“San Francisco? Jesus! That’s close to Travis. So, do your people think this group, whoever they are, could have played a part in this? And how soon can you trace their location?”
“We’re on it, sir. We haven’t got a translation yet, but I’ll let you know as soon as we do.”
The president then turned to Jayson who had regained his composure and was quietly making some notes. “How about the Japanese? Are they ready to sign an agreement yet?”
“Our people over there say they’re making progress. I can probably leave tomorrow or the next day at the latest.”
“All right. At least we’ve got that ball rolling. Now then, we’ve got to draft a series of statements. We’ll need a strong statement of support for Taiwan to put the Chinese on notice.”
“Uh, just a minute, Mr. President,” the defense secretary interrupted. “I know it’s our policy to aid Taiwan, if need be. But how in the hell are we supposed to pull that off if the Chicoms really do attack that island? I mean, our forces are over-extended right now.”
The president studied the screen and replied. “I know that. We all know that. But the Chinese may not know that. In any event, we’ve got to say something. Ever since it got out that Sterling’s system was a complete boondoggle, Taiwan has looked like a sitting duck. And a very appetizing one at that.”
He turned to his press secretary. “Just come up with some language about how we support Taiwan’s government as democratically elected. Throw in some words about their free enterprise system, their human rights record or whatever else you can dig up. Say that our policy has always supported a peaceful resolution to their differences with the mainland. But in general, we want to come to the aid of freedom loving people everywhere. Or something like that.
“Wait,” he continued. “This is more important. We need to tell the American people about those young engineers on board that cargo plane.” He motioned to his chief of staff who was poised to take notes. “I want a thoughtful statement praising those people to the sky. You look it over. I want every single name of every single person on board that plane. Bandaq people, military people. Everyone. I need to call their families first.”
He addressed his press secretary again who had been scribbling furiously. “Then I want you to go out there and blast the attackers, whoever the hell they are, for this callous, inhumane act of terrorism and make it clear that we will not rest until those people are found and prosecuted to the greatest extent of the law.”
The press secretary was adding to his notes when the president said, “And we need to say that this is a time to pull together as Americans, not break apart …”
“Like that cargo plane,” Jayson interjected in a soft voice, his shoulders sagging as he sat slumped in his chair.
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE
Cammy was sobbing uncontrollably when Hunt’s car screeched to a halt near the terminal. He saw her hunched over, leaning against the side of the jeep, her body shaking as her driver looked on helplessly. Hunt rushed over and gathered her in his arms. Her body sank next to his. He held her up with one arm while brushing strands of wet hair out of her eyes with the other.
“Cam, I’m so sorry. This is insane,” he said in a low voice as she continued to cry. “I can’t believe they were able to target a C-5 right here on an Air Force Base. Must have been launched some place away from here.”
He scanned the horizon and saw plumes of smoke lingering where the wreckage had plummeted to the ground. “I came as soon as I heard. The whole base is in an uproar.” He nudged her chin up so he could look into her eyes, filled with tears. “I know they were your friends.”
“Uh huh,” she said with a slight hiccup.
“And you were supposed to be on the plane,” he added.
“Uh huh. But when we couldn’t get the simulations going, I was planning to stay here another day and then take a commercial flight over to Taipei from San Francisco tomorrow night and hook up with them.”
“Well, you couldn’t do that anyway. Even if there were people over there to work with.”
“Why not?”
“I just heard that the controllers went out on strike. Nothing’s moving.”
“Then I’m stuck here. Taiwan is defenseless and, oh God, what are we going to do?” she asked with a plaintive cry.
“I don’t know, but the real question is how did the bastards know you would be on board that plane? I mean, if you somehow were the target again?”
“I don’t know,” she whispered. “But you think it’s because of me, don’t you?”
He pulled her closer and stroked her hair. “We don’t know that. Maybe they found out the plane was headed to Taiwan. Maybe you were right all along about the Chinese being behind all of this. Maybe they didn’t want Q-3 to be set up over there. Maybe …” his voice faltered as she clung to him.
She finally pulled away, leaned inside the jeep to retrieve her shoulder bag and pulled out a Kleenex. She wiped her eyes. “Oh Hunt. I don’t know what to do. Those were the best people we had. I hired them. I trained them. They were such good friends too.” Tears began to spill down her face again as she looked imploringly at Hunt. “Why? Who knew we were going to be on that plane? Who could possibly know everything we’re doing?”
He raked his fingers through his hair and stood still for a moment. “I don’t have a clue. I know it’s nobody in our government. It’s got to be somebody on the outside. Somebody with tentacles into a lot of places.” He thought for a few more moments and added, “The only thing that makes sense is that there are spies, foreign agents who have penetrated somewhere.”
“But where?” she groaned.
“I don’t know, but we sure as hell are going to find out. Come with me to the tower. I want to talk to the base commander. And after all of this, I’m not letting you out of my sight.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
THE WHITE HOUSE
“There has been no official statement as yet from the White House on this latest attack on a C-5 Galaxy taking off from Travis Air Force Base in California,” the CNN news anchor reported solemnly.
“Early reports indicate that the plane was heading overseas, but CNN has been unable to confirm the number of passengers and crew on board nor its destination. The base is home to the largest military transport wing in the country and ferries troops, equipment as well as civilian passengers to assignments around the world. We expect an announcement from the press secretary on this latest tragedy shortly, but we do have this initial reaction from Capitol Hill. We now switch to our congressional correspondent, Margarita Garcia.”
Jayson Keller looked askance at the TV set in his West Wing office as he sat back in his desk chair and tried to make sense out of the quartet of problems facing him at that moment. First, the attack on the plane. Second, the problem of Taiwan’s defenses. Third, the upcoming negotiations with the Japanese, but most important, the loss of Dr. Cameron Talbot. He rubbed his eyes and tried to focus on the TV screen, but a picture of the pretty blond scientist kept invading his mind’s eye.
He could just see her perched on the sofa on his living room, chatting about growing up on Air Force Bases, offering her views on our screwed up system of healthcare and her observations on breaking the genetic code of beets. Then he remembered her suggestions about China and how her intuition told her that they were somehow responsible for all of this mayhem.
He glanced over at the TV once again and saw that Senator Derek Winters was being interviewed about the latest disaster. He turned up the volume.
“And all I can see from this administration is total incompetence,” the senator said. “Here we have five separate attacks on American aircraft, a transportation industry that has been completely grounded, a stock market that has now fallen two thousand points and an entire nation paralyzed with fear. And what do get from this White House? Silence!”
“Bastard!” Jay said to himself. “All we get from the Hill is constan
t criticism, but not one single shred of a suggestion or program to handle this new terrorist threat. Not one. They’re like a pack of unruly puppies biting our ankles with no sense of discipline or plan for the future. And besides that, every time we come up with action to try and find the bad guys, they just bitch and moan that we’re intruding on the privacy of law-abiding Americans. How the hell are we supposed to infiltrate these groups if we don’t know who they are or where they’re operating?” He switched off the set, turned to his computer and started drafting a plan.
His cell phone vibrated in his pocket. He always kept it on vibrate mode inside the White House because he never knew when he’d be called into a meeting, and the president hated to be interrupted by cell phones. If anyone’s cell went off when he was meeting with the president, he knew he’d probably be banned from the next encounter.
He pulled the cell out of his pocket and looked at the number on the tiny screen. What? How can this be? She must have left her cell behind, he thought as he punched the button. “Jay Keller here,”
“Jayson, it’s me,” Cammy said in a halting voice. She sounded as though she was trying to stifle a sob.
He practically bolted out of his chair. He couldn’t believe it. It was her voice. “Cammy? Cammy is that you? We thought you were … dead.”
He heard her take a deep breath and say, “I was supposed to be. I mean, yes, I was supposed to be on board that plane.” With her voice still shaking she went on to explain how she had decided to stay back at the last minute to set up more simulations and monitor the first test flight so others could work them while she was gone.
She paused again. He could hear her rustling something and then made a sniffling sound. “Cam, I can’t imagine what you must be going through. I mean, you were right there when the plane was hit. I hope you didn’t see it happen though, did you?”
Instead of answering, she started to cry again. After another hesitation she was able to describe how she watched the huge transport taxi down the runway, take off and be blown out of the sky.
“My goodness, Cam. You watched all of that?”
“Yes,” she answered softly. “It was so awful.”
“Of course it was. I just can’t believe, I mean, the fact that you’re alive, this is incredible news. I’m so damned relieved about you. But about the others. Damn! It’s devastating. I’ve got to talk to the president right away. He’s about to issue a statement, but he’s trying to get all the names and contact the families first.”
“Tell him to talk to Stan Bollinger. He has the manifest.”
“Oh, yes, of course. But what about you? Where are you?”
“Right now I’m up in the tower with the base commander. He didn’t even know I had decided to stay back. I mean it was all so last minute.”
“Must have been. We had the commander on the phone, but he didn’t mention your name, just said that all were lost, what a horrible tragedy it was and how his people were out at the wreckage. But now, what about you? You shouldn’t be alone at a time like this,” Jay advised.
“Hunt is here,” she said.
“Okay, I’ll get a report from him later. The important thing right now is for you to try to try and stay safe.”
“So, should I just stay here and work on the laser? I mean, what about Taiwan and a possible missile attack? Do you know anything more about those exercises in the Straits?”
“You shouldn’t be worrying about things like that right now. Let me do the worrying. I’m scheduled to head over to Japan in another day or so to work on a defense pact. Let me think about this and get back to you.”
“Okay. I just wanted you to know …”
“Thanks, Cammy. You have no idea how relieved I am just to hear your voice. Down in the Sit Room a little while ago, we were all in a state of shock over this. Well, you can imagine. And we all thought that you were on board. It was a pretty tense meeting.”
“Uh, sure.”
“I’m heading into the Oval Office right now to tell the president. And do you want me to call Bandaq and tell them? And what about your family? Did anybody else know you would be on that plane?”
“Actually, I had called my mom just before they took off to tell her I would try to take a commercial flight out of San Francisco, and I might be able to come see her for a little while before the flight.”
“Call her back because there won’t be any flight from San Francisco. Well, maybe you know that now. Anyway, I’m sure she’ll be glad to hear from you. And if you want to call Bandaq, that would probably be a good move. Losing all of those other people has got to be a huge blow to that entire operation. You call them. We’ll call Bollinger separately to get that list of names and numbers.”
“Okay, I will.” She started to choke up again, but finally added, “I still can’t believe this happened. They were some of my best friends and now … now they’re gone.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND
Melanie sat stoically at the table in the company conference room where Stan Bollinger had called a meeting of all the top officers. She wiped tears from her eyes as she listened to a report on the crash of the C-5 Galaxy with so many of her colleagues on board. Worst of all, her best friend had been with them.
She had started to cry when she saw the first report on the TV set in her office. When the order was given for the staff to come to the conference room, she had tried to pull herself together. But she just couldn’t. Cammy had been her rock, her confidante, her companion. Cammy, the brilliant scientist who didn’t just hunker down in her lab all day long, she was a woman who befriended so many people, took time to hire and mentor the young college grads she brought on board, and even tutored some high school kids in math and science once in a while.
Why her? What in God’s name did it have to be her?
Stan Bollinger was going over the list of employees on board the plane, lamenting the loss to the company. What about the loss to their families? Mel thought.
As she sat there listening to the man drone on, the cell phone in the pocket of her blazer rang. The CEO gave her an outraged look and said, “Turn that damned thing off!”
Mel reached into her pocket and pulled out the phone. She was about to switch it off when she saw the number on the read-out. She let out a cry.
“What is it, Ms. Duvall? Didn’t you hear me? I asked you to turn that thing off.” Bollinger demanded.
“But sir,” Mel said, holding up the phone for everyone to see, “I’ve got to take this call. I don’t believe this.”
“You don’t believe what?” he said, banging the table with the palm of his hand. “Don’t we have enough problems around here without you …”
“My God it’s you!” Melanie blurted out to the bewildered officers around the room.
“Who?”
“What’s she talking about?”
“Who’s on the phone?”
Melanie held up her hand and said into the phone, “Wait a minute. I’ve got to tell everyone. This is unbelievable.” She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, stood up and announced, “It’s Cammy. She’s alive.”
“Alive?”
“How?”
“Wasn’t she on board?”
“What the hell?”
“Amazing. Where is she?”
Bollinger folded his arms and stood mute at the head of the table as Melanie spoke into the phone again. The rest of the room went silent as everyone listened to her side of the conversation. Melanie knew she could have put her cell on speaker, but she wanted her friend, her surviving friend, to be able to talk freely just to her at this moment. She would translate the important points.
“You say you couldn’t go at the last minute? You’re still working on the laser? Oh my gosh! What? Oh, and the White House is going to call Stan? For the list? Well, we’re all here right now. Yes, here in the conference room. Stan was just going over the names of everybody on board. Oh, Cam, we know how awful it is. But at least y
ou’re safe.” She hesitated for a moment, listening to Cammy explain how the Travis crews were heading to the wreckage and how distraught she was.
“Sure, of course. How could you be anything but upset? I mean, we’re all friends. But can you stay there and be safe now?” She listened again and nodded her head. “Okay, we’ll hold off on any announcements. Thanks, Cam. Thanks for calling when I know you’re in the middle of all of this. Thanks, and keep in touch.”
Melanie sat down again and addressed her boss. “Cammy had to stay back and work on the laser. She’s staying there until the White House decides what they want her to do next. Oh, and the president is about to make a statement, but he needs the names and numbers of next of kin to make all the calls first, so they’re going to be calling you any minute.”
Stan looked at his watch, gathered his papers and said, “I’d better get back to my office and take that call. We’ll be talking to the families as well, and HR will be handling all the paperwork.” With that, he hustled out of the room.
“Paperwork? He’s thinking about paperwork at a time like this?” Melanie muttered to another company officer in the next chair. “Stan has no soul!”
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
SAN FRANCISCO
“Man, we should get a fat bonus for that one,” Wai Yougping said as he steered the SUV into a garage in the middle of Chinatown. The drive from Fairfield, the town outside the gate of Travis Air Force Base had taken just over an hour. They had found a grove of trees down an old road, not far from the edge of the base and had set up their equipment. All had gone according to plan and even though they hadn’t had much notice, they had been ready. They were always ready. That was their deal.
They had the missiles, the launchers, the special photo encased war-head. They had everything. They had been receiving regular messages from General Zhang Li. Now Wai was anxious to get back to his apartment and write up his report. The general would hear about it on the news, but Wai wanted to give his own version of how they had found their launch site, fired at the plane and then made their getaway completely undetected. Yes, it was a perfect mission, and now they were going to get a perfect pay check.
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