The Rising Sea

30

Han made it from the ceremony to his office without further interruption. He shut the door firmly and took a seat at his desk. In silence, he contemplated the interruption he’d just dealt with. Something had to be done about the interference from Austin and NUMA.

He placed his finger on a scanner built into his desktop. After reading his fingerprint, it confirmed his identity and released the locks on his desk. From the second drawer down, he pulled out a special phone and plugged it into a dedicated jack in the side of his computer.

With a few taps of the keyboard, he initiated an encryption program and then placed a call. A yellow icon appeared on-screen as the initial connection was made. The symbol turned green once the encryption codes were accepted and matched.

“Secure line,” a voice said from the other end.

“Secure line,” Han repeated. “Connect me to the Minister.”

“Stand by.”

As he waited, Han loosened his tie, which had begun to feel constricting around his neck. That done, he poured himself a drink and took a large gulp from the glass.

The voice came over the computer speaker. “I have the Minister, sir. Go ahead.”

The line cleared and he was connected to Wen Li at his office in Beijing. “We have a problem,” Han said. “We need to call off the operation.”

There was a brief moment of static before Wen Li replied. “We have problems on several fronts,” Wen admitted, “but it’s too late for us to turn back. Things have been put in motion that cannot be stopped.”

“We’re facing risk of imminent exposure,” Han said. “Kurt Austin confronted me today regarding a geological anomaly on the bottom of the East China Sea.”

“That would not surprise me,” Wen said, “except that you told me Austin had been eliminated.”

Han had known they were alive since the incident at the casino, but he hadn’t reported that information back to Wen. “I was led to believe they’d been killed in the fire,” he said. “They must have falsified their deaths and continued to investigate. An amateurish ploy.”

“Which you seem to have fallen for.”

Han burned with indignation. “Maybe you’re not grasping the magnitude of what I’ve just said. Austin came here — to my place of business — he walked right up to me, only moments after I finished my appearance with the Japanese Prime Minister. That cannot be a coincidence. It means they’ve connected CNR and me to the events in the Serpent’s Jaw. They intend to survey the area. It will lead to the mining site.”

“A bluff,” Wen said.

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because they’ve already surveyed it,” Wen explained, “and they found nothing.”

Han was stunned. Apparently, he wasn’t the only one keeping information to himself. “How and when did this occur?”

“Yesterday,” Wen replied. “We detected signals emanating from an ROV. Sonar was intermittent, due to the small size of the submersible, but we’re almost certain that they found the original mining site.”

Han put a hand to his temple and massaged away the growing pain. “How could this happen? I thought naval units of the PLA had that area locked down.”

Wen explained the breach with grudging admiration. “I will admit they found a novel way around our net. A method we hadn’t considered. But, in hindsight, their discovery will prove irrelevant.”

“Not if they send the information back to Washington.”

“That will never occur,” Wen promised. “The NUMA agents are here in Shanghai. We’ll soon have them in custody. They will be charged with espionage and used as bargaining chips. And, to their dismay, they will find they’ve thrown their lives away for nothing. Even a detailed survey with accurate sonar maps, video footage and ground-penetrating sonar will reveal very little to anyone. The real work was deep under the seafloor in the tunnels carved out by your machines, too deep for standard sonar to reveal.

“At best, the Americans will have discovered a subsurface mining operation that was destroyed by some minor geologic activity and the wreckage of an aquatic habitat, half buried in the canyon. They will have learned nothing about the nature of the operation or the Golden Adamant. And by the time they do, we’ll be in control of the Japanese government, and you and your agents will be free to mine all the Golden Adamant on Hokkaido. Providing you can actually find it.”

Han was put on the defensive. “We’re very close,” he insisted. “I will soon be in possession of the ancient swords and Masamune’s journal, which tells of their forging. Those items will lead us directly to the mine from which Masamune obtained the alloy in the first place. But none of that will do any good if the NUMA agents in Shanghai or their associates here expose us.”

Wen fell quiet for a moment, like he often did when they were playing Go. Han took the moment to take another drink.

Finally, the old man spoke again. “You say Austin came to you?”

“He asked for my help in the exploration.”

“A bold stroke,” Wen said. “He must have been trying to shake you.”

“I assure you, he learned nothing.”

“Still, there’s a great deal to be admired in the way he plays the game. And much to learn.”

“Such as?”

“Remember the first lesson of the board,” Wen told him. “Your greatest opportunities occur when your opponent overextends himself. He becomes easy to cut off. Austin’s aggressiveness makes him vulnerable. I believe we can use his arrogance against him.”

“How?”

“We have planned to move against the Japanese Prime Minister using vaguely American assets. Is that not correct?”

“We have captured two servicemen,” Han insisted. “The American government believes they’ve gone AWOL.”

“Get rid of them,” Wen said. “Their dereliction of duty will make their actions too questionable. In their place, we will use others with more impressive résumés.”

“You mean…”

“I do,” Wen said. “How much better for us if a well-known American agent who once worked for the CIA was seen killing the Japanese Prime Minister as he signed a friendship agreement with China? It would infuriate the Japanese public. It would seal the realignment like nothing else.”

Han felt a wave of energy wash over him and he began to grin. “You’re correct as always, Lao-shi. I apologize for not seeing the opportunity sooner. Austin has played directly into our hands.”