Death Minus Zero by Don Pendleton

Author:Don Pendleton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Worldwide Library
Published: 2015-10-09T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

The limousine had only just left the airfield when Xia Chan’s sat phone rang. He picked up and recognized the clipped tones of Jake Moretti. The American headed the mercenary group Chan had hired for the work in the States. From the tone of Moretti’s voice, he was not about to give Chan good news.

“Go ahead, Mr. Moretti,” Chan said.

One of Moretti’s saving graces was the fact that he spoke Cantonese; it was something he had learned during his service time in the East.

“Things have not gone as planned, Colonel,” he said. “Our teams have been compromised.”

“To what degree?”

“Shot to hell. Dead men. Armaments seized by an American agency.”

Chan fell silent as he digested the information. He absorbed what Moretti had said and quickly assessed what it meant in overall strategy. It was disturbing news, but not catastrophic. Hitting Zero Command would have been a helpful matter, because with the operating base damaged it would make what Chan needed to do that much easier. In truth, it had been a secondary part of the operation; a useful adjunct to the main effort, but not completely necessary.

The fact remained that gaining control of Zero came down to extracting the correct information from Saul Kaplan. If that did not happen, taking the main control center off-line would not matter.

“Moretti, regroup. Calculate your situation and then get back to me. Let us see if we can salvage something from this mess. Call me when you have done so.”

“Will do, Colonel.”

Chan ended the call and leaned back in the padded seat. Beside him Yang Zhou turned away from the window he had been staring out of.

“Something has happened?”

“Yes,” Chan said.

Zhou listened to what Chan had to tell him.

“To be expected,” he said. “You want my sympathy?”

“Will I get it?”

“Sympathy, no. But I am concerned.”

“Your concern is noted,” Chan said.

Zhou shrugged. “I was never in favor of you placing your trust in gweilos.”

“We needed local people. The purpose was to get them close to Zero Command so they could inflict damage if the occasion arose. I understand that may be a moot point now, but a group of our people dressed in American Air Force uniforms would not have been helpful. And before you say more, Zhou, my operation with regard to attacking Zero has been put on hold for the present. We move on. We play our winning card. Saul Kaplan is still in our hands. The main objective of our plan. Or do you see flaws there, as well?”

“I will reserve judgment on that,” Zhou said. “There is still a long way to go before we achieve success.”

“What would I do without your optimistic disposition, my dear Yang?”

Zhou gave a noncommittal grunt.

As the limousine made its way along the winding road, Chan stared at the scenery.

“Such a clean country,” he said. “Don’t you think so, Yang?”

“I would rather be home.” He waved a dismissive hand at the Swiss scenery. “This is not Zhongguo. It is the land of the gweilo.”

“Do I detect a touch of xenophobia, Yang?”

“If you do, I will not apologize.

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