Descendant by Sean Ellis

Author:Sean Ellis [Ellis, Sean]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gryphonwood Press
Published: 2014-11-18T23:00:00+00:00

37.

It took more than one phone call, but with each successive link in the chain of command, Xu’s urgent plea became more succinct, as did his ability to enumerate the many reasons why it was not merely an act of desperation, but an idea that’s time had come. His ability to read the ministers and party elders was somewhat diminished by the medium of telephone communication, but he knew these men well enough to know what arguments would persuade them.

When the green light was finally given, he turned at last to Kiong. “Where are they now?”

She pointed to the palace, as he knew she would. “They are in an ancient place. A place that is of this world, but not in this world.”

The cryptic response irritated Xu, but he knew he would get nothing more from her. If what Atlas had told him was accurate, Mira and Booker had found a gateway to a parallel universe that occupied the same space as Potala Palace. Kiong could not discern the exact location of the gate, and Atlas had intimated that finding it was more complicated than following a set of instructions. The foreigner had promised to guide him into the city, but he would not arrive for at least three more hours, by which time it might be too late, to prevent the Americans from accomplishing their task. The only option left to him was to prevent them from leaving.

He ushered Kiong back to his car and told the driver to take them a safe distance away, but somewhere with a view of the palace. If by some miracle, the Americans did find their way back through the gate, his best chance of locating them was to rely on Kiong’s sight.

Fifteen minutes later, he received word that the operation was commencing. He got out of the car and trained a pair of binoculars on the brightly illuminated red and white structure that towered above Lhasa. He did not have to wait long.

The attack came without any warning. The flight of Qiang-5A multi-role fighters were running dark and the roar of their Liming Wopen-6A turbojet engines was just so much noise in the cacophony of cars and factories. Even though he knew what was coming, Xu was startled when the first bomb detonated.

In the space of just a few seconds, the mountaintop palace was transformed into a pillar of fire. Xu lost count of the flashes. There were at least five before the first boom reached his ears, and several more thereafter.

In the pause that followed, Xu could see flames lighting up the columns of smoke that ascended into the thin air. From his vantage point, he could also see the city grinding to a halt as people took note of the destruction. Their confusion and alarm was almost audible.

In his head. Xu began composing the statement his department would release, explaining this unprecedented internal military action. Tibetan rebels, emboldened by Western recognition of the Dalai Lama as a legitimate religious and

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