“It might work,” the DNI said. “I’m not sure we have the culprits here, but the more we analyze their capabilities, you have to admit that China’s got the brain-power to come up with a new stealth missile. One that has some type of tracking device. Think about all the technology that’s coming out of there these days. Motorola, Microsoft, IBM. They have research labs all over China. They’re working on everything from voice-morphing to nanotechnology. Why wouldn’t they develop a new stealthy missile?”
The secretary of defense looked from one man to the other and shook his head. “This could be a damn disaster as far as our relations with other countries are concerned.”
“We can’t worry about foreign relations right now,” the president said. “As for China, the big question is, why in hell would they be shooting down our planes?”
“We don’t know yet,” the DNI said. “If we can get some proof of new facilities over there by using Borealis, I say we should go for it.”
“This time, let’s concentrate our efforts along the East coast where they’re about to begin their military exercises in the Taiwan Straits,” the vice president suggested.
“Good plan,” the president agreed. “I want to know what those people are doing in that area anyway. How many missiles have they got aimed at Taiwan now?”
“Almost a thousand of various kinds. They’ve got the JL-2 submarine launched nuclear missile too. And in terms of these exercises, last time we checked, they were testing a whole load of new amphibious landing craft.”
“Speaking of exercises, I see in this Decision Directive that Hunt Daniels is also recommending we send some Aegis systems to that same area. That might be a good move as well. I don’t think we can ever have too many missile defense systems.”
“I’ll talk to the joint chiefs about that. As for testing those new landing craft, of course they do that all the time. I mean it’s the whole exercise they’ve been going through every year or so,” the SecDef said.
“Look, I know you’re not supporting the use of Borealis,” the president said, “But I think this is the one time we’ve got to use everything we have. See how quickly you can get it up and running. Then if we find evidence of new missile factories, I’ll go to the chairman of the Central Committee and threaten World War Three!”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
WASHINGTON, D.C.
The FBI agent driving Cammy apologized. “Sorry. Looks like we’re fifteen or twenty minutes late for your seminar, ma’am. But you saw that traffic.”
“No problem,” Cammy said. “I’ll catch most of the reports. Besides, I knew 270 would be a mess. It always is at the end of the day. I probably should have left sooner, but I was pretty busy. Anyway, thanks for the lift. I think I’ll be about an hour.”
“Okay, Dr. Talbot. We’ll go pick up some coffee and be back soon.”
Cammy held her trench coat closed as she rushed up the stairs and into the building. She went to the auditorium and found a seat in the back. The place was jammed. With the heightened alert, the press scrutiny and criticism from the Hill, terrorism was the topic du jour and she wasn’t surprised to find a row of cameras and reporters off to the side recording the proceedings. C-Span was there too. They usually were.
As Cammy took off her coat and settled down in her seat, she looked up on the dais and saw Hunt sitting at the long table along with three other panelists and a moderator. I didn’t know he was going to be here. Maybe I shouldn’t have come. Then as he began to answer a question, she realized she couldn’t wait to hear his voice and what he was going to say.
He gave a quick run down of possible terrorist organizations and their usual methods of operation. He also talked about the problem of nuclear proliferation, especially in Russia and how terrorist groups had such easy access to various kinds of weapons. He was careful, concise and a great communicator, and she was disappointed when the moderator then turned to a professor to ask his opinion.
She scanned the room and saw Claudia Del Sarto sitting off to one side. So that’s it now. Claudia must have come with Hunt. Didn’t take him long to find another woman. Damn him! With her dark hair and flashing smile, it was easy to see how Hunt could succumb to such beauty.
Suddenly, Cammy wanted to slink away before Hunt saw her. He’d probably think she had come here just to see him again. Well, she hadn’t. But if she got up now, it would be too obvious. She crouched down in her seat and was glad she was in the back row. Maybe when it was over, she could slip out before he saw her.
The seminar went on for another hour. Then it was time for Q&A. When several people stood up to ask questions, Cammy figured she could head out and Hunt might not notice. She grabbed her shoulder bag and her coat and crept out to the hallway. She decided to stop in the Ladies Room before heading back outside to her waiting agents.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND
“You’re on a very short leash, Ms. Duvall,” Stan Bollinger bellowed as he waved a report in front of Melanie.
“What do you mean, Stan?”
“Your lie detector test.”
“But I told you, I never leaked …”
“All I can say is that these results are,” he stared down at the pages in his hand, “at best inconclusive.”
Melanie folded her arms and took a defiant stance. “See. I told you I would never leak classified information, or any other kind of information out of this office. You have to know that … sir!”
“Maybe. Maybe not. All I know is that somebody leaked Talbot’s name and our name. Since you’re the one who talks to the press all the time, to say nothing about your little affair with that sleaze bag …”
“He’s not a sleaze bag, Mr. Bollinger. He’s a respected United States senator who often takes a middle-of-the-road position. And what’s wrong with that?”
“When you stay in the middle of the road,” Stan scoffed, “you get hit from both sides.”
“Well, just because you don’t agree with him all the time doesn’t mean he’s not a loyal American,” she said defiantly.
“Not all the time? Not any of the time,” Stan retorted.
Melanie looked down at her watch. “May I go home now?”
“Yes. I know it’s getting late, but you’re still not off the hook as far as I’m concerned.”
“I don’t know what else I can do to convince you,” she said, reaching over to turn out her desk lamp.
“Just do your job and think twice about who you’re sleeping with,” he ordered as he turned and stomped out of her office.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
WASHINGTON, D.C.
The moderator cut off the session after just a few questions, citing the need for the professors on the panel to get to a dinner in their honor. Hunt stepped off the dais, greeted a few former colleagues, gave Claudia the high sign, and the two of them headed out.
Cammy was about to step out of the Ladies Room when she caught a glimpse of Hunt and Claudia coming down the hallway, she ducked back inside to wait for a few minutes.
The wind was still blowing. Hunt turned to Claudia and said, “Why don’t you give me a few minutes. I’ll go get the car. Parking around here was a bitch. It’s a couple of blocks away. No point in your walking around in this wind. I’ll be right back.”
“Okay, thanks.”
Hunt sprinted off to get the car and Claudia donned her trench coat, put the scarf over her head again and waited by the front door for a few moments as others exited the building. Then she started to walk out as several reporters and cameramen followed her, carrying their equipment down the stairs.
Cammy had seen Hunt leave so she walked out behind the cameramen. She was pretty sure she could quickly find her FBI driver and get out of there before Hunt came back with his car.
Suddenly, an explosion blew out the sides of the FedEx box and practically knocked Cammy and the people in front of her to the ground. She grabbed the handrail to steady herself, started to cough, covere
d her mouth and closed her eyes as shards of metal came flying over the crowd. When she opened her eyes again, she saw that the blast and resulting fireball had engulfed a woman and one of the cameramen. Both of them were on the ground, their clothes encased in flames.
There were screams and shouts as reporters hit the ground, and two of the professors, now coming down the stairs, were shunted aside. The Heritage security officer burst through the door and raced to the scene.
Cammy’s two FBI agents jumped out of the car they had parked just down from the entrance, took off their jackets and tried to beat out some of the flames. The two agents looked horrified to see the two bodies lying on the ground, mangled, covered with blood.
The security officer shouted, “What the hell?” and tried to help the agents. Hunt came racing back toward the bodies. He looked down and saw a scarf that had been singed. Then he saw part of the face. The burned and once beautiful face of Claudia Del Sarto.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
EASTERN CHINA
General Zhang Li straightened one of the medals on his uniform and called across the make-shift office. “Any report from our agent in Washington?”
“Not yet, sir,” Colonel Tsao answered. “But our people in Taiwan have sent a special message, one I’m sure you will be pleased to read,” he said, pulling a page from the printer in the corner. “Here, you can see for yourself.”
The general quickly read the report, and a broad smile lit up his usually stern face. “Ah this is good news indeed. The missile defense system that the incompetent Sterling Dynamics Company shipped over is not working. It will never work, and they’ll never know why,” he said triumphantly.
“A brilliant move, general,” the colonel said with a slight bow. “They are now more helpless than ever when it comes to our missiles arrayed along the coast.”
“The military exercises will be starting soon. Do you realize what this means?”
“Yes, I do,” the colonel replied. “It means that all of your plans are about to become a reality.”
“We have waited so many years, decades, for this moment. But before we let the world see our ultimate objective, we have a few more plans for the American government.”
“Yes, I figured we would have to, as you say, ‘distract’ them further so they cannot retaliate or help Taiwan in a timely way.”
“Once we have Washington’s report,” the general said, “we will analyze the next target.”
CHAPTER FORTY
WASHINGTON, D.C.
“Oh my God!” Cammy exclaimed as she stared down at the smoldering remains. She put her hand at her mouth to stifle a cry.
One agent was now radioing for help, but the other one had moved protectively to Cammy’s side as a large crowd gathered to stare at the macabre scene. The security officer had run back into the building and emerged carrying a couple of blankets that he now spread over the two bodies. “Okay folks. Stand back. Police and fire are on their way.”
As Cammy moved away, Hunt saw her and rushed to her side. “What are you doing here? Are you okay?”
She nodded. “I heard about the seminar, but I didn’t know you were on the panel,” she said with tears in her eyes. “God, Hunt, this is just so awful, I can’t imagine …”
Hunt raked his fingers through his hair. “I was just going for the car. If only I had taken her with me …” his voice trailed off.
“You can’t blame yourself,” Cammy said, putting her hand on his arm.
“I sure as hell can,” he said curtly. “And as soon as the police get here, we’re going to examine every inch of this place. See what kind of explosive that was, interview everybody, go over every possible … oh hell, I can’t believe this happened. Why Claudia? She hasn’t done anything? She was just standing. Just waiting … for me.”
Cammy thought for a long moment and then said, “Seems like there’s somebody in this town who’s an explosives expert. Did you know somebody broke into my apartment and had my stove set to explode if I had touched it?”
“What?” he exclaimed. “When?”
“Yesterday.”
“How did you find out? Without setting it off, I mean?”
“It’s kind of complicated. They put arsenic in my food and the FBI went in and figured out the stove had been rigged. I had to move out. And that’s why these agents are with me now,” she said, motioning to the man standing off to her left.
“Jesus Christ! Did you call Janis yourself?”
“No.” She hesitated and then added, “I told Jayson … uh … the vice president. He called the director, and she sent in the team and arranged for my protection. Again.”
“So you’re on a first name basis with the VP, I guess,”
“Uh, yes, I suppose you could say that.”
Three police cars screeched to a halt at the edge of the curb, and six officers jumped out. They examined the bodies, conferred with the FBI agents and security guard and started talking on their cell phones. They then fanned out and began interrogating people in the crowd. The agent standing next to Cammy said, “Are you sure you’re all right, ma’am?”
“Yes. A bit shaky, but I guess I’m okay.” She glanced over at the bodies again. “This is all just so terrible. How …?”
Hunt turned to her. “Looks like a bomb was placed in the FedEx box and was either timed to go off or set off remotely,” he said.
The agent nodded and then grabbed Cammy’s arm. “Look, the police are getting this thing under control. Let’s get you outta here.”
On the drive back to her building, Cammy sat still in the back of the car. She reviewed the terrible scene in her mind and remembered staring down at Claudia with her silk scarf on fire and her trench coat … Cammy looked down at her own coat and realized it was just like Claudia’s. Oh no! What if that bomb had been meant for me? And that poor woman, she wasn’t involved at all, was she? Why would she have been a target? No, it was me they wanted. It had to be. Her eyes welled up with more tears as she leaned forward and said in a halting voice, “Excuse me, Agent Larson. You said your name was Larson, right?”
One of the agents turned around to look at her, “Yes ma’am. Do you need something?”
“I think that bomb was meant for me,” Cammy said.
“You? Why do you think that, ma’am? It looked like it was set to damage the building.”
“No, don’t you see? Somebody tried to blow up my apartment, that’s why you’re here.”
“We know, but that was a breaking and entering,” the agent said.
“But they had rigged my stove to blow up. And then there was that other explosion in Cambridge.”
“What explosion in Cambridge,” the agent asked. “We weren’t told anything about another explosion.”
“I was up in Cambridge last week working with a colleague at M.I.T. While I was out getting coffee, somebody blew up his lab, and he was killed. But I could just as easily have been inside. I was just a few minutes late getting the …”
“Hey, Tom, you hear that?” The first agent turned to his partner. “This lady really is in trouble.” He shifted back to stare at Cammy who was wiping her eyes with a Kleenex. “We’re going to get your things at your friend’s place and then get you over to the Indian Embassy. After that we’ve got a report to file. But from now on, you don’t go anywhere, not inside a building or outside a building, except for the Indian Embassy and your office, without one of our agents going with you. Got that?”
“Yes.” She blew her nose and added, “Thank you.”
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND
“Thank God you’re all right,” Melanie announced, jumping up from the chair in Cammy’s lab and running over to give her friend a hug. “I was out last night when you came for your stuff, but I got your text, and then I heard the details on the news about the explosion over at Heritage. I didn’t think I should bother you at the embassy, and I wanted to hear it all in person. So I came in early to wait for you. I�
��ve been sitting here practically holding my breath till you came in. Tell me what happened.”
Cammy sighed, hung up her beige blazer and slumped down in her desk chair. “Oh, Mel, you can’t believe how horrible it all was. That poor woman.”
“Claudia Del Sarto?”
“Yes. She was young and really pretty. Well, we knew that. But, Mel, she was just an innocent bystander. I think the bomb was meant for me.”
“You? How? How would anybody know you were there? That’s just too strange.”
“I know,” Cammy said, leaning her elbows on the desk and putting her face in her hands.”
“So how in the world could somebody try to kill you when you only decided to go to that seminar late yesterday? This just doesn’t make any sense.”
“I know it doesn’t. It’s just that she was wearing the same kind of trench coat as mine.”
“So? Everybody wears khaki trench coats in this town. I still don’t get it.”
“I don’t either. But she was there with Hunt. Unless …”
“Unless what?” Mel asked.
Cammy hesitated and thought for a long moment. “Unless they were trailing Hunt because they knew we used to work together,” Cammy speculated.
“And then when they saw a woman with the same coat, they thought it was you? But Claudia had that long dark hair. I saw her picture on the internet, remember? And yours is blond. Nobody could make that kind of mistake.”
“Yes, they could. Remember how windy it was last night?”
Melanie nodded.
“Well, Claudia was wearing a silk scarf. It seems she was about my same height, and she was with Hunt. So when she came out and was standing there …”
“Somebody set off the bomb?” Mel said.
“That’s about it. I was right behind her. I mean, right behind a couple of cameramen. One of them was blown away too.”
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