The Genghis Khan Affair
Page 9
It would only be moments before they came within range of the tall missiles on their pads.
“There!” Solo cried.
Far blow a man was running between the missile pads and the control room building.
“General Po,” Illya Kuryakin cried.
“Is he going to fire the missile?” Solo said, surprised.
“He’s going to fire!” Illya said.
“Then he has to be in with THRUSH all the way,” Solo said. “The whole anti-Mao group must be!”
The general vanished into the control building.
Illya Kuryakin threw a second tiny grenade. It exploded on the down slope of the hill.
The firing below stopped as if cut with a knife. To the south the Mongols disengaged and rode madly away from the missile base.
“Come on!” Solo cried.
The one ready missile began to steam on its pad, began to shiver and shake as it prepared to launch.
Below all the firing had stopped now. The Mongols were gone.
General Po stood out in front of the control building staring off to where the Mongols had suddenly vanished. Then the general looked at the shivering, steaming missile.
The missile did not rise.
General Po just stood there.
The Chinese soldiers and workers began to run in a wild panic.
Slowly, gracefully, like a tall creature falling asleep, the missile began to topple over and exploded with a roar on its pad.
The explosion shook the ground like an earthquake. Buildings of the base crashed down, burned.
Solo and Illya lay behind the hill. Illya Kuryakin smiled.
“The warhead won’t explode. It wasn’t armed. I fixed that,” Illya said. “We should be safe.
“Are you sure it won’t explode? The atomic warhead?” Solo said.
“Ninety-nine percent,” Illya said and grinned.
The two agents walked down to where the Mongols waited. The nomads had lost many men, but they were smiling.
Solo and Illya mounted small ponies and rode off with the nomad soldiers.
On the other side of the hill there were screams, and flames of fire rose into the sky.
Illya Kuryakin suddenly pointed north. “See that, Napoleon.”
A helicopter rose into the air and suddenly swung northwest toward the Soviet border. Solo watched it.
“Maxine.” Solo said. “I should have guessed. She saw you come out of the building, Illya. She guessed what was happening.”
“And saved herself without telling anyone else,” Illya said. “That’s THRUSH.”
“That’s Maxine,” Solo said.
And the agent grinned as he watched the helicopter fly steadily to the north.
A week later, Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin sat in the comfortable office of Alexander Waverly. The unsmiling Section-I Chief searched in his pockets for a match to light his pipe.
“You did well,” Waverly said, found a match, began to light his pipe. “Unfortunately, the Trent woman did escape. Our people in Siberia located the helicopter, but I fear she had long been gone.
“A report tells me that she has been seen drinking with the Albanian Embassy staff in Ulan Bator,” and Waverly sighed. “Of course, we did not find her there. But I expect she’ll turn up again.”
“I expect she will,” Illya said, “she just can’t stay away from Napoleon.”
“You are jealous,” Solo said.
“Yes, well,” Waverly said, puffed on his pipe. “The THRUSH plot was foiled completely, but I fear the base was inspected by the Chinese, and now there is a great deal of tension between the two factions. It seems Chairman Mao knows that General Po’s faction worked with THRUSH. It looks like there will be a purge, possibly civil war. W e must see if we can stop it or minimize it.”
“You want us to go back?” Illya said.
“Perhaps. I shall have to study the matter. There is going to be a civil battle in China over this, and we may have to help. But meanwhile, gentlemen, take a vacation. Have a rest. Say, you will report back here in two days.”
“Thanks, sir,” Napoleon said drily.
“Unless I call you sooner,” Alexander Waverly said.
Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin filed from the room. Waverly puffed on his pipe and stared thoughtfully at the wall. There was a bit of work to be done. And not much time…