by Andrew Watts
He thought of reaching for his gun, but he didn’t. She looked unarmed. And there was something else…he didn’t know if he was capable of shooting her. Whoever she really was, whatever her motives, Chase still felt something for her.
In the intimate moments that they had shared, wrapped in sheets and each other’s embrace, there had been an emotion in her eyes. Fire, longing, desire, yes…but something else, too. Something like affection or adoration. Chase wanted to believe that those were true feelings behind those eyes.
Even now, knowing what he knew about what she had been a part of, he had feelings for her. And he hated himself for it.
Chase finished his olive, took another sip of his cool drink, and placed the glass down on the white tablecloth.
As she arrived at his table, Chase remained seated and expressionless.
An Indian waiter quickly came over to their table and pulled out her chair. She sat, thanked the waiter and looked at him carefully. She then asked for a glass of ice water in what sounded like Hindi. The look on the waiter’s face was that of delight. He nodded happily, smiling and quickly filling her glass from a chilled bottle of Italian sparkling water.
“You’re quite the talented linguist,” Chase said.
“I knew the right words.”
A moment of silence passed before she snapped up some of the still-warm pita bread and dipped it in the hummus. She chewed and stared at him. The look again. Like she was glad to see him.
She said, “So much of our world’s history is shaped by the hands of so few. Back channels and smoke-filled rooms. That’s where the real decisions get made. It just takes someone in the right position, saying the right words at the right time. For instance, if I was to say the right words to you, you might take me somewhere and get to see what’s under this dress.”
“Would I find a gun?”
She cocked her head. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“I’ve heard some disturbing things about you recently.”
She didn’t reply.
He said, “I had hoped that you would at least deny them.”
She looked out the window at the fiery sunset. She looked lost in thought. Then she said, “I read a book about the Pacific theater during World War Two recently. It got me thinking. Who do you think was responsible for the plan to bomb Pearl Harbor? I mean…who was really responsible? The one who thought: this is how it should be done. Was there a meeting of midlevel managers and military tacticians who brought the idea to their leader and appealed to his ego and quest for national power?”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Just humor me.”
“Yamamoto was in charge of the attack.” Chase couldn’t understand where this was coming from.
Lena looked disappointed. “Yamamoto was in charge of the attack, that is true. But my point is that history is filled with small groups of unknown thinkers and planners. Although, in that particular example, they made a large mistake.”
“And what mistake is that?”
“The only way to ensure that the will of the attacking country is carried out, is to—as they say in financial circles—buy and hold. The same holds true for invasions. Conquer and hold. Bring the dominant policies and progress that made the attacking nation great to this new country. Don’t half-ass it…”
Chase said, “What’s your real name?”
She smiled. “So I see you’ve been reunited with David. You can call me Lena. That’s a butchered pronunciation of my birth name. But it was the American name that I took as a teenager. And it suits me better than Lisa, which I’ve been calling myself since I joined the Agency. The CIA has given me several cover names over the years, but it’s mostly been Lisa Parker. I’m tired of those fake names. I’m tired of pretending to be someone who I’m not. Lena will do just fine.”
“Whose side are you on, Lena?”
She took a sip of water. “The winning side.”
“Why are you here today?”
She bowed her head and pointed at him. “Now there is a good question. I am here to start a war. The greatest war the world has ever seen.”
Chase just looked at her. Her attitude was getting to him. This was a different person than the woman he had been with. He wasn’t sure how this conversation would end, but she was giving him information, so he would keep asking questions.
“How will the war start?”
She looked out over the skyline. “Truly, it already has.” She sighed and looked sad. She spoke softly. “I know you are disappointed and probably upset with me. I do not wish to fight with you. I didn’t have to come see you. I wanted to. I wanted to tell you something.”
“What?”
She looked into his eyes. “If you live past the next few days…if you live past the next few years, someday you may ask yourself, was it real? Between us, I mean. And I wanted to tell you that it was. I see, in you, much of myself. There aren’t too many of us, Chase. The people that prop the world up on their backs. The ones that can change the world, if they try. That’s what attracts me to you. And I don’t want to see you hurt.”
He narrowed his eyes, slightly alarmed. “Just what do you think is going to happen?”
“I think that you, like so many people, have been conditioned to believe certain things. I want you to know that what I’ve done is to make the world a better place. And it will be, eventually. I hope that you see that someday.”
David’s face flushed. “How could you think like this? How could you betray the country that you served?”
“It’s not my country, Chase. And honestly, America will be better off for my actions.”
“You said you lived there since you were a teenager. I assume that before that, you lived in China.”
“I did.”
“And you came to the United States knowing that you would betray it?”
She tilted her head. “Yes.”
“If you lived in America as long as you did, you know that the United States stands for principles of freedom and morality. How could you betray it after living there? I don’t care where you were born.”
“Now listen—”
“You want to turn America in to China?”
She whispered, “I told you that I admired you because I recognize greatness in you.”
“So what?” He tried not to sound too angry. His emotional ties to her were interfering with his ability to think clearly.
“Well, there is another person who I also admire greatly. He is a great leader. Cheng Jinshan. You would be impressed with him, Chase. He is an amazing man. His vision of what this world can become…Chase, it’s the only future that our world can have. One globally unified government that makes the right decisions for its people. Yes, I’ve lived in America since I was a teenager. But you know what? America isn’t so great. It has faults just like everywhere else.”
Chase shook his head, disgusted. “It’s better than the rest. Trust me, I’ve been to most.”
“So have I. Nowhere is perfect. People aren’t capable of that. But Jinshan will get us closer. You know what the problem with democracy is? Freedom. People don’t know what is best for them. It’s not a popular sentiment, but you know in your heart that it’s true.”
Chase said, “You’re naïve if you think that a dictator is the answer.”
“Democracies around the world let voters choose politicians that create unsupportable entitlement programs. Their politicians know better, but they promise their constituents the moon because it gets them elected. By the time the programs fail or bury the nation in debt, the politicians that put us there are long gone. The proper period of performance measurement does not fit within the same timeframe as the voting cycle. And even if it did—most people aren’t like you and me. They have not lived lives filled with sweat, and stained with blood. They don’t have the wisdom to make the right choices.”
“You’re advocating for a global government where the people don’t have a say?”
“Important decisions must be made by the wise, not the popular. So, yes, I believe that a global government under proper leadership, with real power and good decision makers, is the best thing that could happen. I will also tell you that the only way it will happen is through force. Again, not a popular opinion. Again, truth. When the sick, the weak, the sucking leeches and self-interested pigs have taken over the thrones, the strong and brave must stand up for what is right. We will not let our children be trampled by a corrupt and ignorant world.” Her chest heaved as she spoke.
“You mean your one child, right? Because you can only have one child under Chinese law. Maybe it’s two now? Either way, I don’t want to live in a world where a dictator tells me how many kids I can have.”
Her face reddened and she glared at him. “Well, there’s a good chance you won’t live in that world. But trust me, that world is coming.”
She sat and remained silent for a while, cooling off. Then she whispered to him, her beautiful eyes looking directly into his, “This will likely be the last time we speak.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
She flipped back a lock of her black hair that had fallen over her shoulder. The steady noise of the Skyview Bar remained in the background. Aside from them, it was a jovial atmosphere. Chase saw a large silver platter of lobster wheeled past their table.
A glance at his watch. Waleed should have been here by now.
Lena stood and regained her composure. She spoke in her confident tone. “Well, Chase, it was a nice time that we shared.”
She looked like she was contemplating whether to say something else.
He wasn’t sure what to do next. He said, “Lena, you know that I can’t let you leave.”
She cackled. “I thought you would say as much. Could you double-check the time?” He showed her his watch. “Thanks.” She looked back over her shoulder. Chase followed her gaze.
A very large man with a black beard stood at the entrance of the Skyview Bar. He had his hand hidden under his coat. Chase’s blood chilled as he realized that it was Pakvar.
Chase looked at Lena. “Is he here for me?”
“Only if you try to stop me. I was very specific about that. I told you that you meant something to me.”
“That’s touching. Didn’t you shoot one of his men? Isn’t he pissed at you for that?”
She frowned. “You let me worry about that. Listen, Chase, I’m sure you doubt my honesty at this point, and I don’t blame you. I can’t quite reconcile why, but I would prefer that you were unharmed in what comes next. My gift to you now is a chance at living. But once I walk out this door, all bets are off.”
She stood.
Chase looked at Pakvar. He glared back at Chase. “What do you mean when you say, ‘what comes next?’ What do you think is coming?”
She leaned over to whisper in his ear. Her low-cut dress hung open in front of him. She said, “Whether you think that I am crazy or not, know this—your world is about to be turned upside down. Be safe. I hope that we can meet again sometime long from now, in a different place.” She kissed him on the lips, slid her thumb down his cheek. He didn’t kiss back. “Now don’t move, or Pakvar will shoot you right in the chest.”
A woman across the restaurant let out a yell of alarm and Chase’s eyes reflexively glanced in that direction. Lena didn’t turn.
She said, “Sounds like my time is about up.” Chase couldn’t see what the woman in the restaurant had yelled about, but others were starting to raise their voices as well.
Lena turned and walked away, leaving Chase at the table. He gritted his teeth and stared at Pakvar, who smiled back at him. He was clearly holding a weapon, daring him to move.
Another yell from across the restaurant. Now people stood, looking out the windows. Lena made her way through the crowd, ducking in between people and starting to run.
The restaurant came alive as people started getting up from their tables and heading over to the large panoramic windows. When Lena passed Pakvar, he walked backwards to trail her, careful to keep his eyes on Chase. A moment later, they were gone.
Someone else screamed. Chase was frazzled by Lena’s departure. It took a second for him to realize that something drastically out of the ordinary was going on outside the building. The patrons of the Skyview Bar began jockeying for space to look out the windows.
There was a blaze of reddish orange on the horizon that Chase had thought was the remnant of the setting sun. But that didn’t quite fit. It seemed to be in the wrong place.
He looked back out the window and finally he saw it, in the direction of the Port of Jebel Ali. It wasn’t a fiery sunset at all. It was fire. A giant, blazing fire with plumes of thick black smoke spiraling up into the sky.
There came several flashes in the same vicinity, with more smoke plumes following them shortly after. Chase knew that pattern of light and smoke from his time in battlefields in various war zones. The restaurant crowd let out shocked gasps as Chase realized what he was witnessing. Multiple conversations in different languages were all saying the same thing: Dubai is being attacked. But it wasn’t Dubai. It was the port. Jebel Ali. That’s where the US Navy ships were, and where the aircraft carrier Truman had just sailed into port.
Chase got up and darted toward the elevator. A crowd was gathering there now, many of them frantic to get to safety. Some people were running down the stairs.
In the chaos, someone gripped his arm.
It was Waleed.
“Chase, you must come with me immediately. I need to speak to you now.”
Chase said, “Those explosions were coming from Jebel Ali.”
“My sources tell me that they were Iranian cruise missiles. Our air defense radars picked up Iranian surface missile radar signatures in the last hour. We have been on high alert, but the cyberattack has hampered all defensive efforts. Other US Navy ships in the Gulf have reported similar attacks within the last hour.”
Chase couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
He listened to Waleed as they ran down the stairs. Chase was hopping three steps at a time. The Arab man was out of breath as he struggled to keep up. They had to weave through the crowd of frightened people that had decided to head down the stairs instead of wait for the elevator.
Waleed said, “I received a message from Gorji. That is why I needed to see you.”
“Gorji’s dead. I thought he was killed at Bandar Abbas. How did he send a message?”
“He sent the message two days ago. But in this mess with the communications, I only today received it. He said Jinshan knows. He knows about Satoshi.”
“What do you mean?”
“In the message, Gorji apologized that he wasn’t able to have Satoshi meet us in Abu Musa. He stated that Satoshi was dead. That he had been killed almost two years ago, not long after Gorji had met him. His contact on Abu Musa discovered that Jinshan had sent someone else in his place. This man that you and Elliot have been supporting…he is working for Jinshan.”
Chase said, “Waleed, we know.”
Waleed’s eyes were wide. “What do you mean?”
Chase stopped. They stood on a platform, a turn in the stairway. Chase filled him in on what Elliot had told him about Satoshi.
Waleed said, “So you knew?”
“I just found out a day ago.”
“Well, Gorji’s attempt to get information out of Abu Musa turned up something else—Jinshan is upset, he said. Apparently, he feels that the Abu Musa operation has been unsuccessful. Gorji warned of a violent response, but he did not expand on that.”
“Do you think this was it? The attack that is going on now? Do you think Jinshan had something to do with this?”
Waleed said, “I honestly do not know.”
Chase said in a low tone, “I just met Lisa Parker. She’s working for Jinshan. She and Pakvar are here in the hotel.”
“What?”
They opened the stairway door to the floor that Elliot, David, Henry,
and the others’ rooms were on. Chase needed to speak to Elliot. He would know what do to.
Waleed said, “Why would she be at the hotel?”
Chase had been thinking about that the entire way to the room. What he saw confirmed his worst fears. When they got to the hotel room, the door was open. Chase’s pulse raced. He drew his weapon and bolted in.
The three security men, and Elliot, lay dead on the floor. Each of them had suffered multiple gunshot wounds. Chase swept his weapon from side to side, clearing each room of the hotel suite. Waleed followed behind him. He also had a weapon drawn.
Once he was sure, Chase said, “No one’s here.” A panic filled him as he became sure why Lena must have come. She had come to reclaim his brother. Chase couldn’t let her take him again.
A moment later, Chase stood in the doorway, looking into the hall, his gun pointed at the floor.
Waleed was on the phone, calling for an ambulance and additional security.
The TV was on. Sky News. There were videos from different angles of the USS Harry S. Truman in flames. One video looked like it must have been taken from someone’s phone. The footage was taken from the Dubai beach, and incredibly, it showed a missile streaking across the sky towards the carrier before the explosions began. The news kept showing the freeze-frames of the missile. Just a bunch of whitish pixels, going from right to left. Then a few moments later, the black smoke. A lot of jet fuel on that carrier, Chase thought to himself. He prayed for the people on board.
Chase paced back and forth. He said to Waleed, “Where would they go?”
Waleed tried to sound reassuring. “There is only one way out of here. And I have already deployed my men. There are over a dozen Dubai police behind a concrete barrier. If she is here, she won’t be driving away.”
Chase thought about that. He shook his head. That wouldn’t be his exit choice. He bet that it wouldn’t be hers either. “No. She would know that.” He looked up. “We need to get to the helipad.”
Chapter 18
Chase sprinted up the fire stairs, leaving Waleed behind. He had fourteen rounds available, but he didn’t know how many people Lena might have brought with her. She was deadly, he knew that. So was Pakvar. He had to respect them as opponents. He must be deliberate in his actions. Chase couldn’t afford to move too quick and get picked off by a pop shot. He had to save his brother.