Carmody hauled himself to his knees, pulling his head away from the knife, jerking Grigor up by the shirt so he was in a sitting position. Carmody was now kneeling between Grigor’s legs. They were still facing each other. He still had one hand around his wrist. He slid his hand an inch down to get it over his knife hand, then twisted the hand back on itself until the blade was turned all the way around and pointing at Grigor’s throat.

Grigor stared into his eyes.

“Don’t,” he said. “I can tell you things. About Pinnacle. The Wolf. Don’t.”

“OK,” Carmody said and forced the knife into the right side of his neck, using Grigor’s own hand to push it in deep, burying it until the handle was flush with his skin, and the tip of the blade was poking out the left side.

Grigor produced a thick, moist sound from his wide-open mouth, sitting there on the rim of the crater, the knife transfixing his throat. Carmody hauled himself to his feet. He grabbed the straps of Grigor’s pack, found the buckles and snapped them open. He shucked the pack off Grigor and tossed it behind him onto the path. Then he bent, clamped his hands over Grigor’s shoulders and pulled him up to a standing position.

Grigor’s legs were limp. Blood was pouring down his chin from his nose and mouth. Carmody held him up on his feet a second with the knife in his throat. Then he shoved him over the crater’s rim and into its rocky bowl two hundred feet below.

The sun was up, banding the sky with orange and yellow above the crater’s edge. Carmody turned, sat down with his head resting back against the slope and thought as dawn turned into full daylight. After a while, he grabbed Grigor’s pack off the ground, stood up and started back down the trail.

23

Washington, DC/Hawaii
April 20, 2024

SECRET/ORCON/NOFORN

EYES ONLY

DO NOT COPY

OFFICIAL MEMORANDUM OF TELEPHONE CONVERSATION

SUBJECT: Telephone Conversation with President Tsao He Feng of People’s Republic of China

PARTICIPANTS: President Annemarie Fucillo of USA, President Tsao of PRC

Notetaker (Situation Room): Carmen Seager

DATE, TIME April 20, 2024, 12:06—12:16 a.m. EDT

PLACE: White House Oval Office

“President Tsao. Annemarie Fucillo.”

“Yes. Of course. It’s an unexpected pleasure to hear your voice so soon after our last conversation.”

“I’m sure.”

“Madam President, it is my understanding that there is an urgent matter you wish to discuss.”

“That’s accurate. And I’m going to get right to it. Because I want you to know that my country came very close to being attacked by a Chinese-designed submarine within the last hour.”

“One moment, please. I assure you, my country had no—”