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Which in this case, proved to be true.
“It’s why I was delayed in returning your call,” Painter said. He tapped at his keyboard, and the image on the screen split. “I thought Ms. Higashi should be part of this discussion. Especially as she might be partly to blame for the attack against you last evening.”
Gray frowned.What did he mean by that?
On the other half of the computer monitor, a new office appeared. The desk had an ebony surface over blond wood that matched the framing of the white Shoji-screen paneling behind it. A bookshelf of the same vertical-grained wood was full of journals and texts, a majority of which were titled in Japanese.
Seated behind the desk, Aiko gave them all a nod. “Kon’nichiwa,” she greeted them, her voice perfunctory and serious. She kept her back stiff, carrying herself like someone with a military background. Her navy suit looked starched as firmly as her manner.
Gray knew her background—though Kat knew the woman far better. The two had run up the respective ranks of their intelligence agencies. Aiko had started with the Japanese Ministry of Justice, then later joined the Public Security Intelligence Agency.
According to Japan’s constitution—written after World War II—the country’s intelligence operations were restricted from operating on foreign soil. But with the rising threats from China, North Korea, and Russia, along with terrorist incursions, Japan had been bolstering its intelligence services, centralizing them under CIRO, the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office. But more was needed with rising world tensions and threats. So, as Sigma operated under the auspices of DARPA, TaU now served the same covert role under CIRO. The new agency was only three years old, and any mission far from their homeland required delicacy and international cooperation.
Like now.
Aiko did not look particularly happy about it, but she was sharpenough to recognize when necessity required such cooperation. “I assume you’ve been informed about China’s loss.”
Gray nodded. “A nuclear submarine.”
Aiko’s eyes narrowed. “The escalation of China’s saber-rattling has grown unnerving throughout the region. It grew worse after AUUKUS, a trilateral treaty between Australia, the U.K., and the U.S. And the situation with Taiwan grows ever more tense. During the past few years, the PLA Navy has increased its number of live-fire exercises and patrols. Including conducting incursions into territorial waters, especially around Australia of late.”
“Is that where they lost their sub?” Kat asked. “Somewhere off the coast of Australia.”
“That’s what we had initially suspected. Two weeks ago, leaked intel revealed frantic Chinese naval activities north of New Zealand. It soon grew clear that one of their new subs had sunk, possibly during a seaquake.”
“U.S. military intelligence had heard the same chatter,” Painter confirmed.
Aiko continued, “Rumor was that there was a recovery operation. A handful of submariners were said to have been evacuated and promptly whisked away.”
Gray frowned. “Evacuated how?”
Aiko matched his frustrated expression. “Intel suggests that the new sub was equipped with a pair of escape chambers, likely based on Russia’s Oscar-class VSUs. Small chambers that could hold a dozen men and be blasted to the surface. But the rumors of such a rescue could just be naval propaganda. Especially as the Chinese didn’t seem to know exactly where the sub sank. If there had been survivors, it seems likely the rescued men would have known where their sub went down.”
“And how did TaU get involved?”
“Through a bit of serendipity and happenstance. We had not truly planned on being drawn into the matter. But there was already an international research project underway in the waters four hundred miles away. To get some boots on the ground—or in this case, underwater—we dispatched an agent to the area. He was a former soldier with our SDF. TaU recruited him two years ago, while he was finishing a degree in geology and seismology, topics of particular interest to Japan’s safety.”
Kat nodded. “And you sent him out to be your eyes and ears in the area?”
“We did, especially as he had a personal connection. An uncle—a volcanologist who had been already working at the Titan Project nearly from the start.”
“And what has your agent heard?” Gray asked.
“He didn’t justhear. While investigating an unusual swarm of quakes along the Tonga Trench, he and the geology team discovered a wrecked sub, in waters ten thousand meters deep.”
Monk whistled. “At those depths, the story of any survivors seems even more unlikely.”
Kat reached to her husband’s shoulder. “Not necessarily. They could have escaped before the boat hit bottom.”
Gray had never stopped frowning. “But I don’t understand. All of this seems like a matter for our respective militaries. What can TaU or Sigma hope to accomplish? And more importantly—” He stared hard at Painter. “How does any of this explain the attack on us in Hong Kong?”
“I’ll let Director Higashi answer that,” Painter said.
She nodded. “Before the sub was discovered a few hours ago, our agent had reported a possible regional threat last week, one posited by his uncle. He believes the swarm of seaquakes that drew them to the sub could be the source for the escalating number of tectonic events throughout the region. Let me share their research data.”
Aiko ran through a series of maps, showing the maze of fault lines and deep-sea trenches throughout the South Pacific, followed by the epicenters of quakes, then a chart dotted with hundreds of volcanos.
“Our agent and his uncle,” Aiko continued, “believe whatever is happening in the Tonga Trench—something possibly connected to the sunken sub—could threaten all of Southeast Asia, destabilizing the region’s fault lines and volcanic arcs, leading to a catastrophe beyond measure.”
