Lethal Risk. Don Pendleton

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СКАЧАТЬ there are no accompanying pictures with the data. The article simply stated that specially trained police officers had been assigned to the checkpoints around Beijing. We had no idea they were sending the equivalent of Chinese SWAT team members to stand around and check cars.”

      Price nodded, although she would have made someone’s head roll if this had been a critical mistake. It sounded as though there simply hadn’t been a reason to follow up on a relatively innocuous bit of intel. Once again, she was reminded of the hazards of accepting things at face value, particularly when an item in question was on the other side of the world.

      “This is flat-out ridiculous, Hal,” she said. “There must be something more we can do from here.”

      As she spoke, Price noticed Kurtzman and Tokaido exchange a swift glance before returning their attentions to their stations.

      “And that would be what?” Brognola popped two antacid tablets. “I can’t even joke about packing someone inside his suitcase, because he didn’t take one. When I say our hands are tied, our hands are tied.”

      The two cyber wizards glanced at each other again and Price sighed. “What? If either one of you has anything pertinent to add to this conversation, now’s the time.”

      Tokaido swept back his long hair before replying. “Well, China is one of the most heavily surveilled nations on Earth—”

      “Yeah, behind only the US and maybe England,” Kurtzman added.

      “Regardless, it is technically feasible to hack their systems and search for a particular face or build. It would even be possible to track said target’s movements throughout the city, allowing us to keep an eye on his movements and interactions.”

      “Great, so we can see him get caught by the MSS or the military. There must be something more we can give him from here,” Price said. “Chinese hackers are battering at our firewalls every day. Surely you guys can do more than just get us a look through some cameras?”

      Again the two men exchanged glances, then Kurtzman pushed his wheelchair back from his station and turned to face her. “Are you sure you want to continue down this path, Barb? We all know what the orders from Washington stated. So, what exactly would you like us to do?”

      Price stared at the bearded computer genius for a few seconds, evaluating him and his question. It sounded as though he was trying to get her to drop it, but he was regarding her with a frank, open stare. She was pretty sure she knew what he was asking, but she had to kick the decision upstairs—in this case, to the man in the rumpled shirt standing next to her, before she could find out.

      “Hal?”

      He regarded her with a gimlet stare. “You’re the mission controller, Barb. How do you want to proceed?”

      “We’re already providing data assistance as the situation develops. I want Bear and Akira to provide whatever mission-critical assistance they can to Striker without being detected.” She waited to see if either Brognola or Kurtzman had picked up on the discrepancy in the two sentences.

      “Given the mission parameters, are we providing standard electronic antidetection?” Kurtzman asked. He was referring to the standard erasure that happened during stealth and infiltration missions, where the Stony Man cyber team removed all evidence that their operatives had been on site—altering vehicle logs, looping or deleting surveillance camera footage, deleting fingerprints on file or mug shots where necessary.

      That was the lifeline Price needed. She grabbed it. “Yes, especially on this mission. Of course, you both will need to balance that aspect of this op with the mission-critical assistance.”

      Kurtzman nodded, the hint of a smile playing around his lips. “Of course we will.”

      Brognola held his gaze on Price a few seconds longer, then swiveled his head to look at Kurtzman and Tokaido. “You both heard the lady.”

      The computer genius nodded once. “Understood. Now, if you’ll both excuse us—” he wheeled around to face his glowing bank of monitors “—we have work to do.”

      “You will, of course, update us on the mission’s status as appropriate?” the big Fed asked.

      “Of course. We always do,” Kurtzman replied without looking at him.

      “Come on, let’s leave them to their work.” Price turned and headed toward the door, pausing there to make sure he was following her.

      Outside, Brognola made sure to close the door to the Computer Room before turning to her. “Did what I think just happened in there happen?”

      “That depends. And if you’d prefer to not get an answer you may not like, I’d suggest you not ask the question leading to it.”

      “Barbara, you know I’m not against bending the rules when I think the circumstances warrant it.”

      “And I can’t think of a better time for that to happen than right now,” she replied. “Aaron gave me the opening I needed to direct them to assist Striker without blowback. He also just gave us plausible deniability if we ever needed it.”

      “You realize that if either of those two get caught sneaking around China’s computers, by the book we’d be forced to hang them out to dry, right?”

      Price nodded. “Yes. But I don’t see that happening. First, Aaron and Akira are unmatched when it comes to breaking into enemy computer systems, no matter what country. And second, there is no way in hell I would let either of those two men go down as having done something perceived as illegal on my watch. I’ll fight for them every step of the way, if it ever comes to that.”

      “Good, then we’re on the same page in that regard.” The big Fed glanced at the closed door a few feet away. “Not that I don’t appreciate what the guys are doing, but they didn’t have to go all cloak-and-dagger on us.”

      “That’s what I love about this team, Hal. Everyone helps in the way they think is best.” Price smiled. “Come on. I’ll make us some decent coffee in the farmhouse. It’ll help distract me until the next update.”

      “Agreed.” Brognola fell into step beside her as they headed down the hall. “You worried about Striker out there?”

      “Yes,” was all she said.

      Every time he leaves…

       CHAPTER FIVE

      Who knew it’d be so damn hard to find a car outside Beijing?

      Bolan had put a couple of miles between himself and the checkpoint, staying off the main roads and avoiding anyone he saw coming his way. More than once that had necessitated ducking into the lightly wooded area near the smaller road he was traveling. One time he’d had to drop to his stomach in some tall grass as a trio of giggling girls dressed in what looked like school uniforms walked by a few yards away.

      But the farther he got from the countryside, the closer he got to the more populated suburbs—and the harder it was to locate a suitable vehicle to steal. In the country, the only vehicles available were tractors and bicycles. In this area it wasn’t that СКАЧАТЬ