Chapter 7


About 20 minutes of travelling through a dizzying array of streets to end up at Langham Place. They'd walked through the deserted shopping complex. Tom wondered if Sasha was leading them on a wild goose chase as they climbed several flights of fire escape stairs before ending up on the 19th floor of the apartment building above the shopping centre and metro station.

The numbering system made no sense to Tom given they were more than 19 floors above the street but he kept that thought to himself as he followed his sister down the hallway with his gun in hand ready for trouble. He knew if MSS caught them here there was no escape.

"What makes you think this friend of yours will be willing to help us?" Tom asked Sasha, he couldn't imagine anyone risking their ass for them when they had the MSS on their tails.

"She was a pilot for Doctors Without Borders, one of the best I've ever seen. When the plague hit, she couldn't get out of China, but she still risked getting infected to run aid to isolated regions. Before Peng emerged, I used my contacts to help her target the hardest-hit areas. We smuggled food, fuel, other provisions. Once Peng took power and you delivered the cure, I slipped into a more diplomatic role. Jesse did not. " Sasha explained as they reached the penthouse apartment that Jesse lived in. Tom frowned as he didn't hear Sasha explain why Jesse would help them.

Electronic music blared loudly through the door which told them that Jesse was home. Sasha paused at the front door and turned to Tom.

"Uh, she's a bit paranoid about new people. Why don't you hang here? Let me talk to her first." Sasha told him, she was a little apprehensive about coming to Jesse given everything that passed between them but they didn't have a choice. She just hoped Jesse still hated Peng more than she hated her. She knocked on the door and called out Jesse's name.

"Jesse?!" Sasha tried for a second time but there was no answer, she looked back to Wolf and Tom. She'd never seen Wolf so completely dark and angry before. But then she knew he was in grief, he'd handpicked his team from his old Navy Diver friends who'd survived the virus in Australia. They were a family, and frankly they'd all assessed their danger in Hong Kong as being low given Peng wanted to take control of Vietnam and the smaller Asian countries surrounding China not start a war America or Lassiter Industries. Or so it seemed until tonight, so the fact his team went dark meant only one thing that they were dead.

"You want to do the honors?" Tom asked Wolf.

"With pleasure, sir." Wolf said, Sasha stepped back as Wolf walked up to the door and kicked it in like it was nothing. The music blared even louder now they were in the apartment. Tom and Wolf walked in first and Sasha behind, she frowned as she noted the empty camp beds. She knew the apartment was somewhat of a transient hostel for Jesse and her brother and their friends when they weren't off doing supply drops. So at any given time there was usually one or two other people.

She walked past her brother and walk needing to get to Jesse first so she didn't have her rant in front of Tom. Part of their relationship falling apart was the secrets and distrust that came with having to keep everything compartmentalised. For her it was second nature but for Jesse who wasn't military or used to covert operations it was harder for her to understand. Even harder for Sasha to explain it to her.

"We all fall down Ring around the Rosie. Pocketful of posies Ashes, ashes We all fall down. Ring around the Rosie Pocketful of posies. Ashes, ashes" Sasha hated the song as it was just a bad rip on the virus as it was their century's Bubonic plague. Yet people listened to the song and danced and sang to like it was a happy anthem completely missing the context because it had a peppy beat.

"Jesse?" Sasha called out, she walked around the L-shaped apartment and felt relief as she saw Jesse lying on the lounge asleep in her singlet and knickers. The relief soon faded as she noticed the coffee table littered with smoked cigarettes, empty cherry cola cans and a 1/4 full bottle of bourbon. She rushed over to Jesse's side and gently shook her shoulder to wake her. The music stopped as Sasha could only assume that Tom or Wolf turned it off.

"Jesse?" Sasha said softly to her, Jesse woke slowly and rolled onto her back looking at her.

"Oh, hey, Sasha." Jesse said in a sleepy manner, she stretched her arms out or so Sasha had assumed but instead Jesse surprised her by slugging her in face hard with her fist.

"Jesus, Jesse!" Sasha said she pressed a hand to her face and stepped away putting distance between them.

"Who are these? Your goons? Come to finish the job for Peng?" Jesse asked her, her voice dripping with incrimination and hatred. She rolled off the lounge and got to her feet not even concerned by the guns pointing at her or the fact she was in her underwear.

"What are you talking about?" Sasha asked confused.

"You don't know?" Jesse asked in mocking disbelief, her words slurring slightly from sleep and from the bourbon she'd drunk earlier.

"I don't have a clue." Sasha said honestly, she wondered what the hell made Jesse think she deserved to be punched in the face. Sure things between them ended badly but not enough to be decked.

"Guangzhou. That little hellhole no one was supposed to know about. We show up. It's crawling with PLA. If you had told me Peng was moving his missiles, we wouldn't have walked into a trap!" Jesse shouted at her, Sasha's eyes grew wide in surprise.

"I didn't have any idea about Peng moving anything!" Sasha told her defensively.

"Well, it was bad luck for us, or someone told them we were coming. 'Cause Lau Hu was there waiting. My brother, all my friends. Mowed down." Jesse told her, Sasha felt her pain as Jesse looked at her as if it was her fault, the grief of losing her family and friends was on her because they'd parted ways badly. Yes, part of it was Sasha's fault but they both knew Sasha would never had let Jesse walk into a trap.

"Jesse, I didn't know anything about that. You have to believe me." Sasha pleaded with her. Jesse scoffed at her.

"Believe you? You already got a deluxe suite in Peng's mansion. Or have you moved into the master?" Jesse asked Sasha, her tone dripping with insinuation.

"Hey. Do you know who I am?" Tom asked breaking up the conversation between Sasha and Jesse. He and Wolf exchanged looks as they both couldn't help but feel like they were watching a conversation that wasn't for them. It did raise a lot of questions in Tom's mind but now wasn't the time. The woman Jesse, slid her eyes to him and gave a brief nod of her head. He had to admit it was new not being recognised on the spot but obviously Sasha and Jesse's problems with one another was more important to the lithe 5ft 6 Asian woman with bottle blonde hair and tattoos.

"I came here to stop Peng from hoarding the cure. Now, he just tried to kill me. All of us, actually. I think anyone I'm with at this point is fair game. And his MSS are 10 minutes behind us. I'm very sorry about your friends. I've lost too many myself. And as far as I'm concerned, Peng's been pissing all over their graves, but your cover's blown now. So we should all probably go." Tom told her as he needed them to get moving, so he just laid it all out to her. He just hoped it geared her into action but instead of moving her, she looked pissed off.

"We need the helo." Sasha told her, just hoping that the woman would help them but then they hadn't really given her a choice as the MSS would be here in minutes. Jesse gave her a hard look for a long moment before she sighed and turned away picking up her pants.

"God damn it." Jesse muttered.


"Ah damnit!" Mike growled after Rios pushed his nose back into what he hoped was close to it's original position as it was fucking painful. To Mike it felt like it had been broken again but he trusted the medic. Even if he was covering his nose in a protective manner giving the man a dark look. It was just reactive given the pain.

"It should heal close to what it looked like before." Rios told him, cringing as he didn't like how the Captain looked ready to deck him for setting his nose.

"Thanks." Mike grumbled as he let the pain and nausea roll through him. Rios nodded as he moved away.

"Who are they? I don't think they're Vietnamese." Miller said in a low voice to them all as he and the others had been studying their guards trying to gather as much information as they could. They knew their people would come for them. But a rescue was a two sided deal. They needed to find their enemy's weaknesses and exploit them at the right time.

"Seems like a hodgepodge. Heard some Japanese, Thai, some Chinese." Mike said, though he couldn't make sense of how they all communicated given none of them spoke English in front of them or have a language in common but there was a hierarchy. The head man was Japanese, but not all the underlings were Japanese.

"Chinese writing on the side of the freighter." Jeter said, Diaz who'd been sitting on the floor turned to his side and upended his stomach just outside the cage. Mike looked at the kid with sympathy given he had a good goose egg on his head. He'd hazard that he had a concussion.

"You all right, kid?" Rios asked him.

"Yeah, just seasick. This boat's a lot rockier than the James." Diaz said with a chuckle, Miller moved from his position and crouched down in front of him.

"Hey. Bend your knees, hold them to your chest, close your eyes. Every 60 seconds, open them again for a 5 count. Do it again." Miller advised him, Mike looked down at his watch as he knew Miller would look after Diaz, while he and the others focused on their task.

He was surprised that they'd been allowed to keep their watches, rings and dog tags. Though he'd preferred they'd kept their clothes as he didn't like standing around in his t-shirt and boxers.

"4:32. Been at sea, what? Figure three hours?" Mike asked Jeter and Garnett given they were more likely to be able to estimate their speed and direction given their years of experience in engineering and being below decks of the ship. They tracked speed and direction from the motion of the ship and the sound of the engines. Not that Mike expected them to be too accurate given it was a engine they'd never listened to before. But anything was better than nothing.

"I got us at 12 to 14 knots, holding steady." Jeter told him with confidence.

"Direction?" Mike asked.

"Based on the roll of the ship, if the wind's held east, south, southeast, don't you think?" Jeter asked looking to Garnett who nodded in agreement.

"Away from China. Away from Vietnam. Where are they taking us?" Rios asked.


"Copy. 25 nautical miles off the coast in vicinity of 2.60 north by 106.94 east." Kara said into her headset as she wrote down the coordinates into her folder. She looked to the staff member in front of her making sure he had the same coordinates before he ran off to update the position of the Nathan James on their maps.

She looked up to see Alex finish his call and watched as he walked to Allison. She pulled the headset down to her neck and pretended to continue writing notes as she eavesdropped.

"I just got off the phone with the Vietnamese. Eight of their own security team were gunned down outside a nightclub. We put the James in Vietnam to send a message. Peng just sent one right back to us." Alex told Allison, their voices carried in the room even with the all the movement of rustling paper and people walking around as they set the room up. They now had three boards set up with all the relevant information and five clocks on one wall denoting the timezones of Zulu, Central, East Coast, Hai Phong and Hong Kong.

"Captain Chandler's plane will be in secure airspace in less than an hour. We'll get a better read on Peng when we talk to him." Allison told Alex, Kara couldn't help but feel like they had wasted the past three hours but then she was used to Tom's command where he was decisive and quick to act. Michener's command was filled with petty squabbling and inaction as she knew for a fact the President had been holed up in his office doing God knew what, she was about to wonder when he'd grace them with his presence when he walked opened the door that connected his office to the room and came in.

"The James is safely off the Vietnamese coast. They're at EMCON, awaiting further instructions from us." Kara told Michener, not wanting to waste time in pleasantries. She really wanted to push him to inform the family members of the missing crew of the situation. At least inform Kate and Anna as the two could help them but she was trying to find the right time to slip it in.

"Still no word from any of the missing sailors?" Michener asked her, she shook her head.

"No, sir. But Shackleton and Hayward are scheduled to dock in Okinawa in less than three hours." Kara told him, she looked over to the board where they had the personnel file photos of all the people who were currently MIA. It was hard to see Danny's photo up there. All it did was remind her of Frankie and a little embarrassingly that she really needed to step out and pump breast milk for her as she'd been in the room too long and she starting to get uncomfortable. If anything it was a reminder that she had responsibilities to those outside this room not just Frankie.

"I suggest we refuel them immediately and deploy them to Hai Phong." Alex advised him.

"Refuel, yes, but we still might need those ships to investigate the mutations in Japan. Let's not forget why we sent Chandler to Asia in the first place." Michener told Alex and the others.

"Sir, wouldn't it be wise to read in Kate Lassiter and and Anna Hatake into the situation? They have resources in Asia, maybe they could investigate the mutation in Japan freeing the destroyers to help the Nathan James." Kara said, Allison and Michener looked to Kara like she'd just suggested they sell their soul to the devil for three day old sandwich. Alex looked rather neutral about it.

"I don't think it's prudent to do so. Lassiter will take over and we'll loose what little control we have now." Allison told Michener, who seemed to be on her side. "And I don't think we should send anybody else into the region till we have a better sense of the situation, Sir." she added.

"Uh, Mr. President, someone took 13 of our people. Now, I don't care if it's Peng, the Vietnamese, or pirates. The James is sitting out there without its X.O., without its C.O. on its own. Kara is right, we could use Lassiter Industries to lighten our load in this respect." Alex said to Michener.

"Okay. And if you're right, Alex, if it is Peng, this could be a trap to get our only three operational West-Pac destroyers in one place. Then we'll completely dependant on Lassiter Industries to help us once again which will undermine Michener in the public eye even more. We need to wait for Captain Chandler's assessment and proceed from there." Allison argued.

Kara watched wishing she kept her mouth shut about Kate and getting her to help as Alex and Allison twisted her suggestion into something ugly and mean. Sure, Kate was about ruining Michener but she wasn't blatantly out there graffiti-ing walls with slurs against the Michener administration or playing the press. She an was just being an effective business woman.

"I agree. We wait till we hear from Captain Chandler. Meantime, nothing leaves this room. Understood?" Michener said to them, Kara couldn't help but feel Michener had said that last part more to her than the others.

"Yes. Sir," Kara replied.


"KAAAAAAATTTEEEE!" Zoe shouted so loud Anna, Val and Kate could hear her through the closed study door. They'd been tracking the progress of the situation. Though it was more of a lack of progress going on than anything else as Michener and his people were waiting for Tom to call in before they made any real plans. So they were stalled as they had no clue Tom was pretty much in the wind. Though it wasn't like Kate, Anna and Val had done much except re-task a couple satellites and had Val working on the radio interference to figure out what it was so they could remove it.

"Cookie Monster is home." Anna said as they heard Zoe barrelling into the house and Tex's voice warning her to slow down. Kate looked up at the clock not believing it was already the afternoon.

"No kids in here." Kate told them as she got up from the lounge and headed to the door to stop Zoe from coming inside. She knew she didn't have to say it but she needed it to be clear. She didn't need Zoe repeating what she saw in here to her mother as Christina would run for the closest media outlet.

"Can that rule apply to the puppy?" Val asked Kate.

"No, Scout can't repeat what he sees. At least not in a language that is accepted by the legal system." Kate told her with a smile.

"He's licking my boots." Val informed her making a face as Kate and Anna looked under the desk to see that Scout was indeed licking her boots like it was an ice cream cone.

"Must of stepped in something tasty." Kate said with a grin, she knew that Val wasn't the most fastidious person. But as much as she wanted to continue bantering with Val, she needed to intercept Zoe. So she stepped out of her study and made it about 4 steps when Zoe barrelled at her in her usual exuberance.

"Hey kiddo," Kate said with a warm smile as she lifted Zoe off the floor into arms pulling her away from the study. She had to admit it was a bit of an effort given Zoe was getting the stage she was too big to be carried. At least by Kate for Mike or any man with enough muscle it'd be no issue. Scout ran across the floor and Kate heard the study door close. she couldn't help but smile as she knew Val had evicted the puppy, she looked to Tex and was surprised when he was followed by Lena.

"Lena, I was going to come to the hospital to see Maddy in an hour." Kate said to her.

"Don't bother. Christina is putting on the show of her life. She won't leave her side and-" Lena started but Kate cut her off finishing the sentence.

"I'm not welcome. Did you get to talk with Maddy?" Kate asked her, as she really wished she could of seen Maddy but dealing with Christina caused more stress on the girls and herself than it was worth.

"Yes, I assured Maddy we'd pick her up in the morning and Christina has graciously allowed us to have Zoe early this weekend." Lena said, Kate nodded before she looked to Zoe. The girl had a wild look in her eyes as her clothes were rumpled and grubby. She expected as much as she'd been with Tex all afternoon.

"Hey you, how many cookies did you eat?" Kate asked Zoe.

"This many." Zoe said holding up three fingers, Kate looked at her for a long moment and then a Zoe bashfully lifted a finger and thumb to the count.

"Uhuh, I thought so." Kate told her, she looked to Tex who held his hands up to say 'I'm innocent'.

"It was all Rachel." Tex said deflecting responsibility for Zoe's cookie monster ways.

"Aunty Rachel said I could save them for later but I got hungry and they were yummy." Zoe told her.

"Uhuh. Did you eat any fruit today?" Kate asked her.

"Yep, I had an apple. Where's Scout?" Zoe asked her, Kate smiled at the question as she was happy to direct Zoe to the closest distraction.

"He's over by the door. Why don't you and he go play in the backyard for a bit." Kate suggested to her.

"Ok." Zoe said as Kate placed her on her feet. The little girl scrambled over to back door and opened it. Scout didn't need instructions as he ran outside with her into the grassy backyard.

"How's Maddy really?" Kate asked Lena wanting a more serious answer as she kept half of her attention on Zoe and Scout while the other half on Lena.

"She'll be ok." Lena assured her, Kate nodded not feeling better for the information as she felt like she just needed visual confirmation to know it to be true but she'd have to take Lena's word.

"Ok. Tea, Coffee?" Kate offered Lena and Tex, changing the topic.

"I'll make the coffee. You both sit down." Tex said going over to the kitchen before Kate could.

"You hiding something in the study?" Lena asked her, Kate chuckled as Lena was too sharp for her own good.

"Only from Zoe. We'll need to talk." Kate told Lena, she hated that she had to tell Lena what was going on but she couldn't exactly keep what was happening in regards to Mike and the others a secret and frankly she knew if it were her in the dark. She'd want to know immediately.

"We do, I want to get full custody of the girls." Lena told her, Kate blew out a breath as her brain went blank for a moment. She was barely keeping up with what was going on in the study and now Lena wanted to take on Christina again. Sure the two of them had been working the last three months building a solid case for Lena to fight for her parental rights as a Grandparent but Kate couldn't help but feel slightly panicked at the thought of doing it now with Mike's fate in limbo.

"Now's not the best time." Kate told her honestly.

"Why not?" Lena asked her.

"You better sit." Kate said gesturing for her to sit at the breakfast bar that faced the kitchen. Lena did as Kate suggested and sat down. Kate took the stool next to her and turned so they facing one another.

"Mike and several crew members from the Nathan James have been reported MIA. We don't know much and frankly we're not supposed to know what we do but we have our sources." Kate told her.

"Oh my." Lena said as she paled at the news and withdrew in herself for a long moment.

"If we fight for full custody now, and it's released that Mike is MIA, we're more likely to lose again. Biology trumping what is best and that will be it. We won't be able to appeal for weeks maybe months." Kate told her, she didn't add in that they'd be painted as the bad guys and Kate would end up with profanity spray painted across her house or worse. But she kept it to herself as it wasn't relevant.

"These girls need us and what you're saying isn't public yet. So let's fight for them now while we still have time. She can only play a victim when it's out." Lena argued, she could see Kate's reticence as they'd lost the first time round and it had been a hard battle. She took Kate's hands into her own and looked at her; making her see that she felt they had a good chance. That it was worth the risk. "Kate, I know you fought like hell and lost but we've worked hard for three months and Christina has handed us now is a golden opportunity." Lena told her.

Kate looked at her, and could see how hopeful and determined Lena was about doing this. She tried to think of how this would all work out in their favour as well as Kate sneakily getting in Michener's business. But decided it was too much and just focused on Lena and the girls. She knew Mike would want her to keep trying, no matter what was going on with him.

"Ok." Kate said as she nodded.

"Yes?" Lena asked just confirm that Kate was agreeing that they should try for custody.

"Yes, I'll call the lawyers and we'll get the ball rolling." Kate told her.


"Hey, can you put out the cigarette?" Wolf asked Jesse as he sat in the front passenger seat with her as driver. Jesse slid an annoyed look his way from the driver's seat as she continued to drive her truck through the empty streets of Kowloon as they headed to where she kept her Helo parked.

"What? Are you afraid of lung cancer? You know we got bigger problems, right? MSS, 10 minutes behind us?" Jesse said as she made a point of taking a long draw off the cigarette she'd lit barely 5 minutes ago and exhaled the smoke out the window. She wasn't breaking any of her habits for anyone given he, Sasha and Tom were the ones who rudely woke her up and ruined her Saturday night plans.

"Could be. Or not.I mean, Peng did try to kill us, too, if it's any consolation." Wolf told her, trying to find common ground but Jesse wasn't having a bar of it as she took another long drag off her cigarette and blew the smoke out the window.

"You're quiet." Sasha said to Tom, she felt like she couldn't be in a more awkward position if she tried with Wolf and Jesse in the front and her estranged brother in the back.

He just stared out the window since the trip started not saying a word. Something that drove her nuts as she could see the cogs turning in his head. He was brooding on something. She wondered if it was about Jesse and her, what Jesse said; her insinuations and accusation about who she was aligned with. She was just waiting for him to judge her.

"Processing." Tom told her.

"I know that look. You're not processing. You're brooding." Sasha told him, Tom didn't look at her as he kept his eyes to the passing scenery of buildings.

"I was only supposed to be gone for two days." Tom told her.


"Ravit, is everything ok?" Kara asked as she had been on her way to see Michener, Allison and Alex who were currently in a conference call with Senator Beatty and Manuel Castillo who represented Washington and California in the consortium of Regents for the territories that cropped up after the pandemic. They were willing to discuss laws and work together with Michener but refused to submit control of their territories and conform to Michener's want of the old world politics.

"Of course, we thought we'd stop by and see how your day is going." Ravit said as she had Frankie strapped into stroller in a cute floral sundress paired with a cream cardigan and a fox socks on. Kara leaned over and unbuckled Frankie's restraints and lifted her baby girl into arms.

"Hi Frankie, have you been good to Aunty Ravit?" Kara asked her, Frankie just poked her tongue at her and smiled. Something Kara couldn't help but chuckle at her daughter before she pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"She's been fine." Ravit said. Kara looked to Ravit and gave her a tired look.

"Good, at least your day is going well. Mine not so great." she admitted, she honestly wanted to tell Ravit everything but the hallways weren't safe for such disclosure of information.

"Politics never are." Ravit offered, Kara smiled as she knew Ravit had no love for her work or politics in general. She knew this because Ravit wasn't exactly shy about sharing her views about how ineffectual most governments were, something Kara wished she could defend but after the short time she had on her job with Michener; she kind of agreed with Ravit.

"I honestly believe I accomplished more in a 12 hours shift in CIC than I have in 4 weeks of being in this job." Kara confessed to her in a low voice. She hated to admit, she was tempted to jump ship and work for Kate especially right now as she felt Kate and Anna would be working hard to make things happen instead of waiting for one man to clear China air space. It just reminded her of what she was supposed to be doing right now.

"Hmm, I spoke with Lena. Dinner has been pushed to 7pm." Ravit said breaking Kara out of her thoughts.

"Is everything ok?" Kara asked her as she adjusted Frankie in her arms and felt her daughter drop her head against her shoulder. Kara looked down to make sure she was ok and sure enough her baby girl was wide eyed and transfixed on all the movement of the people around while her tongue poked out licking the collar of her cardigan.

"You'd know the same as me unless you want to share." Ravit said in a rather cryptic manner. Well, it would have been cryptic to anyone overhearing them but for Kara it was shorthand between them.

"Kate knows." Kara said in a low voice as she adjusted the cardigan wondering why Frankie was licking it but gave trying to understand it as she chalked it up as another weird baby thing. At least she was happy and healthy which was what Kara reminded herself when she looked at Frankie.

"Yes." Ravit told her, Kara nodded glad that Kate knew as she hated all the cloak and dagger of it all. Michener wasn't keeping the information in the dark to protect the missing soldiers but because he wanted to protect his image.

"Anything I should know?" Kara asked hoping that maybe Kate knew something about Danny and the others that she sent Ravit to tell her.

"Nothing you can confirm. Yet." Ravit said, which meant yes, Kate knew more than them but Kara couldn't share it until Michener and his people could confirm it otherwise she'd look like a spy. The one thing Kara wanted to avoid.

"Does she know anything about Danny?" Kara asked her wondering if it was what Ravit wasn't sharing but the woman shook her head.

"Same as you, only partying in Hai Phong." Ravit told her, choosing her words carefully.

"Ok." Kara said with a sigh, she looked to her daughter. "I have to pass along a message but could you and Frankie meet me in my office?" she asked as she handed Frankie over to Ravit.

"Sure, we don't have any plans. Just cruising." Ravit said as she held Frankie to her side.

"Thank you, I'll be there in less than 15." Kara said before she left them. She took off and headed directly Michener's office. She quietly opened the door and closed it behind her before she moved around the table to Allison and Alex.

The two were standing in the corner out of the camera view of the conference call. Michener looked frustrated as Senator Beatty was arguing the effectiveness of Ration stamps, something that all the Regents of the consortium disliked intensely as it was Michener's way of controlling current food stock in shops.

"Captain Chandler's plane is supposed to be over clear air space, but we cannot reach the plane. We tried Sasha Cooper and our security team in Hong Kong. We cannot raise them, either."

"When are they due to land in Pearl Harbor?" Allison asked Kara referring to Tom's plane.

"5 1/2 hours. Our ships are refuelling in Okinawa as we speak." Kara added wishing they had changed their mind about keeping the destroyers in Japan and actually ask Lassiter Industries for help so the destroyers could assist the Nathan James.

"Let's not go there yet. Just keep trying the plane." Allison told Kara.

Yes, Ma'am." Kara said as she turned and left the office and headed back down the hallway to her own. She'd already given the order for Dennis to keep trying to contact the Captain's plane.

She walked into her office and smiled as Ravit made herself and Frankie at home. The woman had laid out a baby quilt on the floor and had Frankie enjoying some belly time. She knew any of the professionals walking the hallway would baulk at Kara having Frankie in her office but she needed a break from work.

"So is Kate going to let me know anything?" Kara asked Ravit.

"Call her." Ravit said, Kara moved to her desk and picked up the phone and dialled Kate's house. It took about three rings but Kate picked up the phone.

"Hello."

"Kate. It's Kara." Kara told her as she moved to the floor with the phone by her ear as she leaned over Frankie. She didn't want to waste this time completely.

"Kara, what's going on?" Kate asked in a jovial manner that belied the seriousness of the situation.

"I was going to ask you the same question. I'm just hoping you can share something. Anything with me." Kara said wondering when there'd come a point when she'd ask too much.

"Well, in half an hour you're going to learn Tom's plane had engine troubles and crashed upon take off from Lantau Airport- No Zoe, Scout drinks water not chocolate milk cause it gives him a sore tummy. Sorry where was I? " Kate asked in a distracted manner.

"Oh my god." Kara said, as her heart stopped as she was back at the news about Tom, she sat back on her feet in shock. If the Captain was dead it would completely stall Michener and he'd definitely keep the destroyers in Japan than send them to Hai Phong to support the Nathan James. It would mean there would be no search for the missing crew members.

"Oh right, yes, the plane was actually shot down." Kate told her which made Kara frown.

"What?" Kara said in disbelief. If Peng ordered the plane to be shot down then that was an act of war. It was something Michener needed to know but then she realised that she couldn't tell Michener because he would think it was a ploy from Kate to make him jump to action an make a fool of him. It was why Kate had no qualms telling her the information so freely, she wasn't trying to hurt Kara professionally but keeping her in the loop out of respect.

"My offices were burned to the ground too. I have three men dead, one MIA. Wolf Taylor, if it's any interest to the Michener administration." Kate informed her.

"What was Wolf doing in Hong Kong?" Kara asked wondering how all the pieces fit together.

"Buying shiny bling and making sure Tom wasn't imprisoned for insulting someone. Look, we don't have any bodies yet and Chinese government are stonewalling my efforts to send in a team to assess the damage of the building which is a good sign." Kate said.

"Good sign of what?" Kara asked sceptically.

"That some of my people are alive and trying to get away. But they need time for catch them and clean up the mess." Kate said.

"You're speculating." Kara said as she needed to know how much was usable intel.

"Yep, but what I said about Tom's plane and my building are true. You still coming for dinner?" Kate asked her.

"Yes, Frankie and I will be there." Kara said with a wry smile as they hopped from a serious topic to dinner plans like this was completely normal but she knew Kate was just as stressed out as she was. So she tried to keep everything frothy and light with Kate.

"Good, I have a bassinet set up so Frankie can conk out whenever she wants." Kate assured her, Kara appreciated the foresight and preparation.

"Ok, I'll see you later and thank you." Kara said.

"No problem. Take care now." Kate said before she hung up. Kara hung up her own phone and looked to Ravit and Frankie. Making a snap decision, she decided she was going to eat her lunch she'd missed out on 3 hours ago and pretend for 15 minutes that everything was normal and ok because she knew in half an hour shit would hit the fan.