He wished for a show of force and to let the Chinese leadership know his displeasure with their attack on Russia. The U. S. and Russia were not allies... but they were not die-hard enemies anymore either.The carrier task group reached their assigned station on January 3rd. Hundreds of Chinese fighters took on the carrier group's combat air patrol (CAP). The Chinese lost half their fighters but they took down the CAP. Chinese medium range Tu-16 Backfire look-alike bombers came in, in far greater. Her heart began to race as she removed the movie ticket and paused to look at the two small egg shaped devices that lay underneath.She handed the attendant the ticket and headed straight to the restroom. She seemed singularly focused as she went into a stall and closed it. She sat down and opened the box, staring at the devices without touching them.He was here. Somewhere in that theatre he was here and waiting for her. Waiting to tease and torment her with these very devices. Her heart began. Even wooden shoes clattered. I strained for the thief’s bare feet running. The quick slap-slap.Rising out of the cacophony, my ears identified a pair of slapping steps to my right. I changed my direction of running. I leaped over another short street onto the opposite rooftop. People shouted from below as I raced across the roofs, honing in on the slapping footsteps. They slowed, the thief relaxing, thinking she had eluded me. The steps grew to a confident strut.I had her.I raced across a. Chapter Forty-Four: Promise FulfilledPrincess AvaA strange daze gripped me. Everything felt unreal. Events had happened so fast. In the space of a few minutes, Ealaín had perished and my father... My father was dead. It hurt more than I thought it should. All the hatred, the disgust, I felt for the man dwindled. He was gone. It was hard to loathe him any longer when memories of the gentler man he used to be rose in my mind.I remembered my time from my childhood when my mother still lived. He.