and it emotionally drained him. He lay on the ground and began to shake. He hated this about himself. All the excitement was over and now his body betrayed him. He shook, and he hated the fact of killing a woman.
“Zhu,” Qiang radioed from the ground, from beside the motorcycle. “They’re both women. They…they look like sisters.”
Soldier Rank Zhu closed his eyes. He didn’t like partisan hunting. The Americans were brave to do what they did. Yet he had to kill them and make them stop. If he didn’t, China would wear herself out in battle.
“Are you well, Soldier Rank?” Qiang radioed. “I see you lying on the ground.”
“I’m fine,” Zhu said. He sat up, and the trembling increased. He had been scared making the landing. He was glad no one else knew that.
As he walked toward Qiang, he realized that he wasn’t cold anymore.
How much longer would the squad continue to hunt partisans? When was the war going to get hot again? He wanted to fight American soldiers, not their motorcycle-riding, submachine gun-firing women partisans. It wasn’t fair to him the Americans did that and he wanted it to stop.
REYKJAVIK, ICELAND
It was November 2and Anna Chen’s hands trembled as she stood before her hotel mirror. I’m the wrong person for this. I’m going to make a terrible mistake and it will cost America everything. Why did he choose me?
Anna wore a modest blue dress with a matching purse and shoes. Today, she wore her dark hair down past her shoulders.
Should I put my hair up? This is awful. I don’t even know how to dress for something like this.
She stared at herself, trying to drum up a modicum of self-confidence. She was slender, some said beautiful—Anna had a hard time admitting it to herself—and she was half-Chinese in a country undergoing its worst crisis because of the Chinese. Many, many people hated her because of her ethnicity.
If I fail, people will want to hang me for treason. They’ll say I sold them out because secretly I love the invaders and want them to win. Her lips firmed. She did not love the invaders. She loved her country and she loved—she blinked at herself, shaking her head. Then she went back to inspecting the dress by sliding her hands down her hips.
Despite her rapid rise in status, she worked out daily, practicing yoga. How many months ago had she been just another night-analyst for the CIA? Seven years ago, she’d worked for President Clark. Now she worked for President Sims.
Why can’t I call him by his first name? We weren’t that formal three days ago when he held me in his arms, whispering in my ear.
They had been working together for months, trying to stem the ongoing crisis. So far, nothing had halted the Chinese advance or the South American tanks. Week after week, the enemy surged deeper into the middle of the United States of America.
She no longer worked for the CIA, but had first moved onto the Presidential crisis team and then into the President’s inner circle as an advisor. Today she was here as the personal representative of the President.
I can’t do this. I’ll make a terrible mistake and it will cost us too dearly. What do I know about bargaining with one of the most powerful men in the world?
There came a knock at the door. Anna turned sharply. She felt lightheaded, dizzy. This was it. No. Please, let me go home.
“Enter,” she said.
The door swung inward and a large Secret Service agent stood there. It was the mission chief, a black man named Demetrius. He wore a black suit and sunglasses. “The car is waiting, ma’am,” Demetrius said in his deep voice.
Anna nodded. Her mouth had become too dry to speak. She faced the mirror a last time, picked up a necklace and kept fumbling with the tiny lock. She couldn’t—
“If you would permit me, ma’am?” Demetrius said.
She shivered. He stood so tall and powerful behind her. She hadn’t even heard him walk up. His face was stony; the sunglasses hid his eyes.
Feeling helpless, she nodded once more.
His big fingers moved deftly, brushing her hand as he clicked the tiny lock into place. “I do this for my wife all the time,” he said.
“Thank you,” Anna managed to whisper.
For a moment then, she was back in time. She remembered her former bodyguard, Tanaka. They had married and street thugs had killed him, ending everything. Tanaka would have scolded her for acting this mousey. She was