Page 151 of Stars

And if the probe malfunctions or comes down outside of China, the outbreak begins.He’d closed his eyes and paced away, scrubbing his face with both hands. The United States had yet to comment publicly on the Chinese mission. A reckoning was coming, though. Jack could feel it. How much worse would it be if the Americans saw the Chinese growing the virus in space?

“I don’t speak for the American government,” he’d warned. “I cannot give you permission to do this.”

“You have insight into their reactions. You have been reliable in your predictions so far.”

Wonderful. He was an intelligence asset for the Chinese government. He’d sighed, long and loud, and sagged against the wall. “If this is what they need, then it has to happen. I doubt the US will shoot down the probes. President Wall won’t risk spreading the virus around the world. Not without a cure.”

The Chinese launched their probes. And Jack felt America’s wrath, her cold fury, radiate from around the world.

* * *

He’d been expectingthe call when it came. He was outside, walking with Ethan through the dead air, the high desert of Inner Mongolia. Dust and nothingness rolled around them, an unending moonscape of desolation. Frigid wind blew south from Russia, so dry it seemed to scrape his skin, flay flesh from muscle and bone.

“Jack,” Elizabeth snapped over the line. “What the hell have you done?”

“I’m sorry, Elizabeth—”

“Sorry? You’resorry? You’ve given the Chinese access to the world’s most deadly virus, a plague that could end all of mankind. You’re helping them to harvest it. Grow it, even. What do you think they’re doing with this virus, Jack? Do you think they’re helping Commander Keating and Captain Andreyev out of the goodness of their hearts? That they’re exclusively on a humanitarian mission, nothing more? You know that’s not how this works!”

“The probes they launched weren’t to grow the virus. They were growing antibodies. They’re working on a cure.”

“There is no cure.”

“Not now. But there’s an Evenki man here, the twin brother of the man General Sevastyanov sent up to die on that satellite. That man was immune, and so, it seems, is his brother. The Chinese are harvesting his antibodies and rapidly growing them in orbit.”

Elizabeth was quiet. “How are they doing?”

“It’s still bad,” he said softly. “But they haven’t progressed to seizures. It’s been three days. That’s two days longer than anyone else lived.”

She sighed. “Jack… I cannot ignore what has happened here.”

“I know.”

“You broke my trust. You went behind my back. You directly worked with our adversaries to undermine American interests and operations. If we were at war, this would be textbook treason.”

He said nothing.

“You have put the world in grave danger. You made decisions on your own, outside the policy process and outside the national security processes of the United States. You have become a rogue independent actor, working for your own desires.”

“Elizabeth—”

“What happens when China possesses this virus and no one else does? What happens when they use it, either against Americans or against dissidents within their country? What if they decide to put down Tibetan uprisings with an ethnic cleansing? Will you feel so confident about your choices then?”

“Why didn’t you stop them?”

“Because the events you set in motion put me in an impossible position, with an impossible choice to make.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I am too.”

“I have something for you,” he said. “Coordinates. At Bolshevik Island in the Laptev Sea, north of Siberia. That’s where Lazarus had his laboratory. He was working out of an old Soviet corvette. It sank, but if you send a team up there you might be able to recover some of his research. He was growing the components for his virus. Trying to remake what was in orbit by mutating different strands and strains into one. Bioengineering an eldritch horror.”

“We’ll send a team to recover the wreckage and investigate what he was doing. But that doesn’t change what was done. Nothing can change what was done.” She paused a long moment. “Jack, I have to cancel your contract with my government. I can no longer trust you to support my policies or to act in the best interests of the American people.”

“I understand,” he said softly. “Elizabeth, this was never about you.”

“Except it was. You didn’t like the decisions I made, so you made your own. And now I have to pay for that. I hope your friends recover, I really do. And I hope we don’t have to pay too high a price for their lives.” After a brief silence, she said, “Goodbye, Jack.”