Executive Intent

“That’s definitely on my ‘bucket list,’ sir,” Nauert said. “Anything else I can do for you, sir?”

“Not right now. Nice to talk to you, Sergeant Major.”

“Same here, sir. AFRICOM clear.”

“That was the space-station guy?” Greene asked after Nauert terminated the call.

“Yes, sir. BG Raydon himself, asking about that convoy of Chinese ships headed our way.”

“What about it?”

“They were delayed for about a week in Pakistan. Raydon wanted to know why.”

“Shit, he’s the reason why the Pakistanis don’t tell us stuff anymore,” Greene complained. “If he hadn’t blasted that Pak village all to hell with his space weapon, we’d still be on speaking terms. The Paks aren’t going to tell us nothin’ about anyone’s ship movements until we get back on friendlier terms.”

“I’ll drop an e-mail to TMO at Stuttgart and ask the question.”

“Do that, but I’ll guarantee we won’t get an answer back from the Paks,” Greene said. “If the powers that be really want to know, they’ll probably have to send in the CIA to find out.” He sniffed derisively and shook his head. “Raydon and the Air Force think their space station and fancy space radars are so cool, but we’ll still use plain old-fashioned grunt work-some local in sandals and a turban, getting paid a couple bucks for info and maybe a photo or two-to get the real dope.”

ARMSTRONG SPACE STATION

THAT SAME TIME

“I would sure love to have a look inside those ships,” Kai Raydon said as he closed the secure telephone connection. “I have a bad feeling about those things.”

“Can’t the Coast Guard just pull them over and inspect them?” Boomer Noble asked. “I know the Coast Guard does that all the time, everywhere in the world.”

“Pretty low odds of a Chinese ship in international waters voluntarily agreeing to an inspection, Boomer,” Senior Master Sergeant Valerie “Seeker” Lukas said. “Unless there’s a Memorandum of Understanding between a nation and the Coast Guard, it’s up to the ship’s owner or captain to allow an inspection, and the Chinese aren’t likely to allow it.”

Kai checked the chronometers at his computer console to get the local time in Washington -it was early, but he knew that most career bureaucrats liked to get to work early. “It’d be worth a phone call to the State Department,” he said. Seeker nodded and got to work on her communications console.

“What do you think is in those ships, General?” Boomer asked.

“Another DF-21 emplacement, bound for Tanzania or Zaire -anywhere that has strong mutual defense and cooperation treaties with China,” Kai replied.

“With nukes?”

“Nuclear warheads can be detected without boarding a vessel,” Kai said, “but medium-range missiles like the DF-21 are allowed. If they wanted to put nuclear warheads on the DF-21s, they’d probably fly them in separately.”

“State Department is on the line, sir: Assistant Secretary of State Carlson, China desk, not secure,” Seeker said.

Kai hit a button on his console and readjusted his microphone. “Secretary Carlson? This is General Raydon from Armstrong Space Station, unsecure.”

“You’re on the space station right now, General?” Carlson asked, her voice quickly changing from young but very official to almost childlike. “Are you kidding?”

“Not kidding, Miss Carlson.”

“Call me Debbie, General, please.” Kai thought she was on the verge of a giggle. “Sorry we couldn’t do a secure videoconference, but I don’t know how to work the phone and my assistant’s not in yet. How can I help you today? The senior master sergeant said something about inspecting Chinese ships for medium-range missiles?”

“That’s right, Debbie. And please call me Kai.”

“Okay, Kai.” Her voice quickly switched back to official but friendly. “Here’s the deal: China routinely allows us to inspect vessels bound for U.S. ports, and that’s pretty much it without authority from Beijing, which takes about as long as it takes to sail a ship around the world. China doesn’t even allow inspections of its ships in times of distress, which means the Coast Guard won’t board a Chinese ship in distress unless the captain authorizes it, which in most cases he won’t. And just for clarification? That’s true for U.S.-flagged ships on government business, too.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“No one wants to have foreign inspectors poking around on ships carrying sensitive or classified materials-that’s pretty standard,” Carlson said. “Most nations would rather have such a ship go down rather than have foreigners, even rescuers, board it and discover their secrets.

“Now, you mentioned missiles. That’s covered under a voluntary protocol called the Missile Technology Control Regime, which was set up to try to prevent the proliferation of ballistic missiles and unmanned vehicles around the world. Unfortunately, China is not a signatory to MTCR, although they have several times agreed to abide by its principles. Also, MTCR doesn’t automatically allow foreigners to inspect suspect vessels-that’s still up to the captain, the ship’s owner, or a legal authority representative of the ship’s flag.”