Clive Cussler: Golden Buddha

Adams watched the video camera and made adjustments as the missile streaked toward the fighter. He’d aimed for the main fuselage. What he hit was a wing. The pilot ejected and Adams saw a chute open.

In a textbook maneuver, the second fighter pilot had broken right. He was racing back toward Lhasa when a target showed on his radar scope off his left wing. Before he could react, a Chinese cargo plane appeared. Confused for a second by the appearance of a seemingly friendly force, the pilot hesitated firing.

“Open up,” Gunderson shouted to the rear.

The Tibetan gunner let loose with a volley that stitched the side of the fighter like a shotgun blast to the gut of a duck. The man kept firing even after the plane passed from view.

“I think you got him,” Gunderson shouted back. “Hold off.”

Gunderson made a sweeping turn and caught a glimpse as the flaming wreckage spun into a mountain. There was no ejection, no salvation.

As soon as the third fighter realized they were being fired upon, he made a steep climb straight up in the air. The Predator was hot on his tail.

“Fire four,” Lincoln said over the radio as he blew off all his remaining missiles at once.

The jet raced into the heavens, but the lighter and smaller missiles were faster.

The Tibetans on the ground watched as the white contrail from the jet made a straight line up into the sky. Two sets of twin tendrils of steam followed. Then, high over Lhasa, a fireball erupted. The three fighters would fight no more.

“GO see what that was,” Po ordered one of the Tibetans.

The man walked out and stared down at the city, then walked back inside. “Planes attacking,” was all he said when he returned.

“That’s the Chinese retaking the city,” Po said. “In a few minutes—”

Just then Cabrillo’s telephone rang. So he answered it.

“Excuse me,” he said to Po, holding his hand over the receiver.

“Right,” Cabrillo said. “Okay, good. No, not yet, there has been a slight snag. There is a Macau policeman here that’s—”

Po slid his pistol in his holster and batted the telephone to the floor.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Cabrillo said. “I didn’t buy the extended warranty.”

Po was enraged. His control was slipping and he needed it back now.

On the Oregon , Hanley was still listening to the open line.

“Against the wall,” Po said, dragging Cabrillo against a stone wall, then stepping back.

Cabrillo stood there, the realization of what was happening slowly dawning.

“What do you think, Po” he spat. “That you’re judge, jury and executioner?”

“Men,” Po said, “line up.”

The Tibetans formed a firing line, their rifles at their shoulders.

On the Oregon , Eric Stone was next to Hanley, listening in. “Sir,” he said, “what can we do?”

Hanley raised his hand to quiet him.

“On behalf of the Macau authorities,” Po said, “I have heard your admission of guilt and find you guilty of murder. Your sentence is death by firing squad, at this time and place.”

Stone looked in horror at Hanley, whose face remained impassive.

“Do you have any last words or pleas?” Po asked.

“Yes,” Cabrillo said. “I ask that you stop this nonsense immediately—there is a deadly gas somewhere in this palace, and if I don’t find it soon, we all will die.”

“Enough of your lies,” Po thundered. “Men, prepare to fire.”

Cabrillo brushed his hand along his crew-cut hair, then smiled and winked.

“Fire,” Po shouted.

A volley of shots rang out and the prayer room was filled with the scent of gunpowder.

“THERE they are,” the leader of the Dungkar detail said.

Three stainless-steel canisters were marked with Chinese symbols. The Dungkar erected the apparatus to burn off the gas, then started to dress in gas masks and rubber gloves. The gas had been right where Zhuren had said.

“Has anyone seen the American?” the Dungkar leader asked.

The answer came back negative.

“Slowly and carefully start to destroy the gas,” the leader said. “I’m going downstairs to report.”

THE smoke cleared and Cabrillo was still standing. One of the Public Security Bureau officers reached over and took Po’s handgun from his holster. Then he did a quick pat-down search to look for other weapons.

“You missed,” Cabrillo said, wiping a fleck of blood off his cheek from where a chip of stone had struck.

Stone looked over at Hanley, who smiled. “The Tibetans are with us,” he explained. “They have been all along.”

Stone raised his arms in the air in exasperation. “No one tells me anything,” he said.

Cabrillo was walking over to pick up his telephone when the Dungkar leader burst into the room. He stared at the scene in shock. Against the far wall was a large outline of a man that had been made by the bullets striking the stone. Five PSB officers were standing with rifles, while a lone PSB officer was placing another man in handcuffs.

“We found the gas,” the Dungkar blurted out. “We’re burning it off now.”

Cabrillo bent down and retrieved the telephone. “Max,” he said, “did you hear that?”

“I did, Juan,” Hanley said. “Now get the hell out of there.”

Cabrillo folded the telephone in half and slid it in his pocket. “Norquay, I assume?” he asked the leader of the PSB officers.

“Yes, sir,” the officer answered.

“Assist the Dungkar with the destruction of the gas,” Cabrillo said. “Then secure Potala. General Rimpoche will be in contact with you soon—thanks for your help.”

Norquay nodded.

“To a Free Tibet,” Cabrillo shouted.

“To a Free Tibet,” the men answered.

Cabrillo began walking toward the door.

“Sir?” Norquay said, “there’s just one more thing.”

Cabrillo paused.

“What do you want us to do with him?” Norquay said, motioning to Po.

Cabrillo smiled. “Let him go.”

Cabrillo reached for the door handle. “But take his uniform and papers. He’s just too emotional to be a policeman.”

Then Cabrillo walked out the door, climbed down the steps and boarded the helicopter. Five minutes later he was back at Gonggar Airport. Ten minutes later he and his team were airborne in the C-130. They passed the fleet of leased helicopters in the air, headed for Bhutan, and the pilot of the C-130 wagged his wings. The helicopters returned the good-bye by flicking on their landing lights.

Then the team settled in for the short flight. Soon they’d be back on the Oregon .

46

IN Beijing, news of the events in Tibet was filtering in, and a hurried meeting was held.

President Jintao was direct. “What are our options?” he asked.

“We could send bombers to hit Lhasa,” the head of the Chinese air force said. “Then ready paratroopers for a later assault.”

“But that leaves us short on the Mongolian border,” Jintao noted. “What’s the latest intelligence on the Russian movements?”

The head of Chinese intelligence was a short man with a pronounced belly. He adjusted his glasses before speaking. “The Russian forces are enough for them to sweep down and flank our troops that are currently still headed down the pass into Qinghai Province. If they supported their efforts with air power, we could lose both Qinghai and Xinjiang Provinces, basically the entire western frontier.”

“That would give them control of our secret advanced weapons facilities at Lop Nur, plus a good portion of our space program,” Jintao said wearily.