The Project 01 - White Jade

another shot threw flying splinters by his face.
    " Chung, go around the other side and see if you can spot the shooter. I ' ll keep him busy. " Chung took off running.
    Choy stuck the Uzi around the corner and let off a burst in the general direction of the shots he ' d heard. There was no return fire. The crisp, sharp sound of Chung ' s Beretta came from behind the house . It was followed by two more loud shots and a scream. Choy looked around the corner and saw a man and a woman forty or fifty yards away, running toward the river. Chung and Li were nowhere in sight. He let off another burst, but the Uzi was no good at distances like that. He switched to his pistol and fired three rounds. The running pair disappeared behind a hill.
    Choy ran to the back of the house and saw Chung lying in the grass, hands clasped across his bloody abdomen.
    " Chung. How bad? "
    Chung gasped. " Bad. In the gut. Two of them. The man has the gun. "
    " Where ' s Li?
" Don ' t know. "
    " Hold on. I ' ll be back. "
    Choy ran across the field, trying for cover from the hill. There was no sign of the man or the woman. He passed Li ' s body lying face down in the weeds and reached the hill . He inserted a fresh magazine into the Uzi , crouched low and moved through the dry grass until he saw where the running couple had gone.
    A tunnel opened into the side of the hill, broken boards scattered on the ground in front of it. They must have gone inside. If he went up to the tunnel mouth he ' d be silhouetted against the light.
    Choy had had enough for one day. He reached into his pocket and took out a grenade. He pulled the pin and with an easy throw lobbed it into the tunnel opening.
    The explosion buried the entrance in an avalanche of red dirt and flying rock. Choy hadn ' t expected that, but it served his purpose. There 'd be no more trouble from the two inside.
    He walked back to where Noodles was lying. Li was dead. He went to where Chung lay in the grass clutching his abdomen. Dark blood soaked his shirt and seeped through his fingers. Choy knelt beside him.
    " All right, Chung. We ' ll get you fixed up. "
    That bastard American, Choy thought. Now we ' ve got problems. And Chung didn ' t look too good.
    " Water, " Chung said.
    " No water. I ' m going to get you to the car. It will hurt. "
    He bent down and lifted and Chung cried out in pain. Choy straightened and carried the moaning man to the Mercedes. He laid him down on the ground.
    Choy walked to where Li ' s body lay in the grass. He picked up Li ' s weapon and dragged the body back to the car, then placed the dead man and the Uzi in the trunk. He glanced at Chung. There wasn ' t much he could do for a wound like that. Chung ' s only hope was a hospital . Choy couldn ' t risk it. He ' d have to go back to the Consulate, but he didn ' t think Chung would last that long. It was either that, or end it now and put him with Li. For a moment he considered that option . He decided to think about it.
    He went back to where Chung had been hit, retrieved his weapons and took them to the car, placing them with Li ' s body in the trunk. Then he walked to the house and into the living room. An open wine bottle sat on the kitchen table.
    Choy picked up the bottle and took a long swallow. Too bitter compared to the sweet plum wine he liked, but better than nothing. He wiped his lips and looked at s craps of tape and plastic piled on the table.
    Something had been unwrapped . Choy had a bad feeling. If the wrappings had protected the book he was sent to find and it was now buried with the Americans, the Colonel would be angry.
    Thinking back, Choy realized the woman had been carrying a white plastic bag. The more he thought about it, the more he was convinced the book was in that tunnel, with two dead Americans. The whole mission had turned into a disaster. He took another pull from the bottle.
    There had been a lot of noise. The house was in the country, and everyone knew Americans were always shooting at things in the country . P robably no one would think much about it . But the grenade had been loud.
    T ime to leave.
    Choy made a cursory search of the house so he could tell Colonel Wu he 'd looked for the book. He found a purse on the couch, opened it and scattered the contents . He took the wallet and looked at the driver ' s license. T he Connor woman . W ho was the man?
    Choy took the money and license from the wallet and tossed it onto the couch. He took a last drink from the bottle,