Chapter Two
Cooked Pistol
244 Gant Drive
Margate, Nassau
February 3, 2028
2100 hours
Avery's phone rang. He slid the lock to accept the call. "Danielson. Speak." But Avery already knew who it was. "Avery, it's Diego. I've got some information about the Intelligence Bureau, over in Indus. Have you heard from them in the last day or so?" Avery shook his head. "No, we haven't, we've only heard from our contacts they have in the field. Why?"
"Avery, the Intelligence Bureau is gone. Someone planted a bomb. The Indians know that it happened, but they don't know who did it, or why. The DG was found dead in the parking garage. He was cooked pretty well."
"Honestly, I don't get where this is going. Cut to the chase."
"It wasn't the Vedians, Avery."
"Who was it, then?" Avery asked. "Surely it wasn't—"
"It was Belkans. It had to be. The blast pattern matches Belkan suitcase bomb specs. Not a nuke, doctor, but definitely a Belkan device. Belkan nationalists have used these damned things for years now."
Avery winced. His mind was swimming with the possibilities. "Uh…so how do I broach this with people back at Fort Eustis?"
"I don't know, Avery," Diego replied. "Maybe it's best if you took a vacation, yes? You have free time coming up. Perhaps we could meet in Panyu."
"Sure," Avery replied, "that would be great."
CIA Headquarters
Fort Eustis, Nassau
February 4, 2028
1300 hours
"Alright," Director Beckett said. "You can have your vacation. But promise me you'll have at least one briefing with President Donilon, will you?"
Avery nodded. "Sure," he said, "anything for the boss." Beckett smiled. "Good. Don't get yourself into anything nasty out there, now. You're not a fighter jock anymore."
Beckett was a CIA veteran now, having been with the Agency since 1997. Getting shot down by a laser-equipped fighter jet in the skies over Belka wasn't his idea of a good day, but in exchange for keeping some embarrassing details about his past under wraps, Beckett felt that he had gotten a pretty good deal. He had successfully negotiated the Andromeda away from Belkan elements in the Agency back in 2010, preventing what could have been a catastrophe. Now, he was Director, a position he had taken a bit of a liking to ever since President Donilon had appointed him in 2021.
But he had his concerns about the situation Avery was heading into. This stunk of Belkan involvement. The whole thing just sounded too massive, too overarching, and too…fictional to be anything else. Beckett dismissed these thoughts, however, as he had more business to conduct. Admiral Andersen was retiring from his position as Chief of Maritime Defense Staff today, and his long career was something to celebrate.
Hotel Gloria
Panyu, Verusa
February 6, 2028
1700 hours
Avery's Verusan cell phone rang. "Danielson," he answered. "Hey Avery, it's Beckett. The President wants to brief with you on the Indus War at around twenty-hundred your time. You up to that?" Avery looked over at Taylor, getting dressed for dinner. "Taylor, baby, eight o'clock okay for my little work thing? It'll take about half an hour," he said. Taylor nodded in response. "Yeah," Avery said, turning back to his phone. "Twenty-hundred will work."
After getting ready, Avery and Taylor got in a cab downstairs. They left Sierra with Taylor's brother, Charles, who was staying in the Gloria on business with his wife. Sierra rarely got to see her extended family, so it seemed like a win-win. Avery had heard plenty of good things about a cozy little continental place in town. More importantly to him, they offered newspapers and TV always turned to the news. It was a popular place with businessmen.
The couple sat down at a table, Avery more focused on enjoying some time alone than anything else. Not long after the food arrived, a rather pleasant conversation was interrupted by Avery's phone ringing. "Goddammit," he muttered, to the apparent distaste of Taylor. "Shit, I have to take this," he said, bowing his head like a guilty puppy as he said so. Avery walked toward the restrooms. "Fuck's sake," he hissed, "what do you want, Beckett?" Patrick maintained his trademark calm demeanor. "Avery, go find a TV, and park your angry ass in front of it. My reason for calling you will make sense in a few seconds."
Avery walked out to the bar, hearing a chorus of cell phones as he did. Glancing at the TV, he saw that OBN World was announcing a breaking news alert. Huh, looks like Thompson really rose in the ranks, Avery noted to himself, as Brett Thompson announced that there was a shocking breaking story coming through the pipes. "This just in," he said, shakily. "The first…the first known nuclear attack in history has been conducted by Vedia, against targets in Indus. More on thi…this story as it develops."
Avery turned back to his phone. "Jesus," he said. Beckett sighed on the other end. "I guess I couldn't soften that fall, huh?" Avery was still processing it all. "Fuck, this is not what I was going for. I could have sworn this wouldn't have happened. Where did I get this wro—" Beckett cut him off. "Avery, not every calculation is spot-on in this business. You and I both know that all too well. Look, get your ass back to the hotel. The President wants a briefing a little sooner than expected."
Avery walked toward the table, yelling for the check as he went.
Hotel Gloria
Panyu, Verusa
February 6, 2028
1900 hours
Avery opened up his portable briefing suite. He had Vedian and Indian nuke specs lined up. He was prepared to apologize profusely for not being accurate with his projections. But all expectations were out the window. He knew that as well as anyone. His first goal had to be prevention of Osean involvement. There was too much that wasn't known here.
President Donilon opened the briefing. "Danielson, what the fuck is going on?"
Avery sagged his shoulders and sighed. "Look, sir, this is still developing. We can't go off on this half-cocked. This entire situation went way beyond all expected parameters. This is just one of those things—" he was cut off by the President. "You're goddamned right it went beyond parameters! Now we need to fix this shit!"
Avery pulled himself up. "No, sir, this is not the time for crazy ideals. This is a time to take a step back, and try to piece together what the fuck just happened. There's too much shit swirling around. We need to take a long, critical look at what's gone on here, and figure out who's even in the wrong. For all we know, this was the work of some goons."
Everyone in the briefing looked around for a moment. Finally, Avery broke the ice. "Here, let's talk action plans. The Yukes will pretty much do anything for us. They can send a GRU team in to Vedia and collect samples. Meanwhile, we send, say, Bartholomew and his people over to Indus and we can collect samples there. We get an SR-91 overflight routine going, we look at the blast radii. All of this gets us closer to piecing together what happened. Meanwhile, let's get Foreign Service on the case, let's get a cease-fire going. Nobody wants to see kids getting fried on the six o'clock news, right?"
Everyone started nodding. "Yeah, okay, let's get on it. I can even administer some of this from here in Verusa for the next couple of days. I can be on call. Does that sound good?" Donilon nodded in affirmation. "That sounds good, Danielson. Let's go, people. Let's get on this."
More discussions of action plans continued. After the briefing was concluded, Avery went to Charles' room to pick up Sierra. "Hey, Chuck," Avery said, as the door opened, "I need to talk to you."
Charles motioned for Avery to come in. "What is it, man?" Charles asked. "Look, it's hittin' the fan over in Indus. I know you're here on business with Nina, but I don't know how safe Verusa's going to be in the near future. This just looks like a lot of trouble. I'm already negotiating with my company to allow me to come home early, but, you know, labor regs." Charles nodded. "Sure, I'll think about it," he said.