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"The worst part to me is the private burial grounds he
has for all those who don't make it. It could add up to
thousands," Samantha added.
"And this is the man who was going to control Quang
when Hue Yen gave up office," the police chief said. swig-
ging the last of his beer.
"Gave up office?" Carter said. "Why would a man like
Chen wait that long?"
Chief Windsor sat for a long minute digesting the
thought. "He wouldn't, of course. It's all so damned dia-
bolical. A great man like Hue Yen. He has no idea. It's
going to hit him hard."
"It's your job to tell him when we've finished our job,"
Carter said. "Play him the tape. Tell him about the House
and the Russians,"
"What about the Soo brothers?" Samantha asked.
"I think Chief Windsor will find their bones in Chen's
graveyard," Caner said. "My job was to find the Soo
brothers and make sure Hue Yen's position was secured.
When Chen is dead, it will be over."
"You can't bnng him in? Be much better," Chief Wind-
sor said.
"No chance as I see it. I've studied the plans for Chen's
fortress. We'll have to blast our way in and end it for him
any way we can," Carter explained. "It's the best way, you
know," he went on, sipping the last of his beer "If we were
able to turn him over to you, your troubles would just be
beginning."
"A bloody war," Chief Windsor muttered shaking his
head.
"And you keep clear no matter the pressure. It shouldn't
take more than a half hour if my plan works," Carter ex-
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plained. "But it will sound like all hell has broken loose
when it does go down."
When Chief Windsor had left, a sadder but wiser man,
Samantha was eager to get the show on the road.
"We have to check Quang's information on the Chen
mansion," Carter told her. "I don't want to go in without
being sure."
"And how do we do that?"
"Stakeout. I figure if we watch all three houses for an
hour each we can make a fairly good judgment."
"Which one first?"
€The obvious. The one Quang fingered on Telok Blan-
gah road. If we don't see any sign of life at all, we try the
one on Pioneer Road, then the one on Lady Hill Road."
"I've got an old Chevy with black glass windows I've
used for stakeouts. We'll take it," she offered.
"Sounds good. When we're sure, we come back here
one last time and I'll go over the plan with you."
They sat in the Chevy on Ayer Rajah Road, each with
strong field glasses, looking down at the mansion one
block south on Telok Blangah Road. Carter was still in the
black outfit. Samantha had dressed similarly and had put
black greasepaint on her beautiful face. The car smelled of
the beer and sandwiches she'd brought. It was hot through
noon and on to one o'clock. The car was like an oven.
"How's the wrist?" Carter asked during the boring wait.
"Not bad. It throbs a lot. I suspect it's getting more
action than the doctor prescribed."
"We'll be finished and back at the safe house in a couple
of hours. You can get all the attention you want then."
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"That a promise?" She leered at him through the
makeup.
Caner's smile Olkned some of the cracks in his lips and
gashes in his cheeks he'd brought back from the beating.
Samantha had treated his face as best she could, and had
applied a base coat of oil before putting on his camÖuflage
makeup. His face ached and called out for attention, but he
tried to ignore it. In the action to come, he knew it would
not be a handicap and that was all that mattered.
They sat. Nothing significant had happened until Carter
asked, "You see what see?"
"Right. Looks like a provisions truck."
They watched while the driver pressed a buzzer set in
the stone wall surrounding the main gate. After a conversa-
tion with someone, he was admitted. He drove to the back
of the house and a small Oriental man came out to help him
unload.
"There's enough there for a small hotel," Samantha
said. Her face was wreathed in smiles.
"Or one very fat man," Carter added. He, t(X), was de-
lighted with some final proof.
"So we're on to the next phase," she said.
"Back to the safe house," he ordered.
She drove with care through the midday downtown traf-
fic to the rooms behind the store. It was close to two when
she parked and they went in.
The place had been cleaned up. lhe body was gone.
Samantha's Ærople had cleared away the empty tEer bottles
and emptied the ashtrays.
Samantha brewed a pot of coffee and sat across the table
from Carter. "What now?" she asked.
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"Where are the shields?" he asked.
She produced two shields made of an oval mirror with a
layer of Lexan attached. Holes had been drilled through the
glass and Lexan, probably with diamond drills, and insu-
lated handles were bolted on the inside. Carter hefted one.
•mey were not too heavy, at least not for him.
' 'Try one," he suggested. "How does it feel?"
"Heavy. How long will I have to hold it?"
"Ten minutes if we're lucky. A half hour if we're not."
"l can handle that. What are they for?"
'The robots are equipped with both laser trams and
40mm machine guns," Carter explained. 'The Lexan will
deflect the bullets; the mirrors will take care of the lasers."
"We'll have to make sure we're not too close. We could
deflect the rays at each other."
"We have to work close together, so we'll have to be
very careful," he explained.
"We could work close together now." She smiled lasci-
viously. "Isn't that the line that soldiers use when going
into battle?"
He pecked on the lips. "There's nothing I'd like better,
Sam. But business first."
"Right," she sighed. "How are we going to strike
He moved to the closet where she'd secreted the cesta
and Howard Schmidt's case. He opened the case and took
out one of the grenades. "One of Howard's latest goodies,"
he said.
"He's always trying to get me to use things like those.
Not my style," she explained.
"l feel the same, but you have to adapt. How would you
tackle the robots?"
She thought for a moment.
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"How many rotY)ts? Six or seven along the perimeter?
Another half-dozen roaming the grounds?"
"Half and half. An even dozen," he replied.
"Impossible."
"J don't think so," he said, examining the cesta. "Do
you have a coat hanger and wire cutters?"
"DoesrCt every self-respecting spy?" she asked, dryly,
getting up and going to a closet.
Carter quickly fashioned a hook out of the coat hanger.
It was small, about three inches long. He secured it to the
inside of the cesta near the wrist bands and left one end to
act a.s a hook. Then he strapped on the cesta.
She watched, still puzzled, until he took one of the gre-
nades and carefully hung its release pin on the hook.
"You know how to use that thing?" she asked.
"I've had some lessons from an expert."
g Tell me atX)ut it."
"It's long story Take my word for it." He looked at his
borrowed watch: it was just past three. He had four hours
until dark and he wanted it ended by dark. "Do you know a
very private place on this island?" he asked.
"Sure. Why?"
"We're going to do some training, It couldn't hurt."
She carried the case and he the cesta. "Do you
have any submachine guns around here?" he asked.
"You want submachine guns too? Why?"
"Not for the house. For general use."
"In the Chevy There are two Uzi machine pistols in the
trunk."
"Put them up front. They can't do us any good sitting in
the Uunk."
She drove while he kept a lookout for unwanted com-
pany. She picked a spot in the Yishun area not far from the
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causeway. While she drove, he fashioned a few crude gre-
nades from material he'd brought along.
She pulled into dense brush and led him to an open area
that she'd obviously used for target practice.
"Perfect," Carter said, strapping on the cesta and mak-
ing sure the hook was secure.
He swung the basket around a few times, getting back
the feel of it. He thought of Eloise but forced her from his
mind. This wasn't the time or place.
He picked up a few rocks the size of the grenades and
used the cesta to toss them at the remains of shattered bot-
tles on a riddled log. His aim was true. Not a shard of glass
remained on the log.
"I'm impressed," Samantha said, watching the rocks
speed to their targets with unerring accuracy.
' That's the easy part," he said, handing her the substi-
tute grenades he'd made on the way there.
"What do I do?" she asked.
"Picture the house while standing at the front gate," he
said. "A double steel fence starts next to the stonework o
the gate. The two fences are about twelve feet apart, chain
link, electrified, almost impossible to cut."
"And the robots circling inside."
"Right. I'm going to be to your left with the cesta on my
right arm. You hook on the grenades and I toss them. I'll
tell you the time settings for each. We should be able to
toss one every five to ten seconds "
"Sounds simple enough."
'The robot will firing at us. So you have to hold you
shield on your right arrn and feed the grenades with you
left."
"Figures. Nothin's ever easy."
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"The forty-millimeter slugs will feel like ninety-mile-
an-hour baseballs hitting your shield."
"They'll knock me over," Samantha protested.
"You'll have to do your best. We have to protect our-
selves as well as we can. Even then, if the robots have
artificial intelligence or Chen can control them individu-
ally, they could aim at our feet and we'll be in big trouble."
"Shit, Carter, you're crazy. *Ihis isn't going to work,"
she grumbled dejectedly.
"It'll work if we can fight smoothly as a team. We'll
beat them to the punch," he said. "These little babies How-
ard gave us are so powerful they'll probably toss a robot
ten to twenty feet into the air. Their electronic circuits will
be destroyed immediately."
She looked at him skeptically, then assumed her posi-
tion. She held her shield in her right hand and he took his
in his left. She attached a phony grenade and he slung it.
They pitched a dozen or more until she was beginning to
feel confident.
"Now we try it from our knees," he said.
She looked at him as if he were insane but knew he was
right. If they attacked standing all the way, it would be a
miracle if they weren't cut down at the legs.
"We kneel and fire off a few. Then we assume another
attack zone and kneel again. Come on. We'll try one with a
live grenade, move to a new location, and try another."
"Okay. But I still think you're nuts."
Tat tree stump fifty feet to your left is a robot bearing
down on us and firing. You hook on a live grenade and we
move quickly twenty feet to the left. You hook on another
grenade and I destroy that oak tree fifty feet to my left.
"You ready?"
"Why not? We might as well give it a shot."
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"Set them both at five seconds. Ready? On the count of
three. One. Two. Three!"
She on the grenade and he tossed. They moved
twenty feet to their left and she hooked on again. Partway
to their new position the ground shook, almost throwing
them off their feet. But she hooked on again and he tossed
at the tree.
They clung to the ground, their shields in place in front
of them until all was still.
Samantha poked her head out. "Holy Mother of God!"
she breathed. Only a crater remained where the huge stump
had stood. The oak tree, two feet in diameter at the base,
was shattered, only a foot of ragged stump remaining in the
ground.
"What do you think?" Carter asked, brushing the dirt
and debris from his head.
"l think we need hard hats and something to cover our
ears. Hot damn! We can blow him off the map with these."
"With the robots firing at us, don't forget."
"l won't forget," she said, climbing into the Chevy, a
huge grin spread over her face. "I never knew how much
fun little-boy war games were," she joked.
"It's not fun in real life," he said as they pulled away.
"I've seen too many battlefields. Bodies scattered every-
where—blood and guts covered with clouds of flies—the
stink enough to drive you insane,"
"Hey. Don't scare me," she said in a softer voice.
"Just don't get too cocky. If we ait as a team, like we
did just now, we'll cream Chen's robots. If not, kiss the
world good-bye."
He felt the adrenaline pumping and knew she felt the
same way. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he
didn't see the car following until the glass of the Chevy's
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rear window was shattered by small-arms fire.
159
"Head back for the bnlsh!" he shouted over the noise.
He grabbed for an Uzi, opened a window, and leaned
out. ne other car had gained on them but was swerving
from left to right. He emptied a clip without hitting any-
thing vital. He reached into Howard's case and mk out
one of the precious grenades. It was set for ten seconds. He
leaned out the window, waited for exactly the right moment
with bullets flying all around him, and pulled the pin.
He tossed the small ball to bounce once and land under
the pursuing car. The roar that followed was deafening.
They crashed through the brush for another fifty feet, then
circled back to the crater where the car had tEen, their
radiator blowing steam from a tree trunk that had punctured
it.
All that was left of their attackers was a twisted hunk of
metal buming furiously. They couldn't find a body, but
Samantha found out what he'd meant about a battleground.
Flies swarmed in by the thousands. Small pieces of flesh
and bone could be found over a fifty-foot area. She stared,
her mouth one tear coursing down her cheek.
"The battle's begun," he said.









THIRTEEN
The Chevy left behind at the site of the afternoon skir-
mish, Samantha Trail drove a GMC Jimmy along Keppel
Road and turned off at the Ayer Rajah Expressway. She
was scared. In all the years she'd worked for Hawk, noth-
ing she'd done had approached this. For the first time she
was aware of her mortality, and the thought sent a chill up
her spine.
Carter sat calmly beside her. He had the cesta across his
lap and was smoking a cigarette. She wondered if he, too,
was frightened. Maybe not. He'd been through this kind of
thing many times, she was sure. No wonder the whole
intelligence community looked on him as their top gun.
Chen sat in his chair, a huge platter of steaming food in
front of him. His hands were at his sides, the chopsticks
still on the table. For once in his life, his mind wasn't on
food when it was there for the taking.
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They had told him that Quang was dead. Quang, the
simple fool who had defied him, was dead. He didn't
mourn for the stupid man, but he mourned the loss of op-
portunity. It had taken him more than three years to insinu-
ate Quang into the position of power he'd occupied.
He could have had it all. Singapore first, then the Malay
Peninsula and Penang, then Sumatra and the rest of Malay-
sia. All of it was lost to him. And all because of one man.
Who was this gnat that buzzed around him, taking a bite
here, a nibble there? The man was the most persistent an-
tagonist Chen had ever had, And now the nibbles had be-
come huge chunks. The loss of Quang had been critical.
He'd had this man Carter in his power twice and lost
him. How could that happen? How could the man be taken
by the Russians and come away unscathed and all the Rus-
sians dead? He wasn't a superman. He was flesh and
blood. He's seen his men beat the man's face almost to a
pulp and still he'd escaped. He'd escaped to carry on and
finally kill Quang.
Something else haunted him. What had Quang told the
man Carter before he died? The American devil man prob-
ably knew about the headquarters house. He even had an
architect's plan of the house's layout.
Fear grabbed at him for the first time in years and he
shook it off. Carter could not get to him. He had too many
layers of defense, some that only he knew atx)ut. Ihe men
who had built them for him were in a common grave, silent
and cold.
As he thought of the foolproof defenses, some hidden
and very secret, his confidence returned and he began to
eat. Let the foolish Carter come. Even if he knew about the
layout of the house, even if he knew of the robots and the
fences, even if he knew about all of these things and could
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somehow destroy them, he couldn't know about the sec-
ondary defenses and the third. He would never break
through, not all the way.
The thought of the intruder's death brought him pleasure
and he ate with gusto. He knew how to manipulate the
robots, how to override the automatic sequences pro-
grammed into them and control them with the series of joy
sticks built into his massive console. He'd spent countless
hours manipulating the robots and, like the teen-agers of
the city in the video game arcades, he could defeat anyone
who stood against him.
The system had only one weakness. Jf he took over the
robots and fought his battle using his own wits, he also
overrode the protection programs that guaranteed the
robots would never fire on each other: No matter. In all the
hours of practice, he had never come close to firing on his
own robots.
Death was an aphrodisiac for the fat man. Sex had been
impossible for him for years, but the death of a stubborn
enemy or a beautiful woman gave him gratification, almost
a sexual thrill. Carter's death would be the ultimate joy.
Carter, the Killmaster, ready to go into action, sat un-
moving, his cigarette long since crushed in the Jimmy's
ashtray, his mind tuned to the teachings of his yoga guru of
long ago. His thoughts were not fogged by emotion or fear.
They were tuned to the tools he brought into battle: the
superbly conditioned body; the experience that could be
matched by no other man alive; the weapons he'd devised
for this particular encounter. Back at the safe house he'd
gone over the battle in his mind a score of times
and found a glaring weakness in his defenses. Always con-
scious of having the best defense possible, at the last mo-
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ment he'd asked Samantha to have her craftsmen prepare
large sheet of Lexan backed up by a mirror. Now it w
secured to the top of the Jimmy on a carrying rack, a she
similar to their shields but measuring six feet by ten.
"Drive to within a hundred feet of the main gate an
park the vehicle parallel to the fence," he ordered calmly.
Samantha seemed to pull herself out of a trance an
followed his orders. As soon as the vehicle had stopped, h
jumped out and used Hugo to slash the bindings holdin
the large sheet of Lexan. It was heavy and awkward t
handle. Samantha came around to his side and helped hi
ease it down so that it- leaned against the Jimmy on the f
side facing the fence.
The two agents, now fully prepared, worked behin
their barrier. Carter slipped on the cesta and tied it as he'
been taught. He checked the small hook and found that i
was secure.
Samantha Schmidt's case and filled the pocket
of a carpenter's apron she'd borrowed from one of her
ple. It held all the high-explosive grenades in the larg
pocket on the left side, and the phosphorous ones in th
smaller pocket on the right.
Carter picked up one of the shields. He held it with hi
left hand and stood on Samantha's left.
Samantha held her shield in her right hand and palmed
grenade in her left.
They moved away from the prohection of the Jimm
staying close together.
"Set the first one for fifteen seconds. I'll lay it at th
base of the fence."
Samantha's hand shook as she set the dial. It was diffi
cult to do with one hand, but she'd practiced incessantl
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and managed it in a second or two. "Loaded," she said. It
was the signal they had agreed on earlier.
Carter was in no hurry. They were out in the open now.
Their purpose had to be obvious, but there was no special
action from the rotk)ts who continued to patrol the entire
perimeter as usual, Perhaps they weren't programmed to
react to Ikople outside the fence unless attacked.
But what about Chen? Carter wondered. Surely he knew
they were out there. Ihen the answer hit him. Chen could
only an observer for the moment. He was at the mercy
of the software that controlled his electronic guards.
Whether or not he had manual override, they'd probably
learn later.
What would he do if he were Chen? The answer was
simple. He'd do nothing. Not for the present. Nothing had
really happened except a threat and it could tr a bluff.
It was time to show him they weren't bluffing. He
swung the cesta around in a perfect arc, the timing just
right, and let the grenade drop at the bottom of the outer
fence about ten feet to the left of the rock wall.
They both knelt and waited for the concussion, remem-
bering the practice session in the woods.
The explosion was deafening and was followed by the
crackle of severed high-tension wires. Debris and earth
showered down on them from above. Samantha shook her
head, a habit she'd always had to dislodge foreign objects
from her hair, forgetting that she was not only bald, but
protected by a steel helmet. She grinned sheepishly and
hooked on a grenade set for ten seconds as previously
agreed.
"Loaded," she said.
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ne explosion shook the house slightly. Chen jumped
and cried out as if the grenade had gone off trside him.
The steel chair tmring his weight groaned but held him.
He had been watching Carter and the woman on his moni-
tors. Their preparations had comic and he'd enjoyed a
chuckle as he saw them place what looked like a giant
mirror in place.
Now nothing was amusing. When the smoke cleared, a
gaping hole had been torn in the fence at least a dozen feet
across and the lasers in the area were out of commission.
The robots had reacted as programmed and were wheeling
toward the intrusion from both directions. lhe big man
decided to let them handle it for the present. 'Ihey had
never been tested under actual conditions, but had met
every possible threat thrown at them in hundreds of simula-
tions.
In the kitchen above the control room, Chen's man
screamed as the roar shook the house. A pot of boiling eels
toppled from the stove and spilled over his sandaled feet.
He around in pain not knowing what was happen-
ing. Despite his scalded feet, he ran down the long narrow
flight of stairs to his pantry two floors below. If the attack
he'd expected ever since coming to work for the fat man
was about to start, he wanted to be close to an exit.
Carter poked his head around one side of the huge
shield and saw the robots coming toyard the opening at
high speed. When the first one reached the hole in the
fence, the Kilimaster moved out into the open and let fly
with a grenade. It landed under the nearest robot and lay in
the dirt for all of five seconds before going off.
The robot flew into the air and a massive shock wave hit
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the two out in the open. They scrambled to their knees and
held the shields in front of them.
Three robots drawn to the scene obeyed preprogrammed
orders and opened fire with lasers and automatic weapons.
The laser beams were reflected off their shields at odd
angles, but the 40mm slugs rained against the Lexan, al-
most knocking Samantha over,
The woman recovered, set a grenade to fire at seven
seconds, and shouted, "Loaded. Seven seconds."
Two of the robots were at the opening and a third was
close by. Carter aimed the third grenade between the two
electronic guards, then ducked as another shock wave hit
them.
"Get tEhind the Jimmy!" he shouted at Samantha.
They moved from their knees and stayed low as they
eased to the right and back behind the wall of Lexan,
small-arrns fire bouncing off their shields, almost knocking
Samantha over again.
Carter peeked around the side of the Jimmy on one side
and Samantha followed his lead at the other. 'Ihe two
robots they had attacked lay on their sides, panly de-
stroyed, aflame, their lasers aimed harmlessly at the eve-
ning sky.
"Did we get them?" Samantha shouted over her
shoulder.
"I think so. The first was a perfect hit. The other two
are damaged and will probably poop out altogether as their
circuits cook."
"So that's three down and nine to do," she said.
"As far as we know. Set the next one for fifteen sec-
onds. I want to try something."
Carter heard her call out that she was ready as he eased
to his left again. This time two robots were waiting for
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them and let fly with everything they had as soon as the
two humans were in the open. Steel-jacketed 40mm projec-
tiles rained against their shields as they moved to the left
on their knees.
The Killmaster swung the cesta in a graceful arc, using
more loft. The small round explosive was in the air for
three seconds and landed beneath a robot that was standing
off about fifty yards waiting to attack.
The explosion destroyed the robot, but the shock wave
didn't disturb Carter and Samantha as much as the others
had. While they crept back to the safety of their mirrored
barrier, Carter found he could direct the reflection of lasers
from his shield at specific targets. Before they were back
behind the Jimmy, his deflections had destroyed the two
damaged robots. Four down for sure and only two left be-
tween the perimeter fences.
lhe sound of the first four grenades could be heard all
across the city. The disciplined citizens of Singapore were
conditioned to law and order. They huddled in small
groups wondering why they had not heard police sirens.
'Ihe noise had been going on for three or four minutes. It
sounded as if they city were under attack. Where were the
B)lice who were normally very visible?
The man who knew what was going on sat in his office,
a look of anguish on his face. Twice in the past minute or
two, his aides had interrupted to implore him to take some
action and twice he had shouted at them to follow orders.
No official action was to be taken.
The phone rang. He picked it up. "The prime minister is
on line two," a disembodied voice told him.
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He reached out wearily to push a button. "Windsor,"
was all he said.
"Hue Yen. What is happening, Chalkie?"
The prime minister was a man who always came right to
the point.
S' You'd find any explanation difficult to believe, Mr.
Prime Minister," Chief Windsor said.
'Try me."
"I'd prefer to let it run its course and cover the whole
story with you when it's over."
' When what is over?"
"I'd prefer not to say."
"Are your men involved?"
"No? Then who?"
"I'd prefer not to say right now."
"You will tell me right now or I will order out the
army," Hue Yen said, his voice rising for the first time.
"Sir, believe me, it's best to leave it alone for a few
more minutes."
"Tell me what you know, Windsor, or I swear—
"It will be finished before you can muster the troops,
Mr. Prime Minister. Believe me."
"I've trusted you through the years. You know that. You
know the opposition I've had to keep you .. ."
"I know and I appreciate it, sir. Just go with me one
more time," Chief Windsor pleaded. "This is very impor-
tant, life or death for your government, perhaps for all of
Southeast Asia. Please, sir, leave it with me. Give an-
other half hour."
"All right. But my phone is ringing off the hook. You'd
better be right, Chalkie. And you'd better have one hell of
a story for me."
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Chief Windsor sat at his desk for what seemed like long
minutes, agonizing over the situation. "Ihen he poured
himself another scotch but dropped it on the floor when
another explosion rocked the city.
All the remaining robots were concentrated not far from
the hole in the fence now. They had been programmed to
stay far enough apart to avoid grenade attacks and multiple
losses. Carter started to ease out for the next attack. He had
learned something from his earlier forays and was deter-
mined to try out a theory this time.
He'd heard Samantha's cry of "Loaded!" as soon as
they'd reached the saftey of the shield. With a live grenade
in the cesta and his shield in his other hand, he was ready
for the worst.
And the worst was what he got. Ihe two remaining
first-line robots were close to the hole in the fence and the
other half dozen were ranged inside the second fence, all
firing at him as he moved out. He felt a steel projectile crease
his shoe as he launchéd another grenade at the closest robot.
This time he didn't move back to safety. Samantha
pulled at his cesta arm before she realized he intended to
stay out. She remained beside him, her shield in place,
waiting.
Three robots fired from the right, inside the grounds,
and three from the left. The fifth robot in the fence perime-
ter was a smoldering ruin. Ihe last of the front-line robots
was concentrating on Samantha.
Carter deftly manuevered his shield with his left hand
until he had a feel for how the laser beams reflected from
the mirrored surface. fie streams were almost constant.
He watched the deflected beams move to the left until they
were directed at the group of three inside the fence, far to
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the left. Just before he motioned Samantha to duck back
inside the bamer, he saw the beams converge on one of
the distant robots but he didn't see if the maneuver had
helped.
Samantha let out a triumphant whoop. "You got one of
the bastards!" she shouted.
"Reflected lasers?" he asked.
"It was tRautiful! Blew the damned thing to bits!" she
said delighted.
"Six down. That's half. And we've got most of our gre-
nades left," he said, almost as excited as she.
'The rest of it's going to be harder, isn't it?" she asked.
"l'm afraid so. We can't retreat behind the big shield
much longer."
"Can't we move it closer? Maybe if we propped it up
between two wrecked robots?"
"Good thought. But it's too heavy. We'd be vulnerable,
couldn't hold out small shields. There's no way it could be
done."
"What do we do now?"
"One more sortie to get the last of the outer group. One
more to blow the inner fence. Then we'll have to play it by
ear," he said. "Make the next one seven seconds."
"You're wounded!" she said, spotting the crease across
his boot that had nicked his toes and produced blood. It
looked a lot worse than it was.
He looked her over. She had two laser bums: one on her
right arm, the other on her left ankle. "Not a problem.
What about the burns? How do they feel?" he asked.
"I can't feel them yet. Maybe later. Let's get this over
with."
He moved out and let fly the grenade she'd set for seven
seconds. Without waiting for instructions, she set another
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for seven seconds and shouted its readiness over the first
explosion.
Carter tossed another grenade through the opening in the
fence. It landed at the base of the second fence and ex-
ploded immediately.
The concussion of two closely spaced explosions
knocked them both over. For a moment they were both
vulnerable, flat on their backs, their shields held skyward.
Carter couldn't help Samantha. He had both hands full.
She had her left hand free. She'd have to make it on he
own.
Samantha had-never experienced anything like this in
her life and never wanted to again.
Her arm hurt and so did her ankle. She had lied abou
the laser burns. lhey hurt so much it was all she could do
to keep from screaming.
fte second fence had been breached and seven robot
had been destroyed. She'd been skeptical that it could
done, but now she knew better. She knew now that the
could defeat Chen, then he wasn't invulnerable, but sh
also knew that the worst part was yet to come.
The specter of death was back with her. Ihe last time i
had been merely a feeling of danger, a concem for he
mortality. But this time she felt a cold chill run down h
spine as the hooded man with the scythe was standing i
the field of battle and he was lookink directly at her.
The fat man couldn't believe what was hapÆrning to hi
defenses. Seven of the robots were destroyed. The inne
barrier had been breached. He was a shaking mass of blub
ber, his hands almost out of his control as he switched ove
to manual override and brought the five remaining rotK)
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to the hole in the inner fence, positioned in a semicircle,
their awesome weapons pointed at the gaping hole.
'Ihe two in black couldn't stay behind the big shield
forever. They had to come out and fight if they to
enter the second bamer. He held on to the joy sticks of the
two leading robots, his hands a little more steady, and
watched the video screen with bloodshot eyes.
The grounds outside the mansion smelled of cordite and
electronic fires. Caner thought he could smell burning
flesh but he wrote it off as imagination. The worst. was yet
to come. They had to move out into the open and stay
there, fighting every inch of the way. He turned to his
"It's going'to be twice as bad from here on in. I'm not
sure I want to expose you to it."
"You don't have a choice. Load!" she called out. "Ten
seconds!"
He moved out. The rays and bullets of five robots met
him in an almost overwhelming assault. He stole a glance
at Samantha. She was undergoing the same wicked bar-
rage.
Something unusual was happening. In a semicircle, a
battle formation that had never been programmed for them,
the robots were coming under as much fire as their targets.
Five sets of lasers aimed at the two shields were
Immed directly back at them. Before the monster inside
could react and go back on automatic defense, three of the
robots had been melted down and the other two, pro-
grammed to regain automatic sequencing, were turning to
take up new
Carter heard a war whoop beside him as he let fly with
another grenade. He could see the last two robots as they
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maneuvered into new defensive positions. "Ihe small round
ball dropped with deadly accuracy under the wheels of one
and blew it twenty feet into the air, spinning, a twisted
piece of metal filled with smoking wires.
He motioned Samantha to move forward through the gas
as she hooked on another grenade and called out, "Loaded!
Ten seconds!"
They moved in on the last robot. Caner knew they'd
been lucky so far. Every one of the robots had been a
deadly killing machine and they still had one to go. Who-
ever had programmed them had allowed for any possible
scenario, even this one. The robot was cagey. It didn't
show itself but stayed behind one of the wrecks and fired
constantly.
This would be one of the toughest shots he'd ever made.
Unlike tennis, the lob shot in jai alai wasn't common. He
thought about the shot until it was firm in his mind, then let
his brain direct his arm and the cesta in a higher arc that
sent the small ball in the highest pitch he'd ever tried.
Everything from that point on seemed to be in slow
motion. The ball flew away to move slowly through the
air. The 40mm slugs still rained on their shields. The
robot, hull down but with enough clearance to allow for
full firepower, was etched against the fading light to their
right.
The grenade exploded. It had landed five feet in front of
the robot, not a perfect hit but enough to toss the ingenious
machine backward a dozen feet and mtralize its electronic
circuits.
The battlefield was quiet for a few minutes, then the
silence was broken by Samantha's happy laughter as she
dropped her shield and danced around Carter in a victory
celebration that was born out of pure joy and relief. It was
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a release from mortal fear. It was an escape from the Grim
Reaper. It was the of the new life she had
dreamed of.
Smoke rose from the broken hulks. Craters had changed
the carefully tended grounds to a moonscape. The smell
was of electronic, not human death. At last Carter permit-
ted himself a smile as he watched Samantha dance with
He put down his shield and unstrapped the cesta, and
couldn't help but laugh with her.
While he grinned at her and held out his arms; a beam
of red light flashed from a dead robot, a freak discharge
from a loaded condenser. It caught Samantha in one eye
and exited out the back of her skull, sending her helmet
flying and frying her brain in the passing.
Carter stood, frozen, then he ran to her as she crumpled
to the ground. He held her for a moment, looking at the
smoke drift from inside her skull, feeling for a pulse but
owing none would be there.
Something snapped inside the usually disciplined brain.
e untied the apron from her waist and tied it around his
own, all the while raining curses on the head of the man
ho lived in the big stone house.
With rage taking the place of reason, and with a searing
atred coursing through his body, he tossed one of the re-
aining high-explosive grenades at the building, knocking
uge chunks of rock from the solid wall but not penetrating
e citadel of Fat Chen.
fien he fell to his knees and rocked back and forth,
olding Samantha's bcxiy as if it were a child he were
ning to sleep.










FOURTEEN
As Carter sat amid the debris, maniacal laughter
boomed out from the house. Chen was celebrating his vic-
tory, and the sound of his voice filled the man from AXE
with loathing. Men like Chen were uncommon. The man
on the street almost never encountered them, never read
about them in the palErs, but Carter knew of them. He had
met many and the experience was beginning to weary
him, drain him of his usual steel resolve to rid the world of
them. You couldn't make demands on your mind and body
as Carter had for so long without some burnout.
lhe voice boomed on, laughing, cursing, using English,
Mandarin, Cantonese, and a half-dozen other languages.
The sound attacked Carter like a bombardment from the
robots. He raised his head from the lifeless body he held and
looked at the mansion. Chen stood behind a huge plate
glass window, his huge bulk filling the space, his caver-
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nous mouth open, his voice still booming out his victory
speech, his eyes laughing at the man kneeling on the
ground.
Carter stared at Fat Chen. So this was the monster who
was responsible for it all. At last they were face to face.
The expression on the Killmaster's face slowly changed
from sadness to hatred and finally to resolve. The spirit of
revenge grew to fill him almost to bursting as he looked at
the man who had sent thousands to die and three times that
number to live in slavery.
Carter stood up shakily. He was cut and bleeding in a
score of places from the shrapnel his own mad attack had
produced. He should have felt weak, a candidate for a hos-
pital bed, but he seemed to be infused with an inner
strength that was built on a glowing ember of hatred he
could never extinguish until Chen was dead.
With the efficiency of long practice, the Killmaster's
right hand slipped his Luger from its holster and, in a sin-
gle fluid motion, put three shots in a close triangular pat-
tern at the monster's massive forehead.
The laughter continued. The window was bulletproof,
just as Carter's shield had been. For a moment, the anger
and frustration he'd experienced at Samantha's death re-
turned, and he emptied Wilhelmina at the man behind the
transparent wall.
While he looked at his gargantuan enemy, the hidden
speakers that sent out the man's voice boomed out a mes-
sage:
'Good-bye, Carter. I'm going to throw out one more
challenge for you and I'll be gone. Do you hear me,
Carter? I won't be here when you finally figure out how to
get to me."
A cold determination had taken the place of rage. The
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Killmaster had come close to irrational action but that had
passed. Carter looked up at the enemy who still stood
hind his barrier, then watched as Chen moved toward the
massive wcxxien door at the front of the house.
"One more deterrent, Caner," the monster's voice
boomed out.
Carter saw him reach for a lever beside him and pull it.
In an almost deafening clatter of sound, steel bars fell from
concealed to cover every door and window. The
whole house was ccxooned in steel and stone, the walls
three feet thick, the bars too strong for his weapons, the
windows undoubtedly all of I.„exan.
Chen's man sat on a stool in the pantry next to the
kitchen and held his hands over his ears. He had almost
gone insane while the bombardment was going on outside.
He'd thought the house was going to tumble around him as
the madman outside tossed explosives at the house. Thank
God their attacker had not aimed one at a door, or by this
time he would inside.
Now the voice of his master was driving him mad. It
was all too much. And it wasn't fair. He was the only one
who would look after the fat pig. He'd been promised
riches beyond his wildest dreams if he would stay. He'd
also been threatened with a life of slavery if he left.
The bars slid into place with a loud metallic clanging.
Curse all the gods! He was trapped! He had to get out
somehow. What was the madman outside doing? He
couldn't see a thing for the dirt on the pantry windows.
He'd been meaning to clean them, but he had too many
other things to do.
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Chen left the huge window and waddled on swollen feet
to a steel chair in a room he sometimes used for sleeping. It
was time to get out. A portion of the floor in the next room
would lower him to the basement and the escape tunnel
that led to another house and ultimate safety. He had an
armored car waiting that would take his weight. A loyal
employee was on hand every hour of the day and night to
drive for him.
A loud chuckle bubbled up in his throat as he thought of
the futile efforts of the man outside. He might have tRen
outraged at the loss of his robots, but he could operate
from another headquarters. He'd made arrangements for
the future. He'd set up decoy mansions that were identical
to this one. But his real ace in the hole was a stronghold
he'd built on Penang, off the coast of Malaysia, the para-
dise island in the Strait of Malacca.
But what was the hurry? He'd not be able to eat in
transit. He pulled the cord for his man and waited, but
nothing happened. That damned Heu Choy was probably
petrified with fear. No matter. He pushed a button and a
large tray swiveled out of a concealed closet. It was filled
with cold meats, chilled seafood, raw vegetables, pickles,
and fresh and preserved fruits.
Let the damned American drive himself mad trying to
find a chink in my armon While the thought occurred, a
missile of some kind bounced off the window and exploded
in a burst of flame outside.
*Ihe monster that was Arthur C&il Chen roared with
laughter, bits of half-chewed food falling from his mouth.
Carter had circled the mansion, carefully, like a preda-
tory jungle cat in the night. He was unable to find one
place in the mansion that looked more vulnerable than an-
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other. In frustration, he pulled the pin on one of the half-
dozen phosphorous grenades he camed and flung it as hard
as he could at a lighted second-floor window. It bounced
off and explcxied not far from him.
Fingers of fire reached out in every direction. Pieces of
phosphorous burning at more than a thousand degrees
Fahrenheit started fires in a score of places. Two small
fragments caught in his clothing and he had to roll over and
over in the deep grass to extinguish them. Where they had
been, three-inch holes still smoldered in Carter's clothes
and his skin was badly blistered.
In the pantry, Heu Choy, Chen's man, stood on the stool
and frantically pulled on the pantry window, desperate to
see what was going on outside.
It moved from the top, so he had to stretch as far as he
could to get his fingers around the edge. He was in a panic,
all reason gone, the only emotions left directed at survival.
He had to get out! At the very least, he had to see what
was going on.
Carter stood in front of the massive wooden doors and
thought.
Where was Chen? Did he have another escape route? If
he did, he'd long gone now. Carter moved to the side of
a garden lily pond and slumped on a marble t*nch. What
would he have done in the circumstances? Assuming he
was rich beyond reason, and Chen was, he'd have had an
elaborate escape route planned. It wouldn't found until
he was long gone.
Next, he'd set up a headquarters in a new location and it
would be business as usual. And what was worse, since
Chen had totally dependent on electronics, he
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didn't have to be in Singapore or anywhere near it to con-
frol and expand his empire.
Carter shrugged, shook himself, fought off the pain
from his wounds, shrapnel holes and burns that would have
stopped a lesser man, and stood looking at the house.
One more try. He had to give it one more uye
He examined every door and window as he started from
the front door and moved to the back. It was dark now.
Examination of the structure was difficult. Lights were on
in only a few windows but that didn't mean that anyone
was inside.
At the back of the house, a light shone in a small win-
dow. It looked different somehow. A shadow appeared be-
hind it, but the window was so grimy that Carter couldn't
be sure of what he was seeing.
Suddenly he knew. He was looking into the face of a
frightened Chinese man through a slightly opened window.
Caner's heart lurched as he reached for a grenade. lhe
face in the window disappeared. Fingers clawed at the
windowframe and it started to close.
ne grenade was in Carter's hand. He had to move
quickly, t(X) fast to take careful aim. He wished now that
he'd kept the cesta on his arm.
He pulled the quick release pin and let it fly. It hit the
side of the frame and bounced back at him. His heart was
in his mouth. He didn't have time to reach for another and
the one on the ground at his feet could explode at any
second.
Instinct took over. He picked up the grenade and tossed
it underhand at the slight opening. Miraculously it passed
between the bars, through the narrow opening, and ex-
ploded as soon as it was inside the structure.
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Chen put down the cold lobster tail he'd just cracked
and cocked an ear, Had the explosion been inside the
house? Impossible.
But he smelled smoke. It didn't smell the same as the
one that had exploded outside.
It was inside!
He threw the food on the tray and heaved himself up to
a standing position, then he lumbered toward the room next
door and the elevator that would take him to safety.
Heu Choy fell from the stool bounced to the far corner
of the pantry as the small object exploded. He didn't see all
the pieces of flaming material because he was blinded by
the ball of fire that had appeared over his head.
But he felt the heat and smelled things burning. It was
the tiles tEside him, the table in the comer, and something
else. He'd smelled it after a fire in town. Burning flesh.
He was on fire!
He smelled the burning flesh just seconds before he felt
the excruciating pain. He screamed and scrambled to his
feet. He ran from the pantry and down the back hall to the
main dining room, lighting the way with his own body.
The heavy dining room drapes caught his eye first. He
pulled them down and tried to roll in them to put out the
fire. Some of the pieces of phosphorus dislodged and
caught in the cloth. Heu Choy had to let one of the drapes
go as it became a flaming torch.
lhe front doors. He had to get out.
He pulled at the latch of the doors and flung them open
only to find himself trapped by steel bars.
He knew something about the bars. What was it? He'd
been ordered to feed the contractors who had put the bars
in. What had they told him?
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"O God that looks over small Chinese men, let the pai
go away so I can think!" he shouted to the night sky.
Power. They'd told him about the power: The doo
were controlled by electromagnets that held them in place
He dropped the piece of drapery material, ran to a base
ment door. smoke trailing after him as the tiny bits of phos
Phorus ate into his flesh. The main power switch was ju
inside the basement door.
It was big and it was installed above his head. Franti
cally he ran to the hall for a chair and placed it beneath th
master switch. Screaming from pain unlike anything he'
ever imagined, he swung from the large handle until
gave way and everything was plunged into darkness—ex
cept for the phosphorus eating away at him. It gave off a
eerie glow that illuminated the cellar stairwell.
Heu Choy picked up the cloth again and ran to the fro
doors. He hadn't heard the metallic clang of all the s
bars as the magnets let go and the fingers of steel we
yanked back into place by massive springs.
Facing the open sky and freedom, the little Chinese se
vant ran like a man possessed until he stumbled into th
arms of a tall man he hadn't seen in the dark. Cradled i
strong ams, the fiery pieces of chemical were pried fro
his flesh, and he was wrapped in the luxurious drapery.
It was the last thing he remembered before a darknes
that was not of the night enfolded him.
Carter couldn't believe the luck {hat had come his wa
After his lucky toss at the rear of the house, he'd made hi
way back to the front doors. He'd been there when th
small Chinese man flung them open.
He reached into his apron pocket for another grenad
when something told him to give it a moment. He held th
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185
grenade at the ready, not about to duplicate the near miss
he'd just In less than a minute every set of
steel bars clanged upward and the house was cast into
complete darkness.
A feeling of triumph welled up in him. The knowledge
that it might not be too late to carry out his mission made
the adrenaline rush and he felt like a new man.
He had to act, decisively, and now. While the thought
(Ecurred, the small Chinese came flying out of the house
and literally fell into his arms.
A servant. Probably one of Chen's slaves, Carter sup-
The little man smelled of burning flesh. He'd been the
one at the back of the house. Carter flipped Hugo into his
hand and pried all the bits of phosphorus he could find out
of the man's hide and wrapped him in the material
clutched in the man's hand. It was the best he could do and
he couldn't afford one more minute.
Chen could be gone, probably was gone. Carter was
glad now that he hadn't tossed more phosphorus grenades
right away. If Chen had escaped, Carter knew he would
have to find the escape route before the fire at the back of
the house consumed everything.
He entered the front hall with care. He'd pulled the
empty clip from his Luger and slap!Hi in a fresh one. He
held the Luger in his left hand and a grenade in the other.
He could pull the quick-release pin with his teeth.
He heard nothing but the roar of flames from the back of
the house. ney were not loud yet but soon would be. He
could feel the heat and smell the burning wood.
"Chen!" he called up the stairs. "Are you up there?"
He waited a minute and it seemed like an hour as smoke
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started to pour from under the doors leading to the back of
the house.
S Chen! If you're in there, I can take you out!"
"Help Carter! I've fallen and sprained my ankle.
Some glass ... I can't walk," the voice came back at him.
It wasn't the booming, confident voice Carter had heard
before, it was like the voice of a small, frightened child,
but it was indeed Chen.
So he hadn't made it to an escape route. Carter quickly
went through all possible scenarios in his mind. He
couldn't lift Chen. The man would have to be able to help
himself. While he helped Chen, he would be vulnerable.
And if Chen were armed, the madman might after a
final revenge. In the few seconds he went over the possibil-
ities, the fire at the back of the house raged out of control
and lessened his options.
The fire broke through a door from the back of the
house, making the decision for Carter. He pulled the pin
from the grenade with his teeth and tossed it to the top of
the stairs. He holstered his Luger and emptied the apron of
grenades, tossing the small white explosives indiscrimi-
nately up the stairs and into adjoining rooms. Then he
stumbled outside and sat on the marble next to the
lily pond. The flames from the house changed the white
lilies in the pond to red and orange. A kaleidoscopic night-
mare of color filled the grounds around him.
One by one the bulletproof windows were blown out by
the intense pressure from within. Wiqd tore at his clothing
as a whirling column of fire drew air toward it from ground
level. The heat intensified until it was almost unbearable
but still he sat.
It wasn't over. It wasn't over until he knew, until he
really knew.
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An animal howl was torn from deep down in the lungs
of the man inside. It was impossible that he could still be
alive. No human could survive the inferno that sent flames
a hundred feet into the sky.
He could hear the sirens now over the roar of the
flames. The hair at the back of his hands curled and disap-
peared as he started to rise from the bench and meet Chief
Windsor at the front gate.
From the heart of the fire a figure emerged. It lurched
from side to side, blinded, its senses gone, a monster al-
ready dead but still on its feet.
Carter stared, fascinated, unable to take his eyes from
the vision and unable to move from the heat that was in-
tensifying.
It shuffled toward him, a tower of walking flame that
peaked at the top and gave off smoke like some huge,
round candle.
It came straight at Carter as if it had a destiny or some
mad purpose. The Killmaster held his ground until Chen
was within ten feet, then, with most of the hair singed
below the edges of his helmet, he had to stand aside or be
consumed.
The torch that had once been a human being stumbled
on, tripped over the marble edging around the lily pond,
and toppled in. Steam rose from the pool and gave off a
stench that Caner would smell in his subconscious for
many months to come. Every fire, every lighting of his
Dunhill, every time he saw a lighted candle, would remind
him of the monster of Singapore and the death of a very
special lady.
He back from the heat, moved no more than a
dozen paces, saw the first police car, then allowed himself
to collapse: