grandfather and Jesse were holed up in a hidden weapons bunker and trying to plan their next moves. 'In short,' he admitted, 'the original mission parameters are FUBAR.'
'That sounds accurate,' Denny said. 'What do you intend to do about it?'
Just as he was about to reply, he felt Tina tapping him on the shoulder.
'Don't forget to tell him about Feng Li,' she said. 'And put your gun away.'
Jason slipped the Glock back into his shoulder rig and turned his attention back to Denny. 'There's one more thing,' he said. 'The man behind it all. He's not Russian.'
Denny looked surprised. 'If it's not a Russian, who is it?'
'A guy named Feng Li,' he said.
'What?' his boss said, coming halfway out of his chair. 'He's dead!'
'Not as dead as I'd like him to be,' Jason said. 'Tina positively identified him.'
'Hold on a minute,' Denny said, sitting back down. 'We need to bring someone else in on this one.' He tapped at another icon on his desktop and it began to flash an urgent red. A moment later, the Room 59 director, Kate Cochran, appeared at the doorway.
'This had better be the end of the world,' she said, striding into the room. 'I was in the middle of a sparring session and that emergency page cost me a kick to the head.'
'It's not the apocalypse,' Denny said, 'but it's close.'
Kate looked at him soberly. 'All right,' she said softly. She took a seat next to Jason and glanced at him. 'Agent Siku,' she said. 'Aren't you on a recon mission in Alaska?'
'Yes, ma'am,' he said. 'But it got…a little complicated.'
'It always does,' she said. 'Give it to me,' she added to Denny.
His boss went through everything Jason had told him, including the final bit about Feng Li.
For several moments, Kate was deathly silent. 'Damn,' she finally said.
'Excuse me, but I'm not quite clear on something,' Jason said.
'What would that be, Agent Siku?' Kate asked.
'Well, when Tina told me about Li, she said she was terrified of him. Now you two are acting like his return from the dead is a sign of very bad things.
Can you tell me why everyone is so frightened of this guy?'
'Good question,' Kate said. 'And there's a simple answer. When we started Room 59, we put it together with one agent representative from each of the participating nations. A 'prime' is what they were called. They trained and developed future training methods at one of our facilities here in the United States, then returned to their own countries to train the agents there. Li was a prime. When he got tired of straight fieldwork, he asked to be promoted to midnight teams, and his request was granted without question. If the midnight teams are the best of the best, Li was a perfect fit.'
Jason shrugged. 'Okay, so he's a tough guy, I get that. But lots of agents are tough.'
'You don't understand, then,' Denny cut in. 'When Li turned rogue, it took us a long time to track him down. And we didn't go in light. Two midnight teams of five and two field agents went in where he'd been cornered. He decided to make a last stand. He killed all but one agent. It was a disaster.'
'So why'd you think he was dead?' Jason asked.
Denny shrugged. 'I had a sniper — one of our best men — stand away and wait. He shot him,' he said. 'Twice in the chest.'
'And he was dead, right?' Jason asked. 'Dead, dead?'
'Yes,' he said. 'It was a clean, confirmed kill. He was shot twice in the chest from less than two hundred yards away with a sniper rifle using armor-piercing rounds. The sniper checked his body. He was dead.'
'Not as dead as one would think,' Kate said.
Despite himself, Jason felt a surge of relief wash over him.
'Maybe it's time to abort,' Kate continued. 'Extract Agent Siku, debrief Tina, take the smaller fish into custody and let things calm down.'
'We can't do that!' Jason said. 'No way do we let this guy go!'
'Agent Siku!' she snapped. 'I'm thinking of your safety. The mission is a bust. There comes a time to admit that.'
Jason shook his head. 'It's not a bust yet. The sub is still out there — and the Asp. Give me twenty-four hours,' he said. 'Please.'
Kate and Denny exchanged a long look.
'Look,' Jason said, 'they've got the sub, they have it armed with nukes and they even have the damn Asp helicopter. These small-timers don't mean anything in the big picture. Give me twenty-four hours to finish the mission — including Li and his men. If I come up short, then I'll pull the plug myself.'
Denny remained silent. This one was Kate's call. She studied Jason carefully, then said, 'Agent Siku, are you really as good as your friends at the CIA say you are?'
'How good do they say I am?' he asked, grinning.
'They say you're the best,' she said.
'I hate to be immodest,' Jason replied.
'You better be the best,' Kate said. 'Because if you're not, Li won't give you a chance to pull the plug on the mission. He'll hunt you down and kill you without hesitation.'
'Understood, ma'am.'
'All right, you've got twenty-four hours and not a minute more. If we don't hear from you by then…' She left the statement hanging.
'Then I'd best get started,' Jason said, getting to his feet.
'Your orders are now modified,' she said. 'Use any local assets you've got available. Sink the sub and destroy the Asp, take them all out. Clean sweep.'
He nodded in understanding, then turned to Denny. 'Can your offshore team remotely control the Scorpion?'
'Of course,' Denny said. 'What did you have in mind?'
After wrapping up his report with Denny, Jason logged out of Room 59 and shut down the system. He put his laptop and the other gear into a field pack, thankful that Jesse had found most of his things including the handheld device that would be critical to his plan.
The others were talking quietly at another table on the far side of the room and he joined them.
'So,' Tina asked as he approached, 'do you still have a job?'
'For now,' he said. 'Thank you.'
'For what?' she asked.
'Finally telling me the truth,' he said. 'If you hadn't…'
'I know,' she said, grinning. 'You would have killed me.'
'Yes,' he said grimly.
He saw the cold finality of his words sink in and the movement in her throat as she swallowed. He had her full attention; now it was time to go to work.
'I've received revised orders,' he said, sitting down at the table with them. 'And in order to carry them out, I'm going to need some help.'
'What do you have in mind?' Jesse asked.
'I have to get back out to that submarine. By the time we make it back to the coast, the Scorpion will be repaired and waiting.'
'How's that?' his brother asked.
'There's an offshore team of specialists,' he answered. 'They called the Scorpion remotely while I was talking with my superiors. They will get it repaired.'
'Handy,' Jesse said. 'If only I could fix cars that way.'
'And what will you do with the sub, assuming you can find it again?' Tina asked.
'I have orders to sink it,' he said. He turned to Tanuk. 'That's where you come in.'
'How can I help?' the old man asked.
