The lab is gone.
He sighed and ran south across the clearing and soon caught up to the rest of the team. They were standing at the tree-line, watching the van, which was now peppered with holes through the white paint.
Deion turned to him. “Anything?”
He scanned the trees with the thermal vision but there were no human heat signatures. “Nothing. We’ve been had.”
The long drive back to Boryspil almost drove Eric crazy. They stopped south of Stepne and patched the bullet holes in the vans with white epoxy, but they couldn’t do much for the spiderweb of cracks in the windows. The armored tires still provided traction, even though several had taken gunfire.
Someone anticipated our arrival.
The sun was turning the horizon a dark orange when they reached the airport. They had received a few curious glances from passing cars and motorcycles, but there were no checkpoints to navigate, no authorities to dodge.
They reached the hangar and stowed the vans in the C17. Mark and Taylor helped the Loadmaster strap them to the floor of the plane before takeoff and it gave him time to talk to Nancy, who was sitting in the front of the cargo hold.
“They knew we were coming,” he said.
Nancy glanced up. “We had eyes on us before we left the airport?”
He nodded. “It’s probable.”
“Liu Kong of Huang Lei?”
He shrugged. “Does it matter?”
She turned and her eyes stopped on Deion and Valerie, sitting across from her. “Could have been worse. We survived.”
She had a point. They were still alive and no one was hurt, except for John, who limped onto the plane. He took the seat next to them.
“Those assholes shot me in the foot,” John said, pulling up his pant leg to expose the prosthetic. There was a chuck of metal missing from it and John frowned. “They caught me right between the armor.”
Eric slapped him on the back. “You got lucky. They could have shot you in that big head of yours.”
Nancy turned to John and gave him an awkward smile. “That’s twice you’ve saved my life in the past two days.”
John stared at the deck of the plane, his face turning red. “Just doing my job.”
Deion stopped talking to Valerie and glanced across the plane. “You did good, man.”
Eric felt a twinge of pride. For all John’s past, he had turned out to be an exemplary soldier. He wished Deion and the rest could see that John succeeded in spite of his past. On the other hand, if he told anyone that John remembered bombing the Red Cross, it would probably end with John’s execution.
His earpiece crackled. “We have a match on the photos,” Clark said.
“Who were they?”
“Karen says Ukrainian mercenaries. Vladimir Miroshnychenko and Petro Andrushko. We’re checking their accounts—”
“How?”
Clark cleared his throat. “Probably best you don’t know. Karen said it might violate international law. She expects recent significant deposits.”
“Thanks, Sergeant. We’re readying for takeoff. We’ll be wheels up in ten.”
“Understood,” Clark said. “We’ll contact you if we find anything else.”
He turned back to Nancy. “The men I photographed at Feofilivka were mercs. Locals.”
“Liu Kong hired them?” Nancy asked.
“Does it matter? We’re back to square one.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Liu Kong slammed his fist against his wood-burled seat tray, causing his laptop to shake. The trap in Feofilivka had failed.
He stared out the window at the dark ocean below. Luck had been against them the entire operation, handing the Americans victory after victory.
The Americans. Always the Americans. Huang Lei held a dim view of the them, and believed them an uncivilized force that must be stopped for the good of humanity. But that was Huang Lei, and Huang Lei was a great man.
Unlike Huang Lei, Liu Kong hated the Americans.
They were oafish beasts — full of rank emotions and bravado — without serious reasoning capacity. They lacked Huang Lei’s magnanimity. Since Huang Lei rescued him from the streets of Tianjin, he had come to believe that Huang Lei wasn’t just a mere mortal, but the reincarnation of Yuanshi Tianzun, the Jade Emperor, who fashioned humans from clay.
He owed the man his life. He would do anything — pay any price — if it meant helping Huang Lei. He tapped on his laptop and initiated the video call.
Huang Lei answered. He appeared calm, but Kong read the concern in the older man’s face. “You have news?”
“The trap failed.”
Huang Lei nodded. “It is of no concern. They cannot stop us now.”
Kong smiled. He would not let the Jade Emperor down. “I will arrive soon. We are on the cusp.”
Lei nodded, his face softening. “You are like a brother, Kong. All that I have and all that I have achieved, I owe to your support. Together we are on the cusp, and together we will remake the world.”
Karen navigated through the maze of tunnels, finally reaching the door to Dewey’s office. She knocked softly and entered when Dewey called out.
His office was strangely clean. She looked to her right and found all his extra equipment stacked neatly against the wall.
“Dewey? What the hell?”
Dewey paced in front of his wall of monitors. He turned to her, dark bags under his eyes, hair stuck in sweaty patches. “Hey, Karen. What’s up?”
She took the seat next to his desk and watched him pace across the tile floor. “What did you do to your office?”
He turned to stare at the equipment. “That? I needed to clear my head. I’m trying something.”
She sniffed the air and raised her nose. “When was the last time you took a shower?”
“Yesterday? Why, do you want to shower with me?”
She shook her head. “No, I do not. Dewey, you can’t live down here like a troll. You have to take care of yourself.”
He smiled. “Hey, did you ever see Troll 2? What a piece of crap.”
“I don’t care about some stupid movie. What are you working on?”
He frowned. “Another project for the Old Man. I guess there’s no rest for the wicked.”
“What does he have you working on this time?”
He pointed at his wall of monitors. “I’m searching for where a man is not, not where a man is.”
It was the most absurd thing she had had ever heard from him, and he had once quoted an entire episode of an obscure television show called Cop Rock. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Beats me,” he said. He grabbed his office chair and flopped down in it. “I’m looking for a man named Huang Lei.”
“I heard. He’s tied to the bomb and the virus. What have you found?”
“There’s a bunch of Huang Lei’s in the world. I’ve found an actor, a doctor, and an engineer. Hey, that reminds me of a joke—”
“Could you focus? It’s like you’re getting worse.”
He bowed his head. “It’s hard for me to concentrate, you know? Anyway, I’ve found so many Huang Leis I don’t even know where to begin.” He stood and began pacing again. “Look for a man where he is not, not where he is. I wish I knew what that meant.”
Karen sighed. “Did you speak to Nancy after the Old Man’s surgery?”
He stopped pacing. “She sent me an email from Seoul. We are no longer to engage in sexual activity and she wishes me well. What does that mean? I read their mission report, she’s with that guy John Frist, the one Doc Elliot experimented on. You don’t think she’s having sex with him, do you?”