"(novel) (ebook) - Perry Rhodan 0002 - (1b) The Third Power" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

Klein did not know that his route had now been recorded on a map of the Asiatic security high command, as accurately as if he were broadcasting his position at every turn. He would learn this only when he stopped.

The crescent of the moon was already approaching the horizon below which the sun had long ago disappeared. To his left glittered the surface of a slowly flowing stream. Bushes lined the road to the edge of the shore.

Klein found an opening and drove the truck through it. He rolled a few yards farther until he had come to a suitable place to park. Here the truck stood protected among rocks, trees and bushes. Nearby the stream was flowing.

The lieutenant stretched and got out of the truck. Although it was warm, he thought a fire might help. He would not make camp tonight, but some hot coffee would do him a lot of good. Then he could stretch out on some blankets in the back of the truck and sleep.

"Are we stopping for the nights?" Someone asked in English with a terrible accent. "Take it easy, my friend, donТt move! I am not unarmed. Turn around. Yes, all right. But slowly."Klein had just thrown a few pieces of dry wood into the campfire, whose flames hungrily devoured their meal. Their growing glow allowed him to recognize the face of the speaker. It was, of course, the Chinese he had already noticed in Kalgan. Apparently he had managed to stow away in the back of the truck. All this would not have been quite so bad, but he held a heavy machine gun cradled in his arm. Klein looked directly into the menacing maw of this most dangerous weapon, whose explosive bullets could cripple even a medium sized tank.

"What do you want with me?" asked Klein. "If youТre a beggar, then youТre certainly a well equipped beggar. But watch out! This is a vehicle of the government.""Of which government?" Li Shai-tung smiled his enigmatic smile. "The American government? Let us lay our cards on the table. What are your instructions? Perhaps we could reach some sort of agreement."

Klein gestured toward the fire. "LetТs sit down.""Do you have a weapon?"

"Do you want to come to an agreement or not? Are we going to keep talking with gun in hand?"

Li was hesitating. "I have the advantage now, but I would gladly give it up without regret if I only knew that you are sincere. Answer one question before I can trust you, before I consent. What are your instructions? What is the name of your superior? I know the answers already through my chief. If your answers coincide with mineЕ"He slowly climbed down from the truck but kept the gun pointed at Klein. Klein reflected a moment, and then, remembering the words of Mercant, he suddenly knew how right the chief had been. The developments had already begun to take shape. It was starting at the very bottom, on a small scale, but one of these days it would encompass all nations. If they did not succeed in destroying the StardustЕ"My superior is Allan D. Mercant, Director of the Western International Intelligence Agency. My instructions are to destroy the moon rocket Stardust. Is that quite enough?"Li nodded. Lowering his weapon, he kept it in his hand for an indecisive moment before he threw it into the back of the truck. Then he walked over to the fire and extended his hand to Klein. They shook.

The lieutenant swallowed hard. His every action expressed amazement as he sat down with Li. A pleasant warmth came from the fire. The water in the kettle began to boil.

"Our assignments differ in one respect," admitted the Chinese after a long pause. "You are supposed to destroy the Stardust, but I must prevent this under all circumstances. However, I think we will see eye to eye in time. At any rate, for the moment we have the same goal. Perry Rhodan must be prevented from forcing his will upon the world. Do I understand you correctly?"

Klein nodded.

"We can therefore collaborate until the time when we will have rendered Rhodan harmless," the Chinese said. "What happens then remains to be seen. Let us arrange a compromise. You will state your terms, please."

Lieutenant Klein could never know how grotesque it really was. Two agents of hostile powers cooperating to eliminate an even greater power. Only a few days before, the speed of a bullet would have decided who would still be alive in the next instant. Today all this was changed. Fear and trembling before an unknown and incomprehensible third power had made reluctant allies out of former deadly enemies.

"You promise not to give me away to your people, even after weТve reached our goal? For this guarantee, IТll tell you how I intend to pass through the force field when weТve reached the Stardust later. Agreed?"Li offered the American his hand. Again they shook.

Five days later they left the road near Hang-shou and proceeded in a northerly direction into the Gobi Desert. The mountains and the river fell behind them. Now there were only a few salt lakes, small brooks and, with every mile, less and less vegetation. The desert became increasingly prominent. Some thirty miles from their destination, they were stopped by a tank patrol of the Asiatic army. It was Li who saved the day. A radio message to Peking worked wonders. With many apologies, both agents were released. The commanding officer of the patrol bowed a thousand times before Lieutenant Klein and wished him and his Chinese companion the best of luck and much success.

The situation became more and more strange. There seemed never to have been a conflict between East and West. The fear they shared moulded even the most contrary ideologies into unity.

They had to cross the military cordon twice more. Klein began to wonder why he was still driving the camouflaged truck. He could just as easily have gone by an army helicopter, and apparently it mattered little whether it was the army of the Asiatic Federation or the Western Bloc.

But then he considered that after all, he had to bluff Perry Rhodan.

If he could be bluffed.



Captain Reginald Bell shut off the motor of the helicopter.

"Well," asked Perry, "everything okay?"

"Of course. It should be easy to make the twelve hundred or so miles to Hong Kong, if I can land and get fresh fuel along the way. Next stop is Borneo. Then I have to make do until Australia."

Clark Fletcher stirred restlessly. He wore a vacant expression. He had long since forgotten the Stardust, which stood scarcely a hundred yards behind them. He saw only the helicopter that would return him to civilization. From there, there would be the possibility of returning to the United States, where his wife was expecting him.