He pushed the dark thoughts away and smiled back. “We’re there?”
She nodded. “Uh-huh.” He watched Lea and Hart checking their weapons, and sharing a laugh with Reaper.
The rickety transport plane thundered to a stop on the runway on Xian Airport and moments later they were all crossing the tarmac to an ageing Aérospatiale Super Frelon. They climbed aboard the chopper and strapped themselves in, in preparation for the short flight to the mausoleum.
He chatted with some of Lao’s men for the duration of the flight, and then Lexi walked over to him once again, a Sig Sauer casually stuffed into the front of her jeans.
“That little bastard Sheng and his lapdog Luk are about to meet their makers. Wanna help me send them on their way?”
Hawke laughed and rose from his seat as the pilot reduced power to the engine and the chopper descended to the grounds at the front of the mausoleum.
They disembarked from the helicopter and jogged toward the building. They walked up the front steps and entered through the main doors, now hanging off their hinges after the devastation of Sheng’s frontal assault on the mausoleum.
“Definitely Sheng’s handiwork,” Lea said.
“It’s time to go to work!” Hawke shouted.
Lexi scoffed. “Work? This is what I call fun, not work.”
Lea rolled her eyes and pulled her pistol from the holster. “Sure it is, and one screw-up and it’s ten years in a Chinese gulag.”
“You’re not wrong,” Hawke said. “This is one war we really have to win.”
Then the sound of gunfire.
“Over there!” Hawke alerted the others to several men who had taken up defensive positions in the lobby.
“Looks like Sheng’s serious about keeping us out,” Lea said.
Hawke nodded. “Too bad we’re just as serious about getting in. Olivia, you lead a group to the north and we’ll go over here.”
And with that the fight began.
Olivia Hart watched Hawke’s unit as he advanced in the middle of an intense firefight, and ordered her team forward into the fray. She knew the dangers involved — this was not her first time in lethal combat. She cleared her mind of all doubt and pressed on, more determined than ever to crush Sheng and secure the map.
She moved forward too far in an act of over-confident bravado, and knew immediately that she had made a mistake. One of Sheng’s goons saw her exposed position and raised his gun.
She raised her weapon, one of the old Chinese carbines Lao had supplied her with on the chopper, and took aim, but then her worst nightmare happened.
The gun jammed.
She looked down at the weapon, struggled with the cocking handle for a second but no luck. She tried to find cover but it was too late.
She heard Sheng’s man firing his weapon.
She saw the muzzle flashing as it fired the bullets at her, and then she felt them searing into her stomach and chest.
As the hot, burning pain raced through her body she collapsed on her knees and felt her blood rising inside of her and causing her to cough violently.
She began to feel dizzy and knew her blood pressure was dropping.
She saw Hawke and Reaper pushing forward with their unit, but they never saw her. She hoped with everything she had that he would survive and bring Sheng to account.
And then it was over.
Scarlet Sloane peered through the porthole of the Gulfstream IV as Tokyo loomed into view. It was vast, stretching out to the horizon but obscured by a thin layer of mist that made the whole mission seem even more sinister.
Today, a few thousand feet beneath her, millions of people were going about their daily business without the slightest thought that this could be the end of the city they called home, and the end of their lives.
Somewhere far below them she knew the Lotus and her crew were assembling the stolen Tesla machine and waiting for Sheng’s orders to annihilate the entire city.
The jet banked hard to starboard and descended sharply as it made its final approach to Haneda International Airport. Minutes later two government officials whisked them through customs and drove them to a Japanese Air Force Black Hawke Sikorsky. Inside half a dozen men in black commando uniforms and face paint looked back in silence at Scarlet as she boarded the chopper and took her seat. They were from the Japanese Special Forces Group, an anti-terrorist unit.
“Can I help any of you?” she said coldly.
“We know who you are,” said one of the men. “So I doubt it.”
They shared a brief, low laugh and after Karlsson, Ryan and Sophie were aboard the chopper lifted off the tarmac. Seconds later the airport was behind them as they headed out into the city, then the man introduced himself as Sergeant Yakamoto.
“Who’s the nerd?” said Yakamoto, nodding his head in the direction of Ryan Bale.
“He’s about to change your world,” Scarlet said. “We know your team was put together at the last minute, and you know next to nothing about this mission. There wasn’t time for a proper briefing. So the nerd, as you put it, is going to tell you all what’s what, so listen up.”
“Thanks,” Ryan said, and faced the men with surprising confidence. “Several years ago the US Department of Defense initiated a Top Secret program called Operation Poseidon. Ordinarily, none of us would ever be given knowledge of this, but desperate situations call for desperate measures, and you have been cleared by both the American and Japanese Governments to know this information.”
The men looked unfazed. Typical Special Forces, thought Scarlet with respect.
Ryan continued. “Operation Poseidon involved the invention and construction of a radiant energy generator, or what is more commonly known as a Tesla Device. After many failed attempts, the program was finally successful and the device became a reality.”
The sergeant scratched his stubble and nodded his head sagely. “Go on.”
Ryan glanced back at Sophie and then to Scarlet, and then carried on with the makeshift briefing.
“In tests on an island in a secret location in the Western Pacific, the creators of the device were able to demonstrate to DoD officials that they could generate an earthquake of any magnitude between two and nine on the Richter Scale.”
“But nine is a major earthquake!” the sergeant said.
“It is,” Ryan said.
One of the others leaned forward, a mix of skepticism and anxiety on his young face. “They can artificially generate earthquakes?”
Ryan nodded. “Yes.”
Yakamoto rubbed his eyes for a moment. “This is unbelievable. An earthquake of nine on the Richter Scale causes total destruction, and they only happen once in decades. If the Americans can cause such devastation at will then…”
Scarlet leaned forward. “Except the Americans no longer have the device.”
“What?”
“The device my colleague has just described was stolen from an American transport vessel a few days ago by a man named Sheng Fang.”
The men on the chopper shared a worried glance.
“We know Sheng. He’s a joke here in Japan — a people smuggler masquerading as a businessman.”
“Well, if he’s a joke it isn't a very funny one,” Scarlet said. “Sheng stole the device, and as I’m sure you’ve already figured out by now, he’s moved it to Tokyo where he plans on destroying the entire city. We don’t know why he chose Tokyo, but we think it might have something to do with an old war vendetta.”
“You’re certain?”
“Of course.”
“So what’s he waiting for?” snarled the sergeant.
“That’s where it gets complicated,” Ryan said.