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Prologue
The squad of Chinese
soldiers snapped to attention, although they faced no commander. On unspoken orders,
they executed an about right face and marched toward the far end of the
abandoned Beijing warehouse. There, they halted and turned to their left. As a group, the
soldiers leveled their rifles and took careful aim at a photograph of Nelson
Burrows, the President of the United States. All triggers clicked
in unison. The resulting blast seemed to tear the air. The bullets struck the
exact center of the president's forehead and formed a single hole. Liang Jiaxi gasped
with astonishment. The unit performed
another about face and marched toward him. He faced a phalanx of military
machines, not individuals. And he could not read their intentions. He took an involuntary
step backward and nearly fell off his podium. He shot a look over his
shoulder at Dr. Yu Zhaoguo, a small scientist with a thin white beard. The
old man sat cross-legged, transmitting telepathic instructions to the
soldiers. The footsteps came to
an abrupt halt. The soldiers saluted with the white palms of their gloves
turned outward. The bearded scientist had put Liang back in command of the
troops. Liang squared his
shoulders and returned the salute. "At ease." His voice trailed off
in the frosty air. There was no reaction
from the soldiers. He turned to Dr. Yu. "I
told them, 'At ease.'" Yu hunched his
shoulders under multiple layers of sweaters and complied. A moment later, the
soldiers stood at ease. "Thank you, Old
Yu." He surveyed the men before him. "This is incredible. What
would happen if bin Laden got hold of this?" "He probably has." Liang raised an
eyebrow. "Interesting." It felt like he had
just been handed a fat red envelope on Chinese New Year. "Do you realize
what we have at our disposal? You have turned them into robots. You push a
button, and they comply." Yu hefted a handful of
bullets over which he had been meditating. "The puppet master can
control every gesture of his puppets." Liang looked out the
door. Beijing's winter haze seemed to take on a new luster. "Do you know
how many concubines I could have?" "I suppose that's
what really matters to you. My interest lies in the science. If you give me
the freedom I need, I can get to the heart of nature, avert natural
disasters, solve global warming." Liang didn't have time
for scholarly research. He had grown up believing in the power of man to
engineer a more perfect world. "I don't need to get to the heart of
nature. All I need is to inject a few humans with this drug and microchip and
install myself in office." "But you don't
need drugs. And you don't need to inject your pain devices in their brains." "We don't have
time for other methods, nor can we accept ambiguous results." Liang had
a regime to overturn. Two actually: one in China and the other in America.
Which reminded him. "I must reach Professor Richter at once." Yu bowed his head
obediently and began to concentrate. "I don't need
your help, old fool. I have a cell phone." Liang pulled the gadget from
his pocket and punched in a number. While he waited for
the international call to filter through his company's encryption system,
Liang studied the old man. What a remarkable mind the scientist had. He could
switch effortlessly between the major scientific debates of the day, first
discovering the origin of the human species and now making tremendous strides
in a different field: parapsychology. "What do you mean we don't need my
company's brain implants?" He was slightly offended, but curious. "To make a
subject respond to your commands, you must follow a set procedure." Yu
enumerated the steps. "First, you must place yourself within close
proximity of the subject. Then you need a totem, or symbol, to commune with
the subject. In this case, the bullets worked fine. Subjects then have to be
made receptive through drugs or meditation. And lastly, you need to activate
a psychological stimulus-response mechanism." "We inflicted
pain," Liang said. Liang was proud of the microchip his biotech firm had
developed. He had implanted one near pain-communicating cells at the base of
each soldier's brain. If a soldier disobeyed an order that the scientist
issued, there would be a painful electro-chemical reaction. What was wrong
with that? But he did see the simplicity of what Yu was suggesting and filed
it away for future consideration. The phone began to
ring on the other end. "Make them hop." Yu regarded the
bullets, the totem he used to reach the soldiers. He bowed his head, and the
troops began to hop about, each on his right foot. "Jump." The men squatted and
then sprang into the air like frogs. "Skip." Within seconds, the
building was filled with the sound of clunking boots. The men skipped around
each other like schoolchildren. Yet the same blank look remained in their
eyes. The phone picked up. "Silence!" Yu raised his head
with a relieved look, and the men snapped to attention. "Don't scream in
my ear." It was Professor Richter on the phone. His deep voice sounded
muffled as if covered by gauze. "Sorry."
Liang drew in his breath. "But I have excellent news." "The experiment
worked?" Liang allowed a smile.
"Better than I could have ever imagined." If their plan succeeded,
America would close her borders to trade and her economy would come to a
screeching halt. "Your country needs your political leadership so that
it can sink into oblivion." "No, my country
will need me after it sinks into oblivion," Richter corrected. "And
you must take some credit, my friend. I modeled my plan after yours." Liang nodded. It would
take more than economic ruin in China to elevate him to power. He observed
Dr. Yu, who believed in his power over nature without contemplating how he
could capitalize on it personally. He could create a tidal wave that would
cripple China's coastal cities, for example, and create the conditions for
Liang to assume power. "We will both be like the phoenix," Liang
said. "Are you ready to drug your subjects?" "After tomorrow
when this bandage comes off." Liang paused to
imagine Richter's new incarnation. Could the former anthropology professor
pull off the transformation? "I have a hard time imagining you as a
religious zealot." The voice rumbled with laughter. "Oh
ye of little faith. Didn't you know that the Reverend Terrence Smith is my
very own twin, though we were separated at birth?" Liang had to give his
partner credit. Liang might have had the inspiration for great things, but
Richter had the ingenuity to pull it off. "Finish up with
your doctors," Liang said. "I'll see you shortly." And he put
the phone away. He turned to study the
soldiers standing at attention. Soon, China's entire army would be saluting
him. And together they would lift their nation to great prominence on the
world stage. With a military to match China's economic clout, nobody would
invade or bully her again. In fact, China would create a new world order.
Only one thing stood between him and his ultimate happiness. Dr. Yu's
enchanting daughter had given her heart to a young American graduate student. "I want you to
send one of these soldiers after Bradley West." He stared at the old man
with a commanding air. "Never. I will
not use these powers to kill." The old man would only cooperate within
limits. "I'm only doing this for Bradley's sake. You don't have to kill
him. Just ensure he stays off our trail. He has a nasty way of sniffing me
out and finding me, and it would be dangerous for him, especially now."
He signaled Yu to go ahead and transmit the command to a soldier. Yu nodded, yet his
eyes darted around for a means of escape. "Don't try to
bolt, old man, or I'll hunt you down and kill you. Your precious global
warming will turn these icy streets into a swamp, and your daughter will come
crawling back to me on her knees." Yu bowed and opened
his fist. He held the bullets as if they might explode in his face. Then he
proceeded to implant the thought. |
Description
Brad West has just been dumped, in China, by his
girlfriend. He is left in the clutches of a killer while May, his seductive Chinese
sweetheart, and her dad, an expert at mind control, take off for America. But
the CIA desperately wants Brad back, along with his psychic powers. They need
him to investigate a rigged race for the White House and to fix a rapidly
disintegrating economy. Can he ward off the assailant, brush aside snide
remarks from his buddy, and lift his sagging spirits in time to attack the
anarchy in America? Join Brad and friends on an epic action-comedy romp from
Beijing to Vegas in search of the naked truth. And to save May and the nation
from...Mind Control. Bookstores
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