AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Roy prepared himself to protest, but Zuocheng continued before he had a chance.
“Dazzling some Australian pilots in flight is only what they deserved for invading our,ourterritorial waters. They belong to us. However, I know the consequences if we were to directly attack one of your United States warships during one of your so-called Right of Innocent Passage showing-off exercises.”
“A law to which China was a signatory.” Cole countered.
“Yes. But to the point, am I not witnessing the consequences of such a misguided attack with the approach of your two additional carrier groups. I envy that capability to project so much power at such a great distance from your shores. Until we have it fully developed ourselves, we will continue to remain very cautious. Provided we are not unduly provoked. You would be advised to be cautious of your actions now as they will guide our actions in the future whenwecan do the same inyourterritorial waters.”
Drake was glad he didn’t have command of the US military. He’d be sorely tempted to wipe the Chinese off the face of the planet. How he managed to keep calm enough to ask the next question impressed even himself.
“Are you stating that we provoked your response?”
“No, I am stating that the People’s Republic of China did not attack your aircraft.”
“Then was it India or Russia?” Drake snapped out, hoping to jar him.
But the man was unflappable. “I consider, based upon the excellent and growing relations of both of those countries with our great Republic, that either would be an unlikely aggressor.”
“Then?” Drake pushed.
Zuocheng cleared his throat carefully. “How certain are you that the origin was space-based?”
“One hundred percent.”Please be right, Miranda.
“That is…unusual. I would ask that you give me a day to consider this.”
Sarah wrote something furiously on her pad and shoved it toward the President. He read it and turned it to Drake with a nod of agreement.
“I personally,” Drake swallowed hard, “will meet you or someone who can speak for you in eight hours in…” he looked at Sarah but she nodded emphatically, “…Brunei. Until then, keep your jets, boats, and subs way the hell away from our carrier or we’ll deep-six them like the UAVs you sent in earlier and damn the consequences. Understood?”
“Brunei?” Zuocheng seemed to spend a moment considering. “Yes, that is sufficiently neutral. It will be an interesting event. I look forward to meeting you.”
The phone clicked off.
Neutral? He supposed it was. The Chinese wouldn’t be welcome in Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam, or the Philippines. He wouldn’t be welcome in Russia or half a dozen other countries in the region. In the past, Hong Kong would have been possible, but no longer.
Drake turned to Sarah, “I appreciate you keeping the time pressure up on him, but how the hell am I getting halfway around the world in under eight hours? Are you planning to put me on a sub-orbital launch aboard a rocket?” It was a concept that the military was researching, but it was far from ready for such usage.
“I thought about it. There is a launch today, but I think it would be a little obvious—even if we could scrub their launch and fit a passenger capsule in time—to have you splashing down in the South China Sea. And I don’t trust the Chinese to not interfere, then claim that that wasn’t them either.”
“You’re going to stuff me in the back of an F/A-18 Super Hornet for an ungodly number of hours with…what…six midair refuelings. I’m getting way too old for this shit, Mr. President.”
Sarah didn’t give Roy a chance to speak. “Nope. You haveone hourto get to Andrews. Figure out who else you want to take with you, not including me. If my attendance was uncovered, it would reflect badly on the President when he nominates me for the Vice Presidency.”
“So, if this leaks, it’s on me.”
“Only too right,” Sarah didn’t slow down. “Two-seat limit, total. Now excuse me, as I’m still the National Security Advisor, I have to go call the Sultan and beg his indulgence,” and she stepped out of the room.
Drake turned to the President. “Well, she’s got the giving cryptic orders part of being a future Commander in Chief down.”
Roy nodded. “Yes she does. Remember, her parents were both Jarheads.”
“It shows.”
“It does.” Then Roy leaned forward, suddenly serious. “Look, Drake. Defuse this any way you can. That’s why I’m sending you and not some ambassador or pissed off regional commander. If Clark was still alive, I would send him, but I seem to be between Vice Presidents at the moment. My NSA needs to be here for her own nomination to VP. Without that, she doesn’t carry the kind of weight you can. All that puts you in the hot seat. Fix this, but make it clear that I’m going to have a second carrier group in the South China Sea by the time the meeting begins. And they have a deadline to solve this, when the third group arrives thirty-seven hours later.”
Then Roy Cole was gone as well and Drake was left to stew in his own juices.
One hour?
Who the hell was the one person he would need from DC for this meeting?
