Chapter Thirty-Eight: Positioning (1)

The quiet voice was clear and gentle, yet the words spoken caused a great commotion in the operations room. The statement was so shocking that several sharp-eyed individuals, including Lei Dong, clearly saw Lei Tiangang’s large hand tremble noticeably at the moment An Jing uttered, “Something might have happened.” He instinctively reached for the phone before forcefully restraining himself.

Lei Dong sighed, fully understanding his father’s feelings. If nothing had happened, calling now would only sow confusion. But if something had indeed occurred...

He watched as Lei Tiangang’s chest heaved a few times before he finally exhaled deeply, his face stern. “Continue.”

An Jing also sighed inwardly. If her suspicions were correct, it meant the Republic would lose an extremely important intelligence operative. An agent able to access such high-level classified documents must have required immense effort from the intelligence services, and the agent himself must have paid a heavy price.

Calming herself, An Jing spoke in as steady a voice as possible. “If the above deduction stands, then what exactly happened on the plane?”

“First, we can be certain that the terrorists from Eastern Uguchat intended to make a scene. There are two possibilities: hijacking—since the majority of passengers are our citizens, they could negotiate with our government to release their captured core members; or simply causing an explosion, inciting public panic and boosting their organization’s morale—their target is not specific, essentially the entire plane.”

An Jing’s analysis was logical, and everyone in the operations room nodded, waiting for her next step, or perhaps for her to refute this line of thought.

Sure enough, her next words denied this possibility: “However, such actions would definitely be opposed by Minia Federation intelligence agents and the island separatists, because their objectives are specific—they want the files held by Mr. Cao and Comrade Shui Yaoxian. As representatives of state power, they would not wish to provoke worldwide condemnation and bring unnecessary trouble to their own governments. After all, hijacking a civilian airliner is an unforgivable crime in any country.”

“They also lack the fatalistic ‘holy war’ mentality, and I cannot rule out another possibility: that there might be an attempt to turn Comrade Shui Yaoxian. After all, converting an enemy’s senior operative—even making him a double agent—would greatly benefit their intelligence work.”

An Jing analyzed the attitudes of all three parties in one breath, paused to let everyone absorb her speculation, then continued: “Thus, regarding the hijacking, there must be conflict among the island separatists, terrorists, and Minia Federation intelligence. This conflict could lead to three outcomes. First, if the terrorists insist on hijacking or have already begun, the other two parties, whether for self-preservation, to ensure their mission’s completion, or simply to avoid an uncontrollable situation, would intervene to thwart the terrorists’ plot, then divert the plane to a location they deem suitable...”

Her reasoning, by this point, was quite clear. Everyone was impressed by An Jing’s meticulous thinking, and believed that with her step-by-step dissection, they were drawing ever closer to the truth.

“The advantage of this course is that they could seize the initiative, better control Mr. Cao and Comrade Shui Yaoxian, and even be seen as heroes by the passengers, earning some praise for themselves and their governments. But this scenario is unlikely. Even if they don’t want to land the plane as originally planned at Hanjing or any Republic airport—which would introduce uncontrollable risks to their main objective, namely controlling Mr. Cao and the others—there’s no need to fabricate a disappearance. They could simply claim equipment failure or fuel shortage, easily gaining passengers’ understanding and smoothly changing course to any destination they wish. Yet, the facts are that the plane shut down all navigation and communication systems and mysteriously vanished. Therefore, perhaps there is a second possibility.”

An Jing shook her head, dismissing the first scenario, and extended a second finger. “Assuming the plane was only hijacked, not destroyed in an accident, the island separatists and Minia Federation intelligence could play along, letting the terrorists take the plane to their chosen place, then seize the opportunity to target Mr. Cao and Comrade Shui Yaoxian, complete their mission, and escape when possible. The benefit is they don’t need to expose themselves or invent excuses for the flight’s course change—the terrorists take all the blame. However, there are many difficulties, chief among them: how could they ensure, once the plane lands in terrorist-controlled territory, that they could still control Mr. Cao and Comrade Shui Yaoxian and escape successfully? According to Minia intelligence doctrine—if you think something bad might happen, it definitely will—they are unlikely to risk such a venture.”

“Then there remains one possibility, which I personally believe to be the most likely.” An Jing calmly extended a third finger, her fair skin glowing under the lights, but the words from her delicate lips shocked everyone present: “This incident is a compromise—a joint operation orchestrated by the Eastern Uguchat group, island separatists, and Minia Federation intelligence!”

Everyone in the operations room was startled by this conclusion, dozens of eyes fixed on An Jing’s three raised fingers.

Despite the attention, An Jing showed neither shyness nor fear. She now seemed to have entered a “teacher” mode, standing confidently at the podium while those before her were students awaiting the correct answer.

She cleared her throat lightly, kept her right hand raised, and took a deep breath. “My deduction is based on three reasons. First, from the perspective of their respective aims,” she curled in her first finger. “The goal of the Eastern Uguchat group is to create a terror incident; whether hijacking or a crash, as long as it has great impact, their objective is largely achieved. They need not insist on an explosion in midair. Moreover, although they never value their own lives for the so-called ‘holy war’—much less others’—the desire to survive is the deepest human instinct, which makes compromise possible. The island separatists and Minia Federation mainly want to control Mr. Cao and Shui Yaoxian, retrieve what they need. They may not fear trouble, but prefer to avoid large-scale condemnation and danger; the Eastern Uguchat group, craving greater impact, will gladly shoulder the blame, letting the other two parties stay out of it. This forms the basis for their cooperation, a collusion of mutual interest, achieving tacit understanding or even agreement, naturally.”

“Second,” she curled in her second finger, “from the perspective of operational capability—I’ve mentioned before: making a large airliner disappear requires highly sophisticated technology. The Eastern Uguchat group lacks the ability for such perfection, whereas professionally trained Minia Federation intelligence agents are fully capable.”

Only An Jing’s slender index finger remained raised, but it soon bent as well. “Finally, and most critically, to contain the world’s greatest potential strategic rival, the Minia Federation not only blocks, restricts, and suppresses our Republic on the geopolitical stage, but also spares no effort in supporting opposition forces both domestically and abroad. Intelligence indicates that, during periods of cross-strait hostility, Minia Federation conducted extremely rigorous training for the intelligence department of Taihua Island; thirty years ago, most elite agents from Taihua Island had received such training. When the separatists’ party governed Taihua Island, this training reached its peak!”

An Jing paused, then continued, “In the past decade, as cross-strait relations gradually warmed, this training diminished in frequency and intensity. Yet, to create maximum trouble for the Republic, the Minia Federation shifted focus to terror organizations targeting us. Given the global anti-terror climate, they couldn’t act openly, but covertly supplied funds, instructors, reconnaissance, demolition, intelligence gathering, and even special operations training. Especially in the major training camps of the Eastern Uguchat group, the presence of mercenaries, retired special forces, and intelligence operatives is everywhere!”

For once, anger appeared on the usually gentle and calm face of An Jing, and her autumn-water eyes sparkled with intelligence. “We can reasonably assume, if these three groups are indeed present on the plane, then they most likely already know one another!”

An Jing’s voice remained clear and gentle, but her conclusion stunned everyone. Yet, beneath the shock, one could only admire her: in less than ten minutes, she had produced deductions spanning international affairs, intelligence analysis, psychological insight, and more, dissected them thoroughly, and led everyone step by step to the final conclusion. The breadth of her vision, the rigor of her logic, the confidence of her mind—all inspired the sense that, even if her words were not the whole truth, they were but half a step from it.

Now the question remained—dozens of eyes fixed once again on An Jing. If all this was true, where had the plane gone?

This was the crucial point, the ultimate purpose for which the elite of the Furious Dragon Squad and the Republic’s finest special operations forces had gathered here.