“You have nothing to fear,” Jiaolong said.
One of the guards translated into Chinese for the “old woman’s” benefit.
Jiaolong continued. “I asked you here only to honor you.” He bowed deeply. When he rose, he said, “I regret that your husband was murdered by this man’s associate.” He pointed to Jake. “And I applaud the manner in which you ended his miserable existence. You and your family shall be well rewarded.” Skylar bowed again and kept her head low.
“You bastard,” Jake said, playing along. He didn’t know what had happened but Skylar sure as hell didn’t kill Pete.
Jiaolong ignored Jake’s comment. He said to Skylar, “I vow to you that this man will face similar justice.”
Despite the hope that Skylar’s presence instilled, Jake was still filled with concern for his family and friends. When Jiaolong turned back to face him, Jake allowed his fear to show. Jiaolong smiled.
“No, I’m not going to kill you. That would be far too easy an escape from the horrors I have planned for the man who murdered my parents.” He held up the tablet. “Once I hit the Enter button, your world will change forever, and you and your loved ones will feel a pain far worse than death.”
Jake didn’t like the sound of that one bit. But while his imagination raced through a multitude of dark possibilities, another part of him noticed Zhin rolling her eyes.
I can work with that.
“Here’s what I know,” Jake said. “First off, you’re an idiot. Secondly, Grandpa’s not very happy with you. In fact, he’s ashamed.”
Jiaolong stiffened. Jake pressed on.
“Don’t believe me? Don’t believe he told me about the secrets embedded in your video game? About Passcode? And why the beta testers happen to be gatekeepers to the most secure networks on the planet, including your own government’s?”
Jiaolong paled.
“Ahh, there we go. Not so smug, now, huh? Well, let me clue you in, boy. Because your grandfather also told me some things that even you aren’t aware of. Ever heard the name Wong Huang-Fu?”
Jiaolong didn’t react.
“No? You should have,” Jake said, smiling inwardly as the triplets shifted uneasily. “You’re nearly family.”
Zhin removed her shoulder bag and set it on the desk. Her eyes narrowed at Jake. Min moved to one side and Jake readied himself.
Jiaolong sneered. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Nor do I care—”
“You see, while you’ve been caught up in your new-tech world of secret eyeglass cams and video monitoring equipment, Wong—who happens to be your grandfather’s most bitter enemy—has stayed true to his old-school roots as a triad kingpin. He’s been managing you from the shadows for years, gathering information through well-placed spies, biding his time while you did all the work. He’s probably watching us as we speak, laughing his ass off at what a fool you are.”
“Nice try, Mr. Bronson. A last-ditch effort to create doubt before I push the button. But it won’t work.”
“If you say so. Oh, one last thing. Did I mention that Wong is your girlfriend’s grandfather?” Jiaolong frowned. “Who’s the puppet master now...Geppetto?”
Jiaolong turned to Lin, who seemed totally at ease. She placed her hands on his cheeks and kissed his mouth. After pulling away, she said, “The American is nothing if not creative.” She smiled and Jiaolong seemed to relax.
Jake shook his head. The fool hadn’t seen that Min had pulled out her phone and speed-dialed a number. “It is time,” she said into the device. Then she pocketed it and spun around to confront her boss.
***
Jiaolong was startled by the sudden movement. Min grabbed his arm with both hands and squeezed. He was shocked at her vise-like grip. She yanked forward and used his momentum to spin him face-first into the wall, his nose crunching on impact. Blinding pain shot across his cheekbones and forehead. Furious, he tapped the Enter key, discarded the tablet, and cocked his fist. Zhin rushed forward, grabbed his raised first, and pulled in the opposite direction. He went with the movement, trusting that Zhin was there to help, and he noticed sweet Lin drop to her knees in front of him, her hands buried in her face. But Min wouldn’t let go. Instead, she tightened her grip and spat at him. Zhin reached behind him, and he felt her grab hold of Min’s arm. He braced himself for the move that would break Min’s attack.
Then something changed. Both women stilled, as if an unspoken command had been exchanged between them. Their arms locked together behind him and their free hands slid down his forearms to hold his wrists outward. They pressed and suddenly he was on his knees, locked between them. His struggles to break free sent white-hot pain up his arms.
On her knees in front of him was Lin, her face a picture of revulsion. She held a long stiletto toward him as if it were an offering, its tip against his sternum.
“Surprise,” she whispered.
Her lips curled in a hungry smile, her eyes dancing from her sisters to him. He followed her gaze, looking left, then right, then back to the woman he loved. Each of the triplets wore the same expression of bitter disgust and for an instant he couldn’t tell them apart. The realization of their lie overwhelmed his senses, and he was once again the tormented chonky at school whom everyone detested.
The blade pierced his skin and he recoiled from the burning pain. But the sisters held him fast and Lin’s hand didn’t waver. She slowly pushed it deeper, angled upward, its tip moving inexorably toward his pounding heart.
Lin’s face became enraptured by the process, and Jiaolong died a thousand deaths while his heart made its final beat.
Chapter 28
Yóulóng Village
WE’D WATCHED IN HORROR as the scene unfolded on the video monitor. I’d been proud of the way my father stood up to his captors, but the looks on the sisters’ faces when they murdered de Vries’s grandson had nearly made me throw up. Sarafina had buried her face in Ahmed’s chest, her shoulders hitched in silent sobs. Little Star’s fists were clenched at his side. Ahmed was grim faced, but he nodded to himself as if he was glad the man had been killed. I knew what he was thinking—the guy deserved it. But I still couldn’t embrace his murder.
De Vries’s thoughts had scattered for a moment, replaced by a feeling of cold fury. His grandson had been murdered before his eyes, betrayed by the offspring of the old man’s lifelong enemy. The three women were pure evil, I thought, and I didn’t need my high IQ to know my parents would be their next victims.
I had to find a way to help them.
De Vries read my thoughts. “I will help as well,” his voice said through the loudspeakers.
I heard a soft buzzing sound and saw both wall cameras panning toward us.
“Hey!” Ahmed said.
“It’s okay,” de Vries said. “I’ve made a few adjustments. They cannot hear or see you.”
Ahmed moved toward the exit. “Good. We need to get to Mom and Dad before it’s too late.”
“Wait,” de Vries said. “If you rush ahead blindly, you will also be taken.”
“He’s right,” Little Star said. “We need a plan.”
“For my part,” de Vries said, “I’ve already begun.”
I sensed streams of code shooting forth from him, spiraling outward in multiple directions to embrace the network here in the valley plus the one ten kilometers away, planting a virus that would delete directories, erase files, and wipe hard drives. The code absorbed it all, including all the cloud backup files stored on remote servers. When everything was in place, de Vries’s voice was back in my head. “I’ve placed a timer on the virus. Now, here’s what you must do before it goes off.”
He outlined his plan and two minutes later we were ready to leave. De Vries had confirmed that the path between here and the tunnel entrance was clear. He’d done his part. The rest was up to us.
I reached out to him through my Spider. I needed to keep this part of our conversation private. May I help you, too?
Yes, but before
I go I’d like to pass along one final thought. You are a remarkable child. You will make a difference in this world. But learn this from my life’s lesson. There is beauty in death. I understand that now. It’s an integral part of our existence, motivating us to sacrifice selfish aspirations in favor of nurturing our children. Seeking immortality in the hopes of building a better world is a fool’s errand, because it’s the promise of death that inspires man to greatness, to make a difference each and every day of his life.
I burned his words into a special drawer in my mind. They were words to live by.
De Vries said, I’m ready.
I closed my eyes—
“Wait!” de Vries’s voice blared over the loudspeakers. “Look.”
The scene on the video monitor switched over to a view from an exterior camera that appeared to be mounted in the jungle. An old road stretched into the distance, and I could see the tiny outline of the village on the horizon.
“That’s gotta be four or five miles away,” Ahmed said.
A military caravan streaked into view at the bottom of the screen, racing toward the village. There were trucks and Jeeps and Humvees with heavy machine gun turrets. And then a robotic swarm swept past the lens like a huge flock of angry birds. They were the same as in the video game and we’d never stand a chance against them. If we stepped into the open, we’d be discovered within moments of their arrival, and if we resisted, we’d be dead in less than a thought.
What would Dad do?
“They’ll be here soon,” de Vries said. “There’s no time to waste.”
Ahmed was at the door in a second. Little Star and Sarafina were right behind him. But I hesitated, exchanging a desperate burst of thoughts with de Vries, asking him to do one final thing for me.
Brilliant, his mind said as he weaved a quick patch of code and sent it on its way.
Then I closed my eyes and accepted the electronic tentacles of the old man’s consciousness. A nanosecond later I swept everything that was Frederik de Vries back into his failing body. When I opened my eyes, I saw the corner of his parched lips twitch around the tube that projected from his mouth. He’d tried to smile.
God bless you, Alex Bronson.
The monitors flatlined.
“Come on!” Ahmed said, holding the door open.
I grabbed my pack and ran.
***
A twig snapped and Lacey flicked off the safety on her MP5.
She’d been observing the valley from the ridgeline and had watched desperately as Marshall and the others had been escorted into the barracks. But then she’d spotted a figure making its way up the trail, so she’d scrambled back to her hiding spot beneath the brush.
A thick cloud bank had obscured the moonlight, but not so much that she couldn’t see the shadow moving slowly toward her previous position on the ridge. Her heart thudded louder and louder. She settled the red-dot sight of her weapon on the crouching form. He was less than thirty feet away.
If he takes one step in my direction…
The figure looked left and right. “Lacey?” the man said softly.
She couldn’t believe her ears. “Pete?”
He turned and hurried toward her, and she knew from his broad silhouette that it was Pete. She lowered her weapon and crawled from the brush.
“Thank God yer okay, lass. I’ve been worried sick.” His uniform was covered in blood, and there appeared to be bullet holes in his chest. He wasn’t carrying a weapon.
She sucked in a breath. “You’re hurt.”
He chuckled. “I’m pleased it looks that way. Otherwise, I’d be a goner. I was about to get riddled for real when Sky stepped up and shot me instead. God bless her.”
“Squibs?”
“Yep.”
She sighed. “They took Marshall, too.”
“I know. They passed me on the way down. It looked like they were headed toward the barracks. They might have also gotten Dolphin, Shamer, and the woman who took us in. The house was empty. That’s why I headed up here.” He hesitated before adding, “Any sign of Feng or his buddy?”
Lacey shook her head and Pete’s shoulders sagged. “I figured as much. The bastards who did this are going to pay.”
“What should we do?”
“We’ve got to save the day, what else? I assume ye followed procedures and disabled yer phone?”
“Yes. But I still have this.” She unclipped the sat phone from her belt.
“Did ye use it?”
“I wanted to. Oh, man, did I want to. But I remembered Jake’s warning about not calling until he had the kids. I was searching for signs of Jake or them when I spotted you coming up the trail. That’s when I hightailed it back into the brush. Did you see them?”
“Afraid not.”
They moved to the ridgeline and studied the barracks through their night-vision scopes.
Pete said, “I got the diversion charges set up but without a comm link, Jake can’t signal to let me know when to set ’em off.”
“What if he’s been taken, too?”
“Been thinkin’ about that. It amn’t gonna be easy trying to free the rest of them with just the two of us.”
“Then maybe it’s time to call in the cavalry,” she said.
Pete didn’t answer. He was panning his scope this way and that. There was a soft rumble in the distance and he swept the scope up the valley. Lacey raised her scope and saw headlights break from the distant jungle. A vehicle turned onto the straightaway leading toward the village. Another set of headlights skipped into view behind it, and the flickers of more lights in the trees told her there were more behind that one. The clouds shifted and moonlight slanted down to illuminate the patch of roadway. That’s when she noticed the pulsing shadow that seemed to float above the military caravan. She focused her scope on the mass and saw what looked like a flock of birds following the vehicles. All at once, the flock split into three groups and lined up in perfect diamond formations.
“That cuts it,” Pete said. “We’ve got to get off this mountain before that swarm gets here. And we’re gonna need all the help we can get to save our friends. Make the bloody call!”
She picked up the phone and speed-dialed.
***
Only a few minutes had passed since Jake watched Jiaolong meet his fate. Now he was locked in the cell with the rest of them. He wrapped his arms around Francesca and she clung to his chest. The others stood along either side of them. Jiaolong’s body had been removed from the room, and the three sisters were huddled at the desk with their cell phones pressed to their ears.
“Whad’ya think they’re talkin’ about?” Tony whispered.
“No talking!” the big guard said, pointing his pistol at Tony. The guard—one of the sisters had called him Bingwen—had a huge lump on his forehead from where Tony had head-butted him, and Jake suspected he’d like nothing better than to squeeze the trigger. Tony shut up.
The sisters seemed to be doing more nodding than talking; it had to be Grandfather Wong on the other end of the line. The elder de Vries had told Jake that Wong’s home base was less than ten clicks away, and the man was probably on his way over with reinforcements. Not that he needed them. The sisters had taken quick charge of the situation after killing Jiaolong. It was a classic coup d’état and the guards had taken it all in stride. Most of them had exited the barracks to take up stations elsewhere. The two who had stayed back with Bingwen were watchful but relaxed. They’d moved to the back of the room to give the sisters privacy. Skylar, still disguised, stood beside the guards, her head bowed. Zhin had said she wanted to speak with Skylar and asked her to remain until after the call. Jake waited anxiously for Sky to make her move. He had no idea what she had planned.
The door flew open and a guard rushed in with his assault rifle in a ready position. Sweat beaded his brow. A glare from Zhin stopped him short; she and the sisters were intent on their phone call. The guard bowed, then shuffled over and whispered something to Bingwen. The brute’
s expression tightened. Bingwen whispered back, keeping his eyes glued on Jake and the others, looking like he was trying to cover up a swell of anger. His subordinate gave a subtle nod, shouldered his weapon, and walked casually toward the other two guards.
“Something’s up,” Becker whispered.
Jake knew the Aussie was right but there was nothing Jake could do about it. He watched helplessly as the scene unfolded. The sisters ended their call, Bingwen distracted Skylar with a quick question, then the new guard grabbed her from behind and held a knife to her throat. The two remaining guards rushed to grab either of her arms.
Bingwen stormed over to confront her. He watched as his guards removed her weapons and emptied her pockets. They dropped a pistol, several spare magazines, two throwing knives, and a cell phone onto a nearby table. Bingwen scrutinized her face.
“What’s this?” Zhin asked as she and the sisters pocketed their phones and walked over.
Bingwen placed a meaty palm over Skylar’s face and ripped off her bulbous prosthetic nose. One of her rubber cheekbones came away with it, and the white skin beneath stood in sharp contrast to the rest of her darkened face. Skylar wriggled her nose and glared at Bingwen. He backhanded her, whipping her head to one side. The guards held her tight and he smacked her again.
Sky snarled at him. “Is that all you got?”
Bingwen cocked his arm. Tony pounded the bars with his palms. “Try that with me, asshole!”
“Bingwen, enough,” Zhin said, approaching the big guard. “How did you know?”
“The man she supposedly killed? His body is missing and the blood splatter wasn’t really blood.”
Skylar snickered. “He looked pretty dead to me.”
Min rushed forward and grasped her by the chin, her nails digging into Skylar’s flesh. “I will teach you respect. And then you will look really dead.” She released her grip. “Throw her in with the others.” The guards hauled her to the cell, unlocked the door, and pushed her inside.
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