The Ripper: A Lawson Vampire Novel 6 (The Lawson Vampire Series) by Merz Jon F

Author:Merz, Jon F. [Merz, Jon F.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2012-01-02T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Two

I paid Niles a visit after Wirek’s briefing. He needed to know exactly what was going on with the Ripper.

The Fixer Service maintains its own block of real estate within the Council building. In the honeycombed offices, Niles had an office for overseeing my jurisdiction and acting as a liaison for other branches and units. I knocked on the door and entered when he called out I could. He was leaning forward over the computer scanning recent intelligence reports sent to him by the Ferrets, the intelligence gathering unit I’d only recently come to know about. For the longest time, I thought that the Fixer Service was the be-all-end-all of intel, but leave it to the Council to figure we needed overlap. Ferrets were smaller than the Fixer Service, but had already proved very useful, especially in the Middle East where I’d recently been sent to take care of a rogue.

“Good morning.”

Niles grumbled. “You should see what I’m reading right now and then you might change your opinion on that.”

“What’s up?”

Niles pushed back from the computer monitor. “CIA thinks that the Chinese are starting construction on some sort of special underground complex in Qinghai. Know it?”

“Remote,” I said. “Northwest part of the country. Not much there. So I’m guessing there’s not really a reliable bit of intelligence coming out of there?”

Niles nodded. “MI6 had someone but they went missing last week. My guess is the Chinese got her.”

“What about us? Do we have anyone there?”

“Nope. Which is why I’m reading hacked cables from the human intelligence services.”

I sat down. “Why would the Chinese be constructing a special complex?”

Niles shook his head. “No idea. Could be some type of new weapon they want to test? They’ve been pretty secretive about their latest generation weaponry.”

“Isn’t Qinghai on the border of Tibet?”

“Yep, and judging from the little bit of research I’ve done, most of the province is desert. There’s a huge salt water lake there. But apart from two rail lines, there’s not much going on.” He sighed. “The fact that this is such a remote province makes getting anything concrete that much tougher. And given how much money the Chinese have and can funnel into projects like this, it’s likely to become a major concern for the western intelligence services.”

“What about us?”

Niles shrugged. “I’ll prepare a briefing for the Council, but it will largely be their decision as to whether they want someone to go in there and find out what’s going on.” He smiled. “It’s not your area of expertise, though, so I wouldn’t worry about getting the call.”

“I don’t think the Council even cares what my area of expertise is anymore. If they want something done and I’m the guy they call, they expect results.”

Niles jabbed a finger at the map on the screen. “You’d stick out like a sore thumb in this place. According to the recent population statistics, 55% of the locals are Han Chinese and 21% are Tibetan. 16% are Hui. I didn’t see the statistics on white guys.

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