RED RENEGADE: A ruthless China conspiracy and financial thriller with an espionage twist. (HENRY CROWNE PAYING THE PRICE series. Book 6) by Freddie P Peters

Author:Freddie P Peters [Peters, Freddie P]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-12-27T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Harris played the message again. The recording Hunter III had received of the last conversation between Dragon and the CIA couldn’t be clearer.

The net was closing in fast around Dragon and comms had become too dangerous. So, Dragon had gone underground – or perhaps worse.

This had not surprised Harris as much as the identity of Dragon. He couldn’t help but smile at his own assumption. Dragon wasn’t a man. And although Harris couldn’t be certain yet – as no name had been given and wouldn’t be – Harris knew that Dragon could only be one of the few senior women in the military and an equally senior member of the Chinese Communist Party.

After, he had sent a request to Elaine in London for a list of all high-ranking officers in the Chinese Army. Harris didn’t specifically ask for a list of female officers. He trusted his team, of course, but the risk of a leak – even an infinitely small one – was just too big to take.

Harris removed his headphones and stood up. Nick had given him access to the downloaded data on a laptop that wasn’t linked to the internet. Nick had done a final check of his own system to make sure they hadn’t been tracked and then collapsed for a few hours’ kip in his bedroom.

The smell of freshly brewed coffee lured Harris to the kitchen after a few minutes.

Now that he knew more about Dragon’s identity, Harris felt the heavy burden of that knowledge. To Harris’s irritation, he almost sympathised with Hunter’s decision to keep the latest developments from him, but not quite. There was no good reason for the silence. Dragon would no longer be communicating any update on the status of TECH LEOPARD. She wouldn’t tell the CIA if Henry was at risk or if he’d even been discovered.

Careful what you wish for…

Henry Crowne was on his own behind enemy lines.

Harris poured another mug of coffee. He reached for the packet of biscuits rather than his cigarettes, and returned to the laptop. He checked again the time stamp of the recording. Exactly forty-eight hours after Henry had arrived in Inner Mongolia.

Harris took a sip of coffee and winced. This brew was not up to his usual standard, but it would have to do. He listened to the recording one more time, focusing on Dragon’s voice, her intonations and the emotions, if any, she may be conveying.

There was nothing Harris could hang his hat on but the feeling persisted that there was more to TECH LEOPARD than he’d been told. Dragon didn’t sound pressed or worried. She was relaying a pure statement of fact. Her days were almost certainly numbered. Was she confident Rob Walker would be saved?

Harris thought about the type of spy she was, one who turned against her own country. Spies fell into two camps: the greedy or the idealist. Which one was Dragon? He guessed idealist. If greed had been her motive, she would have asked for an exfiltration and even more money to tell all her secrets to the most generous intelligence service in the world.

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