They all watched as Henri stepped past them, just as small arms fire started reaching their position. Henri raised the very pistol to the sky and a bright red flare was sent skyward.
“I fully intend on staying alive until such a day, Mister Ryan.”
Henri tossed the pistol into the sand and then picked up his M-4. Then they all laid down and took up firing positions, all with the exception of Master Chief Jenks.
“I’m too old to go throwing myself into the dirt on account of some cowardly Russians!”
Bullets started to hit the rise on which they hid behind.
Before anyone realized what was happening, several screams of rage came from the surrounding dunes. They saw men on horseback, men in small pickups, and men on foot streaming from the many dunes behind the Russian paratrooper assault. Russian troopers turned in shock as the local tribesmen hit them where they least expected—from the rear. It was a slaughter. Russian soldiers were hit by bullets, rocks, arrows, and grenades.
Henri Farbeaux looked to his left at Ryan. “I fully intend for the game to continue between Sarah, Colonel Collins, and myself, Mister Ryan. I will win out in the end, but as a gentleman, not as a thief in the night.”
Ryan heard the laugh as Jenks watched Russians being knocked down like bowling pins.
“That’s where the sneaky bastard disappeared to, Ryan. Frenchy even has the local tribesmen in debt to him.” Jenks smiled. “Seems a few years back Froggy was their main supplier of weapons.”
“Jesus, Farbeaux!” Jason said, although he felt immense relief.
“Like Toad says, the cheese eatin’, wine tasting thief can be one irritating son of a bitch, right, Commander shit-head?” Jenks lit his ever-present cigar. “Now, shall we see if this little firecracker is still operational before Colonel ground-pounder and Toad join their ancestors?”
Chapter Fourteen
Event Group Complex,
Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada
Several managers were hit and were writhing on the floor as the Russian assassin, Demi Blintnikov, slammed another clip into the nine-millimeter and then started to make his way toward his prime targets, Doctor Niles Compton, Virginia Pollock, and Alice Hamilton. All were struggling to remove a motionless Xavier Morales from atop them.
The man’s eyes were those of a shark. They were black as doll eyes as his life’s work was coming to fruition. His reward, to be honored by the very men who had sent him to his death. Not the rich fools in Siberia, but Doctor Vassick and his own group. His only regret was that he wouldn’t live to see the glory that would be forced upon Siberia when Vassick was proven right about his choice of targets. He knows the value of assassination. The field team in Mongolia was never worth the trouble, in his and Vassick’s view. He pulled back the slide on the Glock and chambered the round that would set the Event Group back at least ten years, as he stood over Niles Compton. He easily dodged a kick by a prone Alice Hamilton, and he let out a humorous laugh at her misbegotten bravery. Again, he sighted on his main target.
Everyone saw the look of shattered dreams on the Russian’s face when six bullets slammed into his back. The seventh caught him in the back of the head. He started shaking as he turned to see Will Mendenhall standing in the broken doorway of the conference room, the smoking nine-millimeter still aimed in his direction. He started to move his jaws like he wanted to say something, but his brain was refusing all commands. Mendenhall fired one last time. The bullet hit the Russian right between his eyes and he immediately went down.
There were shouts of anger and pain as Will moved slowly into the room. He eased into the hologram depicting the battle in Mongolia and came through the other side still training his weapon on the downed spy. He reached around and tore his dress shirt open and then peeled the ballistic vest from his torso. He let it slide through his fingers to fall onto the floor.
“Should have waited until I took that shower, asshole!” he said, as he finally saw that there was no need to keep the Russian covered.
More shouts and screams erupted when ten security men and women came running in.
Will felt the pain in his chest where the bullets that were meant to kill him had struck the Kevlar material. Still, he moved quickly and with purpose. He first made sure the director was safe. Alice was the first up and was limping toward a chair after her infamous karate kick that missed. She was finally realizing that the days of the Amazing Mrs. Hamilton may be closer to the end than the beginning. Niles was up and assisting Virginia to her unsteady feet as Will made it to Xavier Morales. He feared the worst when he pulled the wheelchair off the kid. He shook his head, just knowing that the kid was dead. Then Xavier moaned. Will went to his knees as Niles came sliding in to see if he could help. Mendenhall turned Xavier over and checked his back as the computer genius cursed out that he was alive. There was a small line of blood where a bullet had seared through the chair and then hit a back brace he wore to stay upright while in the wheelchair. Xavier hissed in pain, not from the wound, but from the gash on his forehead he had received when he knocked Niles from his chair. He was also sore because when Alice had kicked out at their assassin she had missed, and her heel came down onto Morales’ nose. It was definitely broken.
“You okay, Doctor?” Niles asked, as the paramedics came streaming into the conference room.
“I…I…don’t think I’ll…ever walk again, sir.”
Niles looked from Xavier to Mendenhall.
“You couldn’t walk anyway, smartass!” Niles said, cursing for possibly the first time Will had ever heard. “Welcome to the business end of the Event Group,” Niles said, placing a hand on Xavier’s chest and smiling his thanks to the man who had saved his life.
“Believe me, Xavier old son, it doesn’t get any easier,” Will said. He looked around the room. Several of the department heads had been hit, but none looked too serious. The man they thought had been Jack had one minor flaw in his training and his research on Collins, and it was this flaw that Carl had seen in Laos that had confused him to no end. The man could never duplicate the Colonel’s proficiency with a handgun. There was only one man in the Group that was better, and it was Will himself.
“By the way, you’re late for the staff meeting.” Niles smiled, and then good-naturedly slapped Will on the shoulder, which caused him to nearly pass out from the blow because of the bruises from the nine-millimeter bullets he took to his chest.
Major William Mendenhall felt his head growing fuzzy as the men and women on the managerial team of Department 5656 slowly overcame the shock of the assault. Will cursed and then collapsed into the first available chair, and then he slowly placed the Glock on the table.
“I’m hungry and my chest hurts.”
Tai Yin Valley (Valley of the Lion)
Southern Mongolia
The Chinese armored column finally reached the pass that would lead into the valley of Shangri-La. General Wei Li Cheng halted the first regiment of tanks as his brand-new state of the art attack choppers, the Z-19E, what the western democracies code named; ‘Black Whirlwind’, scouted ahead. He knew he was being overcautious because of the news coming in from Mongolia. It was his understanding of the confused situation that the People’s Air Force had sustained heavy casualties.
Amidst the loud idling of the tanks, they heard the sound of a helicopter as it swooped low over the lead regiment. Without being informed, the general knew who was landing. He pulled off his headphones angrily and tossed them to the colonel. He climbed the ladder and exited the armored personnel carrier. He took a kerchief and wiped down his face, ridding it of the diesel and fuel and dirt he had been ingesting for the past eighteen hours. As the French-built Dauphin lazily settled to the ground, the general braced himself for another embarrassing dressing down by the woman he thought of as a necromancer, Ms. Chow.
As the ‘Whirlwind’ attack choppers shot overhead, the passenger compartment door of the Dauphin opened, and again he saw the shapely legs of the strange woman. She
stepped out, and then, to the General’s surprise, she stood rigid and held the door open for another. He saw the small man exit. He buttoned his coat and then looked around at the idling tanks. The visitor was the the same man who had confronted him on Ms. Chow’s last visit. His suit was expensively tailored, and his jet-black hair pulled back into a long-braided ponytail. He noticed how Ms. Chow followed as if she were a concubine from days past. The man with the gleaming black beard saw the general but didn’t move in his direction. Cheng understood the play. He walked up to the man amongst the diesel fuel and stench of a moving armored column. He faced the man with the dark eyes and came to attention.
“How may this humble plebe of the people serve you?” he said, as he snapped his polished heels together and then half-bowed.
The man continued looking at the line of tanks stalled at the opening of the pass. He glanced at Ms. Chow who stood silently at his side.
“The man asks how he may serve me,” he said as his gaze fell on everything except the General. “How may you serve me?” he said with each word becoming louder than the one before it. The man took a breath and forcibly calmed himself. He twisted his neck and, after the pops of his vertebra were heard, he smiled and then placed his arm around the general who didn’t know how to react. “You may serve me by rolling these armored monstrosities through the pass. We have lost over thirty-two fighters in just the past three hours due to your incompetence. They were there to cover an operation you were supposed to be leading. But here you are, responsible for a sacrifice of men and aircraft we cannot spare.”
“Sir, if I have displeased high-command, I will immediately resign my post as commander of this division.”
“General, don’t act the fool. If by resign you mean forfeit your life, I understand and will accommodate your request. However, right now I need a man with experience, but also one with the drive needed to take the greatest prize in world history. I assume that man is you. Get me to the other side of the mountain, General, and you will reap such glory as you have never imagined.”
“We are just waiting on a Recon report from our forward elements, sir.”
“General, allow me to explain something to you. I am well versed in the art of warfare. I have led men into battle and survived many years to tell the tale. My exploits are well documented if you know how to look for them” He squeezed the general’s shoulder to the point of pain. The small man was a lot stronger than it had first appeared. “I need this column moving. I want to be on the far side in less than two hours. I have a long-awaited appointment with a relative that is overdue. Is that clear enough, General?” The darkened eyes bore in on Cheng until all he could do was nod his head.
Ms. Chow came forward and handed the small man a large suitcase. She bowed her head and then returned to the helicopter.
“Well, I have all I need, shall we, General?”
General Cheng watched the man move off toward his personnel carrier with his suitcase in hand. On the life of his children, he failed to understand the horrid feeling he had when looking upon the strange little man.
A feeling of disaster pulsed even more heavily through his body than the long night in Beijing when he saw an entire army wiped out by something he could never understand or fathom. The forthcoming battle reminded him of what possibilities were to come.
The general moved off to follow the man, knowing he was walking to his own death.
* * *
The runner caught up with General Chang and Master Li Zheng, who stood atop the highest knoll looking down on the advancing army of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. The boy, an experienced runner who had trained in track and field at Brisbane University, handed the General a note. Chang leaned over into the rising light of the moon and read. He nodded at the boy.
“Join the line of evacuees, young one. Escape the valley.”
“I will return to the fight,” the boy said hesitantly but with pride, half-bowing. “Besides, the children never made it to the middle pass. No one has heard or seen them since they left the city.”
Master Li Zheng closed his eyes as the possibility of his sending the children to their deaths weighed heavily on him.
“May I return to the battle, General?”
“Do you know what this message says?” Chang asked the young teen.
“Yes, General.”
“And you still wish to return to the battle, even though Colonel Collins said their defense will soon fail?”
“Of course, sir.”
Chang looked from the eager boy to his Master. Li Zheng, without looking, sadly nodded his head.
“Very well. May the luck of your ancestors return with you.”
The boy with the blue leather armor and the plume feather in his helmet bowed and then, without hesitation, turned and ran back to die with the rest of his friends.
“It is all right to shed a tear for the boy this day, General. I have shed many. The news about the children was not expected. I pray that I have not sent them all to their deaths.”
“These Americans they travel with,” General Chang started to say, “I have a deep faith in them. There is something about them that defies words. It’s almost as if they were meant to be here, for this battle, the final one of our people. No, I believe the children are safe.”
Li Zheng placed a hand on the shoulder armor of General Chang. He nodded to the first line of tanks cresting the pass. He lowered his hand and then closed his eyes.
“He has come, old friend.”
Chang looked down into the pass and saw the muted lights of the armored column. He felt what his Master was feeling. Qin Shi Huang was among the attackers.
“You were right, Master Li. I thought him too much a coward to travel with his army. Yet, he has come.”
Li laughed. “My half brother has been many things, General, but the word coward is not a word he is familiar with. He will wish to finish this himself. Even he fails to realize that the Dragon Asteroid isn’t even his real goal. He has convinced himself it is, but his real quest is right here.” He lightly touched an open palm into his robes.
“You?”
“Yes, this is why he has joined the battle. He wants to see the man and the people that he failed to bring under his heel. It has driven him mad since the time of the first battle for his empire over two thousand years ago.” Master Li turned and smiled at General Chang. “I think I will accommodate him.” He turned and took the General by both shoulders. “Tease him, General. Entice him. Show him the way to our home where I may meet him man to man, brother to brother, and Air Bender to Air Bender. The elements will be our only weapons. There, we will embrace and travel the road of our ancestors together. He will burn with a fire not of the Dragon Mineral’s making, but the white-hot fire of mankind’s proclivity for destruction.”
“I will do as commanded, my Master.”
“No, not Master today. We part as friends and meet again in a far better place as brothers.”
Chang went to one knee and bowed his head to the ground at Li’s sandaled feet. “For the past two thousand years, I have yet declined to carry out an order. But today, I am tempted to disobey your wishes. Please allow this uneducated soldier to come with you.”
Li Zheng eased Chang back to his feet. He hugged the larger man. “To this I must say no. Goodbye, my real brother.”
Master Li Zheng turned and walked into the last hour of his long life.
* * *
The black painted helicopter, with no distinguishing registration numbers, flew high over the battlefield. Professor Vassick smiled as he was close to seeing his plan come to full fruition. He checked his watch and saw that it was early morning in the western United States, meaning only one thing to him—Doctor Niles Compton and a good portion of the upper echelon of the Event Group management were dead. He smiled as his gaze went to the burning plain below that was strewn with destroyed tanks, but even more dead bodies of the backward inhabitants of this godforsaken region. When the Siberian Council heard that he
not only eliminated a powerful enemy of the new Russian regime, but also oversaw the taking of the ore deposits of this valley, a task that was preceded by his orders to eliminate the crew of the Simbirsk the previous month, there would be no denying his value and his place on the Council. He eased the headphones onto his head and spoke with his pilot.
“I have seen enough. Take me to the capital for my flight. Leave instructions that, after the mountain is taken, have the field engineers and geological report forwarded to me before the Council is informed. Is this clear?”
The pilot held up a thumb and Vassick pulled the headphones off and then leaned back as the heavy line of Russian tanks made their final run on the inept defenders of Shangri-La.
* * *
Jack and Carl huddled with the last remaining group comprised of twenty-two teens and about thirteen surviving adults and elders. Their defense had been brilliant and brave. It was a confused jumble of a people who did not know how to fight but determined to do battle with a power that few of them understood.
“Damn, but they fought well, Jack,” Carl said, as he popped up and stitched a line of tracers toward the lead tanks in range. The bullets ‘pinged’ harmlessly off their armor and they kept coming. A few fireballs and weakened sand tornadoes reached out for the enemy, but the defense was growing weaker by the moment.
Jack remained silent as he saw the wounded teens and elders being tended to. He then looked down at the open ejection port on his M-4. He removed the empty magazine and then tossed the weapon away.
“Fought well, they did.” Jack once more saw the tragedy of death around him coming from a people who never knew want nor greed. They hadn’t fought for land or riches or to enslave another race. They had fought for each other. “I think its time for us to try and save some lives here.”
“Surrender?” Carl asked, as he fired the last rounds he had.
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