Operation Barracuda

three times. Should I risk it? As far I know, there’s only one guy in the joint. I imagine I can take him, but it’s possible the alarm could bring others.

Before I take the risk, another pair of headlights swings toward the building from the gravel road. Damn! Once again I move around the corner of the structure, where I figure it’s safe to wait. The new car, a Porsche, parks next to the Corvette. Again, the driver is alone. He extinguishes the lights, gets out, and goes to the door. I watch as he punches in the access code but the door doesn’t open. He knocks. After a moment, a voice on the intercom answers.

The new guy can’t remember the code. I quickly draw the Five-seveN and activate the T.A.K. Aiming it at the door, I hear the following conversation in Chinese:

INSIDE GUY: What do you mean, you don’t remember the code?

OUTSIDE GUY: So sue me. What is it?

INSIDE GUY: Nine-nine-seven-two-two-zero and star.

OUTSIDE GUY: Thanks.

He punches the correct numbers and the door opens. Once he’s inside, I hear Grimsdottir in my ear. “Sam? We have that code for you now.”

“Never mind. I have it,” I say.

“It’s 9-9-7-2-2-0 star.”

“I said I have it. Thanks.”

“Oh. You’re welcome.”

Brother.

I wait a minute and then go to the door. I punch in the code and hear the lock disengage. I peer inside and see an empty corridor illuminated by overhead fluorescent lighting. Slipping inside, I’m aware of voices at the end of the hall. The two men are speaking in Chinese and it’s difficult for me to understand them at this distance. I move farther down the corridor and slide into what appears to be a break room. There are vending machines, a couple of tables and chairs, a microwave and kitchen fixtures, and an employee bulletin board. Tacked onto the board are a couple of dozen color snapshots depicting a company picnic. A hand-printed banner reads, in English, HOLIDAY PICNIC, MARINA DEL REY HARBOR. I take a moment to scan the photos. They’re the usual silly poses you see at company-sponsored events — people making goofy faces with beers in hand, a guy grilling burgers and hot dogs, a group playing volleyball. Someone has labeled each photo with a small piece of paper written in Chinese: Ken making dinner, Joe and Tom getting drunk, Kim and Chang score a point. All the subjects in the photos are Chinese and are of varying ages, mostly men. I’m about to turn my attention back to the two guys in the building when I notice a shot of Eddie Wu staring at me. I’m sure it’s him. He’s standing on the deck of a motor yacht docked at one of the marinas. The boat is named Lady Lotus and from the proud expression on Eddie’s face it appears as if he’s the skipper. Sure enough, the label proclaims, Captain Eddie and his boat. I take the snapshot off the board and stuff it in one of my pockets, then turn back to the hallway.

The two men move deeper into the building. I creep along the corridor, moving from corner to corner, until the duo go inside a couple of swinging doors marked, in Chinese and English, DEVELOPMENT. Each door has a square window and through one I can see one of the men, his back to me, fiddling with something on a worktable. It’s not a leap in logic to assume that the room they’re in is the lab — the place where the GyroTechnics employees build all their crap.

I remove the optic cable from my backpack, switch it on, and slowly feed it along the floor and underneath the swinging doors. The headpiece just fits so I slide it through about an inch. I then open up the lens to a fish-eye and adjust the focus on my OPSAT. I now have a fairly clear picture of what’s going on in there. A flick of a switch turns on the audio, which is transmitted to my implants.

The two men are busy creating explosives. One of them has a block of nitro from which he squeezes a little at a time, like toothpaste. The stuff goes into a metal cylinder that the other guy places in hockey-puck-shaped containers wired with detonators and timers. They’re very similar to my own wall mines.

The conversation, being in Chinese, goes by fast but I’m able to pick up words here and there. I’ll be able to have the team in Washington translate the whole thing later.

FIRST GUY:… Eddie… in big trouble…

SECOND GUY: I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes.

FIRST GUY: And he has the…

SECOND GUY: Ming will find him.

FIRST GUY:… can’t hide forever.

SECOND GUY: I still don’t understand why… to destroy… the place.

FIRST GUY: Orders from Hong Kong.

SECOND GUY:… get rid of the trail?

FIRST GUY: Exactly.

SECOND GUY: Where did everyone…?

FIRST GUY: They’ve been moved out. Some will go back to Hong Kong. The scientists that defected will be placed in new positions somewhere else.

SECOND GUY:… some dumb town in Arkansas… (laughs)

FIRST GUY: (laughs)

SECOND GUY: Are you almost done?

FIRST GUY: Yeah. Here. You need to set the timers.

SECOND GUY: What do you think? Ten minutes?

FIRST GUY: Five. No, make it eight. Just in case our cars don’t start. (laughs)

SECOND GUY: (laughs)

FIRST GUY: So do you know where Eddie… hiding?

SECOND GUY: No. At least I think I know where he’ll be… LAX tomorrow.

FIRST GUY: How do you know that?

SECOND GUY: I helped arrange it before Ming told me to shut down the firm.

FIRST GUY: You talked to…?

SECOND GUY: No, Eddie did. I arranged the flight. It’s not easy dealing with Russians.

FIRST GUY: He’s coming from Russia?

SECOND GUY: No, he’s coming from Hong Kong. Eddie will… meet… at LAX… American Airlines… or send someone…

FIRST GUY:… reward, you know? Ming said so.

SECOND GUY: I know, I know. Let’s finish this job first. Then maybe we can meet the plane tomorrow, too. We follow the Russian, we’ll find Eddie.

The two men begin to gather their materials. They’ve made, I think, eight explosives. I retrieve the optic cable, coil it, and place it in my backpack. One of the men leaves the room and takes a nearby staircase to the second floor while the other one places two or three of the devices within the lab.

Damn, they’re about to blow up the place. Jon Ming must have heard of Eddie and Mike Wu’s betrayal and ordered GyroTechnics to be closed down. The hard way.

Maybe I better get the hell out now. While the two arsonists are busy planting their devices of destruction around the building, I leave the way I came in. It takes me three minutes to jump the fence, run through the trees, and find the Murano.

In exactly six minutes and twenty seconds, I see the Corvette and the Porsche emerge from the gravel road, turn onto Norman Place, and drive past me down the hill. I start the engine, make a U, and follow them.

Right on time, I hear a tremendous sonic boom behind me. The ground shakes as if an earthquake has struck. In the rearview mirror I see that the night sky is orange and yellow. The blast sets off dozens of car alarms in the area and now the hills are alive with the sound of honking.

When I get to the bottom of the hill, the two arsonists are gone. I’m not concerned about them. They’re just soldiers. What interests me is what they said about meeting a plane at LAX tomorrow. I’ll have to get the complete translation but from what I could gather, Eddie Wu is meeting someone from the Shop at the airport tomorrow. The Russian is flying in to close the guidance system deal. Could he possibly be Oskar Herzog or Andrei Zdrok? Zdrok