Страница 15 из 80
“I’d heard some scuttlebutt,” said Dog.
“You’re supposed to register when you attend a scientific conference where outside government agents may be. They’ve lost the paperwork, and they’re hanging her for it.”
“They lost the paperwork, or it wasn’t done?”
“What does it matter?”
“It’ll make a difference,” said Dog.
“Then it was lost. Probably on purpose.”
Dog leaned back in his seat. Rubeo showed exactly how right Da
“They questioned her for hours, and took away her clearance,” said Rubeo.
Dog sighed. “I’m sure Captain Freah is just following procedure.”
“Oh please.”
“Did Je
Page 46
“Of course.”
“Tell me about the conferences.”
Rubeo waved his hand in the air as if brushing away a fly. Then he sighed and began explaining in some detail the two scientific exchanges. One was on artificial intelligence and was rather broad; the other had to do with compression systems used in communications. The latter would have inevitably had applications for encryption and been subject to special scrutiny, though Rubeo thought it was more the fact that Je
“Chinese?” asked Dog.
“She asked specifically about Chinese. There were five hundred people at one of the conferencs—it’d be news if the Chinese weren’t there. It’s all piffle, Colonel. It’s a witch hunt.”
Outside Dreamland Perso
1805
MACKSMITH WASheaded toward his base quarters after a game of te
Their loss, obviously.
Cortend turned in his direction as he approached. Ordinarily he liked his women a little shorter, but she was definitely worth the climb.
“Hello, Colonel,” he said. “How goes the hunt?”
Cortend stopped. Her brown eyes focused on him with all the intensity of a Sidewinder homing in on a hot tailpipe.
“You are?”
“Smith—Mack. Remember? Hey, my friends call me Knife.”
She’d do for di
“You like Vegas?” he asked.
“Las Vegas?”
“City of sin. Listen, I’m just on my way to hit a shower, then I’m going to split for di
“Mack Smith,” said Cortend. She pronounced each consonant in his name.
“That’s me. Call me Knife. Kind of a nickname.”
Page 47
She turned to one of her captains. “Is he on the list?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“In the truck, Smith. We have some questions for you.”
Mack laughed. Cortend didn’t.
“Yeah, well, maybe another time,” he said, shaking his head. But as he took a step toward the building, he found two of the lackeys blocking his way. At the same time, two of the security men got out of one of the SUVs.
“What’s the story here, sugar?” Mack said.
Cortend walked over to Mack. They were about the same height—but suddenly Cortend seemed to tower over him.
“The story, sugar, is that I have some questions for you to answer, and you will answer them now. Got it?”
“But I’m kind of busy.”
“You’re refusing to cooperate on a purely voluntary basis?”
The way she said the words made it clear to Mack that talking with her was about as voluntary as income tax. Still, he wasn’t going to let some good-looking but hard-ass colonel screw up his night off.
“I wanted to take a shower,” he said.
“I doubt it will make you smell any better,” said Cortend, heading back toward her vehicle.
Outside Taipei, Taiwan
7 September
1100 (2000 Dreamland, 6 September)
CHENLOFANNwaited on the bench in the antechamber, soothing his troubled mind by staring at his surroundings. He had spent considerable time here as a boy, racing through his grandfather Chen Lee’s house; under ordinary circumstances, those memories would soothe him.
They failed to now. In fact, the more he stared, the further those days became, faded pages from a discarded book.
Chen Lo Fa
Time passed; he did not note it.
One of Chen Lee’s secretaries stood before him. Without saying anything, Chen Lo Fa
followed the man through the hallway to the office where Chen Lee waited.
The old man stood gazing out the window. Taipei sat in the distance, a dirty gem in the rough land the old man had helped make prosperous. The old clock in the corner of the office ticked, slowly counting to itself as Chen Lo Fa
“Your mission failed,” said Chen Lee finally.
“Yes, Grandfather,” said Fa
“History is a terrible force,” said the older man, still looking through the window. “It cares for no individual. It is like the ocean wave in that way. And yet it can be turned.”
Chen Lo Fa
“I have a second plan,” said Chen Lo Fa
Chen Lee had clearly thought of this already, because he answered without his usual pause to consider.
“Simply disrupting them will not be enough. An attack must be provoked.”
“If the Americans participate,” said Chen Lo Fa
The old man said nothing. Chen Lo Fa
“If the meeting is not canceled, we shall have to take graver action,” said Chen Lee. “Be prepared.”
He turned back to the window.
“Yes, Grandfather,” said Chen Lo Fa
Dreamland Commander’s Office
2050
ZEN ROLLED HIMSELFinside the office, surprised to find that everyone else was already there.
Stoner had started the brief on the mission without him.
Zen banged against an empty chair getting in; no one seemed to notice.
“Major Stockard can give you the hard details,” said Stoner, nodding toward him. “Basically, we get their attention by flying near their territory, and then make like we’re testing a new weapon. The weapon is just a Hellfire missile with an ELF transmitter, but it’s different enough to attract attention. So if the clone is a spy plane, it’ll be worth checking out. You want to take over, Zen?”
“You’re doing fine.”
Stoner ticked off a list of areas to probe, starting with China and then moving to Vietnam—it was possible the Russians were using that country as a base. The ASEAN exercises were taking place about Page 49
two hundred miles to the east of northern Vietnam.
“We’re going to locate in Brunei,” interrupted Colonel Bastian. “I realize it’ll be a haul, but the facilities are first-rate. There’s no doubt about that,” said the colonel.
Dog added by way of explanation that Dreamland would be fulfilling a secondary diplomatic mission by being located in Brunei. It was clear to Zen that Dog didn’t particularly like that part of the assignment, but he soldiered on with it, noting that the kingdom was constructing a new military air base near the international airport in the capital. The facilities would be made available to Dreamland, carte blanche.