"And there are also the mundane everyday devices we take for granted," said Jordan, "that would also be affected, such as microwave ovens, video cassette recorders, and security systems. We've come to rely so heavily on computer chips that we've never considered how vulnerable they are."
The President picked up a pen and tapped it nervously on the desk. His face was drawn, his expression distraught. "I cannot allow that curse to paralyze the American people well into the next century," he stated flatly. "I have to seriously consider a strike, nuclear if necessary, on their warhead arsenal and detonation command center."
"I advise against it, Mr. President, said Jordan with quiet conviction, "except as a last resort."
The President looked at him. "What's your angle, Ray?"
"Suma's installation won't be on-line for another week. Let us try to devise a penetration plan to destroy it from within. If successful, it will save you enormous fallout from a hailstorm of international condemnation for what will be looked upon as an unprovoked attack on a friendly nation."
The President was silent, a thoughtful look on his face. Then he said slowly, "You're right, I'd be forced into making excuses no one would believe."
"Time is on our side as long as no one but our MAIT team and the three of us knows what's going down," Jordan continued.
"Good thing," Kern muttered. "If the Russians knew their landscape was littered with foreign warheads, they wouldn't hesitate to threaten a full-scale invasion of Japan."
"And we don't need that," the President said quietly.
"Nor do the innocent Japanese, who have no idea of Suma's insane threat," said Jordan, hammering in another nail.
The President came to his feet, ending the briefing. "Four days, gentlemen. You have ninety-six hours."
Jordan and Kern exchanged tight smiles.
The assault on Suma had been planned before they walked into the Oval Office. All it took was a phone call to set it in motion.
<<39>>
At four o'clock in the morning the small landing strip on a government reservation near Woodmoor, Maryland, looked to be deserted. There were no lights bordering the narrow band of asphalt. The only guide to a pilot making a night landing was a triangle of blue mercury vapor streetlights arched over an intersection of two dirt roads that pointed to the south end of the runway.
Then the early morning stillness was broken as the whine of throttled-back jet engines cut the still air.
A pair of headlights flashed on, their beams falling across the center of the landing strip. The Gulfstream jet transport with CIRCLEARTH AIRLINES painted across the top of the fuselage touched down and taxied to a stop beside a Jeep Grand Wagoneer station wagon.
Less than three minutes after the passenger door opened and two men and their luggage were on the ground, the plane rolled toward the end of the runway and was airborne again. As the roar faded in the black sky, Admiral Sandecker shook hands with Pitt and Giordino.
"Congratulations," he said warmly, "on a very successful operation."
"We haven't heard the results," said Pitt. "Did the photos of the painting Mancuso transmitted match an existing island?"
"Right on the money," replied Sandecker. "Turns out the island was called Ajima by fishermen after one of them became stranded on it in the seventeen-hundreds. But it remained on the charts as Soseki Island. And like many geographical sites connected with local folklore, the name Ajima was eventually lost."
"Where's the location?" asked Giordino.
"About sixty kilometers off the coast due east of Edo City."
Pitt's face suddenly became etched with anxious concern. "What word of Loren?"
Sandecker shook his head. "Only that she and Diaz are alive and hidden in a secret location."
"That's it?" Pitt said, irritated. "No investigation, no operation to free them?"
"Until the bomb-car threat is eliminated, the President's hands are tied."
"Bed," mumbled Giordino, cagily changing the subject to cool Pitt down. "Take me to my bed."
Pitt dipped his head at the little Italian. "Get him. His eyes haven't been open since we left Germany."
"You made good time," said Sandecker. "Have a pleasant flight?"
"Slept most of it. And with the jet lag working in our favor flying west, I'm wide awake."
"Frank Mancuso remained with the art objects'?" Sandecker inquired.
Pitt nodded. "Just before we took off, he received a message from Kern ordering him to pack up the Japanese embassy art and fly it to Tokyo."
"A smoke screen to pacify the Germans." Sandecker smiled. "The art is actually going to a vault in San Francisco. When the time is ripe, the President will present it to the Japanese people as a goodwill gesture." He gestured to the seats of the Jeep. "Get in. Since you're so bright and bushy-tailed, I'll let you drive."
"Fine by me," Pitt said agreeably.
After they threw their bags in the luggage compartment, Pitt slid behind the steering wheel as the admiral and Giordino entered from the opposite side. Sandecker took the front passenger seat, Giordino the back. Pitt shifted the running engine into drive and wheeled the Jeep down a dark road to a gatehouse that stood hidden in a grove of trees. A uniformed security guard stepped out, peered inside the car a moment, then saluted Sandecker and waved them through to a back-country highway.
Three kilometers later, Pitt turned the Jeep onto the Capital Beltway and headed toward the lights of Washington. Traffic at that time of morning was almost nonexistent. He set the cruise control on 110
kilometers and sat back as the big four-wheel-drive rolled effortlessly over the pavement.
They drove in silence for several minutes. Sandecker stared absently through the windshield. Pitt didn't need a strong imagination to know the admiral didn't leave a warm bed to meet them without a good reason. The huge Havana was strangely missing from his mouth, and his hands were clasped across his chest, sure signs of inner tension. His eyes were like ice cubes. He definitely had something heavy on his mind.
Pitt decided to give him an opening. "Where do we go from here?" he asked.
"Say again," Sandecker mumbled in mock distraction.
"What does the great eagle have in store for us next? A nice week's vacation, I hope."
"Do you really want to know?"
"Probably not, but you're going to tell me, right?"
Sandecker yawned to prolong the agony. "Well, I'm afraid you two are off on another airplane ride again."
"Where?"
"The Pacific."
"Where exactly in the Pacific?"
"Palau. The team, or what's left of it, is to assemble at the Information Gathering and Collection Point for new instructions from the Director of Field Operations."
"Without the bureaucratic title crap, what you're saying is we're meeting with Mel Penner."
Sandecker smiled, and his eyes softened considerably. "You have a deft manner of slicing to the gut of the matter."
Pitt was wary. He could see the axe was about to fall. "When?" he asked quickly.
"In precisely one hour and fifty minutes. You're taking a commercial airline out of Dulles."
"A pity we didn't land there," Pitt said sourly, "and saved you the drive."
"Security reasons. Kern thought it best if you arrive at the terminal by car, pick up the tickets, and board like any other tourists flying to the South Seas."
"We could use a change of clothes."
"Kern sent a man to pack clean things in suitcases. They've already been checked through."
"Very thoughtful of him. I must remind myself to change my security alarms when I return--"
Pitt broke off and studied the reflection in his rearview mirror. The same pair of headlights had been on the Jeep's tail since they swung onto the beltway. For the last several kilometers they had maintained an exact distance. He punched off the cruise control and increased speed slightly. The lights dropped back and moved forward again.
"Something wrong?" as
ked Sandecker.
"We've picked up a tail."
Giordino turned and peered through the big rear window. "More than one. I make out three vans in a convoy."
Pitt stared thoughtfully into the mirror. The beginning of a grin drew across his face. "Whoever is after us isn't taking any chances. They've sent a full platoon."
Sandecker snatched a car phone and dialed the MAIT team safe line. "This is Admiral Sandecker!" he snapped, ignoring any attempt at procedural codes. "I'm on the Capital Beltway heading south near Morningside. We are being followed--"
"Make that pursued," Pitt interrupted him. "They're closing fast."
Suddenly a burst of gunfire tore through the roof of the Jeep just above their heads. "Correction,"
Giordino said in utter calm. "Change pursued to attacked."
Sandecker slouched down on the floor and spoke rapidly into the car phone's mouthpiece, giving location and instructions. Pitt had already slammed his foot down on the accelerator. The high torque of the big 5.9-liter V-8 kicked in, and the Jeep swiftly leaped down the beltway at 150 kph.
"The agent on duty is sending out a call for the highway patrol," announced Sandecker.
"Tell them to put on some speed," Pitt urged, whipping the big Jeep back and forth across the three lanes of highway to throw off their pursuers' aim.
"They're not playing fair," Giordino said contritely. He dropped down on the floor between the seats as another burst sprayed the rear window's glass over him, passed through the car, and took out half the windshield. "They've got guns, and we don't."
"I think I can fix that." Pitt spared him a quick glance down and back.
"How?"
"By getting off this damn highway, where we make a perfect target, and taking every bend in the next road I can find until we hit a town."
"The turnoff for Phelps Point is coming up," advised Sandecker, peeping over the dashboard.
Pitt stole a quick look in the rearview mirror. He could see now that the vans were painted in the color scheme of ambulances. Even as he observed them, their red and blue flashing lights blinked. Their sirens remained mute, however, as the drivers pulled abreast of each other, covering the entire southbound lanes of the beltway to increase their firepower.
Pitt could make out men clad in black aiming automatic weapons out the side windows. Whoever planned the assassination had covered every base. There must have been four men to a van. Twelve who were armed to the teeth against three who probably had only one Swiss Army knife between them.
Pitt had an idea for evening the odds a bit. The off-ramp to Phelps Point was still two hundred meters ahead. No time. The next barrage of massed fire would blow them off the road. Without touching the brakes and warning the pursuing killers of his intention by flashing red taillights, he abruptly threw the Jeep into a crabwise slide and shot across two lanes and down an embankment.
The timing was perfect. A hail of gunfire missed the big Grand Wagoneer as it swept over the landscaped grass and surfed through a shallow ditch filled with half a meter of water. Then all tires bounced free of the ground as it soared over the other edge of the ditch, landing with a screeching of rubber on a frontage road that paralleled the beltway.
The pursuers lost time as they skidded to a stop in confusion. Pitt gained almost ten seconds before they regrouped and roared down the off-ramp onto the frontage road and resumed the chase.
For the second time in nearly as many days, Pitt was driving as if he was competing in a Grand Prix road race. Professional drivers, though, had an advantage. They wore helmets with visors against the wind resistance. The cold morning air washed over Pitt's face through the bullet-shattered windshield, and he was forced to turn his head sideways and squint against the icy gust.
They tore onto a long avenue flanked by oak trees before bursting into a residential area. He threw the Jeep into a series of sharp turns, left on one block of houses, left again, and then to the right. The drivers of the vans were well versed in the routine. They split up and attempted to cut him off at the intersections, but he always managed to get there ahead and dash past with scant seconds to spare.
The killers held their fire amid the populated homes, relentlessly closing the net and cutting off avenues of escape. When Pitt was able to make a turn before they came in sight from the previous block, he turned out his lights and sped through the darkness. Unfortunately, the streetlights gave him away. He tried every trick he knew, gaining a few meters here, a few seconds there, but he could not entirely shake the stubborn killers.
Pitt circled back and threw the Jeep onto the main avenue into the town. A gas station, a theater, and several small shops flicked past. "Watch for a hardware store," he shouted above the scream of the protesting tires.
"A what?" asked Sandecker incredulously.
"A hardware store. There's got to be one in town."
"Oscar Brown's Hardware Emporium," announced Giordino. "I saw it on a sign right after we sailed off the beltway."
"Whatever you've got in mind," said the admiral steadily, "you better manage it quick. The red light on the gas gauge just flashed on."
Pitt glanced at the dash instruments. The needle was pegged on "empty." "They must have stitched the fuel tank."
"Oscar's Emporium is coming up on the right side of the street," said Giordino, motioning through the open windshield.
"You have a flashlight?" Pitt snapped to Sandecker.
"There's one in the glove compartment."
"Get it out."
Pitt took one final look in the mirror. The first van was sliding around a corner two blocks back. He steered the Jeep into the gutter on the left side of the street, and then cramped the wheel to the right.
Sandecker stiffened in shock.
Giordino croaked, "Oh, no!"
The Jeep spun sideways for an instant, then the four drive wheels dug in and it raced over the curb, across the sidewalk, and crashed through a huge plate-glass window into the hardware store. The Jeep bashed through the front counters, sending cash registers spinning into the darkness. An end display, a cluster of garden rakes on sale, burst up like toothpicks. The car careened down an aisle between shelves hurling plumbing fixtures and nuts, bolts, and screws in the air like grape and canister out of a cannon.
Insanely, it seemed to Giordino and Sandecker, Pitt didn't stop. He kept his foot pressed on the accelerator, traveling up and down the aisles as though he was searching for something, leaving total destruction in his wake. The tumult as the Jeep ran wild was enhanced by the sudden whoop of the security alarm.
At last Pitt shoved the front bumper into a display case, resulting in a great spray of jagged glass. The one remaining headlight flickered dimly on twenty or thirty handguns scattered about the shattered case and stacked rows of rifles and shotguns in a large cabinet against the wall.
"You sneaky bastard," Sandecker uttered in awe.
<<40>>
"Choose your weapons," Pitt shouted over the banshee cry of the alarm as he kicked open the door.
Sandecker needed no urging. He was out of the Jeep and ransacking the cabinet for ammunition while clutching the flashlight under his arm. "What's your pleasure, gentlemen?" he yelled out.
Pitt snatched a pair of Colt Combat Commander automatic pistols, one with blue finish, the other in stainless steel. He ejected the clips. "Forty-five automatic!"
Sandecker fumbled through the boxes in the cabinet for only a few seconds before he spotted the right caliber. He tossed two boxes to Pitt. "Winchester Silver Tips." Then he turned to Giordino. "What do you need, Al?"
Giordino had pulled three Remington-1100 shotguns off the rack. "Twelve gauge, double-aught load."
"Sorry," Sandecker snapped back. He handed Giordino several boxes of shotgun casings.
"Number-four magnum buckshot is the best I can do on short notice." Then he crouched low and dashed over to the paint department.
"Hurry and douse your light," Pitt warned him, smashing the remaining headl
ight with the butt of one Colt.
The vans had slammed to a stop up the block and out of sight of the men inside the store. The assassins flowed from the vehicles in their black ninja suits swiftly and smoothly. They did not rush toward the hardware store, but paused, taking their time.
Their rehearsed tactical operation to riddle the Jeep and its occupants to shreds had been fouled by Pitt's unexpected dive from the beltway into Phelps Point. Now they were forced to formulate a new tactical operation on the spot. Coolly, they sized up the situation.
Overconfidence clouded their judgment. Because they had experienced no return fire from the three men in the fleeing four-wheel-drive, and were certain their intended victims were unarmed, they were overanxious to rush through the storefront and finish the job.
Their team leader was wise enough to gesture for caution. He stood in a doorway across the street and peered into the darkness inside the wrecked hardware store. He could see nothing beyond the debris as evidenced by the glow from a solitary streetlight. The Jeep was lost in the shadows. Nor could he hear sounds from the interior over the annoying wail from the alarm.
His analysis of the situation was rushed as lights blinked on in apartments above several of the stores.
He could not afford to attract a crowd of witnesses. Then there was the local law enforcement agency.
He could expect the sheriff and his deputies to charge on the scene within minutes.
Then he allowed a misjudgment to guide him into a fatal error. He wrongly assumed the men in the Jeep were badly injured in the crash or cowering in fear, and he failed to send a team of his men around to seal off the rear of the store.
He allowed three minutes to rush the Jeep, finish off his prey, and retreat in the vans. The kill should be quick and easy, he thought. As a precaution he shot out the streetlight, plunging the street into blackness and preventing his men from being outlined when they made the assault. He held a whistle to his lips and gave the signal to prepare weapons and insure that the selector switches were off "safe" on their 5.56-millimeter, 51-round Sawa automatic rifles. Then he blew three short chirps, and they began to move in.
Dragon Page 28