Ahead of them to the north was Madan’s residence. Most of it was hidden by the magnolia trees Bhandari had described earlier, but parts of the roof were visible above the canopies.
“Looks like it’s Showtime,” Decker said.
Lee Kuan smacked a fresh ten-round box magazine into the Škorpion and walked through the plan in his head just one more time. The Škorpion was a Czech machine pistol chambered for nine mil rounds which fired out of the muzzle at nine hundred bullets per minute. It felt good in his hands, and he knew how to handle it.
Which was just as well. Get caught on this mission and it was Game Over.
From his seat in the back of the stolen Indian Army KrAZ-6322, he leaned forward and gave more orders to Vòng who was at the wheel. “When we get to the gates, smash through them.”
The man nodded. “Yes, Boss.”
Through the muddy windshield Kuan now saw the machine shop and simulation facility of the Svarga Space Center. It all looked much larger than the pictures he had studied on the internet. There were three other men in the back of the KrAZ, but Kuan now turned his attention to the man sitting directly opposite him. Unlike the others who were all wearing black riot gear with face masks and holding machine pistols, this man was in civilian clothing, unarmed and sweating profusely.
“Now, Professor Khabir,” Kuan began, pushing the muzzle of the Škorpion into the terrified man’s left kneecap. “You are very sure you can get us into the center with your security clearance?”
Khabir nodded. “Yes. As I already told you, as a senior aerospace engineer I have access to all areas.”
“This is what I want to hear… good. And you remember what my men will do to your daughters if anything goes wrong today?”
The man looked down, his face contorted in deep, indelible anguish. When he spoke, it was through words choked with fear. “Yes… yes, I remember.”
“This is also very good,” Kuan said.
“The gates!”
Kuan looked from Khabir to the driver and saw the security booths up ahead. They were either side of the road which was blocked by the two flimsy boom gates.
“Smash through them!”
Two security guards saw the approaching military truck and waved for it to stop. When it failed to do so they pulled their pistols and started to fire at them.
“Get down!” Kuan yelled.
Vòng pulled his head down below the dashboard as the guards’ bullets drilled into the truck’s windshield in an attempt to stop the attack, but it was too late. They were going too fast and the attack was totally unexpected — Kuan knew from his research that the space center had never been attacked in all its thirty years.
The KrAZ blasted through the boom gates and increased speed as it raced toward the mechanics laboratory to the north of the enormous complex. Now they heard the sirens raging in the background as the guards alerted the base’s entire security force of the invasion.
“We have to work fast!” Kuan said to his men. “No one deviates from the plan.”
They skidded to a halt outside the laboratory and leaped out of the truck — Khabir at the end of a barrel of a gun.
“Do it, now!” Kuan yelled.
The confused Professor Khabir swiped his card through the lock and the outer door swung open. As they filed in, several security guards approached from the south and used the KrAZ for cover as they fired on the invaders. Vòng returned fire, killing two and forcing the third to retreat.
“Time’s running out!” Kuan yelled. “This place will be swarming with them in minutes. Activate the decoy explosives.”
Vòng pulled a remote detonator from his pocket and hit the button. Seconds later they heard the sound of deep, heavy explosions on the other side of the base. “That should keep them busy for a while.”
They jogged along an internal corridor, each man knowing exactly where he was going, and then reached another door. Kuan pushed the muzzle of his gun into Khabir’s back. “This is where you come in.”
Khabir nodded and wiped the sweat from his head. He swiped his card a second time but this time the door stayed shut. On the tiny security screen Kuan and Khabir saw the prompt at the same time.
The kidnapped professor raised a trembling hand and allowed the computer to take his palm-print. A gentle green glow swept up and down and then they heard the chunky door click open.
It opened to reveal a sterile laboratory and half a dozen scientists in white coats. They turned and stared at the intruders with a confusion that quickly turned to terror, and when they saw the machine pistols they scrambled in every direction.
Kuan ordered his men to open fire on the fleeing scientists. “Kill them!”
Khabir shielded his eyes from the slaughter as every last man and woman in the lab was ripped to pieces by the savage fusillade ripping from the muzzles of the intruders’ guns.
“You killed them all!” Khabir said, in shock.
“And your daughters will be joining them if you don’t do as you’re told, got it?”
Khabir got it, and nodded to show Kuan that he would be compliant.
“Good — now, where is it?”
“Over there.” Khabir raised a trembling hand and pointed at a small bomb no bigger than a suitcase. “That is the Yama I.”
“That’s it?” Kuan said.
Khabir nodded grimly. “That is it.”
“This has the power to destroy an entire city?”
“Yes… and I just hope God has mercy on me.”
“You won’t have to wait long to find out,” Kuan said, and fired the Škorpion into the professor’s chest at near point-bank range. He blasted him back into a shelf of lab equipment and his dead body crashed to the ground in a pile of smashed test tubes and leaking chemicals. “Get that out to the truck!” Kuan yelled.
He watched Vòng and the rest of his men load the weapon onto a small hydraulic forklift and drive it back along the corridor toward the parking area. Outside, most of the base’s security and fire team were heavily engaged in fighting the fires the decoy grenades had caused in the Avionics lab on the other side of the base, but several men with pistols were crawling all over the KrAZ.
When they saw the intruders they turned their weapons on them but the fire fight was short and savagely unfair. Kuan’s men outnumbered them three to one and had automatic weapons. Minutes later the Chinese triad boss and his team were weaving the forklift around the dead bodies of the security guards and loading the Yama I into the back of the truck.
Kuan clambered into the back of the KrAZ beside the bomb and banged on the back of the cab up front. “We’re out of here, Vòng,” he said. He turned and looked at the small nuclear bomb and a grim, nervous smile appeared on his face. “We’ll see who’s the Big Man now, Rakesh.”
26
Selena Moore and Charlie Valentine watched in horror as Kaleka dragged two young men into the room by their necks, one in each of his powerful hands. He threw them to the floor where they crashed a few yards in front of Madan, who now smiled and nodded his head with appreciation. “The runaways have returned,” he said.
“Please… sir!”
Madan looked terrifying — stripped naked to the waist he was now smeared in the cremation ashes of his last victims. This was an old Aghori tradition he had imported into his new cult, and now his eyes were bulging with excitement at the horrors to come. He moved a forefinger and Kaleka powered a hefty kick into the pleading man’s stomach. A sharp cracking sound was followed by a howl of pain as the man doubled over, winded, and began to nurse his broken ribs.
“No begging,” Madan said quietly. “I will not allow begging.”
“This guy’s a psycho, Lena,” Charlie whispered. “And something tells me these two poor bastards are just for starters.”