"Sir, we had a clean launch, and you'll have Predator support in one minute, thirty seconds, sir."

"Roger that. And just remember to keep that flying lawn mower on the perimeter. You scan for outside threats and complement the satellite. We've got the AO covered from here."

"Uh, roger that, sir."

Mitchell grinned to himself. The "aviator" wasn't happy, but he had admitted on the sub that the Predator's engines could blow everyone's cover. Still, having the drone provide additional surveillance of the mountains was certainly welcome.

"Ghost Lead, this is Bravo Lead. We have drivers and pilots posted near their vehicles, and we're in position. Waiting on you, Boss."

"Roger that." Mitchell glanced at the time in his HUD. "Still a little early."

He then stole another look from the satellite images, waited a moment more, then switched to the Predator's thermal infrared sensors just as the drone came online.

He immediately spotted the two snipers posted in the hills, red diamonds flashing.

"Diaz, check your HUD. Predator's got two out there."

"I see them. All right, sir, they're mine."

"Alicia, when that power goes down and I signal, you'll need to work faster than you've ever worked before. Snipers, then main gate sentries. Then you move again."

"I understand, sir." She backed out of the brush and darted off into the woods across the path.

Mitchell unclipped the cell phone from his waist and called Buddha. "Okay, where are my targets?"

"Sorry, Captain. He has not called back yet."

"What's the delay?"

"I don't know."

"Then call him!"

"Too risky. We must wait. He will call."

"What if he has second thoughts?"

"I have read this man correctly. He is scared, but he will help. He wants the best for his village."

"Buddha, I got air assets, I got people waiting."

"Captain, you may launch your attack now, but it seems there are still people awake at the castle, and I can't promise how soon that information will come."

Mitchell thought a curse. "Understood."

"Sir, do you want to launch the drone?" asked Smith.

"No, we'll wait till we cut power--but I was hoping to have our targets pinpointed before then, damn it."

Of course, if they didn't, they'd be searching for four needles within five haystacks. Yet for every second they remained in position, the odds of them being spotted increased.

Below, a few more castle windows darkened.

The uplink channel in Mitchell's HUD switched to a view from the tiny camera mounted on Diaz's headset. "Captain, I got a bead on our first sniper. I'll have to move to get the other guy."

"Hold."

"Holding."

"Captain, we're still waiting here," called Beasley from his position in the forest near the choppers and trucks.

"I know, I know. Just sit tight."

Inside the castle grounds, Huang held the leash of his dog and started toward the main gate.

"Where are you going?" asked one of Fang's men posted there.

"For a walk," Huang snapped.

The guard frowned. "Walk him here."

"He will not go here. I take him to the field."

"No."

"Do you want me to call Captain Fang?"

The soldier swallowed. "You know him?"

"I'm going to walk my dog." Huang turned around, moved to the gate, unlocked the door, then started outside, deliberately leaving the gate open.

Once he reached the bottom of the path and was turning toward the field, he tugged the phone from his pocket and nervously made the call.

Forty-three minutes later, Colonel Xu Dingfa was lying in his quarters inside the central, rectangular-shaped building. Fresh flowers had been arranged in vases, and the beds had been made with clean and sweet-smelling linen. Captain Fang had made all the arrangements for the "comfort girls" who had recently arrived, and one of them was already giving Xu a deep and erotic massage. The other three Tigers were, assumably, enjoying their own nights of pleasure before turning to much more grave business in the morning.

When they had planned the meeting, Xu had suggested that they gather immediately within the first hour of their arrival, but his impatience had been summarily quashed by the older Chen, who considered the "event" a long weekend and chance to work, celebrate, and unwind. Consequently, Xu had arranged for the girls and the banquet-style meal.

In the morning, they would establish the chain of command, finalize their timetables, and clearly identify the individual types and numbers of ships and aircraft involved. Call signs would be issued, as well as operating area assignments. Chen would distribute the communication encryption key cards for secure communications on what he had dubbed the Pouncing Dragon Primary Tactical Network (PDPTN).

Xu sighed as the girl dug her soft hands a little deeper into his shoulders.

The lights suddenly flickered a moment, then went out.

The girl gasped.

Xu rose, fumbled in the dark for his radio, found it, and called Fang.

The captain sounded irritated. "Sir, Huang tells me they are working on the transformers every night. The power should return within thirty minutes. It is no worry."

"I don't like this, Fang. Security is your mission. Do not fail us."

"I will not."

Xu thumbed off the radio and thought of calling Major-General Chen to give him the news. Then again, Chen could already be asleep. Why alert him to something that he might never discover?

Xu rolled over and grabbed the girl, who giggled.

Chapter Twenty-five.

HAKKA CASTLE

XIAMEN, CHINA

APRIL 2012

Master Sergeant Matt Beasley was ordinarily a patient man. All those years as a student of human nature had taught him to be still like a predator, always looking and listening.

But the lights had just gone out. And the captain had ordered them to do . . . nothing.

They were waiting ten more minutes to give the Tigers' security team time to check in with each other, time enough to give them all a false sense of security.

Hitting the castle directly after the power went down was much too conventional, and they would be tense, despite whatever story the CIA's inside man told them about the outage.

And that explained why Beasley, Brown, Jenkins, and Hume continued lying on their bellies within the ditch at the edge of the woodland. The pair of small, two-man civilian helicopters were less than a hundred meters away.

Images of those choppers had been captured by Beasley's camera and uploaded to the network. Within a minute the helicopters had been identified as Brantly B-2Bs manufactured by a Texas company that had been bought out by the Chinese. A detailed set of schematics and even a suggested sabotage point within the cockpit focusing on the bird's electronics systems accompanied the intel.

Parked near the choppers were a pair of jeeplike SUVs identified as the new Brave Warriors, and Beasley didn't need the geeks back home to tell him how to sabotage them.

Out there, a few hundred meters beyond the vehicles, lay the castle, growing even darker as swollen clouds descended like enormous zeppelins to blot out the stars. From one window came the faintest trace of a flashlight being switched on.

Beasley returned his gaze to the helicopters. He'd hoped that the Tigers would have chosen much larger birds so that the Ghosts could've revised their exfiltration plan to include a swift chopper ride back to the coast courtesy of a Chinese pilot held at gunpoint.