China Crisis. Don Pendleton

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      “We served together. He was with me in Somalia. I lost track of him after that.”

      “Records show he left the military about a year ago. Seemed to drop out of sight, then he was seen with a couple of people tied in with Townsend.” Brognola glanced at Hawkins. “Impressions?”

      “Nice enough guy face-to-face but I always had the feeling there was something going on under the surface. Vic always had his eye out for the main chance. Did a little dealing in ‘lost’ equipment if I remember. He could always get his hands on whatever you wanted. That kind of guy.”

      “He’d be up for this kind of deal?” Brognola asked.

      “Vic? If it paid cash money, he’d trade his sister’s puppy dog.”

      “High-tech hardware is a lot more expensive than a dog,” Manning said.

      “And stuff like that doesn’t just casually fall into someone’s hands,” Calvin James pointed out. “I mean, these boards aren’t lying around like crackers spilled from a box.” He stared around the table. “Well, are they?”

      “Let’s hope not,” Brognola said. “That means the gear is being systematically stolen by an organized group. It looks like we’ve hit on something deep and dirty here. From the information we’ve already got, the Chinese have started in on their missile regeneration big-time. Interagency data points to a concentrated program.”

      “So why now?” Rosario Blancanales asked.

      “This didn’t happen overnight,” Brognola said. “The Chinese have been feeling out in the cold for a few years now. Kind of like the poor relation peering in through the window at all the goodies on show. And they see the neighbors being invited in and not them.”

      “Sounds like paranoia to me,” Carl Lyons said.

      “The Chinese are into saving face,” Brognola said. “No chance are they going to let other nations stand tall and leave them in the shadows. Remember last year when the Russians announced they were going to beef up their own missile program? It was soon after that the Chinese stepped on the gas and started to improve their own missile program.”

      “Are we into ‘if you have a big stick, I’m getting me a bigger one’ territory here?” David McCarter asked.

      “That’s a simplistic way of putting it,” Brognola said, “but it pretty well sums up the problem.”

      “See, simple is best,” the Briton offered.

      “And you’re the expert when it comes to simple,” Manning agreed.

      McCarter leaned forward, wagging a finger at the big Canadian.

      “And also the boss, chum.”

      “China isn’t going to let itself be pushed into the background,” Brognola agreed, choosing to ignore the banter. “They have to been seen as the strongest force in Asia and being able to dictate terms if the need arises. This Russian desire to be able to rattle the saber again isn’t going to go down well in Beijing. So it’s in China’s interest to become a major player. They want parity with all the other big powers.”

      “Back to the old cold-war syndrome,” Price said. “Full circle.”

      “Not exactly,” Brognola said. “The President has green-lighted this as priority. Bad enough China up-ping its weapons capability, but it’s like being given the finger when they start using our technology to let them jump-start and draw level.”

      “Government loses technology, we’re handed the baton and told to get it back?” Carl Lyons said.

      “That’s what we can’t allow to happen.” Brognola turned his attention to Hawkins. “T.J., hear me out on this.”

      McCarter caught the inflection in the big Fed’s voice and was way ahead of Brognola. “I smell an undercover job coming up, young Hawkins.”

      Hawkins glanced at the Briton, a slight frown on his face.

      “You’ve got history with this Vic Lerner,” Brognola said. “If you can make contact, maybe it could give us a way into Townsend’s organization.”

      “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.”

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