“One of them I know. What’s the other?” Hood asked.
“As a distraction,” Rodgers replied.
“Are you referring to the attack on Chou Shin’s plane?”
“No,” Rodgers told him. “I’m talking about the rocket. What if there is a plot to blow it up, but it’s Tam Li’s operation? Something to make Beijing focus its attention here while he does something else.”
“Such as?”
“I’m not sure,” Rodgers said. “General Tam Li is supposed to be here. He is in Zhuhai. Why?”
“That is his command post. He told Le Kwan Po he was getting set to fly over when Chou Shin arrived.”
“So he won’t be coming.”
“No,” Hood said.
“Why would Chou Shin go all the way to the airfield when he and Tam Li would have seen each other here?”
“Not to reconcile, I’m guessing,” Hood said.
“A confrontation would be more likely. Maybe the Guoanbu found out something, and Chou was going to investigate.”
“Chou would not have gone there personally unless he was pretty sure of what he was going to find,” Hood said.
“That’s right. The question is, what did he find out?”
“I can ask the prime minister to check when we reach the space complex,” Hood said.
“No. That doesn’t leave us a lot of time,” Rodgers said.
“The good news is we only need to focus on the space complex,” Hood said. “If Tam Li is planning a diversionary strike and we can stop that, whatever else he has in mind may not come to pass.”
“The material I looked at with the marine leader was tactics from the Guoanbu playbook,” Rodgers said. “We have their MO from past operations, including intel from the Taipei police on the nightclub hit. I have nothing here on the PLA’s covert military actions. Getting anything useful from G2 or Op-Center would take more time than we have.”
“We may not need any of that,” Hood said. “Get your people into position. I’ll call you in about a half hour, after I’ve had a chance to speak with the prime minister.”
“What have you got in mind?” Rodgers asked.
“A low-tech remedy that may be exactly the one we need,” Hood replied.
FIFTY-ONE
The procession to the space complex consisted of seven cars. The only limousine was the one used by the prime minister and his daughter. Everyone else was put in a clean but inelegant military vehicle.
That was what had given Hood his idea for intercepting a potential bomber.
The space center was shaped like a Y. The caravan drove in through the stem of the Y, then turned west. They drove past the low-lying Communication Center, past the Tracking Station, to the Technical Center. That was where the vehicles stopped and let them out. The launch pad was situated four kilometers to the north. The rocket was clearly visible as the guests stepped out. It stood gleaming white against the silver and black girders of the gantry. Smoke plumed from the three stages, dissipating quickly against the pure blue sky. Heat rising from the field between them caused the rocket to ripple slightly, like a mirage.
Xichang did not have a public relations organization. Security personnel in severe, dark blue uniforms took charge of the visitors. There was one guard to each carload. Interpreters who had traveled with them from Beijing translated the guards’ instructions. Anita had joined them from her father’s car. The prime minister himself did not emerge as the groups moved toward the Technical Center.
“There is a basement beneath the facility,” Anita said for the benefit of the English-speaking group. “We will be observing the launch from there.”
“I need to see your father,” Hood said, sidling over to her.
“He will be out in a moment,” she said. The prime minister’s daughter was wearing an official face and talking in a very official voice. Hood liked the woman better when she was slightly uncertain, pressing him for information.
“I’ll wait for him,” Hood said.
“I think he would rather you go with—”
“Listen to me,” Hood said. He leaned closer. “You’re concerned about appearances. I’m worried about his life.”
That got her attention.
“His life?”
“I will wait for him here,” Hood said, leaning away.
“Then I will have to wait with you, to translate,” she said. “What do I do about the other English-speaking guests?”
“They know what they are here to see,” Hood replied. “They will manage without you for a while.”
Anita looked concerned as she went off to tell the others she would join them downstairs. She returned just as her father stepped from his car.
“Do you have new information?” she asked Hood.
“Some.”
The prime minister walked to where Hood was waiting. He looked from Anita to Hood.
“We have confirmed the destruction of the aircraft,” Le said through his daughter.
“So have we,” Hood told him.
“But you have more,” Le said.
“A question. Is there any reason the general might have for wanting — or rather
“I asked the defense minister a similar question,” Le admitted. “He said there is nothing unusual going on in that region.”
“Do you trust the minister?”
“I have no reason to distrust him.”
“Excuse me. Is that an endorsement or diplomacy?”
“It is my answer,” Le replied.
“Let’s try this, then,” Hood said with a trace of impatience. “Who will appoint Chou Shin’s replacement?”
“The president,” Le answered. “I was just conferring with him on that very subject. There is nothing in the appointment that benefits Tam Li. His replacement will be a Communist, not an ally to Tam Li.” Le glanced toward the rocket. “I am beginning to wonder if this is about nothing more than the rivalry between the two men. With Chou Shin gone, perhaps this facility is no longer in danger. Perhaps it never was.” He looked back at Hood. “You do not share that sense?”
“No, sir,” Hood said. “Allow me one more question. Are there any men from Tam Li’s command on the base?”
“Why?” the prime minister asked. “Do you now suspect that
“General Rodgers and I were wondering if an attack here might serve as a diversion that benefits Tam Li somehow,” Hood said. He used Rodgers’s title to remind the prime minister that there was a military voice in his reasoning.
“What could Tam Li gain by that?” Le asked.
“We don’t know. But he is sitting on top of a fat arsenal. And an attack on the rocket might be the trigger he needs to launch it.”
“Again, for what reason?” Le asked.
“Ambition?” Hood asked. “I don’t know the man. But we think the explosion at the airfield occurred beneath
