White Jade (The PROJECT) (19 page)

"
Who
'
s going?
"

"
Don
'
t worry, Ronnie, you
'
re on the team.
"

"
You need me along
,
"
Selena
said
.

"You don't know what you're asking,"
Carter
said.

"
Y
ou don't think a woman can do the tough stuff?"

"That's not what I mean."

"What do you mean?"

"We'll have to jump in. It's rugged terrain and high altitude. If the Chinese are there it could get bad, fast."

"I've been skydiving for years,
I'm qualified.
I have over seventy jumps. None of you speak the languages and you couldn't make sense of any writing you might come across. You need me."

"It's not a goddamned farmer's field. It's the Himalayas, for Christ's sake."

Selena just looked at him.

Harker said,
"
Anyone on that team has to be armed
,
Selena
.
"

"
Guns don
'
t bother me.
"

"
They're not guns, they're weapons. H
ow do you feel about shooting someone? You think you could do that?"

Her heart started pounding.
She took a deep breath. "If I had to."

"
You have a point about the language barrier.
"
Tap, tap.

There was silence.
After a moment
Carter
said,
"
How would we go in?
"

"
I think a
B-1B modified for Special Ops
,
out of Dyess. That plane is perfect for
high altitude
penetration
.
Chinese radar won
'
t pick it up. With a small team we can give you a vehicle, supplies, everything you need. How many personnel do you want?
"

"
Fewer is better,
"
said Ronnie.
"
If we run into opposition, more bodies won
'
t get us out of trouble and we lose mobility with more. Keep it small.
"

"
Nick?
"

"
I agree with Ronnie. One vehicle, weapons, a few days of supplies. In light and out as fast as we can. But I want to know exactly what we
'
re getting into before we get on that plane.
"

"
We
'
ll get as much intel as we can.
" Harker's pen tapped, went still. "
Selena, I
'
m willing to put you on the team but I want Nick to get you familiar with the weapons you
'
ll have to carry.
"

"
That
'
s fine by me.
"

"
Wait a minute,
"
Nick said.
"
Selena's not
combat
trained.
"

"
Then I guess you'd better get her up to speed. She goes.
We don
'
t have a lot of time. Yang and his people are going to get there as fast as they can
.
We have to beat them to it.
"

"You're putting us at risk."

"She goes." Harker's voice had an edge in it.
Carter
had heard it before. It was her don't-fuck-with-me voice.

He gave in.
"
When do we leave?
"

"
We have to set up transport and supplies
and get a clear location. If it's a go,
tomorrow night. That gives you time to work with Selena on the range. Ronnie, you get on logistics. Make sure nothing points back to us and that you
'
ve got plenty of whatever you need. Better add climbing gear. It
'
ll be cold weather and thin air. Lay in oxygen.
"

"
What about radiation equipment?
If there
'
s anything there, we need to know it.
"

"
Good point. Take a counter and dosimeters for everyone.
"

"Are you going to tell the President?" Carter asked.

"No. Not yet.
He needs to be able to deny it."

She didn't say what they were all thinking. If Rice had to deny it, something would have gone wrong. Big time wrong.

Like that,
they
were on
their
way to
Tibet
.

Chapter Twenty-
Eight

Colonel Wu made the call
on his encrypted satellite phone
.

"
Yang.
"

"
Sir. I am pleased to report success. I have a complete copy of the book in my possession.
"

"
You are sure it is the correct book.
"

"
Yes, sir.
"

"
Is it the original?
"

"
No, sir, it is a computer transcription with a complete scan of the original and translation. After this call I will transmit it to your private terminal.
"

"
Where is the original?
"

"
As far as I can determine it is inaccessible.
"

"
What is the status of your negotiations with the
Triads
?
"

"
Everything has been agreed to as you wished. They are ready to carry out Summer Wind on the American holiday. I offered
four
hundred million American dollars and full independence, with mutual security agreements, for
Taiwan
. As you predicted, the money by itself would not have been enough
. O
ffering
Taiwan
was irresistible. The
bosses are all what the Americans call high rollers. Gamblers. They could not refuse to
gamble for stakes on the world
's table
.
"

"
It is a gamble they will lose. Very good,
Senior
Colonel Wu. You will return home immediately.
"

Wu flushed with pride. Senior Colonel! The hard jump in the military hierarchy.

"
Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.
"

"
You
'
ve done well, Wu. When you arrive, report directly to me.
"

"
Yes, sir. Do you have any other instructions?
"

"
None at the moment. Transmit the information.
"
Yang ended the call.

A few key strokes on his computer and the information was on its way. Wu
got out a suitcase
and began packing. There was a plane leaving in four hours.

In
Beijing
, General Yang set the phone down and allowed himself a moment of satisfaction.

The Elixir of Immortality. The goal of thousands of years of Chinese tradition. It could be his. But it was probably just another old recipe that brought death, not life.

A raid in
Tibet
had
turned up
a Sanskrit text on the
First
Emperor
, called
"
The Silver Garuda
"
. It was known that Yang collected anything about the
First
Emperor
and his
search
for
immortality
. The book had found its way to him.

The elixir of immortality was a defining element in the life of Emperor Huang.  Yang
thought of the Emperor as
a
kindred spirit, a
model to be emulated and surpassed.
Huang
had taken a vast land ruled by feuding warlords and beset by barbarian enemies and
forged
it into a
n
empire. He had started China on the path of greatness.
Anything remotely related to him was of interest.

When Yang read the translation he
'
d seen the possibilities.
It
was clear the formula used potent radioactive materials. According to the text, directions to the
source
of those materials could be found in
a second book, the one now residing on his computer.

The quality of China
'
s uranium made refinement time-consuming and expensive. With the location of superior deposits he
'
d have what he needed to bring hundreds of
the
new warheads on line.
Lighter, more deadly. The designs were in place.

That made him think of Deng, the treasonous little
dog
.
It was annoying that Deng had defected. Sooner or later
Deng
would be
eliminated.
Meanwhile,
others
carried on
his work.

It w
ould
take time to ready the missiles
. P
erhaps two years
, but Yang was patient
. As for the elixir, once
he had
the complete formula,
he'd
test it on prisoners. The book was found in Tibet
. H
e'd
use Tibetans for the trials.
The corners of his frog like mouth turned upward
in a smile
.

He went to his computer
and
opened the message. Yang was shocked to learn the emperor was not at Li Shan, more so when he saw where he had been taken. The site was marked on the map in the book. When Colonel Wu returned, Yang would send him there.

His thoughts turned to the plan. The American holiday was close. It was time to activate Summer Wind, the operation that would change the destiny of
China
forever.
A new Dynasty would be born.

Yang picked up his phone and began calling the others. Mixed in with inconsequential conversation was the same message each time.
Spring has ended, summer is upon us
. The planes would remain on the ground unless he released them
. T
he tanks were ready.
The submarines with their
missiles
would be his.
So would the ICBMs targeted on the West.
That would keep the Americans and other foreign dogs at bay.
The railroads would shut down. Divisions commanded by members of the Society and trusted officers under them would occupy
Beijing
.

He
'
d arrest the entire Politburo Standing Committee of the Party and the President, cut off the head of the current leadership and replace it with himself.
China
would become the most powerful nation that had ever existed and step into her rightful place. Yang
was certain
the
First
Emperor
would understand his ambition, if he were alive today.

For no reason at all he remembered the time he
'
d broken the big ceramic bowl his mother brought out for special occasions. It was the one painted with
blue
herons standing in the reeds, slim and handsome, like her. He
'
d been what, eight years old? He
'
d only wanted to fill it with water and sail his toy boat. It had slipped from his small hands and shattered into a thousand pieces on the tiles of the kitchen floor.

His mother had run into the room. When she
'
d seen what he had done, she
'
d begun shrieking and hitting him. She
'
d hit him again and again
while he
'
d screamed, cursing and beating him with the heavy wooden paddle she used in the big cooking wok until it broke, until a neighbor had run in and pulled her away
from him.

He
'
d never forgotten the feeling of powerlessness and shame. Well, it was different now.
As to his mother, she had already paid for his humiliation. Yang had
seen to
that.

Yang opened a cabinet of carved
teak
wood on his desk.
H
e pushed on a decorative dragon and watched
the
hidden compartment spring open. He took out a pipe, a lamp and a small ball of sticky opium
. He
went to the couch, lit the lamp and lay back on one arm. He lit the pipe and drew the blissful smoke deep into his lungs, drifting off into a pleasant dream of a vast, blue plain with endless rows of people kowtowing before him.

Emperor.