Dancing with the Dragon (2002) (43 page)

Scott kept his mouth shut.

"We've had you under surveillance--most of the time--from the moment you left the States. Now this building is being surrounded." He quietly laughed. "No place to go."

Scott glanced at the two uniformed guards standing in the doorway. The men were armed with AK-47s. Dalton had to get closer to Zheng. I wonder if there are any more guards in the building.

"That's why Dr. Cheung is still alive," Zheng crowed. "He's been our most potent bait."

The physicist blanched from mind-numbing panic, his brain racing for a solution, a formula to solve the equation of escape and evasion--survival at its basic foundation.

"Now I can get rid of the bait and the fish."

Although Scott didn't appear to be coiling for a strike, his adrenaline was flowing and his muscles were tense.

"There's just one other detail."

Scott looked him in the eye. "Catching the other fish."

"That's right." Zheng chuckled. "My people should have her in custody as we speak."

"I think you're dead wrong," Scott said in an even voice "In fact, I know you're wrong."

There was a moment of doubt in Zheng's eyes--a flash of uncertainty on his face.

"Check with your men," Scott taunted.

Zheng's veneer was beginning to crack as his face twisted into a cautious half-smile. "She'll be here shortly and you may not be alive to greet her before she dies."

Scott was waiting for the right moment to act, a flickering moment of inattention from the man with the mangled right hand. It had to be soon or the opportunities for escape would rapidly dwindle in the seconds, or perhaps minutes, he had left.

Zheng's smile turned into a crooked smirk. "Although you exposed our secret--our laser weapons program--you and Ms. Sullivan won't be causing us any more problems."

"She is about to cause you a major problem," Scott said in a confrontational tone of voice. It was just the right mix of bravado and smartass talk to provoke his quarry.

Switching his 9mm Beretta to his left hand, Zheng stepped toward Dalton and started to backhand him. Scott lunged forward so hard that he slammed the Chinese gangster straight through the door and knocked the guards down. Zheng stumbled backward and fell over the shocked men. Scott wrestled the Beretta from him and shot the three men in the legs, immobilizing them. He grabbed an AK-47, kicked the other weapon down the hallway, and then stuck the Beretta in the pocket of Cheung's raincoat. "Let's go!"

He scooped his Sig Sauer and the small radio off the floor and then picked up the satchel containing the hard drives. He slid the radio into a pocket in his fatigues and stuffed the satchel inside his body armor.

"Is there a way to get on the roof?" Scott asked Dr. Cheung. "Yes, follow me."

"Run!"

Cheung hurried up the stairs to the second floor and went into an office. "There's a fire escape next to this window," he said, yanking the sash open. "It's anchored on the roof."

"Start climbing," Dalton ordered. He retrieved the small radio from his fatigues and plugged it into his ear. He adjusted the short, thin microphone and tried to calm himself as he crawled out the window to follow Cheung.

"Eggbeater, Nighthawk."

"Nighthawk," came the instant reply. "Request a sitrep!"

"I have Cheung with me." Scott grabbed the rickety fire escape and looked up. "We're climbing onto the roof of the building adjacent to the apartments--know which one?"

"Yes--what the hell happened? I thought I heard gunfire." "We had a surprise visitor."

A high-pitched alarm suddenly went off.

"This place is going to be crawling with--"

A burst of automatic gunfire ripped into the building and Dr. Cheung. Scott almost lost his grip on the AK-47 when Cheung plummeted into him and fell to the ground.

"Jackie," Scott said as he raced to the top of the roof in a hail of gunfire, "you gotta get here as fast as possible."

She turned toward Mianyang and accelerated. "I'm about seven miles northeast--use your flashlight to guide me in."

"I don't have it," Scott said, catching his breath. "I'll talk you down and give you covering fire."

"How many clips do you have?"

"Plenty, and I have an AK-47 with a hundred-shot magazine." "I'm on my way."

"Copy."

She keyed her radio again. "Hang on."

"I'll do my best."

Soaked to the skin, Scott cringed when a staccato sound broke the endless wailing of the alarm. Rounds from several AK-47s began impacting the side of the building. The guards were firing at him from the roof of another two-story structure about eighty meters away.

Dalton heard another loud sound and peeked over the lip of the roof. A hook-and-ladder fire truck was pulling up to the building. "Eggbeater, say your posit."

"I'm about two minutes away."

"Hurry every chance you get." Scott reached for a grenade and placed it next to him.

"From what direction should I make my approach?"

Scott paused and looked around the area. "I'd say come in from the northeast and stay low."

Jackie checked the GPS. "Is there enough room to land on top of the roof, or do I need to hover?"

"You can land and I'll dive in."

There was a slight pause. "You have Dr. Cheung with you, right?" "He's dead, but I have the info we need."

"I'll be there shortly."

"Keep your lights off."

"They're off."

Scott fired three clips from the Sig Sauer at the men on the other building and then retrieved the Heckler & Koch 9mm. He thought he heard the Agusta approaching at high speed.

"Come left a few degrees," Scott radioed.

The sky opened up and poured rain as if it were coming over a spillway.

"You're lookin' good--keep it coming."

"I've lost ground contact," Jackie said, feeling the first insidious effects of vertigo. Her instruments were telling her that she was flying straight and level while her senses were telling her she was in a slow turn.

"Scott, I'm going to have to use the searchlight."

"Okay, but keep moving forward."

The powerful SX-5 Starburst searchlight suddenly illuminated the top of the roof in a surreal scene of blinding white light.

"Is your gear down?" Scott asked, unable to see anything beyond the tremendous glare of light.

"Down and locked." She concentrated on edging forward. "I can barely see the roof--I can't see forward."

"You're doing great." Scott saw the ladder slowly extending above the height of the building. He pulled the pin on the grenade and lobbed it at the fire truck. The explosion injured three people and sent everyone scurrying for cover except the heavily armored sniper climbing the ladder.

Jackie sensed the Agusta was beginning to drift to the left. Fight the vertigo--don't let it get to you.

"As soon as you touch down, kill the light!"

"Copy ".

Using the AK-47, Scott opened fire at the people on the other building as Jackie eased the Agusta closer to the roof. She was about to touch down when a round penetrated the left cabin door and ripped one of the medical technician's seats to shreds. A second later, she felt the helicopter make solid contact with the roof. She instantly snapped the searchlight off and stared into the blinding rain.

Running toward the Agusta, Scott tossed his second grenade high in the air above the sniper. Dalton dived through the open door just as the grenade exploded eight feet above the soldier, blowing him off the ladder.

"Go," Scott shouted. A round penetrated the small window next to him, showering debris across his chest. "Go--go--go!"

Jackie reacted so aggressively that the Agusta lifted off as if it had been shot out of a cannon.

Scott grabbed one of the two compact submachine guns and began firing at the guards on the other roof.

She raised the landing gear and worked at flying the damaged helicopter as smoothly as possible.

Dalton continued to fire the submachine gun on full automatic at eight hundred rounds per minute. The Agusta quickly disappeared in the heavy rain and Scott secured his weapon. Forcing himself to breath slowly, he removed his helmet and the body armor. He stuffed the hard drives into one of the oversized pockets on his fatigues and made his way to the cockpit. Feeling the effects of the adrenaline rush, he collapsed on the floor.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

She never took her eyes off the dimly lighted instrument panel. "So far. How about you?"

"I'm a helluva lot better now."

"You mentioned a surprise visitor?"

"None other than Zheng Yen-Tsung."

Shocked, she darted a look at Scott. "How did he know you were there ?"

"He said they had been tracking us since we left the States, but
I think he was bluffing." "Why?"

"He was trying to impress us with his supposed surveillance capabilities. By the time we left California on the COD, with all the changes in locations we've made, there is no way he could have tracked us. He figured we would probably make a play for Dr. Cheung if we found out where he was located. All Zheng had to do was wait."

"I'm not so sure about that."

"If he'd known where we were--Hong Kong and Chengdu--he would never have allowed us to get close to Mianyang."

"What if you're wrong, and they're waiting for us in Chengdu?" "Well, we'll soon find out."

"Did he kill Dr. Cheung?"

"No." He filled her in on the details of what had happened to Dr. Cheung.

"You said you had the info we need?"

"We have the hard drives--the whole ball of wax on their laser weapons program."

"You have to be kidding."

"Nope--Cheung had access to the entire program. He was the mastermind behind the project, and the hard drives are in my pocket."

"I'll be damned," Jackie said, leveling off at four hundred feet in turbulence and rain. "What a gold mine."

"The bad news is the Chinese are going to find out the hard drives are missing, if they haven't already. They're going to come after us with everything they have."

She tuned the radio to the primary frequency for Shuangliu approach control and heard a multitude of voices.

Scott sensed they had a very small window to transfer to the Learjet and get airborne. "We're going to have to maintain radio silence and go into the airport without lights."

"And we don't have much time," Jackie said, monitoring Shuangliu approach and tower frequencies. "We've stirred up a hornet's nest. Everyone is trying to sort out the situation--but one thing is clear."

"I'll bet."

"From what I'm hearing--some of it in English--all hands are looking for a helicopter with American spies from Mianyang." "Great--that's exactly what we need."

He momentarily thought about diverting to Chongqing, refueling the Agusta, and then heading for Hong Kong. Better stick with the jet and get out of the country as quickly as possible.

He looked at Jackie. "We're going to have to land next to the Lear, get the engines fired up, and take off on the nearest runway or taxiway we can get to--we can't afford to be caught on the ground."

The rain was subsiding and Jackie could see lights below. She began a gradual descent to three hundred feet above the ground. "We could continue in the helicopter, not even take the chance of landing."

"I think we're better off with the Lear--we'll be in Hong Kong before they get organized in Chengdu."

"Hope you're right."

Scott noticed how the visibility was improving. It was still raining hard but he could see a multitude of anticollision and strobe lights flashing in the dark sky. "It looks like we have several other helicopters up here."

"And most of them are probably looking for us," Jackie said in a tight voice. She altered course to fly along the ridge and approach the Shuangliu Airport from the south.

"I'm going to get our gear together," Scott said. He gathered their weapons and equipment while Jackie began a low, sweeping approach to the airport. The rain was still coming down in sheets, but the visibility was reasonable.

As she neared the parking ramp there was a large knot of fear in her heart. She began bleeding off airspeed and aimed for a spot on the left side of the Learjet. As she began her flare, Jackie noticed a fuel truck approaching their plane.

"Scott, we may have a problem."

Dalton hurried to the cockpit in time to see the truck park directly in front of the Lear. "What the hell is he doing?"

"I don't know, but I don't see any cops or soldiers with him." Scott saw the driver get out. "Go ahead and land."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'll have him move the truck." He placed his weapons on a passenger seat.

Jackie made a smooth transition to a hover. "I don't like this." "We don't have much choice."