Operation Barracuda by Tom Clancy

Author:Tom Clancy [Clancy, Tom]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Intelligence Officers, Thriller, National Security
ISBN: 9783453431454
Publisher: Heyne
Published: 2005-10-31T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21.

I switch on my thermal vision, pull the grenade pin, reach around the open door, and drop it. The men shout in alarm and then there's a tremendous explosion in the hallway. It's just a smoke grenade but the tight confines of the quarters magnifies the intensity of the blast. Total chaos ensues outside the office as the door is bombarded with gunfire. I fall to the floor, facedown, and crawl out beneath the line of fire. With my head in the hallway I can count four warm bodies in the smoke. Three of them are shooting blindly toward the office. I calmly aim my Five-seveN and take them out--one, two, three.

"Stop!" the fourth man shouts. "Stop shooting, you fools!" The poor guy doesn't realize his men are already dead. I can see him moving toward the staircase, feeling his way along the wall. I stand, grab him in a one-arm choke hold, and place the barrel of my handgun to his head.

It's Anton Antipov.

"I should just kill you now," I say in Russian.

The guy is trembling. "Wait!" he says in English. "Please!"

"Give me a good reason why I shouldn't."

"If you kill me you'll . . . you'll never know what's going on."

"I know what's going on."

"Surely you don't know the details." The guy is desperate. The coward is ready to spill his guts. He's right, though. I don't know the details. I pull him back through the hallway and out of the smoke. We end up in the storeroom with the weapons. I throw him to the floor, quickly frisk him, and find that he's unarmed. Standing over him with the Five-seveN in his face, I say, "Okay, Antipov. Tell me the details. I'm listening. Don't leave anything out."

The man squints at me and asks, "Who are you?"

"The Avon Lady. Now what's the Shop doing with the MRUUV material?"

"You're Fisher! Are you not? The Splinter Cell!"

"I asked you a question."

"I was afraid you might show up sooner rather than later. Andrei . . . Andrei wouldn't believe you'd be on our trail so quickly."

"Are you going to answer me or not? You have three seconds."

"Wait!" Antipov puts up his hands defensively. "Don't shoot!"

"Okay, I'm waiting. Now talk to me."

"We've sold the MRUUV plans to General Tun in China. He plans to attack Taiwan with his army. He's mobilizing in Fuzhou and war is imminent."

Is the general nuts? "He's crazy if he thinks he can attack Taiwan without retaliation from the United Nations, not to mention America. Surely he knows that."

Antipov nods. "The general apparently has a plan for that scenario."

"And that is . . . ?"

"I don't know!"

The guy is too scared to lie. I think back to the information I gleaned from Zdrok's computer. "What's this final piece that's coming from California?"

"You know about that?"

"Answer me."

"It's the guidance system for the MRUUV. A firm based in Los Angeles is designing it according to Tun's specifications. You know how the MRUUV works?"

Yeah, I do. It's an undersea torpedo that can be guided remotely from a submarine or ship.

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