Blood Toll. Don Pendleton

you, Hwong Zhi?” Song stared through the larger man. “We are the SST—the Sword of Sun Tzu, the most ambitious covert military operation undertaken in the industrial age. If we are to teach the Americans a lesson about their arrogance, they cannot know what we are doing until it is too late. Isolated terror events are not enough. The disruption of Honolulu must be so total and the threat so real that the Americans dare not retaliate. Only when we have America’s neck in the garrote can we dictate terms to its government in secret.”

      “I understand, Comrade General.” Hwong bowed slightly. “I will not fail.”

      “See that you do not,” Song intoned. “Honolulu and therefore Hawaii must be ours. When we have the Americans by the throat, we will release them—but only after Taiwan’s rebel government has been overthrown and the island is once more under the direct control of the mainland. We will teach the Americans to remain uninvolved, or pay the steepest of prices in kind.”

      “Yes, Comrade General.”

      Song turned on his heel and was gone. Only when he was certain that the man was out of earshot did Hwong release the breath he had been holding and head to the shower. He was accustomed to Song’s speeches, but he also knew not to ignore them.

      It was widely rumored within the higher levels of the organization that Song had previously overseen a covert operation on American soil, an operation further rumored to have failed. The result was that Song fretted over the operation like an old woman, at times. He was ruthless and cunning, to be sure, but he now feared risk. Hwong had no such compunctions. He was a soldier, a fighter, a veteran of some years’ trials within Chinese special operations. He knew that without risk, there was no reward, and without nerve, there was no success.

      Hwong well remembered the Hainan incident, which in many ways had only recently repeated itself. When one of the People’s Republic’s fighters had collided with the U.S. spy plane seventy miles off the coast of Hainan Island, forcing the craft to land on Chinese soil, some in the People’s Liberation Army had agitated for immediate military response. Cooler heads had prevailed, and Hwong knew the correct decisions had been made. They simply would not have been ready had the SST been activated in Hawaii at that time.

      During the Hainan incident, however, the Americans sat helplessly as China held the spy plane’s air crew, using the time spent in largely pointless negotiations with the blustering Americans to dissect and analyze the technology of the plane itself. Chinese intelligence teams sifted through what could be recovered of the sensitive material and other data the Americans thought they had destroyed before landing. The wealth in information was equaled only by the gain in stature as the People’s Republic stood up to the hated United States, international bully and would-be policeman of the world.

      It was Hainan that showed Hwong the Americans could be beaten—and it was Hainan that validated the SST’s plan for teaching the United States that its place in the world was changing. Spread too thin in its interminable “war on terror,” the American forces simply could not afford to wage war with an increasingly mighty China.

      Hwong finished toweling himself off. He pulled a sleeveless black T-shirt over his head. He replaced the paddle holster, bearing his .45 ACP Heckler & Koch USP Compact pistol in his waistband at his right side. The chunky polymer-framed weapon could not be used to link China or its operatives to the SST’s operations. Hwong’s people were similarly armed, despite the fact that some of them preferred the 9 mm round. He insisted on homogeneity in personal kit and had mandated the use of the .45. He did allow his team some latitude in choosing other personal accessories.

      From the training hall, Hwong entered the makeshift squad room where his assault team of handpicked elite soldiers waited.

      The team snapped to attention as Hwong entered the squad room, but he nodded to them quickly. “Resume your duties,” he said. “There are more important things afoot than protocol and respect for authority.” Even as he said it, he hoped his faith was not misplaced and none of his people was secretly reporting directly to Song. The general placed great stock in hierarchy and respect for authority. He would be none too pleased to hear Hwong making light of these.

      The six officers present were, with the exception of Wu Ya, unremarkable in appearance. This was essential for covert operations; the men would need to blend in with their surroundings. Hwong’s height, so unusual among Asians, had always been something of a liability for this reason, though his features were bland enough that most took him for a half-Westerner of some sort.

      Wu Ya, however, was an unnatural giant of a man for any race. He stood over six feet and weighed three hundred pounds. His heavily muscled frame was dominated by a face carved from granite. Heavy brows met over small, dark eyes that saw everything. Wu Ya was a killer, as were they all, but Hwong knew that Wu preferred to kill with his bare hands.

      Wu had offered many times to spar with Hwong, but the field commander had yet to take his subordinate up on the offer. To Hwong, the prospect of dueling Wu with fists seemed a little too real, a little too close to fighting for his life. As part of the team, Wu’s great size was put to its logical use; the man was tasked with carrying and operating the squad’s HK 21 belt-fed machine gun.

      Most of the other squad members were cleaning and checking their own HK weapons. These were HK UMP submachine guns, chosen by Hwong for their modern design and ammunition compatibility. All the weapons and their ammo were, again, untraceable, at least to the People’s Republic.

      Hwong continued to take mental inventory of his squad. Standing over his kit, his UMP reassembled and his magazines fully loaded, Chen Yi pantomimed a slow knife kata. In his hands were his balisongs, the twin blades glinting in the overhead light from the fluorescents. As Hwong watched, Yi slashed one imaginary opponent, then two, then a third, pausing to work his deadly skill in a series of flashing opening and closing movements with the split-handled butterfly knives.

      Tsai Ming, also a knife aficionado—though he carried a simple AK-47 bayonet—watched Chen Yi almost enviously. The two sparred on occasion with sheathed blades or rubber training knives. As Hwong understood it, Chen was usually the victor. Hwong encouraged the competition as long as it prompted his men to improve their skills. He wanted no rivalries among them, however, and had warned them of this more than once.

      Tsai Ming was also the squad’s demolitions expert. He would oversee many of the preparations for the Honolulu plan, as a great deal of explosives work would be needed in rigging appropriate deterrents.

      Li Huang racked the action of his UMP several times, his manner methodical and aloof. He was Hwong’s second in command in the field and had proved to be a worthy officer many times. He was, however, the most likely candidate to be Song’s spy among Hwong’s elite squad, as Li showed the most political ambition. This was expected and, in most ways, inevitable. It would do, however, to remind himself more often of that, Hwong thought.

      Wiry Jin Tai, slighter and shorter than the others, was a skilled helicopter pilot. Of all his squad, Hwong knew Jin the least, though the man had served with him for two years. He was an able pilot and utterly quiet in all other respects.

      The sixth and final man on Hwong’s elite team was Zho Wen, who was the only one who frequently worried Hwong. Zho enjoyed taking lives, enjoyed it with an almost sexual satisfaction. He was, however, very highly connected in Chinese military and political circles. To discipline Zho too harshly—or to dishonor him by removing him from the team—would be to incur wrath so great that it might end in Hwong’s execution regardless of any mission successes he achieved.

      Several times, Hwong had been forced to clean up after Zho Wen. As a result, he was never given leave alone. Hwong usually sent him with Wu, with strict orders to stop the man from murdering prostitutes or street beggars. In the field, however, Zho performed well, channeling his murderous desires into fierce fighting ability. It would, Hwong often reflected, have to be enough. There would conceivably come a time when Hwong would have to arrange for Zho to be killed in action during an operation.

      “The comrade general extends his encouragement and expresses his confidence in your abilities,” Hwong said smoothly. “We will shortly commence with