HONG KONG – The team wasted no time finding the goodies the provincial
official had stashed in the 777. The cabin had been completely
customized to his order, with three full bars spaced throughout, and
a full kitchen at the tail. While the others sampled the high-end liquor,
even bringing soft drinks to Colin and Nigel in the cockpit, Silk busied
himself?to his teammates? surprise?in the galley. He?d found a case
of jumbo shrimp on ice, and was preparing a peanut sauce to go with
them.
?Never suspected you could cook, son,? Buck said. ?Your dad?s
idea of fine dining was cold pizza and warm beer.?
?My mother love to cook, and he love to eat. Maybe that?s why
they marry.?
?Guess I?ll have to raise the level of cuisine I provide you boys
back at the office.?
?Yes. Been meaning to talk to you about that.?
The aircraft was all first class, a fact that didn?t escape Stokes?s
notice. ?Let?s see you stick me in coach now,? he said as he dipped a
finger into Silk?s creation for a taste.
Nigel came back from the controls to get another drink, leaving
Colin up front. Buck turned to Yvonne. ?Has your friend ever piloted
a jet this size?? he asked.
?It?s all right, chief,? Nigel said. ?The boy?s got the knack. Give
him a few more minutes and he?ll have us doing barrel rolls.?
While the rest of them indulged in the jumbo?s luxuries, Yvonne
looked up from her new computer. ?Buck, I need to ask another
favor.?
?Anything, Yvonne.?
?Would you mind if we detoured to Auckland so I can get to my
lab before you deliver this plane? The job?s not done.?
?Umm, anything but that.?
?You don?t understand. I haven?t geolocated the source of the
network attack yet. Stopping these guys is a matter of national
security.?
?How would I explain it to my client? I can?t just take a hundred million
dollar jet on a joyride. I promised them it would be safe and
sound in their hangar by the twenty-sixth.?
She tried her sexy smile on him. ?That still gives you a few
hours.?
?Extra thousand miles, chief,? Nigel said. ?Each way. Not sure
we can make it with the fuel we have on board. The Chinese ground
crew hadn?t filled it yet. Cutting it too close if you ask me.?
?If we land in Sydney, it?ll take me a full day to get to my lab,? she
said. ?I?m not sure we have that much time to waste.?
Stokes cut in on her behalf. ?Yvonne?s right. Now that the
Chinese know we?re on to them, they might make a move. We have
to keep pursuing until we know exactly where the cyber attack was
issued.?
?We?ll have to find a place to top up, you know,? Nigel said. Can?t
just pull up to the pumps at Auckland. And we?ll need clearance to
land, too. Flight plan is filed for Sydney.?
?Yvonne, can you contact my office back in Washington?? Stokes
said. ?If I can get through to CyberCom, they?ll arrange everything.?
?You see?? Yvonne said. ?I told you it was a good idea to bring
Rohan along.?
Buck agreed to the detour, providing Stokes?s office provided
confirmation for the change in plans, something he could show his
client to justify the delay. While he went up front with Nigel to plot
the course change, Yvonne went back to her laptop.
?WiFi is working, but I can?t link up with my equipment in
Paihia,? she said when prodded. ?Having some trouble locating the
IP.? She opened the Skype application.
?Calling the Geek Squad?? Stokes quipped.
?My neighbor. Just want to make sure everything is okay.?
The friend answered on the first ring. ?Was just about to try you,
Yvonne,? he said. ?Something?s happened. Someone?s broken into
your place. I?m with the police right now.?
?Bruce! Did they get anything??
?Yvonne, you never told me you were some kind of computer
wizard,? Bruce said. ?The police say there?s all kinds of cables and
monitors in your office. You running a porn ring??
?What? No,? she said.
?Whatever else you had in that room is gone. Stolen. Middle of
the night, must have been. No one heard a thing.?
Stokes was trying to listen in, but looked frustrated, since he
couldn?t hear the other end of the conversation. Yvonne thanked her
neighbor and said she?d get back to speak with the police as soon as
she could?but it might be a couple of days. She turned to Stokes
and Buck.
?Shi Tao. It has to be. I keep some of my equipment running
while I?m away so I can use it remotely. I accessed it from my suite.
He must have used the logs at the hotel and traced the connection to
my condo.?
?This is getting personal,? Stokes said.
?You have no idea, Rohan. I?m going to make him sorry for this.?
?And no chance you can wipe the hard drives by now.?
?They?ve already pulled the boxes apart and copied them. Once
they decrypt they?ll have everything?my programs, encryption keys,
and records of my communications. I?ve got backups, but they?re
useless as long as Shi has them too. I?m starting from scratch.?
?We?d better put out an advisory ASAP. Anyone with sensitive
information that might be on your computers. You can be sure Shi
will have his agents trying to hack into it. What about your other
labs??
Yvonne tried to access her equipment in Key West and Long
Island, but her efforts got nowhere. ?They?re down,? she said. ?Shi?s
people are already in.?
Woody turned from the window. ?Hey boss??
?Hang on a minute, Woody,? Buck said. ?Yvonne has a crisis.?
?We all do.?
?Hmm? What?s wrong??
Just as the big man started to speak, Colin called from the cockpit.
?Need you up here, Buck. ASAP.?
?The Chinese may not have liked what we did to their tarmac
and aircraft,? Woody said. He pointed out the starboard window to
two J-10 Chinese ?Annihilator? fighters shadowing the 777. There
were two more off the port side.
Buck ran into the cockpit. The others crammed up against the
windows.
One of the Chinese pilots pulled within a hundred feet of the
fuselage, close enough for everyone to see when he pointed at the
jumbo and then at the ground.
Woody said, ?If he thinks were turning back, he can go??
?How far are we from Hong Kong?? Buck asked.
?About five hundred miles,? Nigel said. ?You thinking of making
a run for it, chief ??
?Could we screw with them long enough to make it to a friendly
airport??
?Closest one is probably Manila. About a half hour away at this
speed.?
Buck crossed his arms. Perhaps if it were only his team on board
he might risk it. He looked over at Yvonne and Stokes. ?I can?t take
a chance with you two. Unfortunately you?re too important. We piss
these fighters off and one of them is liable to fire a missile our way.?
?If we?re important, then we?re too important to allow to fall into
their hands,? Stokes said. ?Don?t worry about making us comfortable.
Throttle up and show these guys what a 777 can really do.?
?Smile back, Colin,? Buck said. ?Give them a thumbs up like
we?re going to do what they want.?
Colin followed instructions, but only until his hand fell below the
bottom of the window frame. Then he switched from thumb to
middle finger.
?Easy, son,? Buck said. ?Let?s make them think we?re following
orders.? He turned to Nigel. ?Nige, make your turn long and lazy.
We?re going to loop at least fifty miles south. If we can lull them into
buying it, we?ll break off and try to hit Philippine air space before
they recover.?
Silk had come up from the galley when the commotion started.
?Get us out of this, boss, and I have my mother meet us and cook a
real dinner for you.?
Yvonne was still trying to get through to CyberCom on her
laptop, but the Chinese were jamming to keep the jumbo from calling
for help. She tried a series of frequencies that Stokes gave her, but
the Chinese were on to them, further proof of Shi?s capabilities, and
a warning to Stokes that CyberCom communications might be
compromised. But he had another idea.
?Think you can hack that spy satellite again, Yvonne??
?Sure. But why??
?They?re jamming our frequencies, but they?d never think to jam
one of their own. If we can get in, maybe we can relay a message to
CyberCom before they catch on.?
Yvonne turned her head slowly to look at Stokes. This was not the
soft executive she?d had an affair with three years ago, nor the paper
pusher who handed out assignments and sucked up to his Pentagon
superiors. He was in the field again and thriving in it. It was the part
of espionage he loved and in which he belonged. Sure, maybe he?d
latched on to this mission because he still had feelings for her, but as
the case unfolded he?d become more and more involved in the work,
and left the dreams of romance on the sidelines. And strangely, this
turned her on more than any of his awkward advances.
?Rohan, darling, did I ever tell you you?re a genius?? she said.
?No. You only said I was great in bed.?
So much for her new assessment. She looked around to make
sure no one else had heard his comment. She?d slept with him, with
Colin and Shi. She?d rather none of them knew about the other
affairs in her private life.
Although her original laptop was gone, she remembered enough
of the protocol to access the satellite within a few minutes. Stokes
dictated an emergency message directed to Admiral Lucas at
CyberCom, and she fed it into the satellite?s onboard computer,
redirecting it to broadcast back down in a frequency that would reach
the offices in Washington D.C. As soon as it was sent she shut the
link down, before the Chinese noticed.
?The Ronald Reagan is patrolling off Palawan. If we can get
word to them we might get some help. But for now it?s sit back and
pray that the Pentagon folks are not all at some holiday party, getting
blitzed,? Stokes said.
?Somebody has to be on duty at CyberCom.? Yvonne said.
?Usually it?s me,? he said. ?Now that I?m away who knows who?s
minding the store.?
Nigel banked the aircraft in an elongated arc across the South
China Sea. He rolled the plane to a steep angle, to make the jet pilots
think the jumbo was coming about, but kept the yaw to a minimum,
allowing the plane to drift much further south, towards the
Philippines, than the turn should allow. But after a minute the lead
pilot caught on to the tactic. He pulled his jet within sight of the
cockpit again and pointed towards the mainland with a series of hard
gestures.
?Looks like he?s getting impatient,? Nigel said. ?Time to make
our move, I?d say.?
Buck turned to face the team. ?This is going to be risky,? he said.
?We can?t outrun them, so we?re relying on surprise. If we don?t hit
Philippine air space in a couple of minutes, the Chinese will probably
start firing on us. I suggest buckling up.?
Silk clicked himself into his seat, but it was clear he was upset
about the developments. ?Damn,? he said. ?Peanut sauce almost
ready. Now go to waste.?
?Don?t worry, my friend,? Woody said. ?Now that we know you
can cook I?m sure there?ll be plenty of opportunities.?
When everyone was strapped in, Nigel rolled the jumbo ninety
degrees from port to starboard, and nosed down hard, sending the
Boeing into a dive like a World War II fighter on a strafing run. The
g-force of the move sent pots and pans flying in the kitchen, and
cinched the midsections of the passengers. He kept the engines at
full thrust, and the resulting descent was stronger than gravity, lifting
everyone slightly from their seats.
The move caught the Chinese off guard, as hoped, and gave the
team a head start of about ten miles. They were traveling close to
the speed of sound now, beyond the plane?s limits, and the fuselage
began to shudder from the turbulence.
?Keep it up, Nige!? Buck yelled, ?A few more minutes and we?ll lose ?em.?
The ocean flew up towards them.
?I?m going to have to pull up before we hit, chief. It?ll slow us down,? Nigel said.
He eased back on the controls to level off a thousand feet above
the water. The tactic and the increased air pressure at low altitude
slowed them, and gave the Chinese a chance to close. The J-10s were
capable of almost three times the speed of the 777, and the jumbo?s
lead disappeared in seconds.
Lights from the islands were barely visible on the horizon. ?Of
course, there?s no guarantee they?ll just stop when they get to the
Philippine boundary,? Buck said.
?Thanks for reminding me, chief.? Nigel brought the Boeing to
full throttle again, but the four Chinese jets kept pace. Instead of
ringing the aircraft as they had done before, they kept a mile or so
behind. ?I think you know what that means,? he said.
?They?re locking on to us,? Colin said.
As soon as he said it, a deafening sound, like a jackhammer on
steroids, echoed from the tail section. Nigel grabbed the control
column tightly as the plane yawed, and managed to hold it straight,
but it was clear something had been damaged.
?Cannon fire,? Buck said. ?They targeted a spot that would hurt
us, but not kill us. He leaned in between Nigel and Colin. ?That?s it,
boys. No sense pushing this any further. Bring the plane around and
let?s head back to Hong Kong.?
Nigel eased the plane into a tight arc to show the Chinese there
would be no more trouble, and put it on course for their origin. The
J-10s formed a diamond around them: one in the lead, two at the
sides and one trailing. They traveled with their escorts like that for a
few minutes, but as quickly as the formation had been formed, it
broke apart?the fighters each scrambled in a different direction,
leaving the jumbo on its own again. Scanning the horizon from their
side windows, the team saw why?a squadron of fighters was
approaching from the south. Six planes bore down on the scene. As
they passed by they could see they were F-22s, no doubt from the
carrier. The American planes took off after the J-10s, driving them
out of sight within a minute.
A message from a ColonelMartin popped up on Yvonne?s laptop.
?That?s Lucas?s adjunct,? Stokes said. ?He must have gotten our
call.?
Stokes read it aloud. ?Sir. Sorry for the delay. Took a few minutes
to authenticate your transmission.We don?t get many messages from
Chinese satellites.?
Woody laughed and slapped Stokes on the back, sending him
across the aisle.
?Ouch! That?s a fine reward for me saving our butts,? Stokes said.
?We?re not completely out of the woods yet,? Yvonne said.
?We?ve still got to track down the source of the cyber probe. You
know Shi isn?t going to wait to make his next move.?
?Can you do it from here?? Stokes asked.
?I need my lab and more bandwidth than this plane carries. And
Shi made sure it?s not available.?
?No way we can get you back to Key West for at least a couple of
days. By then they might have launched another attack.?
Yvonne slumped in her seat. ?I can?t believe I left myself so
vulnerable. If only I could get my hands on some new equipment.?
Stokes nudged in next to her. ?Go online. I want to Google
something,? he said.
When she brought up the web page he opened to a map of the
region and studied it. After a few seconds he said, ?There?s only one
place within flying distance where they have that kind of hardware,?
he said. He put his finger on it.
Yvonne looked at him as though he was joking. ?Afghanistan??
?Bagram Air Base. I know the commander.?
?Stokes, are you sure??
?You said the signal originated from near there. I?m going to put
you right next door. When you ping them now it?ll come back loud
enough to knock your earphones off.?
They got up and headed for the cockpit. Just one more detail to
take care of. Yvonne poked her head in to see Buck helping Nigel
and Colin navigate back towards Sydney. She used her helpless little
girl voice this time. ?Buck??
Buck turned around.
?You don?t really want to go to Sydney, do you??
End Chapter Nine
