Read Jack Ryan 8 - Debt of Honor for Free Online

develop the operation will be on the order of three hundred million.” Even with the labor costs here,
    
     Clark
    
     didn't have to add.
    “I need more money to keep my people happy. You must understand that,” Corp said reasonably. Had he been an honorable man,
    
     Clark
    
     thought, this could have been an interesting negotiation. Corp wanted the additional up-front money to buy arms in order to reconquer the country that he had once almost owned. The U.N. had displaced him, but not quite thoroughly enough. Relegated to dangerous obscurity in the bush, he had survived the last year by running caq into the cities, such as they were, and he'd made enough from the trade that some thought him to be a danger to the state again, such as it was. With new arms, of course, and control over the country, he would then renegotiate the continuing royalty for the molybdenum. It was a clever ploy,
    
     Clark
    
     thought, but obvious, having dreamed it up himself to draw the bastard out of his hole.
    “Well, yes, we are concerned with the political stability of the region,” John allowed, with an insider's smile to show that he knew the score. Americans were known for doing business all over the world, after all, or so Corp and others believed.
    Chavez was fiddling with the GPS device, watching the LCD display. At the upper-right corner, a block went from clear to black. Ding coughed from the dust in the air and scratched his nose.
    “Okay,”
    
     Clark
    
     said. “You're a serious man, and we understand that. The fifty million can be paid up-front. Swiss account?”
    “That is somewhat better,” Corp allowed, taking his time. He walked around to the back of the Rover and pointed into the open cargo area. “These are your rock samples?”
    “Yes, sir,”
    
     Clark
    
     replied with a nod. He handed over a three-pound piece of stone with very high-grade Molly-be-damned ore, though it was from
    
    
     Colorado
    
    
    , not
    
     Africa
    
    . “Want to show it to your people?”
    “What is this?” Corp pointed at two objects in the Rover.
    “Our lights, sir.”
    
     Clark
    
     smiled as he took one out. Ding did the same.
    “You have a gun in there,” Corp saw with amusement, pointing to a bolt-action rifle. Two of his bodyguards drew closer.
    “This is
    
    
     Africa
    
    , sir. I was worried about—”
    “Lions?” Corp thought that one pretty good. He turned and spoke to his “policemen,” who started laughing amiably at the stupidity of the Americans. “We kill the lions,” Corp told them after the laughter settled down. “Nothing lives out here.”
    Clark
    
    , the General thought, took it like a man, standing there, holding his light. It seemed a big light. “What is that for?”
    “Well, I don't like the dark very much, and when we camp out, I like to take pictures at night.”
    “Yeah,” Ding confirmed. “These things are really great.” He turned and scanned the positions of the General's security detail. There were two groups, one of four, the other of six, plus the two nearby and Corp himself.
    “Want me to take pictures of your people for you?”
    
     Clark
    
     asked without reaching for his camera.
    On cue, Chavez flipped his light on and played it toward the larger of the two distant groups.
    
     Clark
    
     handled the three men close to the Rover. The “lights” worked like a charm. It took only about three seconds before both CIA officers could turn them off and go to work securing the men's hands.
    “Did you think we forgot?” the CIA field officer asked Corp as the roar of rotary-wing aircraft became audible fifteen minutes later. By this time all twelve of Corp's security people were facedown in the dust, their hands bound behind them with the sort of plastic ties policemen use when they run out of cuffs. All the General could do was moan and writhe on the ground in pain. Ding cracked a handful of chemical lights and tossed them around in a circle downwind of the Rover. The first UH-60 Blackhawk