Echo Six: Black Ops 7 - Tibetan Fury (7 page)

He didn't expand on it, but Talley had heard the line before, Hamlet, a tragedy and an appropriate epitaph.

"Get a couple of men to bury him deep in a snowdrift. Usual procedure, make sure there's nothing to identify him."

"Roger that." Rovere walked off, joined a half-dozen men already coming forward to volunteer to help Feuerbach into his icy resting place.

Talley glanced around, to find Admiral Brooks had managed to disentangle himself from Heinrich Buchmann.

"Sir, are you okay?"

He knew he wasn't okay. The Admiral's ebony black face was tinged with blue, and his whole body was shaking.

"I'm okay, but Jesus Christ, that was colder than I ever remembered."

"Your gear, Sir. It's not ideal for a high altitude, cold weather jump. That must be the problem."

Brooks glanced at him. "Nothing whatever to do with my age and fitness?"

"Nothing at all, Sir."

"Yeah, right."

Rovere reported back. "We've put him in deep snow, Boss. I doubt they'll find him for several days, maybe weeks or months. Depends on when the thaw comes."

"Roger that. You stripped off his gear?"

"Everything."

"Okay, let's get ready to move out. Jackson, did you get the satcom down in one piece?"

Drew Jackson, their technical wizard grinned and nodded.

"Sure. I've checked it all out. We're good."

"Roger that. Guy, we'll need flankers out, and someone to cover our rear."

"Who'll take the point?"

"Me, with Agent Ferraro. She knows the lay of the land, so she'd be the best person to show us the way."

"Roger that."

Sergeant Welland went off to assign the men to their positions. Admiral Brooks had hold of the Minimi and had managed to control his frozen, shivering body enough to do a quick refresh with Virgil Kane, their other Minimi gunner. Talley left them to it and signaled to Grace to join him. He took a last look at their formation. The snipers were deployed one on either flank, and Buchmann had the rear. Guy was in front of the main body of men, which was as it should be.

Time to go hunting.

"Move out."

* * *

There was no sign of the thick clouds they'd jumped through over Nepal. The sky had cleared, and the stars were bright. A sharp-edged quarter moon was visible overhead, and the air was both icy and thin, making every breath painful. He was aware it would take time for them to acclimatize. Yet time was a factor they didn't have on their side. If they were in Tibet long enough to get used to the altitude, the chances were they wouldn't live long enough to enjoy it.

"We're making good time," Grace told him as they slogged through the snow, "The Buddhist nunnery I belonged to was only a few kilometers from here, and I know the ground well. The city of Lhasa is just over the rise."

"What about Prison Number 529?"

She shuddered. "I never went there. I only knew of it through reputation. I'd guess we're about an hour and a half away."

"Do you know of the whereabouts of the Chinese police posts and military checkpoints?"

"No, I'm sorry. But this is one of the most sensitive areas in all of Tibet, so I'd be amazed if they didn't have people on watch."

"Why is it so sensitive? I don't understand."

She turned to him in surprise. "You don't know?" He shook his head. "This place is Norbulingka,
the traditional su
mmer residence of the Dalai Lama. At least, it was from the eighteenth century until 1959, when the 14th Dalai Lama fled from persecution. The palace is very beautiful, with three hundred and seventy-four rooms, and the gardens are famous. It is a holy place to most Tibetans."

"The Chinese left it alone?"

"They did a lot of damage during the invasion, but it was repaired a few years ago, when they were trying to improve their image in the eyes of the world. It makes little difference to the Dalai Lama. He's still unable to return."

"They'd kill him?"

She gave him a cynical glance. "There's little doubt he'd meet with an accident. Or maybe they'd copy the Russians and poison him with polonium. One way or the other, they wouldn't allow him to live if he ever tried to come back. He is the symbol of free Tibet."

He nodded. Like most people, he had a great deal of sympathy for the plight of the Tibetans, ever since the Chinese invasion. Their treatment at the hands of the Chinese legions had shocked the world, and continued to do so. Since Chairman Mao's horde had crossed the border, they'd subjected the peace-loving nation to a campaign of slaughter and ethnic cleansing. Yet the world looked on and did nothing. Except continue to buy cheap Chinese consumer goods.

It was a surprising place, and he found himself fascinated by her knowledge. And more. He wanted to know more about this enigmatic girl. Tibetan American, Buddhist nun, CIA operative.

What is
she? Who is she?

He chatted quietly to her as they walked.

“What made you decide to leave the nunnery here in Tibet? Did you have problems?”

She grimaced. “The Chinese invaded our living quarters early one morning, just as we were about to go to prayer. It was chaos; they herded some of the nuns into a basement storeroom and raped them. Some protested and were shot. Others were sent to labor camps. It was a terrible time. I was lucky. I managed to escape.”

He stared at her. The way she spoke her voice altered, as if there was some dark place in her soul she preferred not to explore.

She took a breath and went on, “They had a cordon of armed troops surrounding the building, but I slipped through a window and almost got away when a soldier stopped me. He pointed his rifle at me and ordered me to remove my clothes.”

“How did you get away?”

They walked on through the snow, and at first he thought she’d declined to answer. She looked sideways at him, and her expression was troubled.

“Something, some instinct, I don't know what it was, made me do it. When it all started, I grabbed a knife, the one I used for cutting vegetables. I had hidden it under my robe, and when he grabbed me, I pretended to obey him." Her expression was taut, "He began to unfasten his pants. When he looked away, I brought out the knife, and I killed him.”

He saw her lips move in a silent prayer. He knew what it would have cost her, a Buddhist nun. The sin above all sins.

“I’m sorry.”

“Yes. I escaped over the border into Nepal. From there, I went to the American Embassy, and they repatriated me, as technically I'm an American citizen. That's when I applied to join CIA, to fight back.”

“What about the Chinese? Were there any repercussions? I mean, for what they did to the nuns?”

She smiled, but there was no humor. "Oh, there were repercussions. They pronounced a sentence of death on me.”

“On you! You mean it's still in force?"

"If they arrest me, they will execute me."

"Yet you still came back. Why?"

"Because it's my job, and CIA ordered me to do it. And because of..." she stopped, "because of Tenzin Davaika. He needed me."

He knew she'd been about to say something else. What? She'd tell him when she was ready. He shook his head at the horrors these people endured. He'd never understand what motivated deeply religious people. Something about her reminded him of Nava, the Jewish girl he'd loved and lost. Then he smiled to himself, recognizing the similarity.

Am I always doomed to meet desirable girls who spend their lives pursuing some crazy religious belief? What is it that pulls me toward them?

He thought again about his Jewish girlfriend. He'd gone through hell to rescue Nava, after she was kidnapped and threatened with death by an Arab. Yet afterwards, she made clear her intention to settle in Israel, and no sooner had she made her way to the land of her ancestors, than she'd signed up for some obscure cult situated next to the Sea of Galilee.

He'd made attempts to contact her, and even gone to see her on one occasion. It had been a difficult visit, and her final words to him were still etched on his brain.

"I have to work this out, Abe. I'm sorry. I know it's difficult for you, but I'm trying to find myself here in this community."

"How long do you need?"

She'd looked back at him, her eyes dreamy and far away. "An eternity, perhaps? Only God knows. I'm sorry,"
she repeated,
"Goodbye, Abe."

He dragged his mind back to the present. He had to concentrate on the here and now, and leave these troubled females to find their God.

But dear
God, she’s pretty.

A light flared, someone striking a match. Chinese were inveterate smokers, and this one was only fifty meters ahead of them. His tobacco habit had given him away, and now he saw him clearly through the NV goggles, a bored soldier, puffing on his cigarette.

Christ, we
almost walked into him.
Time to stop the woolgathering and
concentrate.

He ordered Grace to drop flat, keyed his mic, and spoke in a whisper.

"This is Echo One, hold your positions. Hostile up ahead."

A double-click acknowledged his call. He dropped down close to Grace and whispered to her.

"I'm going forward to take a look. It may be just the one guy, or it could be part of a larger force guarding the city. Wait here."

She murmured, "Okay," and he left to start crawling forward. He reached a clump of snow-covered bushes and took the time to survey the area. Other than the solitary soldier, he saw nothing. So maybe it was just bad luck, and they'd need to find a different way through. He was about to crawl back to Grace when he heard the sound of engines. Truck engines, coming toward them. In the middle of the night, in the center of a security zone, it could only mean one thing. Troops.

He froze as he saw something else, something that he hadn't noticed before. A succession of tiny raised bumps in the snow. He passed a couple of them and took no notice. But where the snow was thicker, there were even more of the protrusions, almost hidden by the white blanket. They were spaced at regular intervals, which meant they were man-made. With a blinding flash of understanding, he realized his mistake in not recognizing them before. They were sensors.

He crawled back fast and reached Grace.

"We need to pull back, now."

He went past her and snaked toward where his men waited for him.

"We've got problems. The Chinese have this area staked out with sensors. Only a single guard up ahead, but there're trucks on the way in. They may have picked us up."

"We heard them," Guy responded, "Looks like we're about to get a visit from the People's Army."

"Not the PLA, it could be something else," said Grace, joining them, "In this area, security generally falls within the remit of the Ministry of State Security. If it's them, we're in serious trouble. They're..." she paused, "they're savages."

The tremor in her voice when she mentioned the brutal security apparatus responsible for terrorizing most of Tibet was noticeable. She was reliving it, and they looked away, embarrassed for her.

Guy held up his hand for silence. "The trucks have stopped. If they picked us up on those motion sensors, they'll be looking for us. We need to get out of here fast."

Talley cursed the inadequate intel. They should have been told about this, but Guy was right, they needed to clear the area. He glanced back at the girl. She seemed to have calmed herself.

" Grace, you know this place. We need to find another way to reach the prison."

She nodded. "It is several kilometers due east of here, but if we head south, we should be able to circle around behind the troops."

"That's what we'll do. First, we need to back away from the sensors until we're outside and clear of the zone. Let's go."

They began to retrace their steps, following the telltale footsteps.

When the Chinese come across these prints in the snow, and they will, they'll know the boot prints are not theirs. We'll deal with that when it happens. But maybe we can slow them a little.

He keyed his mic to call Rovere, "Echo Three; send two men back with Heinrich. They'll need to sweep our footprints, at least until we're clear of the immediate security zone.

"Copy that."

The girl kept up a fast pace, which was unsurprising. She knew the area, was used to the terrain, and was unencumbered by as much equipment as the rest of them. At one point, Domenico, who was in the rear called for him to slow down. The men sweeping their back trail were falling behind.

"Tell 'em keep at it for another hundred meters and then catch up. We don't have the time for anything more."

He heard the two clicks of acknowledgement. Admiral Brooks caught up with him and put his hand on Talley's arm to draw his attention.

"You sure we shouldn't hit them before they hit us? If they know we're here, all hell will break loose if they find us first."