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“Are you accusing me of trying to swindle you?” The triad soldiers and bodyguards tensed at Su’s sharp tone.
Cates smiled again and put his hands up to calm the situation. “Not at all. But I’m sure you understand that we have to inspect the drive.”
Su looked at his men, indicating they should ease up. He withdrew the USB drive from his jacket pocket, brushing the holstered machine pistol under his armpit.
Before handing it over, he said, “If you erase this, you will still owe us fifty million dollars.”
Cates nodded. “And
if we don’t get off this train with the flash drive, you won’t make it off, either.”
Su sat up straighter. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that a Predator drone is circling over us at fifteen thousand feet armed with a Hellfire missile. It will blow this train to splinters if we don’t get off at our rendezvous point.”
Cates’s poker face was good. Su couldn’t tell whether he was bluffing or not.
He stared at the American for a moment, expressionless, then turned to his men and smiled, speaking in Mandarin. “This guy has a set on him, doesn’t he?”
That brought a chorus of laughter from them.
“All right, Mr. Cates,” Su said. “We have mutually assured destruction on the table if this doesn’t work out. I hope you’re willing to die, because I am.”
“Willing,” Cates said, “but not eager.”
Su held out the flash drive. “Do what you need to do.”
Cates took it and gave it to his analyst, who removed the laptop from his satchel and plugged in the flash drive. He peered intently at the screen as he typed.
While he waited for his analyst to confirm that the USB drive was the real thing, Cates nonchalantly watched the passing scenery as the train wound along the curving mountain track. Su had no idea what the analyst was doing to verify its provenance, but he didn’t care as long as he got his fifty million.
Behind Su, the door to the passenger car banged open. He turned to see one of his men charge through, breathless and pointing back toward the way he came.
“They’re here!” he shouted in Mandarin. “The MSS found us!”
Su felt the blood drain from his face. He’d been so careful in his planning that he couldn’t believe they’d figured out where he was selling the drive. “What are you talking about?”
“While we were rounding the curve, I was looking out the window at the front of the train and saw them climbing into the first passenger car from on top. They’ll be here any second.”
The panicked face of his soldier made Su a believer, and his men drew their weapons. He swung around to get the flash drive from the Americans and ready his men to repel the attackers. But he hesitated when he saw the Americans’ bizarre reaction to the commotion.
Both of them were hunched over and had the heels of their palms against their eyes with their mouths hanging open.
In quick succession two of the dining car’s windows shattered as small objects broke through and bounced onto the floor at either end. The other men were as surprised as he was and whirled around in confusion.
In horror Su realized what the objects were. He yelled, “Get down!”
But none of the men had even begun to drop when the flashbang grenades went off.
The searing bright light and concussion of the dual blasts incapacitated Su instantly. He toppled over in his seat, disoriented and pawing at his eyes, his eardrums traumatized by the sudden change in pressure.
He couldn’t even hear his own screams.
7
Despite shielding his eyes and opening his mouth to equalize the overpressure in his ears, Juan was still partially dazed from the effects of the flashbang grenades. With the USB drive gripped firmly in his hand, he staggered to his feet, then collapsed back into the seat.
His vision cleared quickly enough to see Jimmy Su and his men crawling around as if they were drunks trying to stand up after a bender. Next to him, Eric looked as out of it as Juan felt.
