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Back Enemy at the Gates Save as PDF
Chapters (57)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. 1
  6. 2
  7. 3
  8. 4
  9. 5
  10. 6
  11. 7
  12. 8
  13. 9
  14. 10
  15. 11
  16. 12
  17. 13
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  22. 18
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  26. 22
  27. 23
  28. 24
  29. 25
  30. 26
  31. 27
  32. 28
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  35. 31
  36. 32
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  40. 36
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  42. 38
  43. 39
  44. 40
  45. 41
  46. 42
  47. 43
  48. 44
  49. 45
  50. 46
  51. 47
  52. 48
  53. 49
  54. EPILOGUE
  55. More from the Authors
  56. ABOUT THE AUTHORS
  57. Novels by Vince Flynn

“Agreed. We’re never going to find them. That’s why we need them to find us.”

“Am I wrong, or does it sound like you’ve got a plan?” Charlie Wicker said.

“I have a plan,” Rapp confirmed. “We’ve got a pretty solid profile on Chism and in the last couple days we’ve managed to send investigators to talk to his friends and family. One of the things we learned is that he’s an amateur naturalist and pretty good with a map and compass. We can use that.”

“How?” somebody asked.

“We’re bringing in more choppers and tonight we’re going to go out and bury caches in the areas where he could be hiding. Then we’re going to drop maps with instructions on how to find them.”

“I don’t think this plan will work,” a man near the open tent flap said. The ebony skin and accent suggested he wasn’t too far from home. Rapp didn’t know him personally, but Coleman had used him on a number of African operations and was a fan.

“Why?”

“You are right that a lot of the men who follow Gideon Auma aren’t going to speak English or know how to read. But he’s much smarter than people think and uses technology very well. He will have teams, and each will have a satellite phone. Even if they can’t read the maps, they will be able to take a picture and send it to someone who can. If Chism gets to one of your caches, they will be waiting for him.”

“We thought exactly the same thing. So, we used what we learned about him to write out instructions only he’ll understand.” Rapp stepped away from the map and once again examined the men crowded in around him. “Sunset’s in two hours. The choppers will start coming in an hour after that. Scott has your assignments. Any questions?”

Everyone just shook their heads.

12

CLOUDS had rolled over the stars, erasing the mountainous landscape and highlighting a few points of light emanating from distant villages. Behind the foliage screen Chism had built, the darkness was so deep as to become disorienting. Every time he tried to move around the cave, his balance failed him and an irrational fear that he’d gone blind surged.

On the somewhat brighter side, the empty void surrounding him had heightened his other senses. He could smell the direction of the wind through changes in the proportion of earth, rotting plant life, and mold. He could hear Matteo Ricci’s labored breathing and the more rhythmic respiration of Jing Liu. The night’s cold sank more deeply into him but not so much that he couldn’t feel the bugs that he no longer bothered to brush away.