“Who are the others? Australia? The United States? Who?”
“I don’t know. Honestly, I think the team that hit us in Sydney wasn’t a team. I think they were just friends of the American whom we targeted, and they had more skill than we knew. We were taken by surprise, but I don’t want that to happen a second time. I’m taking no more chances.”
Bear nodded. “Okay. I certainly don’t want this to end up like Sydney. We’re with you. What do you want us to do?”
Chen relaxed, saying, “Bobcat is secure in the hostel we rented. I want to bring him to me and make sure he has the data, but I don’t want to taint this house. I’m going to set up a meeting with him, ensure he’s clean, and then get him here under our control.”
Bear nodded, saying, “And then?”
“And then we get him out of here, the long way.”
Chapter 56
As he had hundreds of times before, George Wolffe entered the Old Executive Office Building for an update to the Oversight Council, only this time he was the acting commander instead of sitting in the back row.
Hollywood movies made such gatherings ominous, with a drumbeat of music detailing the pressure that was to come, but in reality the meetings were mundane, even given the stakes involved. They debated the nuances of life-or-death missions like they were evaluating the purchase of a stock. In truth, Wolffe had always hated these things, but he had no choice now. Since Kurt Hale had been killed, he had become the face of the Taskforce.
He reached the door to the conference room, saw no Secret Service personnel, and entered, finding Alexander Palmer waiting on him, the rest of the Council in their seats. He said, “Where’s the president? This is worthy of his attention.”
Palmer was terse, saying, “He had competing interests. Just give us what you know.”
Wolffe heard the tone, but knew better than to ratchet up the tension. There was no love lost between the two, but Wolffe understood he needed to get approval for an Omega operation, and antagonizing Palmer in the absence of the president was unwise.
Wolffe thought Palmer was a political toad, more concerned with the latest popularity index than what was necessary for security, and Palmer thought Wolffe was a cowboy willing to use the Taskforce at the slightest provocation. It wasn’t the best match for deciding the fate of the country’s national security direction, but Wolffe could live with the politics as long as they didn’t overshadow real strategic problems.
He stifled what he wanted to blurt out, instead saying, “What I know is that we’re about to be in a war defending Taiwan. Or we’re about to lose Taiwan by our inaction. Is that enough for the president’s attention? He should really be here.”
Palmer said, “Oh, come on. You guys always say the world is ending. Brief the Council on what’s happening, and then let us decide.”
Wolffe said, “Fine by me. I’m not the one who said go chase China, but I’m a believer now.”
Palmer said nothing, allowing Wolffe to move to the front of the room.
He reached the head of the table, turned on the laptop, and brought up the Project Prometheus logo. The room went quiet, the buzz of conversation falling away.
He said, “First, thank you for taking the time out of your day to do this meeting. I know it’s painful, given your real jobs, but it’s necessary. We deal in a world of gray, and we have to make black-and-white decisions. I’m going to ask you to make one today.”
He flipped the slide, showing a graphic of Taiwan, then said, “This is the national security flashpoint of the world. We talk about great power competition and how we’re focusing on China, but we’re missing the actual battle. It’s not going to be a full-scale war. It’s going to be a slow bleed.”
Alexander Palmer interjected, saying, “I’m sorry, but I thought you were here to brief us on Taskforce actions. Not give us a class on geopolitics.”
Wolffe bit back his initial response. He said, “Yes, sir. I am talking about Taskforce actions.”
He paused, looked around the room, then set the remote on the table, ignoring the briefing slide.
He said, “Look, here’s the deal. Russia took over Crimea with nothing but a social media campaign and a few Spetsnaz soldiers. They won because we stood by. I believe that same thing could potentially happen in Taiwan. We didn’t really give a damn about the Crimean Peninsula, letting Russia walk right in, but we’d better damn well care about Taiwan, because if we lose that, we’re ceding the entire Pacific Ocean to China. This isn’t like the domino theory from Vietnam. This is the domino. And Pike is on that threat.”
Amanda Croft, the secretary of state, said, “Are you seriously saying that China is going to invade Taiwan?”
“Yes and no. From what Pike got from Dunkin, Jake Shu stole not only information related to our F-35 program, but also data from an artificial intelligence program for the defense of Taiwan. On the surface, that’s just more espionage, but looking at Crimea as an example, they may be planning on a hybrid war.”
Palmer said, “What’s that mean?”
“It means they aren’t going to do it like we’ve been wargaming for the last three decades. They aren’t going to conduct a cold-start invasion. They’re going to foment chaos inside the country, stirring it into a frenzy, much like we see happening in Hong Kong. Once they’ve got everything boiling, they’re going to have Taiwan initiate the action, allowing them to claim self-defense.”
Easton Beau Clute, the chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said, “How are they going to initiate chaos? What would cause the catalyst? It’s not like they can tell the people of Taiwan to riot. They hate China.”
“I don’t know the catalyst, but they didn’t tell Hong Kong to riot either. They just did.”
Unconvinced, Clute asked, “Where are you getting this from? We’ve seen nothing to indicate anything like this.”
Wolffe said, “Honestly, I’m extrapolating from intelligence Pike has gleaned from Dunkin, and it’s by no means ironclad, but he has a target we need to interdict.”
Palmer said, “What target? The last thing we were talking about was a breach of the F-35 artificial intelligence systems. Now you’re extrapolating that it’s a full-scale takeover of the entire country of Taiwan?”
“Yes, but I’m not saying we need to launch a carrier group to the Taiwan Strait—although that might be wise—only that there are potential repercussions in play beyond simply trying to alter our F-35 program. And Pike is on that thread.”
Amanda Croft gave him a suspicious look, and Wolffe knew if he was losing her, he was losing them all. She said, “Give us the background.”
He did, walking them through everything he knew, detailing Dunkin’s killing and the rescue of Nicole, to include her coming to U.S. soil. In between, he expanded on Dunkin’s theory about the AI systems for the defense of Taiwan.
When he was done, he said, “I can’t vouch for the intelligence as solid, but the target is the same: Jake Shu. Even if Pike is wrong on the overarching threat, Jake Shu needs to be interdicted for the F-35 program alone. We need to know what he knows.”