White Jade

Chapter Fifty-Five

They sat in Harker's office. There didn't seem much else to do. War would begin or it wouldn't. No one had any illusions they were safe. Nothing would be safe within a hundred miles of Washington if the DF-5s made it out of the silos.

Maybe it was a good sign there had been enough time to get back to Project HQ. Stephanie was there. Elizabeth brought up a live shot of Luoyang on the monitor. It was a war zone. The main buildings were heavily damaged, shell pocked and surrounded by tanks. Troops scrambled toward the silos, but Elizabeth knew they were almost impenetrable from above.

"They've taken out the mobile launchers," Carter said. Smoking craters and twisted debris marked where the missiles had been positioned. "Zhang means it. He doesn't want a war."

Elizabeth picked up her pen. "He sent an air strike. That stops the quick threat. It looks like they bombed the silos."

"Will that stop them?" Selena said.

"Maybe. Maybe not. Those silos are hardened against conventional weapons."

"They could still launch."

"Yes."

"I hope they…" Carter didn't finish the thought.

From a dozen silos, missiles rose on pillars of fire. Three other silos erupted in huge balls of flame. The soldiers near the silos were obliterated. The images on the monitor disappeared under clouds of exhaust and smoke.

"Launch failure in three," Elizabeth said. "Those DF-5s are liquid fueled. The fuel must have exploded. It still leaves twelve."

"How long till they get here?" Ronnie asked.

"About thirty minutes. Unless we knock them down. Maybe Zhang will get some of them. The Chinese have ABMs around Beijing and Chengdu."

She moved the satellite shot over Beijing. "Yes, he's launching his ABMs. I hope they're good."

She opened the bottom drawer of her desk and took out a bottle of Cognac. She poured silently and handed glasses around. Even Ronnie took one.

They raised to each other and drank. They waited.

Off the shores of Kodiak Island in the Aleutians, Burt Rasmussen was operating a large winch hauling in the net with the day's catch. The sky was overcast and gray. This was the last run before the Sally B. headed back to port. A pretty good day.

He swung the net over the ice packing the open hold, where four of the crew waited, and lowered it down. Suddenly two bright bursts of light like newborn suns appeared far above in the gloom.

"What the hell was that," one of the men said. They stared upward. As Burt watched, a third sun blossomed.

"UFOs. Must be UFOs."

"Yeah, right."

"Maybe some kind of exercise. You know, military."

"Ought to be worth a beer at the Shack when we get in."

"Wonder what it means?"

It meant Burt would live to fish another day.