Trinity: Military War Dog (61 page)

“I played the abandoned, grieving son, allowed Zheng to take me in and adopt me so his anger and attention would be deterred. I knew the man would find greater pleasure by drawing me into his camp than by killing me. Making me his son was an act designed with only one purpose—to destroy my father.

“I have endured more than twenty years under the mental and verbal abuse of General Zheng Xin.” Haur let out a heavy breath, so relieved to unload that knowledge. “When I realized Bai was not my captain, not my friend, but an asset of General Zheng himself, I knew I had been betrayed.”

“How’d you know it was him?” Daniels asked.

“Little things along the way, but the two most revealing—when he threw the grenade that set off the avalanche. He was trying to bury you all alive.”

“And the other thing?”

“He had too much information to be a man
under
my authority.”

“What does Zheng gain by betraying you to us?” Daniels asked.

“Irony.” The word hurt. Stung. “He believed you would kill me …” Haur let his gaze linger on the weapons still aimed at him. “My father defected to America, and there would be no greater satisfaction for Zheng than if the Americans killed me—”

“We’d be killing the son of one of the greatest Chinese assets we’ve ever had.”

Peace swarmed Haur as he reveled in the words of the general. “Thank you.” He confirmed his secret thoughts, that Burnett was the one who’d helped his father. And the words encouraged him to hope that his father was still alive. “The bombs—I believe it is close to lunch, is it not?”

Burnett hesitated. “I’m warning you, Haur. If those bombs aren’t found, I’ll feed you to Zheng myself!”

Anticipation hung rancid and thick as they waited with Haur, while the teams searched for the explosives. But something just felt … off. Heath glanced at Trinity, but she had curled into a ball in the corner, uninterested. Poor girl had been through enough to sleep for a week. And if she was zoning now, then there was no threat.

Then what was eating at Heath’s internal radar? He glanced to the side—

Darci.

Hand to her stomach, she eased to the back of the room.

What was that about?

Burnett advanced. “You expect us to believe you spent twenty years under that man and never tried to escape?”

“There was no need to escape.” Haur shifted, as if the words made him uncomfortable. “My father—my
real
father—was safe. Do not mistake my outstanding service record for loyalty to evil men. I did what could be done to keep them from hunting down my father.” Serious and tense, Haur held his ground. “I have no regrets.”

“Ya know,” Heath offered, “I wondered why you never referred to General Zheng as ‘father.’” He inched closer, determined to ferret out what was needling him. “You were vague in the mountains when I asked you about your relationship.”

Haur nodded as soldiers removed Bai’s body and aided the wounded guard to sick bay. “It takes more than a name to make a father. Zheng is a cruel man, who bred a cruel son.”

“But you called Jianyu ‘brother.’ How is that?”

“We grew up together. After my father left and I went to live at the general’s home, Jianyu and I were inseparable. I looked up to him—he was fierce, a fighter. Respected. Admired.” The man’s gaze slid to someone in the back. “He was a ladies’ man, which is why I was especially intrigued with Meixiang, the legendary woman who took my brother down.”

“Jianyu’s weakness took him down,” Darci said.

“It is evident, is it not, that while Jianyu and the general accepted me in name, they never accepted me in heart.” Haur’s smile was genuine. “As I never accepted them. Not fully.”

Darci came forward. “Why? Why did you not accept them? You had that beautiful home, wealth, fame …”

Haur glanced down. “Those are poor replacements for family.”

“We found them!” Candyman’s voice boomed through the room.

Burnett glared. “Just like you said.”

Heath glanced at the general, who seemed peeved. “Then what’s wrong?”

“It’s too easy.” Burnett pressed his knuckles to the table and leaned toward the thirtysomething colonel. “What’s your game, Haur?”

50 Yards outside Bagram AFB

“Go ahead.”

“It’s done,” the voice said. “Ordnance found and disabled the bombs—and Burnett doesn’t know, but locals have reported the bodies of the Russians. It’s about to blow wide open.”

“As expected.”

“There’s been a small complication though.”

Jianyu ground his teeth, feeling the jaw muscle pop. “What?”

“Haur and Bai were arrested upon returning to the compound. Haur killed Bai.”

“Understood. Well done.”

“I do my job well and count on people like you to make sure I’m never found.”

“It will be so.” Jianyu ended the call, rubbing his thumb along the spine of the phone as he stared out over the dark night. The final betrayal had come.

“What news?”

Jianyu lifted his gaze from the darkened interior to the wash of moonlight reflected over the blanketed road. “It is done.”

“All of it?”

“Bombs have been found, disabled.” Still, it unsettled him that Haur had taken extreme measures. “Bai is dead.”

A belly-jouncing chuckle filled the interior of the camouflaged vehicle. “Just as we planned.” His father pushed open the door. “They’re distracted. Let’s move.”

            Forty-Eight              

Camp Loren, CJSOTF-A, Sub-Base
Bagram AFB, Afghanistan

Y
ou’re my brother.”

His expression—eyebrows tense, lips firm, a slight dimple in the chin—was so like her father’s that Darci couldn’t pry herself away if she tried.

The boulder of truth hit him. “Meixiang—” Haur’s eyes widened. “Oh—how did I not see it? All those days in the mountain … even your name …”

He pulled her into a hug. It felt right. It felt wrong. She didn’t know what to think or do. She’d last seen him as a teenager. But he knew she was alive. Knew their father was alive. And he didn’t search for them? She stood stiff in his arms, not sure what to feel.

Growling pervaded the room. Several loud barks.

“Release her,” Heath said in a firm voice.

Mind whirling, Darci eased back and looked at Trinity, who was primed on Haur, hackles raised. “It’s … okay.”

Heath eyed her, then Haur. “Trinity, out.”

The dog turned a circle, then sidled up next to Heath, panting as she watched Darci.

With a nervous laugh, Haur shook his head. “You were five the last time I saw you.”

“And you, so big …” Tears stung though she fought them. “I … was so mad at Ba for leaving you. I couldn’t understand why he’d leave you. He wouldn’t talk of you or Mom. But you—why didn’t you find us?”

“Didn’t he tell you?”

She frowned. “Tell me? What?”

“He told no one,” Burnett said. “He never betrayed you, which makes me wonder why you betrayed General Zheng. What’s the game?” “No game.”

Darci swung around on the general. “You
knew?
You knew that my brother stayed of his own free will, and you never told me?”

He shrugged those broad shoulders. “You never asked. Look, there’s a lot to sort out, but not right now. Later.” Burnett focused on Haur. “What’s going on, Haur? It was too easy to find the bombs—Ordnance isn’t even sure they were viable.”

Haur frowned. “I do not understand.”

“That makes two of us.” Burnett growled. “It’s like they knew this would happen.”

“But … that’s impossible.”

“Unless they were counting on you to finally switch sides,” Heath said, his hands tucked under his armpits, probably stealing warmth. “But to what end?”

Haur looked to Darci. “Would he do all this for you?”

She laughed. “Never.”

A thoughtful knot formed at the center of his brow as he nodded. “You’re right. The general would want to inflict a big wound—”

“Merciful God!” Burnett banged a fist on the table. “He couldn’t have known.”

“What?” Darci asked, breathless at the fury on the face of the most stoic man she knew.

He looked at Haur. “They were coming after that greatest Chinese asset.”

Haur’s eyes widened. “He’s
here?
“

A curse sailed through the air as Burnett barreled out of the room, MPs and ODA452 on his heels.