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Back Point of Contact Save as PDF
Chapters (83)
  1. Cover
  2. ALSO BY TOM CLANCY
  3. PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS
  4. 1
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  83. What’s next onyour reading list?

“They wouldn’t. If the Hong Kong market crashes, then so does Shanghai’s, then Tokyo’s, then all of the markets in Europe, and the U.S. crashes right behind them. It would be a global economic catastrophe.”

Jack whistled. “Doesn’t sound like Langley, does it?”

“That’s why I ran. Whoever wrote that software was a genius.”

“No, whoever ordered it written is the brainiac we’re after.” Jack glanced in his rearview mirror. No one following. He asked, “Why were you hiding in a whorehouse?”

“I told the taxi driver to take me to a cheap hotel. He thought I wanted to get lucky, I guess.”

Jack grinned. “Holing up with a boom-boom girl until the shitstorm passes isn’t the worst idea in the world.”

Paul shot Jack an incredulous look. “I just wanted a place to hide until after midnight. Rhodes said that if I didn’t get this thing installed by then, the software would self-destruct.”

“Like Mission: Impossible?”

“Nothing that dramatic. A timer inside the program deletes a few lines of code and disables it.”

“Why didn’t you just destroy it?”

“It’s evidence against Rhodes, and it’s biometrically passcoded to my thumbprint. Without me, nobody can open it, not even Gavin. So I had to run, too.”

“For what it’s worth, your plan makes sense.”

“And for the record, there wasn’t any boom-boom girl.”

Jack smiled. Of course not. “We’ll grab your laptop and then we’ll figure the rest of this out together.”

“Thanks, Jack. I appreciate it. And I’m sorry I got us into this mess.”

“I don’t blame you. It’s Rhodes I’m going to have a few choice words with.”

Another gust of wind slammed into the car. For a second, Jack thought they’d been hit by another vehicle.

“What the hell’s going on with this storm?” Jack punched the radio button.

“. . . with gusting winds of one hundred and forty kilometers per hour. The storm is still tracking toward Singapore. Singapore authorities have issued an emergency alert, advising all citizens to stay indoors to avoid flying debris and downed power lines. Cell towers are down, affecting most cell service providers.”

Jack snapped the radio off. “We need to get out of this weather.”

“After we get my laptop, where do you want to go?”

“Somewhere where it doesn’t rain.”

61

Jack and Paul dashed for the front door of the guesthouse, shielding their faces from the stinging rain and flying debris.

Once inside, Jack heard the sound of someone in the living room. He signaled for Paul to wait, then pulled the Makarov out of his waistband, holding it temple index.

He turned the corner, gun forward.

And found himself staring into the barrel of a SIG P229.

“What are you doing here?” Jack said.

“Drop your weapon,” Lian said. Their pistol barrels were inches apart.

“Drop yours.”