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“Then involve internal security and the military? They can handle this situation”
“No, Minister The last thing China can endure is an open civil war for political control The chaos would be insure of our tur I will not involve anyone else, or allow you to do so”
“It see has involved the army”
“And I have taken ain”
“So what am I to do?”
“You can start by listening I have to tell you what happened, in 1977, just after Mao died”
CASSIOPEIA RELEASED THE HARNESS AND DROPPED THE REMAINING few feet to the ground She was soaking wet, but thankfully theair carried warmth Pau Wen dropped beside her She was iility
“You okay?” she asked
“Quite fine” He smoothed out his soaked shirt and trousers
They stood at the edge of a broad field that stretched eastward from the lake a kilometer or more The chopperup a cloud of dust She trotted back toward the shore, arriving as Malone eed
“There’s no telling how many parasites and bacteria I now have insidefrom him
She smiled “Can’t be all that bad”
“Easy for you to say You’re not going have six toes and three arms in a few days”
Pau Wen stepped beside her “Actually, this part of the lake is relatively clean The northern portions are another matter”
“Where’s your boyfriend?” Malone asked
She didn’t like his tone but understood the resentment Viktor had known their destination because Ivan had knohich meant one or both had sold them out
But that made no sense
The Russians were intent on finding Sokolov Why end the mission before it started?
She heard footsteps cracking across the dry earth behind theht suit, walking their way
Malone rushed past her and planted a fist in Viktor’s face
FORTY-NINE
MALONE WAS READY WHEN VIKTOR SPRANG TO HIS FEET HE sidestepped the first lunge and landed another punch in Viktor’s gut, which he immediately noted was hard as steel
“You sold us out,” he said “Again”
Viktor lowered his fists “Malone, are you that stupid? Karl Tang doesn’t give a damn about you It’s him he wants dead” Viktor pointed at Pau “All I did was step in and save your ass—which, I ht add, may cost me mine”
“And you expect us to believe that?” Malone asked
“Tang wants you dead,” Viktor said to Pau “In order to save them, I had to save you”
Pau faced Malone “We need to head north Tang has a long reach in this country”
“I can take you wherever you need to go,” Viktor said
“And ould we trust you?” Cassiopeia asked
“I just blew a pilot out of the sky That doesn’t show you whose side I’m on?”
Malone caught the change of tone Softer Cally just for her But he wanted to know, “Karl Tang is going to let us roam free around China in a PLA helicopter? We can just do as we please?”
“If we hurry, we can be gone before he has tihter strafed the lake with its cannons so no one swaed those It’ll take the I’ve learned is that, unlike you or me, the Chinese are not improvisers This was not an officially sanctioned action, so soure out what to do”
Malone ran a hand throug
h his wet hair and tried to assess their options
There weren’t many
He stared out on the lake and noticed that none of the junks approached either the debris in the water or the shore where they stood