Warshot (The Hunter Killer Series Book 6) by Don Keith (dark books to read TXT) 📕

play the game. They are convinced that your intuition, your cunning, and the logical and committed pursuit of power melds well with their goals.”

Yon Ba Deng set the glass down and leaned forward.

“And your people fit into all this how?” he asked, almost in a whisper.

“They are in a position to assist you in the matter regarding Soo Be Xian. And they are prepared and fully capable to pave the way for you to advance much, much further up within the Party.” She took another sip of her wine. “Let me give you a little sample. Perhaps we should call it ‘a tasting.’ Tomorrow morning, just after sunrise, Soo Be Xian will be arrested on charges of corruption. The evidence will show that there is one hundred million yuan in a Swiss bank account in his name. There will also be other evidence of kickbacks within the army in areas over which he has direct control.”

“Soo Be Xian is crafty. How is it possible for the government to know and confirm these things?”

Li had to work hard to avoid a knowing smile. She knew fully well what Yon was thinking. If they knew of corruption by Soo Be Xian, they might also know of his own lucrative side hustles. She imagined TJ Dillon having the same suspicions as he listened in from across the dining room, but she managed to keep a straight face.

“They know what they know because we—my associates and I—arranged it. We all know he is corrupt. We simply needed to be sure enough of the confirming evidence—whether it was valid or not—would fall into the right hands. By the end of the week, Soo Be Xian will be pleading for his life. And he will no longer be an obstacle to your own plans.”

Yon Ba Deng sat back and stared at the beautiful woman sitting across the table from him. She was mesmerizing. But he forced himself to clear his head and consider what she was telling him. If she or her people could take down his worst nemesis, then they could well be the allies that he needed. Of course, they could also be an enemy he could not afford. This scheme of theirs could be his golden opportunity or the seeds of his destruction.

His first thought was to wait, to learn what he would be required to do in order to repay his new benefactors. Only then would he agree to the terms.

But even before their meals arrived, Yon had already made up his mind. The risks of dealing with this mysterious, gorgeous lady were absolutely worth the potential rewards.

Ψ

Soo Be Xian was startled awake by the loud pounding on the door of his compound. He looked out his bedroom window to see a constellation of flashing blue and red lights from a covey of police vehicles pulled over at odd angles wherever he could see out the window. Armed men in combat gear were hidden behind the vehicles, but he could easily make out others, crouching as they moved across the grass and then scaling the compound walls.

This was not good. Something bad had happened. Where were the servants and the security guards? Why was the house so quiet despite all the clamor outside?

Soo grabbed his cell phone. The instant he touched the device it dinged with a new text message. Bien Sung, his factotum, was warning him that the secret police, the dreaded and much feared Guoanbu, were about to arrive at his apartment. They were coming to arrest him.

Clearly the text from his assistant had come too late to do Soo any good.

He was just donning his robe when a second text message arrived. Major General Shun was informing Soo that both he and Colonel General Xiang were being taken into custody. He also requested that Soo immediately clear up whatever misunderstanding was playing out and have them freed.

As he walked out of his bedroom suite and headed across the inner courtyard toward the outer one, the steel reinforced wooden outer door suddenly crashed open, left hanging loosely on its hinges. Half a dozen heavily armed troops stormed through and took up shooting positions around the suite’s broad outer courtyard. All of their weapons were pointed squarely at Soo Be Xian, who stood stunned in the doorway to the inner courtyard.

A small, rotund, middle-aged man in a business suit stepped in from outside and walked to the center of the outer courtyard. He brushed some dust from his lapel, looked over the tops of his spectacles, and took something from his inside coat pocket.

“Soo Be Xian,” he intoned in a squeaky voice, reading from the official-looking document. “You are being placed under arrest for violation of the Criminal Laws of the People’s Republic of China. You will be charged with official corruption and bribery of high officials, both crimes having been committed against the People and the Party.”

The disbelieving Soo Be Xian started to protest but the man held up a dismissive hand.

“There is nothing that you can say for yourself here,” the little man told him. He waved toward the leader of the armed troops. The officer slammed Soo Be Xian against the wall and quickly bound his hands tightly behind his back. The now-former leader of the Chinese military was roughly marched out to a waiting prison van.

Qincheng High Security Prison would be his next stop.

23

Commander Geoffrey Smythe was still entranced by the scene playing out on the large-screen flat panel, even though he had been watching it for a couple of weeks now. The Sagem Series 30 Advanced Optronics Mast was delivering a crystal-clear picture of the mayhem happening only thirty feet above his head. Chinese attack jets were making repeated passes at Dongsha Island, raining down missiles and bombs on the few square yards of real estate that barely qualified as an “island.”

From Smythe’s position, in the control room of the Australian submarine HMAS Audacious, the skipper could not imagine how anyone could survive such a