“That is it,” the pilot said.
“That is it,” he repeated twice more.
Garrett spoke, “This had better be it. If I find out on the ground that you were lying to me, I’ll inflict so much pain, you’ll wish you were dead.”
“That is it,” the pilot said once more.
Garrett folded the chart and stuffed it in his jacket pocket. Just as he finished the plane came over a peak and they could see the lights of Macau ahead. The pilot looked at Garrett.
Waving his gun, he said, “Take us on in. And make it a smooth landing,” he added.
Fifteen minutes later, the plane taxied up to the Chinese junk. The pilot shut off the engines and Garrett rose, backing towards the cabin door. He instructed the pilot to face the front of the plane and get on his knees with his hand clasped behind his head. He ripped the microphone cord from the wall and tied the pilot’s hands.
“Kit? Kit? Are you all right back there?”
“Yes, Garrett. Everything is under control,” she answered.
“We’re coming out now,” Garrett announced.
The pilot rose to his feet and walked out the door in front of Garrett. Kit had Hung lying face down on the floor, his jacket pulled halfway down his upper arms.
“Trade me,” Garrett said as he handed control of the pilot over to her. Garrett pulled out a knife and cut a seatbelt strap from one of the seats and used it to tie Hung’s hands together behind him.
“OK. Get on the floor with your pal,” he said addressing the pilot. Turning to Kit, he asked, “You think you can handle them while I get us tied up?”
“No problem,” she responded.
Garrett opened the door to the plane and grabbed the grappling hook. During the time they were tying up their prisoners, they had drifted a few feet from the junk. He hopped up on the wing and walked out until he could reach the boat. When he had tied up the plane, he called into Kit from the boat.
“Let the first one out,” he yelled.
The pilot appeared in the doorway and walked to the end of the wing. He put his foot on the ladder and Garrett had to reach down to help pull the man up. He instructed him to lie on the deck of the boat while he helped Hung up the ladder. He had just gotten Hung up the ladder when the pilot rolled to his feet and tried to push Garrett from behind and over the side of the junk. Hung started to help the pilot, when there was a shot. The pilot fell to the deck of the boat screaming in pain. Kit stood in the doorway of the plane and leveled the weapon at Wong Hung. He dropped to the floor of the boat and started blurting.
“I’m lying down. I’m lying down.”
Garrett recovered his balance and kicked the pilot in his bloody shoulder, extracting even louder screams. Kit climbed up the ladder and onto the boat, observing the two men lying on the deck.
“What should we do with these two?” she asked.
“Can our two young friends get them to your people in Hong Kong?”
“I suppose they could,” she answered, “although they won’t like it.”
“Just ask them real nice and smile,” Garrett said, “they’ll do just about anything then,” he finished with a wink.
Kit just managed to crack a smile.
“She’s beat,” Garrett thought to himself.
“I’ll go make the call,” she said leaving the boat and walking up the dock. Twenty minutes later, the young driver and his brother showed up and took the two prisoners away.
Kit spoke as she and Garrett watched the four walk away.
“My contacts here are going to meet them and not ask the boys too many questions. I think they’re OK with that.”
Then she walked to Garrett, and pressed up against him. Garrett put his arm around her and led her back to the street, where they caught a cab and headed back to his hotel for some rest.
CHAPTER
TWENTY THREE
In the early afternoon Kit was woken by someone attempting to enter the room. Still disoriented from her recent slumber, she instinctively grabbed her gun and aimed it at the door. The sound of a paper bag became audible as the door cracked opened. Kit’s finger tightened on the trigger, as she waited to see who was intruding into her sanctuary.
“You almost got your head blown off!” she exclaimed when she saw it was Garrett.
“Sorry,” he responded defensively. “You were asleep when I left. I didn’t want to disturb you.”
“Why did you leave?” she asked, the edge in her voice still present.
“I wanted to get some things to go over with you. It can wait though.”
“That’s OK,” she demurred, “I needed to wake up anyway. Sorry for being so crabby,” she continued, lowering her gun.
“Forget it. You’re still recovering from your assignment,” Garrett expressed with genuine concern.
“What do you have?” she asked, getting up and walking across the room.
Garrett sat the packages on the table. “You mentioned that when you were a ‘guest’ of the general’s, you had seen a flag and some maps hanging on the wall, so I went to a book store and bought the latest index of world maps. I also got a book on flags. Think you could draw the flag you saw?
“I think so,” Kit answered.
“Good,” Garrett motioned, “we can go through the books together. Maybe if we find out what country he has such an interest in, we can figure out what this is all about.”
Kit looked at the books on the table.
“OK. I’m going to take a shower first, though,” she said as she walked towards the bathroom.
Garrett went to the honor bar and took out a can of juice. He grabbed the flight chart off of the table and walked to the window and stood there studying the map. The area that the pilot had marked looked like it was about the right distance from Macau time wise. He sat at the table and pulled out a topographical map that he had also purchased. It was a blow-up of the same region as the flight chart. He worked a few moments, until he had matched them up. Everything on the maps coincided with what he had seen, the surrounding mountains, the way the valleys fell away from the compound, everything.
The shower went off in the bath and Garrett quickly folded the two maps, putting them in his bag. A few minutes later, Kit came out of the bath in a robe, and observed Garrett at the table looking through the book on flags. He looked up when she approached.
“Feeling a little better?” he inquired.
Smiling, Kit responded. “A hot shower can do wonders.” She pointed to the book. “Getting a head start?”
“Just marking flags on the Euro/Asian continents. Figured it may save us some time.”
Garrett reached into the bag and pulled out a pad and pencil.
“These are for you,” he said holding them out for Kit.
She sighed. “No rest for the weary, I suppose. You’re such a taskmaster.”
She sat down on the bed and started sketching, closing her eyes at times to draw on her memory. After a few minutes, she was finished and handed the pad back to Garrett. He looked at the sketch and then back at her.
“Not bad. You may have a career in the arts when you retire.”
“Ha, ha,” she shot back.
Garrett starting thumbing through the pages he had marked. After about six pages he stopped and compared the book with her sketch. Holding it up he asked,
“Is this it?”
Her eyes widened when she saw the flag.
“That’s it!” she exclaimed. “That’s the flag!”
A pondering look came over Garrett’s face.
“Kazakstan,” he muttered under his breath.
“What was that?” Kit asked.
“Kazakstan,” he said loud enough for her to hear. “This is the flag for Kazakstan.”
He grabbed the map of Asia and unfolded it. He was familiar with the country. I
t had been one of the former Soviet republics. His hand ran over the map.
“There. On the northwest border of China,” he said.
Kit looked to where he was pointing. Sure enough, there it was. Garrett looked at Kit and inquired, “Do you know anything about Kazakstan?”
She looked at him and shook her head.
“Not really. I need to call this in, Garrett.”
She picked up the phone and dialed. After a moment it was answered. She rattled off a code and waited another moment.
“Johanne? This is Kit.”
Garrett sat and listened. As she briefed her superior, his eyes wandered over to his bag and then back to her. When she was finished, she hung up the phone.
“I’ve been ordered back to Paris. Apparently our two new prisoners are being held in solitary confinement in Hong Kong. They aren’t being cooperative so they want me back in Paris to help plan our strategy.”
“I guess I’ll head back, too,” Garrett stated. If either of those two pilots don’t check in, the general is liable to become suspicious and send some people after us. I’ll be back at the safehouse if you need to contact me.”
Garrett grabbed one of his bags and started packing. Kit went to the bathroom to change and do the same. Again, he looked at the bag on the floor that held the maps and then back at her. Garrett couldn’t get the general’s eyes, the eyes of a madman, out of his mind.
CHAPTER
TWENTY FOUR
Washington, DC
Frank Holden strode into the task force conference room, closing the door behind him. Seated around the table were his ten top deputies who had been involved in small talk and fraternal banter up to that point. The room became silent as Holden took his seat at the table.
“Gentlemen. Our hard work over the past several months has finally paid off.”
There was a moment of stirring as the others shot questioning looks to each other. None of them could figure out how the case had broken or who had done it. Holden saw the confusion in his men and directed his assistant to pass out copies of his files to everyone seated.
“A lot has happened over the past week. As most of you know, the events in China recently have led us to one of our original suspects. Yesterday, the president and CEO of the company, Max Schlagle met with us and shared the results of his own internal investigation. Much of what he found will be of great assistance to our work.”
Holden had all of his deputies’ attention. They had been putting forth so much effort over the past months without any payoff. Finally, they were making headway on the case and that had each of them focused like they hadn’t been focused in months. Frank continued.
“If you turn to tab two in your files, you will see the party within MWS Industries who is responsible for the leaks.”
Holden paused while everyone flipped to the correct page.
“This is their assistant systems manager. I won’t go into the details right now; you can read the file later. In short, he broke the password of one of the senior VPs of the company and gained access to files he had no business being in, files which included technical schematics for a laser weapons system. It also included this individual’s e-mailbox. If you’ll turn to tab four, you’ll see here that it was only possible for some of the information regarding the laser weapon to have come from MWS Industries. In short, they did not have access to the details of the firing mechanism.”
Those seated around the table were engrossed in the information they were being presented. Holden went on.
“Since we’ve been able to trace the Chinese connection on the laser weapon back to this company, it only follows that the other leaks most probably originated from the same source. And now if you turn back to tab three, you’ll see some background information on our leak at MWS, including his college roommate.”
Holden paused and gave the others time to read the information before him. He picked up his glass and filled it with water from a pitcher that had been placed on the table. One by one the other agents finished reading the material, glancing up at him, grim looks on their faces. When everyone had finished, Holden sat forward in his chair.
“Any comments or questions?” he asked.
“Do we get paid extra for combat duty?” one of his men asked. The rest of those seated around the table allowed themselves a nervous laugh.
“I have a question,” one of the others asked.
Holden nodded, “Go ahead.”
“It’s obvious that these two were college roommates, but how could either of them get information on the firing mechanism? And, how can we be certain that the technology from this laser weapon came from us?”
“I’ll answer the second question first. We don’t know for sure, but it’s a pretty good guess that since MWS found a breech in security regarding this matter, just after Chinese test,…..let’s just say I don’t believe in coincidences. That’s why we need to follow this up. On the first matter, allow me to offer one scenario,” Holden started. “One of the two came from a very powerful and influential family. Soon after he graduated, he took over operations of a portion of the family business. Either by design or coincidence, his college roommate ended up in a sensitive position with one of his competitors. Friendships and money can cause many people to develop issues with loyalty. I don’t know this yet, but I would assume that soon, we will find out just how much information was passed between the two over the past five years.”
“That I can understand,” the agent interrupted, still in shock over the identity of the second man, “What I don’t get is how this other company got their hands on the firing mechanism. I have been involved extensively investigating them and they don’t have anything to do with the development of this type of item.”
“I’m coming to that,” Holden said. He went on. “The Commerce department has to make decisions everyday on what technologies may and may not be sold to foreign entities, governments or corporations. Many computers, chips, and other technical items can have both civilian and military applications. It’s possible that the firing mechanism for this military application is similar to the one needed for industrial laser use.”
“Excuse me sir,” one of the agents said raising his hand slightly. “Bennett is the one who roomed with this fellow at MWS. Are you implying that his uncle, the Secretary of Commerce had something to do with this?”
“I don’t know,” Holden had to admit. “I’m just trying to make the connection. It’s just too much a coincidence that we have two college roommates who have possible connections to this laser technology, no matter how remote. One of them owns a company and is the nephew of the Secretary of Commerce, the other works for a competitor who was primarily responsible for the development of the laser system, and he has been caught breaking into his employer’s computer network, where he could have very well gotten his hands on the technology. Bennett could have had help from his uncle or used his family connections to get the rest of the information. That’s what we need to find out. We can’t make any moves until we have irrefutable proof.”
Holden finished and refilled his glass. The others around the table were all thinking in silence. They knew he was right, but, like him, they were having a hard time reconciling their feelings.
“I’ve been in touch with the director and the attorney general on this one,” he continued a little more calmly now. “We have passed the threshold from economic security to national security in a big way. All who are responsible for the leaks must be identified and stopped.” Looking at all of those gathered, he added, “It’s our responsibility.”
Then he started his orders. “I need the team who was working on Vincent Marx to shift over and help those looking into Max Schlagle. They offered full cooperation; we’re going to see that we get it. The rest of you jump in and help on the Bennett team. I want phone records, wiretaps, the whole nine yards. We need to wrap this up quickly bef
ore anymore damage is done or word leaks out.”
Holden looked at his men.
“Let’s get to it,” he said as he rose to leave.
The others gathered their files and stood, forming two small groups on either side of the table. They were up against the clock now, which is when they normally performed at their best.
Holden went back to his office and collapsed in his chair. Now that he had his deputies on the chase, he decided to check in with his friend Johanne and so each could update the other. Frank picked up the phone and dialed, bracing himself for what he might hear.
CHAPTER
TWENTY FIVE
Paris
The phone calls had been coming in all day long, primarily from government officials around the world trying to obtain updates on their progress. Johanne had been having his calls held or diverted so he could devote his attention to the matter at hand, so he was startled when the phone in his office rang.
“Hello,” he answered in English, a little cross with his secretary.
“Johanne? Frank Holden here.”
Johanne sat up in his chair.
“Frank! It is good to hear from you,” he said, mentally letting his secretary off the hook. “It’s been crazy around here today! You remember our undercover agent, Kitten? Well she’s on her way back here to brief us on her China trip. From what I gather, she’s got a bit to tell us. I’ve got intelligence and security agencies all over us trying to get information. You should be here.”
“Johanne,” Frank laughed, “you sound a bit frazzled. I would take you up on the offer, but we have our hands full here. I can’t go into any details for security reasons, but we’ve found our leak and it has led us into a hornet’s nest. I’ll try to keep you abreast of our progress as best I can.”
“I understand,” Johanne replied. “I figure that our debriefing here will last a few hours.” He looked at his watch. “Let’s see, you’re six hours behind us, and she should be here in about two hours, so how about I call you when we get finished?”
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