Page 133 (1/2)

Austin stepped into the first bay and found a light switch Floodlights hanging fro a corridor between the metal containers until he ca into the next bay and repeated his search

As Austin h the hold bay by bay, Zavala kept pace along the catwalk Austin had crossed the hold without incident until he came to the last bay Haste made him careless

Austin assuht in the pincers of their ured out the intention of the maneuver and had hidden in a narrow space between container stacks He waited for Austin to pass and then silently euard lifted his gun with both hands and carefully took aim between Austin’s shoulder blades

“Kurt!”

The shout ca over the rail of the catwalk Austin glanced up and saw his friend’s pointing finger Without a backward glance, he ducked around a big ed off its corner Then another gunshot rang out, this one from above A moment later, Zavala called down

“You can coot him”

Austin peered around the corner of the container, then he waved up at Zavala The guard lay dead in his bathing suit on the floor Even shooting down at such a difficult angle, Zavala had drilled hih his chest

Austin remembered then what Phelps had said about the Chinese fetish for numbers He shook his head When your number was up, your number was up

CHAPTER 45

CHANG WAS A CLASSIC PSYCHOPATH HE DIDN’T HAVE A drop of huly body, and for hi the street The other Triad triplets had channeled his murderous ianization, so they gave his that operated in the world’s big cities The job slaked his blood thirst by allowing hie, retribution, or just plain punishment

The job also had restrained Chang fro as the other two triplets provided balance But noas on his own, far from the familial reins that had kept his barely restrained violence in check The voices that so for his attention

After leaving the lab, Chang had delivered the vaccine cultures to the freighter lying in wait near the atoll and then waited for a report from the submarine The failure of the explosives to detonate, to destroy the lab and staff, had finally pushed hie

When the appointed tiot back in the shuttle with his most cold-blooded killers, and ordered the pilot to head back into the crater As the shuttle ehts at the botto A vein pulsed in his forehead

Dr Wu, sitting at Chang’s side, had sensed his e fury, and he tried to will hi’s sudden lightn

ess of mood when he turned and said in an aler: