  “How soon?”

  “My people can’t wait.”

  Jayson raised his hands in an effort to quiet the members. “Look, this is new and quite frankly, I’m excited about the prospects because of the person in charge. You all remember Dr. Cameron Talbot.”

  “You mean the woman who saved New Delhi from that missile attack?” Derek asked.

  “Yes, that one,” Jay answered.

  “I know the company well. Bandaq is a first-rate operation,” the senator said. “But I didn’t know they were developing some new technology.”

  “That’s the first time he’s admitted not knowing something,” a congressman whispered off to the side. “And with him dating that French dish over at Bandaq who does their PR, you’d think he’d know everything.” The man next to him gave a side long smirk and nodded.

  “So let me fill you all in on this,” Jay said. “Dr. Talbot is working on a new Top Secret laser that would be contained in a pod affixed of the underside of an airliner. If a missile were launched, even though it couldn’t be seen on radar, it would give off an infra-red signal which would be recorded on a panel inside the cockpit just as it is on a military jet. At that point, a series of lasers would be deployed in a three-hundred- and sixty-degree arc that would blind the incoming missile and send it off course as the plane takes evasive action. And what’s more, we have reason to believe that the missiles used to attack our airplanes are of a newer generation, something with stealth technology, and Dr. Talbot is on top of that issue as well.”

  There was silence in the room for several seconds before another round of questions erupted.

  “How soon will she have it?”

  “How much will it cost?”

  “What if we’re hit again before it’s operation
al?”

  “Wait a minute. Are you telling us that you’re putting all of your cards on this one woman who has an idea just every once in a while?” the House Committee chairman scoffed.

  “Not all of our cards,” the vice president said. “I told you before, we’re playing every technology hand we’re dealt here. And we’re also sending every agent we have available around the world to gather humint on this problem.”

  “And they’ve come up with zip,” Derek said.

  “Let me just say that we’re following up on any number of leads and as soon as we have something tangible to report, we’ll get back to you. But for now, I shouldn’t have to remind you all that this is a classified briefing. We particularly do not want Dr. Talbot’s name out there. She’s been a target before, and we must ensure her safety to continue work on the laser.”

  “But shouldn’t the American people be told that we have a possible new defense against these missiles?” a congressman asked. “Good God, Jay, the media is killing us, the market is down again, nobody is going anywhere, and industry after industry is going down the toilet. We’ve got to give our people some hope here and begin to turn this economy around.”

  “Let me assure you that no one is more anxious to restore our economy than the president of the United States. That goes for our entire administration. But right now we’re engaged in a difficult and delicate balancing act. Give us another week to analyze NSA’s results, gather intelligence, and test the new laser. Then we’ll get you all back here to review the results.”

  With that, the vice president and his aide got up from the table, nodded to all of the attendees and went across the hall to brief the president.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  BETHESDA, MARYLAND

  Cammy carried a load of groceries down the hall to her apartment, fumbled for her key, opened her door and flicked on the light. She was glad to be home after an awfully long day. The high point had been the call from Jayson Keller thanking her for coming over for dinner the night before. It was a gracious call although she felt she should be the one to thank him. After all, he had played the pleasant host.