by a dozen of our own people, and they could join the crew making the delivery along the northern route.'
'You are assuming much, Admiral,' said Zhang.
'I am really assuming only one thing,' said Admiral Badr. 'That when you threaten to open that vast checkbook of yours, the greedy, half-starved Russian Bear will very nearly bite your hand off.'
Everyone laughed. Mohammed Badr continued, 'It will take perhaps six or eight months. But I am confident we can put together a competent crew to run a Barracuda submarine.'
'Perhaps,' said Zhang. 'But question six remains. And for us, it's a deal breaker. We have to know, in the strictest confidence, of course, precisely what you intend.'
'That is simple. We intend to take out the new American oil pipeline that runs from Alaska down the West Coast, and that will in the coming months provide all of America's electric power from Washington State south all the way to the Mexican border.'
'You do?' said Admiral Zhang, smiling but plainly incredulous. 'And do you expect to be blamed for this?'
'Certainly not, if we can mount our attacks in silence, from deep water, using both missiles and torpedoes.'
'And your basic objective?'
'In the long term, to continue with a steady stream of attacks on U.S. institutions and businesses. Always stretching them, making them defend themselves, until they decide their global position is untenable, and retreat into a new policy of isolationism, probably in partnership with Canada and Central and South America. But gone from the Middle East.'
'You are moving into waters that we would deem very dangerous,' interjected Pheng. 'Very slowly we are picking up large contracts for Middle East oil, and we are already seeing the United States in retreat from the Gulf. Why attack their oil interests in Alaska?'
'Because America will always be America,' replied Admiral Badr. 'She will be stung by any attack on her pipelines. And she will raise heaven and hell to repair and protect. This White House wants the United States to be self-sufficient in oil. And when she finally recovers from the blows we inflict against her, she will consolidate her interests around Alaska, moving in a very heavy Navy presence to defend her interests.
'It's just one more step in our strategy to stretch her forces out, until the United States becomes just a passive oil-trading customer of both yours and ours. Not some sort of Goliath trying to rule the Middle East as well as everywhere else.'
'You intend to cause the United States to abandon its global role because she will no longer consider it worthwhile?'
'We intend to remove the United States from the Middle and Far East with a policy of exasperating our enemy to death. And that way lies the construction of a great world-dominating Sino-Iranian trading partnership, and, very possibly, a giant Islamic State stretching the length of North Africa, in the image of the Prophet's own magnificent vision.'
Zhang looked pensive. He nodded, sagely, and suggested a ninety-minute break, since it was almost midday, in order that both sides may consider the ramifications of the discussions so far. The Ayatollahs agreed and the Iranian contingent prepared to leave the sprawling Northern Fleet Base and return to the hotel, driving through the pleasant streets of the oceanfront resort that had once been a Colonial outpost of the German Reich, back at the turn of the nineteenth century.
The town of Qingdao still bore the remnants of its Colonial past. Indeed, parts of it looked like a small Gothic town in Bavaria, dotted with houses set beneath steep sloping roofs made of bright red tiles with half-timbered facades. Tall towers of Protestant and Catholic churches led up to the former Governor's mansion, which looked precisely like a Prussian hunting lodge, set at the top of the old Bismarck Hill.
The Iranian negotiating party drove along the former Kaiser Wilhelm Ufer, and once back at the Huiquan Dynasty, Admiral Badr and General Rashood sat out on the terrace in the hot sun while the Ayatollahs prayed. They drank large cool glasses of beer, still made locally in the Germania Brewery under the city's old name of Tsingtao, and exported all over the world.
'What do you think, Mohammed? Have we got 'em?' Ravi's words betrayed no anxiety, but he was very focused.
'Absolutely,' replied the Admiral. 'There's no doubt Zhang will act as our agent in the purchase of the Barracudas. But I'm sure he's going to ask for a five percent commission. Like $30 million if they cost $600 million. I think the rest falls into place for them very well. Any disruption in the U.S. fuel economy will please them, especially as they will suddenly, for the first time, find themselves important, supply-side traders with the United States. They will love that. Equality with the Great Power, and all that. Their oil contracts in the Gulf will suddenly look very good indeed.'
'Yes, I agree,' said Ravi. 'The operation plainly has a lot of appeal to them. I suppose their worry is that the Barracuda will somehow get caught, perhaps even before she has made her silent attack. And the Chinese will not want the ship to be apprehended with crew from the People's Liberation Army on board.'
'No. They certainly will not. But our ace is the fact that we will insure the Barracuda never sails into a Chinese port.' The Vice Admiral had another deep draft of beer, and then added, 'If there is a stumbling block here it will rest on the reply of the Chinese to the Russians, if the Americans start to blame Moscow?'
'I'll brief them on that,' said Ravi. 'And it's very simple. They will admit nothing. They will operate under the guise of mass confusion, hold Naval inquiries, find out why the submarine never came to Shanghai, swear to God the Russians have done nothing wrong, express total bewilderment at the problems on America's West Coast. Deny all knowledge. Offer help. Smile like hell. And look concerned at the misfortune that has befallen their great friends across the Pacific.'
Mohammed Badr chuckled. 'The Chinese will also hope the Barracuda is never caught, eh?'
'It won't be. That SSN can turn away from the eastern Pacific, and run nonstop without fueling through deep water all the way to the Indian Ocean, the Antarctic, the South Atlantic. Anywhere it wishes. There is, as we both know, nothing quite so elusive as a smooth-running nuclear submarine.'
They ate a light lunch overlooking the giant cul-de-sac of the Yellow Sea. Just slippery sea cucumber, prawns, and scallops, all local specialties from one of China's oldest fishing ports, situated for centuries on this remote coastline more than three hundred miles due north of Shanghai, 340 miles southeast of Beijing.
They reconvened shortly before two o'clock. Vice Admiral Zhang brought with him his oldest friend, Admiral Zu Jicai, the wise and wily Commander of the Southern Fleet, plus a Deputy Commander-in-Chief (Northern), Vice Admiral Zhi-Heng Tan, and the Northern Fleet Commander, Vice Admiral Zhu Kashing.
They sat in a tight group at the head of the table, and Zhang opened the proceedings on an extremely optimistic note.
'I think, gentlemen, you may assume that the Navy of China will make every attempt to purchase your two Barracuda submarines for you. However, I am sure you will understand this will entail a certain amount of time and almost certainly several journeys to northern Russia. It is essential that we act as if the submarines were to be for ourselves, and I thus conclude that a small remuneration in the form of a commission would be in order, say, ten percent of the cost.'
Vice Admiral Badr interjected immediately, saying, 'We had factored that in, Admiral, but we would not like to lose sight of the fact that this little venture is a very small favor returned to us in light of the, er, misunderstandings over the C-802 missile. I conclude, therefore, that five percent would be a more agreeable commission.'
Zhang turned and whispered to Admiral Zu, who was sitting, as always, at the right of the Great Man. They both smiled, having known full well from the start that the commission would be five percent. And Zhang beamed at the meeting, secure in having just earned $30 million for the Chinese Navy, and said, 'Well, we would not, of course, undertake this for anything less than ten percent, at least not for anyone else. But you, ah, that is very different. You are our brothers, and five percent is the correct number between us.'
He rose to shake hands on the deal with the Ayatollahs, and with Admiral Badr, and with the somewhat mysterious General Rashood. There was much bowing from the Chinese, and much hugging shoulder to shoulder from the Muslims. The deal was cemented with declarations of love and affection. And trust.
The discussions were not, however, completed. And the conversation swerved toward the departure of the first Barracuda on its mission to Alaska.
