The Project 01 - White Jade

would give Chan a little more time to realize the full implication of his situation and then begin the interrogation. Zeke didn ' t think Charlie would be much of a challenge. They had him cold, his only hope was to tell what he knew and try to bargain for lighter punishment.
    They were making progress. With Cathy Chen and Chan in custody they had hampered Wu ' s operations. Jordan knew Wu was back in China , so the big question was whether it would make any real difference.
    He called Director Harker.
    " We ' ve got our mole in custody. "
    " Have you begun the interrogation yet? "
    " Not yet. I ' m letting him sweat a little. His phone and computer are in the lab now. We had his cubicle bugged and recorded him making a call to Wu. They've probably got the intercept at NSA. "
    " What was the number? "
    Jordan gave her Charlie ' s cell phone number.
    " We didn ' t hear Wu ' s end but Chan told him we knew about his plans, so by now Yang knows we ' re on to him. Should be interesting to see what happens. "
    " It might not change anything, but it ' s got to have Yang worried. Stress causes mistakes. I ' m hoping he ' ll make a few. "
    " You get any help from State, yet? "
    " No. As far as they ' re concerned I should mind my own business and stick to finding second rate terrorists, which is pretty much what they think we do over here. That mostly works to my advantage, but the tradeoff is sometimes people don ' t take us very seriously. It ' s State ' s problem, anyway. "
    " I ' m beginning to see you do a lot more than analyze possibilities, Director. "
    " I ' d appreciate your discretion about that. I keep a low profile. "
    " Working with you has turned this into the most interesting week I ' ve had around here in years. Low profile works for me. Anything you need from me? "
    " Not at the moment. Let me know what you learn from your mole. "
    " I will. "
    Jordan flipped the phone shut and put it in his shirt pocket. Time to go talk to Charlie.

Chapter Forty- Six

    The contents of the bottle swirled and sparkled with dancing glints of gold in the light of the burning bowls. Selena brushed back a loose strand of hair.
    The smell of decay from the sarcophagus was getting stronger . The fresh, life-like tone of the Emperor's f ace was taking on a bruised look, the color darkening.
    Nick took the bottle and placed it back in the box. He put the jade box back at the emperor's feet.
    " How about the pictures on the walls, Selena? "
    " I ' ve already got most of it. Just a few more. "
    " Make it quick. We ' re running out of time before someone shows up. Ronnie, let ' s look around one more time . "
    In the workshop they searched through the objects scattered about on the tables. T hey steered clear of the chest with the uranium ore.
    Selena called out. " Hey, I ' m done. "
    " All right, let ' s get out of here. "
    " What about the emperor? " said Selena.
    " What about him? "
    They glanced over at the emperor. He wasn ' t looking good. Pools of putrid fluid were forming in the crypt. When they'd unsealed the lid, the air had started a chemical reaction. Immortality wasn ' t what it was cracked up to be.
    " Shouldn ' t we put the lid back on? It seems the right thing to do. "
    Ronnie and Nick looked at each other, shrugged, and went over to the crypt. The bones of the face were already showing through the rotting flesh. The stench was terrible. They wrestled the lid on.
    They shouldered their packs.
    They went back the way they'd come, climbing over the pit and past the spear trap to the ledge at the foot of the stairs. Torches still burned in the passage. At the top of the stairs the statue was where they'd left it. Carter took C-4 from his pack and began shaping charges. Ronnie stood guard at the entrance . Selena photographed the garuda.
    He placed the charges to collapse the floor around the stairwell and demolish the main doorway into the temple . He thought about it and placed a few more. The roof might come down, but he wanted to make sure no one else would get in. At the least, the entrance to the chamber would be closed and the stairs filled with rubble. He inserted the detonators and hooked up the timers.
    " All set. I ' m giving it ten minutes. " He activated the timers.
    They left the torches burning on the floor and stepped out into the daylight. Nick called Harker. A s she picked up he heard the noise of trucks grinding up the mountain.
    " Director, we ' re ready to get out of here. "
    " W here are you? "
    " We '