Fourth Crisis: The Battle for Taiwan by Bleichert Peter von

Author:Bleichert, Peter von [Bleichert, Peter von]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781508860488
Google: 4mk1rgEACAAJ
Amazon: 1508860483
Published: 2015-03-22T00:00:00+00:00

5: FOG OF WAR

“Secret operations are essential in war; Upon them the army relies to make its every move.”—Sun Tzu

With Richard unavailable for lunch, and with no afternoon class this bright sunny day, Jade rode her bicycle past the Widewater and along the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal that paralleled Washington, DC’s Potomac River. She followed the path, passing the old locks and pedaling toward Great Falls. Picking up speed, she leaned forward to streamline herself in the headwind.

Jade tried to outrun her conscience and raced against stretched loyalties. She pumped the pedals until her legs burned. Twisting and turning through the strollers, tourists, and joggers, she found herself torn between loving an American and her duty to country and her solemn oath. She turned off the paved path where it crossed the C&O canal, and where it met and skirted the Potomac. The falling river roared, its sound drawing her on. Arriving at one of her favorite thinking spots that overlooked Rocky Islands, she breathed deep and slow. The mist from the whitewater hung in the air, refreshing her sweaty face. She rubbed her aching calf, but then she stopped when a powerful primeval sense tingled: she was being watched. She looked around.

A man leaned against a rock, sipping coffee and staring back through dark sunglasses. He had a neatly trimmed beard with a lick of grey in his brown hair. The man’s lips moved and the turn of his head revealed an earpiece. She was under surveillance. She jumped to her bike and took off.

Jade moved at an adrenaline-powered clip, certain somehow that the man was right behind her, keeping up without his legs even moving. She reached where the path squeezed between the C&O and Olmsted Island. She brushed the sharp bark of trees lining the path, and relied on cursing people to get out of the way. She skidded her bike to a stop at Lock 24, the point where the Potomac fell over jagged, steep rocks and flowed through the narrow Mather Gorge. Out of breath again, Jade felt her heart pounding, amid the angst of panic. She picked up her bicycle, and lugged it down a dirt side path that wound between big rocks and crossed small streams. She jumped a low rope barrier, hid her bike, and then tucked herself into a rocky fold. She closed her eyes and imagined the strong, warm safety of Richard’s arms.

◊◊◊◊

Richard worked through lunch, though he accomplished little. Instead of attacking the leaning pile of paperwork that occupied his desk, he pondered fatherhood. He shook his head like a stunned dog and tried to focus on the work. He had to propose to Jade…and soon. Ring; wedding; honeymoon; crib; baby clothes; breast pump; college. Richard considered starting to play the lottery. He decided he needed food if he were going to be able to concentrate, so he took out a bag of deep-fried squid chips.

Although everyone else turned their noses up at their sight, Richard loved the chips’ briny sweetness and planned to keep buying them from Japantown by the gross.

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