Read Online The Valhalla Prophecy by Andy McDermott - Free Book Online

him as American. “Gentlemen, good afternoon,” he began. “Some background first: There is a charitable organization, Aide Sans Limites, that travels around Third World countries providing free medical care for the poor. One of their groups has been working in Vietnam. Two days ago”—he leaned forward, expression becoming more intense—“the team was taken hostage by a group of bandits operating in the jungle near the Laotian border, fifty or so miles west of here. The local authorities have been … unhelpful. Which is why I approached Mr. Sullivan to expedite their rescue.”
    “I know suggestin’ this is kind of against my own economic interests, since it’d mean we weren’t needed,” said Lomax, “but couldn’t you go to the US embassy and get them to put pressure on the Vietnamese government?”
    “No one in the group is American,” Lock replied. “They’re mostly European, but different nationalities, so it would mean going through multiple embassies, multiple bureaucracies. And the Vietnamese will try to hush the whole affair up. Tourism’s becoming big business for them; the last thing they want is to scare people away with news stories about bandits and kidnappings.”
    Rios, a Spaniard, spoke. “But the story will get out eventually.”
    “Not soon enough to help the people who’ve been kidnapped.”
    “What’s your connection to them?” asked Chase.
    Lock took a breath. “My daughter is one of the volunteers.”
    “Thought you said there weren’t any Americans?”
    “She’s a German national.” Lock’s flinty eyes narrowed; he did not appreciate being questioned. “Natalia Pöltl, my daughter from my first marriage.” He took out his wallet, opening it to reveal a small photograph of a young blond woman. “Now you see why I’m involved, Mr. Chase—and why I want this situation dealt with as quickly as possible. I want my daughter rescued from these … animals. Before anything happens to her.”
    “We’ve gotten information about the bandits’ area of operations,” said Sullivan, “and narrowed their location down to a few square kilometers.” He crossed to a large map taped to one wall, and pointed out a particular section. “It’s about eighty klicks west of Da Nang, so we’ll take Highway 49 to a point north of the target area, then head south. We’ll have to search, but it seems these jokers have been operating with free rein for some time. If they’re not worried about being tracked down, they shouldn’t be too hard to find.”
    “So what do we do when we find them?” asked Castille.
    Hoyt grinned coldly. “I’ve got a few things in mind.”
    Sullivan raised a warning finger. “We use lethal force only as a last resort, understood? Our number one priority is to recover the prisoners safely. ConsideringVietnam’s past, they really don’t like having groups of Westerners marching through the jungle shooting people, even if they are bandits. If they decide to crack down, they could make it hell for us to get out of the country. Trust me, I did it the hard way back in ’73, and it was not fun.”
    Chase took a closer look at the map. The area Sullivan had indicated was hilly, judging from the contour lines, and there were few signs of civilization nearby. “Is it just jungle out there?”
    Sullivan nodded. “There are some small villages along the main river valleys, but past them it’s pretty much solid all the way to the border, and beyond. We’re not far south of the old DMZ, so this whole part of the country got ripped apart during the war. It’s been left to recover ever since.”
    “A good place to hide,” said Castille dolefully.
    “We’ll find them,” Sullivan assured him. “So here’s the drill. A local friend of mine, Thuc, will take us in and out. From the drop point, we start a search. Once we find the hostages, we rescue them—minimum force unless absolutely necessary, remember—and take them to an extraction point on this