فصل 15

chapter-15 Target located

The Elgen’s cellular triangulation revealed that Welch was hiding out at a farm in the small Taiwanese farming village of Dazhu, along Taiwan’s western coast. The village was built near a hilly valley stepped with rice patties. It was a remote location, primitive, about five miles outside of the main city of Changhua.

For Daines, it was a perfect place to attack. The only possible escape route was a small bamboo forest to the east, which was where the Elgen would create their line. If Welch chose to run, he’d be forced out into the open and gunned down.

Hatch wasn’t taking any chances with losing Welch again. He personally alerted the Taiwanese army that he had located one of the terrorists who had brought down the Taiwanese Starxource plant. He also arranged for the Taiwanese Coast Guard to patrol the coast and supply a guard unit of a hundred men to supplement the eight squads of guards under the command of EGG Daines.

Those were only precautions. Hatch had complete confidence in Daines—he was as efficient as he was ruthless and had proven himself a skilled hunter of beast and men. Daines had been born in South Africa and, as a child, had learned the Zulu method of hunting lions. The native warriors would fan out in a large V formation armed with only leather-capped drums, which they pounded fiercely as they marched forward.

As they moved through the brush, the lion would run away from the sound to where hunters would be waiting with spears or, in later years, high-powered rifles. Daines’s plan for catching Welch was roughly the same. The Taiwanese soldiers would, in a V formation, advance on one side of the farmhouse, forcing Welch into the waiting ambush of heavily armed Elgen guards.

The key was to make him run. A man holed up in a fortification can dig in for days, but a man on the run is exposed, vulnerable, and more likely to make rash, poor decisions.

Daines’s force moved quickly as it surrounded the farmhouse. Drones, snipers, and men with high-powered binoculars watched every inch of the farm. Welch couldn’t go anywhere without being seen. In addition, they were tracking his phone. Daines, who was positioned in a jeep at a vantage point a hundred yards away, was watching a monitor with a green dot designating Welch’s phone’s location. It was currently moving from side to side inside the farmhouse.

Daines said to Hatch over his handheld radio, “Sir, we’ve got the target located and surrounded. We’re ready to move.” “Then move,” Hatch said. “Bring me his head.”

“Roger that,” Daines said. He set down his radio and turned to his lieutenant. “Move in.” “Yes, sir.” He spoke into his radio. “The guard will advance.” The staggered line of Taiwanese soldiers began closing in on the farmhouse.

After a minute Daines radioed his advance team. “Can you see any movement from the house?” “Nothing,” a voice replied. “A couple dogs just ran out of the house.” “They must have heard us.” Daines looked down at his monitor. “Are you sure you see nothing? There’s target movement on my monitor.” “No, sir.”

“Could there be an underground tunnel?”

“No, sir. We’re surrounded by rice paddies.”

“We need to move in faster. Secure the facility. Let no one past you.” “Yes, sir.”

As Daines watched his troops close in around the farmhouse, the green dot on his monitor suddenly passed through the army’s line.

“Captain!” Daines shouted into the radio. “Welch has just crossed your lines and moved outside your circle. He’s behind you.” “Unless he’s invisible, that’s impossible. Give me coordinates.” “Five, two-three-four, seven. Is he disguised as a soldier?” “There is no human at those coordinates.”

“Well, something just walked through your lines.” Daines pulled out his gun and turned to his driver. “Go!” The driver followed Daines’s directions until he shouted again, “There! He’s stopped in that clearing.” Daines jumped out of the truck, holding out his gun. “Cover me.” “Yes, sir.”

Daines walked around the brush, expecting to surprise Welch. Instead, all he found was a small, underfed dog lapping at the water in the rice paddy. It docilely looked up at him as he approached. The dog had silver duct tape wrapped around its torso.

“What have you got there?” Daines said, squatting down next to the animal. There was a rectangular, boxlike lump under the tape. Daines ran his hand over it, then let out a deep breath. “Welch, you clever devil.” Welch’s cell phone was strapped to the dog’s back. Unbeknownst to them, Welch was already in the center of Changhua.