Chapter 85
Crystal City, Virginia
Two Weeks Later
Kasey picked up her pace, not wanting to fall behind.
She watched her target cross Crystal Drive and turn right, weaving amid concrete planters.
She followed him through the Water Park, its paths arcing around fountains in the high midday sun.
The cherry blossoms were near peak and verdant spring foliage created canyons of green.
The sidewalks were busy on the warm spring day, people finding any excuse to get out of apartments and offices.
Kasey noted more than the usual share of regulation haircuts in the neighborhood—just over a mile from the Pentagon, Crystal City was heavily populated by active-duty military personnel who, after putting their lives on the line overseas, had no wish to battle with Beltway traffic.
The man moved quickly, smoothly, through the crowds as he neared his destination. In the fifteen minutes Kasey had been trailing him, he’d taken no countermeasures to either detect or evade surveillance. That was a mistake on his part. And it would be in her report.
Two blocks later, he turned under a jade awning and disappeared into a brownstone building.
Kasey wouldn’t make the same mistakes her quarry had.
She spent the next ten minutes moving and watching.
As surveillance detection routes, or SDRs, went, it was a minimalist effort, but still the best she could allow given her time constraints.
She next stopped in a small store she’d spotted and purchased a stuffed bear.
She wedged it in her purse and headed back out to the sidewalk.
Ending where she started, she crossed to the jade awning and turned inside.
Kasey had never been to this restaurant, but it was familiar all the same.
Dark wood, weighty fixtures, a brass-and-mirror bar.
The liquor was top shelf, and rows of wineglasses were sorted by size, shape, and thickness—tailored to bring out the best in different varietals.
This was D.C. at its most elemental, a place where deals were done.
Where congresspeople and justices held court, and where lobbyists and paramours were at their persuasive best.
The ma?tre d’ pointed her in the right direction, and turning the first corner, she saw Sharpe sitting at a corner table.
Next to his table, an ornamental fireplace flickered a natural gas glow.
No coincidence, she was sure. He did a double take when he saw her.
If there was surprise, it was fleeting and quickly replaced by a knowing grin.
He stood to greet her, and they shared a warm hug.
“I take it there’s no NTSB investigator coming to meet me?” he asked as they both sat down.
“Sorry, I had to be a little indirect.”
He smiled again and shook his head, something between admiration and disbelief.
Kasey couldn’t help noticing that it was a nice smile.
Rugged and handsome, and subtly different from the one she’d occasionally seen on the top of the world.
He looked more relaxed now, less troubled by duty and conscience.
“Indirect?” he said. “Is that the agency term for having someone impersonate a government investigator and arrange a meeting under false pretenses?”
Kasey shrugged. Sharpe had received a call from a man, purporting to be an NTSB inspector, who wanted to schedule a series of interviews.
The investigators hadn’t yet talked to Sharpe about the downing of Hemisphere Flight 777.
“The guy who called was a friend of mine from work, somebody who understands the need to bend the rules a little now and again. The agency wouldn’t approve of my meeting with you—we’re supposed to keep our distance from one another until things settle down. ”
“I was given the same briefing. Are they worried we’re going to cook up alternate versions of what happened?”
“I don’t think it’s that as much as… well, we can talk about that later.” She glanced down and asked, “How’s your leg? I didn’t see you limping.”
He paused a beat. “You were following me?”
“Old habits.”
“Guess I forgot who I’m dealing with.”
A waitress appeared and took their drink order.
“I’ll take a Stella,” Sharpe said.
“Just tap water,” Kasey replied. “Oh, and absolutely no ice.”
Sharpe couldn’t contain a laugh as the waitress departed.
“The leg is good. A partial tear to a ligament, but it should heal. I’m set to do a little PT. My feet were on the edge of frostbite, but no damage done.”
“Good to hear.”
“You?”
She saw him looking at her left hand, which was resting on the table. A small bandage ran down to the top of one finger.
“Nothing serious. But I guess it’s kind of symbolic. Ring finger, left hand?”
“Better that than your trigger finger.”
“True.”
He glanced at the menu but ignored it. “It’s good to see you, Kasey.” His tone was heartfelt, real.
“You too.”
“This is the first time they’ve let me out and about. But then, I’m guessing you know that.”
“I know the agency put you up in a safe house out west in Fairfax County. Isolation debriefs aren’t usually this long—they’re playing this one particularly tight. It’s my first time out as well. After I see you, I’m going to stop to see Walter’s wife.”
“I hope she’s holding up okay.”
“Me too. But I hope she doesn’t press me too much about what happened. I don’t think I could tell her anything but the truth. And the truth is pretty explosive.”
“The stakes are high, I know. But I have to say, I’ve found the debriefing process frustrating. The flow of information has been a one-way street. All I know about the fallout from our Arctic adventure is what I’ve seen on the news.”
“And what you’ve seen on the news is all fabricated.”
“Pretty much. This whole thing has been whitewashed. At least, by everyone except the Russians. They’re pissed that they lost a cutting-edge submarine, and behind closed doors they’re holding the Chinese responsible.”
“No surprises there. At least they were able to pick up everyone from the original crash site. Your passengers have all been treated for injuries and repatriated.”
“What about the crew from Snow Dragon 2?”
“The Russians are still holding them—bargaining chips. But that’ll all get sorted out. None of it affects us.”
“Which implies you’re going to tell me what does affect us.”
She gave him an appraising look. She had been getting constant updates on the aftermath of the mission.
As a civilian, however, Sharpe had been kept in the dark.
The security clearance he’d held as an Air Force officer had expired, and anyway, he had no “need to know” what was going on behind the scenes.
On the other hand, Kasey knew she wouldn’t be here today if he hadn’t voluntarily put his life on the line for his country, and for her. She felt like she owed him the truth.
“There was a very tense call between the presidents—ours and China’s. They agreed to sweep as much of what happened as possible under the carpet. The Chinese are in an untenable position. To begin, they brought down a civilian airliner—and we hinted that we could prove it.”
“Can we?” As the aircraft’s copilot, he had a deeply vested interest in knowing the truth.
“Honestly, I don’t know. With time, and with Chen’s help, I’m sure we’ll figure out how they made the engines fail.”
“Speaking of Chen,” Sharpe interjected. “How’s he’s doing?”
“Better. From what I hear, he’s recuperating in a secure, undisclosed location. If I had to guess, I think DARPA has him.”
“Makes sense. Hopefully, he’ll help expose the truth. The world needs to know.”
Kasey shook her head. “Look, I know it sucks. But sometimes bad things that happen in the dark have to be left in the dark.”
“For what? The good of the nation?”
“In this case, yes. The NTSB is taking the lead on the crash. We’ve advised them of our suspicions about a malware affecting the engines, and also that national security interests demand that they can’t go public with it.
They’re going to make sure the vulnerability is identified and fixed.
I can also tell you that no blame will be assigned to you or the other pilots. ”
Kasey went silent as the waitress set down their drinks. Sharpe took a long pull on his beer, his smile gone.
“From China’s point of view,” Kasey continued, “this whole affair was a disaster. It makes the regime look incompetent. Sky Fire and its chief designer disappeared from right under their noses. The Snow Dragon 2 ended up as a fiasco. Then one of their most elite spec ops units got obliterated in a gunfight. Saving face is critical in that part of the world, and this was a failure on every level.”
“So what? We all just pretend none of it happened?”
“Publicly, yes. The Chinese have already announced that a platoon from the Ice Wolves was lost in a training accident. The passengers from the crash have all been interviewed. Some knew more about what really happened than others, but they’ve all signed nondisclosure agreements based on national security concerns.
The only exception is the older Asian couple who were returned to Hong Kong.
They’re now in the hands of the Chinese authorities, and they’ll be managed even more tightly. ”
“I saw a news article that claimed the Snow Dragon 2 sank in a storm trying to reach the crash site.”
“A big lie backed by small truths—welcome to the world of smoke and mirrors. By the way, she did eventually sink. Our analysts think she was salvageable, but the Russians most likely scuttled her after their own icebreaker arrived to recover everyone.”
“Out of spite for what happened to the Aurora?”
“You and I met Captain Khurtin. He didn’t strike me as the live-and-let-live type.”
Sharpe spun his beer on the table and gazed at the fireplace. “What about our LC-130 crew? I read some bull about that being a training accident.”
“Brett, I know—”
“Those families,” he said, cutting her off in a low voice, “will never know how valiantly their husbands, sons, and fathers died.”
“Actually, they will. There were three widows. The president himself is going to meet with each of them. Without giving details, he will explain that these men made the ultimate sacrifice on a mission that was vital to our national interests. He will say, correctly, that others are alive today because of their actions.”
Sharpe looked at her searchingly. Kasey knew what he was thinking. Nobody knows better than us how true that is.
He let out an exasperated sigh. “What about the thing that started all this?”
“Sky Fire?”
Sharpe nodded.
“It’s secure. Our people are going over it, and soon Chen will help them dig deeper. It shifts the playing field massively. We’ll have a huge advantage for years to come on the tactical applications of AI.”
She saw him wrestle with that. He was wondering if it could possibly be worth the loss of life. Worth nearing the brink of war. Kasey had endured the same doubts. But it was time to move on. Time to explain why she was here.
“Look, there’s another reason I wanted to see you today… it’s important.” He looked up, and she could tell she had his full attention. “We need to think forward—you and I.”
“If you’re about to ask me out on a date, that was the worst opener I’ve even heard.”
Kasey couldn’t contain a slight smile. But when she spoke again, her tone was all business. “The Russians are going to move past all of this. They lost a valuable naval asset, but they also came out as heroes in the rescue operation.”
“And the Chinese?”
“They’re a very different story. They were beaten on every level, and they’ll be mad as hell about losing Sky Fire.
There’s nothing they can do about that, but I’ve been told by a number of analysts, people who know the regime inside and out, that they will make a serious effort to discourage this kind of thing in the future.
” Kasey let that hang in the air for a moment.
“Discourage how?” he asked.
“Something that’s been in the Russian playbook for a long time—retribution.”
“Retribution?”
She nodded.
“You mean like… coming after us?”
“Dr. Chen would be the obvious target, and I would definitely be on their radar. Chen will get a new identity and have security for the rest of his life. As for me, I’m a moving target and I’m trained in countersurveillance—complications like this are part of my life.”
He watched her intently, taking in every word. He finally knew where she was going. “But I’m different.”
“The Chinese will have interviewed the older Chinese couple who returned to Hong Kong. They would not only know that you survived the crash, but also that you left the crash site shortly after Chen and I did.”
“You think the Chinese take me for some kind of CIA asset?”
“I’m not sure how they might connect it all… but yes, the Chinese could come to that conclusion. You need to understand the potential risks.”
“You’re saying Chinese assassins might come gunning for me?”
“Crudely put… yes.”
After a thoughtful moment, Sharpe said, “I guess I won’t be bidding the Hong Kong route anytime soon.” His attempt at a grin fell flat.
“I am dead serious about this.”
“So what would you have me do? Quit my job? Find a new career?”
“Exactly.”
He looked at her incredulously.
Then Kasey said, “And maybe the agency could help you with that…”