Gurt started firing the handgun from the window. A couple seconds later, Murphy's M-16 opened up.

Ten feet now. Gurt reached across and opened the copilot's door.

Murphy paused in his firing, removed his pack, placed it gingerly behind his seat and climbed inside, holding the M-16 in his lap. Gurt was firing the handgun and fiddling with the collective at the same time.

"Morning," Murphy said when there was a moment of quiet. "Anything exciting happen while I was away?"

"We have no lift," Gurt said before squeezing off a few rounds. "I'll need to milk the cyclic to get us off the ground."

373.

The Chinese troops had stopped advancing. Now they were digging in to make their kill shot.

Murphy slipped between the seats into the rear and yanked open both cargo doors. "Quit firing and take us up, Gurt. I'll handle these boys."

Milking the cyclic is bad for helicopters. It consists of jamming the cyclic from side to side while pumping up and down on the collective.

It can create lift when there is none--but it can also easily cause the mast that supports the rotor to b.u.mp against other parts of the helicopter.

Then you run the risk of a nick or a fracture in the mast.

Lose the mast and you've lost the helicopter.

The firefight had erupted so quickly that the Chinese tank commander had little time to rally his men. Now that he'd had a few minutes to prepare and his troops were dug in to the snow, he began to shout orders that would concentrate the fire in the right direction.

Gurt slammed the cyclic from one side to the other and the 212 began to rise slowly.

Right at that instant, the Chinese commander screamed for his men to advance, and the front line rose. At the same time, Murphy triggered the grenade and it left the launcher with a whoosh and a burning smell that filled the cabin. The round landed six feet in front of the lead soldier and exploded. Murphy followed that up with a complete clip from the M-16. He replaced the clip and prepared to fire again.

Just then, Gurt got the Bell off the ground and struggled to turn away from the firefight.

They were a hundred feet away from the Chinese troops when Murphy blew through the second clip and the b.l.o.o.d.y snow where the Chinese troops lay began to fade in the distance. He quickly replaced the clip, set the M-16 to one side and reached for the remote detonator.

The C-6 erupted with a force equivalent to ten thousand pounds of TNT. A slab of snow was ripped from the side of the hill and raced down the slope, covering the Chinese troops. Then the slide raced across the road with a wall of snow and ice twenty feet high. In sympathy,374.

smaller slides broke loose from the opposite hillside from the shock wave that trembled through the rock and soil. These slides added another eight to ten feet to the mess already created. The few Chinese troops still living after the firefight were buried beneath the wall of snow.

THE PILOT OF the Gulfstream stared at his navigation screen carefully.

The route he was taking did not allow much margin for error. He was flying above a small corridor of Indian airs.p.a.ce that jutted between Bangladesh and Nepal. The surface area was but twenty miles in width at the smallest point. The land below was hotly contested by all three countries.

Slowly he steered the Gulfstream in a sweeping turn to the left.

"Sir," he shouted to the rear cabin, "we're through the worst of it."

The Gulfstream was now above the wider strip of land between Nepal and Bhutan.

"How long until we reach Tibetan airs.p.a.ce?" Cabrillo asked.

The pilot stared at the GPS screen. "Less than five minutes."

Juan Cabrillo should have been bone-tired, but he was not. He stared out the window at the mountainous terrain below. The rising sun 377 3/6.

was blanketed in a glow of pinks and yellows. Tibet was directly ahead.

He reached for the secure telephone and dialed.

JN BEIJING, HU Jintao was awakened early. The actions in Barkhor Square had not"gone unnoticed. Jintao quickly rose from his bed, washed his face, and went downstairs, still dressed in his nightclothes.

"What's the situation?" he asked a general without preamble.

"It's all fluid, Mr. President," the general admitted, "but the Russian tank column has started moving into Mongolia. Their amba.s.sador a.s.sures us the movement is just an exercise between their country and Russia. However, at the speed they are moving, they could enter China across the Altai Mountains into the Tarim Basin anytime in the next few hours."

"What about aircraft?" Jintao asked.

"They have several paratroop units at the staging area inside Russia,"

the general said. "Our satellites have detected transport planes moving on the tarmac. As of right now, nothing has left the ground."

Jintao turned to the head of foreign relations. "We don't currently have any dispute with Russia," he said. "What possible reason would they have to launch an attack on our border?"

"At the moment, our relations are peaceful."

"Most odd," Jintao said.

"The Russian amba.s.sador has asked for a meeting at ten a.m. this morning," the man added. "The request came overnight through a priority channel."

"Did he disclose the nature of his request?" Jintao asked.

"No," the foreign relations head said.

Jintao stood quietly for a moment, thinking.

"Mr. President," the general said, "there's more. We just received reports from the capital of Tibet that a protest has formed in one of thi main squares inside the city."

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379.

Her, they had yanked a rapid-firing antiaircraft gun from its mount on the border of Gonggar Airport. Now they were fitting it to the cargo plane to make a crude gunship. The soldiers worked quickly, as did those at. the other end of the hangar.

George Adams watched as the Dungkar troops filled the fuel tank on the attack helicopter. For the last ten minutes, he had climbed around inside the ship in an effort to determine the controls and weapons systems.

At this instant, he was convinced that he could probably fly the bird--making the weapons perform as desired was a little iffier.

"Welcome to the Dungkar Air Force," Gunderson said, walking over. "We fly, you die."

"How's it going over there?" Adams said, smiling.

"I'm not sure," Gunderson admitted. "We have the weapon lodged in the rear and supported with enough planks to build a barn--if it doesn't fly out the opposite side the first time we light it up, we should be okay. How about you?"

"My Chinese is a little rusty," Adams said. "About as rusty as an iron ship on the bottom of the ocean. But I think I can pilot this beast."

Gunderson nodded. "Let's make a pact, old buddy," he said, smiling.

"What's that?" Adams asked.

"When we get up there," Gunderson said, "let's not shoot each other down."

He turned and started to walk back to the cargo plane. "Good luck," he said over his shoulder.

"You too," Adams answered.

Right then the door started to rise, and sunlight and cold air swept into the hangar. A minute later the attack helicopter was wheeled onto the tarmac and a motorized cart was attached to the front of the cargo plane to pull it onto the runway.

BARKHOR SQUARE WAS rapidly filling with Tibetans. The crude human telegraph system that operates in time of crisis was working overtime. Four blocks away, a platoon of Chinese soldiers were attempting to make their way by armored personnel carrier from their barracks to the square after receiving a call that there was action at the chairman's home.

Tibetans clogged the streets and the going was slow.

"Piper, Piper, this is Masquerade."

"Masquerade, this is Piper, we read."

"Request immediate extraction," Reyes said. "We have the target."

"State point of extraction, Masquerade."

"Spot one, one, primary, Piper. Spot one three, secondary HH."

"Acknowledge extraction coordinates, Masquerade, they are inbound in three."

Upon receiving the order, the helicopter that had delivered them to the river lifted from the ground at a spot ten miles between Lhasa and Gonggar Airport, where the pilot had been waiting. Once he had the helicopter in forward flight, the pilot stared at a map listing the extraction points they had arranged, and glanced at the note he had scribbled on a pad attached to the clip on his knee. He flew fast and low toward Barkhor Square.

IN LITTLE LHASA, the Dalai Lama waited inside the communications room near a bank of radios. In the last few minutes, his network of spies inside Tibet had begun to report the progress. So far, at least, the operation appeared to be going flawlessly.

He turned to an aide-de-camp. "Are the preparations completed for our trip home?" he asked.

"As soon as word comes from Mr. Cabrillo, Your Holiness," he said. "We can have you there in two hours by jet."

The Dalai Lama thought for a moment. "Once we take off," he asked, "how long will it be until we are over Tibet?"

380.

381.

"Half an hour," the man noted, "give or take."

"I am going to the temple now to pray," the Dalai Lama said, rising.

"Keep watch on the situation."

"Yes, Your Holiness," the aide said.

CHUCK GUNDERSON WAS helping George Adams strap himself into the attack helicopter. None of the Chinese helmets inside the hangar were large enough to fit his head, so he was using his own personal headset, plugged into the radio for communications. He was squeezed into the seat like a fat girl in spandex.

"They don't make these for big guys like us," Adams joked.

"You should see mine," Gunderson said. "The Chinese still believe in quant.i.ty over quality. My c.o.c.kpit looks like I'm back in World War Two. I keep expecting Glenn Miller music to start playing over the radio."

"Look at this dashboard," Adams said as Gunderson finished and stood upright on the ladder. "It's got more metal that a fifty-seven Chevy."

Just then, Eddie Seng walked over quickly. You need to get airborne and clear the runway. Cabrillo just called. He's five minutes out."

Gunderson pushed down on the Plexiglas shield over Adams's head and held it as he fastened it in place. Then he thumped the top and gave Adams a thumbs-up sign. Climbing back down the ladder, he motioned for the Tibetan helpers to wheel it out of the way. He began walking with Seng toward the cargo plane as he heard the igniters in the turbine engine of the attack helicopter begin to wind up.

"Mr. Seng," Gunderson said, "what's the latest?"

"I interrogated the Chinese lieutenant that was the ranking officer here," Seng said. "He was not able to get word to Beijing before we captured his forces."

"So for now," Gunderson said, reaching the door of the cargo plane, "we don't need to worry about an attack from Chinese fighters from outside the country?"

"If the Russians do their job and keep the Chinese on their toes,"

Seng said, "your role right now seems to be to provide close air support for the Dungkar forces."

"I'll do what I can," Gunderson said, climbing into the side door of the cargo plane.

"Good," Seng said, patting the side of the plane. "Now get to work--the boss is coming."