‘Abrahem might have plans to attack that ceremony,’ Lopez replied. ‘From what we can gather he may have obtained technology from the Chinese, perhaps the implants that were used to control Major General Thompson.’
Jarvis nodded.
‘There have been some further developments here. The FBI has people on the ground in Hong Kong and Kowloon trying to trace the connection between four NSA agents abducted there in 1997 and Abrahem’s involvement now. They’ve sent a pair of agents, a friend of yours I believe Ethan?’
‘Hannah Ford?’
‘The same. Quite an interest she has in you, courtesy of Director LeMay.’
‘The FBI are fishing for the same technology out there,’ Ethan said. ‘If Majestic Twelve are behind LeMay, then Mitchell might also be out there. You need to send her a warning.’
‘Correct,’ Jarvis replied. ‘But my men haven’t been able to locate her yet.’
‘She could be in danger and we can’t let that technology fall into the hands of Majestic Twelve, either through LeMay or Mitchell.’
‘Where do we start?’ Lopez asked Jarvis. ‘We need to pin this down before Abrahem can make his move.’
‘You’ll be flown to Saudi Arabia, where an aircraft is waiting to bring you back to the States. I’ve obtained one of the highest security rating’s our unit has ever achieved, because there’s something waiting for you here when you get back and you’re going to have to see it to believe it. Get your heads down, because whatever Abrahem has coming is going to keep you very busy when you get back. For now, you’d best be on your way. Jarvis out.’
The screens in the F–18’s cockpit blinked out, and Ethan saw Lopez’s aircraft drift away out of formation until it was a bright speck on the horizon.
‘Time to hustle,’ the pilot said, ‘I feel the need.’
‘The need for what?’
Then reply came back from the other Super Hornet pilot. ‘Speed!’
Ethan felt the F–18 rocket forward as the throttles were pushed to the firewall. Full afterburner punched the Hornet through the sound barrier and the G — force acceleration crunched Ethan down into his seat as the fighter’s nose was hauled up into a steep climb as it searched for the rarified cold air of the upper atmosphere. The F–18 soared through forty thousand feet and rolled through the inverted, Ethan hanging onto his lunch as he was finally returned to right — side up. The sky above was a deep indigo blue and the clouds below tattered blankets of white stretched across the azure ocean.
‘We’re supersonic and heading for Mach Two,’ the pilot informed him calmly, ‘courtesy of Uncle Sam’s Navy.’
XXV
‘Are you sure that’s the one?’
Vaughn kept a careful watch on the vehicle that was driving down a road toward Tai Tam harbor. Hannah drove, careful to keep her distance from the glossy black limousine as it cruised alongside a gorgeous mountain lake on one side and the sheer face of the Tai Tam Dam on the other, the harbor visible ahead and to their left.
‘It’s him all right,’ Hannah replied as she drove. ‘The plates match the traffic cam footage, but we can’t be sure that Mitchell’s aboard.’
Hannah could tell that Vaughn was uncomfortable with what they were doing. The brief from Director LeMay had been simple enough: track down Ethan Warner and Nicola Lopez and ensure that they were arrested and imprisoned for their crimes, by way of looking into the NSA abductions from 1997. Now, they were driving into unknown territory on Hong Kong Island, following a man known to be an assassin and completely ignoring LeMay’s orders.
‘And we don’t know where Warner and Lopez are right now,’ Vaughn pointed out.
‘We’ve got nothing,’ Hannah agreed. ‘Right now, Mitchell is our only lead and also a link to Warner. LeMay will understand.’
‘LeMay might think that you’re working for Jarvis and not the FBI.’
‘And what’s he going to do?’ Hannah challenged. ‘We’re following leads pertaining to the Stanley Meyer murder, leads that connect to both Ethan Warner and Aaron Mitchell. These leads could close the case. If he doesn’t like what we’re doing here then he’s going to have a hard time reprimanding us about it — he damned well sent us!’
Vaughn gestured ahead. ‘The limousine’s turning.’
Hannah frowned as she looked ahead and saw the black vehicle turn right off the road and into a secluded forest. A barrier protected the entrance but it was open to allow tourists into the public park that surrounded the dam’s reservoir.
‘You think he’s going for a stroll in the countryside?’ Vaughn quipped.
‘How far does this go?’
Vaughn glanced at a map of the island in his lap.
‘Half way back to the city,’ he replied. ‘It’s a tourist trail and nature walk and the road runs right along it for about five clicks before you reach the edge of the city.’
Hannah frowned as she followed the limousine, allowing it to disappear infrequently around turns in the road which wound its way between soaring forests cloaking the mountains. There was not a lot of traffic on the road and only the occasional tourists on pushbikes.
‘What the hell is he doing all the way out here?’ she asked out loud.
Vaughn frowned. ‘If we know Mitchell, it’s nothing good. Maybe he wants to get out of the way of Hong Kong’s surveillance for some reason?’
Hannah did not reply as she drove, and then she saw the limousine pull over through the trees. Hannah eased the car by as she watched the limousine cruise into a small parking area in the woods. Through the trees she could see a series of trails vanishing up into the hills, the area devoid of tourists.
Hannah pulled over to the roadside and opened her door.
‘Mitchell will have noticed us behind him,’ she said. ‘We can’t risk pulling into the same lot. You drive on and find another, then double back for me. I’ll stay on Mitchell.’
Vaughn shook his head. ‘He’s dangerous, you can’t do this on your own. You saw what happened to Meyer and…’
Hannah got out of the car and shut her door before jogging away from their vehicle. She reached the edge of the tree line as she heard Vaughn drive away, no doubt cursing her to high heaven. She walked for a few minutes back up the road until she reached the parking lot.
The lot was deserted but for the black vehicle parked now alongside a narrow trail winding its way into the woods. The wind whispered through the leaves, dappled sunlight shimmering on the forest floor and reflecting off the vehicle’s glossy paintwork.
In for a penny…
Hannah stepped out from behind the trees and forced herself not to draw her weapon as she walked across the lot toward the car. She could tell even from a distance that the windows were mirror — black tinted, veiling the interior of the vehicle from prying eyes. Private plates, the vehicle otherwise unmodified and equally unremarkable. She could tell that the vehicle was unoccupied as she peered through the front window, so she moved on into the forest and followed the nearest of the trails.
She could hear no birdsong as she moved, a possible indicator that somebody had recently moved up the trail ahead of her, silencing the wildlife. She had read once that a forest requires around fifteen minutes to return to normal after a human being has passed through, and she reckoned that Mitchell could only be a couple of minutes ahead of her.
The sound of a branch or twig snapping from somewhere off the trail caught her attention and she froze, one hand resting on the butt of her pistol as she looked ahead through the trees. A muffled wheezing sound drifted to her on the faint breeze. Hannah looked over her shoulder to ensure that nobody was approaching from behind before she edged forward to where a dense thicket of vines and foliage concealed a small clearing amid the towering trees.