“Please be seated,” Chon said. Then he took the seat behind the desk and hit several buttons. Steel shutters dropped over the windows, cutting off the view. Vampyr placed the backpack next to the seat, facing the door behind them.
“This room is now Tempest proof,” Chon said.
Vampyr knew that meant it was supposed to be secure from all forms of bugging.
Tian Dao Lin was a very powerful man in Hong Kong, perhaps the most powerful. Some said he ultimately was in control of all the Triads. He also owned many legitimate businesses, just like Vampyr, Nosferatu, and Adrik. The most dangerous aspect of Tian Dao Lin, as far as Vampyr was concerned, was his inner core of Quarters. More than any of the other three Undead, Tian Dao Lin enjoyed breeding with human women and bringing offspring into the world.
Even Vampyr feared being attacked by a pack of Quarters. “What is the latest?” Vampyr finally asked.
“One of the Quarters, named Tai, paraglided off Everest earlier today. He is on his way here with a package.”
Vampyr nodded. Tian Dao Lin had succeeded in recovering the blood of the One Who Waits. The end had begun. “Do you know when he arrives?”
“In four hours.”
“Will we be able to intercept?”
Chon looked uncomfortable. “I have not yet been able to determine where Tian Dao Lin’s lair is. Every time we try to follow his people, they manage to lose us. He is most careful, and if one gets too close, then his inner circle makes that person disappear.”
Vampyr had anticipated Chon’s failure. “I am trying to discover the location by other means. Still, have your men try to follow the blood when it arrives. I want both the blood and Tian Dao Lin.”
Colonel Kokol felt the point of a needle enter his right arm but didn’t have the energy to react. He focused all his remaining power on opening his eyes. Once more he was greeted by the captain’s face looming over him.
“There is a problem. We did not stop them from removing what they stole from the archives. They escaped.”
Kokol forced his eyes open. He was lying on a cot in a mobile operations center. He could see soldiers and police scurrying about. For the moment, the two of them were left relatively alone. “What happened?”
“After they knocked you out — and left you for dead under the body of the soldier — the infiltrators made their way up the ramp, then through other tunnels and out the exit they came in. The Moscow police and SVD security tried to stop them and suffered heavy casualties in the process.”
“What did they take?”
“It appears a stock of old blood taken by the Russians from the Germans from Berlin at the end of the Great Patriotic War.”
“World War II,” Colonel Kokol muttered. “Who did this?”
“We have video from the entrance — they killed the guards on their way out, along with Pashenka, the SVD man who let them in. Police files indicate they are Mafia under the control of—”
“Adrik,” Kokol completed the sentence. Everyone had heard whispers of the head of the Mafia in Moscow. Nothing happened at this level in the city without his blessings.
“Yes.”
“Would blood stored like that still be viable?” Kokol wondered. “Why would they steal it?”
“I do not know, but twelve men are dead, so it must be important.”
Colonel Kokol swung his feet to the side and tried to sit up. The attempt caused a hiss of pain to escape his lips but he managed to get upright. “Do the police have a line on where we can find Adrik?”
“Yes. They’ve always known where his headquarters is. No one has ever had the power or the will to attack him.”
“We’ll see about that,” Kokol said, pulling a SatPhone out of his pocket.
With a slight burst from a forward thruster, the X–Craft decelerated as it entered the large cargo bay of the mothership. Another burst brought it to a halt, floating just above the deck and among the battered Talon spacecraft that had been knocked out of commission by the nuclear blast combined with the power of the ruby sphere that Turcotte had brought there from the cavern in Ethiopia. A hatch on the side of the X–Craft opened with a puff of escaping air and both suited crew-members exited, carrying large plastic cases in the zero gravity.
They split, going to different Talons. Each went inside, to the first Airlia body they saw, and opened the case, revealing syringes, blood bags, and the same type of battery-powered pump that Tai had used.
They quickly got to work, poking each body in different places to draw the little remaining blood that hadn’t drained out into space.
Vampyr’s reach was indeed long.
Kokol’s SatPhone rang and he listened for a moment, then held it out for the captain. “It is the premier.”
The captain stared in disbelief and took the phone. He listened for about a minute, his only replies “Yes, sir,” then closed the phone and handed it back to Colonel Kokol.
“And?” the colonel asked.
“We attack and destroy Adrik.” The captain spun on his heel and shouted orders. Soldiers jumped into vehicles and they raced into the city toward the modern office building that held the Mafia leader’s office.
Colonel Kokol, having survived World War II, the Cold War, and the end of the Cold War and the bitter departmental infighting after it, along with being Vampyr’s spy in Russia on Adrik for over half a century, decided to watch the assault from the command truck three blocks away. It had direct video feeds from each of the assault units, from cameras mounted on the team leaders’ helmets.
“Your optics are excellent,” Kokol observed, as they watched the teams surround the building.
“A gift from the Americans,” the captain said. “They’re supposed to be used by counternuke teams to keep track of our nuclear material and weapons.”
Kokol watched as the teams stealthily approached all the known entrances to the building, listening as the captain counted down to the breach.
At zero all the ingress points were hit.
Kokol was shaking his head within five seconds as no opposition was apparent on any of the screens. “It’s too easy. Something’s wrong.”
The teams had breached the perimeter of the building and were working their way in. Still no shots fired. Nothing.
Colonel Kokol turned to the captain. “I would pull the teams. Now.”
Two of the teams were working their way up stairwells, the elevators out of order as they cut the power to them. Three other teams were doing room-by-room searches of lower-level offices.
The captain leaned over Kokol’s shoulder. “I cannot pull them out. We must have revenge. Watch. We have other equipment from the Americans. Most efficient and useful.” He rattled something into his mike. One of the men with a camera stopped at a computer on a desk and pulled something out of his pack. It appeared to be a handheld organizer with a lead going to a floppy diskette, which he shoved into the A drive on the computer.
“We can take everything off the hard drive in ten seconds,” the captain said proudly. “It is being transmitted right here.” He pointed at a computer next to the monitors.
“I’m telling you that you’ve got a problem,” Kokol said. “The place is abandoned.”
“What?”
Kokol stood, looking across the monitors as the teams progressed deeper into the building. “Get your men out. Now!” He yelled the last word.
“I don’t—”
“Do it,” Kokol said. He turned to the captain. “Adrik is prepared for an attack. You’ve encountered no resistance, which means he’s letting you in. If he’s letting you in, then it can’t be good.” Even as he said the words, Kokol knew it was too late.