Noah Wolf Box Set 2

by David Archer

  She steeled herself to press the trigger, and everything went dark.

  * * * * *

  Hong Kong International Airport is on a small offshoot of Lantau Island, a neighbor to Hong Kong Island. The mainland is reached by a highway that spans more than a dozen miles, and hops two other islands on the way. There is no direct bridge to Hong Kong Island, so it is necessary to drive almost 20 miles around and through the mainland in order to reach that portion of the city.

  Team Camelot arrived at Hong Kong International at just after seven PM local time. The concern about being boarded turned out to be baseless, and they were able to leave the plane and walk into the customs line of the terminal with no problem. That line, however, turned out to be quite long because there was no special lane for private flights and two jumbo jets had landed just before they did. It was well after eight by the time they made it to the declaration desk.

  When they finally got done with customs, Neil spotted a man holding a sign that said “Ross Duncan,” and pointed him out to Noah. The man smiled as they approached, held out a hand and said, “Mr. Duncan? I’m Peter McDermott. Welcome to Hong Kong.”

  “Thanks, it’s great to be here,” Noah replied. “Got someplace lined up for us?”

  “Yeah, and I hope you don’t mind,” McDermott said, “I’m putting you at the Island Resort, over on Hong Kong Island.” He was leading them out of the terminal as he spoke, but the walk to his car took almost fifteen minutes, itself. Once they were inside, he turned to Noah and became more official.

  “Camelot,” he said, “it’s an honor to meet you. Heard an awful lot about you over the last year or so. I understand your situation, and I’m ready to provide anything you need, up to and including combat personnel.”

  “Really? How is that?”

  “It’s part of my cover. Officially, I’m the owner and manager of McDermott Corporate Security Company. We provide security to quite a few American-based businesses that have big offices over here. Most of my people are regular security guards, but I’ve got about two dozen that I don’t keep assigned to any one job, and every one of them was special forces before I got ’em. They’re all cleared, and I’d trust any one of them with my life or my wife.”

  Noah nodded. “That’s good,” he said. “You were briefed on where I’m headed? The Tung Li Estate?”

  “Yep. I don’t know the place personally, but I’ve heard of it. The resort where I’m stashing you is only about four miles away, but it’ll take eight miles of crooked road to get you there.”

  “Okay, what about weapons and vehicles? I want to get out there tonight and do a full recon.”

  “Well, if you want to go in stealthy, I’ve got just the thing for you. Ever heard of the Zero Motorcycle?”

  “Electric motorcycles,” Neil said from the backseat. “Pretty awesome, from what I’ve read.”

  “They are indeed,” McDermott said. “And I’ve got eight of them. We use them occasionally for patrolling construction sites, but they’re all free at the moment, and fully charged. Mine are the DS models, good for riding on the road, or off the road, and the nice thing about them is that they are just about silent. That sound like it would work for you?”

  “Yes,” Noah said, nodding. “I’ll need three of them.”

  “You got it,” McDermott said. He took out a cell phone and placed a call, telling someone to load three of the motorcycles into a truck and deliver them to the resort along with “that care package I put together.” When he got off the phone, he turned to Noah. “The care package you heard me mention is some weapons and equipment that we have on hand, stuff I think you might need. I got you set up with three Glock forties, couple extra mags for each and spare ammunition, plus three China South QCW-05 submachine guns. Don’t let the fact that they’re made in China throw you, these are some dandy little weapons. Fifty-round box magazine, sound-suppressed so it barely makes any noise at all, and accurate up to fifty meters with the silencer in place. If there’s a better gun for a nighttime stealth assault, I’ve never seen it.”

  “Sounds good so far,” Noah said. “What about surveillance gear? How are you fixed for that?”

  “In the care package,” McDermott said. “Three Armasight PVS7 goggles. Pure starlight vision, crystal-clear. Put them on in a pitch-black room and it suddenly looks like daylight, only green.”

  Noah glanced over his shoulder at Marco, who grinned. He turned back to McDermott. “Peter, it sounds like you’ve got us pretty well set up. Let’s get to the resort, and we’ll do our recon tonight. By morning, I should be able to have a plan in place.”

  “Sounds like a winner to me,” McDermott said. “My guys will be delighted if you can figure a way to include them in this thing. We’ve got an old factory building on the mainland that we use for training and practice, but they’ve been itching for some actual action for a long time, now.” He looked over at Noah and winked. “These boys are some of the best I’ve ever seen at what they do, and I used to train guys like them, back in the day. What I would’ve given for a class made up of these guys!”

  “Then make sure they’re ready,” Noah said. “When I go in, it’s going to be fast and hard, and I’ll take all the help I can get.”

  NINETEEN

  Dear God, my head hurts, Sarah thought, and then it dawned on her that she shouldn’t be thinking anything at all. She carefully opened her eyes and saw that she was back in her room, and a quick but gentle hand on her head revealed a knot the size of a small egg.

  “So you’re awake,” she heard, and looked to her right to see Chung sitting on a chair beside the bed. “You managed to give me quite a fright, Sarah. Mr. Xiao was impressed that you got so far, and even more so that you were actually attempting to end your life when he found you. The knot on your head was a gift from him, but at least it kept you alive.”

  “I should’ve done it sooner,” Sarah mumbled. “For just a moment, I thought I could escape, but I should’ve known better. I should’ve shot myself as soon as I got the gun.”

  “Considering Xiao’s anger,” Chung said softly, “I could almost wish you had, but there is that part of me that is glad you did not. I do not want you to die.”

  “Do you think I give a damn what you want?” Sarah asked angrily. “Chung, for all your trying to be Mr. Nice Guy, you’re still the enemy. Do you honestly think I could ever forget that? You’re keeping me a prisoner, and while I admit that I find you charming, had I gotten you in my sights when I had that gun, you’d be dead. Do you understand that?”

  “Of course I do,” he replied. “That is your duty as a captive, and as an enemy combatant. If you can escape, you must do so, and with no concern for the lives of those who might stand in your way. However, it should be obvious now that you cannot escape, nor will you be permitted the avenue of suicide. Xiao will begin his interrogation in the morning, and there is no doubt that you will eventually give him all of the information he wants.”

  He leaned forward and gently put a hand on Sarah’s arm. “I am going to tell you something, and I hope you can understand it. I have asked for and received permission to keep you in my custody once he is done with you. There will be no more interrogations after that, and I will do everything in my power to see that you’re comfortable. You will have the best medical care and—”

  Sarah yanked her arm away from his touch and glared at him. “What, you think you’re going to keep me as a pet? Don’t you get it? If he breaks me, I don’t want to live! I wouldn’t want to live here with you, or anywhere else!” Tears began streaming down her face, but they were tears of rage rather than grief. “You know, when I was first captured, I thought I was being sold into the sex trade. If I manage to survive what your Grand Inquisitor is going to do to me, then staying here with you would be no different than that. I’d be broken, and you’d be able to do anything you wanted with me. Dear God, I’d probably end up thinking I was in love with you.”

  “Would that be such a bad thing? Your own
life is over; there will be no going back once Xiao is done with you. Would it be so bad to be my lover, in that case?”

  Sarah shook her head, amazed that he could be so stupid. “And I actually thought you were a likable guy,” she said. “You want the truth? That would be a fate worse than death. Now, do me one last favor and get out of my sight.”

  She rolled over and closed her eyes, but it was almost a minute before she heard him rise and walk out the door. When she was sure he was gone, she got up off the bed and changed into the nightgown, then crawled in under the covers.

  I tried, she thought. I really tried, but at least I took a few of the bastards out along the way.

  * * * * *

  The rest of the drive was almost like a tour, with McDermott pointing out different landmarks and features of the city. By the time they crossed the last bridge onto Hong Kong Island, Neil was looking out the window and making occasional whispered comments about McDermott’s talkativeness. Marco elbowed him in the ribs a couple of times, but even he was rolling his eyes periodically.

  When they got to the resort, McDermott took them inside and got them checked in, then waited while they carried their bags up to their room. When they came back down, he drove them down the street a short distance to where a Mercedes delivery van was waiting for them, with McDermott Corporate Security on the side. The logo for the company showed a car, a helicopter and a small airplane all emblazoned onto a shield.

  The driver had already unloaded the motorcycles, and the weapons and other gear were packed into saddlebags mounted on them. The two men showed them how to control the night vision gear, gave them a quick explanation of the little machine guns, and then drove away.

  Each of the motorcycles had a helmet sitting on it, and Noah said it was time to find out if Sarah was actually present at the estate. They put on the helmets and climbed onto the motorcycles, turned the keys, and cranked the throttles.

  With 70 horsepower and 116 foot-pounds of torque, the bikes moved out smoothly and quickly. Neil, who had only ridden a motorcycle a few times when he was younger, let out a squeal of delight as he gave it power to catch up to Noah and Marco. They were so quiet that even with the helmets on, they could talk to one another as they rode.

  Noah had programmed in the coordinates of the estate to the GPS on his iPhone, and it was talking to him through the Bluetooth earpiece. It took almost 15 minutes to reach Shek O Road, but then only another ten minutes until they found the section of Hong Kong Trail that led to the estate’s driveway. Noah rode past the trail for a short distance, then turned off the road into the forest. It only took a couple of minutes to find a good spot to hide the motorcycles, and then they opened the saddlebags.

  With the night vision goggles strapped onto their heads, the darkness in the forest became a bright green world, and the built-in infrared caused even the smallest rodent to show up vividly. With the handguns tucked into their belts and the machine guns hanging on their straps, they began walking toward the estate.

  Because the forest was so thick and the terrain was so rough, it took almost an hour to reach a point where they could actually see the house. Moving as quietly as they could, they got to within 500 feet undetected, though they had seen three different soldiers who were apparently on guard duty. Two of them had been lounging in the woods against trees, smoking cigarettes and paying little attention to anything around them. Team Camelot had passed completely undetected within thirty feet of one of them.

  The third one was standing watch close to the house, and seemed to be a bit more attentive. Rather than simply staring into the darkness, he was keeping his eyes moving, using his peripheral vision to try to see as much as he possibly could.

  Using hand signals, Noah told the others that they were going to move laterally. He turned off to the left and they followed, slowly working their way completely around the house while staying within the forest. It took the better part of an hour to get around to the other side of the estate, and they had seen one guard on duty on each side of the house itself.

  Suddenly, Noah held up a hand to halt them. Using two fingers on his left hand, he pointed at his goggles and then at the house, telling the other two to look closely.

  There was a light on in a second-floor room, and the flickering indicated that a television might be playing. They froze where they were and watched for several minutes, and it paid off. The flickering suddenly stopped as the television was turned off, and they caught a glimpse of Sarah, with her short blonde hair, as she walked across the room past the window.

  “That’s her,” Neil whispered. “That was Sarah, she’s alive.”

  “Yes,” Noah said. “She’s alive.”

  Marco shrugged his shoulders. “She’s alive,” he said just as softly, “watching TV in what looks like a pretty nice little room. Do you reckon they already broke her? Kinda looks like she’s being pampered just a bit, doesn’t it?”

  Noah shook his head. “I don’t think so,” he said. “I know Sarah, and I know her type of person. If she had broken and given up, she wouldn’t be watching television. I suspect they’ve been trying the friendly approach. Sometimes they put you in a halfway-comfortable position, and they bring in somebody they think can charm you into cooperation. This looks like that kind of setting, to me.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Neil whispered furiously. “We know she’s there, let’s go get her!”

  Noah shook his head. “There’s only three of us, against we don’t know how many of them. We’ll be back tomorrow night, after we’ve gotten some rest and a little more intel, and worked out a plan to get her out of here safely.”

  Neil shook his head. “Damn, this sucks! How do we know she’ll still be here tomorrow night?”

  “Did you see how relaxed the guards were? They’re not anticipating any kind of rescue attempt, they don’t expect anyone on our end to even know she’s alive. As far as they are concerned, they have her and they’ve got all the time in the world. There’s no reason to move her anywhere else, so they’ll keep her here. Until they’re done with her, anyway, and I’m pretty sure they’re not.”

  They continued their circuit around the house, and then made their way back to the motorcycles. They repacked their gear into the saddlebags, pushed the bikes out onto the road and turned them on. Thirty minutes later they were back at the resort, and trying to figure out how to carry the weapons and goggles up into their room.

  “Hey, check this out,” Marco said. He stuck a hand down between the saddlebag and the frame, and suddenly the saddlebag lifted off. “I noticed that the lids have a handle on them. Wouldn’t be no point in that if they don’t come off, right? There’s a little spring hook down inside there, you just push it and then lift.”

  Noah and Neil did as he instructed, and then the three of them walked into the resort carrying their saddlebags and helmets. Fortunately, there were enough motorcycles on the road around Hong Kong that no one paid them a lot of attention as they stepped into the elevator. Noah managed to punch the button for the fourth floor, and the doors closed.

  When they opened again, the three of them made their way down the hall to their room. Noah had to set one of the saddlebags down to get the keycard out of his pocket, but then the door was open and they carried everything inside. When the door closed behind them, Noah took out his iPhone and tapped the icon that would call the headquarters number.

  “Brigadoon Investments, how can I direct your call?”

  “I like to speak to Mrs. Peabody, please,” Noah said.

  “Just one moment, please.” He was put on hold and listened to the generic music for a moment, and then Allison came on the line.

  “This is Mrs. Peabody,” she said, sounding like a much older lady. “Can I help you?”

  “Is that a buzzing noise I hear?” Noah asked. That was the code to tell Allison to call him back on the encrypted lines. The system used 2,048-bit encryption, and the iPhone was equipped to unscramble it. All Allison had to do was u
se another encrypted phone that was kept in her office. He was fully aware that the call would probably be monitored by the Chinese government, but he was counting on the encryption being strong enough to keep them from hearing anything they could use or cracking it long enough for him to accomplish what he was out to do. The way he understood it, all a monitoring station would hear would be noises that sounded like computerized data transmission. It just wouldn’t make any sense if they tried to decode it as data, and if they started running decryption algorithms on it, it should take weeks or months to break the actual code itself. Noah didn’t plan on being in China more than another thirty-six hours, at most.

  “Oh, yes, it sounds terrible, doesn’t it? Let me try calling you back, okay?”

  Noah ended the call and simply sat on the bed and waited. A moment later, the phone rang and he answered.

  “Camelot,” he said.

  “Report, Camelot,” Allison said. “We are secure.”

  “The three of us went out for a surveillance run tonight, and I can confirm that Sarah is present at the estate. I’m planning to go back tomorrow night and get her out, but I’d like to know anything else you can find for me about that location. Considering what it’s used for, it surely has to have shown up in our intelligence files at some point.”

  “I’ll call Alex, see if he can find anything on it. How did the situation look to you?”

  “The estate is fairly large, probably about sixty-five or seventy acres, and most of it is densely wooded. With night vision gear, we were able to see and bypass the patrols in the forest, but there are also guards at the house itself. According to Mr. Lom, the total cadre of the place is probably about 30 to 35 people, all of them Chinese Army. Two dozen of them serve as the guards, but I’m sure the rest are capable soldiers, as well.”

  “They would be if it was one of our operations,” Allison said. “Safer to assume they know how to behave like soldiers than not. What time is it there?”