Rising Tiger: A Thriller (70)

“Anything else in his background?”

“You mean her background,” Lawlor said, correcting him.

“The attacker was female?”

“Yep.”

“Just like I—”

“Just like you projected,” Lawlor said, finishing his sentence for him. “The Chinese are getting more desperate and their tactics reflect it. They’re hoping that they can be more successful by utilizing female operatives.”

“Didn’t work this time, did it?”

“Judging by how much of her is scattered across Nicholas’s property, no, it did not.”

“Do we know anything about her background?” Harvath asked. “Was she working for Chinese military intelligence? State intelligence? Do we have anything at all on her?”

“She was unremarkable. Clean. No flags. She sailed right through the visa process.”

Harvath shook his head. “One-point-four billion people. Welcome to the next fire hose we get to choke on. Beijing isn’t going to send anything but clean, unremarkable operatives. They have an endless supply. We’re fucked.”

“Going forward, perhaps,” Lawlor replied. “But right now, on this one, we lucked out.”

“How so?” he asked, perking up.

“We got the weapon.”

“You’ve got the weapon? The Havana Syndrome device?”

“Saint Nick’s claymores really did a number on it,” said Lawlor, “but yes, we’ve got it. DARPA is pulling it apart as we speak.”

“And it’s got MADE IN CHINA stamped all over it, right?” Harvath joked.

“It may be covered in blood made in China,” Lawlor replied, “but our enemies are much smarter than that. I have no expectation that anything about that weapon is going to trace back to Beijing. Or Hong Kong. Or Shanghai. Or Huaibei. It’s one of the first ghost guns of the twenty-first-century battlefield.”

“So you got one gun. One operative. Well done,” said Harvath. “But how do we know there aren’t more? How do we know they aren’t going to hit him again?”

“To be honest, we don’t know.”

“Exactly. Which is why I want you to bring me back.”

“Now?” said Lawlor. “While you’re in the middle of an op?”

“Send over Staelin and Haney. Send over Preisler. Jesus, send over Johnson. Even he couldn’t fuck this up.”

“Scot, I can’t—”

“Gary, listen to me,” Harvath interrupted. “I am the only family Nicholas has. He would drop everything to help me. Right now, I need to drop everything to help him.”

“No.”

“No?”

“Nicholas has Nina and they have each other, as well as the baby—who I have every expectation is going to be okay. Nick splattered that operative who was sent to attack him. News travels fast, but over long distances and in situations like this, it doesn’t travel well. Beijing is going to have a hard time finding its footing and figuring out what exactly happened.

“There’s going to be uncertainty up and down the ranks in China. We can use that to our advantage. The bottom line is that we’re midstream and we are most definitely not changing horses. If you want to help Nicholas, complete your assignment and then return home. Is that clear?”

“Crystal,” Harvath replied. “I just want one thing from you.”

“What’s that?”

“All of the stops get pulled out for Nicholas, Nina, and the baby. They get the best doctors, the best protection, all of it. Nothing is spared. No stone is left unturned. We do everything we can for them.”

“Of course,” Lawlor asserted. “Nicholas is one of us. We take care of our own.”

“Good,” said Harvath. “Thank you.”

“And you? Can you remain focused on what you need to do?”

“Absolutely. But when everything is done, I want your promise that, even if it isn’t connected to my assignment, I’ll be allowed to go after whoever authorized targeting Nicholas and Nina.”

There was a pause before Lawlor responded. “By all means,” he said. “Something tells me that you won’t have to work hard searching for a connection. It’ll be there. The only question is, how much worse is everything going to get before we find it?”





CHAPTER 43


BEIJING

Colonel Yang Xin’s stomach problems were growing worse by the hour. His American-based operative had missed her third communications window in a row. This was not a good sign. In fact, it was a very bad sign.

After her first attack on that little bastard, she had sent in an excellent situation report. She had given the Troll, as instructed, a full blast of the directed-energy weapon, completely debilitating him.

Then she had remained hidden in the woods at the edge of his property and had waited until the ambulance had taken him away, before departing herself.

Were there reasons she might not have reported in yet? Of course, but none of them were good. She could have been in an accident or detained by authorities, both of which might result in the discovery of her weapon.

Her number one priority, and it had been drilled into her, was not the targeting of the Troll and other Carlton Group members. It wasn’t even staging a successful attack on Scot Harvath himself. It was to make sure that the weapon didn’t fall into enemy hands. No matter what the cost, neither the Americans nor anyone else was to get anywhere near it.