Don Pendleton: China Crisis

“I guess so.”

“No pressure, T.J.”

“Don’t you believe it,” McCarter stated. “Turn him down and he’ll cut your credit-card rating and stop your subscription to the Buffy fan club. By the way, you still got that life-size cardboard cutout?”

Price barely concealed her snort of laughter. She raised a hand to her mouth as she feigned a sudden cough.

Brognola allowed a wisp of a smile to touch his lips before he moved on.

“Able Team will shadow you on this. Find anything we can pin on him, and they’ll move on Townsend.”

“Get me into his computer system,” Kurtzman said, “and we can dig out all his dirty secrets.”

“Tell me how and I’ll do it.”

“I love enthusiasm.” Kurtzman grinned.

Hawkins drummed his fingers on the table. “Sure. Let’s see what we can work out. I need some kind of hook to get me involved with Lerner.”

“You are in the hands of the masters of guile and deceit,” Blancanales said.

Price extracted a file from the stack in front of her.

“Phoenix, you handle China,” she said, and handed the file to McCarter. “That’s your mission brief, guys. Everything you need to know. We want our technology returned or at least destroyed so it’s useless to any potential hostiles. You can bring yourselves up to speed while you’re on your way to Andrews. There’s a C-17 transport waiting to take you to Bagram airbase. Jack’s already on board with Dragon Slayer. He’ll make the insertion into China. The flight will give you the chance to update with Mei Anna. An incident has occurred directly tied in to this whole affair.”

“Whoa,” McCarter said. “Mei Anna? How did she get caught up in this?”

“David, she’s been back with her group for the past few weeks.”

“Didn’t she tell you?” Lyons asked.

“Lover’s tiff maybe,” Blancanales suggested innocently.

McCarter’s dark scowl indicated he wasn’t seeing the humor.

“You forgot where I’ve been the past few weeks? A little busy.”

“The important thing is, David, that Anna has background that bears directly on your upcoming mission. We flew her in from Hong Kong so she could join up with you and go into Xinjiang with you. Read the file and you’ll see why,” Price said. “Hey, I’m sure she would have let you know, but it might have been difficult getting a message to you at the time.”

McCarter slumped back in his seat. “I suppose so.”

“Part of Anna’s Pro-Democracy group has been monitoring the facility the Chinese set up some time ago,” Price said, quickly moving on. “Aaron?”

Kurtzman keyed up a series of images, showing the facility. It was set in rough terrain, with low mountains far to the north. The shots were mostly taken via long-range lens.

“The place is called Guang Lor,” Kurtzman offered. He brought up a map. “Northwest China, province of Xinjiang. It’s close to the border with Afghanistan. Well isolated, away from any populated areas so Beijing can keep it under wraps as much as possible. Intel says this is where they’re developing their new generation of long-and short-range ballistic missiles. There’s a small settlement grown up in the vicinity for workers at the facility.”

“Anna’s Pro-Democracy group has been working the area and picking up what they can,” Price went on. “They have to be careful because the area is pretty well controlled by the Chinese. Current intel says the missile testing has been increased lately. The group has a man inside the facility now, and he’s been feeding them what he can. Pretty thin, but at least it indicates just what the Chinese are up to.”

“Take a look at this,” Kurtzman’s said. “The Pro-Democracy group took these shots a couple of weeks back in Hong Kong.”

He brought up a series of shots that showed a group of men talking together.

“This was shot in Hong Kong. The Chinese is Sammo Chen Low. No surprise that he comes from the facility at Guang Lor. He’s a negotiator and a financial specialist. The Caucasian here is Joseph Riotta, and CIA intel has him linked to Townsend’s Shadow organization. Same with this guy. Ralph Chomski. Ex-Air Force. I managed to filch that information from military data banks. Make of it what you will, folks.”

McCarter leaned forward and poked a finger at the image of another man in the group, sitting a little back, but listening intently to what was being discussed.

“Well, well,” the Briton muttered. “Our old chum from Santa Lorca. Jack bloody Regan.”

James studied the face of the man in the crumpled suit and old Panama hat.

“You are not wrong, bubba,” he said, using the man’s favorite expression.

“Still in the business,” McCarter said. “Regan has good contacts for moving ordnance. Looks like he sub-contracted to Shadow.”

“That going to be a problem for T.J.?” Brognola asked.

“No. He never met Regan on that mission. T.J. was backup on a warehouse roof. They never even saw each other.”

They spent a few more minutes tossing facts back and forth until one of the phones rang. Price picked it up and took the message.

“Phoenix, your ride is ready to take you to Andrews.”

McCarter stuck the file under his arm and stood, the rest of his team following suit.

“We’re gone,” the Briton said. “Hey, hotshots, you look after my mate. He’s a pain in the arse, but he’s my pain. We’d like him back in good working order.”

Lyons nodded. “He’ll be fine. You know our rep.”

“That’s what worries me,” McCarter said, grinning.

“Take care, guys,” Price said.

“Easier said than done,” Manning replied.

“You sure you old boys can manage without me?” Hawkins asked.

“You really sure you want an answer to that?” James asked, a wide grin on his face.

The aircraft waiting to ferry them to Bagram was sitting on the end of a runway, engines already warmed up. The vast cargo space of the C-17 housed the Stony Man combat helicopter, Dragon Slayer. Jack Grimaldi was inside carrying out detailed preflight checks that would go through everything from the twin-turbine power plant, electronics and computer aids. He would also run thorough checks on the chopper’s impressive ordnance capabilities. Dragon Slayer carried an awesome catalog of weapons, multibarrel chain gun, missiles and pilot-activated aim and fire through a slaved helmet array. Within the electronic heart of the machine were sensors and range-locating instruments. The satellite-linked communication setup enabled Grimaldi to call Stony Man at the flick of a button and also connect in to air-traffic feeds so he could maintain instant locations. Where they were going on this particular mission his sources would be the U.S. Military Communications Net.

The men of Phoenix Force, carrying their gear, crossed in driving rain and climbed on board. Grimaldi raised a hand in welcome as he watched the team arrive, then returned to his checking procedures. As they stowed their gear, McCarter spotted a familiar figure sitting patiently on one of the benches the far end of the aircraft.

It was Mei Anna. She wore a camou-pattern combat suit and boots, the same as Phoenix Force, her jet-black hair pulled back from her face. A backpack lay on the floor at her feet, along with her P-90 assault rifle. She carried a 9 mm Beretta pistol in a shoulder rig. She offered McCarter a brief, silent acknowledgment when he met her gaze. He nodded in recognition, then turned and made his way to the flight deck and immersed himself in the technicalities of the pre-takeoff discussion with the flight crew.

While he did that, James, Manning and Rafael Encizo secured their equipment, then joined the Chinese operatives.