'Something of it, 'Yue Hwa admitted. 'But I see only one face. 'He could see it now: Qi Wang Chuan, gunned down in his own bakery, the flour portraying him as a ghost even before he drowned in the blood from his wounds. He wasn't the first man Yue Hwa had killed, and might not be the last, but he was the one who affected him most. 'Soon someone will see our faces in their nightmares, if we're not careful,' he said. 'Maybe even a friend.'

'You think we're living on borrowed time?'

Yue Hwa shook his head. 'More like 'More like bullet time. 'In the time it had taken the first bullet to fly from his hand to Wang's chest, Yue Hwa's life had been turned inside out, and he sensed the Doctor had probably had that experience, many times over. bullet time. 'In the time it had taken the first bullet to fly from his hand to Wang's chest, Yue Hwa's life had been turned inside out, and he sensed the Doctor had probably had that experience, many times over.

The Hercules wasn't the most luxurious airliner ever built, but it was reliable and got Major Barry's team back to Hong Kong in one piece. Tsang and Nomura were waiting with a small fleet of Discoveries, and greeted them with a sanguine attitude to the mission's lack of gain.

Barry felt that Tsang was unusually quiet, and wasn't sure whether this was a good or bad sign. He hoped like hell that it wasn't a sign she'd uncovered anything about him and Julie Palmer. UNIT officers might be cut a certain slack, but there were still some taboos common to any country's military.

While Clark and the others were diverted to the local UNIT field office for debriefing, Tsang and Nomura took Barry to her more private office. 'All this effort, and nothing to show for it,' Tsang remarked. 'Did you search thoroughly?'

'We took a camcorder through the house, took lots of environmental samples, but there was nothing.' Barry knew it didn't make sense, but he believed the evidence of his own eyes.

'Yet radar-tracking reports the daily flights are continuing. Always the same pattern, from the blind zone in Cambodia to Hong Kong and back.'

'I'm not saying they aren't happening. We think they're using the house we found as a navigational point without having actually set up a base.'

Tsang looked doubtful. 'I suppose it's possible, but then why blind us to that area? Why do backpackers vanish there? They must have something to hide.'

Barry agreed totally. He wasn't beaten yet, but he recognised when a point was lost. 'Oh, they've got something to hide, all right, but I think we've been looking at it from the wrong angle.'

'How so?'

'We know the blind zone is one end of the chain, but there's another end.'

'The Tao Te Lung?'

"They're the ones who had the transponder before you got it. There must be a connection. If we can get access to their files they must have some record of what's what.'

Tsang frowned. 'We had a source on the inside, but she's disappeared disappeared'

'Who?' It didn't matter that much, and Barry didn't expect it to be anyone he knew, but he liked to show some interest in things. Tsang's response was to drop some photos on to the desk. 'Who's the skirt?'

'Sarah Jane Smith. An English journalist.' Their wary expressions mirrored each other.

'Journo? She looks familiar somehow. TV?'

'Metropolitan magazine, among other things. She's with some news agency these days. You probably recognise her from archive reports; she used to be a civilian attache to UNIT-UK back in the late seventies.'

Barry did indeed remember. 'Cool.' He tossed the pictures back. 'But if she's disappeared she's no bloody use to me.'

Tsang sat back. 'We don't have time to cultivate another -'

"Then we won't bother our asses finding another stoolie. These Triad boys have a front company. That's going to be full of computers and all we need is to get Palmer at their database.'

How?'

Barry grinned, seeing the chance to redeem himself with a good score.

'Leave that to me.'

Chapter Seventeen.

Entering and Breaking

The Pimms Building was as peaceful as a mouse's home on the night before Christmas.

The computers on the tech floor whispered to themselves and soft indirect lighting allowed the occasional security guard to navigate the silent corridors. Only the reception hall on the ground floor was brightly lit, and that merely let the guards on the desk read their comic books more comfortably.

The Doctor sat alone under a reading lamp in Tse Hung's private office, skimming through the files on Tse Hung's PC. They were encrypted, but easy to get into. Whatever he was looking for could not have been there because he soon switched the computer off and moved around the room, tapping at the walls.

Helicopter traffic wasn't that rare in the skies, so one more chopper wasn't going to attract any attention. Even so, Major Barry had made sure the Nighthawk he'd requisitioned was as muffled and stealthy as possible. He saw no point in taking unnecessary risks.

Accompanying him were Clark and eight other troopers. As per the orders he had filed, they were all wearing black combats, tac-vests and silenced pistols. He'd been told that silenced subguns wouldn't be available for a few days, so had decided to make do with what they had.

The chopper stayed relatively high over the city, since radar avoidance wasn't an issue, and zeroed in on the Pimms Building.

The traffic around the base of the Pimms Building wasn't too busy at this time of night, and none of it was tempted to stop by the sight of a middling-sized white truck sitting to one side of the complex.

Tom Ryder jumped out of the cab rubbing his hands. He was dressed casually, but all in black. A pistol was secured on his hip, but he doubted he would need it for a simple breaking and entering like this.

George and half-a-dozen others emerged from the back of the truck. 'You all know the plan?' George asked. Everybody nodded. 'Good. I've done some research. Their security isn't up to much: a few private cops with six-shooters. We can evade them or put them on ice, then take what we want without waiting.'

Tom nodded slowly but approvingly. 'Good. The sooner this is over with, the sooner I get back to my vacation.' He took in the size of the edifice. It was as big as anything in New York or LA, but nothing a guy like him couldn't handle.

Giving the order by hand signal, he had his men put a ladder up to one of the first-floor windows, out of sight of the lobby and its attendant guards.

Leading by example, he scrambled up the ladder armed with a suction cup and glass cutter. Tonight he was the world's greatest cat burglar, not a gunman.

The Doctor paused, stopped in his search by a hollow sound. He was standing in front of a drinks cabinet with shelves of glasses above it. It took only a moment for his fingers to find the switch that made the cabinet and shelves slip aside.

Through the opening he saw a large plush sofa with cushions scattered around and what looked like a bra stuffed down the back. An empty whisky bottle was lying beside a couple of empty glasses, while a pile of video cassettes with lurid pornographic covers was balanced beside a widescreen TV The place smelt of sweat and pheromones. The Doctor shook his head. 'If your behaviour at work mattered, Tse Hung, I'd fire you you'

There was only one picture on the wall - a large print of dolphins leaping from the sea - and the Doctor found the safe behind that.

To Barry's surprise there was no helipad on the roof. He had thought high-fliers like the Tao Te Lung would flaunt their wealth by having choppers around the place.

It didn't matter; all the soldiers were trained to rappel down. As they slid roofwards on silent ropes, Barry leant between the pilot and co-pilot. 'Stay in hover. Hopefully we'll exit at ground level, but just in case but just in case'

'Roger that.'

The lobby guards had been easily dealt with - they were nice and cooperative when held at gunpoint. They'd then been disarmed, secured with their own handcuffs and locked in a cupboard.

Tom was pleased. So far everything was cool: no violence, no trouble, just getting the job done. He hopped over the security desk to where a bank of monitors showed views from the building's CCTV He wasn't interested in those, though, but wanted a floor plan.

A few keystrokes on the desk's PC terminal brought up the information he wanted: the master drives for the company's computers were in the north quarter of the upper mezzanine level.

The Doctor's skills as a safecracker hadn't deserted him. He had opened Tse Hung's wall safe quite quickly. It contained the usual stuff: some bonds, a few thousand dollars in cash , a couple more porno tapes , a couple more porno tapes And a briefcase, which the Doctor pulled out. And a briefcase, which the Doctor pulled out.

He took it back to Tse Hung's regular private office, and breathed more easily there. The case wasn't locked, so he sat down and opened it.

Inside the briefcase was a small lump of metal, blackened on one side and bright silver on the other. The Doctor lifted it out. 'Ah 'Ah I wondered when you'd show up.' I wondered when you'd show up.'

Though it was metal it was warm to the touch, like plastic, and he could easily compress it into a ball. He put the ball on the desk then slapped it.

Immediately, the metal flopped out into a sheet of thin foil. There were purple hieroglyphs of some kind along one edge. The Doctor smiled, and put the foil sheet back in the briefcase.

Next he took out the other item in the case: a large folded piece of Earthly paper. It wasn't a set of texts or letters but a naval chart, with handwritten markings. 'Cyrillic?'

Barry's team had encountered only two guards on patrol on their way down from the roof. Neither had done more than crap their pants when faced with ten armed paramilitaries, which amused Barry. He didn't think much of these wannabe rentacops.

Both of them had said there were only about a dozen security guards, and had also kindly supplied the location of the main computer suite. Since then, they'd been handcuffed to the railing in the stairwell that led to the roof.

Fully confident that things were going well, Barry led his team down towards the mezzanine levels.

After only two crashes and one porn entrance site demanding money, the Doctor had managed to get on to an Internet site with geographical and cartographical data. Hi-res images of the world's seas flashed past as he tried to find a match for the Russian naval chart.

On the PC screen an image of the globe had zoomed into the Persian Gulf.

Further tweaks of the search parameters narrowed things down to the northern end. 'Of course,' the Doctor muttered. 'I should have been looking there from the start.'

He saved the page to a floppy disk, then shut down the PC and returned the briefcase and its contents to the wall safe in the other room. Then he turned the lights off and left Tse Hung's office suite.

He halted immediately, hearing footsteps approaching. For a moment he stepped back but then he stopped himself. 'I own this place&' He marched out firmly, towards the oncoming steps.

The security guard almost jumped out of his skin, when the Doctor bumped into him. 'I'm sorry, Mr Pendragon. I -'

'Don't worry, Ah Yuen. I should have finished work hours ago, but but no rest for the wicked.' no rest for the wicked.'

Yuen smiled weakly. Some bosses were a lot less considerate of their employees than this one, and he was still half-expecting to be fired. He bent down to pick up the disk Mr Pendragon had dropped, and handed it back to him. 'I should have been more attentive,' he said. He realised instantly that this was the wrong thing to say: a guard being inattentive was useless and therefore soon out of a job.

Mr Pendragon seemed to understand what he meant, though. His eyes twinkled as he smiled. 'I know what you mean. Have you been on duty long?'

'Since five.'

Mr Pendragon made a silent, 'Ah."Then you probably need some coffee and food by now. Go down and get some, and that's an order.' To Yuen's astonishment, Mr Pendragon pressed a few dollars for the snack into his hand. 'Off you go.'

Yuen bowed, still not sure whether this was some kind of lull before firing him. Either way, Mr Pendragon had a point; he was ravenous.

Mr Pendragon departed with a small wave, heading back to his own office.

Yuen watched him go, then made straight for the nearest vending machine.

The lights were still on in the mezzanine, turning the stone garden below into a pale pool. They also suggested that people worked there and in the computer suite at all hours. Major Barry swept the area with his gunsight, but didn't see anyone. Perhaps the lights were for the benefit of the guards on patrol, or maybe there was a late shift only on some nights. Hell, for all he knew, maybe some dopey tech had just forgot to turn the lights off.

'Palmer.' He gestured towards the computer suite and she moved into it.

She pulled a packet of disks and DATs from inside her tac-vest. Barry followed, leaving Clark to set up everyone else in a defensive posture.

Barry relaxed somewhat and patted Palmer on the shoulder. 'You know what we're here for, Jules?'

'Yeah. Any data on the aliens will probably be in Pendragon's personal files. Shouldn't take long to get in.'

'Good.'

"The only problem will be if he's been smart enough to keep it all in a separate drive, not linked to the main set-up.'

'Well, if he has, we'll find his office from here.' Barry hesitated before leaving. He didn't want to leave. 'Carry on.'

Tom Ryder and his team had moved up the stairs in pairs, leapfrogging each other. The lifts could be stopped or ambushed by an alert guard, and so couldn't be trusted. As in any building, the stairwells weren't worth describing, but Tom was impressed when he came out on the uppermost of the mezzanine levels.

The four-storey drop to the stone garden was illuminated like a terrarium, and the tower above rose to a dizzying glass disc.

The computer suite occupied the north quarter of the level, and he approached the glass partitions carefully.

He and his half-dozen accomplices were spreading out through the suite before they realised someone was sitting at one of the terminals.

Expectation at first clad the figure in a dark business suit, but Tom realised she was actually in some kind of paramilitary combat gear.

She looked up at that instant and her mouth moved silently. Immediately, more intruders started entering the suite of glass-partitioned offices from the far side.

Tom was baffled, but could see that their information about the guards was wrong. The Tao Te Lung's security team obviously had a SWAT unit and he or one of his companions had triggered some alarm.

Security guard Yuen rolled up the wrapper of his third fruit-and-nut bar and dropped it into the empty paper cup his second coffee had come in. The computer-staff canteen wasn't that welcoming when empty. It was bland and sterile like a hospital waiting room, and the sooner Yuen was out of it the more comfortable he'd be.

He crumpled the cup, arcing it straight into a bin. It bounced out. He cursed and shoved it back in. Brushing crumbs off his uniform, he wandered back out to resume patrol.

The minute he stepped through the door back into the main computer suite he thought he had fallen asleep and was dreaming.

Two groups of dark intruders were scattered throughout the set of offices, with all kinds of automatic weapons trained on each other. Rapid breaths and the smell of sweat filled the area.

Yuen drew his revolver, unsure who to point it at. One lot looked like they might be a cop SWAT team and he had no idea about the others. His gun wavered around more or less at random while he tried to work out what to say or do.

A couple of armed intruders from each group swung their weapons to cover him, and Yuen found himself suddenly terrified. He could hardly hold his gun steady. 'Who are you? You're all under arrest!' The loudness of his voice startled him - he had been expecting to manage a strangled squeak at best. 'Put down your guns.'

Nobody moved.

'I said put down your guns!' He hoped they would. He could hardly take them all on with a six-shooter, and wasn't stupid enough to try. He had no idea what to do next. 'Please! Put dow-'