Silent Arsenal. Don Pendleton

walk around with their agenda right under our noses. These, uh, key players, have been ‘marked,’ shall we say, in keeping with the new conventional wisdom that enemies to national security are fair game for hunting.

      “Keep flipping. There’s another situation—one, it is believed, that is related to the Kachin incident and the shoot-down of our spy spacecraft.”

      Brognola thumbed through the pile until he came to the high-resolution imagery of more corpses being tossed into fires. There was a shot of a silver transport plane with an emblem of what looked like a mailed fist on the fuselage, shots of men, white and black, and all of them armed, standing on a ridge overlooking a large camp on a barren plain. It was another scene of mass death and corpse incineration.

      “You’re looking at a Somali warlord and his cutthroats,” Sunglasses said. “The corpses being burned are Ethiopian refugees fleeing a major civil war in their own country. We received initial reports with some degree of skepticism, but the CIA confirmed this incident with the flyover of a Predator drone. They were following up after an Ethiopian man and woman—the only survivors—managed to cross into Kenya to tell the story. This Somali warlord received a shipment, it is believed, of biotech food from the westerners you see. Only this food was deliberately poisoned. The symptoms of the outbreak are nearly identical to the Burmese guinea pigs.”

      “A killer virus spawned in…what, microyeast?”

      “You have many of the pertinent details, the access codes for the CD-ROMs written down, some good leads. No one has all the answers, but I gathered from my briefing by the President you might know how to proceed.”

      “You never answered my original question of who?”

      “Germans.”

      Brognola blinked. “Yes, our good friends and allies. It is a cabal called EuroDef, run by German businessmen and military contractors who have contacts here in the United States. The workforce, technicians and scientists come from a number of different countries, including Russian and American microbiologists, virologists, scientists and so on, looking to sell their wisdom to the highest bidder.”

      “Am I hearing conspiracy?”

      “One so dark and potentially embarrassing…well, I get the impression this will be handled in an unofficial capacity.”

      It was a lot to digest, but Brognola knew what the President was asking. The green light was flashed for Stony Man to cut loose its dogs of covert war.

      The big Fed judged the spook’s long silence for dismissal. “If that’s all…”

      “For now. Good luck, Mr. Brognola.”

      Without another word or look back, Brognola was out the door.

      THE ONLY IMMEDIATE questions in his mind were how much pain he would be forced to inflict by way of multiple contusions, abrasions and broken bones, and how much collateral damage he would wreak before he walked out with the answer he wanted. Lyons mulled the possibilities, racked his brain for a peaceful solution.

      As covert operatives, the Farm had a way of frowning on extracurricular melees that tended to bring police attention to Brognola’s doorstep. Sure, the big Fed could always cut through red tape, and he could be on his merry black ops way, any charges vanishing into cyber limbo, even as he was aware he would be forced to endure sufficient and justified rebuke from Brognola. Okay, then consider the predicament with mature judgment and acute detail to responsibility.

      Schwarz and Blancanales were in the War Wagon, staking out the door and the street. A quick call on his tac radio and Lyons could marshal up a little help from his friends, maybe they would play some conciliatory role as negotiators, usher him quiet and nice into the night, with all forgiven. He could have bobbed his head to the threatening noise the Perm was making, meek as a lamb, shuffled off, sorry if he’d caused any disturbance, bowing and scraping all the way out the door. He wondered if he was growing soft or getting too old to go on the muscle to thrash a guy who clearly deserved a can of whup-ass rammed into his throat or some other orifice.

      Nah. Only in a perfect world, he decided, where there was peace and love and goodwill toward all men, and the young and the innocent weren’t preyed upon by adult savages. The mature, responsible Carl Lyons, then, would have to wait for another day.

      “You listening to me, sport?”

      Lyons had his head cocked toward a booth where a quartet of new arrivals were in a serious discussion with two of the Perm’s SS. Three looked like muscle, big and broad, clearly packing cannons beneath their sport jackets, while number four, decked out in a cashmere coat, wearing sunglasses, the goatee and ax face…

      Wait a second, Lyons thought. He was sure he’d seen van Gogh somewhere before. Where? Take off the facial hair, the shades…

      He would have sworn he’d seen him on TV, one of those cable talking-head shows where everyone was such an expert they could have told all the little people the mysteries of the universe. No doubt in his mind they were the VIPs, as Lyons saw Susie materialize in a mink coat, before she was led away, van Gogh wrapping a hand around the furry arm.

      The Perm, snapping his fingers now, snippy. “Hey, sport. I’m the one you need to be worried about. I asked you a question.”

      Lyons faced the Perm. “I heard you. All this ‘you know people,’ telling me you’ve got clout in this town. Outfit muscle, I’m guessing.”

      “I’m telling you, sport, you can leave here standing or I can have you wheeled out, dump your body in the Potomac and nobody would ever know. One look at you, I don’t think you’d rate much attention.”

      “What if I told you I was a special agent with the Justice Department?”

      “The kind of people I know own Feds, have half the politicians in their pocket, whistling to their tune. If I don’t squash you like the insect you are, I know people who can get your badge yanked and pinned to your ass.”

      “You’re a big man, is that it?”

      “Bigger than you really want to find out, sport.” Lyons chuckled, nodded and grinned. “I’ve got it now. I know who you remind me of.” The Perm froze, Lyons glancing over his shoulder, found the bulldogs still on their leash. “‘The Gong Show,’ that’s it. You look like that guy, the host, the one with the frizzy hairdo, shirt always unbuttoned to his navel, you know, showing off a chest I’ve seen with more muscle and meat on a starving Kurd refugee. Loved that show. I especially got a kick out of Gene-Gene the Dancing Machine. Remember that guy? Hey, maybe it’s really you, that silly guy, you know, career change… What the hell was his name? Can you still mimic those Gene-Gene moves?”

      The moment was sealed now and Lyons knew what had to be done. It was way beyond hope, mature or responsible.

      “That’s it…”

      The Perm was rising when Lyons grabbed him by the earlobe, squeezing, twisting, lifting him to his feet. Funny what pain did to get the other guy’s attention. The Perm’s squeal was cutting through the rock music when Lyons clamped a hand over his throat.

      And the SS was coming.

      There was a general paralysis among the patrons, Lyons saw, catching a couple of scantily clad females mirrored in the wall glass as they scurried for cover. Lyons had the pair of goons marked in the mirror, as he spun the “Gong Show” clone around, gauging range to target number one. The foot shot out. Lyons rewarded by a whoof and eyeballs rolling back in the head as he scored a home run to testicles. Number two faltered, watching as his comrade folded at his feet. The .45 was out next, whipping sideways, slamming off number two’s scalp. So much 250 pounds of bulging pecs and biceps, but Lyons liked the way he hit the floor, out cold, the odds cut by half. The dancer on stage screamed and grabbed up her clothes. Lyons adjusted his aim as goons three and four bulled their way through the crowd.

      “Freeze!” Lyons shouted, the sight of the .45 thrust at their faces freezing SS Three and Four in their tracks. “Eat the deck, facedown!”

      “Mr.