White Jade (The PROJECT) (37 page)

Authors: Alex Lukeman

BOOK: White Jade (The PROJECT)

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Chapter Fifty-
Four

They sat in Harker's office.
There didn't seem much else
to
do. War would begin or it wouldn't.
No one had any illusions they were safe.
Nothing would be safe within a hundred miles of Washington
if the DF-
5
s made it out of the silos.

Maybe it was a good sign
there had been enough time to get back to Project
HQ
.
Stephanie was there. Elizabeth
brought up
a live shot of
Luoyang on the monitor.
It was a war zone.
T
he main buildings
were
heavily damaged,
shell pocked
and surrounded by tanks.
Troops scrambled
toward
the silos, but Elizabeth knew they were
almost impenetrable
from above.

"They've taken out the mobile launchers,"
Carter
said. Smoking craters and
twisted
debris marked where the missiles had been positioned. "Zhang means it. He doesn't want a war."

Elizabeth picked up her pen. "He sent an air strike.
That stops the quick threat.
It lo
o
ks like they bombed the silos."

"Will that stop them?" Selena said.

"Maybe. Maybe not. Those silos are hardened against conventional weapons.
"

"They could still launch."

"Yes."

"I hope they..." Carter didn't finish the thought.

From a dozen silos, missiles rose o
n
pillars of fire. Three other silos erupted in huge balls of flame.
The
soldiers
near the silos
were obliterated. The images on the monitor disappeared under clouds of exhaust and smoke.

"Launch failure in three," Elizabeth said. "
Those
DF-5s
are liquid fueled. The fuel
must have e
xploded.
It still leaves twelve."

"How long till they get here?" Ronnie asked.

"About thirty minutes. Unless we knock them down
. Maybe Zhang will get some of them. The Chinese have ABMs
around Beijing and Chengdu
."

She moved the satellite shot over Beijing. "Yes, he's launching his ABMs. I hope they're good."

She opened the bottom drawer of her desk and took out a bottle of Cognac. She poured silently
and handed glasses around. Even Ronnie took one.

They
raised to each other and
drank.
They waited.

***

Off the shores of Kodiak Island in the Aleutians, Burt Rasmussen was operating
a large
winch hauling in the
net with the
day
'
s catch. The sky was overcast and gray. This was the last run before
the
Sally B.
headed
back to port. A pretty good day.

He swung the net over the
ice packing the
open hold, where
four of the crew
waited, and lowered it down. Suddenly two
bright
bursts of light like newborn
suns appeared
far above
in the gloom
.

"What the hell was that," one of the men said.
They stared upward.
As Burt watched, a
third sun blossomed
.

"UFOs
. Must be UFOs.
"

"Yeah, right
.
"

"Maybe some kind of exercise. You know, military."

"Ought to be worth a beer at the Shack when we get in."

"Wonder what it means?"

I
t meant
Burt
would live to fish another day.

Chapter Fifty-
Six

It was two days later.
T
here were strands of gray
in Harker's hair
Carter
hadn
'
t noticed before.

S
he said
,
"That was too damn close."

No one said anything.

"The PRC got six of the missiles with their ABMs. The AEGIS group
around the Ronald Reagan
got three more. The last three were intercepted over the Bering Sea from Alaska.
Without
warning it wouldn't have worked out so well.
If those last missiles had gotten past our intercepts, Rice w
as going to
turn China into a radioactive wasteland.
Checkmate for the human race
.
"

"He had some balls to wait that long, " Ronnie said.

"What happens now?" Carter asked.

"There's a summit being set up with all the nuclear powers.
It's a real
wake up call. Maybe
we'll end up with
some kind of rational progress
on nukes
for a change."

"
Sure," Carter said. "I'll believe that when I see it.
What about Yang?"

"The PRC sent a video of his interrogation and execution to the White House. He gave it all up. The FBI is taking the Triads apart at the seams.
The whole country is pissed at China. It's not a good time to be Chinese here."

There had been no way to keep the lid on. There had been a lot of incidents. Chinese businesses were vandalized, people beaten. There was a
nation wide,
grass roots boycott of everything and anything Chinese. The economy was poised to slip into deep recession. Congress was in an uproar. Rice was being attacked or praised in equal measure, but his approval rating with the public had skyrocketed.
T
here was still an America to come home to.

Harker said, "There's a purge going on in China. Zhang has arrested the key figures and the Officer Corps is in disarray. They're hunting everyone down. There hasn't been anything like it since Mao."

She reached into her desk drawer and brought out the Cognac and glasses.

"
Cheryl Wilson resigned from the State Department
. She's going to teach at
Princeton
.
"

"
I'd hate to be in one of her classes,
"
said Nick.

Harker
poured.
Coke for Ronnie.

After a moment Selena said,
"
I wonder if the Chinese will excavate the site
in Tibet
?
"

Harker
said,
"
My guess is no.
I
t would be a huge culture shock to find out
t
he
emperor
isn
'
t buried in Li Shan. I don
'
t think the PRC wants any more shocks.
"

She sipped.
"
You three made a pretty good team out there
.
Selena, I've been thinking. Why don't we make it official?
"

"
What?
"
She was startled.
"
You want me to come work for you?
"

"
Not me. For the President. For your country.
"

"
But I don't know how to be...a spy, or whatever.
"

"
We can train you in the things you need
to know.
It's not
spying, we leave that
up to Langley. You have skills we
need
. The mission would have failed without you.
"

"
I don't know what to say.
"

"
Then don't say anything. Just think about it.
"

There was a pause.
Stephanie
changed the subject.
"
I can
'
t imagine what it
'
s like to sit in the oval office. You can
'
t win. Half the people hate you and the other half think you
'
re supposed to save the world, or at least their part of it.
"

Carter
said
,
"
What about
everyone
who think
s
the
US
is to blame for everything wrong in their lives? Remind me not to run next election.
"

Selena smiled.
"
I
'
ll vote for you if you run.
"

"
Awwww. Me, too, Nicky,
"
said Ronnie.

Harker
laughed.

Carter
raised his
glass.
"
Good
liquor
.
"

Chapter Fifty-
Four

Carter stood with
Selena
outside
Grace Cathedral
in the coolness of a
San Francisco
afternoon.
The funeral service for her uncle was over.
Sunlight sparkled off the waters of the Bay.

"
I
t was a good service,
"
he
said
.

She looked at
him
.
"
What are you going to do now?
"

"
G
o up to my cabin until Harker comes up with something new.
"

She cleared her throat
and brushed hair from her forehead
.
"
It
'
s getting late and it
'
s a long drive.
S
tay in town tonight
.
W
e could get dinner somewhere or just eat in.
"

He looked at her, the depth of those violet eyes. "You're on," he said.

Her loft took up the entire top floor of her building. Two rows of painted columns ran the length of the main room, rising to a high, floral-patterned tin ceiling. Tall French windows let streams of light pour into each end of the space. Skylights cast rectangles of light on a polished wooden floor of light cherry.
Large oriental rugs covered the floor at spaced intervals.

The
kitchen gleam
ed
with top of the line appliances, stainless steel and granite countertops. A wet bar and wine rack sat to one side.

The walls were painted in subtle earth tones and whites
and showed off
a mix of paintings
and
antique pieces of sculpture and art. Along one wall of the living area were six framed pages of some ancient writing. Track lighting lit everything with exact attention.

It was carefully arranged
, but i
t was a place you could be comfortable in.

"
This is beautiful.
"

"
Thank you. I love this place. How about some wine?
"

She pulled a bottle from the rack, opened it, and poured.

They
sat down on a long leather couch under a painting.
Carter
eyed it
.

"
That
'
s a Paul Klee!
"

"
Yes
.
I picked it up a few years ago. I saw the Klee copy you had in your
apartment
. I like his work.
"

He
'
d forgotten
how rich she was
.
He
was looking at a painting worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Maybe even a million. Maybe more.

"
You
'
re not worried about someone breaking in here?
"

She laughed.
"
Oh, no, you wouldn
'
t believe the security. Uncle William
owned the building and
knew someone who work
ed
in the CIA. He set it up. Besides, everything
'
s insured.
"
Her face changed for an instant when she mentioned her uncle.
"I guess I own
the building
, now."

She set her glass down.
"
Nick…Oh, hell.
I
'
m going to say what I think.
What's going to happen if we
keep sleeping together
?
"

The elephant in the room.
She wasn't just talking about hopping in the sack.

He took a breath.
"
I
don't know
.
"
He paused
.
"
I
know one thing, though. I
want you,
"
he
said. It
'
s more than sex. I want
you
.
"

It was true
.
He hadn't admitted it to himself until now.

She raised her hand, touched
his
face, put her hand on
his
shoulder.
He
leaned toward her.
The
ir
kiss was light, gentle.

Selena led
him into the
bedroom.
They undressed. H
e ran his hands over
the smooth curves
and hollows
of her body.
They lay down on the bed.
He tongued her nipples, squeezed her breasts. She
made small sounds at the back of her throat
.
He
reached down and she was wet, radiating heat.
He
grasped
her buttocks, pulled her toward
him
.
Her hair smelled of lavender, her breath was sweet under the wine.
He was hard, harder than rock.
She
wrapped her hand around him
and guided
him in
.
He
lost track of anything but the feel of
their
bodies moving together. After what seemed a long, long time
he
let
himself
go inside her, a shuddering climax that burst over
him
in waves. She pulled
him
tight against her as
he
came.