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“That’s obvious.”
“Sure is,” she says, “and what else is obvious is that he still has people at the Pentagon and elsewhere who are loyal to him as well. He’s told me that he believes the Fates or divine providence—not the American people—made him president. Besides our two CIA teams, what else could POTUS be up to, using Navy or Air Force assets?”
Aldo’s voice is bleak. “I don’t want to even think about it.”
Noa says, “Wish I had that luxury.”
CHAPTER 54
ABOARD THE USSDAN HEALY
EAST CHINA SEA
COMMANDER JAKE UNGER, commanding officer of the USSDan Healy(DDG-129), is in his cabin this early morning at five, mug of coffee at his elbow, when there’s a knock on the door.
“Enter,” he calls out. The heavy door swings open and his executive officer, Lieutenant Commander Natalie Chung, comes in, folder under her arm, wearing an officer’s khaki uniform, just like his.
She says, “Captain, I’ve got the preliminary on the test mission,” as she puts the folder down on his clean and orderly desk.
“And?” he asks, opening the folder, glancing at the formal report and attachments.
“The first test Tomahawk we fired was perfect, flew past all the designated waypoints and true to the target latitude and longitude, just off that Philippine island.”
He looks up. “Meaning the second Tomahawk wasn’t perfect.”
“No, sir,” she says. Natalie is second-generation Korean American, is a good XO, tough but fair, and he’s been impressed with her since she arrived aboard ship two months ago.
“What happened?”
“The Raytheon Technologies team is still reviewing the telemetry and other information, sir,” she says. “It appears it flew along theprogrammed route, started a sudden descent, and that’s when we lost all contact, about ten minutes after launch. Early indications seem to suggest an engine failure, and she splashed down about thirty nautical miles out. Even the two E-2 Hawkeyes following the test lost it at the same time.”
“Our Chinese Navy escort still in the area?”
“Yes, sir,” she says. “The watch told me that the Type 815G electronic surveillance ship is still about five nautical miles to the west, maintaining their distance.”
“Maybe they know what happened,” he says, “but they won’t tell us, will they?”
His XO smiles. “Not likely, sir.”
He thinks it through. TheDan Healyis here on two missions: officially, to test the latest Block VI Tomahawk cruise missile variant capable of stealthy, low-altitude flight to avoid detection; unofficially, to “show the flag” in this part of the East China Sea. The goddamn Chinese PLA Navy was starting to think these waters were their personal lakes, and his ship and others were determined to show them otherwise.
“All right, Natalie,” he says. “From here and now, it’s Raytheon’s problem, not ours. Looks like this new version needs some tweaks. Lucky for all, that Tomahawk is probably still sinking to the bottom of the ocean.”
“Yes, sir,” she says.
“Okay, thanks, XO,” he says, going back to the folder.
“Yes, sir,” and she leaves his cabin.
CHAPTER 55
JIEYANG, GUANGDONG PROVINCE
ZHANG DELUN OF the State Grid Corporation of China is up early this morning, desperately trying to take control of the situation here in Jieyang. Approximately thirty minutes ago, a good part of his city of more than one million people went dark. He’s at one of the city’s main electrical switchyards, trying to figure out what the hell has just happened. There had been no electrical storms, no loss of power stations, and no collapse of transmission lines.
Just a quickflickand the lights went out.
Lights powered by portable generators are starting to illuminate the scene. Workers carrying flashlights and wearing yellow slickers and hard hats and orange safety vests are streaming into the switchyard, and Yang Jing, also from the State Grid Corporation, comes up to him, phone up to his ear.
