“So you’re back in touch with Beijing?” She interrupted again, one brow raised.

Wu faltered, nodded, “Obviously.”

“Good,” Ayesha Dani said. “Because your President needs to know who, or rather what, is actually behind these attacks. And what you have to do to stop it.”

114
Contingency

Monday 2041.01.20

Gao Yang brought them the data at the ongoing emergency Standing Committee meeting, in the early evening. They were waiting for the ultimatum on the American fleet to run out and the warning shot to be fired. And getting updates on troop movements, preparing for Ouyang’s troops to launch their coordinated assault to flush the protests under cover of darkness.

So many balls in the air.

Then Gao Yang strode with purpose back into the room.

“Sir!” He wore a worried look.

Bo Jintao frowned.

“Gao, what is it?”

“Premier, we’ve heard back from Ambassador Wu in New Delhi. The Indians claim they had nothing to do with our systems going down. Sir, they blame Su-Yong Shu. By name. With a great deal of specificity.”

Bo Jintao felt the breath catch in his throat. The blood drained from his face.

Su-Yong Shu.

Wang Wei laughed. “They expect us to believe this? We shut that creature down!”

Information Minister Fu Ping spoke, softly. “It would make sense…”

Gao Yang went on. “They claim, specifically, that she left a program behind. And that the program’s task is to sow chaos to distract us, to retrieve a full copy of the backup made of her, and to reactivate that backup on the Quantum Cluster beneath Jiao Tong.”

Bo Jintao looked over at Shen Juan, the man they’d appointed Minister of Science and Technology to replace Sun Liu.

“The Quantum Cluster…” Bo Jintao started.

“Prime Minister,” Shen Juan replied. “Our last word is that director Xu and his staff have secured themselves inside the building, to wait out the protests going on outside. I last received an update, two, perhaps three days ago…”

“Find General Ouyang !” Bo said to Gao Yang. “Tell him to get a team to the Computer Science Building at Jiao Tong, now! Use all force! And don’t wait for nighttime! I want first hand validation that it’s secure, the cluster itself!”

“You can’t believe any of this!” Wang Wei said. “So the Indians have some intel on an old program of ours, what of it? They’re blowing smoke to distract us while our cities go mad!”

“I don’t know what to believe,” Bo Jintao said. “But if this is true…”

Another thought struck him. And then another. Gao Yang voiced them both first.

“The cubes,” Gao said. “And the clones.”

Bo Jintao nodded.

“Yes. Have Ouyang send teams to check on the cube locations and on the Confucian Fist. Immediately! Full force authorized! This trumps everything!”

General Ouyang Fan listened as Gao Yang relayed the message.

Su-Yong Shu. Was it possible?

And if so… How much of everything else could she be behind?