The Death Strain by Nick Carter Page A

murmured, sleepy protest, I put on clothes and answered the door.
    "AXE Headquarters calling you, sir," a sailor said, saluting. I closed the door softly behind me and followed him to the radio room. Hawk's voice crackled out at me as I put on the head phones.
    "Has the girl said anything?" he asked.
    "Nothing you'd be interested in, sir," I answered.
    "That figures," the old fox replied. "But we've pieced together a few things for you that may help. Chung Li thinks that the jet pilot may be one of their men. He had to make a few admissions that must have hurt, but they confirmed past reports from our own sources. First, the Chinese had a bad explosion some while back testing their A-bomb warheads. A woman was killed. Her husband was a jet pilot by the name of Chan Hwa. Chung Li also had to admit that one of their special long-range jets has been missing for a week, along with pilot Chan Hwa."
    "All right, a Chinese pilot with a stolen jet and his own
set
of gripes
is
going to help Carlsbad put his plan into effect," I said. "That doesn't tell us where to find him."
    "I might have that, too," Hawk said. "That statement about the 'tip of the three, Nick, I gave it to our cryptanalysts. It's not code and not truly cryptography, but they've so much specialized training in solving riddles that I figured they'd be best and fastest. They came up with a possible answer. There's a spot, not too far from the Kuriles, where Soviet Russia, China and Korea meet. It could be reached by helicopter. All three countries touch only at the very tip of the area at Changkufeng."
    "Ill get there right away," I said. "If we're not too late already."
    "Do your best, Nick," Hawk said. "Chung Li is on his way with two hand-picked men. So is Ostrov. Chung Li is very worried. I think that's what made him so cooperative. He's afraid Carlsbad is going to set X–V77 loose on Chairman Mao and the Supreme Council. He wants Mao to leave for the United Nations World Leadership Conference ahead of schedule. Frankly, I'm afraid that might be Carlsbad's plan, too, and you know what that would trigger."
    "I can get a Vigilante A-5A from the carrier here," I said. "That'd be the fastest way for me to make it."
    "Ill certify clearance for you," Hawk said. "Take the girl. Maybe hell listen to her if you get to him."
    "Will do," I said. "Over and out."
    The carrier commander took over as I raced back to the stateroom. I woke Rita and her arms slid around my neck. Her half-opened eyes said only one thing.
    "Not now, honey," I said. "There is too much to do."
    She sat up, the sheet dropping from her breasts. She was into her clothes in moments. "Better say your prayers that well be in time," I said. "This could be our last chance."

V
    Rita and I jammed into one of the Vigilante's two seats, our pilot in the other. They'd come up with a pair of jeans and a zippered jacket that fit Rita. It would have been cozy except for the bulk of our chute packs made it uncomfortable. The two J79 turbojets had the plane up to near its 1400 mph speed in not much more than a long minute. In a little over an hour we were winging over Sosura on the Korean coast and then, at the tip of the land where the three countries came together, we saw the village of Changkufeng inside the Manchurian border. Just beyond it lay the Russian border and the village of Podgornaya. We flew a tight circle around Changkufeng and then across thatched-roof-and-clay farmhouses and hilly land dotted with scrub brush and stunted trees. I saw no sign of a field large enough to land a jet.
    As we flew along the narrow pointed finger of land where the three countries touched at the tip, moving into Manchurian territory, the pilot dipped low over the fields and houses. I saw his arm point down and he banked. Below, outside a clay-walled house, a figure waved and I recognized the portly shape of Chung Li. The Red Chinese espionage chief was holding a rifle in one hand and waving with it. He had reached here first,