The Project 01 - White Jade

strike. That stops the quick threat. It lo o ks 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 o n 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 e xploded. 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?"
    I t meant Burt would live to fish another day.

Chapter Fifty- Six

    It was two days later. T here were strands of gray in Harker's hair Carter hadn ' t noticed before.
    S he said , "That was too damn close."
    No one said anything.
    "The PRC got six of the missiles with their ABMs. The AEGIS group around the Ronald Reagan got three more. The last three were intercepted over the Bering Sea from Alaska. Without warning it wouldn't have worked out so well. If those last missiles had gotten past our intercepts, Rice w as going to turn China into a radioactive wasteland. Checkmate for the human race . "
    "He had some balls to wait that long, " Ronnie said.
    "What happens now?" Carter asked.
    "There's a summit being set up with all the nuclear powers. It's a real wake up call. Maybe we'll end up with some kind of rational progress on nukes for a change."
    " Sure," Carter said. "I'll believe that when I see it. What about Yang?"
    "The PRC sent a video of his interrogation and execution to the White House. He gave it all up. The FBI is taking the Triads apart at the seams. The whole country is pissed at China. It's not a good time to be Chinese here."
    There had been no way to keep the lid on. There had been a lot of incidents. Chinese businesses were vandalized, people beaten. There was a nation wide, grass roots boycott of everything and anything Chinese. The economy was poised to slip into deep recession. Congress was in an uproar. Rice was being attacked or praised in equal measure, but his approval rating with the public had skyrocketed. T here was still an America to come home to.
    Harker said, "There's a purge going on in China. Zhang has arrested the key figures and the Officer Corps is in disarray. They're hunting everyone down. There hasn't been anything like it since Mao."
    She reached into her desk drawer and brought out the Cognac and glasses.
    " Cheryl Wilson resigned from the State Department . She's going to teach at Princeton . "
    " I'd hate to be in one of her classes, " said Nick.
    Harker poured. Coke for Ronnie.
    After a moment Selena said, " I wonder if the Chinese will excavate the site in Tibet ? "
    Harker said, " My guess is no. I t would be a huge culture shock to find out t he emperor isn ' t buried in Li Shan. I don ' t think the PRC wants any more shocks. "
    She sipped. " You three made a pretty good team out there . Selena, I've been thinking. Why don't we make it official? "
    " What? " She was startled. " You want me to come work for you? "
    " Not me. For the President. For your country. "
    " But I don't know how to be...a spy, or whatever. "
    " We can train you in the things you