Perilous Cargo

“Fedar,” Vitaly said, stopping and offering his hand. “What’s the situation?”

“Vitaly, it is good you have arrived. Let’s go inside and I’ll tell you everything I’ve learned.”

Fedar wanted privacy, which meant the intelligence provided by the Russian network was either wrong or woefully lacking. Which was not all that unusual in a remote location such as Kathmandu. “As you wish,” Vitaly said. “Return the men to their duties for now.”

Fedar snapped out an order and the men quietly dispersed. He gestured to the small offices attached to the warehouse, and they stepped inside. Although he despised the heat of Yangon, Vitaly was glad to get out of the cold wind. Kathmandu didn’t have the most welcoming climate. Once inside, he found an office that seemed like it had recently been cleaned from top to bottom and emptied out. A plain metal desk and several folding chairs, along with an old coffee percolator, were about all that was left.

Fedar poured both of them a cup and sat down in one of the chairs. “It’s drinkable, if barely. What they call coffee here is not all that different than highway tar.”

Vitaly nodded, sipped a bit of the black brew and grimaced. He gestured vaguely around the office. “You’ve already cleaned this area? Is there anything missing that I need to know about?”

“No, I finished it this morning. Everything appeared to be in order, if a bit lazy. All of the files have been boxed up, locked and sent on to Moscow, but they aren’t going to find anything there that helps with the situation here.”

“So, what is the situation here?” Vitaly asked. “Was this an inside operation?”

“I don’t think so,” Fedar said. “I’ve interviewed all the personnel and accounted for the off-shift staff. I’ve also reviewed the security footage. Everyone was taken by surprise, and no one has gone unaccountably missing. I believe this had to have come from the outside. We found an old underground passageway that was long forgotten. That had to have been his entrance. This facility has never been breached.”

“That’s damn sloppy guard work, Fedar,” he said. “Who else would have known about this tunnel?”

“It’s not even on the retrofit plans,” Fedar admitted. “No one knew of its existence. This place has been left alone for so long, procedures and drills got lax. Hell, most of the people here didn’t even know what they were guarding because they weren’t allowed inside. Did you know it was here?”

Vitaly laughed. “I did, and I warned Moscow about it, but you know the situation. Everything is political now, and everyone is so busy covering their asses and keeping their secrets, it’s a wonder we manage to do anything at all. How long until we can shut down completely?”

“I estimate a few weeks or so, from whenever you give me the go and a direction. The locals are stirred up, and it would be a lot easier to slip out quietly, bit by bit. It will give them less to talk about.”

“You’ve got the go,” Vitaly said. He pulled out his phone and sent a map and some additional information to Fedar. “There’s the destination, too. Put someone you trust in charge of the operation and tell him he has two weeks to get it done. I don’t want there to be a trace of our presence here after that time.”

“And the locals on the payroll that know the truth?”

“Arrange for them to have an accident once the warehouse is cleaned out. I think a gas line explosion or something like that will suit. Be sure to pay off their families to keep them from asking questions, and if need be, pay whatever excuse they’ve got for a police force here to keep their noses out of it. The fewer questions, the better off we’ll be.”

“Easily handled. They’ll all want to keep working as long as possible. Work is hard to find here, so we’ll bring them in as a ‘cleaning’ crew once everything is secured.”

Vitaly sipped more of the horrible coffee. “I’ll want you with me for the rest of this mission, along with a handful of our own men—nobody local, of course. We need men we can trust. Where do we stand with the locals?”

“We’ve begun asking some questions, of course, but I’m afraid none of us has your special touch. There are a few people left to talk to that might be of help, but I think our best bet is a man named Li Soong.”

“Black market or foreign intelligence?” Vitaly asked.

“He styles himself as a professional trader, but he’s a thief through and through. He moves a lot of items on the black market, mostly into China.”

“Have you spoken with him already?”

“I started the conversation, but I can’t give him what he wants and eliminating him would remove a valuable asset in the region. He’s more than he seems and less than he thinks he is. He can be bought.”

“When can I talk to him?”

“He’s waiting for us now,” Fedar said. “I told him to expect us.”

“Take me to him,” Vitaly said, setting down the half-full mug on the desk, grateful to be moving again—and not drinking the vile brew.

Fedar led him off the warehouse grounds and then through the open markets of Kathmandu to a nondescript building on the edge of the more populated areas. There was a storefront selling fabric, and Vitaly made his way around the tables stacked with cloth in what appeared to be every shade of brown and gray. The young boy behind the counter watched him with suspicious eyes and the unrepentant smile of a street urchin until Fedar stepped in front of him.

The smile faded quickly and the boy ran through a curtain and into a back room, only to return a moment later and gesture for them to follow him.

Vitaly and Fedar eased behind the counter and through the curtain. The back room itself was sparsely furnished, with only a desk and a couple of chairs. Fedar had told him on the way that the meeting place was nothing but a front. So far, he’d been unable to determine where Li Soong’s true residence and place of business were located. It would be useful information, should they need to resort to more direct methods with the man. Li Soong himself awaited them in a chair in front of the desk.

He was small, almost tiny compared to Vitaly, and relaxed comfortably in his seat. Nothing about him would draw the eye in a crowd, and no doubt this near-invisibility was in part what made him an excellent thief.

“Mr. Fedar,” he said, bowing from the neck. “I see you have returned, as promised.”

“This is the man I spoke to you about. Mr. Vitaly.”

“A pleasure, Mr. Vitaly. I am always interested in meeting new, ah...customers. How may I help you?”

Vitaly studied him carefully. “Fedar tells me that you are a man who knows things and sees things and hears things in the region.”

“This is true. I know many things. The lifeblood of trade is knowledge, and one cannot make a good trade without knowing what comes in and what goes out.”

“I’m looking for something that was stolen from our...storage facility on the northern side of the city. Something of great value.”

Li Soong laughed softly. “Yes, I know what you seek. I don’t have it.” He shrugged. “Frankly, I am surprised that it was not taken from you sooner. The security at the warehouse over the past couple of years has been...less than conspicuous. Many would have paid a great deal for that information, but the trade was never brought to me.”

“That’s a matter for us to deal with, and no, I don’t believe you have what was stolen,” Vitaly said. “I don’t imagine you would want the kind of attention such an item might bring, no matter how valuable it is, but Fedar seems to believe you have an idea of its location.”

“So far, that has eluded me, but I can point you in the right direction, if we can agree on an appropriate price.”

Vitaly looked at Fedar, who shrugged, and then back at Soong. Like a striking snake, he snared Soong by his lapels and picked him up, slamming him down onto the desk. Guards raced into the room, their weapons drawn and aimed directly at him and Fedar.

“Your guards should move back now,” he said, pitching his voice very low. “I’m not a man to make an enemy of, and I respond poorly to blackmail.”

“Mr. Vitaly, first you must let me go.” Soong smiled. “These men are sworn to die protecting me.”

“Then it looks like they’ll get to keep their promise,” he said, shifting his coat aside and revealing the brick of C4 that was attached on the inside. A small digital timer was counting down the seconds. “The only one that can disarm it in time is me.”

“You would blow yourself up, as well,” Soong said. “This is not good for your business or mine.”

“You seem to think that I would mind that outcome.”

There was a long, pregnant pause and then Soong began to laugh. “I like you,” he said. “You play for the highest stakes of all and you are willing to bet your life for your...business.” He waved his hands at his guards, who lowered their weapons and backed off.

Vitaly pulled Soong to his feet, his eyes asking the question.

“I cannot help much, but your treasure was seen on the Friendship Highway, heading into the mountains. In exchange for a quantity of that pretty clay you are carrying, I might be able to come up with a name for you to hunt.”

Vitaly glared, but Soong raised his hand. “It is not a negotiation, but there are others that I must appease to get the answers that you seek. Information comes at a price and someone must always pay it.”

He reached into his coat and pulled the trigger wire out of the brick of C4 and tossed it to Soong. “There will be much more of that if you get me a name. Find me before the end of the day, or I’ll assume you’ve failed me. I don’t like being disappointed.”

“I will not fail you, Mr. Vitaly,” he said.

“See that you don’t, Li Soong. As you said, we’re playing with the highest stakes.” He turned on his heels and left the store.

Once they were outside, Vitaly turned to Fedar. “Who’s next?”

CHAPTER SIX

Both Bolan and Nischal were awake and waiting for first light before it even kissed the horizon with streaks of predawn gray. Their clothing was finally dry and they dressed in silence, then surveyed their pitifully small inventory. They quickly packed what little they had left and stepped out of the shelter of the cave into the cold, sharp wind of early morning. To Bolan’s eye, the landscape was no more welcoming in daylight than it had been at night. He unfolded the map Nischal had managed to save and studied it once again, trying to get a bearing on about where they were, given the chaos of the jump the night before.

“At least it’s stopped snowing,” he said, looking up at the sky. “For now.”

“Tibet is a beautiful country, but it’s not a very forgiving place this time of year,” Nischal said. “That snow can return quickly and with much more force. This is not a place to be without supplies.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” He held up the map and traced a route with his finger. “I figure if we follow the lake south, we’ll come out of this bowl in that narrow valley. Hopefully, between here and there, we’ll find where the plane went down.”

“You know, it’s not too late,” she said. “It’s not wildly illogical to just head for the monastery and get some help. It’s not like we’re loaded down with supplies, and like I said, the weather can shifts on a dime this time of year.”

He shook his head. “No. We need that plane.” She started to say something else, but Bolan wasn’t in the mood to keep arguing, so he turned and began to follow the shoreline. His hopes that the crate containing their supplies was either floating in the lake or washed up on the jagged rocks were rapidly dashed. Nischal must have decided to take the hint because she trudged silently in his wake. They trekked south, doing their best to avoid the worst of the brutal landscape. From the map, assuming he had their position right, they were in a bowl-shaped area that bordered the north side of the mountain range between Nepal and Tibet. There were no villages marked on the map, and given what he’d seen so far, it wouldn’t be surprising if no one really lived here.

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