PRIMAL Vengeance

Chapter 40



The Bunker, Lascar Island



"Sir, we have a major problem." The operations watchkeeper burst into Vance's office.

"Bishop?" the PRIMAL commander immediately asked.

"The meet's gone bad."

For a big man Vance moved fast. He jumped up out of his chair and followed the watchkeeper into the operations room.

On the central screen a high-resolution satellite image showed the location of Bishop's iPRIMAL combat interface in downtown Juba, a kilometer west of the airport.

Everyone in the room was silent as they listened to the audio feed being transmitted from Bishop's phone. It was audible but muffled, as if the device was under a pillow or blanket.



"Shut up, bitch. I've saved us. The Americans were never going to give us the investment we needed. We would have lost. This way everyone will get rich."



They could hear the sound of Jess crying and the slap. On one of the other screens voice recognition software confirmed the voice as being Garang's, the leader of the SFF. Vance scowled. The ungrateful bastard had sold them out.



"Where is the other one? There are supposed to be two. You promised me both of them."



Vance glanced up at the other screen. The software had captured the voice and was searching databases. The accent was clear: Chinese.



"The other one stayed with my men. He is not the leader. This one is the leader."



Thoughts raced through Vance's head. What the f*ck was going on? Was Bishop still alive or was he dead? How come they could not hear him?

The software still had not found a link to the Chinese guy.



"Yes, but you promised both."

"I will deal with him later. Without this one he is nothing."



"Big call, f*cktard!" Vance growled. Mirza was not the sort of guy that anyone in the operations room would have crossed. Everyone knew the lightly built Indian was lethal; a quiet killer who would never give up until he completed his mission.

The Chinese guy spoke is his native tongue. Mandarin, if Vance wasn't mistaken.



"He is still alive."



There was a collective sigh in the Ops room.



"Hello, champ. Fancy seeing you here."



The audio feed improved dramatically, as if a pillow had been lifted. Vance couldn't help but smile.



"I knew it was you. The 'Tian Hai', the ambush, the helicopter, Khartoum; it was all you!"



Clearly Bishop and this Chinese guy had developed a close working relationship, he thought. Vance glanced at the technician controlling Bishop's phone and gave him a thumbs up. The tech nodded back.



"Bingo! Regular f*cking Sherlock Holmes, aren't you?"



Vance kept his thumb extended upwards.



"He's been recording us!"



The voice was louder than any other sounds. The speaker was in very close proximity to Garang. Vance dropped his thumb, turning his hand down. The technician hit the signal to detonate the explosive charge in the phone.

"Intel! I want know who this Chinese f*cker is and I want to know yesterday," bellowed Vance.

"We got him, Sir. His name is Yang Tan. CIA have him on file as a PLA operative, Second Department."

"Alright, that makes sense. Now where are they gonna take Bishop? Back to Khartoum or over to the refinery? Someone get Chua in here. I want answers ASAP."

"He's been paged. He'll be in any minute," said the watchkeeper.

"Good. In the meantime, let's get on to Mirza and give him an update. Then I want to know what assets we have nearby and how long it will take to get them in country. Mirza is gonna need back up."

The operations staff were already busy at their terminals putting together the information that Vance required. They had been here before and knew exactly what needed to happen.

Vance turned and headed back to his office. He needed to put in a few calls of his own.

Halfway to his door, he stopped. "One last thing, someone come up with a plan to execute that goddamn turncoat. By this time next week I want Garang dead in a ditch somewhere."