Book 1 of the MATT MORETTI-HAN LI SERIES
The Archivist – DIALOGUE & PLACES
National Library of China Beijing
Li Fang—or Annie, as she was called by her friends—was locking up her office at the National Library of China in Beijing. As usual, she was late. For the past half hour her boss had again tried to convince her to spend the weekend with him in Shanghai, telling her that they were soul mates and belonged together. The fact thathe was married didn’t seem to enter the equation, at least not on his side. He finally left, but he promised to continue his efforts of winning her over. She couldn’t wait.
Campo Santo Stefano – Venice Italy
The Campo Santo Stefano is an elongated square named after the fourteen-century gothic-style church that anchors its northern boundary. The southern border was marked by the austere-looking Palazzo Pisani, home of the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory of Music. In between, the square is edged with numerous shops, restaurants, and bars.
August 1st Building – Ministry of National Defense Compound
Ministry of National Defense compound. No ID was necessary as he bypassed perimeter checkpoints. His face guaranteed access, and he continued into the August 1st Building. No one approached or stopped him as he walked briskly through the lobby, past the metal detectors and the guards standing at attention. Only eleven people could circumvent the building’s tight security, and he was one of those.
Biblioteca Marciana Venice, Italy
The Marciana Library is one of the architectural gems of Venice, Italy. Located at the end of Saint Mark’s Square in front of the Doge’s Palace, the two-story building has Doric columns on the ground floor with Ionic ones above. Adding to its visual elegance, the entire structure is crowned by a balustrade containing corner obelisks and twenty-five statues of classical deities and heroes. Entering the Marciana, an ornate two-flight staircase leads to the vestibule, above which is Titian’s La Sapienza.
Piazza San Marco Venice, Italy
He arrived at the library at eight, and a little more than an hour later, he saw Moretti and Han Li enter the Piazza San Marco. Given that the police would obviously be looking for them following his call, he didn’t know how they’d get inside before it opened. That’s before he saw them going through the employee entrance, a move he considered brilliant.
Accademia Bridge
She pointed south across Saint Mark’s Square and took off in that direction, eventually crossing the Accademia Bridge to the other side of the Grand Canal. Fifteen minutes later she stopped thirty yards from a small restaurant.
Campo Manin
The Campo Manin was not far from Saint Mark’s Square. In its center was a statue of Daniele Manin with a large winged lion at its base. The east side of the square opposite the waterway was dominated by the very modern Cassa di Risparimo di Venezia bank. This mid-1960s structure stood in stark contrast to the neo-Gothic buildings to the north and south. The area was moderately lit, but it lacked security personnel since none of the buildings in the square were particularly important.
The Hotel Bauer Il Palazzo
The Hotel Bauer Il Palazzo is one of the world’s great hotels. Francesca Bortolotto Possati is the owner, and Pietro Rusconi is the resident manager. They’re extremely gracious hosts and make their guests feel as if they’re part of the family.
De Pisis Restaurant
When you’re there (The Hotel Bauer Il Palazzo), try the De Pisis restaurant. The author had Han Li and Moretti partake of some his favorite dishes from its menu, not to mention the wine from the owner’s vineyard.
Grand Canal Venice
The back deck (of The Hotel Bauer Il Palazzo – De Pisis Restaurant) has a spectacular view of the Grand Canal.
Marco Polo Airport Venice
It took Moretti nearly a day to get to the Venice’s Marco Polo Airport. With only a carry-on bag, he quickly passed through customs and immigration and entered the main terminal.
Venice Water Taxi
From there he followed the signs to the water taxi, which eventually took him outside and down a long covered walkway that sloped to the lagoon.
Doge’s Palace
The Marciana Library is spectacularly beautiful. Most people are so enamored with Saint Mark’s Square, the Doge’s Palace, and the general ambiance of Venice that they don’t realize the library is there.
The Hotel Bristol Vienna
The Hotel Bristol in Vienna (on right) is located opposite the Vienna State Opera (on left).
Vienna State Opera House
The Imperial Hotel Vienna
Along with its sister hotel, the Imperial, it offers the romantic ambiance and top-notch service one associates with this city.
Dstrikt Restaurant Vienna
The Ritz-Carlton Hotel is in the center of the city and contains Dstrikt, the author’s favorite local restaurant.
Schonbrunn Palace
It took forty-five minutes to get to Vienna’s Schonbrunn Palace and enter its adjacent parking structure.
St. Stephen’s Cathedral Vienna
He stopped to stretch his muscles beside St. Stephen’s Cathedral, a large gothic edifice that was built in the twelfth century, when a splinter of stone struck the side of his face.
Fort Belvoir, Virginia
The US Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) is located at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. It is a component of the Central Security Command, and it is functionally integrated into the NSA. There are fifty-one thousand employees on the installation, twice as many as the Pentagon, and it is the home to sixteen military organizations. The Sixty-Sixth Military Intelligence Brigade, located in Wiesbaden, Germany, is part of INSCOM and provides intelligence support throughout Europe.
Hall of Purple Light – China
The Mercedes S550 pulled into the entrance of Zhongnanhai, and it was immediately waved through the security gate of the high-walled government compound. It passed down several streets bordered on both sides with huge trees and lush landscaping, skirting a lake until it stopped in front of a building known as the Hall of Purple Light. A security guard, waiting for the car’s arrival, opened the rear door, and Han Li exited, carrying a rectangular brown leather box.
Zhongnanhai – China
The call he just received, asking him to immediately come to Zhongnanhai, the American equivalent of the White House, all but confirmed that the president knew of his involvement.
Tiananmen Square
He remembered walking through Tiananmen Square and seeing an old beggar in the tattered remnants of an army uniform, worn during the time of Chairman Mao.
Mao Zedong
Mao had a deep-seated paranoia that the Soviets would attack his country’s nuclear facilities.
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek (on left with Mao Zedong on right – photo taken 2/27/1950) was abducted at 5:00 a.m. on December 12, 1936, when two hundred troops attacked his residence in Xi’an. Hearing gunfire, he escaped through his bedroom window, barefoot and wearing only a robe over his nightshirt, leaving behind his false teeth. He was later discovered hiding in a crevice in a nearby hill, shivering so badly from the cold that he had difficulty speaking. The dissident army officers who kidnapped him did so because they felt he was not effectively using the army to fight the Japanese. Instead he was too focused on killing Chinese communists. After thirteen days in captivity, he agreed to focus on killing Japanese, and then he was released. This temporarily united both the nationalists and communists.
Chou En-lai
Because of the Chairman’s health, Dr. Kissinger and President Nixon’s conversations were primarily with Premier Chou En-lai.
Yahya Khan
Pakistani president Yahya Khan was instrumental in helping to set this meeting and in fabricating and maintaining the deception.
The Abductions – DIALOGUE & PLACES
Forbidden City
Beijing’s traffic was horrendous, particularly in the area around the Forbidden City, which is at the foot of Tiananmen Square.
Palace of Heavenly Purity
Han Li explained that President Liu was spending the night in the Palace of Heavenly Purity, while President Ballinger would be in the Palace of Earthly Tranquility, both of which she pointed out to Moretti. She told him that these palaces, formerly used by emperors of China, had not been occupied for more than a century.
Palace of Earthly Tranquility
Han Li explained that President Liu was spending the night in the Palace of Heavenly Purity, while President Ballinger would be in the Palace of Earthly Tranquility, both of which she pointed out to Moretti. She told him that these palaces, formerly used by emperors of China, had not been occupied for more than a century.
The Hall of Mental Cultivation
The Hall of Mental Cultivation, where Moretti and Han Li spend the night, was both the residence and the office of eight Chinese emperors from the Qing dynasty.
St. Regis Beijing
While that was happening, the passengers and crew disembarked and made their way to one of two buses going to the St. Regis Hotel, near the American embassy on the east side of the city.
Raven Rock Mountain Complex – Site R
Raven Rock Mountain Complex – Site R, is an underground nuclear bunker with thirty-eight communications systems, and it also serves as the alternate Pentagon. A tunnel is said to connect Raven Rock to the Pentagon, via the National Security Agency in Fort Meade – a distance of 97.5 miles. A tunnel is also said to connect Site R and Camp David.
VH-60N White Hawk
The VH-60N White Hawk is used for transport to Camp David and has a landing pad not far from Aspen Lodge.
National Security Agency – NSA
A tunnel is said to connect Raven Rock to the Pentagon, via the National Security Agency in Fort Meade—a distance of 97.5 mile.
Camp David
Aspen Lodge @ Camp David
The Suburban pulled in front of Aspen Lodge, Camp David’s presidential residence, a single-story wooden structure containing three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room, a dining room, a kitchen, and five fireplaces. The lodge sat in the center of a three acre clearing at the top of a hill and presented a commanding view of the area.
Vestas V90 wind turbine
The nine giant Vestas V90 wind turbines stretched for a mile along the top of the hill. The base of each tower weighed 152 tons, soared 262 feet into the air, and was anchored 30 feet into the ground with more than 1,000 tons of concrete and steel rebar.
Air Force One
Air Force One is the air traffic control sign of any Air Force aircraft carrying the president of the United States. Currently, the president uses a Boeing 747-200B, referred to in military parlance as a VC-25A aircraft.
Ohio Class submarines
As the B-52s dropped their payloads, the missile launch officers on board two Ohio Class submarines, the Florida and the Ohio, turned their keys in unison, each beginning the process of sending twenty-five of their 154 Tomahawk missiles to their targets.
B-52
The United States Air Force, which would launch the bulk of the firepower for this assault, sent ten B-52H Stratofortress bombers to take out its targets.
KC-10 Extender
When the last of the missiles had dropped free of the giant bombers, each of the aircraft made a standard rate turn of fifteen degrees to starboard and set course for the seven KC-10 Extender aerial refueling tankers that were awaiting their arrival.
H-6K Chinese bomber
At the same time, China dropped a total of 120 CJ-10K cruise missiles, each with a maximum range of 1,200 miles, from twenty H-6K bombers that were scattered throughout the African continent.
UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter
The UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters in Awalmir Afridi’s nightmare were based on the Stealth Black Hawks used in the Osama bin Laden raid.
Z-8 Chinese helicopter
Once the airspace was clear, two Z-10s, China’s premier attack helicopter, and two Z-8 transports, each capable of carrying up to twenty-seven troops, approached. Three of the aircraft set down not far from the tower, while a Z-8 landed on the helicopter pad behind the nacelle.
Z-9B Chinese helicopter
The Harbin Z-9B appeared on the horizon just as dawn was breaking.
Z-10 Chinese helicopter
Once the airspace was clear, two Z-10s, China’s premier attack helicopter, and two Z-8 transports, each capable of carrying up to twenty-seven troops, approached. Three of the aircraft set down not far from the tower, while a Z-8 landed on the helicopter pad behind the nacelle.
Air Force AGM-86C and -86D cruise missiles
Nine of the ten aircraft carried a combination of AGM-86C and -86D model air-to-ground cruise missiles.
Navy Tomahawk cruise missile
As the B-52s dropped their payloads, the missile launch officers on board two Ohio Class submarines, the Florida and the Ohio, turned their keys in unison, each beginning the process of sending twenty-five of their 154 Tomahawk missiles to their targets.
CJ-10K Chinese cruise missiles
At the same time, China dropped a total of 120 CJ-10K cruise missiles, each with a maximum range of 1,200 miles, from twenty H-6K bombers that were scattered throughout the African continent.