The Project 01 - White Jade

He braced against the side of the hood to take the weight off his leg.
    " We ' re here. " He tapped the map. " About eighteen klicks west of the mining town. The road is down there on the other side of that rise. Here ' s the monastery that ' s our principle landmark and here are the ruins we ' re headed for. "
    " That pilot knew his stuff. "
    " Makes you feel good, doesn ' t it? I could do without the moonlight, but it 'll be gone soon. We ' ve got around s even hours until dawn. With luck we can reach the ruins before light and get under cover. I ' m going to call in. "
    A coded burst to Harker let her know they were down safe and moving toward the objective.
    " Ronnie, you drive. "
    He pointed to a spot on the map where a valley wound its way in to the mountains , before the road reached the Gurugem monastery.
    " We ' ll cut north before we get too close to the building and head straight for the ruins. "
    They put the packs in back and climbed in. They drove off the hillside and onto the road. It was in good condition, gray and flat in the moonlight. The Humvee vibrated as they drove.
    Ronnie said, "Steering isn't real good. Something might have got bent when the sled came down."
    "Not much we can do about it."
    "Nah , we're still making good time. But I wouldn't want to push it."
    Now all they had to do was get to the objective and find a way inside.

Chapter Thirty-S even

    In Washington , Elizabeth studied the live satellite transmission from nighttime Tibet . S he ' d gotten the DIA to task a geostationary satellite to her for the duration of the mission. In daylight, it could define the insignia on a uniform collar from a hundred and twenty thousand feet up . At night, the latest infra-red technology tracked any heat source down to the size of a cigarette .
    Elizabeth watched the heat signature of the moving vehicle carrying her team. Nick ' s coded message confirmed what she could see with her own eyes . T he y were down safe and heading for the ruins.
    She zoomed out and scanned the surrounding area for signs of Chinese activity. The town of Moincer showed up as a leprous green glow west of the moving Humvee . T here was no sign of vehicles leaving the town and heading toward the team. So far, so good.
    Elizabeth had no illusions about what would happen if something went wrong . Political retaliation would be swift and merciless. China was off limits for armed covert ops. It helped that the team was in a remote region and that it was n't in Yang ' s interest to draw attention there if something happened.
    It was a long way to Tibet , but Yang was after something important there. Whatever he was after, getting to it first would complicate his plans. Whatever complicated Yang ' s plans was good, so she 'd ordered the team into action, politics be damned.
    She wondered if the relationship between Nick and Selena would be a problem in the field. It didn ' t take a trained observer to see something was going on between them. Elizabeth thought they were probably sleeping together, but there was some unspoken tension between them. Her first reaction had been to say no when Selena asked to go on the mission . But she had skills needed to boost the probability of success. Elizabeth always decided based on increasing the possibility and measure of success.
    So far Homeland Security had not raised the alert level. It was always a difficult problem. Raise the level and get everyone upset, without certainty of attack? Or wait for more intelligence and risk missing the window of opportunity to stop something?
    Harker was glad she didn ' t have to make that decision. In her gut, she felt an attack was coming. She had sounded the alarm; now it was up to others. In the meantime, she was doing what she could to disrupt Yang ' s plans.
    Earlier she ' d called State to give them a heads up. After the typical shunting around, she had reached the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Cheryl Wilson.
    " You ' re telling me a coup is being planned. "
    " That is what our best intelligence indicat es . "
    " What is the source of this intelligence? "
    " I ' m afraid I can ' t tell you that, Ma ' am. "
    " Are you saying I ' m not cleared for this information? "
    " That ' s correct. "
    There was an audible intake of breath at the other end of the line. It reminded Elizabeth of a snake hissing before the strike. There was frost in Wilson ' s voice when she spoke again.
    " Everything about China indicates a