Despite Fan’s early outrage, Chen Ying had, in the end, gotten his wish to join the fight. Lenora had personally taken a stealth copter and piloted him out into the middle of the ocean. When she descended toward sea level with absolutely no land or ship in sight, he wondered briefly if she were planning to throw him into the middle of the ocean and leave him there. She did not, after all, like the Chinese Politburo.
But as they dropped, something rose from the sea’s depths. He guessed it was a submarine, although it had no sail sticking up. And the sub didn’t have, on closer inspection, a teardrop or cigar-shaped hull. Rather, it looked like three cylinders strapped together.
Lenora pointed. “Welcome to the Alcyone.” As a man clambered onto the top surface—there was no flat deck—Lenora a
