Echo Six: Black Ops 7 - Tibetan Fury by Eric Meyer

belief? What is it that pulls me toward them?
    He thought again about his Jewish girlfriend. He'd gone through hell to rescue Nava, after she was kidnapped and threatened with death by an Arab. Yet afterwards, she made clear her intention to settle in Israel, and no sooner had she made her way to the land of her ancestors, than she'd signed up for some obscure cult situated next to the Sea of Galilee.
    He'd made attempts to contact her, and even gone to see her on one occasion. It had been a difficult visit, and her final words to him were still etched on his brain.
    "I have to work this out, Abe. I'm sorry. I know it's difficult for you, but I'm trying to find myself here in this community."
    "How long do you need?"
    She'd looked back at him, her eyes dreamy and far away. "An eternity, perhaps? Only God knows. I'm sorry," she repeated, "Goodbye, Abe."
    He dragged his mind back to the present. He had to concentrate on the here and now, and leave these troubled females to find their God.
    But dear God, she’s pretty.
    A light flared, someone striking a match. Chinese were inveterate smokers, and this one was only fifty meters ahead of them. His tobacco habit had given him away, and now he saw him clearly through the NV goggles, a bored soldier, puffing on his cigarette.
    Christ, we almost walked into him. Time to stop the woolgathering and concentrate.
    He ordered Grace to drop flat, keyed his mic, and spoke in a whisper.
    "This is Echo One, hold your positions. Hostile up ahead."
    A double-click acknowledged his call. He dropped down close to Grace and whispered to her.
    "I'm going forward to take a look. It may be just the one guy, or it could be part of a larger force guarding the city. Wait here."
    She murmured, "Okay," and he left to start crawling forward. He reached a clump of snow-covered bushes and took the time to survey the area. Other than the solitary soldier, he saw nothing. So maybe it was just bad luck, and they'd need to find a different way through. He was about to crawl back to Grace when he heard the sound of engines. Truck engines, coming toward them. In the middle of the night, in the center of a security zone, it could only mean one thing. Troops.
    He froze as he saw something else, something that he hadn't noticed before. A succession of tiny raised bumps in the snow. He passed a couple of them and took no notice. But where the snow was thicker, there were even more of the protrusions, almost hidden by the white blanket. They were spaced at regular intervals, which meant they were man-made. With a blinding flash of understanding, he realized his mistake in not recognizing them before. They were sensors.
    He crawled back fast and reached Grace.
    "We need to pull back, now."
    He went past her and snaked toward where his men waited for him.
    "We've got problems. The Chinese have this area staked out with sensors. Only a single guard up ahead, but there're trucks on the way in. They may have picked us up."
    "We heard them," Guy responded, "Looks like we're about to get a visit from the People's Army."
    "Not the PLA, it could be something else," said Grace, joining them, "In this area, security generally falls within the remit of the Ministry of State Security. If it's them, we're in serious trouble. They're..." she paused, "they're savages."
    The tremor in her voice when she mentioned the brutal security apparatus responsible for terrorizing most of Tibet was noticeable. She was reliving it, and they looked away, embarrassed for her.
    Guy held up his hand for silence. "The trucks have stopped. If they picked us up on those motion sensors, they'll be looking for us. We need to get out of here fast."
    Talley cursed the inadequate intel. They should have been told about this, but Guy was right, they needed to clear the area. He glanced back at the girl. She seemed to have calmed herself.
    " Grace, you know this place. We need to find another way to reach the prison."
    She nodded. "It is several kilometers due