Empire of the Dragon Read online

  They heard a moan come from the small dwelling next to their quarters.

  Jack and Carl went through the door and saw three women coming from a room with bowls of water and bloody rags. Jack and Carl exchanged looks. Jack placed his palms together and then placed them in the prayer position as the last woman came by. He half-bowed. Then to the surprise of Carl, Jack asked her, in what Everett thought was passable Chinese, who was in the room lying injured.

  The young woman looked at Jack and then back to the room confused. Then she smiled. “You can speak English, Colonel, as I am fluent in sixteen languages. Perhaps you should brush up on your Chinese. You asked who we were eating inside.”

  “Good one, Jack,” Carl said, trying to stifle a laugh.

  “Shut up, smart ass.”

  “He is Professor Anderson. He no longer needs a guard. He is dying. Brain hemorrhage, I believe,” she said and then walked off.

  “The Russian agent,” Carl said as both he and Jack stepped inside to see the prone man on the bed of feathers. His forehead was covered with a bloodstained wrap and his eyes were moving fast behind his lids. “Well, that Birnbaum fella really cracked him a good one, didn’t he?”

  Collins got a curious look on his face. He moved further into the room. He practically ran the few feet to the bed. His mouth was ajar as Carl followed him inside.

  “You say the Australian followed him into the nether regions where the Dragon Asteroid is buried, and hit him with a rock just before the guards showed up?”

  “Yes, that’s what Professor Lee said at any rate. What is it, Jack?”

  Collins sat on the edge of the bed and then eased the thick bandage and wet cloth up that partially covered the man’s eyes.

  “Oh, no. Harry,” Jack said as he raised one of Anderson’s eyelids. “Harry, Harry Thompson, it’s me, Jack.”

  “Harry?” Carl asked, astounded that Jack would know this Russian agent.

  Jack reached out and took the cloth from the bowl of cold water next to the bed. He placed the cloth on the man’s forehead and then wiped his face and head. “Come on Harry, wake up.”

  “Jack, the man’s done for. Half of his head is caved in.”

  The dying man’s eyes fluttered open and then closed. His hand reached out just as Jack thought he had died. His hand took Jack’s.

  “Jack…Jack…you damn well took…your sweet…bloody time…getting…here.”

  “Harry, what in the hell is going on?”

  “Lord Durnsford said not…to trust…anyone on the…field…team. I didn’t…know…it was your…people.” The man that Jack knew as Harry, sat up and took both of Jack’s hands. “That little Geologist…and her…gangster Mossad…friend, are…rather rough on…people…they don’t…like. I think Sarah broke at least…three of my ribs.”

  “Harry, why in the hell did MI-6 attach you to the field team?”

  He squeezed Jack’s hands even tighter as a bolt of pain shot through his head. Collins stilled him with kind words.

  “Our analysis…of the satellite…data confirmed…the instability of the mineral.” He was wracked once more by a spasm of pain. He again calmed. “My orders were to…confirm…and if possible…destroy it…”

  “Harry why—”

  He sat up further and took Jack by the collar. “Birnbaum…he’s…he’s…”

  The man known as Harry slumped forward into Jack’s arms. Collins laid him easily back on the bed and then quickly saw that his pupils were fixed and dilated. He cursed, checked his pulse to be sure, and then pulled the silken sheet over his head.

  “Jack, who in the hell is this?” Carl asked. “I mean, Sarah and Anya were convinced he worked with this Siberian Group.”

  Jack finally stood. He looked from the covered body to face Carl.

  “Harry Thompson. MI-6 and former SAS Captain. We trained together in the old days. He was once the best man in the world when it came to intelligence gathering in field operations. He helped track down Bin Laden toward the end. He was a good man. So good that our friend Lord Durnsford basically retired him after 2014. I guess this mission was supposed to be a cake walk.” Jack bit his lip as he thought things through. “If Harry had orders to destroy the Dragon Asteroid, the British may have known about it for years. That’s the way Durnsford plays. He had little trouble sacrificing lives during the Gray invasion, as you remember.”

  “That means the Australian Birnbaum is not what he claims to be.”

  Jack turned and started for the door. “And he’s with Ryan, Professor Lee, Tram, and Major Pierce!”

  Carl started after him. “It seems we may be getting a little slow on the uptake lately, Jack.”

  “That’s a situation we are about to remedy.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Altai Mountains,

  Eastern Mongolia

  As Ryan eased past Lee, he saw the valley stretching out before them. He was on his belly as he examined the terrain below. Tram was doing the same through his scope. The heavy Barrett fifty-caliber was still cased and was being carried by Birnbaum to ease the load on Tram. Major Pierce was laying beside Ryan with the fingers of both hands in circles over his eyes, just as if he were looking through binoculars. Ryan looked over at him and shook his head. He handed Pierce a handkerchief.

  “Better clean your lenses, Major,” he said, and then winked at the old flier.

  Pierce looked at the handkerchief and accepted it, and then acted as though he were wiping down the lenses of a pair of field glasses.

  “I don’t see any distinguishing features that would belie the fact there’s a seventy-metric ton bomber buried out there.”

  Lee looked at Ryan. “Nonetheless, Commander Ryan, it is there.”

  Jason looked over at Tram, who had stopped searching for any tell-tale signs in the sands and was just looking at Major Pierce, who was once more looking though his circled fingers and then looked as if he were adjusting the lenses. Tram looked from the bomber pilot to Ryan with a confused look on his face. Ryan tapped his left temple and Tram thought he understood.

  “Hee, hee, hee,” Pierce laughed as he lowered his imaginary binoculars. “Told you, told you Slick Willy was here!” he rolled to his back and then saw Tram looking at him. Major Pierce got a suspicious look on his face as he quickly sat up. He eyed Tram who only looked more confused.

  “He’s from Vietnam, Major, not Japan,” Lee said, shaking his head.

  Still, the suspicious and half-closed eyes stayed on Tram.

  “Son of a bitch, mate, the old fool seems to know of what he speaks,” Birnbaum said pointing. “Quarter mile, see,” he said pointing.

  Ryan focused on the area. He saw nothing at first but a small rise with scrub growing from it. Then his eyes focused on a gleaming object at the top of that mound. He adjusted the glasses and that was when he smiled and rolled over and sat up. He patted Major Pierce on the back, causing him to finally move his eyes from the obvious Japanese spy he saw in Tram.

  “Your damn glasses are better than mine,” Ryan said.

  As the others looked, they finally saw what Pierce had seen. The very tip of the giant tail of the B-29 was visible. Almost everyone in the world knew that all Boeing bombers of that era had the largest vertical tail stabilizers in service. ‘Slick Willy’ was giving them the exact location of her burial site.

  “Slick Willy is ready to play,” Pierce said as he stood and jumped up and down and danced a jig, causing Tram to back away a few more steps.

  Suddenly, Ryan pulled the old man back to the ground just as four Chinese fighters screamed overhead. They were the stealth variant of their new SU-57. Ryan cursed their luck as the battle for the skies of eastern Mongolia was commencing, meaning the Battle for Shangri-La would soon follow.

  As they watched, another flight of fighter-bombers came in low from the west. They were nearly hidden in the setting sun. Before they knew it, the darkening skies were illuminated with streaks of fire as Russian and Chinese pilots triggered off mis
sile after missile. Explosions shook the world around them as two fighters slammed into the valley floor, creating a wave of superheated air and a river of fire.

  “Look!” Birnbaum said pointing to the north.

  When they turned, they saw the first armored forces of the Russian attack group as they came into the nearly sunless valley. The attack helicopters were soon to follow. Fighter after Chinese fighter made attack runs on the armored column. Missile strikes lit up the ground as infantry started to track the Chinese. Small ground to air missiles launched high into the sky as the battle started in earnest.

  “Well, we better get down there before the neighborhood becomes untenable,” Ryan said as he stood and quickly started down the slope toward the ‘Slick Willy’.

  * * *

  Charlie had two small girls in his arms, who clung to him tightly as the last goodbyes between mothers, fathers, and children were made at the north underground exit to the mountain. Tears flowed freely and Ellenshaw was having a hard time reassuring parents that he would guard them with his life.

  Master Li Zheng was standing on an archway above the moving children. With a last look, they saw their Master as he slowly raised a hand in a sorrowful goodbye. Sarah and Anya waited to see if Jack and Carl would see them off, but after the bombing began outside, they knew that would not happen.

  “Let’s get these kids out of here,” Sarah said resignedly.

  There were about two hundred children and young teens in the exodus and, to a child, they were angry at what was happening. As the first aerial bomb struck the side of the mountain, not one of the children screamed. They just moved off as they were told. Each had a backpack full of what Master Li thought important. There were names and addresses of Shangri-La citizens already in the world, who would raise the children in their own homes. Once in their new environments, they would be schooled and loved just as if their parents were raising them. Each child would have three hundred thousand dollars in gold for their education and support. Once they became young adults, they would enter the world and blend in as much as they could. They would all have the duty of making the planet a better place.

  Sarah and Anya came to the cave entrance that would lead them through the tunnels and then upward to the world that was now exploding overhead. As they approached, they saw a lone figure who stood ramrod straight as the children moved past him. The man would touch each child on the shoulder as they looked up at him with love and admiration. As they came upon him, it was Charlie who was the object of the man’s immediate attention. He held out both hands and General Chang took the two girls from Ellenshaw’s arms. He hugged them tightly and that was the first tears they had seen the children shed as their father said his goodbyes. With one last hug, the ancient man handed his two girls back to Ellenshaw.

  “I will be forever grateful if you would see my two children to safety, Professor. Can you do this for me?”

  “I will guard them with my life, General,” he looked at the long line of children ahead of them. “All of them.”

  General Chang saw the sad determination in the crazy haired man’s demeanor, and then he half-bowed to the man known as Crazy Charlie Ellenshaw. Just as Charlie was about to move off, the General held something out for Charlie. It was his lost Pith helmet he had dropped over the ledge in the Dragon Asteroid chamber.

  “Your Tarzan hat. May it bring you good luck.”

  Charlie accepted the helmet and the smiling girls placed it on his head as if it were a crown.

  Sarah and Anya stepped up and the General again bowed. “May the Gods of luck guide your way.”

  “They will. Protect those idiot men out there if you can, General, we’ve become quite attached to them.”

  The General smiled and bowed again. “The men you associate with have the ‘Chi’. I will send them back to you if possible, in this you have my word.”

  Sarah nodded her head and Anya said goodbye by placing her hand on the General’s ceremonial armor.

  He handed both women two AK-47s and four bandoliers of ammunition. “Stay clear of the lower passages. Bombs and the animal life that dwell in the lower reaches of the mountain do not coexist well. They will be moving away to find safety.”

  “Oh, that’s good. Now we have monsters again,” Anya said, as both women nodded their thanks and moved off with the children.

  General Chang watched them leave just as he was joined by Li Zheng. He could see that the Master had been crying over his farewell to his children.

  “Well, my old and faithful friend, shall we go and greet my brother?”

  Chang slowly drew out his long sword and then brought it to his forehead. He again half-bowed.

  “For the last time, let us do battle with the dark one, Emperor Qin Shi Huang!”

  * * *

  Jack and Carl saw the last of the children leaving. There was no sign of Anya and Sarah. The adults had gathered and were awaiting their order to leave the mountain. Jack came to a sudden stop as he eyed the milling adults of Shangri-La.

  “Why are we stopping?” Carl asked. “Ryan and Tram don’t know what they’re facing out there.”

  Collins continued to see the bravery around him as the citizens gathered. No complaining, not even a frightened face. Even the older teens, dressed in ceremonial armor with their long spears of gold plated blades, watched Jack and Carl. He could see they were clearly awaiting the order to advance and to die if necessary.

  “Mister Ryan is on his own. We’re out of time here, buddy.”

  Carl also looked around at the anxious citizens. He saw their determination. He just nodded.

  Suddenly, the noise of the city center muted as if by a magic switch. All eyes turned to the top of the four waterfalls. Li Zheng, with General Chang beside him, was there. The Master held up his hands as a gong sounded from somewhere, demanding the attention of all. It thronged three successive times until all attention was on the Master.

  “Our time, our home, is at an end. But our lives will continue through the minds and memories of our young. Our sacrifice will give them a chance to join the world that I led you to forsake. They will disburse their knowledge throughout the entire world and seek the forgiveness of mankind for our…” He hesitated and then corrected himself “…for my mistakes. Many of you will not believe the power that each one of you has. You will have to become one with the earth around you. In this, I have no doubts. I have brought this upon our people. I beg your assistance of setting the world right again. Give those outside, seeking an answer in how to destroy the Dragon Asteroid, assistance and time. Help our American friends slow the Russian advance. The General and myself will do battle with our real foe, Emperor Qin Shi Huang. He seeks to gain the military power offered by the Dragon Mineral. He will not succeed. For our ancestors he murdered, to the Great Wall he built to keep us in, it all ends this day!”

  The men and women of Shangri-La cheered and threw up their hands in tribute to the man who had led them through two thousand years of hiding. It was now time to reveal the truth of the ages. It was time for war and their final stand against the Emperor. The General stepped forward and held his long sword high into the air.

  “Kāi Zhàn!

  With the General’s shouted words, the three hundred men and women broke out running from the city’s center. Jack and Carl felt the fervor and started to follow, to hurriedly issue their instructions and emplacement orders.

  “What does kāi zhàn mean, Jack?”

  “To War!”

  * * *

  Event Group Complex,

  Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada

  Will Mendenhall was welcomed home with so many questions that his head was left spinning. The grilling about the Colonel was the harshest he had ever endured and made his thoughts on the drawbacks of commanding security that much more evident. He hadn’t even had time to take off his ballistic vest since he landed, much less eat and shower.

  The only conclusion to the question of was it truly Jack that had shot Cap
tain Everett, was that they would have to wait for the final report from either Collins or Everett themselves. Mendenhall just didn’t have the answers they were seeking. It was the general belief among the staff that it could not have been the Colonel, that Carl had been mistaken in the confusing moment of trouble.

  A knock sounded on the security door as Will was just coming to grips with his jetlag. He looked up and at that moment felt his face flush. Colonel Collins was looking straight at him. He was leaning in the doorway and smiling.

  “I can see you made the right decision on returning to your duties here?”

  “Yes, sir, I did feel a little guilty about leaving.” Will was trying to study Jack’s face without making it obvious. He could see no difference in the Colonel’s features nor his demeanor.

  “Any word from Carl and his team?”

  “Not for the past twenty-four hours. Since the report from the Air Force saying they lost their transport over the Gobi, nothing.”

  Jack came inside the office and sat on the edge of his old desk. “Well, if anyone can pull off crashing into the desert, it’s Carl.”

  “What happened in Laos, Colonel?”

  Collins placed his hand at the back of his neck and then rubbed out the kink there.

  “I wish I knew. One minute we’re chasing down the lead on Russian drug running, and the next thing I know I’m whacked on the head and wake up in a cell. It took me two days to escape. That’s all I know. I figured I could accomplish more here than Laos. At least I have you and Europa to fall back on.”

  Will watched Jack move over to his locker and unlock the combination lock. As he had his back to him, Will continued to study the man. There was no difference at all as far as he could see. Mendenhall shook his head to clear it of his suspicions. He was starting to stand and excuse himself to shower, when he heard the locker close behind him. The tone from Europa sounded, indicating a full meeting of the Event Group departments had been called. Mendenhall allowed his disappointment about not showering to show through with the deep breath of disappointment he took.