False Front. Don Pendleton

far beyond those of mortal man” to quote the intros to the old “Superman” reruns he and Hawk had watched on TV when they were kids.

      Latham chuckled silently. No, this guy wasn’t Superman. He was flesh and blood, but he was something more, too. As a Texas schoolboy Latham had studied state history, and he was reminded now of a quotation that had stuck in his mind since those days. The words had been uttered enthusiastically by the English essayist and historian Thomas Carlyle speaking of James Bowie: “‘By Hercules! The man was greater than Caesar or Cromwell—well—nay, nearly equal to Odin or Thor. The Texans ought to build him an altar!’”

      Latham’s gaze fell to the ground, but he continued to watch Cooper in his peripheral vision. Many altars in the form of statues and other memorials had been built for James Bowie in Texas, but Latham suspected that regardless of how deserving this man calling himself “Cooper” might be, he would never receive such honors. The wars the man fought were in the shadows. Clandestine. And Charlie Latham knew the man would never get credit for all he did for the world. At the same time he realized that, the Texan also realized that Cooper wouldn’t care. He had probably never even given personal glory a passing thought.

      “You ready?” he heard his companion whisper.

      In the darkness he could see the improvised baston—a Filipino fighting stick—dangling from the end of the man’s arm. Cooper’s machete hung from the other hand and, though he couldn’t see it in the darkness, Latham knew that it was held backward so that the blunt edge would be the striking side.

      “I’m ready,” Latham said. With his own stick in his left hand, he flipped his machete around, too. But a last moment of doubt made him say, “You still serious about this no guns thing?”

      Bolan nodded. “Keep the firepower ready, just in case. But it’s a last resort. Remember, these men think we’re here to hurt them and their families. They aren’t doing anything you or I wouldn’t do.”

      “You realize we’d get better odds playing blackjack at the crookedest casino in Vegas, don’t you?” Latham asked.

      The tall silhouette nodded again, but said nothing.

      Which, to Charlie Latham, said it all. Yes, they’d probably die trying to do what they were about to try to do. But it was the right thing to do, so they’d do it.

      Bolan stepped past Latham into the open area behind the inland houses, leading the Texan to the back of a crudely constructed storage building behind one of the houses. Both men dropped to a knee to reevaluate the situation. They knew the villagers were out there somewhere. Watching. Waiting. Knowing they would come. Who knew what lies they had been told about what the Americans wanted to do to them and their families? But it didn’t matter; the end result was the same. They erroneously viewed them as enemies and they would do their best to kill them both.

      Scurrying out from behind the storage shed, the two Americans halted against the windowless back wall of the dilapidated dwelling directly across the roadway from Mario Subing’s home. Bolan peered around the corner, looked back and nodded.

      Latham took a deep breath then let it out. Cooper hoped to cross the street and mount the steps of the stilt house, unseen if possible, then interrogate Subing’s uncle. With everyone looking for them already, Latham figured the chances of pulling that off were about a thousand to one. The fact was, had it been anyone else working with him, the Texan would have just flat refused to even try it.

      Latham sighed. Of course the big man had a backup plan—for what it was worth. If they were spotted, they would do their best to snatch the old man and whisk him away somewhere before talking to him. To Latham, that, too, sounded like a terrific strategy for getting oneself killed and, again, he knew that if anyone whom he respected even half an ounce less than he did Matt Cooper had come up with the plan, he’d have told the idiot to go screw himself.

      But Cooper had already proved he could pull off the “crazy” things in life. The worse the odds were against them, the better he seemed to perform. And now, Latham realized as they started around the side of the house, the big man would get a chance to prove himself again.

      For they weren’t even halfway to the front of the house when three of the village men stepped out with swords.