Two Peasants and a President (33 page)

The American Embassy, at least the Hong Kong Consulate, was only partially aware of events, in spite of attempts to learn what was going on. Commander Moore, who was as Captain Davis had suspected, CIA, had a
l
ready contacted his counterpart in Langley where discussions were taking place regarding if and how they might help
aside from
certain steps they had already taken
. 
T
he commander had not revealed the extent of his knowledge or activities to consular officials because they reported directly to the State Department and no one expected, under the circumstances, that the State
Department would be of much help.  In fact, in some quarters it was thought that State might intentionally impede assistance for political reasons. 

The role of the cleaning lady and, indeed even who she really was, had thus far eluded Beijing.  A combination of the fact that her entire family was gone, mostly due to the actions of the bureaucracy, and the massive pape
r
work snafu that attended the displacement and resettlement of
tens of
tho
u
sands of Chinese citizens had left them with a name but no accurate, verifiable history.  Apparently she had no close friends in the building where she worked or anywhere else so far as they could ascertain.  Like the tall American male, she was a mystery, as was her involvement, though no one doubted that she
was
involved. 

In truth, the leaders of the largest police state on the planet had run into something of a dead end.  They were still attempting to trace the recent a
c
tivi
ties of the ambulance driver, a police officer and a
doctor who had likewise disappeared.  While the doctor’s horrific duties in the hospital certainly provided a motive, interviews with the friends and family of the others had as yet not been fruitful.  And in what was the most frustrating aspect of all, the investigators had no idea where the suspects were.  For all they knew, the escapees could be hole up somewhere, which was thought unlikely, or could have already fled.  But to where?  And by what means?

******

Had those now asleep on the deck of the
Dawn Flower
known that their pursuers were still in disarray, they would perhaps have slept more soundly.

5
2

It had become obvious, for some belatedly, that China’s enormous military buildup and preposterous claim to practically all of the South China Sea did not portend well for its neighbors.  Japan was beefing up its navy by increasing its submarine fleet by fifty percent.  To anyone with even a smattering of familiarity with twentieth century Far East history, that alone should have started ringing bells.  Japan, more than anyone, understood that all this was a prelude to armed conflict.  After all, in the 1930’s
,
they had embarked on a similar path while the world looked the other way.

And, of course, while Hitler turned Germany into an aggressive mil
i
tary power, Neville Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister, had not only allowed Germany to seize, without opposition, the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia via the Munich Agreement in 1938, but had proclaimed that Hitler wasn’t such a bad guy after all.  The following year, Germany invaded Poland on a pretext.  Thus began World War II. 

The problem for the Philippines was that they were low-hanging fruit.  With their most powerful naval asset, a WWII American destroyer that was older than anyone in the Philippine Navy, now sitting on the bottom, they were the proverbial sitting duck and they knew it.  They did, however, have a card or two to play.  The former US base at
Subic
Bay is one of the best deep water ports in the world.  Until its closure in 1992 due to pressure from Filipinos who felt that the US occupation of
Subic
Bay and Clark Field was a stain on their honor, the Philippines had enjoyed the safety of the American military umbrella.  In addition, their economy had greatly benefited from the rent the Americans paid, as well as the dollars thousands of American sailors and airmen spent. 

Now Manila was rethinking that decision.  While some of the dimmer bulbs in the Philippine government still felt that their ‘honor’ was more i
m
portant than a stagnant economy and an aggressive military power at their back door, the president and much of his cabinet knew that sooner or later China could and would have its way with their country if they did nothing.  So the president announced that his government was re-inviting the Amer
i
cans to use both the
Subic
Bay and Clark Field bases, reasoning that with large American naval and air assets positioned there, China’s ambitions would be slowed, if not stifled.

Reaction in Beijing was swift and predictable.  The Chinese president, in an interview broadcast on national television, said that China could not stand idly by while peace in the Far East was threatened by a war-mongering nation, a thinly veiled reference to the Philippines.  The speech was widely excerpted in the West where cartoonists had a field day.  One drew a cartoon whose caption was: ‘Turning the other cheek.’  In it a dozen-cheeked car
i
cature of the president had his head revolving round and round on a swivel as the Chinese president repeatedly slapped him.  Once again the American president sent out his timid press secretary to feebly assert that the United States had the Philippines’ back so there was no need to reactivate the bases there.  This was quickly followed by the all too familiar platitudes from the United Nations. 

Even the late night talk show hosts, who until now had more or less faithfully carried the president’s water, sensed a change in the wind.  Their jokes and monologues were becoming increasing biting and derisive.  While some Americans would continue to believe that weakness and indecision on the part of their government was a noble expression of compassion and c
i
vility, the ‘man in the street’ was beginning to feel that his country had a
l
lowed itself to be pushed around for too long.  Pundits on the left were not immune either and found themselves increasingly excoriated for defending what was clearly a weakened and compromised administration. 

Senator Baines, who had never been accused of a lack of timing, saw an opportunity.  Standing in the well of the Senate, he announced that he had a present for the president and held up a case of canned spinach, an obvious reference to Pop Eye, whose biceps and courage would suddenly sprout upon eating the vegetable.  

More and more attention was now focused on the upcoming visit by the Chinese vice-president and presumed heir to the presidency.  Commentators were increasingly posing the same question: What would the American president say to him? 

53

The logjam in Beijing was finally broken by a lowly capitalist.  The authorities there decided that it would be more expedient to simply avail themselves of a time-honored American tradition:
a private eye.  It did not take
the man long to discover that the tall American was likely Holly Pete
r
sen’s grandfather.  His neighbors said that he was out of town; they didn’t know where and furthermore, he was a naval hero.  The nurse on the seventh floor of the hospital and several others quickly confirmed that the photo transmitted to Beijing by the private eye was indeed the man who had a
c
companied the conspirators. 

Captain Richard J Davis, US Navy Retired had, in an instant, become both the most wanted and feared man in China.  It hadn’t taken long to learn that the captain was a most resourceful and courageous man, one who could be a formidable foe.  At that point, no one had any clue where exactly the captain was, but his background poi
nted to an obvious possibility –
the sea. 

A twenty-first century tool was quickly empl
oyed.  Known as ‘Live Ships,’
it is a free world-wide computer map of the paths and locations of international shipping.  Colored symbols denote tankers, cargo vessels, high-speed craft, passenger vessels, yachts, fishing boats and others, as well as navigational aids.  A quick look at the map for the Tianjin area showed a multitude of cargo vessels and tankers rounding the Shantung peninsula and heading south.  A much smaller number of vessels were headed east. 

An analyst tasked with locating the fugitives, who was examining ‘Live Ships’, noted that there were no large vessels at sea which had departed from Tianjin for South Korea over the past two days.  In fact, that part of the Yellow Sea was virtually devoid of ships of a size that would be denoted with a symbol on the chart.  This told him that the escapees could be on one of the tankers and freighters headed south, and that he could narrow the list su
b
stantially by clicking on each to ascertain by their position and speed if it had departed during the time frame in question.  Those could then be targeted for more investigation and possible boarding by coast guard and naval ships, of which China has many. 

There was another possibility, one that could prove significantly more challenging.  Hundreds of fishing boats ply the seas around northern China at any given moment.  While the ‘Live Ships’ computer/GPS tool is amazing in its own right, not all fishing boats are depicted since there are so many that the
map would be completely obscured by their symbols.  Thus, only the largest are shown.  This was a problem.  It was certainly possible that the escapees were aboard a fishing boat.  For that, two twentieth c
entury tools would be employed –
radar and satellites. 

A simple compass line drawn on the map would show the maximum radius of a slow moving fishing boat leaving port during the time in question.  Radar could locate all those fitting the criteria   A massive deployment of Coast Guard and Naval assets was immediately required, and all vessels within range would be tasked with the search, especially those whose high speed could be especially useful.  It would be an ambitious operation, to say the least, but given the secrets in possession of the escapees, there was little choice. 

Within the hour, every Coast Guard and Navy ship in Bohai Bay and the Yellow Sea had been provided with the locations of radar and satellite contacts in its area of operations and ordered to board and, if warranted, search them.  All told, there were more than three hundred tankers, freighters and fishing boats that fit the criteria, all of them moving away steadily.  

******

Night had passed uneventfully aboard the
Dawn Flower. 
Zhou and his father had taken turns manning the helm.  The fugitives had found whatever unoccupied spots they could topside to stretch out and sleep in the fresh air.  Holly and Ping had slept curled up together on a large coil of rope.  The rest lay single file in the narrow walkways along the rails.  The captain had r
e
mained in the wheelhouse, occasionally napping.  He had watched Zhou as he listened to radio traffic between other boats and ships.  It was clear from his expression that he did not like what he was hearing. 

Shortly before sunrise, Zhou had awakened Dr. Min and asked him to rouse the others and tell them to move inside.  Dr. Min confirmed to the captain what he already suspected: a massive search was underway.  As the fugitives ate a simple breakfast inside the wheelhouse, they talked in subdued voices about what was going on in the seas around them.  It would take the
Dawn
Flower
approximately one more day to reach the nearest port in South Korea.  They would enter South Korean waters well before that.  At present they were in international waters, which in another time and place would have meant that they were virtually untouchable, but not here, not now. 

Two questions were on their minds: how far would the Chinese pursue them and how close would the South Koreans allow them to get?  There was considerable animosity between the two nations, which had been greatly e
x
acerbated by the murder of the South Korean coastguardsman.  Chinese fishing boats were now greatly reviled because they invaded fishing grounds which did not belong to them and did so very aggressively. 

The fugitives had one hope, and one hope only, that when the South Koreans learned there are Americans aboard, they would allow them to come into port.  When Captain Davis had been a skipper, he had made a port call in South Korea on two occasions and had met several of his counterparts.  He knew that all South Korean
naval
vessels had one or more English speakers aboard. 

At the first approach of any South Korean Coast Guard or Navy vessel, he would have Zhou radio and explain their plight.  He had already shared his plan with Dr Min, who had in turn translated for Zhou, who concurred.  He was reasonably confident that would work, but if they were being pursued by a Chinese ship at the time, would it just decide to blow them out of the water and let the South Koreans sift through the wreckage?  The answer, unfort
u
nately, seemed obvious; they would be sunk.